So as posted in the above post, I did that 45 gallon water change, then I did another 45 gallon water change the following weekend, and then I did a 20 gallon water change the weekend after that. What I have decided is I did the two 45 gallon changes, I'm going to do 4 20 gallon water changes, and then I will just keep up with the water changes by doing 10 gallon water changes a week (about 10%). This should keep the water where it needs to be.
The little s**thead male clown is doing much better and just as aggressive as ever. I call him every name in the book because if you put your hand in the tank, he will (WILL) attack you. Now, his mouth is so small that it's only a small pinch (less than the doctors say is a "small pinch"), but that is not the part that sucks. It's when he does it, your instinct is to flinch and when you do, you splash water everywhere, or those like me with a canopy, you slam your elbow onto the canopy! And that part DOES hurt lol. So, now you know why I call him everything but a fish lol.
But, all fish are doing great, of which, I do not have that many left. I have my Yellow Tang, the two clown fish, a single very aggressive (towards his kind) Bangi Cardinal and a 6 line Wrasse. They are just as happy as they can be in the tank.
The coral that I have left is obviously the massive amount of Hammer Coral that lives in spite of me, the Green Star Polyps (GSP) I have 3 different Acan corals that were about dead, but are coming back and I think I have a few eyes left on the Chalice coral that I had at the back of my tank, but I'm not sure. I also have the Firework Clove Polyps still as well, although they are quite small. I had then in the wrong part of the tank and they didn't like it. And I have some small patches of Montipora left in there. This is the red kind, but it is also supposed to have some green, although I have never seen it.
My Leptastria is gone which sucks. Oh, and I have some Zoanthids.
I have talked to the wife, and we have decided to start doing some more with the tank. The first thing was to get the water parameters back in check. I purchased the Red Sea test kits, and the Alkalinity test is HORRIBLE. Almost clear water, and I was getting a reading of about 6.5dKH, which is low, it needs to be 8-12dKH. So I talked to the wife, and she gave the approval to get new test kits. And only one came to mind, Hanna.
Now, if Matt comes in here, he will yell at me, but I went and purchased the Alk kit, the Calcium kit (more on this in a bit), the Phosphate kit and the Nitrate Low Range kit (more on this one in a bit as well).
So remember, with RedSea, I received a reading for dKH of 6.5. I did the SUPER SIMPLE test on the Hanna and it was 8.6. I tested again, and same reading. I'm going to trust the Hanna. If I had trusted the RedSea kit, I would have over dosed Soda Ash, and my Alk would have been around 13 I'm thinking (trying to raise to 10, maybe just 9.5). Along with these testers, I also purchased Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium to dose the tank. I checked my Mag with the Red Sea kit, and I'm showing 1600, which I do not think is accurate, but Hanna doesn't make a Mag tester for saltwater. Suckage.
I have since dosed the tank with soda ash twice to bring up my levels. The 8.6 reading jumped to 8.9 on the first dose of about 50ml. I then dosed another 45-50ml and I have not checked it yet after that second dose.
My calcium was reading about 450-460 with the RedSea, and Hanna gave 469. NOW.... Here is where Matt may come in... The Calcium Hanna checker is VERY finicky. You have to do everything PERFECTLY to get a good reading. You have to have 100% pure clean water. You have to put the vial in at the exact same angle every time, you have to make sure there are no finger prints on the vial, you have to make sure there are no bubbles in the vial (you do have to shake this vigorously to integrate the reagent). and I don't think it is required, but I leave the tester in the exact same spot on my desk/table for each test just in case ambient light can affect the reading.
This calcium test kit requires 1ml of liquid reagent, and then 9ml of pure water (distilled is best, I use RO/DI). With that mixture, you then put it in the checker and hit the button on C1. This is to zero the tester. Then, you put in 1µl (micro liter) for which they provide a calibrated syringe (I think lol) of salt water. Yes, 10ml vial, and only 1µl of saltwater. Talk about sensitive. Then you put in your powder reagent, shake for 15 seconds, then wait 15 seconds for the bubbles to go away, then place in the checker on C2 and test.
It is actually much faster than it sounds, but is kind of a pain. I have yet to do back to back checks, which I will do today when I test my water after the water change.
I have not tested my phosphates, so nothing to report on there as of yet.
Now onto the Nitrate Hanna Checker. I am not sh**ting you, the DAY I received my LR (Low Range) Nitrate checker, they released the HR (High Range (more on this in a bit)). Yea, I was a little pissed off, but that is because I was not as pissed as I was when I saw it on the website... For the LR Nitrate test, you have to jump through all kinds of hoops to test this stuff. And for me, I have about 15 Nitrate (high, I know, working on it...) and this LR checker only goes up to 2.5. So, I have to dilute my sample by 10x, and then multiply the reading by 10.
But, to test this LR stuff, you have to put in a reagent that causes particles in the water, then you have to filter this sample and then you can test after filtering. I was not looking forward to this as API makes a super simple 5 minute test for Nitrate, but it was on sale (now I know why.... ugh) and I thought why not. Well, I may never use this one...
The HR Nitrate Hanna Checker, you put in salt water, add one packet of reagent, shake and measure. Yea... that simple... Mine is showing delivery today, but is still in OKC, so should be here Monday. Still a little pissed about this lol.
I will give you an update on the Phosphate when I do that test, and I will also let you guys know about the HR Nitrate, and what the back to back tests of the Calcium results are.
The testing will be done later today, or maybe even Monday after work when I have the HR NO2 checker.
Today, like I posted above, I'm doing the 20 gallon water change and I'm printing new outflow nozzles for the tank return water (back into the tank from the sump). I have no idea where mine went that I printed a while back. But, he updated the files and made them longer, and longer is always better (right ladies
lol). So those are on the 3D printer being made as I type this.
Now, lets talk about the sump... As I have posted before, my sump needs major repairs, or just replaced. And the wife and I have decided on replacing it with a prebuilt sump. And this is going to get EXPENSIVE.
My current sump is made with 3/16" (0.1875" or 4.7625mm) extruded acrylic. Not the best stuff to make a tank out of (pretty much what a sump is). Mine has all kinds of cracks, and one was leaking, but I was able to stop that leak a year or so ago. Now, there are new cracks that are VERY close to going all the way through. I'm thinking about draining the return area and placing a piece of acrylic in this area and welding it on just so that IF it goes all the way through, it will not leak. But, not really looking forward to that.
Another thing, I love filter socks in how they catch and filter all the crap out of the water. My issue is, you need to pull them out and replace about every 3 days at most. Yea, I don't do that. So we are thinking about going with a roller filter system. And Trigger released one with their sumps in their "Platinum" line.
I like the features of this sump, I like the filter, I like the dosing lines and I like the location of the probe holder. And the fact that you can adjust the size of the skimmer chamber to make the refugium later is a huge plus. So, I think we are going to go with the 34" Trigger Platinum series sump. And the reason I'm going with the 34 and not the 39 (my sump is 40" long) is because the 39 is 16" front to back, and I only have 15" to work with, hence why I made my own sump from their sump design (I really like their designs!).
I did think about making my own sump again with everything I want, but in all honesty, I do not need a 40" sump. And going down to a 34" sump, it will provide room to put dosing containers in there. Future plans that i have not decided on yet.
So, that is where we are at this time. I need to get motivated to do this water change, and do some cleaning (oh and I cleaned the return pump and skimmer body and pump last weekend). I do need to remove my ATO res from the sump area and clean that pump. It's running a little slow, so I will get that worked out today as well. Now if only my outflow nozzles will finish printing!