Chronicle of my 180g Aquarium
- Thread starter Psyire
- Start date
Psyire
Premium Member
The main reason I'm unhappy with the black sand is that I'm unable to crank my tunze's up. If I do, I get bare spots and piles of sand. I would much perfer barebottom (black starboard) with higher flow rates, but I do not wish to break down the tank and do this...
It's also a double edged sword as the lower flow rate causes more stuff to settle on the bottom and therefore show up against the black.
The sand still looks relatively good, but I wouldn't do it again.
It's also a double edged sword as the lower flow rate causes more stuff to settle on the bottom and therefore show up against the black.
The sand still looks relatively good, but I wouldn't do it again.
jay-cee123
New member
Nice setup. I like the pics.
Psyire
Premium Member
I'm officially at WAR with my tank.
I lost my Mandarin today. He was fat, healthy, and there was not a mark on him.
A battle of 3 Fronts...
First Front:
I've had a 'brown algae' outbreak since around the time I put in my Bluethroat trigger. I thought it was due to overfeeding so I reduced my feeding by a lot. I've actually reduced it so much that my corals that rely a lot of food are dying. The 'algae' problem seemed to get better but now it's back stronger than ever. It's covering only my sand and glass. However it has attacked and killed almost all my SPS corals. It will start by covering the white (new growth) areas on the coral, and then slowly choke it out, a millimeter at a time, until the coral dies.
I've recently (yesterday) learned that this is not an Algae at all, but Dinoflagellates. (after many hours of research)
So now I'm forming a battle plan. Which involves a whole lot more than I bargained for.
- Ordering a Silicate test kit tomorrow, to test my RO water and my Tank water. (to see if I have a Silicate problem)
- Going on a strict Rowaphos & Carbon changing schedule. Currently I run 2 Phosban Reactors containing these materials, but I'll be changing them 4x as much from now on.
- Up my skimming from 1 gallon a day to 2 gallons a day.
- Raise my pH to 8.4 for a week. (my pH is typically low, which could be part of the problem)
- Double my water change routine and start using a turkey baster to blow them off the sand. (once I get the silicate test kit to test my RO water)
- Reducing my light period will be a last ditch effort, as I believe this is only a short term fix.
I'm fairly confident I will beat this back... we are higher evolutionary chain right?
I believe the Mandarin died due to high toxin ingestion. If pods were eating these dino's, then I suspect he could have been poisoned by them. Naturally these toxins would accumulate in my Mandarin as he ate more pods. (he was fat) Or perhaps he was sucking in Dyno's when he sucked in pods.. I'm not sure, but it sounds plausible.
2nd Front:
Aptasia is overrunning my tank. It's getting very bad and they are starting to choke out corals. I've placed 4 Berhia Nudi's in my Main display and in my 'fuge, but I fear this was not enough and even though they are probably still in there somewhere.. it will take months and months to do anything to this aptasia population. My next step is 1/2 dozen Peppermint shrimp, hopefully this will work because a Copperband isn't really feasible as my large Sailfin tang hates them.
3rd Front:
There is a hairy crab of a decent size living in my tank that my Peacock Mantis want's to eat... so I must catch him before he does any serious damage to my other inhabitants. (He dosen't seem aggressive and dosen't have red eyes, but I still don't trust him)
Tomorrow morning will kick off Operation Clean Sweep. Wish me luck.
(if you have any suggestions or helpful tips, please post 'em)
I lost my Mandarin today. He was fat, healthy, and there was not a mark on him.
A battle of 3 Fronts...
First Front:
I've had a 'brown algae' outbreak since around the time I put in my Bluethroat trigger. I thought it was due to overfeeding so I reduced my feeding by a lot. I've actually reduced it so much that my corals that rely a lot of food are dying. The 'algae' problem seemed to get better but now it's back stronger than ever. It's covering only my sand and glass. However it has attacked and killed almost all my SPS corals. It will start by covering the white (new growth) areas on the coral, and then slowly choke it out, a millimeter at a time, until the coral dies.
I've recently (yesterday) learned that this is not an Algae at all, but Dinoflagellates. (after many hours of research)
So now I'm forming a battle plan. Which involves a whole lot more than I bargained for.
- Ordering a Silicate test kit tomorrow, to test my RO water and my Tank water. (to see if I have a Silicate problem)
- Going on a strict Rowaphos & Carbon changing schedule. Currently I run 2 Phosban Reactors containing these materials, but I'll be changing them 4x as much from now on.
- Up my skimming from 1 gallon a day to 2 gallons a day.
- Raise my pH to 8.4 for a week. (my pH is typically low, which could be part of the problem)
- Double my water change routine and start using a turkey baster to blow them off the sand. (once I get the silicate test kit to test my RO water)
- Reducing my light period will be a last ditch effort, as I believe this is only a short term fix.
I'm fairly confident I will beat this back... we are higher evolutionary chain right?
I believe the Mandarin died due to high toxin ingestion. If pods were eating these dino's, then I suspect he could have been poisoned by them. Naturally these toxins would accumulate in my Mandarin as he ate more pods. (he was fat) Or perhaps he was sucking in Dyno's when he sucked in pods.. I'm not sure, but it sounds plausible.
2nd Front:
Aptasia is overrunning my tank. It's getting very bad and they are starting to choke out corals. I've placed 4 Berhia Nudi's in my Main display and in my 'fuge, but I fear this was not enough and even though they are probably still in there somewhere.. it will take months and months to do anything to this aptasia population. My next step is 1/2 dozen Peppermint shrimp, hopefully this will work because a Copperband isn't really feasible as my large Sailfin tang hates them.
3rd Front:
There is a hairy crab of a decent size living in my tank that my Peacock Mantis want's to eat... so I must catch him before he does any serious damage to my other inhabitants. (He dosen't seem aggressive and dosen't have red eyes, but I still don't trust him)
Tomorrow morning will kick off Operation Clean Sweep. Wish me luck.
(if you have any suggestions or helpful tips, please post 'em)
Sorry to hear about the issues. Dino can be a nightmare. I'm currently battling diatom due to hogh nitrates. I let the nitrate get too high and teh alk too low and lost some corals. The alk was easy to fix and I'm going to order a sulphur denitrator today. You should do a full check of all teh water parameters. I remember I had bad dino once due to nitrates - nutirent buildup.
matt & pam
Member
I battled dino's for quite a while, and never could get past them despite raising pH, aggressive water changes, and reducing light. Ultimately I was told to try a product called algaefix, 1tsp/50 gallons. one treatment wiped out the dinos within a week. I was warned it only hurts Colt corals, it didn't effect any of my LPS/softies or SPS/fish or clams (although the dinoflagellates hurt a few items). It is sold to treat ponds, but works like a charm. If you can't lick the dinos with traditional methods, this works great. I've been 8 months without dino's now...knock on wood.
Matt
Matt
Psyire
Premium Member
Thanks for the encouragement and tips.
I noticed today that the brown plague was worse on the two sides of my tank compared to the middle. (the middle is a newer bulb, only a month old) So what I did is change all three bulbs to new Reeflux 12K bulbs that I just recieved. We'll see what kind of change that makes tomorrow.
I also plan to post pictures of what this infestation looks like. It's not near as bad as some of the pictures I've seen posted on the 'net, but it's bad enough that it needs some serious attention.
Today I ordered some necessary firepower and commando tools. (filter media & test kits)
I've also started with increasing my skimming and upping my ozone (a hair)
Tomorrow I'll be doing a full test on my water and a full filter change on my RO/DI. (then I will start making new water for a water change)
I'm attempting to make 'slow' changes to the system, however I've lost nearly all my SPS so I'm not that worried anymore... fish are fairly tolerant, as are softies and LPS.
I'm going to go to bed tonight praying that a battle between the dino's and the aptasia breaks out, with both sides eradicating each other... however unlikely that is.
I noticed today that the brown plague was worse on the two sides of my tank compared to the middle. (the middle is a newer bulb, only a month old) So what I did is change all three bulbs to new Reeflux 12K bulbs that I just recieved. We'll see what kind of change that makes tomorrow.
I also plan to post pictures of what this infestation looks like. It's not near as bad as some of the pictures I've seen posted on the 'net, but it's bad enough that it needs some serious attention.
Today I ordered some necessary firepower and commando tools. (filter media & test kits)
I've also started with increasing my skimming and upping my ozone (a hair)
Tomorrow I'll be doing a full test on my water and a full filter change on my RO/DI. (then I will start making new water for a water change)
I'm attempting to make 'slow' changes to the system, however I've lost nearly all my SPS so I'm not that worried anymore... fish are fairly tolerant, as are softies and LPS.
I'm going to go to bed tonight praying that a battle between the dino's and the aptasia breaks out, with both sides eradicating each other... however unlikely that is.
Psyire
Premium Member
So...
There may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
After doing some more research it turns out that I may not have Dino's afterall... they may be Diatoms. I have taken some pictures in an effort to get a better positive ID. Please let me know what you think. (posted below)
I've also recieved my Silicate test kit and results were Zero, for both my RO/DI water and my tank water. I find this strange.
With more aggressive skimming and carbon/rowa changing, I seem to be beating them back. They are 1/2 as bad as they were a week ago.
I'm setting up now to do a couple 10% water changes.
The death of my Mandarin is unexplainable to me... especially if these are indeed Diatoms, as they wouldn't be toxic.. right?
The other thing I realized is that this "bloom" happened 3 weeks after I started using Polyplab's Reef-Resh 'system'. I've discontinued the use of these additives until I get things under control again. Perhaps this bloom has been feeding off something associated with this 'system'. I'm not jumping to conclusions on this just yet.
Pictures:
There may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
After doing some more research it turns out that I may not have Dino's afterall... they may be Diatoms. I have taken some pictures in an effort to get a better positive ID. Please let me know what you think. (posted below)
I've also recieved my Silicate test kit and results were Zero, for both my RO/DI water and my tank water. I find this strange.
With more aggressive skimming and carbon/rowa changing, I seem to be beating them back. They are 1/2 as bad as they were a week ago.
I'm setting up now to do a couple 10% water changes.
The death of my Mandarin is unexplainable to me... especially if these are indeed Diatoms, as they wouldn't be toxic.. right?
The other thing I realized is that this "bloom" happened 3 weeks after I started using Polyplab's Reef-Resh 'system'. I've discontinued the use of these additives until I get things under control again. Perhaps this bloom has been feeding off something associated with this 'system'. I'm not jumping to conclusions on this just yet.
Pictures:
I've got a brown sand problem now. When the halides are on the sand will go brown in minutes and then recedes when they go off. The only wrong with my system is nitrates too. I really think we need zero nitrates in order to have a stable system free from any type of algae.
I just hooked up my new denitrator from MidWestAquatic to deal with my issue. Hopefully I can attain the results I'm looking for. Also, dKH should be at least 8? I like to keep mine up around 9 or 10.
I just hooked up my new denitrator from MidWestAquatic to deal with my issue. Hopefully I can attain the results I'm looking for. Also, dKH should be at least 8? I like to keep mine up around 9 or 10.
Bax
Premium Member
Sorry to hear about your algae problems. Just prior to moving my tank, I lost a beautiful stylopora to an algae attack while I was on vacation. I am not looking forward to going through all the algae stages again.
I think you are right to stop your additives until you feel more in control of the algae.
Let us know if you get an ID, I was never sure if I was fighting Dino or Diatoms either.
Good luck. Who'd a thought, that algae, a single cell organism, would be the most frustrating part of this hobby!
I think you are right to stop your additives until you feel more in control of the algae.
Let us know if you get an ID, I was never sure if I was fighting Dino or Diatoms either.
Good luck. Who'd a thought, that algae, a single cell organism, would be the most frustrating part of this hobby!
Bebo77
Premium Nonpaying Member
Bebo77
Premium Nonpaying Member
opps delete that link.. sorry that was for another thread.. this is what i meant to post...
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/orange-spotted-rabbitfish---siganus-guttatus-fish--rabbitfish.html
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/orange-spotted-rabbitfish---siganus-guttatus-fish--rabbitfish.html
drummereef
Team RC
Your tank is my favorite because you have a drum kit in the fish room! :lol2: But seriously the tank looks great! :thumbsup:
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