Jervis' Percula 90

[jervismun]

can you list out your parameters of your tank?

Here you go... refer to signature below. Did a thorought test yesterday.

[ciaolong]

your caclium is on the high side shound be around 400-420 and your mg is low Mg: 1250 – 1300 mg. i wont comment about the other para as there are removers been used but there alot of imbalances.

[jervismun]

your caclium is on the high side shound be around 400-420 and your mg is low Mg: 1250 – 1300 mg. i wont comment about the other para as there are removers been used but there alot of imbalances.

How about my KH? Will do another round of water change this weekend, hopefully will bring bring Calcium down. Will test Magnesium again... been using Aqua Medic Reef Salt.

[ciaolong]

kh is high for me as i go with NSW parameters

Ca: 400 – 420 mg

Mg: 1250 – 1300 mg

KH: 6.5 – 7.5

mg is very important if to low you get very unstable alk levels also can affect your coral intake of ca.

i dont know much about that salt as i use nsw but from wat i know one of the best salts would be seachems

if you reducing or raising your mg/kh/ca do it slowly increase in a short period can lead to more stress to your livestocks. best way do a few water changes over a few days eg 5% for a few days. not one big water change in one go (i never do a water change over 20% cause if your new water and your tank water is a huge differents in para can upset your livestock)

also when i talking about imbalance look at your no3 and po4

mg-ca-kh go hand-in-hand... then p04-n03 go hand-in-hand... (quoted from a good friend) usally when you have undectectable po4 eg .02-0.3 your no3 should be low 1 or even undectable.

[jervismun]

kh is high for me as i go with NSW parameters

Ca: 400 – 420 mg

Mg: 1250 – 1300 mg

KH: 6.5 – 7.5

mg is very important if to low you get very unstable alk levels also can affect your coral intake of ca.

i dont know much about that salt as i use nsw but from wat i know one of the best salts would be seachems

if you reducing or raising your mg/kh/ca do it slowly increase in a short period can lead to more stress to your livestocks. best way do a few water changes over a few days eg 5% for a few days. not one big water change in one go (i never do a water change over 20% cause if your new water and your tank water is a huge differents in para can upset your livestock)

also when i talking about imbalance look at your no3 and po4

mg-ca-kh go hand-in-hand... then p04-n03 go hand-in-hand... (quoted from a good friend) usally when you have undectectable po4 eg .02-0.3 your no3 should be low 1 or even undectable.

That's one thing I like about this hobby... one can never stop learning...

1. I will try to bring down my NO3 = 1. Will try to reduce feeding frozen food (been feeding a lot due to the Moorish Idol, the only LS that refused pellets). Since the Nitratreductor is finally working, should be able to reach NO3 = 1 pretty soon.

2. Will bring down PO4 further, to an undetectable level. Just changed the flow of my Phosphatfilter (filled with Aqua Medic Antiphos and Carbolit). Previously bottom up, the flow is too weak... using a Sicce 800l/h pump. Now top down, with the help of gravity, the flow is at least double. This increase of flow will help bring down PO4 significantly IMO, will do another PO4 test tonight.

3. Will do another Mg testing (soon) and find a way to raise Mg. Do you have any good product in mind? Since it is such a crucial element, I shall categorize it under "price is not a concern" segment.

4. I don't usually change a lot of water. Too lazy for that and don't see a need. 5% to 10% usually. 7 to 10 days apart.

Thanks bro for all your help

[jervismun]

Red Goniopora slowly opening... longest tentacles so far for the past 2 days

Pix taken 1 hour after switching on the Actinic T5s.

[ciaolong]

That's one thing I like about this hobby... one can never stop learning...

1. I will try to bring down my NO3 = 1. Will try to reduce feeding frozen food (been feeding a lot due to the Moorish Idol, the only LS that refused pellets). Since the Nitratreductor is finally working, should be able to reach NO3 = 1 pretty soon.

2. Will bring down PO4 further, to an undetectable level. Just changed the flow of my Phosphatfilter (filled with Aqua Medic Antiphos and Carbolit). Previously bottom up, the flow is too weak... using a Sicce 800l/h pump. Now top down, with the help of gravity, the flow is at least double. This increase of flow will help bring down PO4 significantly IMO, will do another PO4 test tonight.

3. Will do another Mg testing (soon) and find a way to raise Mg. Do you have any good product in mind? Since it is such a crucial element, I shall categorize it under "price is not a concern" segment.

4. I don't usually change a lot of water. Too lazy for that and don't see a need. 5% to 10% usually. 7 to 10 days apart.

Thanks bro for all your help

I am one of those ppl who dont use removers anymore to do the work. its ok as a short term solver but better to find the root of the problem. KISS (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID) and SPS (Stability promotes sucess) are how i run things

I usally recommend with new fish to put into a QT tank by themselves. before adding into a new tank to view their feeding habits and any sickness. reason alot of MI die in captive is lack of nurients from our food we feed. i have to say they one of the hardest fish to feed and should be left to the wild.

Regular water changes is a great way to reduce nurients eg no3. but the Nitratreductor is also good way of removing no3 naturaly, same with macro aglae. (have a look for some cheato if you want macro)

As for frozen foods contains VERY HIGH PO4 doesnt matter wat brand it still contains HUGE amounts of po4 if you still want to feed your fish with frozen please rinse them with some ro water before feeding.

there alot of mg addtives you can even make your own here a good link to one for a 3 part (says 2 but its 3) http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/chem.htm

its also good reading as it explains alot why alk/ca/mg go hand to hand

i used Epsom Salts which is basicly the same thing as the commerical stuff just less pure but still does the job but if your lazy and use a calcium reactor there a product made by zeovit or geotech called mg granulates it comes to around 40 a kg or something (dont remember)

To help you raise your mg have a look on this website to calc how much and over wat period of time your raise it http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

the water change i was talking about is just to get your para all set (the 5 % over a few days) once your para are all stable you can do 10% over a week or so.

also i recommnd if you have the money to buy a hanna LR po4 reader if you going into sps they roughly cost around 200 with the regants that can last over a year and cost only 20 bucks to refill or something but well worth the money much much better than any po4 test kit on the market.

[jervismun]

Wow! Lot's of useful info there... I am currently using Salifert Mg test kit.

I have a question:

What does "Add one spoon of powder (spoon inside) to the test vial..." means? All my other Salifert test kits go by "level spoon" which is quite clear... but spoon inside? Perhaps I am not testing my Mg correctly.

Any experience bros out there?

[Qxnviolet]

Wow! Lot's of useful info there... I am currently using Salifert Mg test kit.

I have a question:

What does "Add one spoon of powder (spoon inside) to the test vial..." means? All my other Salifert test kits go by "level spoon" which is quite clear... but spoon inside? Perhaps I am not testing my Mg correctly.

Any experience bros out there?

Maybe they mean to leave the spoon in the test vial? Or manybe "spoon inside" means they've included a spoon in the package...

[jervismun]

Maybe they mean to leave the spoon in the test vial? Or manybe "spoon inside" means they've included a spoon in the package...

Can't be referring to the free spoon, coz the other sets come with it also... something wrong with the translation I think

[jervismun]

Here's a four part pix to show how quickly my Yuma (on the left) responds to light. Each pix was taken 5 to 10 seconds apart

[Qxnviolet]

Can't be referring to the free spoon, coz the other sets come with it also... something wrong with the translation I think

ShrUgz, cant help you here...i've never measured my Mg before.....

[ciaolong]

there should of been a small spoon inside with the test kit

also look through your journal some more and talking to my friend about it. alot of ppl might not be for this but target feeding lps can upset them

"cause if target feed end up u either feed too much or they end up loss the ability to catch their own food that is flooding in the water... " which can kill them faster dt or golden pearls are far than enough.

o yeah epsom salts is a no go anymore haha cheh even i learn new things "will crash your tank sooner or later which result in iconic inbalance..."

but there alot of mg addtives there IF your corals take alot of mg but best way is to do a water change also just realised since i am using nsw its easier for me to keep the mg levels even but you might want to test your salt to see if the mg is low i know some brands of salt come with low mg and you need to buff it a bit.

[jervismun]

there should of been a small spoon inside with the test kit

also look through your journal some more and talking to my friend about it. alot of ppl might not be for this but target feeding lps can upset them

"cause if target feed end up u either feed too much or they end up loss the ability to catch their own food that is flooding in the water... " which can kill them faster dt or golden pearls are far than enough.

o yeah epsom salts is a no go anymore haha cheh even i learn new things "will crash your tank sooner or later which result in iconic inbalance..."

but there alot of mg addtives there IF your corals take alot of mg but best way is to do a water change also just realised since i am using nsw its easier for me to keep the mg levels even but you might want to test your salt to see if the mg is low i know some brands of salt come with low mg and you need to buff it a bit.

Ok... so the (spoon inside) is referring to the spoon itself? But all Salifert test kits that require scooping come with spoons, so why only mentioned here? But again... one spoon? Coz other test kits will mention 1 level spoon. They don't refer it as just 1 spoon.

Perhaps this Mg test kit was done by another translator hence the inconsistency. Ok I will test my Mg again using 1 level spoon.

You do have a point regarding target feed... yeah if they get too used to target feeding... they will lose their natural ability... just like us humans... I will wait for my para to settle first, then consider flooding the tank with caviar

[Qxnviolet]

Hrmz, whats wrong with target feeding LPS? Is there any difference if i target feed it or it catches its own food? Afterall the tentacles are all there swaying around, i don't think theres any harm in just helping them "catch" the food is there?

[jervismun]

Hrmz, whats wrong with target feeding LPS? Is there any difference if i target feed it or it catches its own food? Afterall the tentacles are all there swaying around, i don't think theres any harm in just helping them "catch" the food is there?

Maybe after a while, they will rely so much on target feeding lor... as long as we can continue doing it... then no problem... IMO

[ciaolong]

most corals will get their own food from the water from you feeding your fish

[jervismun]

I am not feeling well today... so work from home... at the same time monitoring my chiller... got a feeling my chiller, Teco RA240 is insufficient to chill the water quickly... will post a report later tonight, see if you guys can help me on this.

[ciaolong]

i guess a good example is over feeding an BTA.

if you dont know how much to feed it you keep feeding wat u think is right it will kill it. i have done this before lucky the bta didnt kill other stuff in the tank but basicly i feed it to much, it basicly could keep up with digesting the food it already had and store it inside its system while it digesting the other piece of food. while it digesting the 2nd piece the other piece is becoming rotten and basicly kills the bta inside i did have picture of this but lost when i reformated but trust me it doesnt look nice

[jervismun]

Welcome to Perc90 Drive-thru Car Wash

[jervismun]

The Elegance is opening again... the Purple Firefish always hangs around... their colour matches If successful, I will go look for another Elegance... love it!!!

[lyz77]

I am not feeling well today... so work from home... at the same time monitoring my chiller... got a feeling my chiller, Teco RA240 is insufficient to chill the water quickly... will post a report later tonight, see if you guys can help me on this.

That shoud be your next upgrade... Artica!!!

[jervismun]

That shoud be your next upgrade... Artica!!!

Are you using any Chiller at the moment? Artica is very expensive especially for larger models... dunno leh... still considering.

[KennethK]

Did I mention I added 2 more Cleaner Shrimps yesterday? Smaller specimens, so got bullied by my old shrimps Thought they will all group together and start a family or a band... ABBA

I hope the shrimp is not too hungry...

Urs those bigger and nice la. But this type he sell cheap lor. ANyway not as nice as urs of cos. But his yuma easily can have 5 and above for the price i mention.

[jervismun]

Urs those bigger and nice la. But this type he sell cheap lor. ANyway not as nice as urs of cos. But his yuma easily can have 5 and above for the price i mention.

Now I remember... those tanks in front of the Anemone pools... those are not very impressive leh