Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread
- Thread starter JohnL
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Lordhelmet
Active member
if my text could display whining then this would be full of it.
MARC it's not WORKING!!!!!!!
MARC it's not WORKING!!!!!!!
quiksilver
New member
Gimme a couple mins and lemme see what I can do 
Lordhelmet
Active member
thanks Evan.
quiksilver
New member
Ugh finally.... check the site for explanation
melev
Well-known member
I think all is well. I had to fix the front page minutes after Evan logged off, so whatever he had will be back when he checks back. For now, you have to put up with my efforts.
The download issue seems to be resolved as several of us tried & successfully downloaded Episode 12 without using iTunes.com (manually from the downloads page). That was really strange.
The download issue seems to be resolved as several of us tried & successfully downloaded Episode 12 without using iTunes.com (manually from the downloads page). That was really strange.
melev
Well-known member
Well, that was a backbreaker, but I'm glad I finally did it. I just spent the past few hours completely draining the refugium, pulled out all the live rock and macro algae that was literally coated with Cyano bacteria, and went to town making it all new again.
The sand was scooped out and washed thoroughly. The LR was shaken in a bucket of saltwater, and only selected pieces were saved. Many bits of garbage that I've tossed in there are no longer in the system.
The macro algae was rinsed in saltwater 5 times in a row to get it clean. Once the water wasn't red any longer, I knew it was clean at last.
The weirdest thing was taking a garden hose to that section of my sump to blast it clean. It wasn't easy to remove, but that was the best choice of getting all the algae and sediment loose.
I took a bunch of pictures, but RC is about to go into backup mode. I'll post them tomorrow. I think I'll go take some pills for my poor back now.
Glad it's done finally. I pulled out a year's worth of detritus from that zone.
The sand was scooped out and washed thoroughly. The LR was shaken in a bucket of saltwater, and only selected pieces were saved. Many bits of garbage that I've tossed in there are no longer in the system.
The macro algae was rinsed in saltwater 5 times in a row to get it clean. Once the water wasn't red any longer, I knew it was clean at last.
The weirdest thing was taking a garden hose to that section of my sump to blast it clean. It wasn't easy to remove, but that was the best choice of getting all the algae and sediment loose.
I took a bunch of pictures, but RC is about to go into backup mode. I'll post them tomorrow. I think I'll go take some pills for my poor back now.
Glad it's done finally. I pulled out a year's worth of detritus from that zone.
melev
Well-known member
Okay, here are all the details...
Okay, here are all the details...
Here's a task that needed doing for some time, but I really didn't want to do it. Finally tonight, I'd had enough. Because my sump is so wide (36" front to back), reaching into the refugium section in the rear is a real back breaker.
For the past month, cyano bacteria in that compartment has been out of control. It has coated the surface thoroughly, and was on the walls, on the macro, on the rock.... I was sick of it. Fortunately, it wasn't in the rest of the tank so I don't have that battle to content with.
Still, it was an eye sore, and I had a feeling the detritus collected in the refugium over the past year was fueling it. Nothing else makes much sense. So, I carefully removed the macro that was alive, and put that in a bucket. All the LR, rubble, and dead SPS twigs were cautiously removed, and I still got stabbed by the urchin.
All the LR filled up this garbage can lid.
All the sand was scooped out with a clean dustpan, placed in a few buckets for washing out. A cucumber was discovered and placed in the prop section for now. The urchin was removed as well, as seen above.
The water was siphoned out and thrown away. I still had to figure out how to clean the refugium well, and get the last of the sediment laden water out. I decided to use a garden hose, and blast it clean with tap water. That was a strange feeling. Red slime peeled off the acrylic walls, and the detritus was disturbed to get it in suspension. I used a MaxiJet 1200 and some tubing to suck out all I could, but it still didn't get enough out. Finally I added more tap water, then clamped a filtersock in that zone. The maxijet was used again, this time sending its discharge tubing into the sock to trap all detritus and sand it sucked up. Once the compartment was clean, the sock was removed and the last of the water pumped out.
The sand was another challenge. I had about 5"-6" in sand in each of three buckets. I used the garden hose again, turning it on full to throughly work the water through the sand to get all the detritus (which is lighter) into suspension. The first bucket took the longest because I waited for the water to look clear before I stopped pumping water into the sand. Doing this in the driveway was easy, as the excess water overflows the bucket and washes away the brown silt.
With the second and third bucket, I washed it a bit differently, and it took less time. A few inches of tap water was gushed into the sand, and the muck was poured off the top of the sand carefully. I did this three times, then went back to the process of letting the bucket overflow as I worked the hose through the sand for a few minutes.
Each time I drained the bucket, I tried to pour out whatever was on the surface of the sand, including bits of macroalgae, bits of urchin needles, etc.. Add a little more water, swish and pour out more stuff. Once the sand was nice and clean, it was poured back into the clean refugium at last.
Okay, here are all the details...
Here's a task that needed doing for some time, but I really didn't want to do it. Finally tonight, I'd had enough. Because my sump is so wide (36" front to back), reaching into the refugium section in the rear is a real back breaker.
For the past month, cyano bacteria in that compartment has been out of control. It has coated the surface thoroughly, and was on the walls, on the macro, on the rock.... I was sick of it. Fortunately, it wasn't in the rest of the tank so I don't have that battle to content with.
Still, it was an eye sore, and I had a feeling the detritus collected in the refugium over the past year was fueling it. Nothing else makes much sense. So, I carefully removed the macro that was alive, and put that in a bucket. All the LR, rubble, and dead SPS twigs were cautiously removed, and I still got stabbed by the urchin.
All the LR filled up this garbage can lid.
All the sand was scooped out with a clean dustpan, placed in a few buckets for washing out. A cucumber was discovered and placed in the prop section for now. The urchin was removed as well, as seen above.
The water was siphoned out and thrown away. I still had to figure out how to clean the refugium well, and get the last of the sediment laden water out. I decided to use a garden hose, and blast it clean with tap water. That was a strange feeling. Red slime peeled off the acrylic walls, and the detritus was disturbed to get it in suspension. I used a MaxiJet 1200 and some tubing to suck out all I could, but it still didn't get enough out. Finally I added more tap water, then clamped a filtersock in that zone. The maxijet was used again, this time sending its discharge tubing into the sock to trap all detritus and sand it sucked up. Once the compartment was clean, the sock was removed and the last of the water pumped out.
The sand was another challenge. I had about 5"-6" in sand in each of three buckets. I used the garden hose again, turning it on full to throughly work the water through the sand to get all the detritus (which is lighter) into suspension. The first bucket took the longest because I waited for the water to look clear before I stopped pumping water into the sand. Doing this in the driveway was easy, as the excess water overflows the bucket and washes away the brown silt.
With the second and third bucket, I washed it a bit differently, and it took less time. A few inches of tap water was gushed into the sand, and the muck was poured off the top of the sand carefully. I did this three times, then went back to the process of letting the bucket overflow as I worked the hose through the sand for a few minutes.
Each time I drained the bucket, I tried to pour out whatever was on the surface of the sand, including bits of macroalgae, bits of urchin needles, etc.. Add a little more water, swish and pour out more stuff. Once the sand was nice and clean, it was poured back into the clean refugium at last.
melev
Well-known member
The macro algae was dark red with cyano. This was placed in a bucket, and about 2g of saltwater was added. The macro was dunked, shaken, lifted, and redunked. The water turned red. The macro was moved to a clean bucket, and new saltwater was added to repeat the process. I had to do this five times until the water was clean and virtually clear.
All the LR was sifted through, and whatever was worthy was kept. Bits of old corals were tossed in the refugium over the past year, but these were disposed of. After adding a few pieces of LR to the refugium, I decided to get another bucket and add more saltwater to shake and rinse off the rock. This was a good idea, as the water turned dark brown by the time I was done.
The LR and the Macro algae were added back into the refugium, and about 20+ gallons of saltwater was added back in.
Then all that was left was to clean up the kitchen.
All the LR was sifted through, and whatever was worthy was kept. Bits of old corals were tossed in the refugium over the past year, but these were disposed of. After adding a few pieces of LR to the refugium, I decided to get another bucket and add more saltwater to shake and rinse off the rock. This was a good idea, as the water turned dark brown by the time I was done.
The LR and the Macro algae were added back into the refugium, and about 20+ gallons of saltwater was added back in.
Then all that was left was to clean up the kitchen.
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