Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

Hm.. Tried html link.. Didn't work..
Sorry..
Odd the link show up when I'm composing the post but doesn't show up when I post it..
 
reefmutt said:
Matt, Jordan, thanks. I've heard such horror stories about bryopsis... I've never had it in a tank before.. I'll start dealing with manually once I turn the light back on..

Chris, what are you nutrient control methods, atm?

Here's a shot of my tank water vs freshly mixed salt water. This is after new carbon was added last night and 36 hours in the dark.. Tank water in the left, obviously.. You can see the colour of the water.. I have the skimmer wet skimming as well..



So here's a little video of my two gyres running against each other.. With food flying around. This is a 53 inch wide tank with the gyres running at pulse mode but only 50%.

Crap.. I don't know why the vid won't work..
Click to expand...

I am dosing Vodka and Vinegar daily.
 
Well... I turned on a few lights this morning.. Still have full blown algea bloom. Water is just as cloudy, got a couple of rtned corals and a lot of pale corals..
I'm getting that sick, helpless 'I have no clue what I'm doing' feeling that I had for most of the last attempt at keeping my tank...
So, I will attempt to do nothing. Like Jordan said, I'm just going to let the tank work it out..

I can't really feed heavily to support the corals because the algea will just absorb the nutrients..
This is Mother Nature in her 'screw you' mode.

Hopefully, the algea bloom will starve itself out before it starves out my corals.
I'm going to leave the leds and the mh off for a while and just run the t5s and I'm going to feed the fish enough food to keep them happy and see what happens. I'll test parameters as usual but I don't think I'll intervene on nutrients. I'll let the cheato and dsb do what they will do and try to detach myself from the tank and watch...
I'll keep you posted......
 
Cyberdude said:
Get a foxface. Voracious algae eaters. And really fun personality to watch.
Click to expand...


Foxface will mow down the longer strands. Have a few turbo snails to clean up the rest. I was in your situation not long ago.. I now have rocks as clean as the day I put them in there. Cheato in the Sump now takes care of the rest.
 
Yes, good idea.. I was thinking of a rabbit fish for the bryopsis.
But they won't do anything for the algea bloom in the water column..
 
I tried two foxfaces and personally neither did anything they were advertised to do.

That is probably a good plan regarding your lighting. Back off and keep it to a minimum, and see how things respond. Are you still testing your parameters? I'd keep an eye on your phosphates and if a bit elevated still after a day or two, consider running a very small amount of new GFO (assuming you still have the month old stuff) and try and help bring it down a bit (if it is still elevated). Not sure if they make filter socks with small enough sizes, but you may want to try and run one of those and swap out once or twice daily and see if it helps. What a PITA, hope things turnaround for the better. :)
 
I'm on my second now and they both did a serious number on my Algae. The second one too a few days before it started to eat algae. I was able to convince it to change from pellets to try algae by feeding it dry seaweed. It went crazy for it the minute it went in the tabk
 
I was going to get a foxface for bryopsis and bubble algae but ended up getting a blue lined rabbitfish instead. Useless for months, then all of a sudden he is scrubbing the rocks, though he won't eat the Bryopsis yet. I think the standard yellow foxface is more reliable but let it get a little hungry for algae and eventually the beggar won't be choosy.
 
Sorry to hear about the outbreak.. but I agree.. let your tank "rebalance" itself and you will be back to "acrobush" before you know it :)
 
Thanks, guys!
I will look for a rabbit fish..
Jordan, I have not used gfo in a long time. Ever since I figured out you to lower p by using a carbon source and n.
I've had no significant P for a long time..........
So, I tested today, after having removes the pellets last week and having the lights off for 48 hours..
Nitrate: 8ppm
Phosphate .13
Didn't take long for those numbers to climb!
I'm resisting the urge to throw all sorts of carbon sources and gfo at the tank... I'm sure this is an upswing from the removal of pellets and light.
I will give it a week before I do anything..
However, I am prepping my deltec fluidized reactor to start functioning as a recirculating reactor so that I can re introduce aio pellets and use them in a more controlled manner....
 
Keep on fighting the good fight Matt! When you modify the reactor, I'd like to see how you did yours.
 
Ok here's a pic of my recirculating reactor:


All I did was connect the in and the out of the deltec to a Tunze silence, that I had, to make a loop. Then, I just got two 't's and added them to the in and out side of the pump. I also had a small Eheim power head that will feed into the in side of the recirc pump..
Not sure I even need a second pump though, there should be some negative pressure on the intake side of the recirc pump and some positive pressure on the output side... It may work withou a pump but with it, I can better control flow..
I'll let you know how it works..
 
The hard part of the way you have set it up is getting the loop filled and the bubbles out. A supply pump will be needed for sure to keep the water flowing.
 
reefmutt said:
Well... I turned on a few lights this morning.. Still have full blown algea bloom. Water is just as cloudy, got a couple of rtned corals and a lot of pale corals..
I'm getting that sick, helpless 'I have no clue what I'm doing' feeling that I had for most of the last attempt at keeping my tank...
So, I will attempt to do nothing. Like Jordan said, I'm just going to let the tank work it out..

I can't really feed heavily to support the corals because the algea will just absorb the nutrients..
This is Mother Nature in her 'screw you' mode.

Hopefully, the algea bloom will starve itself out before it starves out my corals.
I'm going to leave the leds and the mh off for a while and just run the t5s and I'm going to feed the fish enough food to keep them happy and see what happens. I'll test parameters as usual but I don't think I'll intervene on nutrients. I'll let the cheato and dsb do what they will do and try to detach myself from the tank and watch...
I'll keep you posted......
Click to expand...

Well the only thing that comes to mind is carbon dosing for a short while until you get everything under control. I had this problem and found that my clean up crew was lacking ( more snails ) and a yellow belly hippo tang works on this. In addition when I say carbon dose I started dosing 4mls every other day ov VSV and this had made a very big differance.

Michael
 
mhucasey said:
The hard part of the way you have set it up is getting the loop filled and the bubbles out. A supply pump will be needed for sure to keep the water flowing.
Click to expand...

I just used the supply pump to pump water into it. If filled no problem...
The plumbing is attached on the top of this reactor so the bubbles are put into recirc right away, they seem to get ejected pretty quick.
It's working like a charm at the moment. And I don't even need the supply pump. There is plenty of negative pressure on the intake side to draw water in. I'll have to put a valve on the output to slow things down, I think..
 
trueblackpercula said:
Well the only thing that comes to mind is carbon dosing for a short while until you get everything under control. I had this problem and found that my clean up crew was lacking ( more snails ) and a yellow belly hippo tang works on this. In addition when I say carbon dose I started dosing 4mls every other day ov VSV and this had made a very big differance.

Michael
Click to expand...

Tank actually seems a little clearer today. But I have a LOT of very pale corals. Some will die for sure.
I've been adding some amino acids but I'm not sure if I am just feeding the algea bloom..
I've put the biopellets back on but at a reduced rate.. I'll watch the nutrients..
I have very little hair algea- lots of snails.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
New build
Replies
3
Views
227
griss
griss
E
Long time Reefer looking to start anew.
Replies
12
Views
143
FOX-FACE fanboy….
FOX-FACE fanboy….
Easygoing1
PFO Aquatics SOLARIS Rebuild And Questions
Replies
8
Views
332
oreo57
oreo57
D
Automated/bluetooth/wifi alert systems
Replies
7
Views
93
Dustin07
D
C
Well pump and R/O system
Replies
12
Views
364
zappa
Z
Back
Top