| Nitrate | 40mg/l |
| Action Taken | 5 Gallon Water change |
Nitrate still high. The Mandarin Dragonet is still active, but belly is very sunken. 400 Pods will arrive wednesday or thursday, lets hope we’ll get them soon.
Contrary to popular opinion, a person does not have to be rich to enjoy a reef aquarium of their own. Saltwater can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be, and here’s how.
| Nitrate | 160Mg/L |
| Action Taken | 5 Gallon Water Change |
| Nitrate | 80Mg/L |
The Nitrate levels in this tank are starting to bother me. I know the fluval is a nitrate factory, but I expect the denitrification process in the rock to kick in eventually. It’s very hard to read my test kit at this level of nitrate, so I take my results with a grain of salt. One thing is clear though, the nitrate is way too high.
On another note, I think I made a mistake when I purchased my Mandarin Dragonet, I hope I can keep him going. I think he’s eaten the tank clean of pods, and I can’t order any until later this week. If I can manage to catch him and get him into isolation I think I might try to feed him some roe or some frozen brine. Easier said than done however, getting him out of the rocks is no easy task.
It’s been alot of hard work getting frugal reef up and running, but now with wiki, forums, and blogging I believe all the technology is in place. I feel like I’ve been writing care sheet articles forever, but the site is starting to look great and it feels good to see it fleshing out.
| Calcium | 300mg/l |
| Nitrate | 160mg/l |
Added a blue linkia starfish and some more Hermit Crabs and Snails. Did a 5 gallon water change, but Nitrate levels are still beyond my test kits ability to measure.
| Ammonia | 0.0ppm |
| Nitrite | 0.0ppm |
| Nitrate | 160ppm |
| Ph | 8.3 |
| - |
Ammonia and Nitrite have been 0 for a while, so I’ve decided to add some fish today just for fun. Nitrate levels are still sky high, hopefully time and a little macroalgae will improve things.
I added second anemone, 6 snails, 2 Clown Fish, a ball of wire macroalgae, and a Mandarin Dragonet. I removed the air stones, and hooked the fluval back up without the overflow. It’s sucking water out near the bottom, and pumping it back in at the top, so I’m sure there will be enough turnover for aeration.
The mandarin dragonet is very thin, I hope he does ok.
To celebrate our grand opening, the frugal reef staff will personally research and answer the first 100 marine reef aquarium questions asked in our forum.
I noticed a thick dusting of diatoms appeared in top of the rocks today. Probably related to the reduced water flow.
| Specific Gravity | 1.0245 |
| Temperature | 78.3 |
| Ammonia | 0.5ppm |
| Nitrite | 5.0ppm |
| Nitrate | 80ppm |
| Ph | 8.4 |
| Action Taken |
The fluval stopped again today and I couldn’t get it started. I’m done tinkering with that. I’ve turned it off. I’ll just have to build a sump and buy a pump.Becky added another air line and another power head to keep the water flowing.
