what is th correct level for LPS

[nicken]

notice tht No3 is hard to bring down. mine is 10.

[35Cents]

KH: 8-12 dkh... preferably 10.

CA: 390-430...preferably 420ppm

NO3: best is zero lah... but I feel that anything below 30 is ok...currently left 5 in tank, waiting for my micro-algae in sump to take the rest away cos I'm not using a skimmer (Miracle Mud).

[nicken]

oh , hw long u have been using the mud? is it gd ?

no skimmer tank? low bioload? i cant have refuge , my sump design wrongy, the flow is too fast .. tried b4 , all the marco-algae die

[35Cents]

Its a new tank at about nearing 3 months. It's good IMO...most low maintenance needed so far. Algae, both micro and undesirable, is blooming like mad in the sump now but main tank is very clean. But need to keep the return to around 5X the vol of main tank for microalgae to work its magic.

I don't need to dose anything except for bio-cal and buffer from TM every week. I'm trying to keep a low bio-load at the moment cos this system is still at a testing stage for me... will know its full potential when the tank matures in 3 or more months as I slowly add in more corals. But one thing for sure... the nitrates went from ard 20ppm to 5ppm over 1.5 months after the algae is added.

[nicken]

cool man.

[kareen]

NO3: best is zero lah... but I feel that anything below 30 is ok...currently left 5 in tank, waiting for my micro-algae in sump to take the rest away cos I'm not using a skimmer (Miracle Mud). 

35cents : How's that miracle mud doing in your tank? Good? Do you really, really, really never use any skimmer at all and still able to maintain NO3=0? What test kit u used for testing this? What is your livestock level? 'cos I wana to confirm.....

U see, from day 1 I had my current tank, I have been battling with NO3. Reefers here advise me to reduce the bioballs in my filter compartment but I have my reserve.... scare that instead of nitrate, I will get something more toxin in the water 'cos I do not run a beckette or equivalent powerful skimmer. One of my friend (LFS) recommended the product miracle mud but saying that my fish will have ich for a while 'cos mine is already an up running tank..... **that's why I sold off my tangs (purple and sohal) if I am going to do this**

[kareen]

my sump design wrongy, the flow is too fast .. tried b4 , all the marco-algae die

Huh? Wana show a pic of it? I don't think flow too fast will kill the macro algae.... Hm.... what kind of algae you tried? Wait a minute, u didn't mention the lighting..... I had about 50watt of FL..... a bit too much but what the heck.... better than dieing algae, right? I have tried using 11wattPL and it didn't work for me though some say ok.....

[35Cents]

35cents : How's that miracle mud doing in your tank? Good? Do you really, really, really never use any skimmer at all and still able to maintain NO3=0? What test kit u used for testing this? What is your livestock level? 'cos I wana to confirm.....

U see, from day 1 I had my current tank, I have been battling with NO3. Reefers here advise me to reduce the bioballs in my filter compartment but I have my reserve.... scare that instead of nitrate, I will get something more toxin in the water 'cos I do not run a beckette or equivalent powerful skimmer. One of my friend (LFS) recommended the product miracle mud but saying that my fish will have ich for a while 'cos mine is already an up running tank..... **that's why I sold off my tangs (purple and sohal) if I am going to do this**

Hi Kareen

IMO, MM works for me in keeping the tank (main) mostly algae and maintenance free. I'm using salifert test kits but my NO3 not zero lah... now its 5ppm, down from 20ppm at peak. I'm currently not using a skimmer for my 18g nano, although I'm keeping my LS low (now 2 griessingeri gobies (no feeding needed), 4 sps coral frags, 5 bumble bee snails, 1 tigertail cuke, 2 scarlet reef hermits, 1 small fancy brittle) but I dose plankton every other day for my few SPS frags cos now using 2 tubes of T5 as I haven't got time to source for a welder to make my MH stand. (Anyone got recommendation?).

As for ich, my previous percula clowns and boxfish did not relaspe wif ich after hyposalinity treatment. They were introduced into the new MM tank after the treatment, so I can't comment whether adding MM will get ich or not. But so far, no ich ever occur on any fishes in the MM tank.

If you using MM on an established tank, make sure the return pump is ideally 5x the volume for the tank instead of the recommended 10 or more times, cos many overseas reefers in EU and US says 5X work best for reducing nitrates. Also, be prepare to no use the sump or fuge for about 2 days to let the mud settle in. If not you will have a brown tank! Hope this helps.

[nicken]

this is roughly how my refuge look like. now i didn't put any macro-algae already.

only carbon and coral chips. i'm using 11w PL last time to keep the algae.

maybe my lights too weak

look at the water flow.

[35Cents]

Nice flowing effect you got there!

[kschew1498]

Hi Bro 35cents......when you say 5X the vol. of the main tank.....does it mean per hour the main tank water vol. must circulate through the sump.....pardon my ignorance.....

[35Cents]

Hi Bro 35cents......when you say 5X the vol. of the main tank.....does it mean per hour the main tank water vol. must circulate through the sump.....pardon my ignorance.....

Yes its per hour... example my tank is 18g = ard 60 litres. My ehiem compact 300 is my return pump at 300l/h, thus ard 5X considering flow losses at about 12 inch height.

[nicken]

Nice flowing effect you got there!

thank you

[nicken]

Yes its per hour... example my tank is 18g = ard 60 litres. My ehiem compact 300 is my return pump at 300l/h, thus ard 5X considering flow losses at about 12 inch height.

mine is abt 90g. i'm using MD 40 . so how many X is my circulation?

head lost meaning frm the PH outlet to the main tank outlet right?

[35Cents]

Yours is MD40 RLT or MD40 RLXT? Each have 750 and 1200 gph respectively...so depending which one you using its either 8X or 13X. Please take note that I'm using 5X because using MM....normal tanks should have a return of around 10X.

[nicken]

Yours is MD40 RLT or MD40 RLXT?

wats RTL and RLXT?

[35Cents]

Different version of the same model...or is all MD40 locally is the same??

[kareen]

Hi nicken!

Very busy trying on other issues....miss this thread.

From your pic, I don't see major problem except that you need something to block it from flowing out the area leh...... Maybe it is the lighting. I HAVE TRIED 11w PL 24hrs ON before, the algae just slowly waste away.... not growing till I fed up and DIY a 22watt and a 32 watt ring FL and install. From then on, the macro algae grow like mad.

[kareen]

Hi Kareen

IMO, MM works for me in keeping the tank (main) mostly algae and maintenance free. I'm using salifert test kits but my NO3 not zero lah... now its 5ppm, down from 20ppm at peak. I'm currently not using a skimmer for my 18g nano, although I'm keeping my LS low (now 2 griessingeri gobies (no feeding needed), 4 sps coral frags, 5 bumble bee snails, 1 tigertail cuke, 2 scarlet reef hermits, 1 small fancy brittle) but I dose plankton every other day for my few SPS frags cos now using 2 tubes of T5 as I haven't got time to source for a welder to make my MH stand. (Anyone got recommendation?).

As for ich, my previous percula clowns and boxfish did not relaspe wif ich after hyposalinity treatment. They were introduced into the new MM tank after the treatment, so I can't comment whether adding MM will get ich or not. But so far, no ich ever occur on any fishes in the MM tank.

If you using MM on an established tank, make sure the return pump is ideally 5x the volume for the tank instead of the recommended 10 or more times, cos many overseas reefers in EU and US says 5X work best for reducing nitrates. Also, be prepare to no use the sump or fuge for about 2 days to let the mud settle in. If not you will have a brown tank! Hope this helps. 

Hm....your LS is really light.... Oh, the ick I refer to is tang in my tank lah. **famous for ick** not other fish IMO.

How much MM do I need for my tank size (pls see my signature)? MM quite ex.... need to think very hard b4 committing.... I am still thinking about any alternative beside this..... **welcome any sugguestion**

[35Cents]

You need about 30lbs for your around 100gal tank. Yes...MM bloodly expensive...luckily mine is a nano.

Other alternative is to go get kent marine bio-sediment.... i tried getting this before as its much cheaper than MM but hard to find. There are quite a lot of good reviews on this white mud... try to search this forums for users using this and get their advise.

One extreme and very cheap way to get mud is to go to GOOD clean mangroves area and get the swamp mud from there. My friend got some in redang isle and added to his fuge... only complain he had is that the fuge cannot be use for about 3 days as the mud takes a long time to settle in the sump tank. But this way the risk of adding bad stuffs into your tank is greater...but so far his tank is ok and micro-algae is growing well under T5 lights.

One last alternative is in experimental stage, the same friend set up a 10g nano and set up a 2g fuge using those planted tank base substrate. Just set up 2 weeks ago so far no update as he's living in UK and we keep in touch every now and then only...

Hope this helps....

[kareen]

One extreme and very cheap way to get mud is to go to GOOD clean mangroves area and get the swamp mud from there. My friend got some in redang isle and added to his fuge... only complain he had is that the fuge cannot be use for about 3 days as the mud takes a long time to settle in the sump tank. But this way the risk of adding bad stuffs into your tank is greater...but so far his tank is ok and micro-algae is growing well under T5 lights.

One last alternative is in experimental stage, the same friend set up a 10g nano and set up a 2g fuge using those planted tank base substrate. Just set up 2 weeks ago so far no update as he's living in UK and we keep in touch every now and then only...

Yes, this definitely helps..... Heehehee keep me posted with the above two tank can?

[kareen]

only complain he had is that the fuge cannot be use for about 3 days as the mud takes a long time to settle in the sump tank

How he add that in? I think need to draw all water out first, then put mud in then slowly and carefully add back the water. May have to cover the top of the mud with rocks, algae.... IMO.

[35Cents]

How he add that in? I think need to draw all water out first, then put mud in then slowly and carefully add back the water. May have to cover the top of the mud with rocks, algae.... IMO.

He off the return pump and all the accessories in the sump first, then dump the collected mud in without taking out any water cos from the collection till reach home is more than 24 hrs...redang to KLIA to Heathrow to home in west london...he worry the live stuffs in mud will die. Thus its very dirty in the fuge area for a few days. After settling in about 2-3 days, he added half inch of live sand seeded from the main tank to prevent the fine sediment from being distrub in the future.

Although he got no LS casualty, he noticed his corals are not tat nice during the last day of waiting the sediment to settle cos there are no mechanical or chemical or skimmer working the main tank. Do take note of this if you intend to off the whole sump and your LS is sensitive to changes. I would recommend a hang on filter and skimmer to do the job in the mean time.

As for the micro-algae (chaetomorpha! troublesome for me to recieve by post here from him!!! Anyone got locally and want to sell??? I pay good $ for it!), he added in a few days after everything runs nicely. Oh btw, Karen, I think we got pretty much off topic from the tread title..lol..if got any question you can start a new tread for fuge mud. Cheers.

[kareen]

yeah.... I notice too. Got difficulty finding the thread also.....

Okay will start a new thread, make sure you input again for future reference.