Lexinverts

New tank video:

I came back after 2 weeks away and colors in the tank are looking great! Kudos to my wife for keeping things filled and the animals fed!

15 hours ago, Paratore said:

Bump for Price reductions. 

Cody, I just got home and was able to measure my skimmer chamber, I will take the skimmer.

10 minutes ago, John Vinson said:

Thanks for taking the time to run it all down!  I am running a skimmer (I've attached a recirculating CO2 scrubber to it, so my Ph is finally starting to slowly rise).  I had a disastrous attempt at raising the Ph by dosing Kalkwasser to my ATO, which eventually shot my Alk over 11, so I'm slowly recovering from that mess.  I do have some bio materials (I have the ceramic rings in a bag in one of my media rack slots) and I initially added some API starter bacteria when I first got the tank going, but haven't thought to dose more bacteria (I dose Alk/Calc as well as Phytoplankton right now).  Also, I'm going to be adding a "mini-refugium" to my media rack (just like this guy did -

I just did a water change and the P04 stayed the same (as expected), but the nitrates came down a fair amount (73.1 to 61.0), so I'm going to continue with water changes every 3 or 4 days until I get them down to a better level (shooting for around 10 right now).  Also, I have been doing just straight water changes instead of vacuuming/cleaning the sand, so my next water change is going to include a good cleaning of the sand.  I know the mini-refugium idea may not help to bring the nitrates down much, but anything helps and it should help to continue bringing my Ph up as well.  

So with your advice, I'm going to add a small bag of rowaphos to my media rack, and start dosing some MB7, in addition to the water changes/sand cleaning and hopefully I get this under control.  Thanks again for the help!

Go really slow with the Rowaphos. It is powerful stuff.

5 minutes ago, Flash21 said:

Looking to buy some booger frags of cheap sticks that are nice. I have a few and think I got down on not killing them any more! 
 

Thanks Chris 

 

I have a bunch. PM me.

11 minutes ago, Saltwater newbie said:

A few updated pictures 

Very nice! Time for some corals!

10 hours ago, reefnjunkie said:

Good information Andy, I may have stumbled in at the right time it seems, for me at least.

 

Question on the Reef Blueprint, Looks like you buy the elements from them and dose accordingly based on the results from Aqua?

I cant find anything regarding the "MS upgraded" 

 

I do a very similar process using Reefers Moonshine and the calculator Andre provides that spells out what to dose based on tank volume and results from the ICP. I like the part with the trace elements Aqua provided (which as you mentioned ICP doesn't provide), I dose near all those trace daily (blindly in a sense) based on the moonshine calculator. Id love to see where my actual trace levels are but cant find that MS option on Aquas site.  

 

Tanks looks great ( I suppose I should mention that huh LOL) Its also nice to see I'm not alone in the iodine overdose, I was consistently in the .14ug/l range month after month, not this time though BOOM 168ug/l 😝 

 

 

Hi Brad,

Thanks! Now, time for you to show some pictures of your tanks 😀!

Aquabiomics.com @EMeyer sells the OCEAMO Icp tests. The Mass spec service is brand new, so it is not even available on the Aquabiomics website yet. You need to get a standard ICP test and then email Christoph (office@oceamo.at) and request the Mass spec upgrade. It will be an additional charge but I am not sure how much yet.

The Reefblueprint folks also offer their own standard ICP test, but I am not sure how reliable that one is yet. (https://www.aquaholicaquaculture.com/store/p102/ICP-Test.html)

I'm still experimenting with the ReefBlueprint Isol8 trace elements. I was previously dosing several trace elements separately using the ATI supplements based on the OCEAMO reports. However, juggling all of those bottles every day is kind of complicated and I am intrigued by the single dose possibilities offered by the Isol8 supplements. I'm going to keep doing it and then test again in a few weeks with the OCEAMO ICP Mass spec test. The Mass spec test is the best for trace elements, since it has a much lower limit of detection than standard ICP and can detect lost of stuff that ICP cannot.

If this doesn't work out, I might give Andre's system a try. I have been following him for quite a while, and he has lots of adherents that are having good success!

Yup, that Iodine surprised me. I ordered the Salifert Iodine test right after I saw that report.

Cheers,

Andy

9 hours ago, Pennywise said:

I'm hoping to make it down there in the next 2 or 3 weeks actually. I am looking for unique hammers and gold/ yellow frogspawn. Maybe torches. I like LPS 

I have gonis. I most have sps, gonis, and soft corals in my systems. I'll send you a PM.

9 hours ago, TaylorW said:

Do you happen to also have a frag of the red one you would sell as well?

No, those are sponges. I don't have those anymore. They are hard to keep happy. I'll send you a PM.

10 hours ago, John Vinson said:

I've finally tossed the API test kit, as it continued to show that my nitrates were zero.  My HR Hanna checker just tested them at 73.1 PPM!  Phosphates came back high as well 0.90 PPM (about 10x higher than desired, right?), so I'm wondering if NoPox is the best option to go with to get them both down.  I'm setting up a "mini-refugium" in the back of my RSM 250 (since I don't have a sump, I'm using the media rack to contain/grow some chaeto, but I'm a few weeks away from getting that up and running), so the NoPox wouldn't be a permanent solution, assuming that once the chaeto is growing nicely it will control the Nitrates by itself (not sure if it does anything to phosphates).  Any other thoughts/recommendations??  Thanks!

The first thing you'll probably want to address is why they got so high in the first place. Are you feeding lots of pellets? If so, I would back off the pellets and feed mostly frozen mysis and nori. I almost exclusively feed these two foods to my tanks.

NoPox isn't the greatest stuff in my view. It always led to other problems when I used it. If you have a RS250 you could easily do some large water changes to get nitrates down as a first step. Doing regular water changes will help keep your nitrates in check long term, as well. Keeping phosphates down usually requires a little more than that. To bring down phosphates in my tanks, I run some Rowaphos in a filter sock.

In my experience, an oversized skimmer will do a good job at controlling nitrates, but not phosphates. The Red Sea 250 only has an adequate skimmer, so probably regular water changes are in your future.....But having some large soft corals such as large Tyree green toadstools can help lower nitrates quickly in some systems. A big coral population in general will utilize nitrates help to keep them in check. I am currently dosing nitrates in all of my tanks because my corals use them up so fast that they quickly go to 0. I still have to use chemical media to lower phosphates, however.

A refugium with chaeto can also help reduce nitrates, but doesn't tend to do that much for phosphates. And I'm not sure that you could run enough chaeto in your back chamber to make a difference for nitrates either.

In a RS250, you could put some Rowaphos in a filter bag and add that to the media rack in the back chamber. Be careful with Rowaphos, though, as it can pull phosphate out of your water very quickly. You want to do it gradually, and under-dose what it says in the instructions. Use Hanna Phosphate and Nitrate high range checkers to track your progress.

Very important.....keep the ratio of nitrates to phosphates roughly 100:1. As an example, that would be nitrate of 10 and phosphate of .1. In my systems, I try to shoot for nitrate of 5-15 and phosphate of .05-.15. If your phosphate ever gets HIGHER than your nitrate, you will often end of with dinoflagellate and/or cyanobacteria problems. Low nitrate and high phosphate is where people end up sometimes when they use NoPox or vodka dosing, so that is why I stay away from the stuff.

Good luck!

Nice! Are you coming down to Portland anytime soon? What kinds of corals are you looking for?

33 minutes ago, TaylorW said:

I'm checking to see if anyone local has this coral for sale before I go ahead and order it online, it's called Corky Sea Fingers or Dead Man's Fingers gorgonian. Any color. Also looking for mushrooms, some Kenya tree or Colt coral and a Duncan frag

I have very thick gorgonian just like that, and I would be happy to sell you a frag.

In the past I have heard corky sea fingers described as an encrusting gorgonian, but when I look at KP aquatics, I see gorgonians that are branching like the thick ones I have.

Here's a couple of pictures of the one that I have in my seahorse tank.

That was a great game!

1 hour ago, Emerald525 said:

Deal !! Go Bengals !! I won’t even take the point spread!! Eh 😐 I kinda want the rams to win I don’t know why… I will give you an sps frag either way Andy!

Good game so far!

26 minutes ago, Emerald525 said:

I will be watching but don’t really care who wins.  I like Sean Mcvay as he keeps the hair gel companies in business. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Matt Stafford win a Super Bowl. I also wouldn’t mind seeing the Bengals win. It was the defense that turned things around for them two weeks ago. 
 

Anyone want to put a bet on the game ?

I bet you an SPS frag that the Rams win!

19 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said:

How many of you plan to watch the Super Bowl today?  If so, who are you rooting for?

Since I'm originally from Detroit, I'm rooting for the Rams with their former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Us Lions fans always have to live vicariously through other teams.....😬

Here's an update:

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2022/02/12/pijacs-lacey-act-update/?fbclid=IwAR0MhJi5Yt-LNEsqntGZbH7QkCcOoBD7Zz-9X5KbxJggbp2WJKkkyGpCuJ8

Following up on my previous post regarding the Isol8 trace element dosing by Reef Blueprint, I just got my latest chemistry report from Oceamo. A cool update is that now they offer a Mass Spec service as an option rather than ICP. Dr. Christoph Denk upgraded this report to MS for free. Thanks, Christoph! These MS water tests are available in North America from @EMeyer at www.aquabiomics.com

Ostensibly, Mass Spec means that they are more able to accurately detect trace elements. Here's my report after about a month of dosing trace elements with Isol8. Generally things look pretty good, with a few exceptions. Given I have only been using the Isol8 for 3 weeks prior to the report, I don't really know whether they will even out eventually. The other unknown is that my previous Oceamo reports have all been ICP, which is not supposed to be as accurate as MS...so comparing previous reports to this one is like apples and oranges.

I think the high Iodine is due to me overdosing the ATI Iodine supplement before I switched to the Isol8. I'm going to run another test soon to be sure.

Here's what Christoph says about the difference between standard ICP and Mass Spec:

"Using the Oceamo ICP-MS upgrade your sample will be analyzed using ICP-MS (instead of ICP-OES). ICP-MS (ICP with mass spectrometry) is by orders of magnitude more sensitive compared to ICP-OES, and allows up to 10.000-fold lower limits of detection.

This brings the following advantages:

-  Optimum trace element concentrations are often below the limit of detection in ICP-OES analysis. Important trace elements can be measured with ICP-MS in the relevant concentration range in a reliable way. Those ultra-traces include Selenium, Chromium, Copper, Cobalt and Nickel.

- Toxic heavy metals (like Mercury, Thallium, Bismuth, Lead, Thorium, Uranium, ...) can be detected at very low concentrations with ICP-MS (allowing counter-acting long before issues in your reef inhabitants appear)

- ICP-MS allows to measure additional elements which can play a role in aquarium husbandry (like Caesium, Tellurium, Cer and Ruthenium)."

Here's a fairly helpful summary given by Coral Magazine:

https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2022/02/09/aquarium-apocalypse-can-lacey-act-amendments-really-cripple-or-end-the-u-s-aquarium-and-pet-trade/

There is a useful discussion between Rich Ross, Ben Johson and Matt Pedersen here:

Notwithstanding the title of the episode, "the aquarium hobby is doomed" it doesn't seem likely that the Lacey Act amendments will become law anytime soon. It is very important, however, to contact our senators and let them know why the Lacey Act amendment should not become law in this form. And, finally, we need to support the PIJAC, wich is the only political organization that our hobby has to communicate our concerns to congress. See link below.

https://pijac.org/

It's amazing how easy it is to lose track of gradual changes in the tank when you are looking at it every day. Having a tank journal really helps you see your tank's evolution over time.

Here you can see just about exactly one year's growth in these two pictures.
 

1 minute ago, EMeyer said:

Bug in the moderation software perhaps. The forum does not show any evidence the post was ever edited, at least not to the original author of the post. We can continue that discussion outside the thread. I leave this note here to explain that we are seeing literally different things when we view this thread. 

Do you see it now?

30 minutes ago, EMeyer said:

My post was edited and text deleted without any acknowledgement or discussion. I'm just gonna say that out loud and leave it there. 

 

And here people are still talking about this as if it was a standalone act that would be voted up or down in the Senate based on the merits and what their constituents want. But I guess when you refuse to acknowledge politics you end up drawing the wrong conclusions. 

[quote]The house passed the America Competes Act and within it they added the Lacey Act.[/quote]

 

Ok, it looks like the forum software is not showing the note that I left when I moderated the post. Sorry about that. I will try to fix it.

FYI: The Lacey Act is not new. It is our oldest environmental law (1900). The legislation in question was an amendment to the Lacey Act, and this amendment is poorly written and seriously flawed. Similar things have been tried in the past and they died on the Senate floor. The same will happen here, but it is extremely important that we reach out to our senators to explain why it should not pass.

New tank video, showcasing my fish!

46 minutes ago, EMeyer said:

Two key issues. 

1. The law would require federal agents to positively identify all species. Professional biologists with decades of training working in well funded labs can't meet this bar. But agents with at best TSA-level intelligence and training are going to somehow do it? 

2. The law makes absolutely no exceptions for farmed or captive raised animals. It would quite literally end the aquarium industry.

Good points.

The amendment is a poorly written piece of legislation that, fortunately, will not pass the Senate.

I just emailed both of our senators about it.