My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[SubzeroLT]

On 21/01/2019 at 2:53 PM, redsuns said:

Ic, yup the chatter has been ongoing for abit, I do have quite alot of MP still though. Still in 2 minds if I should swap them out. Have you done a pre and post icp test?

Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
 

Yes. But MP's contribution to aluminum is unclear since its not a controlled set up.

[SubzeroLT]

Some coral pics :

 

Ironman Blasto

 

Fiji Pipe Organ

 

New addition. Wife says the cynarina is not nice  

 

Friend's scoly in the tank

 

Chalice growing quite well

 

Chalice having a meal of prawn meat last night

 

 

Close up

 

Yuma stilled "jailed" in its container. 

 

Rhodactis from SAS. 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Its been one full year  running the Alkatronic. It has mitigated potential disasters (several times), allowed me to travel overseas with peach of mind and helped keep the tank in relatively good condition.

Its one of the best purchases to date. The price tag appears expensive at first but isn't at all in the whole scheme of things.

.

 

The unit is placed on a table next to the display tank.

Test reagent is placed in a stable water bottle next to the unit. About 1.2L volume is mixed each time using the "weight" method. It used to run 6 tests per day in the initial few months but I've scaled that back to 4 tests per day. Waste waster is dumped into a waste bucket.

A 5L container of KH solution (using Nyos Alkalinity powder) is used to dose KH if triggered.

 

This is the amount of concentrated reagent left after 1 full year. Hence, the running cost is actually quite economical.

 

I've been a little behind on calibrating the pH probe & pumps. Ideally that should be done to be sure its "spot on" accurate. But its ok to be a little off since stability is probably more important than accuracy.

I measure Ca & Mg once every 2-4 weeks with Salifert test kits. So far, both Ca & Mg is always in range as long as the KH is maintained (because they have been dosed in the correct proportions via a calcium reactor)

 

 

Aside from dosing KH when its out of spec, below is an example where the Alkatronic can provide feedback on  tuning the calcium reactor. Time to tune it up!

 

 

 

 

[PowderTang]

On 21/01/2019 at 2:50 PM, SubzeroLT said:

There is much chatter (though not 100% proven) that marine pure contributes aluminum. I removed them as a precautionary measure since the Maxpect spheres are not that expensive.

 

Other things done is to remove anything with aluminum bits (eg. John Guest quick fittings)

Sorry , what’s this MP block and aluminum leak all about ? Will the aluminum leak cause corals to die or other stuff to die?

 

and where to get the Maxspect bio sphere? 

 

[SubzeroLT]

1 hour ago, PowderTang said:

Sorry , what’s this MP block and aluminum leak all about ? Will the aluminum leak cause corals to die or other stuff to die?

 

and where to get the Maxspect bio sphere? 

 

Its rumored that Marine Pure (though its a very good bio media), can leach small amounts of aluminum. Its mentioned in some overseas forums. Not seen controlled analysis about it though. 

Aluminum can be introduced by using aluminum based products like Seachem phosguard. John Guest quick fittings have aluminum clips that can also leach aluminum over time. 

Toxic levels of aluminum  that cause death are ~ 10ppm = 10000 ug/L.  Most reports on aluminum are at very high level exposure (eg. death, growth inhibition, cancer). Don't see any reports on exposure levels we typically see in our reef tanks. But i'd assume there should be 'some' effect.

 

My ICP test shows 180 ug/L. Upper specs for sea water is 10ug/L. Corals are growing fine but its still 18x over NSW levels.

Note again that toxic levels are 10000ug/L

 

Being paranoid, I took out all aluminum contributors (clips & MP media) and changed to Maxpect Bio Sphere. Got mine from ReefmarketSG.

 

 

 

[Jimmy75]

So have you did a test again to see if the level has dropped?

[Harlequinmania]

1 hour ago, SubzeroLT said:

Its rumored that Marine Pure (though its a very good bio media), can leach small amounts of aluminum. Its mentioned in some overseas forums. Not seen controlled analysis about it though. 

Aluminum can be introduced by using aluminum based products like Seachem phosguard. John Guest quick fittings have aluminum clips that can also leach aluminum over time. 

Toxic levels of aluminum  that cause death are ~ 10ppm = 10000 ug/L.  Most reports on aluminum are at very high level exposure (eg. death, growth inhibition, cancer). Don't see any reports on exposure levels we typically see in our reef tanks. But i'd assume there should be 'some' effect.

 

My ICP test shows 180 ug/L. Upper specs for sea water is 10ug/L. Corals are growing fine but its still 18x over NSW levels.

Note again that toxic levels are 10000ug/L

 

Being paranoid, I took out all aluminum contributors (clips & MP media) and changed to Maxpect Bio Sphere. Got mine from ReefmarketSG.

 

 

 

There was actually a detail testing being carried out and information by the manufacture about the leeching found here ;

 

http://cermedia.com/blog.php?p=142 

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

11 minutes ago, he said:

There was actually a detail testing being carried out and information by the manufacture about the leeching found here ;

 

http://cermedia.com/blog.php?p=142 

 

 

Thanks for sharing. ....

The report is saying there are other contributors to aluminium (eg. salt mix, food, phosphate media, etc). And that systems using marine pure actually reduces aluminium. 

 

 

[shahrilg]

This is a flap on the clarisea to open up so it 'bypasses' the fleece.

 
A bit hard to take a pic of the connections now. But conceptually, this is the 'adapter' added to the end of the original pipe from display tank to adapt to a flexible hose that connects to the clarisea.

 

what sizes are the adapters and pvc and where did u get the black hose and what size is it?


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[Jimmy75]

Thanks for sharing. ....
The report is saying there are other contributors to aluminium (eg. salt mix, food, phosphate media, etc). And that systems using marine pure actually reduces aluminium. 
 
 

So will you be doing ICP test again to elevate if your actions to remove what you believe to be sources of aluminium in your setup is effective? It will be interesting and beneficial to share with us. Thanks.

[SubzeroLT]

12 hours ago, shahrilg said:

what sizes are the adapters and pvc and where did u get the black hose and what size is it?


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

That's should be a 40mm to 30mm  reducer. The black hose is a wet/dry vacuum cleaner hose. Mine was from my old shopvac which has a 32mm internal diameter. Should be able to find them online or from hardware shops. 

[SubzeroLT]

4 hours ago, Jimmy75 said:

So will you be doing ICP test again to elevate if your actions to remove what you believe to be sources of aluminium in your setup is effective? It will be interesting and beneficial to share with us. Thanks.

I did run an ICP test last year. Aluminum values reduced from 180ug/L to 26ug/L. Upper spec limit for NSW is 10ug/L.

The removal of aluminum contributors + use of Continuum Aquatics Heavy Metal resin helped. Its still over spec limit but i'm not too worried about it.

 

Regarding Continuum Aquatics Heavy Metal resin. While it removes heavy metals, I believe it creates other issues as well by absorbing other 'good' elements. Hence use with caution.

The corals bounced back only after I started dosing more trace elements (I used Nyos range of additives)

 

[sherman]

Good info and Thank You for sharing

[Jeebusai]

16 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

Its rumored that Marine Pure (though its a very good bio media), can leach small amounts of aluminum. Its mentioned in some overseas forums. Not seen controlled analysis about it though. 

Aluminum can be introduced by using aluminum based products like Seachem phosguard. John Guest quick fittings have aluminum clips that can also leach aluminum over time. 

Toxic levels of aluminum  that cause death are ~ 10ppm = 10000 ug/L.  Most reports on aluminum are at very high level exposure (eg. death, growth inhibition, cancer). Don't see any reports on exposure levels we typically see in our reef tanks. But i'd assume there should be 'some' effect.

 

My ICP test shows 180 ug/L. Upper specs for sea water is 10ug/L. Corals are growing fine but its still 18x over NSW levels.

Note again that toxic levels are 10000ug/L

 

Being paranoid, I took out all aluminum contributors (clips & MP media) and changed to Maxpect Bio Sphere. Got mine from ReefmarketSG.

 

 

 

I’m currently using sea chem phosguard and it works for me. Was battling algae issues until I used this. Any recommendations other than a reactor. Btw, I put for about 3-4 days before I remove the media and only use when algae is really bad. Thanks 

[SubzeroLT]

Ideally, you should have phosphate binding media all the time since new phosphate is added daily from feeding. 

And its best to use a reactor that can tumble the media lightly to optimize the contact time with water . Using a reactor allows you to tune the flow depending on requirements. Putting it in a bag isn't optimum.

Consider the Nyos Torq reactor. So far, the folks I know who use it love it for its convenience.

[Jeebusai]

5 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

Ideally, you should have phosphate binding media all the time since new phosphate is added daily from feeding. 

And its best to use a reactor that can tumble the media lightly to optimize the contact time with water . Using a reactor allows you to tune the flow depending on requirements. Putting it in a bag isn't optimum.

Consider the Nyos Torq reactor. So far, the folks I know who use it love it for its convenience.

Thanks for the intro on torq. Went k check out the videos and look really impressive. Seriously thinking or replacing my Santa Monica ATS with this. The only issue I have is the extremely small sump for Red Sea reefer. Was thinking of using Clarisea too.... faint...don’t think can fit all 3 in. Unless I change the sump....

[JiaEn]

Please don't fluidise aluminium based phosphate remover in a reactor. It will release fine dust which can lead to Al problem very quickly. Gfo however, needs to be fluidised to be most effective. 

[SubzeroLT]

46 minutes ago, JiaEn said:

Please don't fluidise aluminium based phosphate remover in a reactor. It will release fine dust which can lead to Al problem very quickly. Gfo however, needs to be fluidised to be most effective. 

You are right.  Phosguard should not be fluidized. Thanks for highlighting.

I was thinking of Rowaphos .... which should be fluidized for max efficiency.

[JiaEn]

41 minutes ago, SubzeroLT said:

You are right.  Phosguard should not be fluidized. Thanks for highlighting.

I was thinking of Rowaphos .... which should be fluidized for max efficiency.

Thus the problem with multi-medium reactors such as torq. If you set the flowrate based on carbon, which shouldn't tumble, then can't effectively fluidise GFO. 

[Jeebusai]

Thanks for the valuable inputs guys! 

[SubzeroLT]

8 hours ago, JiaEn said:

Thus the problem with multi-medium reactors such as torq. If you set the flowrate based on carbon, which shouldn't tumble, then can't effectively fluidise GFO. 

Its OK for me so far with Rowaphos & RowaCarbon (does not tumble).

 

If one is using a brand with smaller carbon bits (eg Skimz  CARB-08 carbon or BRS Rox), the option is to place the black sponge to hold down the carbon.

[SubzeroLT]

8 hours ago, JiaEn said:

Thus the problem with multi-medium reactors such as torq. If you set the flowrate based on carbon, which shouldn't tumble, then can't effectively fluidise GFO. 

Its OK for me so far with Rowaphos & RowaCarbon (does not tumble).

 

If one is using a brand with smaller carbon bits (eg Skimz  CARB-08 carbon or BRS Rox), the option is to place the black sponge to hold down the carbon.

[JiaEn]

4 hours ago, SubzeroLT said:

Its OK for me so far with Rowaphos & RowaCarbon (does not tumble).

 

If one is using a brand with smaller carbon bits (eg Skimz  CARB-08 carbon or BRS Rox), the option is to place the black sponge to hold down the carbon.

What I mean is that the rowaphos won't be able to tumble when used in the same reactor as carbon

[SubzeroLT]

Of the various brands/batches of glue used recently, this one has been the most reliable so far. Pure Aquatic Coral & Plant fix - Cheap, good & very strong.

My gripe with this brand previously was that the nozzle clogged quite easily & went to other brands.

But realized the other brands are either not sticky enough to hold corals properly or they cannot dispense properly. A fellow reefer taught me a good workaround of NOT using the nozzle. But instead squeeze out a blob of glue just before storage. 

Simply break off this blob of glue the next time you want to use & its ready to go! Works very well even after a long time in storage. Apparently the blob forms a barrier & the tube content is well protected.

 

3D printed pinch valve for calcium reactor effluent.

This type of pinch valve physically pinch the tube externally. Its best for CR as there are no sharp edges for the fine particles of the effluent to clog. Probably put some up for sale if there is interest.

 

 

 

[PowderTang]

27 minutes ago, SubzeroLT said:

Of the various brands/batches of glue used recently, this one has been the most reliable so far. Cheap, good & very strong.

My gripe with this brand previously was that the nozzle clogged quite easily & went to other brands.

But realized the other brands are either not sticky enough to hold corals properly or they cannot dispense properly. A fellow reefer taught me a good workaround of NOT using the nozzle. But instead squeeze out a blob of glue just before storage.

Simply break off this blob of glue the next time you want to use & its ready to go! Works very well even after a long time in storage. Apparently the blob forms a barrier & the tube content is well protected.

 

3D printed pinch valve for calcium reactor effluent.

This type of pinch valve physically pinch the tube externally. Its best for CR as there are no sharp edges for the fine particles of the effluent to clog. Probably put some up for sale if there is interest.

 

 

 

I’m also using this glue brand and like it so far!

quite strong and fast