nursedude
Member
I used the BRS dry rock and their dry Pukani, very happy with both.
Reef in the Snow
- Thread starter nursedude
- Start date
I used the BRS dry rock and their dry Pukani, very happy with both.
bo0sted2g
New member
Yeah I have went to Aquamart, Stone Aquatics, and am hoping to get to Aquatic Art or Elite Reef on my next trip down. I also went to Reefstock while it was in town.
Luckily I'm about equal distance from Denver and Grand Junction. Got my Cardinal fish from J&M in Junction. Are there any other Local fish stores in GJ?
And also would you be able to point me in the direction of the "local reefer" with the grow out tanks? I know a couple people from Denver who sell stuff out of their houses and am pretty impressed with the pieces and the prices from private sellers compared to stores.
Feel free to PM me so I don't clutter up your build thread
Thanks!
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nursedude
Member
No problem about the build thread, not worried about clutter. We do have another good store in Grand Junction, Western Slope Aquatics. I actually prefer them as a store. They carry a lot of really good products and their fish are healthy. I picked up my frogspawn coral there and my clowns. They have a couple beautiful display tanks, and they are family owned and been around forever. Limited corals, but still cool. J&M, is hit and miss, but I still go there. The local supplier is in Cederedge, I reach him through his Facebook page, here is a link:https://www.facebook.com/michael.weldon.104
nursedude
Member
Algae: I smite thee!
Algae: I smite thee!
The tank is improving. I felt I needed a more concerted approach to the algae issue, only because it was getting much worse, even after I scrubbed the rocks twice, filtered the aftermath, and went lights out for three days. It only helped temporarily.
I have a theory about dry rock and algae. This is based on my limited experience with past tanks, with live rock, verses my new tank, with dry rock. I believe we see more algae on dry rock. Why? I am not sure if it is because it is devoid of life, or has more available surface area, not sure. I have never had an algae bloom like I have had with this dry rock with any of my past aquariums. I'll tell ya, I made every mistake know to reefers with those first couple tanks. I should have had waving sheets of green but I didn't. Just an observation, nothing scientific to base it upon.
So, what I ultimately did seems to be working. First we added 6 snails, and had already added four hermits. I started the mini carbon GFO reactor from BRS (BRS large particle activated carbon and BRS high capacity GFO); I scrubbed and siphoned; I turned out the lights for three more days, and did a 20% water change. Voila! We have progress. The multi prog approach is working, 80% of my rocks are algae free and I am seeing budding coralline. Is it all just coincidental timing, I am not sure. I am just happy to see bare rock again.
My two other frustrations, actually three. First I broke my protein skimmer. It had a load of algae in the bubble chamber and I cleaned it. While it was drying I bumped it and it fell over breaking where the pump is connected to the housing. I wanted to replace this at some point, but not yet! I begrudgingly ordered another from SaltwaterAquarium.com a Vertex Omega 130, this is a polarizing skimmer. Truth be told I just hope it fits. It was on sale and I placed my order as there were only three left. I placed my order based on the foot print dimension listed on their site. I happen to notice that the foot print is listed as larger on BRS's site. In fact, to big to fit my skimmer chamber. I contacted them and they pulled it from the box and measured, assuring me their dimensions were correct. I don't think they accounted for the pump, we'll see, if not, back it goes. So, I have been skimmerless for a week. Which leads me to my next development, my alkalinity.
I have been dosing kalkwaser form my ATO. I have gradually been increasing kalkwaser as I tested and noted the use to dose ratio. Which has actually been surprising, I have had to increase the amount I was placing into my reservoir steadily until now it is at the maximum amount, two teaspoons per gallon. The problem I have my alkalinity is still dropping dramatically after several days. I have supplementally dosed to appropriate values only using the kalkwaser top off as the stabilizer, but it is not keeping up. My research has shown this may be related to coralline growth, or large amounts of nutrients, or CO2. What is strange, my calcium is more stable but my alk keeps dropping. From my understanding they should fall at a correlating rate. This last week which was crazy, found my Alk. going from 7.3 (dosed to increase to 8.0) to 6.7, ugh! I dosed and did a water change. Now testing 8.6.
The last issue, stupid Photobucket. I no longer am able to access my account. I have either been hacked, or lost in the Matrix. It doesn't recognize my email recovery, name, or password. I am starting over with Flickstr hoping it works. At this time I can't post any photos, so no awesome pics of bare rock and fish. Sorry, for the wall of text. I just hope to provide some insight for those on the same journey.
Algae: I smite thee!
The tank is improving. I felt I needed a more concerted approach to the algae issue, only because it was getting much worse, even after I scrubbed the rocks twice, filtered the aftermath, and went lights out for three days. It only helped temporarily.
I have a theory about dry rock and algae. This is based on my limited experience with past tanks, with live rock, verses my new tank, with dry rock. I believe we see more algae on dry rock. Why? I am not sure if it is because it is devoid of life, or has more available surface area, not sure. I have never had an algae bloom like I have had with this dry rock with any of my past aquariums. I'll tell ya, I made every mistake know to reefers with those first couple tanks. I should have had waving sheets of green but I didn't. Just an observation, nothing scientific to base it upon.
So, what I ultimately did seems to be working. First we added 6 snails, and had already added four hermits. I started the mini carbon GFO reactor from BRS (BRS large particle activated carbon and BRS high capacity GFO); I scrubbed and siphoned; I turned out the lights for three more days, and did a 20% water change. Voila! We have progress. The multi prog approach is working, 80% of my rocks are algae free and I am seeing budding coralline. Is it all just coincidental timing, I am not sure. I am just happy to see bare rock again.
My two other frustrations, actually three. First I broke my protein skimmer. It had a load of algae in the bubble chamber and I cleaned it. While it was drying I bumped it and it fell over breaking where the pump is connected to the housing. I wanted to replace this at some point, but not yet! I begrudgingly ordered another from SaltwaterAquarium.com a Vertex Omega 130, this is a polarizing skimmer. Truth be told I just hope it fits. It was on sale and I placed my order as there were only three left. I placed my order based on the foot print dimension listed on their site. I happen to notice that the foot print is listed as larger on BRS's site. In fact, to big to fit my skimmer chamber. I contacted them and they pulled it from the box and measured, assuring me their dimensions were correct. I don't think they accounted for the pump, we'll see, if not, back it goes. So, I have been skimmerless for a week. Which leads me to my next development, my alkalinity.
I have been dosing kalkwaser form my ATO. I have gradually been increasing kalkwaser as I tested and noted the use to dose ratio. Which has actually been surprising, I have had to increase the amount I was placing into my reservoir steadily until now it is at the maximum amount, two teaspoons per gallon. The problem I have my alkalinity is still dropping dramatically after several days. I have supplementally dosed to appropriate values only using the kalkwaser top off as the stabilizer, but it is not keeping up. My research has shown this may be related to coralline growth, or large amounts of nutrients, or CO2. What is strange, my calcium is more stable but my alk keeps dropping. From my understanding they should fall at a correlating rate. This last week which was crazy, found my Alk. going from 7.3 (dosed to increase to 8.0) to 6.7, ugh! I dosed and did a water change. Now testing 8.6.
The last issue, stupid Photobucket. I no longer am able to access my account. I have either been hacked, or lost in the Matrix. It doesn't recognize my email recovery, name, or password. I am starting over with Flickstr hoping it works. At this time I can't post any photos, so no awesome pics of bare rock and fish. Sorry, for the wall of text. I just hope to provide some insight for those on the same journey.
