It begins... 345-gallon Starphire in-wall system
- Thread starter mrcrab
- Start date
mrcrab
In Memoriam
Alright a short update. I treated for the flatworms and they're gone. They only seemed to be on the elegance. I took it out of the tank and treated it in a bucket first for about 15 minutes with flatworm exit. That knocked most of them off. I put it in the sump and when it opened the next day there were still a few that were protected when it receeded into the skeleton.
I had a good look at the tank blew the rocks out with a baster and an mj and didn't see any fw's in the tank but I treated the whole thing anyway. Better safe than sorry. I've got 400 gallons so I did one whole bottle of FWexit plus 80 drops for an hour...didn't see any fw's so I added the rest of the second bottle. left it for another hour and still didn't see any but the few left on the elegance and they're gone! Elegance is doing great.
I've added a few fish over the last few months, a cbb and a blue jaw trigger. No signs of ick anywhere. I have a male Bjaw and a nice big fat flame angel sitting at the lfs at the moment. I need to put my QT tank up in the next day or two so I can bring them home.
I also have redbugs and have been debating treating the whole tank or getting a couple of dragon face pipefish. Since the rb's are effecting a few corals and I want trade frags with others I've decided to nuke the tank with interceptor to be on the safe side. I have the interceptor and some pods in the fridge to replenish the population when I'm done. That's the other reason I need to get the QT up and running so I can get the cleaner, pepermint & coral bandeds out before treatment.
I had a good look at the tank blew the rocks out with a baster and an mj and didn't see any fw's in the tank but I treated the whole thing anyway. Better safe than sorry. I've got 400 gallons so I did one whole bottle of FWexit plus 80 drops for an hour...didn't see any fw's so I added the rest of the second bottle. left it for another hour and still didn't see any but the few left on the elegance and they're gone! Elegance is doing great.
I've added a few fish over the last few months, a cbb and a blue jaw trigger. No signs of ick anywhere. I have a male Bjaw and a nice big fat flame angel sitting at the lfs at the moment. I need to put my QT tank up in the next day or two so I can bring them home.
I also have redbugs and have been debating treating the whole tank or getting a couple of dragon face pipefish. Since the rb's are effecting a few corals and I want trade frags with others I've decided to nuke the tank with interceptor to be on the safe side. I have the interceptor and some pods in the fridge to replenish the population when I'm done. That's the other reason I need to get the QT up and running so I can get the cleaner, pepermint & coral bandeds out before treatment.
Bax
Premium Member
Ugh! Redbugs. I have them, not a huge infestation as I 've pulled out the colonies and dipped in Interceptor to control them, but this will not eradicate them. You have to do the full tank treatment. I am bringing my QT up to be able to take my shrimp & crabs too so I can do the entire system. The pods will return ... or so I've been told. I'll be interested in your results mrcrab.
mrcrab
In Memoriam
No just dipping won't get rid of them all. E. Borneman has a new protocol: Scroll down...5th post
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic52127-9-1.aspx?Highlight=Tegastes+acroporanus
This is D. Dortman's original protocol, scroll down...12th post:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1038678
I've talked to numerous people about this and have decided to do a combination of the 2. I'll be treating the entire system. I'm going to up the dose to 2 x's Dortman's suggested and also double the contact time to 12 hours maybe even 24 hours, but still do the 3 x's treatment.
I'd be interested in your thoughts.
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic52127-9-1.aspx?Highlight=Tegastes+acroporanus
This is D. Dortman's original protocol, scroll down...12th post:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1038678
I've talked to numerous people about this and have decided to do a combination of the 2. I'll be treating the entire system. I'm going to up the dose to 2 x's Dortman's suggested and also double the contact time to 12 hours maybe even 24 hours, but still do the 3 x's treatment.
I'd be interested in your thoughts.
melev
Well-known member
I dosed my reef for 12 hours with one tablet of (large dog) Interceptor three weeks in a row, and have not seen red bugs since. While dosing, the venturi to my skimmer was disconnected so the water going through the skimmer was treated as well. Carbon and GFO were taken offline. The refugium was treated as well. All shrimp and hermits were taken out of the tank and put in quarantine for three weeks.
After each treatment, I ran 3 cups of GAC in a Phosban Reactor and reconnected the venturis to my skimmer. I had no fatalities, other than the red bugs and my pod population, which returned on its own later.
Treating a fully stocked mixed reef like this, I have no reason to worry you'll have problems treating your tank.
After each treatment, I ran 3 cups of GAC in a Phosban Reactor and reconnected the venturis to my skimmer. I had no fatalities, other than the red bugs and my pod population, which returned on its own later.
Treating a fully stocked mixed reef like this, I have no reason to worry you'll have problems treating your tank.
melev
Well-known member
GAC is Granulated Activated Carbon. Same stuff you were going to use.
If you have a canister filter, that will do it as well. Just placing it in a sock or mesh bag in your system is too passive a method.
My system is 330g total, and a (large dog) pill does roughly 400g.
She looks fat to me.
If you have a canister filter, that will do it as well. Just placing it in a sock or mesh bag in your system is too passive a method.
My system is 330g total, and a (large dog) pill does roughly 400g.
She looks fat to me.
mrcrab
In Memoriam
On anther note...I had a nice big green slimer towrads the back of my tank...actually too close to the back. I went to scrape the back today and knocked a bit off, so I thought well, let me prune it. I needed some frags to trade to the LFS for a few fish anyways. So I snapped the whole damn thing off the rock it was on!
Anyone need any green slimer frags...I've got plenty!
Anyone need any green slimer frags...I've got plenty!
mrcrab
In Memoriam
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11840148#post11840148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
GAC is Granulated Activated Carbon. Same stuff you were going to use.
If you have a canister filter, that will do it as well. Just placing it in a sock or mesh bag in your system is too passive a method.
My system is 330g total, and a (large dog) pill does roughly 400g.
She looks fat to me.
GAC...too technical for me! LOL
I've got as Magnum, just not sure it will hold enough carbon.
I thought that said "large dog pile" there for a minute! Now that would test the skimmer...LOL
Yours eat pellts though..doesn't it? I'm concerned about my CBB, but he eats misis, so should be okay.
melev
Well-known member
The Magnum will be fine. I think that holds 3 to 4 cups of carbon. Run it for 24 hours or 48 hours, and then take it offline and clean it out.
The reason I keep emphasizing the size of the pill is because people purchase different milligram sizes. I buy the large pill.
This mandarin doesn't eat pellet food that I know of. She gets what she can, but my Six Line is a tad mean to her so she's getting her sustenance from the LR alone. I only see her briefly each day because of the wrasse.
The reason I keep emphasizing the size of the pill is because people purchase different milligram sizes. I buy the large pill.
This mandarin doesn't eat pellet food that I know of. She gets what she can, but my Six Line is a tad mean to her so she's getting her sustenance from the LR alone. I only see her briefly each day because of the wrasse.
mrcrab
In Memoriam
Wasted a couple of hours yesterday and got very frustrated trying to get the gyre flow going and not because of the vortechs limitations to do this but because of programming issues. Here's the back of my tak and how the vt's are mounted:
That's an 8 foot tank and the 2 controllers at the top from outside to outside measures 6'9". The vt's are supposed to have a 10' operating distance and need to be in line of sight. I would think my setup conforms.
Without having to undo all the wires, the controller boxes are velcro mounted, I can get then to within 4'9" of each other to program, again, should be good enough.
I was having serious problems programming them. Followed the directions to the letter as I don't program them very often, I'm a set and forget guy. I kept getting issues with at least one of the controllers flashing an error message when setting the slave. and would have to start all over again. Must have spent an hour trying to program the pulse because of this, but finally got it to go with no errors. Don't ask me how, just lucky more than anything. Kept having to retry by setting different masters/slaves.
After getting it set properly, it just didn't look, sound right. Two of the pumps are a bit noisy and make a whirring sound. Also, two run hot while the other two are quite comfortable to the touch. The controllers being less than 7 feet apart should not have an issue communicating with each other but the ones furthest from the master weren't consistently getting the info packet from it, they weren't getting the packet more often than not.
After all that nonsense I tried to reprogram them back to my original settings with the same issues and frustrations. Wasted about an hour to finally get it back.
I think the only way to get a true gyre would be to have two electronic timers switching two pumps on and two pumps off on a half hourly basis, just not sure if the programming will hold once the power is cut when they come back on or wether it will do damage to the controllers.
Any votech users out there have any suggetsions as to getting a gyre flow without damaging the pumps?
That's an 8 foot tank and the 2 controllers at the top from outside to outside measures 6'9". The vt's are supposed to have a 10' operating distance and need to be in line of sight. I would think my setup conforms.
Without having to undo all the wires, the controller boxes are velcro mounted, I can get then to within 4'9" of each other to program, again, should be good enough.
I was having serious problems programming them. Followed the directions to the letter as I don't program them very often, I'm a set and forget guy. I kept getting issues with at least one of the controllers flashing an error message when setting the slave. and would have to start all over again. Must have spent an hour trying to program the pulse because of this, but finally got it to go with no errors. Don't ask me how, just lucky more than anything. Kept having to retry by setting different masters/slaves.
After getting it set properly, it just didn't look, sound right. Two of the pumps are a bit noisy and make a whirring sound. Also, two run hot while the other two are quite comfortable to the touch. The controllers being less than 7 feet apart should not have an issue communicating with each other but the ones furthest from the master weren't consistently getting the info packet from it, they weren't getting the packet more often than not.
After all that nonsense I tried to reprogram them back to my original settings with the same issues and frustrations. Wasted about an hour to finally get it back.
I think the only way to get a true gyre would be to have two electronic timers switching two pumps on and two pumps off on a half hourly basis, just not sure if the programming will hold once the power is cut when they come back on or wether it will do damage to the controllers.
Any votech users out there have any suggetsions as to getting a gyre flow without damaging the pumps?
