A
Anonymous
Guest
Will Anthelia do the same thing as the xenia? Since my nitrate went down, the anthelia has exploded like crazy...
Peace,
Chip
Peace,
Chip
2 years, no water changes, no nitrates, no refugium, no macr
- Thread starter davelin315
- Start date
Hey, Dave, let me put you out of your misery. Ship me everything you have and I will give you everything I have in trade. Viola, now you have a 20ppm NO3 tank and I will figure out why your tank has no NO3. Simple, Easy, no more guessworks...
(I will throw in a 40G refugium teaming with pods and grape caulerpa as a bonus)
[ October 23, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>
(I will throw in a 40G refugium teaming with pods and grape caulerpa as a bonus)
[ October 23, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by davelin315:
<strong>Wouldn't that raise the question of if you have denitrifying organisms, how do you maintain a level of nitrate? Would you add fertilizer to your tank periodically to prevent a crash of those organisms, like caulerpa is apt to do, or xenia (is that why they crash?) is known to do?</strong><hr></blockquote>
You do add fertilizer - every time you feed. And the critters are acclimated to this level of feeding. Rapidly change the amount you feed (either increase or decrease), and problems develop. The key is slowly increasing or decreasing the amount you feed - most of us would be really amazed at the amount of food that a tank can take, if you get it there slowly.
Kevin
Kevin
<strong>Wouldn't that raise the question of if you have denitrifying organisms, how do you maintain a level of nitrate? Would you add fertilizer to your tank periodically to prevent a crash of those organisms, like caulerpa is apt to do, or xenia (is that why they crash?) is known to do?</strong><hr></blockquote>
You do add fertilizer - every time you feed. And the critters are acclimated to this level of feeding. Rapidly change the amount you feed (either increase or decrease), and problems develop. The key is slowly increasing or decreasing the amount you feed - most of us would be really amazed at the amount of food that a tank can take, if you get it there slowly.
Kevin
Kevin
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by davelin315:
<strong>Where are all the nitrates? I have not had nitrates in the detectable range in over 2 years. I don't have LR per se, I have my own dead rock which has been culturing in my systems for around 10 years. Also, I have a very large bioload (fish=2 yellow tangs, 4 pacific blue tangs, 4 yellow tail damsels, 1 domino damsel, 1 green chromis, 1 3 stripe damsel, 1 flame angel, 1 coral beauty, 1 jaw fish, 1 firefish, 1 cinammon clown, 1 royal gramma, can't remember what else that swims, 4 fire shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, numerous crabs, soft corals, sps, numerous snails, lps, clams, tons of xenia!. I have only about a 1-2" gravel bed of crushed coral and aragonite. Where're the nitrates going?</strong><hr></blockquote>
What test kit are you using? I have seen hobby test kits read zero and then the water tested at 10/mg/L with an absorption spectrometer.
Terry
<strong>Where are all the nitrates? I have not had nitrates in the detectable range in over 2 years. I don't have LR per se, I have my own dead rock which has been culturing in my systems for around 10 years. Also, I have a very large bioload (fish=2 yellow tangs, 4 pacific blue tangs, 4 yellow tail damsels, 1 domino damsel, 1 green chromis, 1 3 stripe damsel, 1 flame angel, 1 coral beauty, 1 jaw fish, 1 firefish, 1 cinammon clown, 1 royal gramma, can't remember what else that swims, 4 fire shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, numerous crabs, soft corals, sps, numerous snails, lps, clams, tons of xenia!. I have only about a 1-2" gravel bed of crushed coral and aragonite. Where're the nitrates going?</strong><hr></blockquote>
What test kit are you using? I have seen hobby test kits read zero and then the water tested at 10/mg/L with an absorption spectrometer.
Terry
I have a 105g reef and don't operate a skimmer "the skimmer is present but not running", bio balls, or mechanical filter of any kind. Just a DSB, LR, and good water flow. The system is doing great! I feed 6 cubes of formula one/day and have about a dozen corals, 8 fish, a snow flake eel who loves to byte and one rose BTA.
It is all balance. The system has been in operation for 6 months now and I am very pleased with the results. The water has a nice slight green tint when looking thru the side of the tank. Just how I like it.
PS and I don't do water changes! It can be done!
Randall
It is all balance. The system has been in operation for 6 months now and I am very pleased with the results. The water has a nice slight green tint when looking thru the side of the tank. Just how I like it.
PS and I don't do water changes! It can be done!
Randall
- Location
- Virginia
I have to admit that I'm not using the most advanced and respectable test kits, being aquarium pharmaceuticals. I don't know which test the LFSs are using, but all of theirs also say no detectable nitrates (0 according to them). No one I have gone to uses what you are describing.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by davelin315:
<strong>I have to admit that I'm not using the most advanced and respectable test kits, being aquarium pharmaceuticals. I don't know which test the LFSs are using, but all of theirs also say no detectable nitrates (0 according to them). No one I have gone to uses what you are describing.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Lamotte makes a very respectable colormetric nitrate kit. It is quite accurate. I also have a Aquamarine Dip and Read nitrate kit and it reads zero in water that actually has as high a nitrate level as 100-mg/L.
Terry
<strong>I have to admit that I'm not using the most advanced and respectable test kits, being aquarium pharmaceuticals. I don't know which test the LFSs are using, but all of theirs also say no detectable nitrates (0 according to them). No one I have gone to uses what you are describing.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Lamotte makes a very respectable colormetric nitrate kit. It is quite accurate. I also have a Aquamarine Dip and Read nitrate kit and it reads zero in water that actually has as high a nitrate level as 100-mg/L.
Terry
This is definitely an interesting case study.
Your base rock will definitely be doing some denitrification after 10 years. That's some of it.
Other than that, it beats me. I do know that 9 out of 10 reefers with the same system setup would have found themselves in deep $hit a long time ago (me included). Way to go Dave! (but at the same time, Kids, don't try this at home).
Ty
Your base rock will definitely be doing some denitrification after 10 years. That's some of it.
Other than that, it beats me. I do know that 9 out of 10 reefers with the same system setup would have found themselves in deep $hit a long time ago (me included). Way to go Dave! (but at the same time, Kids, don't try this at home).
Ty
- Location
- Virginia
The rock is a combination of tufa and coral skeletons that washed up on the shore in Hawaii (large rock that is fairly smooth that you can see old coral skeletons in as far as the structures they use to build reefs). I brought a bunch of this back with me from Hawaii years back (boy did my back hurt and with 70 pounds max for each bag, those rocks sure did dig in and take up a lot of space) and put it in my tank. It was all stuff that had broken off at some point in time and had been washed ashore as coral skeleton rubble in varying sizes. It is fairly light, as compared to some other rock, but not nearly as light as tufa based on strictly size. However, some pieces are heavier than others, and I am guessing that it depends on how much was worn away by the constant breaking of waves.
Hi Spector27, I'm interested to know your setup 'cause i have a 20gal too with a 20gal sump. I have a 150w iwasaki mh turned on from 5:30am to 4pm, crushed corals in the sump. Inhabitants are 1 yellow damsel, 1 electric blue damsel, 1 mandarin, 1 4 striped damsel. Several shrooms, bubble coral & 2 elegance. I do 5gal change every 2 weeks. Skimmer but seldom used. My setup is 2 years old too. But i can't seem to keep it OK continously. It looked good for a while and then some corals/fishes die. Then it will look fine again. I had 2 xenias in the past which i thought will flourish but then suddenly died. In summer, i run a 6" fan to cool the tank. Please tell me your setup; i could probably get tips from your setup. Thanks, Deo
good job...
I've been keeping a 20 gallon in much the same way you are this bigger tank. difference is, that I dont feed the tank either... 2 saddleback clowns, and about 20 lbs of live rock, and stuffed full of corals...2 years, no water changes, no feeding, no lightbulb changes....
IT CAN BE DONE...
g
o
b
y
I've been keeping a 20 gallon in much the same way you are this bigger tank. difference is, that I dont feed the tank either... 2 saddleback clowns, and about 20 lbs of live rock, and stuffed full of corals...2 years, no water changes, no feeding, no lightbulb changes....
IT CAN BE DONE...
g
o
b
y
Hey nice tank. While I do prefer the look of a sand bed, obviously you dont need one. I must agree with the xenia theory based on my experience. My 90 gal tank is pretty much all xenia unfortunately. Mostly because I've never been good at keeping up with it. And I think it is amazing at sucking out nutrients. I have never had an algae problem with xenia in my tank or anything else related to nutrient issues.
I don't have any new pics but will take some.. I do have a picture of the system at startup. It has a MTC down draft HSA1000 skimmer on it that is no longer in operation today.. I do use skimmers for startup and rock cycling!
This is the site of the system after startup 6 months ago.
http://www.geocities.com/suckair69/Suckair_s_reef_work.html
I plan to make a web site dedicated to that system.. I just upgraded the lighting to 250w Dual HQI IceCap and don't have any new pics. I decided to go with HQI for energy savigns over the dual 400's listed.
This is the site of the system after startup 6 months ago.
http://www.geocities.com/suckair69/Suckair_s_reef_work.html
I plan to make a web site dedicated to that system.. I just upgraded the lighting to 250w Dual HQI IceCap and don't have any new pics. I decided to go with HQI for energy savigns over the dual 400's listed.
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