sherm71tank
Premium Member
The way dead things sometimes do! Ahh, I love it!
with my best pirate smile of course!
with my best pirate smile of course!
OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
- Thread starter JohnL
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chris wright
In Memoriam
Hey what, me have idea's? :lol: You must drink more than me :lol:
jnarowe
New member
What I do is soak the ingredients before I make the food. I soak for about a half hour in RO/DI, then rinse with RO/DI.
When I feed, I thaw the food in tank water with vitamins, then I strain it through a very fine shrimp net. This helps a lot IMO.
Make sure to back-track through your water supply system too. Check your tap water, your RO, and your RO/DI to make sure you are not doing water chnages with "bad" water.
Then look at mechanical filtration. Floss? Carbon getting changed out regularly? Using GFO? Water temp? Die-off like I had with the snails?
How old are your lamps? Have they shifted spectrum? Do you need to lower them? And my old favorite, what about a nap? I have my lights go out for an hour in the middle of the lighting period. It takes much longer for algae to ramp up photosynthesis than more advanced life forms, so adding a nap will seriously mess with the HA's ability to prosper.
When I feed, I thaw the food in tank water with vitamins, then I strain it through a very fine shrimp net. This helps a lot IMO.
Make sure to back-track through your water supply system too. Check your tap water, your RO, and your RO/DI to make sure you are not doing water chnages with "bad" water.
Then look at mechanical filtration. Floss? Carbon getting changed out regularly? Using GFO? Water temp? Die-off like I had with the snails?
How old are your lamps? Have they shifted spectrum? Do you need to lower them? And my old favorite, what about a nap? I have my lights go out for an hour in the middle of the lighting period. It takes much longer for algae to ramp up photosynthesis than more advanced life forms, so adding a nap will seriously mess with the HA's ability to prosper.
chris wright
In Memoriam
A nap? I think your talking about yourself here :lol: With those lights you gotta get out, so you can sleep and leave the lights on
Seriously though, there's merit to what you are saying. Wouldn't work in my case, as I get heaps of natural light all day.
mrcrab
In Memoriam
Okay. Programmed a 1+1/2 hour nap for the sump. 8 hours of total photo-period, 4 + nap + 4 hours. Lights, 2 X 39w T5's, were old, just replaced 2 and will have 2 more new ones next week although this has been an ongoing problem and not sure it relates to a lamp shift.
Will start soaking/rinsing all food in RO/DI and change over to nori after the spiralina flakes are gone.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Will start soaking/rinsing all food in RO/DI and change over to nori after the spiralina flakes are gone.
I'll let you know how it goes.
jnarowe
New member
Sounds good barry. BTW, be careful about the new lamps!! Either put some egg crate under them or raise them up, otherwise your corals will get shocked.
You guys are going to freak when you see my new corals from Ultimate...I don't want them to ship until the 7th, but let me just say...WICKED!!
You guys are going to freak when you see my new corals from Ultimate...I don't want them to ship until the 7th, but let me just say...WICKED!!
jnarowe, do you think your dosing sugar had any effect on your dino problem? I've been through a 6 day blackout, another 6 day blackout, I run rowaphos and carbon, I went through an 8 day blackout, with scrubbing the rocks before I started, and on the 6th day, and the damn things are coming back. Haven't tried the sugar dosing, but I'm getting desperate.
jnarowe
New member
Wow, man that is rough. Well you know I did dose sugar but to point to that as being effective would be very unscientific. I did notice a change in the dinos while dosing sugar, but then I felt that I really didn't know enough about it to be screwing around too much. Sherman made me nervous about my dosing method too. The dinos did seem to die off during the sugar dosing, but then they would come back. And I wasn't really sure that the sugar wouldn't be feeding them as well.
I stopped dosing sugar before the dinos disappeared. But let me summarize what I did do so you can at least have that knowledge to work with:
1. I did a bunch of water changes
2. I lowered the light period
3. I dosed sugar
4. I did a 3 day blackout
5. I stopped dosing sugar.
6. I stopped doing water changes
I feel that stopping water changes may have been the pivotal element, but since I was trying multiple things sort of over-lapping, I cannot tell you what really caused them to die off.
Man I wish you good luck as I lost some corals during that upheaval. If you decide to dose sugar, go easy.
I stopped dosing sugar before the dinos disappeared. But let me summarize what I did do so you can at least have that knowledge to work with:
1. I did a bunch of water changes
2. I lowered the light period
3. I dosed sugar
4. I did a 3 day blackout
5. I stopped dosing sugar.
6. I stopped doing water changes
I feel that stopping water changes may have been the pivotal element, but since I was trying multiple things sort of over-lapping, I cannot tell you what really caused them to die off.
Man I wish you good luck as I lost some corals during that upheaval. If you decide to dose sugar, go easy.
sherm71tank
Premium Member
You should also have a very good skimmer. The bacteria that will grow in your system if you dose sugar will consume oxygen. If your skimmer isn't up to par it could be very bad.
Thanks for the info, jnarowe. I've stopped water changes, last one was 2 weeks ago. I've been on a shortened light period for 2 months now. Ugh. I'm about to go into another 3 (or more) day blackout. Think I'll skip the sugar for now. I almost turned the tank (125 gallon nano) into a fresh water tank a month ago, but I'm still fighting the good fight! 
jnarowe
New member
yeah I forgot about the skimming. What you can do is ramp up flow, make sure your skimmer is running well, and then blow it into the water column. The best way to do this is with a powerhead and below is a Dahn Nguyen modded MJ-1200 we call the "Reef Blower".
This thing is unbelievable. If you get the dinos into the water column, then your skimmer can pull them out.
My situation turned around probably about 3 weeks after I stopped the water changes.
This thing is unbelievable. If you get the dinos into the water column, then your skimmer can pull them out.
My situation turned around probably about 3 weeks after I stopped the water changes.
chris wright
In Memoriam
I wish I had a decent skimmer, I have to rely on water changes for nutrient export 
chris wright
In Memoriam
Thats it. My system is pretty basic, but it works. I just need my new lights to turn up. Have to be imported, but 2 months is getting beyond the joke.
Speaking of which, get Barry to email you Aussies version of windows. It's exactly how I imagined it should be, maybe I got it wrong?
Naaah, it's a better system :lol:
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