Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[nemodan]

Matt.... this is something I do not get. If you have amazing color and no coral issues with your actual conditions, why you tried to add that product. What was the rationale behind it ?

About the Alk , I do not have any idea what are you talking to reduce it, but, if that would be my tank, I will just stop my dosing pumps or Ca reactor and let Alk go down during the following days/weeks depending on the rate your tank use it. If the system you comented to reduce Alk do the job too fast it will be worst.

Just my opinion.

Best Daniel

 

[reefmutt]

Matt, I've never used PurpleUp but read mostly bad reports of it. Why do you like this product? What does it do for your reef?

I have used Purple Up in many fowlr systems to promote the growth of corraline algea- with great success. As well as a few softie tanks where only water changes were being used to replenish calc/alk etc. Using it in RO water reservoirs has been very effective for me.
As for my reef, I figured I'd add a small amount to my RO water before water changes to simply remineralize the RO water..
But to be honest, I have no idea what it is actually doing to MY reef since I run a calcium reactor and I really have no need for the extra minerals..
I have never actually read any reviews on the stuff because it has always worked for me..
Even though I don't feel that it is doing any harm to my reef, when I think about it, I really don't see that it is having any benefits either!.......

Perhaps it's time to give up water changes
I agree with Sahin about PurpleUp, the best I've heard about it is that it will do nothing.

Hmm.. I have gone water changeless before and had no issues... But... I kind of like the ritual, right now, of the weekly water change...
Purple Upless? Yes.. I think I might forgo it in my make up water as it is probably not helping me above and beyond what I am already doing..

Matt.... this is something I do not get. If you have amazing color and no coral issues with your actual conditions, why you tried to add that product. What was the rationale behind it ?

About the Alk , I do not have any idea what are you talking to reduce it, but, if that would be my tank, I will just stop my dosing pumps or Ca reactor and let Alk go down during the following days/weeks depending on the rate your tank use it. If the system you comented to reduce Alk do the job too fast it will be worst.

Just my opinion.

Best Daniel

Just to be clear, I don't use it as an additive to the reef itself. I add about 30ml to the 27 gallons of RO water I use for my weekly water change.
It is not my tank that has an alk of 14, it is the make up water.. This water change only raises the alk in my system by .4..
The use of muriatic acid would be only in the reservoir holding my water change water- not in the reef itself.
After doing my water change, within 36 hours, alk has gone back to normal..
My usual alk is about 7.3
Dan, you are absolutely right, if I had an alk spike in my actual reef tank, I would do exactly what you suggest: turn off the reactor and wait for the alk to drop naturally.. But I'm not having this issue in my tank, just in the water change reservoir..

However... Having said all this... I think I will stop adding Purple Up to my reservoir because it seems to be a useless redundancy which will only lead me to adding another chemical to control the alk...

There!
Sahin, Matt, Dan, thank you for your opinions and comments! They have made me change a developing habit which was leading me down a path to more complications instead of fewer!
I am grateful!

 

[nemodan]

Oooh, now I see. I was so worried yesterday night when I came from my Hallowing custom party, where I had a lot of fun, and I read your posting. Good to know it was a misunderstanding from my side. I am sooo happy to hear that all is still moving smoothly.

Matt, that tank and the corals you have inside, are so fantastic that I follow its development with the same attention I follow my tank. I want to see those frags/small colonies growth and see how the tank will look when they are full colonies....it will be FANTASTIC !!!

And I will be crying for a frag ..... LOL...

Have a nice weekend !
Daniel

Ps: today I will continue doing maintenance in my tank . Pump changes. I have a backup pump for each pump. After some months y replace the one in use, clean it in vinager, and keep it in the drawer for the next cycle or just in case the one working decide to stop. All is moving smoothly. I will do an update later on the day on my thread.

Cheers again and have a nice Sunday !!!
Daniel

 

[nemodan]

Matt..... why do you have an Alk of 14 dkh in you WC water, lets call it for now, your New Salt Water (NSW). Is it because you use Red Sea Pro ? (Sorry if I miss it in your thread).

I am asking to learn and exchange knowledge.

I use IO Reef Crystals. Last time I measured Alk in my NSW (months ago) was ~9 dkh, if my memory is still good. The point I want to bring is that my tank, as yours, has an alk of ~6.5-7.0 dkh and when I do my weekly water changes (~15 G in a total 70G system) I never tried to equilibrate anything in the NSW. To be 100% honest, as said, it has been months that I measured alk in the NSW. And I never measured Ca or anything else in the NSW.

Could be I am doing a big mistake, and I am playing with fire ?

In the same way I carefully check Salinity of the NSW, it will not hurt me another 5 minutes and measure alk.

But, going back to the point, if Alk was always ~9 dkh in my NSW, I have been pouring it to my tank directly, because i think that any alk change by adding 15 G in a 70 G system will be very small.

Do you agree ?

Cheers and thanks for teaching me !!

Daniel

Ups....I wrote Hallowing instead of Halloween in my previous posting .... LOL

 

[reefmutt]

Dan, I am flattered by your post! Thank you very much for saying such nice things. I really appreciate your concern and interest!
I am also very impressed with your pump maintenance routine!
As for water changes, I was getting a kh of 14 in my IO water when adding the Purple Up to it..
My 10% water change using water with a kh of 14 was only raising the kh of my system by about .4
Now that I am going to stop using the purple up, the IO make up water won't have such a high kh. I'm not concerned about that at all..
In the past, I have never corrected the kh of my make up water..
I don't think you are playing with fire..
Why not do a kh test right before your water change and then again an hour after it.. See how much of a rise in kh you get..if you get any rise at all..
Ok.. Now that I am here.. I'll post a few more pics from today
More close close ups.
RR wolverine:


A nice shot of one of the new Fijis.. Just over two weeks in the tank now..

A new piece from Raging Reef:

 

[nemodan]

Fantastic pictures !!!!

Today I had an issue with my Apex dosing system . If you have time and curiosity here is the posting.

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?12725-DOS-dosed-more-with-seasonal-time-change-!!!!

Bottom line, I believe that today's US time change affected the software that controls the pumps. Pumps dosed more and I got an increase in 1 dkh. From 7 dkh up to almost 8 dkh. Not a disaster. But I reported the issue in that posting.

Cheers

 

[reefmutt]

Well, at least, in the spring, you'll know to add a little extra on the day before time change since the apex will probably dose an hour's less of calc and alk..
I have an apex Jr. sitting on a shelf at home because I couldn't bring myself to dedicate the time involved in getting it up and running....
I am not tech saavy and although Apex is the simplest of the systems out there, it is by no means simple.. I also just don't trust automated systems for running my reef... I always worry the systems will fail or malfunction..
I was going to use it to control my Gyres but in the end I just bought a Hydor wave maker which alternates their flow..

My alk and calc dropped a bit this week. Growth has picked up a bit and I have a lot of new pieces in there. Turned up the co2 a bit on my ca reactor.
Couple more shots! I can't stop taking pics now..


Tierra de Fuego only a week in the system..

This very cool little blenny gets chased ruthlessly by the kole tang and sometimes the powder blue but he's found his hiding spots.. He's also a bit of a curious animal..

 

[sahin]

Matt, you are killing me with those stunning acros! Damn those are ultra nice!

 

[mhucasey]

Well, at least, in the spring, you'll know to add a little extra on the day before time change since the apex will probably dose an hour's less of calc and alk..
I have an apex Jr. sitting on a shelf at home because I couldn't bring myself to dedicate the time involved in getting it up and running....
I am not tech saavy and although Apex is the simplest of the systems out there, it is by no means simple.. I also just don't trust automated systems for running my reef... I always worry the systems will fail or malfunction..
I was going to use it to control my Gyres but in the end I just bought a Hydor wave maker which alternates their flow..

My alk and calc dropped a bit this week. Growth has picked up a bit and I have a lot of new pieces in there. Turned up the co2 a bit on my ca reactor.
Couple more shots! I can't stop taking pics now..


Tierra de Fuego only a week in the system..

This very cool little blenny gets chased ruthlessly by the kole tang and sometimes the powder blue but he's found his hiding spots.. He's also a bit of a curious animal..

Great pics and a stunner of a coral, that purple with yellow tips is spectacular! That Blenny is awesome, he looks like a little troll in his forest

 

[reefmutt]

Matt, you are killing me with those stunning acros! Damn those are ultra nice!

thanks, Sahin! I'm having a lot of fun shooting the corals..
If I posted a couple shots of the rampant cyano and bubble algea and bryopsis which is once again in the upswing, it would not be quite as impressive..

Great pics and a stunner of a coral, that purple with yellow tips is spectacular! That Blenny is awesome, he looks like a little troll in his forest

Thanks Matt that purple/yellow piece is a very good grower. The new growth has a light blue body with the red/purple polyps and the older growth gets darker red. It's is very cool... Maybe I'll have to give it a name.. I told Raja, the owner of the shop where I bought it that he'll have to name it but if he doesn't, I might have no choice!
I'm very happy that the blenny has settled in. The tangs can be very aggressive to him but he's a trooper..

Well.. I got a few more shots (surprise, surprise)
Some low dof shots.. They make for a dramatic image..
This is a tenuis:

New Fiji.. Probably granulosa:

Another new (last week) Fiji. Any ideas on what type??

 

[nemodan]

MAMA MIA !!!! no other words needed.

Daniel

 

[afernandez]

:eek1: sexy stuff

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks, guys.
Ok I'm going to post the rest of my shots and then a reality check..
From uncle Raja:

From fragbox: rr pink matrix

Cool no name from Raja

Classic..

Tyree pink lemonade from Raja. Half inch piece. Been in the tank for 5 days... Looking forward to this growing out..

Ok!! I'm done.... I need a cigarette..

 

[Wrangy]

Haha love it mate!! Bloody outstanding!!

This one looks like a. loripes and it's absolutely stunning! :inlove:

 

[M007]

Wow, damn fine collection of sticks you have there :bigeyes: Bravo!

 

[reefmutt]

Haha love it mate!! Bloody outstanding!!

This one looks like a. loripes and it's absolutely stunning! :inlove:

Thanks, Dom! It could very well be loripes. The branches are a little thinner than I expect from loripes but now that you mention it.. Could be.
It probably won't keep these pastel colours, unfortunately, since I have a good amount of nutrients in the system.. Soon find out!

Wow, damn fine collection of sticks you have there :bigeyes: Bravo!

Thank you, Mr. Bond!

Ok. Now for the reality check.. Here's a shot from last night. Have a close look between the acros at the rockwork... If you can see it..

Pretty much my entire tank is blanketed in cyano and bubble algea and the bryopsis is making a strong come back.
It's crazy..
N and p are stable at 3 and .08 I just adjusted my reactor up due to higher demand so the corals are growing. I have crazy flow in the tank..
3(!) max spect gyres and 2 tunze 6095. All in various controllers to give me fantastic alternating and random flow patterns.
This cyano appeared immediately after stopping the aio pellets.. And continued after I stopped dosing all potassium nitrate (don't need it to maintain n, anymore)
So, on Sunday I dosed some zeobac with zeofood and coral snow. I will do this as per the zeo instructions of a drop/25 gal system volume 2x week. I'll do it again on Thursday night. See if this helps
I had been using zeozyme with zeobac/food but shortly after dosing that I found a couple corals getting exposed tips.. Not sure it was that but since stopping, all but one coral recovered. Not to mention that while dosing this, the cyano got worse..
Before raising mag to deal with bryopsis, I will give the zeo treatment some time to have an effect, if any..
If this doesn't work, I will hit up Bulent for his cyano killing recipe.. I have not seen the FM bacto balance products in Montreal. FM, yes but not the bacto balance.. I'll have to special order it..
AND... My next little reality check.. This coral has developed white bubble like growths. They appear literally over night. Only this coral, at the moment.. It was a nice yellow and had just begun to show an intention to grow.. Grumble, grumble..


I'm watching it.. I may attempt to attack it with nail clippers and just remove the nasty part....

 

[mhucasey]

Thanks, Dom! It could very well be loripes. The branches are a little thinner than I expect from loripes but now that you mention it.. Could be.
It probably won't keep these pastel colours, unfortunately, since I have a good amount of nutrients in the system.. Soon find out!



Thank you, Mr. Bond!

Ok. Now for the reality check.. Here's a shot from last night. Have a close look between the acros at the rockwork... If you can see it..

Pretty much my entire tank is blanketed in cyano and bubble algea and the bryopsis is making a strong come back.
It's crazy..
N and p are stable at 3 and .08 I just adjusted my reactor up due to higher demand so the corals are growing. I have crazy flow in the tank..
3(!) max spect gyres and 2 tunze 6095. All in various controllers to give me fantastic alternating and random flow patterns.
This cyano appeared immediately after stopping the aio pellets.. And continued after I stopped dosing all potassium nitrate (don't need it to maintain n, anymore)
So, on Sunday I dosed some zeobac with zeofood and coral snow. I will do this as per the zeo instructions of a drop/25 gal system volume 2x week. I'll do it again on Thursday night. See if this helps
I had been using zeozyme with zeobac/food but shortly after dosing that I found a couple corals getting exposed tips.. Not sure it was that but since stopping, all but one coral recovered. Not to mention that while dosing this, the cyano got worse..
Before raising mag to deal with bryopsis, I will give the zeo treatment some time to have an effect, if any..
If this doesn't work, I will hit up Bulent for his cyano killing recipe.. I have not seen the FM bacto balance products in Montreal. FM, yes but not the bacto balance.. I'll have to special order it..
AND... My next little reality check.. This coral has developed white bubble like growths. They appear literally over night. Only this coral, at the moment.. It was a nice yellow and had just begun to show an intention to grow.. Grumble, grumble..


I'm watching it.. I may attempt to attack it with nail clippers and just remove the nasty part....

You didn't think this was gonna be easy, did you? Easy is for goldfish tanks! Use one of these dental picks to pull the bubbles off the rocks and then just net them up whole:

You can pry them free without popping the bubble.
I will reserve comment on removing the AIO pellets and Cyano:twitch:

 

[slin1977]

Wow wow wow - puuurty corals mate!!!!

 

[nemodan]

I used Chemiclean for ciano twice. Once on the first SPS tank that was 13 G . And once in my actual tank. Followed instructions and used half of the recommended dose. I didn't wait to have a big amount of ciano when I did the trestment. Gone and never returned, neither when I had my crash. Just read around what people think about the product.

Cheers. .. Daniel

 

[mhucasey]

I got an entire container of Zeozyme with a shipment from Zeovit USA - they threw it in for free. I used it, quite lot, as directed with or without bacteria, with and without "fermentation time". I never noticed any positive effect on cyano. I tried Coral snow as well, I never saw any real difference.

The only two things that stopped cyano for sure for me was:

1) Chemiclean. Double the regular dose, repeat every three days for three treatments. It will make your skimmer explode, so just take the cup off until it mellows a bit. My LFS owner, who had a really nice private SPS tank that he moved to the store uses it whenever he needs to and has no qualms recommending it.
2) Siphon it out into a sock in the sump and keep the water. I'm starting to think the changing water conditions of you water changers contributes to the imbalance that helps Cyano thrive. My SPS reef was swimming in the stuff and then it just melted away once the reef water stabilized. I had a bit of a resurgence when I started dosing Acropower(at more than double the recommended dose), it continued with the Salifert AAs, but i dialed in the dose to be a little less than the recommended dose and a little siphoning has pretty well cleared it up. I'm not 100% Cyano free but its looking pretty good in there.