Owners Thread: Innovative Marine Fusion 40

[mystikal]

Lol that's why mine is isolated to the back corner. It's placed on a small rock all by itself, so its not going anywhere

 

[Reduck]

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.

I've had the "old bag" syndrome once before that resulted in a fairly large nitrate spike. Before I had the baskets (and after I had them too) I used to just drop the bag into the bottom of the chamber..

Well, I did that, then forgot it was there. For a while, maybe 3 months or more. I know they say it can last that long..but thats in perfect conditions.
I was doing water changes out the wazoo, till I decided I would check the sump for junk build up..and lo and behold, there's this bag of CPE down there...I pulled it, did another WC, and the nitrates went back to normal.
Was it the WC's, or the bag? I'll never know..
That will teach me not to just dismiss a notice on my aquaplanner app...

 

[mystikal]

So I bought the Red Sea foundation test kit for calcium, alk, and mg....and After I opened it up the mg bottle was opened and spilled over the entire kit!

Hopefully I could salvage it and still use it, since Amazon cannot replace it.

 

[reefwiser]

Contact Red Sea about the problem.

 

[choss]

Lol that's why mine is isolated to the back corner. It's placed on a small rock all by itself, so its not going anywhere

In my friends tank it was iscolated to a single rock. It is now on three or four totally separated islands. Not sure if back corner will keep it from spreading...

 

[choss]

I've had the "old bag" syndrome once before that resulted in a fairly large nitrate spike. Before I had the baskets (and after I had them too) I used to just drop the bag into the bottom of the chamber..

Well, I did that, then forgot it was there. For a while, maybe 3 months or more. I know they say it can last that long..but thats in perfect conditions.
I was doing water changes out the wazoo, till I decided I would check the sump for junk build up..and lo and behold, there's this bag of CPE down there...I pulled it, did another WC, and the nitrates went back to normal.
Was it the WC's, or the bag? I'll never know..
That will teach me not to just dismiss a notice on my aquaplanner app...

yeah that is the biggest problem with the AIO setup. I just forget what is back there. Are you using the media baskets still? I have one running (the skimmer is a Tunze so it had to go in compartment #1) and still have the stock media sponges in there (new ones though). A buddy swears by socks but I'm not sold yet. Would running the basket with say a mechanical sponge and the CPE be the way to go?

 

[Reduck]

yeah that is the biggest problem with the AIO setup. I just forget what is back there. Are you using the media baskets still? I have one running (the skimmer is a Tunze so it had to go in compartment #1) and still have the stock media sponges in there (new ones though). A buddy swears by socks but I'm not sold yet. Would running the basket with say a mechanical sponge and the CPE be the way to go?

I gave up on using chem media (besides carbon and phosguard) so I sold the baskets. Not that it didn't work, I just don't need it anymore. I bought the intank floss holders and just run floss now for mechanical filtration on the returns. Under the floss holder I have LR rubble. I change the floss every 4 days. I don't know why I picked 4 days, but its working....and I'm a little OCD..

Socks are great as long as they are cleaned regularly. I am planning on using them in the new tank but only for a day or two prior and post WC to collect crud I blow around cleaning up. Only time will tell if its a good plan or not..

 

[choss]

I'm dealing with a little cyano and I'm debating going dark for three days. Anyone try this successfully?

 

[Reduck]

I'm dealing with a little cyano and I'm debating going dark for three days. Anyone try this successfully?

I just completed my 3 days. 4th day only blue. Skim wet. Continue feeding.
Sandbed was pristine yesterday under 50% whites. I'll see how it looks today, then I'll run it back up to 70%.
It works. Almost every time.

 

[Reduck]

I just completed my 3 days. 4th day only blue. Skim wet. Continue feeding.
Sandbed was pristine yesterday under 50% whites. I'll see how it looks today, then I'll run it back up to 70%.
It works. Almost every time.

Bed is spotless. I'm going back to 70%. I think I'm just scheduling a 3 day lights out each month to keep these things at bay. I have a slightly mad hammer, but everything else is happy. Everything I've read about this procedure says it's good for the tank. It's not always sunny in a reef. They go through weather patterns like us.

Do it!

 

[choss]

Bed is spotless. I'm going back to 70%. I think I'm just scheduling a 3 day lights out each month to keep these things at bay. I have a slightly mad hammer, but everything else is happy. Everything I've read about this procedure says it's good for the tank. It's not always sunny in a reef. They go through weather patterns like us.

Do it!

already started it this morning but this gives me a lot of confidence. I also moved my last clownfish into the QT setup. He was suffering from a long white poop like the one I already removed. I'm starting to think its the crappy frozen food I'm feeding him. I need to switch to some reef frenzy or something similar but in any case, the behavior is this. Fish starts to hang in one spot only. Stops taking an interest in food but looks healthy. I treated my other clown for internal parasites using Prazipro and he was eatig again within 3 days. So I'll try with this fish as well and then in three or four weeks put all of them back in DS is all looks well. Gotta say I am really glad I have room for my 10 g QT tank in the basement.

 

[OsiViper]

I had a horrid algae problem and cyano problem on rocks due to them leaching a good bit of phosphates (water still read 0 though).

I got 4 Mexican turbo snails. My rocks are almost spotless. They're devouring hair algae, cyano, and anything else they can get their hands on.

 

[Reduck]

already started it this morning but this gives me a lot of confidence. I also moved my last clownfish into the QT setup. He was suffering from a long white poop like the one I already removed. I'm starting to think its the crappy frozen food I'm feeding him. I need to switch to some reef frenzy or something similar but in any case, the behavior is this. Fish starts to hang in one spot only. Stops taking an interest in food but looks healthy. I treated my other clown for internal parasites using Prazipro and he was eatig again within 3 days. So I'll try with this fish as well and then in three or four weeks put all of them back in DS is all looks well. Gotta say I am really glad I have room for my 10 g QT tank in the basement.

You might also try spectrum medicated pellets. They have one specifically for internal parasites.

My pigs love the spectrum normal and herbivore pellets. That's their staple food.....and I keep the medicated ones around just in case.

I haven't had to use prazi for a while! I have a gallon that I treat the pond with once a season. But since installing the uv, the fish all seems so much healthier..I don't see the need...but when they were little koi, the white string thing was a spring event. I'd see them trailing the poop and dose the whole pond....a week later, all better. Followed by 20lbs of carbon to strip the remaining meds from the water...and a massive 500g wc. Fun times..

 

[jguinn]

already started it this morning but this gives me a lot of confidence. I also moved my last clownfish into the QT setup. He was suffering from a long white poop like the one I already removed. I'm starting to think its the crappy frozen food I'm feeding him. I need to switch to some reef frenzy or something similar but in any case, the behavior is this. Fish starts to hang in one spot only. Stops taking an interest in food but looks healthy. I treated my other clown for internal parasites using Prazipro and he was eatig again within 3 days. So I'll try with this fish as well and then in three or four weeks put all of them back in DS is all looks well. Gotta say I am really glad I have room for my 10 g QT tank in the basement.

That sounds like EXACTLY the same thing that happened to my black-and-white clown. And coincidentally, I somewhat suspected that I might have introduced the parasite through some frozen San Francisco Bay brine shrimp that I picked up at my LFS. Had the fish for about three weeks before any signs of any parasite showed up. Had fed NLS Thera-A pellets since the day I brought him home and then added in PE Mysis (purchased from Marine Depot) a few days later with no problems. Within just two or three days of feeding the frozen brine shrimp I started noticing the stringy white poop. Ordered some PraziPro but by the time it got here the fish showed some signs of either external parasites in addition to the internal, or the internal parasites reproduced and deteriorated his tissues to the point that I could see the parasites through a flesh wound. The Prazi (and then a few days later ParaGuard) seemed to reduce the size of the externally-visible white cotton-like lesion as well as the white stringy poop. Unfortunately by the time I was able to kill off the parasites they had done too much damage and I lost the fish.

Good luck with yours. I hope you have better success than I did. I think I'm going to pick up some of that medicated food that Reduck mentioned, just to have on-hand, too.

 

[choss]

I had a horrid algae problem and cyano problem on rocks due to them leaching a good bit of phosphates (water still read 0 though).

I got 4 Mexican turbo snails. My rocks are almost spotless. They're devouring hair algae, cyano, and anything else they can get their hands on.

Might try one or two to start. Going lights out for three days now and might put the stronger pump in this weekend. Just not excited about wrestling around in that little central chamber.

 

[choss]

You might also try spectrum medicated pellets. They have one specifically for internal parasites.

My pigs love the spectrum normal and herbivore pellets. That's their staple food.....and I keep the medicated ones around just in case.

I haven't had to use prazi for a while! I have a gallon that I treat the pond with once a season. But since installing the uv, the fish all seems so much healthier..I don't see the need...but when they were little koi, the white string thing was a spring event. I'd see them trailing the poop and dose the whole pond....a week later, all better. Followed by 20lbs of carbon to strip the remaining meds from the water...and a massive 500g wc. Fun times..

Funny so I put the big clown into QT. His old mate is there any they hook up right away. But what he doesn't realize is smaller clown has been hooking up with the tailspot blenny. They are best buds. So the blenny swims up to big clownfish and bites him twice on the ***. Now all three are happy and big clown just started eating again so I'm not too concerned. I like the med pellets. Will try those just in case.

 

[choss]

That sounds like EXACTLY the same thing that happened to my black-and-white clown. And coincidentally, I somewhat suspected that I might have introduced the parasite through some frozen San Francisco Bay brine shrimp that I picked up at my LFS. Had the fish for about three weeks before any signs of any parasite showed up. Had fed NLS Thera-A pellets since the day I brought him home and then added in PE Mysis (purchased from Marine Depot) a few days later with no problems. Within just two or three days of feeding the frozen brine shrimp I started noticing the stringy white poop. Ordered some PraziPro but by the time it got here the fish showed some signs of either external parasites in addition to the internal, or the internal parasites reproduced and deteriorated his tissues to the point that I could see the parasites through a flesh wound. The Prazi (and then a few days later ParaGuard) seemed to reduce the size of the externally-visible white cotton-like lesion as well as the white stringy poop. Unfortunately by the time I was able to kill off the parasites they had done too much damage and I lost the fish.

Good luck with yours. I hope you have better success than I did. I think I'm going to pick up some of that medicated food that Reduck mentioned, just to have on-hand, too.

My smaller clown recovered right away and so part of me thinks it could be the frozen food I was feeding. It seems to have some shrimp shells in it and I notice that they sometimes spit it out. Anyway no external lessons on my guys and they seem happy now. Will report back and probably put them back in DT in three weeks.

 

[choss]

By the way my avatar is the bigger clown so he HAS to recover!:hammer:

 

[Reduck]

By the way my avatar is the bigger clown so he HAS to recover!:hammer:

Good luck! I hope he makes a full recovery and grows up to bite you badly. then you can tell him how you saved his life, made him your avatar, and make him feel bad...
That's what I do. Guilt them. They still bite me though..
LOL

Btw- do you all realize that this thread is one of the largest threads on reef central? We rock!

 

[bizacon]

Or we all suck at reefing and constantly need help

Starting to prepare for my 14 days away from my tank. I am feeling confident. We will have house sitters and tank is doing well. Need to set back up the dropcam on it

Btw- do you all realize that this thread is one of the largest threads on reef central? We rock!