The First Half Of 2016 Update...
So.. leading on from my previous update 6 months ago, the lights have been rebuilt.
A lot of effort was put into killing algae by way of peroxide dips - this certainly killed the algae, but alas it returned quickly. I've been unable to detect any real phosphate in the water, so I suspect after most of 2 years neglect, I have a heap of bound phosphate in the live rock.
I have a plan for the phosphate - I'm going to bathe half of the live rock from the DT in a container of lanth choloride + salt water for a few days, then throw around a bit of hydrogen peroxide for good measure. I'll get that rock back into the tank, leave things for a few weeks, do the other half, wait a few weeks then do the rock from the sump (I have a fair bit of LR in the system to cope). I'm doing this as I'm expecting that this process will cause a fair bit of die off, so obviously need to allow some time for the life to repopulate before I kill any more and allow what's left in the system the chance to deal with whatever chemical hell this creates. Besides, the fish need somewhere to hide :P
Not quite ideal - in a perfect world, I'd move all the stock to another system, do the whole lot at once, cycle and get back to normal as this method is obviously going to allow for some of that rock to absorb phosphate out of the remaining rock until it's all gone through this process. I'm hoping that the existing algae will help absorb the remaining phosphate while I get around the tank, and minimise the amount of phosphate the dipped rock can absorb. If necessary I may look at lanth dosing after I'm finished - will really be a wait and see.
The amount of phosphate being introduced now is quite limited, so I'm hoping I should be on top of this in a few months.
I found myself making ASW at the weekend for the first time since 2011. I'm about to make an entire IBC's worth for a change from using NSW, so this should be fun. Fresh RO/DI filters installed ready for this action.
In other news, I ran out of calc and mag supps a while ago, and my levels at the weekend were atrocious. Calc was down to the high 200s, and the mag was down around 900. I knew they were dropping - but just haven't had a chance to do much about them. I was surprised that they'd dropped quite so much considering the limited number of corals in the system, and the frequent WCs. I received a bulk supply of new supplies late last week, and after making 10L of calc, and 6L of mag, I've got enough calc to last me a couple of months, and enough mag made to last me to the end of the week (not even lol on this - the top up dose was 4.5L which I'm just over half way through dosing as I'm doing nearly 1L a day). My Alk skyrocketed temporarily when I started to get the other levels up, but seems to be back under control. Calc is now about where I'd like, and Mag has a way to go, but should get up within the next couple of days. The use of a dosing pump does make this a whole lot easier, and I'd like to get this balanced out before I start pulling rock out.
With bubs due very, very, very soon now, I'm kinda hoping to get started on the rock bath before he comes out - we're expecting him to be in hospital for a while as he'll be a bit prem, but with a bit of luck, I'll find some time around that to at least get the first batch back in in the tank and next lot out and get this process started. Some positive results would do a lot to keep me motivated!
A lot of effort was put into killing algae by way of peroxide dips - this certainly killed the algae, but alas it returned quickly. I've been unable to detect any real phosphate in the water, so I suspect after most of 2 years neglect, I have a heap of bound phosphate in the live rock.
I have a plan for the phosphate - I'm going to bathe half of the live rock from the DT in a container of lanth choloride + salt water for a few days, then throw around a bit of hydrogen peroxide for good measure. I'll get that rock back into the tank, leave things for a few weeks, do the other half, wait a few weeks then do the rock from the sump (I have a fair bit of LR in the system to cope). I'm doing this as I'm expecting that this process will cause a fair bit of die off, so obviously need to allow some time for the life to repopulate before I kill any more and allow what's left in the system the chance to deal with whatever chemical hell this creates. Besides, the fish need somewhere to hide :P
Not quite ideal - in a perfect world, I'd move all the stock to another system, do the whole lot at once, cycle and get back to normal as this method is obviously going to allow for some of that rock to absorb phosphate out of the remaining rock until it's all gone through this process. I'm hoping that the existing algae will help absorb the remaining phosphate while I get around the tank, and minimise the amount of phosphate the dipped rock can absorb. If necessary I may look at lanth dosing after I'm finished - will really be a wait and see.
The amount of phosphate being introduced now is quite limited, so I'm hoping I should be on top of this in a few months.
I found myself making ASW at the weekend for the first time since 2011. I'm about to make an entire IBC's worth for a change from using NSW, so this should be fun. Fresh RO/DI filters installed ready for this action.
In other news, I ran out of calc and mag supps a while ago, and my levels at the weekend were atrocious. Calc was down to the high 200s, and the mag was down around 900. I knew they were dropping - but just haven't had a chance to do much about them. I was surprised that they'd dropped quite so much considering the limited number of corals in the system, and the frequent WCs. I received a bulk supply of new supplies late last week, and after making 10L of calc, and 6L of mag, I've got enough calc to last me a couple of months, and enough mag made to last me to the end of the week (not even lol on this - the top up dose was 4.5L which I'm just over half way through dosing as I'm doing nearly 1L a day). My Alk skyrocketed temporarily when I started to get the other levels up, but seems to be back under control. Calc is now about where I'd like, and Mag has a way to go, but should get up within the next couple of days. The use of a dosing pump does make this a whole lot easier, and I'd like to get this balanced out before I start pulling rock out.
With bubs due very, very, very soon now, I'm kinda hoping to get started on the rock bath before he comes out - we're expecting him to be in hospital for a while as he'll be a bit prem, but with a bit of luck, I'll find some time around that to at least get the first batch back in in the tank and next lot out and get this process started. Some positive results would do a lot to keep me motivated!