Feeling overwhelmed

[KarenLR75]

after reading your initial post, i was not expecting to see a nice looking tank in your pictures! looks good! i think everyone has been through these issues, its just tough you are experiencing them all at once. hang in there... i've spent probably hours of my life with a piece of live rock over a bucket, a head flashlight, and a pare of tweezers just picking off bubble algae etc. -- its a pain but its things like this that will make you appreciate your tank when its perfect

Bronxreefer - your post made me smile. Thank you for kind words on the tank. My husband has worked so hard on it. That one pic I posted was just one place where it is at. I'd estimate we now have ba on over 20% of our rocks and this is coming from a starting point of just one patch of bubble algae on one rock (we have carib sea rock not live rock).

It is burrowing in to the crevices which are going to be a pain to get them out of 'whole' so I figure we'll be popping some. I did ask husband about the rock that we CAN pull up, putting it into a bucket so it is easier than trying to hold yourself on a step stool over the tank - esp a tank with eurobracing as you have to adjust the angles steeply sometimes.

He did pick up some rigid tubing and I think is going to cut a 45 degree angle in it like some others suggested. It is truly spreading SO fast that we have to move quick or I'll be posting a much worse picture next week. I'm so glad you mentioned a head flashlight..that would make it so much easier. I'm usually the designated flashlight holder but if we both worked on rock we could go faster. Unfortunately there are some pieces we will have to work on while it's in the tank.

Sounds like you are truly working hard on yours...and yes, it is a nice payoff at the end of the day when you can sit and relax looking at the fruits of your labors.

 

[JTL]

Take what rock you can one piece at a time out of the tank and put in a bucket of tank water. Pluck off what you can and pop the rest and scrub the crevices with a small stiff brush, give it a good swish in the water and return the rock to the tank. You may need to repeat on some rock but this will take care of the majority of the problem. It worked for us anyway.

 

[laverda]

Take what rock you can one piece at a time out of the tank and put in a bucket of tank water. Pluck off what you can and pop the rest and scrub the crevices with a small stiff brush, give it a good swish in the water and return the rock to the tank. You may need to repeat on some rock but this will take care of the majority of the problem. It worked for us anyway.

If you do this, then rinse of with hydrogen peroxide it will not grow right back.

 

[NO3]

How are you measuring salinity? Swingarm?

Swingarms are Tonka toys fit for the trashcan.. You need a refractometer to get salinity scientifically pegged within +/- .001

Your swingarm may say 1.026 but in reality may be at 1.032. Seen this scenario over 100 times

 

[KarenLR75]

How are you measuring salinity? Swingarm?

Swingarms are Tonka toys fit for the trashcan.. You need a refractometer to get salinity scientifically pegged within +/- .001

Your swingarm may say 1.026 but in reality may be at 1.032. Seen this scenario over 100 times

We have a refractometer..I think it's a Milwaukee Instruments refractometer. We have told our LFS's before that they need to recalibrate when they don't match ours and every time, they have admitted they need to recalibrate more. They end up always matching our readings so far..

 

[albano]

How are you measuring salinity? Swingarm?

Swingarms are Tonka toys fit for the trashcan.. You need a refractometer to get salinity scientifically pegged within +/- .001

Your swingarm may say 1.026 but in reality may be at 1.032. Seen this scenario over 100 times

I calibrate my swingarm with my refractometer... I mark the 'true' 1.026 point on the scale and can quickly check all my systems... Probably more accurately than many people that are incorrectly using a refractometer.

 

[OrionN]

Don't chase numbers. Your tank looks fine. I would use biological control for Aptasia. Don't neglect your water change and your tank should do fine.
The tank should be a calming factor in your life, not increase your stress. Calm and just enjoy your tank.
Best of luck. Hope you had a good Mother's Day, if you are a mother.

 

[OrionN]

I calibrate my swingarm with my refractometer... I mark the 'true' 1.026 point on the scale and can quickly check all my systems... Probably more accurately than many people that are incorrectly using a refractometer.

I disagree here. Swing arms are so inaccurate and NOT CONSISTENT. Friction on the joint. Salt deposit micro bubbles all throw the swing arm out of wack. Refractometer do need to be calibrated from time to time but I don’t see how you can “incorrectly useing a refractometer”.

If you use the refractometer to calibrate your swing arm, implying the refractometer is the “gold standard” I don’t see how you can say that it is not a good instrument.

What are the source of error with the refractometer in your opinion?

 

[KarenLR75]

Don't chase numbers. Your tank looks fine. I would use biological control for Aptasia. Don't neglect your water change and your tank should do fine.
The tank should be a calming factor in your life, not increase your stress. Calm and just enjoy your tank.
Best of luck. Hope you had a good Mother's Day, if you are a mother.

Thank you, OrionN. Yes, I have 2 children although they are almost 'grown up'...emphasis on 'almost' for the youngest. Eldest lives in PA so I miss her but youngest and I went to the movies to see a comedy and had a great time.

I agree, it should be a calming factor. Usually I am the calm one between the 2 of us when it comes to the tank...until a fish dies unexpectedly. When we had a saltwater tank years ago (had one for 5 yrs), that didn't bother me back then but we had a new baby...so my priorities were different. Also, we didn't have the kind of issues - cyano, ba, etc. like we have now. And we RARELY had an unexplained livestock death.

I used to sit in front of that tank while pregnant as it was calming. After I had our eldest, on many tireless nights, I sat there with her as well.