Scott's 50g Reef

[pauliwalnuts]

Sweet update buddy. Your tank is doing phenomenal. :cheers:
ATI + Reebrite fixture, double nice. Lol

 

[sroot17]

tank looking good. i like those lights.. i see you have a blue spotted jaw fish also..

thanks ken. just picked up the jawfish a couple of weeks ago. Love the new lights, thanks!!

I noticed you put a screen cover on your tank for the jawfish. Does this take away from the rimless look at all in person? You can hardly tell in the photos.

 

[sroot17]

Thanks everyone! more pics to come!

 

[kenconnect]

Yeah I had to put the screen as soon as I dropped him in the the tank did 2 jumps in less than 15 mins. It does take a lil away from the tank but I guess is the price I pay for wanted that fish so bad..

 

[sroot17]

still having phosphate problems and battling green hair algae. Todays ones of those days when I look at my tank and get upset and frustrated. I'm nearing wits end.

phos readings tonight
tank water - .20
ro/di water - .15

 

[kenconnect]

Get a sea hair

 

[sroot17]

Get a sea hair

I had one. It would touch it and died pretty quickly. Trying to figure out how to fix the source of the problem and why my gfo isn't working.

 

[DrAsTiC]

This might be a stupid question and excuse me if it is but have you been changing your phosban? Do you run it in a reactor or in a sock?

 

[sroot17]

This might be a stupid question and excuse me if it is but have you been changing your phosban? Do you run it in a reactor or in a sock?

Yes I run brs high capacity phosban in a reactor. Lately I've been changing it out every week! I'm using a brs dual reactor which isn't the best imo. The gfo clumps up pretty quickly which is probably part of my problem. Thinking about switching back to tlf reactors.

 

[DrAsTiC]

Ahhh I had the same problem with the clumps and my phosphates went crazy. I am using the MR1 reactors now and I have not had a problem yet. I would go with your instinct and switch reactors and switch phosban. I have only used TLF phosban so I don't know if BRS is better.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

Yes I run brs high capacity phosban in a reactor. Lately I've been changing it out every week! I'm using a brs dual reactor which isn't the best imo. The gfo clumps up pretty quickly which is probably part of my problem. Thinking about switching back to tlf reactors.

Ahhh I had the same problem with the clumps and my phosphates went crazy. I am using the MR1 reactors now and I have not had a problem yet. I would go with your instinct and switch reactors and switch phosban. I have only used TLF phosban so I don't know if BRS is better.

brs ferric oxide does work..... (supposedly the ferric oxide are all pretty much made by one manufacturer and the vendors slap their own brand on it).
agree with the clumping problem. ferric oxide need to tumble.....ensuring that the water pass through them rather than going around them.
btw what are you using to test your phos. should be using hanna meter if you're not already doing so.
you should investigate the source of your high phos.--over feeding, water (mixed/top off), leaching from live rock, etc.

 

[sroot17]

btw what are you using to test your phos. should be using hanna meter if you're not already doing so.
you should investigate the source of your high phos.--over feeding, water (mixed/top off), leaching from live rock, etc.

I'm using a hanna meter and as of recently I do know what my source of phosphates is. Its my ro/di water. I get readings of .11-.15 directly out of the unit. I've replaced all filters apart from the membrane. Tds are 0. Its a 4 stage, thinking about adding 2 more stages for additional DI and another carbon block.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

I'm using a hanna meter and as of recently I do know what my source of phosphates is. Its my ro/di water. I get readings of .11-.15 directly out of the unit. I've replaced all filters apart from the membrane. Tds are 0. Its a 4 stage, thinking about adding 2 more stages for additional DI and another carbon block.

don't fixate on the number of stages....the membrane and the di are where it's at. the workhorse of the ro/di system is the membrane. the prefilter, carbon, chlorine filter, etc. block large particle debris and extend the membrane's useful life. imo every ro/di should have a mounted dual tds meter right after the membrane before a di section that way you'll know if the membrane needs replacing and one right after the di to see when to change the resin. the color changing feature only give you an idea but the meter will give you a numeric indication of an exhausted resin.

 

[sroot17]

don't fixate on the number of stages....the membrane and the di are where it's at. the workhorse of the ro/di system is the membrane. the prefilter, carbon, chlorine filter, etc. block large particle debris and extend the membrane's useful life. imo every ro/di should have a mounted dual tds meter right after the membrane before a di section that way you'll know if the membrane needs replacing and one right after the di to see when to change the resin. the color changing feature only give you an idea but the meter will give you a numeric indication of an exhausted resin.

couldn't agree more Tom. My only problem is that my tds is 0 out of my ro/di and I am still showing low range phosphates.

 

[tomtoothdoc]

couldn't agree more Tom. My only problem is that my tds is 0 out of my ro/di and I am still showing low range phosphates.

if you eliminated the water as a source, the other two most likely culprits are feeding and leaching from the rocks??

 

[sroot17]

if you eliminated the water as a source, the other two most likely culprits are feeding and leaching from the rocks??

The water is my source which is why i'm thinking about adding more stages to my ro/di. even though my tds is 0, I still have low range phos. bummer

 

[Awibrandy]

Your tank is absolutely beautiful! Looks like all your animals are doing fine! I don't see the H/A. Your P04 are lower then mine my friend,mine are at .23. I am also working to get them down further.
But I am not going to beat myself up over it either. As long as the animals are healthy, that is what really matters to me.
Remember our rocks my leach P04 for God knows how long. My lr collected P04 for something like 10 years.;(

 

[tomtoothdoc]

The water is my source which is why i'm thinking about adding more stages to my ro/di. even though my tds is 0, I still have low range phos. bummer

do you mean that you tested the ro/di and there are some phos. readings even though the tds is 0? hmmm....i never thought about testing the ro/di for phos. i have tested the freshly mixed salt water and got some phos before but don't recall ever testing the ro/di. i might do some testing this sunday and see.

 

[sroot17]

do you mean that you tested the ro/di and there are some phos. readings even though the tds is 0? hmmm....i never thought about testing the ro/di for phos. i have tested the freshly mixed salt water and got some phos before but don't recall ever testing the ro/di. i might do some testing this sunday and see.

you got it! thats my problem.

Just installed a pressure gauge before my ro membrane and my psi is just over 80 going into the filter. Maybe too much pressure??

 

[tomtoothdoc]

you got it! thats my problem.

Just installed a pressure gauge before my ro membrane and my psi is just over 80 going into the filter. Maybe too much pressure??

no the pressure is fine....in fact that's actually good. i have well water and the pressure is barely 40 +psi so i installed a booster pump and it usually pushes above 80 psi now.

are you using a container (plastic) to hold the ro/di water? i remember reading somewhere about certain plastic containers leaching phos.