I have color!

onehundred20

onehundred20

In Memoriam
Went BB about 6 months ago and have battle color loss in my corals.

Well all this time i thought my corals were loosing color cause of nitrates or phosphates, I never really considered flow a factor for some reason and put buying that equipment on hold till i got the nutrient problem fixed,

I figured my 20x turnover would be fine for now....

Just last week i decided to mod 2 of my 4 maxi 1200s, putting me at 50x turnover or so with my seio 1500...and what do you know less than a week later i have full polyp extention and now 2 weeks later they are about half way done getting their color back..every day i look at the tank there is more color:)

i just finally added some cheato to my fuge to help with the nitrates i still have but other than that everything is really happy now.
 
Hey, great news. I had a similar experience. I doubled what I thought was already high flow and in two weeks I saw a amazing difference. Things are still getting better (except now I have another issue). Anyway glad to hear the increased flow worked.
 
Yeah, flow is everything with these....thats the whole reason I went to BB tank....got tired of the sand blowing around.....so far love it......have experienced the fading also, but I am up to 67x turnover now and it has to due with nutrient load I think....thats why I am adding a remote DSB with macro algae soon.......or we could offset it with more fish to increase the load and possibly feed more, but I think a remote DSB will do the trick for me......
 
i finally added some cheato to my fuge after a few months hoping it helps with my nitrates, i also plan to mod my other 2 mj 1200's which will help with keeping the system clean also.
 
Doesnt remote DSB kill the point of having a BB tank in the first place?

Im also battling the color problems in my BB tank. I'm convinced I have no nutrient issues, but everything looks washed out tan. Not brown like a nutrient issue. I have 70x flow and dont think that is the problem. Not sure what it is. BB tanks are great in terms of controlling algae but so far I miss the great colors I had in my DSB tank. Ive tried everything at this point.
 
I was bb then added a remote sand bed, gravity fed. Helped color and pe a lot, I mean I only added 40lbs in another sump for a 180g and my nitrates went from 25-50 to 5. I was thinking about a seriously deep rdsb with no lights and flow only but I wanted a lot of sand, it should be that way to be effective imo. Just no way logistically to do it. Now I have sand back in the display and a remote sand bed too (for little critters, the pods are multiplying like mad in there).
 
Yeah I am going to try a remote DSB in the sump inside an insert that I can pull out for maintence thats deeper than average, because the footprint for the sump insert I designed isn't that big to due space limitations......As it stands I think it will be 6"w x 12"L x 6-8"Deep Sand for a 75g tank.....I am going to run a sock over the insert and pull out the large stuff, the stuff that gets through will feed the sandbed, so the sump stays clean and isn't a cause of nitrate from breakdown.....chaeto floating in the insert on a reverse cycle on the top of the insert, and then the cascades over the top, (heavy stuff stays to feed the DSB combined with lower flow to help it settle and give the chaeto more time to work), flows into the sump where the skimmer/phos reactor polish the water and return it to the display.....I really am excited to see how effiecient it will be in cleaning out the junk from the tank.........the key to this, or the engine as it may be called in getting it down there is alot of turnover stirring up the display that I have been upping lately.....
 
I am using a Remote DSB in one section of my sump.(about 5/6" deep--12"x12" area) I couldnever get my nitrates lower than 10/15, after about 3 months of having the sand there my nitrates are at 0. I figure I can change this out every 6 months or so...

For flow I have around 134x turnover, I believe flow is VERY important.
 
I am still trying to understand the whol color thing associated with having sand in the tank......even if my nitrates are low aready.....but due to sugar dosing and water changes.......I would like to away from that and go to the macro algae though
 
I think the sand add nutrients into your tank. It is very rare to see a super-low nutrient tank that is BB and still have deep colors. In those rare cases, those people feed very heavily and therefore skim very wet to remove that bad stuff right away.
In my case I am utilizes a combo. of both, I have 11 fish in my 75G, high bio-load(requires heavy feeding) and since I don't have a skimmer that will allow me to skim super wet, I have the remote DSB to remove the excess nitrates that I am left with.
 
I have 50x turnover in my tank, and I have a ssb... I have a bare spot... but I put a galaxea coral there, and it loves it.
 
Its all of the "movement" in your display......

Add up all you g.p.h. of all of your powerheads+(return pump-head)......and divide by the gallons of the display.........

kinda a way to describe how much "flow" you have in the display. Doesn't really mean much more than that.

For instance I have

2 @ 820
2 @ 1500
1 @ 900-300 head loss = 600

total=5240gph/75g = 69.86x

In my calcs from the previous post, I added more to the head loss and for loss of efficiency and rounded it to 67X......
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8306356#post8306356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rutz81
I think the sand add nutrients into your tank. It is very rare to see a super-low nutrient tank that is BB and still have deep colors. In those rare cases, those people feed very heavily and therefore skim very wet to remove that bad stuff right away.
In my case I am utilizes a combo. of both, I have 11 fish in my 75G, high bio-load(requires heavy feeding) and since I don't have a skimmer that will allow me to skim super wet, I have the remote DSB to remove the excess nitrates that I am left with.
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought that was it myself....and thought it was a good thing that allowed me to add another fish to offset it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8307726#post8307726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sacramentodots
Its all of the "movement" in your display......

Add up all you g.p.h. of all of your powerheads+(return pump-head)......and divide by the gallons of the display.........

kinda a way to describe how much "flow" you have in the display. Doesn't really mean much more than that.

For instance I have

2 @ 820
2 @ 1500
1 @ 900-300 head loss = 600

total=5240gph/75g = 69.86x

In my calcs from the previous post, I added more to the head loss and for loss of efficiency and rounded it to 67X......
Click to expand...

So........... using this formula I have:

2X Tunze 6100= 6350
1x Sequence Barracuda - 4' Head = 3780
Total= 10130/210 Gals. = 49X

Is this correct?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8307762#post8307762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sacramentodots
Yeah I thought that was it myself....and thought it was a good thing that allowed me to add another fish to offset it.
Click to expand...
Just be careful adding more fish, because if you aren't exporting the waste in someway you mau start to get some algae showing up. And, I think it's more than just having the extra fish, I think it's the fact that you should adjust your feeding accordingly, meaning you'd now be feeding more because of the addition.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8306356#post8306356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rutz81
It is very rare to see a super-low nutrient tank that is BB and still have deep colors.
Click to expand...
Are you saying that BB tanks typically have less color due to their low nutrients?
 
my sump is a 55 gallon, about 1/3 is my fuge...its height is about 15 inches, if I were to put a remote dsb in there how deep should i make it and would that be sufficient for a 120?

and i would be using it to keep my nitrates down etc.

are you guys using the dsb to keep down the nutrients or add them lol?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
I Have problems with my new saltwater tank
Replies
1
Views
148
griss
griss
S
No pe on acros
Replies
7
Views
276
Scotty333!!!
S
8
Whats the diff ?
Replies
6
Views
335
griss
griss
8
Pinks, reds, oranges.
Replies
7
Views
338
Reefing102
Reefing102
P
Cycling Questions
Replies
7
Views
391
SantaMonica
S
Back
Top