Lighting/timer

I would recommend Seatest and Mottes test kits.

Salifert don't always measure all forms of calcium present from my experience. I've gotten different CA readings from the same sample.

I would avoid Red Sea and Fastest kits.

http://www.petsr4u.com/proddetail.asp?prod=iotr100

http://www.petsr4u.com/proddetail.asp?prod=iotr300

http://www.mottestens.com/kits.htm

HTH

 

You want to test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, Ca, Mag, Alk, Potassium, & Phosphates.

 

The Mottes water hardness (CA, MG, and Alk) is a good test kit.

Instructions from their web site:

The hardness of water depends on its content of calcium and magnesium salts. The total assay of these salts determines the hardness of water. In Europe, it is expressed in terms of degrees of hardness (od), whereby it is important to differentiate between German, French and English values. In the U.S.A., it is simply expressed in terms of mg/l CaCO3.

1 hardness in Germany (1o d)=10 mg/l CaCO3
1 hardness in England (1o e)=14.3 mg/l CaCO3
1 hardness in France (1o f) =10 mg/l CaCO3

Conversion factors: 1o d= 1.2o e = 1.78o f = 0.178 mmol/l
Apart from the above values, water is often simply designated as "soft water" or "hard water" etc. The following values generally apply to these terms:

0-90 mg CaCO3 per liter (0-5 od): very soft water
90-180 mg CaCO3 per liter (5-10 od): soft water
180-270 mg CaCO3 per liter (10-15 od): medium hard water (The optimal level recommended for most agricultural crops).
270-360 mg CaCO3 per liter (15-20 od): hard water
360-450 mg CaCO3 per liter (20-25 od) and above: very hard water

The hardness of water is often of importance where no laboratory facilities for its analytical determination exist. In these cases, Aquadur provides a quick method for an indicative reading. Its sensitivity is adequate for agriculture, horticulture and hydroponics culture (salt water tanks too).
The test sticks can also detect any form of calcium such as calcium nitrate – Ca (NO3)2 and etc.

Sensitivity: Aquadur permits the determination of hardness of water from 0 to 25 od, i.e. up to about 450 mg CaCO3 per liter. Standard gradations are 0-5-10-15-20-25 od.

1 od=1,8 of=1,25 oe=17,8 mg/l CaCO3.

Color reaction: color change from turquoise to pink.

Method of application: Dip stick briefly into the water and shake off excess. Compare with color scale after one minute. Stick should be held by the end and care should be taken that fingers do not touch the area covered by the test paper.

 

This is a link to a LaMotte distributor.

http://www.marinedepot.com/a_tk_lm.asp

 

hey, thanks a lot for this info, tjis is some great stuff, even do i dont know what kit to by first, theres so many.

 

The kits you want to get are Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, PH, and Calcium. Seatest would be really good kits for these basics. Get these and buy the additional test listed below as you can afford them.

For Sulfate and Potassium kits I would recommend LaMottes.

For water hardness, calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity, the Hach test kit HA-4P with catolog #145-00 would be best. Hach is the maker of the Seatest kits.

 

Turbo,

A powerhead is easy. It is a submersible pump that provides water circulation in your tank.

A Protein Skimmer removes Dissolved Organic Compounds from the water column. These need to be removed by frequent water changes or some other source or they will be broken down and foul the water. You can remove a lot of these with refugiums. I have a refugium. However, I personally like having a protein skimmer too.

Skimmers work by creating a "foam" or "froth" in the reaction chamber. This froth is an air and water mixture. Now, to remove DOC's (dissolved organic compounds) we use a simple trick of chemistry. Many of these DOC's have a hydrophobic and a hydrophyllic end. The hydrophobic end is "afraid" of the water bubbles and thus is repelled by them. The hydrophyllic end "likes" the water bubbles and is attracted to the water bubbles and rises in the column of foam. The foam, rich in DOC's spills over into the collection cup. This foam is green or brown and smells pretty bad. After watching a protein skimmer in action, it's easy to see the benefits of owning one for your reef tank.

OK---sorry about the big words. Do this. Fill a glass of water 3/4 of the way up and get a straw. Blow bubbles into the water. The bubbles didn't stay long after you stopped blowing did they and unless you were really blowing hard, nothing has left the glass. Drain the glass halfway and pour some milk (protein) so that the glass is again 3/4 full. Start blowing into the straw again. The protein in the milk will bind with the air bubbles and make a froth. If you kept blowing long enough, the froth would overflow the edge of the glass. (If you were physically capable of blowing oxygen into it instead of carbon dioxide, it would happen pretty quickly).

Protein skimmers also help oxygenate the water and help limit Ph swings.

 

inwall 75, that info u displayed for me is AWESOME now i actualy get wut the proteing skimmer does.
thanx alot

JOE

 

Glad I could help.

 

A good alternative is an inline/external pump. I will try these soon. The heat will be disappated outside the tank and with too much heat pumps introduce to reef systems (unless you are in the cold countries!) it is a disadvantage.

My small tank setup has a sump powerhead of 28watts and two circulation powerheads of 8 watts each a total of 44 watts and taking these pumps at 50% efficiency around 22 watts heat entered into the tank 24/7 so placing these externally might help cooling the tank.