david00061
New member
I hope that fixes it. Wish we were closer so I could donate frags
My 280g Custom upgrade.....
- Thread starter SPotter
- Start date
david00061
New member
On a god note... I have a tank setting on my floor. Waitng for rental place to open so i can get a lift rented
SPotter
Active member
Thanks David. Its been a long summer as I am sure it has been for you too with having to take your tank down and waiting for AGE to repair it. I cant wait to see the updates on it being put back into place. Have you decided what you are going to do about using sand again or going bare bottom?
david00061
New member
Bare bottom. I'm going to put a piece of starboard on bottom
SPotter
Active member
I'm still looking around for quotes. I do have a buyer for mine which is a good thing. shipping really kills the price. I want something bigger because the one I have cant handle the flow of my pump and I have to restrict my pump by about 40%. I estimate that Im turning my dt over about 3-4 times an hr and would like a little more than that. I thought about doing a stock tank but they're a little too wide for my room.
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Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Unless I over read your thread, do you have a drawing or even the dimensions you want your sump to be?
SPotter
Active member
my current sump is 48x20x20 and its the mrc high flow sump. I would like either a 60x20x20 or 72x20x20. It doesnt need to be anything special....just have a couple of sock holders that are able to accept 4 drains and a skimmer section.
Is there a reason you are trying to push more than 3 to 4 times? Can your skimmer handle that extra volume? I'm pretty much only looking for that range, maybe as much as 5 times but that will depend on the skimmer I end up with. The real flow will be in tank with Vortechs / (maybe waveboxes). If your skimmer and other filters can't handle the same higher flow then it doesn't really matter to pump it through the sump, your just fighting gravity to get higher flow which is cheaper in the long run to get that flow inside the tank rather than through the sump.
SPotter
Active member
Back from vacation and ready to get the tank on the right track. I have spent the last two days testing the water, cleaning equipment, vacuuming the sand bed to remove detritus (and there was a lot of it) and finally doing a water change. I was happy to find that no other sps had died (not that theres a lot left) while I was gone but their colors are gone and mostly brown. I did notice in the water tests that my no3 is up to 10ppm and po4 is still at .08 on the hanna ulr phosphorous checker. Im not feeding a lot at this point so Im not sure where the no3 and po4 are coming from. I will say that I had been neglectful with vacuuming the sand bed and there was a lot of gack in there. The scrubber is still getting a full screen but its not as thick as it had been the last couple of weeks so I will make some tweaks there with flow and increase the photoperiods a little.
I am thinking about hooking back up my gfo reactor to help keep the no3 and po4 in check until I build my bio load back up since the scrubber works on how much you feed the tank. Once I get my bio load built up again then I can move away from the gfo. I have been reading about the Red Sea NOPOX supplement and was wondering if anyone has had any success with it?
Finally, I have one other thought and thats to do the rock structure over again and use less rock with the hopes of eliminating as many dead spots where detritus can build up. Its going to be a long road to recovery but I am ready for it again. I missed my tank while I was away and I am cautiously anxious to get it back to where it was before the summer.
I am thinking about hooking back up my gfo reactor to help keep the no3 and po4 in check until I build my bio load back up since the scrubber works on how much you feed the tank. Once I get my bio load built up again then I can move away from the gfo. I have been reading about the Red Sea NOPOX supplement and was wondering if anyone has had any success with it?
Finally, I have one other thought and thats to do the rock structure over again and use less rock with the hopes of eliminating as many dead spots where detritus can build up. Its going to be a long road to recovery but I am ready for it again. I missed my tank while I was away and I am cautiously anxious to get it back to where it was before the summer.
Glad you are re-energized! You have a great set up!
I don't believe that GFO would address NO3 but that algae scrubber shouldn't care if the tank is being fed or not as long as it has NO3 and PO4 it should be growing algae so you may want to just tweak that to get your growth back up. Its true that its sized based on how much you feed i.e. nutrients in, nutrients out, but if the nutrients are already there it will work on those too.
Do you like your rock structure? If you like the look could you solve it by adding another Tunze or a Vortech rather than re-doing it? Every time I have rebuilt my rock structure its takes more time for the tank to settle back in, no new cycle or anything like that just that with new flow patterns and light exposures it re-balances. I guess adding more flow would do that too though, just a thought.
As for the loss of color on the corals did you change the photo-period on the LEDs? Is it a particular color (blue) that is missing? Reason I ask is Potassium can enrich the blue color but I wouldn't add it unless you are testing for it, that water change you did might just bring some of those trace elements back into balance so you may want to give it a day or two before doing anything there.
I don't believe that GFO would address NO3 but that algae scrubber shouldn't care if the tank is being fed or not as long as it has NO3 and PO4 it should be growing algae so you may want to just tweak that to get your growth back up. Its true that its sized based on how much you feed i.e. nutrients in, nutrients out, but if the nutrients are already there it will work on those too.
Do you like your rock structure? If you like the look could you solve it by adding another Tunze or a Vortech rather than re-doing it? Every time I have rebuilt my rock structure its takes more time for the tank to settle back in, no new cycle or anything like that just that with new flow patterns and light exposures it re-balances. I guess adding more flow would do that too though, just a thought.
As for the loss of color on the corals did you change the photo-period on the LEDs? Is it a particular color (blue) that is missing? Reason I ask is Potassium can enrich the blue color but I wouldn't add it unless you are testing for it, that water change you did might just bring some of those trace elements back into balance so you may want to give it a day or two before doing anything there.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Glad you're back into the game. I know the tank is going to come out better and I'm wishing you the best.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Steve, glad to see such a positive attitude now
From what I've read the NOPOX is a form of carbon dosing, just commercialized. I think you could pick up a similar product by going to your local liquor or grocery store and buying vodka or vinegar!
Not sure if you've seen the Lanthanum chloride thread but that could help with the Phosphates and its quite an effective way of dropping it quickly and safely if administered properly. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1474839
I think that in a days time you could likely have the phosphate back into check
From what I've read the NOPOX is a form of carbon dosing, just commercialized. I think you could pick up a similar product by going to your local liquor or grocery store and buying vodka or vinegar!
Not sure if you've seen the Lanthanum chloride thread but that could help with the Phosphates and its quite an effective way of dropping it quickly and safely if administered properly. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1474839
I think that in a days time you could likely have the phosphate back into check
SPotter
Active member
Hey Doug...I do like the rocks but just thinking of ways to change things around a little. I havent changed the photoperiod on the leds but I did lower the intensity. I will try bringing them back up a little again.
Thanks Wayne. I am getting excited to see your new tank up and running.
Steve, glad to see such a positive attitude now
From what I've read the NOPOX is a form of carbon dosing, just commercialized. I think you could pick up a similar product by going to your local liquor or grocery store and buying vodka or vinegar!
Not sure if you've seen the Lanthanum chloride thread but that could help with the Phosphates and its quite an effective way of dropping it quickly and safely if administered properly. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1474839
I think that in a days time you could likely have the phosphate back into check
Thanks for the info Dustin. I have looked a that thread a few times and need to go back to revisit it. I do have a big bottle of phosfree that I used when I cured the pukani rock.
SPotter
Active member
MINOR UPDATE
I made some minor changes to my rock layout. I realized that I had several rocks on the sand bed that were just doing nothing but taking up space and creating dead spots on the sand bed. I relocated those rocks to existing rock structures in the tank and opened up a lot of space on the bottom of the tank. I've been blasting the rocks with a baster and vacuuming the sand bed to remove detritus....its amazing how much gunk builds up around and under the rocks.
Water quality is improving slowly but surely as I have been able to reduce the po4 from .0798 to .0521 and nitrates down to 5 ppm from 10ppm. My frogspawn and hammers are starting to puff back up again which makes me happy. The fish are all fat, happy and eating like pigs. My wife said the tank looks "apocalyptic" now after losing so many corals. Hopefully in a few weeks the water will be stable and I can start adding some corals and fish again.
I made some minor changes to my rock layout. I realized that I had several rocks on the sand bed that were just doing nothing but taking up space and creating dead spots on the sand bed. I relocated those rocks to existing rock structures in the tank and opened up a lot of space on the bottom of the tank. I've been blasting the rocks with a baster and vacuuming the sand bed to remove detritus....its amazing how much gunk builds up around and under the rocks.
Water quality is improving slowly but surely as I have been able to reduce the po4 from .0798 to .0521 and nitrates down to 5 ppm from 10ppm. My frogspawn and hammers are starting to puff back up again which makes me happy. The fish are all fat, happy and eating like pigs. My wife said the tank looks "apocalyptic" now after losing so many corals. Hopefully in a few weeks the water will be stable and I can start adding some corals and fish again.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
How did you bring down the phosphates and nitrates?
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Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2.
SPotter
Active member
Rotknee
Member
Steve, have you given any thought to solid carbon dosing? Given all the changes to your system now may be a time to give it a shot? I'm a big fan of the Warner Marine ecoBAK pellets. They keep my P04 at 0 (Hanna) and Nitrates are undetectable as well. I feed probably way more than I should and parameters stay in the desirable range.
Anyway, glad to hear you are fighting the good fight and sounds like you are having fun again.
Stay Up!:thumbsup:
Anyway, glad to hear you are fighting the good fight and sounds like you are having fun again.
Stay Up!:thumbsup:
