OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
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jnarowe
New member
OK guys...so maybe that was one of my dumber questions! :lol:
I tried a good lamp in the ballast and got nothing so tomorrow I will do a full Chinese Fire Drill and see what I come up with. Of course I already have the lamp on order to be over-nighted...
I wonder if an HPS lamp would be OK for a while? My ballast is "switchable" and I have a HPS lamp that is good.
Toddrtrex
...duuuuhhhh...I am slapping myself silly right now! But really, one of the more enjoyable human emotions, that whole panic thing right?? 
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
LOL what is worse, is that I missed your question asking how to figure out which one is the issue 
On thing to remember when switching bulbs around that MH ballasts can take up to 20 minutes or so to "reset" after being turned off.
Once in a blue moon my right side won't fire. I will switch the bulbs, nothing will happen, I will get ticked off, have a smoke, and it is back on. LOL
On thing to remember when switching bulbs around that MH ballasts can take up to 20 minutes or so to "reset" after being turned off.
Once in a blue moon my right side won't fire. I will switch the bulbs, nothing will happen, I will get ticked off, have a smoke, and it is back on. LOL
melev
Well-known member
Don't panic. It really may be nothing. Too much humidity in the room can affect them restarting the next day. Having backups of bulbs and ballasts should be a good way to alleviate situations. That way you can swap things out and determine the cause.
At least, that is what I do.
At least, that is what I do.
jnarowe
New member
We'll see what happens today but I am fairly convinced it's the ballast. Humidity has been high though. Also I do wonder if this is related to my stray current problem. I had gone through eveything and although I didn't positively ID the electrical problem, the process seemed to have cured it. Then Tuesday I got a few light zaps and Wed. the lamp wouldn't fire. Allconnections look good but I wonder if there is some relation.
Sanjay
Premium Member
Usually, if anything goes wrong with the ballast it is the capacitor. So instead of a new ballast, you may be able to replace the capacitor and get the ballast working right again.
If you have already ordered the new ballast, you can fix the old one and use it as back up.
sanjay.
If you have already ordered the new ballast, you can fix the old one and use it as back up.
sanjay.
jnarowe
New member
Got a ballast on the way. Unfortunately I have to get a Sunlight MH1000 because that's all I can get quickly.
Anyway I moved a couple corals to keep them happy and I think all will turn out OK. I wish I knew how to get a capacitor for my dead ballast. I guess I have to pull it apart and see what's in there. Then I could have that as a spare, which I just proved is important!
OK, so I just saw something rather strange. It appears that my GBTA is finally splitting. It has been in the take-a-crap mode for 4 days looking very wilted but today at least part of it has come out on top of the rock and looks good. Attached to it by a thin strip of tissue is another part but it looks very limp. So I am checking it out and I see both maroons take turns biting at the remaining tissue apparently in an atempt to help the split along.
Has anyone seen this before? Got to go back and watch!
Anyway I moved a couple corals to keep them happy and I think all will turn out OK. I wish I knew how to get a capacitor for my dead ballast. I guess I have to pull it apart and see what's in there. Then I could have that as a spare, which I just proved is important!
OK, so I just saw something rather strange. It appears that my GBTA is finally splitting. It has been in the take-a-crap mode for 4 days looking very wilted but today at least part of it has come out on top of the rock and looks good. Attached to it by a thin strip of tissue is another part but it looks very limp. So I am checking it out and I see both maroons take turns biting at the remaining tissue apparently in an atempt to help the split along.
Has anyone seen this before? Got to go back and watch!
melev
Well-known member
There is a link on my site (Hidden Treasure - BTA category) where it documents a splitting event with about 40 pictures.
Good luck with your BTA.
Once you know what capacitor you need, you can post a picture here and others will tell you exactly where you can get a replacement. I've had to replace one three times on my 400w ballast.
Good luck with your BTA.
Once you know what capacitor you need, you can post a picture here and others will tell you exactly where you can get a replacement. I've had to replace one three times on my 400w ballast.
jnarowe
New member
That sounds like the best idea. The ballast company want me to send the unit to them. meanwhile a salesperson for a retail shop is telling me they don't sell many of them because they go bad too much...
So I "fixed" my skimmer yesterday. :lol: I wantwed to increase air flow since when I originally set it up I reduced the air line size down too much. It was a monumental effort to get the appropriate fittings but it showed an immediate imrovement. Then I get up this morning to see i had another over-skimming event and the sumps were down about 70g.
Anyway, had I not had it piped to the sink, I would have had another flood, but no water on the floor and plenty of make-up water so no real harm done. I have got to get around to making my "Weatherson" bucket. Just got some parts in so that's next on my list. I am also removing all the thumb screws from my system and switching to 316 Stainless. They have proven to be a serious PITA since they slowly corode and then I can't remove them when I need to. The stuopid plastic portion just ends up spinning on the screw when there is any kind of resistence. That of course means I need to better machine my DIY stuff!
I also have samples of various plastic thumb screws coming.
Meisen When I get the chance...didn't I just do that?
jnarowe
New member
So although I don't have 100% confirmation it does appear that the GBTA split into 3 parts. Since I have been watching this thing closely every day since I got it, I don't see how it could have split like that without me seeing some extra mouths growing. Anyway, time will tell...
So something new to panic about: A couple of weeks ago I noticed some white spots on one of the heps but I couldn't ID them and thought they may have just been bits of sand or bubbles in its slime coating. They went away within a day or so but now they have come back and much worse. In fact a couple other fish have them too and I am afraid I am witnessing an Ich outbreak.
ALthough the water color is very clear right now, I do notice a lot of particles in the water that look just like what is on the fish so I am a bit unsure of what I am dealing with. One thing for sure, it is annoying the hep enough that it is swimming funny and trying to rub it off on rocks. It did the same thing the last time but not to this degree.
So what's the verdict? Should I crap in my pants? Before anyone suggests that I net the fish and put it into QT, please understand that 4 or more of the fish also have it to some degree and that trying to catch a fish in the tank is likely to give me another stroke. It is nearly impossible to do as far as I can tell and the last and only time I have caught a fish was with the Yellow Eye Kole that was about to be killed and had given up the fight.
Any advice on what I should do? Any suggestions on the best method or medication to rid the tank of Ich...If I remove that fish and this is the second cycle, that means the tank is infected too. BTW, I have not added anything to the tank except for a few corals in the last 2 months. No fish have been added since I believe March.
Am I sure it's Ich? Not really. And do cleaner shrimp help with Ich?
So something new to panic about: A couple of weeks ago I noticed some white spots on one of the heps but I couldn't ID them and thought they may have just been bits of sand or bubbles in its slime coating. They went away within a day or so but now they have come back and much worse. In fact a couple other fish have them too and I am afraid I am witnessing an Ich outbreak.
ALthough the water color is very clear right now, I do notice a lot of particles in the water that look just like what is on the fish so I am a bit unsure of what I am dealing with. One thing for sure, it is annoying the hep enough that it is swimming funny and trying to rub it off on rocks. It did the same thing the last time but not to this degree.
So what's the verdict? Should I crap in my pants? Before anyone suggests that I net the fish and put it into QT, please understand that 4 or more of the fish also have it to some degree and that trying to catch a fish in the tank is likely to give me another stroke. It is nearly impossible to do as far as I can tell and the last and only time I have caught a fish was with the Yellow Eye Kole that was about to be killed and had given up the fight.
Any advice on what I should do? Any suggestions on the best method or medication to rid the tank of Ich...If I remove that fish and this is the second cycle, that means the tank is infected too. BTW, I have not added anything to the tank except for a few corals in the last 2 months. No fish have been added since I believe March.
Am I sure it's Ich? Not really. And do cleaner shrimp help with Ich?
melev
Well-known member
I would strongly recommend feeding your tank with food that has been soaked in garlic. If you clip Nori to the glass, pre-soak it with some Garlic Extreme 5 minutes prior to putting it in the tank.
Do your utmost to keep the water in your tank stable. No more accidents, top-off incidents, dosing excessively, etc. Just aim for stability and don't tweak anything for now. Let your fish fight off the infection via growing healthy and fat. Fat fish tend to be more resistant than hungry stressed ones. Keep temperatures stable too, no huge swings.
A few cleaner shrimp can help. Cleaner wrasses or Neon Gobies pick off parasites as well.
But more than anything - stability.
Do your utmost to keep the water in your tank stable. No more accidents, top-off incidents, dosing excessively, etc. Just aim for stability and don't tweak anything for now. Let your fish fight off the infection via growing healthy and fat. Fat fish tend to be more resistant than hungry stressed ones. Keep temperatures stable too, no huge swings.
A few cleaner shrimp can help. Cleaner wrasses or Neon Gobies pick off parasites as well.
But more than anything - stability.
tinygiants
New member
Sounds like ICH to me. I had it, it does not go away by itself. I do agree that you need stability in the tank.
There are supposed to be some reef safe medicines for ich now. I have used with good success coral vital by Marc Weiss. It does not kill the ICH. It disrupts the cycle. The white spots fall off of the fish. The cycle then moves to the substrate or nesting area. Then the new offspring reinfect the fish. The coral vital helps the fish resist the new infestation. If the new ich does not find a host it will die. Short of letting a tank lay fallow for something like 21 days, I am not sure you can completely irradicate them.
Look into the new meds at Foster and Smith and the like. Some of them may actually kill ICH not just discourage it from attaching to fish. Make sure that copper is not the active ingredient. Copper will kill your reef.
Dale
There are supposed to be some reef safe medicines for ich now. I have used with good success coral vital by Marc Weiss. It does not kill the ICH. It disrupts the cycle. The white spots fall off of the fish. The cycle then moves to the substrate or nesting area. Then the new offspring reinfect the fish. The coral vital helps the fish resist the new infestation. If the new ich does not find a host it will die. Short of letting a tank lay fallow for something like 21 days, I am not sure you can completely irradicate them.
Look into the new meds at Foster and Smith and the like. Some of them may actually kill ICH not just discourage it from attaching to fish. Make sure that copper is not the active ingredient. Copper will kill your reef.
Dale
mrcrab
In Memoriam
As tinygiants has stated ICH does not go away. The only way to get rid of it is to let the tank go fallow for 45 days! I would not treat the tank with anything. I would follow Mark's advise of stability and fat healthy fish able to fight off disease.
Here's some reading for you and good links on this page on the subject.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm
Good luck
Here's some reading for you and good links on this page on the subject.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm
Good luck
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