Owners Thread: Innovative Marine Fusion 40
- Thread starter Mr2KiEu
- Start date
After being out of town since Friday, I returned yesterday to find more algae on the glass than I've seen before or expected. Cleaned it off and checked phosphates. The Hanna registered 8ppb - first time I've seen any measurable phosphates at all. So I did a water change, put fresh GFO in the reactor, and am going to reduce the number of times I'm feeding the clowns frozen foods to maybe two or three times a week.
Randy Holmes-Farley wrote a great article here on phosphates and the relative contribution of various types of food. The bottom line is that there is a significant amount of variation between individual foods from both frozen and dried groups.
I should have provided more clarity as to my thought process, linking the foods I'm feeding to the little increase in algae and phosphates in my tank (which until this week has been respectively not present and immeasurable). I had gotten in a habit of feeding a bit of one of the frozen foods - PE Mysis, Emerald Entree, or brine shrimp - AND some pellets, all soaked in Garlic Guard on a daily basis. And twice a week I was feeding the zoas about 15mL of a phytoplankton liquid formula mixed with Brightwell Reef Snow. Bottom line: I was/am over-feeding.
Especially after reading Randy's article, I'm not at all ready to say that frozen mysis shrimp is inherently any more of a contributor of my phosphates than is the Reef Snow (liquid) or the pellets. I recognized that I had, over time, bumped up the total amount I was feeding to a point that it is now showing up as enough phosphates unbound by the GFO to cause a proliferation of algae growth. With the small amount of livestock I have in the tank, that much food (and phosphates) is unnecessary. I think Randy does a good job of pointing out that it's a mistake to even say that simply ensuring that there is no uneaten food will keep phosphates low. Tanks with a higher census obviously require feeding more food. More food [period, without any qualification] means more phosphates. And in our closed systems, water changes and phosphate binders like GFO are required to export that particular nutrient out of the system.
So to restate, my strategic plan is to simply feed less in order to keep the export of phosphates through water changes and GFO where they need to be (near zero). Tactically, my plan is to do so by basically cutting food volume fed on a daily basis in half - feeding either frozen food or pellets, but not a combination of both. Long story short, I'm just trying to get my introduction of phosphate (feeding) back in balance with my export mechanisms (10% weekly water changes and 2/3-cup of high-capacity GFO in a media reactor).
Reduck
Because I can....
You could probably cut your frozen food to 2-3 times a week easily. As long as your creatures eat pellets or a quality dry food on the other days. Mine eat pellets 5 nights a week and the tank gets snow once and LRS reef frenzy, mixed with reef roids nano, once a week, three days apart. Everyone is happy. Oh yea, the tang and sailfin blennie get a 2" square of nori every day now. No real algae for them to graze upon any more. Not using gfo anymore, but a quarter cup of phosguard keeps phosphates at a minimum. I can't go to zero. Some of my coral like a bit of phosphates...and a bit of nitrates too.
Each tank is different in its requirements.
Each tank is different in its requirements.
Reduck
Because I can....
I spoke to them yesterday. It should ship no later than tomorrow. Probably arrive mid next week...many apologies were given for the tardy shipment.
I took a shot at a mp40wes in the classified, just in case the 10 don't stick. Best case, I'll sell an mp10wes and use one as a slave if it sticks. If it doesn't stick I'll sell them both. Meanwhile I'll have at least one MP that I know will stick to the thicker glass.
Also got the wide angle lens for the x30. If that works well enough, I'll sell the 2nd radion too.
I may take a couple days off when it arrives to get it going...the conversion day will be a busy day!
OsiViper
Member
Well, Now I gotta be very careful..
A fish in my 20 gallon has ICH.. Gotta be careful not to use same equipment on both tanks. At least my 40 has an added level of protection with the oversized UV Sterilizer.
Gotta try and get 2 little tanks up and running to do tank transfer here in the next day or so.
A fish in my 20 gallon has ICH.. Gotta be careful not to use same equipment on both tanks. At least my 40 has an added level of protection with the oversized UV Sterilizer.
Gotta try and get 2 little tanks up and running to do tank transfer here in the next day or so.
mystikal
New member
Get some xenias, then place them on a rock in the sand bed. This should help reduce your phosphates.
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/172094-do-xenia-remove-phosphates/
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/172094-do-xenia-remove-phosphates/
Absolutely. It's been curious to read through some of the "information" from various sources as I've tried to educate myself a bit more about maintaining a reef tank that suggests that one should avoid 100% of phosphates and nitrogen compounds at all costs. Last time I checked, it's pretty hard to build a protein without a phosphate group... and I think we can all agree that building proteins is a fairly important biological function.
The discussion about chemistry in the tanks really reminds me of our bio-identical hormone therapy business at the office. There's healthy, respectable science behind everything we do, but it's not as cut-and-dried as calculating dosages for hormone therapy based on someone's lab results. We have never had a patient come to us and say, "Well, I feel just fine and have no symptoms, but I randomly decided to check my estrogens and progesterone and see that my E
ratio is off a bit so I need to start dosing progesterone." We always diagnose and adjust dosages primarily by symptoms, but do use the labs to substantiate our efforts and confirm in relative terms what the symptoms tell us. Same is basically true in my case here. If the Hanna checker had reported an increase in measurable phosphates but no noticeable changes had taken place I would have just documented in Apex Fusion and went on about my day. But when we returned home after being gone about 50 hours and saw a fairly dense coat of algae that was completely new and unexpected, I thought that was probably a good sign that I needed to make a change in my behavior, and just used the measurement to back that suspicion up.
I'm really hoping to hear a great story about how they included something extra for you, going a little above and beyond in the name of great customer service!
You've got a good idea with taking the time off, too. If you're like me, it becomes hard to focus on getting work done when there are shiny new toys that need to be tinkered with.
You just convinced me of what I need to add next. I was showing my wife some different corals a week or so ago and she said she really liked the pulsing pom pom Xenia. Thanks much for sharing that post. Good to know that the Xenia not only will not be offended by some phosphates, but might very well help to take those up.
mystikal
New member
They spread like weeds tho. I've placed mine on a rock towards the back corner of my tank. Looks like a little island lol.
choss
New member
Why do things always go wrong when you are away?
Why do things always go wrong when you are away?
So quick introduction - I've been following this thread for a few months - occassionally chiming in but working on my fusion 40 build (tank started in April). I just put up the build thread a few days ago.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23857539#post23857539
Anyway, before heading out for a long July 4th weekend I made a few mistakes. I had a bit of cyano growing - nothing too alarming but I figured it might not be a bad time to add some chemi pure blue. First time I'm using it v. elite. I also decided to pick up my bird's nest coral that a friend was holding. It was doing great in his tank placed near the top under the lights. He's running an ATI LED/T5 fixture on his SR80 tank. I decided to place it mid level but directly under my Kessil 360. Then I glued a few frags. Why I messed with the tank before leaving is a really good question?
I was gone about 5 days. I had a buddy check on the tank and he sends me a text "all is good but the skimmer is overflowing". So when I got home I realized that the small eheim pump I use to power my HOB refugium had died. That created a small reverse siphon and raised the water level (enough to probably keep my ATO off for the bulk of the days I was away).
Luckily I had a backup pump and was able to get the water flowing again in the fuge, and then I slowly allowed the ATO to make up the water level which now dropped in the middle chamber. The summary though is last night I had some additional algae growing (despite no feeding while I was away) and my corals had the following issues:
The good: BTA, Hammer, frogspawn, trumpet corals - all looked great.
The status quo: my purple and green acroporas look fine although the green is turning more purple, and the purple's green tips are no longer green. But they look healthy.
The bad: all my zoanthids are closed up. so is my green star polyp (which is a new frag slice added before the 4th weekend). My bird's nest looks a bit bleached and not great. I quickly moved it lower in the tank and set my light cycle to a lower intensity (running max power at 50% v. 65% from 12-3).
I'll watch the tank carefully today - things are looking a little better this morning. Could be the light intensity was too much (maybe the chemipure added to this issue by polishing the water?). Maybe it was the lack of skimmer production for a few days or the fuge not working properly? Or maybe increased salinity from the fuge crash?
Anyway, time will tell but I am kicking myself for my usual pre vacation tinkering!
Why do things always go wrong when you are away?
So quick introduction - I've been following this thread for a few months - occassionally chiming in but working on my fusion 40 build (tank started in April). I just put up the build thread a few days ago.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23857539#post23857539
Anyway, before heading out for a long July 4th weekend I made a few mistakes. I had a bit of cyano growing - nothing too alarming but I figured it might not be a bad time to add some chemi pure blue. First time I'm using it v. elite. I also decided to pick up my bird's nest coral that a friend was holding. It was doing great in his tank placed near the top under the lights. He's running an ATI LED/T5 fixture on his SR80 tank. I decided to place it mid level but directly under my Kessil 360. Then I glued a few frags. Why I messed with the tank before leaving is a really good question?
I was gone about 5 days. I had a buddy check on the tank and he sends me a text "all is good but the skimmer is overflowing". So when I got home I realized that the small eheim pump I use to power my HOB refugium had died. That created a small reverse siphon and raised the water level (enough to probably keep my ATO off for the bulk of the days I was away).
Luckily I had a backup pump and was able to get the water flowing again in the fuge, and then I slowly allowed the ATO to make up the water level which now dropped in the middle chamber. The summary though is last night I had some additional algae growing (despite no feeding while I was away) and my corals had the following issues:
The good: BTA, Hammer, frogspawn, trumpet corals - all looked great.
The status quo: my purple and green acroporas look fine although the green is turning more purple, and the purple's green tips are no longer green. But they look healthy.
The bad: all my zoanthids are closed up. so is my green star polyp (which is a new frag slice added before the 4th weekend). My bird's nest looks a bit bleached and not great. I quickly moved it lower in the tank and set my light cycle to a lower intensity (running max power at 50% v. 65% from 12-3).
I'll watch the tank carefully today - things are looking a little better this morning. Could be the light intensity was too much (maybe the chemipure added to this issue by polishing the water?). Maybe it was the lack of skimmer production for a few days or the fuge not working properly? Or maybe increased salinity from the fuge crash?
Anyway, time will tell but I am kicking myself for my usual pre vacation tinkering!
Reduck
Because I can....
Reduck
Because I can....
Nitrates surge too high from lack of skimmer production?
GSP is pretty hardy, but I've always had problems growing it in my tank with slightly elevated nitrates. How old is the CPE? Could it be leeching back into the tank? Never mind, you said it was new.. duh me..
It can only be a short list of possibilities.
Nitrates, salinity, and light intensity.
I doubt a phosphate spike would cause much stress unless it went into the .x digits. Most corals love a good phosphate spike. Its us that hate the algae that follows..
Last edited:
choss
New member
Nitrates tested fine (0) so I'm going with the light intensity theory or salinity. I also had an older bag of CPE in there that I removed this morning along with a water change. GSP starting to open up some. I hate it when a bunch of variables change at once.
choss
New member
I picked up a small Xenia cutting from my friend but decided not to risk it in my display tank. It's sitting in my 10g quarantine tank. It's really beautiful but in my friend's 80g tank it has spread everywhere. The upside is he sells it back to the local fish store for credit. But it could be a PITA.
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