drummereef's 180g in-wall build

[cromedogg33]

I know the epoxy when it dries releases "something" because of the documented affects on skimmers.

Did you notice any ill affects on the doubling of your dosage? I would try to do it twice a day to really hammer them. Lights out and right after you turn your lights on.

 

[Michael cicco]

now i have to say thats a great build , alot of time was put into making it what it is today, what made you wanna go that big instead of just getting a full circle

 

[drummereef]

very interesting - zo zuper glu or epoxy may rid dino's, vee must get to the bottom of this !!!

Hahahaha! :lol: Epoxy could be the cure all to life's big problems!

I know the epoxy when it dries releases "something" because of the documented affects on skimmers.

Did you notice any ill affects on the doubling of your dosage? I would try to do it twice a day to really hammer them. Lights out and right after you turn your lights on.

Indeed, could be totally coincidental but I did notice an immediate effect from the epoxy. No ill effects from the H202 that I could see. Fish were completely normal. The SPS polyps might have closed up for a bit but that could have been from the lights out period too. But after I turned the lights on and was working in the tank the polyps opened as normal. I'll keep dosing and let you know what happens.

now i have to say thats a great build , alot of time was put into making it what it is today, what made you wanna go that big instead of just getting a full circle

Thanks Michael.

 

[bheron]

OK, I know it is fun to "tweak" to get that perfect tank, but it isn't going to happen:lol: The best bet for the dinos and little things that look off, is to just fill that tank with corals. The corals will uptake the nutrients and viola!! Just my opinion though

That's interesting! Can you elaborate? I know I once read a study about Xenia taking up nutrients but do all corals more or less do that? I really never heard that but would be encouraging to know!

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


So I really think we might be up to something here guys. Now you'll really think I'm crazy, but the improvement to the tank because of the epoxy was not only notable but was virtually instantaneous. The tank went from dinos coating the rocks along with coating the corals and even corals expelling strands of dinos - to NOTHING! All of this happened within a ~1 hour period of me epoxying corals to the aquascape. I kid you not! Yesterday the tank looked better than it's ever looked. Corals were looking great, polyp extension was excellent, rocks were clean, and literally no sign of dinos anywhere! :beer:

So to further the experiment I added three more balls of epoxy to a glass dish and set it in the sump to cure. I'm thinking there's something in the epoxy that when curing is released into the water column that causes the dinos to recede. Either that or the chemical reaction between the H202 dosing and epoxy is something dinos don't like. Either way, it's good news.


Here's my experiment gone mad. :lol:

The pic isn't the best, but I was primarily working on the center island during this process. I lowered the overall height of the island by breaking up one of the rocks, creating more of a center valley. If all goes well over the next couple days I plan on adding some new dry sand back to the tank.

 

[psteeleb]

hmm - can't wait for the results of this one

 

[drummereef]

hmm - can't wait for the results of this one

I'll try and get some better pics of the tank tonight when the lights come on. Even the gorgonian which hadn't had polyp extension for many weeks started to come out last night. It was one of the more effected inhabitants over the dino battle the last few months.

 

[cromedogg33]

It's too bad that you have h202 going too. It's proven to kill dino's and when i started using more and more, they finally went away. Interesting though!

 

[drummereef]

It's too bad that you have h202 going too. It's proven to kill dino's and when i started using more and more, they finally went away. Interesting though!

It is true H202 has a good track record for getting rid of dinos, but I was one of the unlucky reefers that had a strain of dinos that was very resistant to H202 dosing - like your situation. I dosed a few months ago 1ml/10g for 3 weeks with no results. Again I started dosing about 5 or 6 days ago with little to no results, in fact they were getting worse not better while dosing which is why I started posting here about the subject again. I only had 1 dose of 2ml/10g water in the tank before I started using the epoxy two nights ago. And in fact, when I started re-scaping the dinos were visually at their worst on the rock corals even after having the 2ml/10g dose in the tank. So, after placing the corals with the epoxy I took the baster and blew off the most effected corals, as my normal routine had gone the last couple of weeks, but this time about an hour later... the tank was clean. Literally no trace of dinos whatsoever! Not on the rocks, corals, sand, nothing. All of this was done with the lights on, full cycle, when the dinos would be at their worst.

I'm not saying my theory is at all scientific (and/or is a permanent solution fingers crossed!) but it was very coincidental that they went away that fast, even on surfaces that I didn't baste this time like the rocks and sand. And the corals that would have normally continued to expel dinos immediately after basting had completely stopped. Polyp extension was very good and no traces of dinos anywhere. There were even some bleached looking strands in the overflows that had been brown bubbly-like strands just minutes before. I'm just not convinced I had hit the tipping point with the H202 yet. Not that it wouldn't have continued to do it's thing at the higher dose, but for it to be that immediate was suspect, at least where I was at in my dosing schedule.

Perhaps either the effects of the H202 or epoxy was amplified by the other but I'm no scientist. :lol: All I know is the tank looked the best it's looked in months last night (24 hrs after epoxy), so hopefully tonight it will be more of the same.

 

[cromedogg33]

All I know is if it worked who cares which one it was

I know once my algae was gone, reefing was more fun!

 

[drummereef]

All I know is if it worked who cares which one it was

I know once my algae was gone, reefing was more fun!

Exactly!! As long as they are gone and stay gone I'll be a happy reefer. Thanks for all the help and info you've brought to this thread Josh, I'll update the status through tonight's light cycle. Cross your fingers... :lol:

 

[canyousee]

I have my fingers crossed to,hope you have turned the corner and can enjoy all your hard/enjoyable work. I know for me when the cyno or algae bug bits it hurts.

 

[drummereef]

I have my fingers crossed to,hope you have turned the corner and can enjoy all your hard/enjoyable work. I know for me when the cyno or algae bug bits it hurts.

Indeed my friend. I know now why people say Dinos are the reef killer.

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


Tank is looking good again tonight. No sign of dinos but still dosing H202 and I put another ball of epoxy in the sump for good measure. :lol: In the mean time... new pics.

 

[drummereef]

 

[Nanighan]

Your aquascape is going to look awesome once the corals mature. I am also glad you are starting with frags rather than having a "insta-reef". Not as impressive IMO.

 

[drummereef]

Your aquascape is going to look awesome once the corals mature. I am also glad you are starting with frags rather than having a "insta-reef". Not as impressive IMO.

Thank you Ron. I agree - I always thought watching everything grow is part of the fun. Now dinos on the other hand... :furious: :lol:

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


Day 3 and the tank is holding strong. Cross our fingers the dinos have hit the road for good. :hammer:

So Nook was making me feel guilty :lol:, so I went to the LFS today and picked up a couple new additions. Let me know if my ID's are wrong. Here's the pics.


Pink Digitata

Green Millepora

 

[aquaph8]

Looking good man, I got my fingers crossed for ya on the dino's.

 

[psteeleb]

nice finds - I may have to look for some of that pink digitata