Tank Journal Archive

chrisg_75

Member
May 28, 2013
181
34
Newcastle
Quick Update And Q's
No pics in this one sorry.

I do have some new corals. Pics later though.

I have finally got my Tunze 9002 Protein skimmer working. This meant dropping the water level in the rear compartments of the tank to suit the skimmer so the hood could close. Hoping the skimmer will do good things for my tank.

It seems to have brought on other issues along with combination of other factors also.

I have put a DIY surface skimmer over the intake into the rear section so the water level would remain low to suit the skimmer. As the skimmer is in the middle section, I have moved the heater to the last compartment which also contains the pump.

As we have also been experiencing hot weather over the last few weeks (consistent 25+ deg and reg 30 or more) I am now experiencing regular issues with water temp. I got the tank in May and to date haven't had a max water temp over 26.3 or below 25.8, until now. I have no consistency at all now. Max has been 28.5 that I have seen and on the off chance we get a little cooler weather it gets to 25 or so.

I think the hot water has possibly killed one of my new corals, a yellow eye Favia. I am struggling to find a clip on fan that will go on the plastic surround of the rim of the tank. Not that heating is a problem but the water level where the heater is, now only comes up half way up the length of the heater. Not sure if this could be affecting things with the heater thermostat not coming on and off properly ???

As for cooling, i am thinking i am going ot have ot look at a chiller. Not keen on this due to the $ for such a small tank but don't know what else to do, I would be looking at a second hand one. Also not sure how they hook up in my AIO situation.

I have also finally got a refractometer. My salinity is looking like it is high so guessing that wont have helped things with my favia either. Latest reading was around 1.028 / 38. o rpossibly a little higher.

I also had a couple frags of Dallas Acro which were bright green for couple of weeks and then polyps started to retract and everything is white now. Guessing the temp issues are problem but not sure.

Also just received hanna phos checker so can check that test as well now. I purchased some rowa phos anyway and will put it in shortly.

Sorry for the long update but i kind of feel like im in the middle of a storm from all angles lol and not sure how to get out of it.

Any comments, help or suggestions appreciated.

Cheers
 

chrisg_75

Member
May 28, 2013
181
34
Newcastle
So here are my latest test results also to add to this storm of events......
Nitrate 8
Alkalinity 2.39
dKH 6.7
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1410
Salinity 39

Gravity 1.029
Phosphate
0.04
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
Have you tried cooling fans? Another good option for a hot day is a 2 litre bottle frozen and placed in your AIO compartment.
 

chrisg_75

Member
May 28, 2013
181
34
Newcastle
I contacted guppies and the clip on cooling fans wouldn't fit on the plastic rim of the tank apparently according to them so im at a loss for cooling fans because of that.. Only option is frozen bottles or chiller