My new (used) tank

bi-weekly nitrate update

bi-weekly nitrate update

Nitrates are still somewhere between 15 to 20 according to my cheap AP test kit. Man, this is taking a while. :(
I've changed a total of about 75 gallons of water.
I am starting to see some diatoms on the acrylic, some cyano on the sandbed, and a little bit of feathery algae (bryopsis?) on the rock. The rock is also coloring up with a little coralline :) Basically it's about like this tank is going through a full cycle. In fact, it didn't take this long to cycle my 75g and it was set up with uncured fiji LR :rolleyes:
Mariner
 
Mariner did you ever order you some quick disconnects? If not I was in fasenAll the other day and looked in there electrical section.. They sell wire and connectors rated at 600v 105c,, Exactly what you need for MH connections between the ballast/bulb. The connectors they sell are only singe wire.. So you would have to unplug three connectors insted of just one.. But still very easy. I'm sure you have seen the new FasenAll on 72 going out of Athens.

Will
 
Will,
Thanks a heap! I'll try to get by there tomorrow.

Nitrates still about 15. I replaced all the filter pads in the sump yesterday -- Jason had it set up so that the overflows empty into a basket with filter media sandwiched between filter pads. As I noted earlier, I think this could become a nitrate factory. I'd been rinsing the pads (following Harry's advice) and have pulled/replaced most of the media. If I keep it set up this way, I know I'll want to replace the pads regularly.

BTW, I appreciate everyones input so far. I liked Beaslbob's explanation of what's probably going on with my tank...not sure he's right, but it makes sense intuitively.
The sand may still be playing a factor too. My thinking there is that I did give it a light rinse before I put it back in the tank, and the tank had just had LR and sand in it for quite some time (no fish or critters), so the sand shouldn't have a huge build up of waste. Soooooo...while the sand might be an issue, I'm thinking that it shouldn't be a major one.
Mariner
 
Yea, if you aren't literally seeing any waste build-up in the sand it's probably not contributing much at all to the nitrates. Should be helping if anything, since it's live.
I honestly wouldn't be worried about the whole "nitrate factory" thing. I think a lot of that idea was thought up by someone a bit paranoid about their nitrates. True, it's best to remove mechanical filter media quite frequently, but at the same time you don't want to throw it out if there's still use in it. I've had people swear to me if you reuse those blue/white disposable filter pads you'll get nitrates like crazy, yet i've done it many time with no nitrate problems...

You should throw some xenia in there with the 15ppm nitrates. It should grow like crazy and suck them out :).
 
You should throw some xenia in there with the 15ppm nitrates. It should grow like crazy and suck them out
Click to expand...

That might no be a bad idea. Probably worth a try, and I've got some to spare.
Mariner
 
Lovely Skimate!

Lovely Skimate!

Here's a pic of the CSS 220 skimmer I won at the last NARC meeting in action. This is less than a days worth of skimming; I did some sanding of the acrylic inside the tank yesterday and the skimmer has really been collecting since then.
:cool:
skimmer6-4-08.jpg

Mariner
 
Well, Fastenall only had the disconnectors for my MH in bulk bags of 100. But once I knew what they looked like, I was able to find them at Lowe's -- so now I've got the wire from the MH ballast to the bulb wired with disconnects -- it'll make it MUCH easier to remove the canopy when I need to. :D

I'm having a nice cyano outbreak on the sand and some of the rock now. Haven't done a water change in a couple of days, but I'm planning on siphoning out the cyano and changing a little water this evening.
Mariner
 
I only found out about 6 months ago a way to get rid of cyano. Turn the lights off for 3 days. On the forth day turn only the actinics on. Next day all back on. You may have to repeat this in a couple of weeks.

When I first heard it described I thought it was worthless information but I tried it on a whim and it worked! It's almost too simple.
 
Thanks Harry. Sounds worth a try. For the moment I don't mind the cyano much. I figure its soaking up excess nutrients (possibly nitrates?), and when I vacuum it out I'll be exporting whatever it's soaked up. It would be nice if I could get rid of it eventually though.
Mariner
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12687589#post12687589 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mariner
I figure its soaking up excess nutrients (possibly nitrates?), and when I vacuum it out I'll be exporting whatever it's soaked up.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. Cyano just indicates excess nutrients in the tank, it not really "bad" until it starts overgrowing corals and such. But, even then, it's not bad relative to what it's feeding off of.
Unfortunately I could never get the light method to work in my tank. I eventually used erythromicyn and it did the job. Just have to be super careful with dosing as it is an anti-biotic =/
 
I'VE GOT PODS!

I'VE GOT PODS!

Copepods all over the front of the acrylic!
Nitrate was just a smidge over 10 this morning.

Meanwhile, my 40g that contains the initial stock for my 135g is going through some sort of bacterial bloom -- it's happened before. White hazy water and white-chalky precipitation all over the glass. Scraped the glass and did a small water change this morning, but it looks funky. I'd done a larger water change a few days ago and cleaned out the sump...must have got something out of balance.
Anyway, I'm thinking that when I tansfer stuff to my 135g (eventually) I'lll probably dip the corals in Reef Dip solution, but what about the LR. I'd like to keep from infecting the 135 with this same bacteria or whatever it is that has plagued my 40g off and on for years. If I'm going to use the LR, I obviously can't kill all the bacteria without making it dead rock. Suggestions? Opinions?
Mariner
 
Do you think it was caused by the sump cleaning? Maybe you stirred something up that created whatever nutrients the bacteria needed.

I don't know of much you can do to treat the rock without killing the beneficial bacteria as well. I wouldn't worry too much about it. That's one of the things that I place in the category "that too will pass" along with hair algae, bubble algae, cyano, diatoms, etc. And if you don't dip the rock, dipping the corals might just cause more stress to them than any benefit you might gain.
 
Well, you're right about it passing Harry. The 40g tank looks much better this evening. Besides the little water change, the only other thing I did was add a small sample bottle of TLC (supposed to be good bacteria you add when you're setting up a tank.) Anyway, things look much clearer. I've never had this problem in my 75 (at least not to any degree), and I'd really like to NOT have it in the 135 too.

In other news, I picked up a couple of nice pieces of LR from Shelby that he'd gotten from ChrisB. Put it in the tank this evening and re-aquascaped a little. Of course I've got at least one more major aquascaping job ahead when I transfer the contents of the 40g. Also changed 22 gallons of water today.
Anybody think it's time for a clean up crew?

Mariner
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12714191#post12714191 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mariner
Anybody think it's time for a clean up crew?

Mariner
Click to expand...

I do. I also think you should take me to play golf and talk about your new tank.
 
Moving day!

Moving day!

Well, I FINALLY moved the stuff out of my 40g and into the 135. I'd gotten a clean up crew in, or at least most of one. My astrea snails were no-shows in the shipping box :rolleyes: (more about the CUC order in a later post). The nitrates in the 135g were still not where I'd like them (between 5 & 10) but I figured adding the rock from the 40g might help....or not.
Anyway, everything went pretty well with the six foot move from one tank to the other. Only one acrylic-scatching-rock-slide while I was aquascaping. The fish, corals, crabs and conch seem to have made it without much damage. We'll see how everthing adjusts over the next few days.
Here's a couple of pics of how things look now.
135g6-19-08.jpg

Here's a closer shot of the aquascaping. Not that great, but the 18" width of the tank doesn't give you much to work with.
135g1staquascp.jpg

Mariner
 
Looking good, Mariner. Nitrate did come down considerably. 5 to 10 ppm is workable. I am sure you will be able to force it down more with your good live rocks. 18 inches doesn't give you much to work with when you want to leave some space in the foreground, but it looks really nice considering that limitation.

By the way, do you have light on just one side?

Tomoko
 
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