So you got a new fish tank Newbie

[WaterKeeper]

It was my own fault. If I had plumbed the weir box correctly it would have been a non-event. The downstairs neighbor is an art freak and after the water dripped down on his collection of Monet's and Renoir's he had little of good things to say about our hobby. I really hate water colors.

No, the move was planned before the unhappy event so I was not forced to move. As I indicated, I'll recover and re-tank bigger and better.

As to the question; it is hard, if not impossible, to have a sterile addition to one's tank. There are always hitchhikers of one sort or another. I guess the best approach would be to quarantine the new macro for a couple of weeks but, even then, there would be lifeforms which feed off the algae and would survive.

Now, as Anthony will tell you, a two minute boil of the algae will keep it pathogen free and provide a delicious algae stock for soup.

 

[kimoyo]

Yes Sir!

...But just so I have this correct (and boil doesn't mean something else like cooking rock does), I should take the chaeto algae and put if for two minutes in non-salted boiling water :lol:. I was thinking maybe a freshwater bath or something but this sounds much cooler.

 

[WaterKeeper]

I got that advise from the Iron Chefs.

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

Dangit, WaterKeeper! I'm really sorry to hear about your bad luck!

 

[WaterKeeper]

Thanks Mud. It just proves that as Roseanne Rosanna Dana used to says, "It's alway's something".

 

[marinegirl]

Sorry to hear of your loss water keeper and you of all people once said ( I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t trust automation )


i just moved house into a smaller place
so my 200g had to become an 100g

my new 100gal now has a DSB of 9" of sand and 80 kilo of live rock ( yes there are still places for the fish to swim ) this came from the 6ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ tank

after my whole year and a half of becoming a fish master and rock tamer i thought yey i wont have any more algae not with a whole tank over full of rock and a nice deep sand bed and YEY no more 150w lights, just a nice big 250w 14k MH ( i have no fluros now)

i made a nice little sump for the tank our of an old 2' tank filled it with the coral rubble from my old sump the sump has good water flow ......

i have a 5000 Litre per hour pump pumping water up to the tank from the sump and i have a lifeguard 6000 in the tank making sure the water is moving every where .. ) a little strong but the fish donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t seem to mind ... (well 2 fish did i forgot to cover the inlet to the pump with a strainer and they had a nasty accident poor it was our ebli and bi color )

i have the big skimmer off my 6' rig which is rated to 400gal and i have a small carbon filter ( as you know we live near the ocean so we use real salt water no pretend stuff )..... we normally water change each 6 weeks in the big tank

now one would think that this was going to be a great setup with no algae due to the abundance of filtration ect ..

all my params are fantastic 0 , all the way ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦..ph 8.1

BUT but but ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. IM RIDDLED WITH ALGAE AGAIN

BLaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! FUBAR and Humbug !!!!!!!!!!

Could this be left over from some sort of mini cycle of something ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦.. if so we never detected it

I feel violated ââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â"šÂ¬Ã‚¦. He he he he

 

[WaterKeeper]

Well the good part is you finally got the pH down on that homemade rock.

Wow, that really is a deep, deep bed. I guess it is one way to get all your critters closer to the lights. I think you said the magic word, moved. No matter how carefully planned, bad things happen when you move a tank. Just disturbing the sand causes some nitrate spikes and they can create algae problems. You didn't say how long it has been since you swapped tanks but you will need to do the water change and wait thing for awhile until equilibrium is restored. Hopefully things will get better and the algae will subside fairly quickly.

 

[marinegirl]

its been about 3 weeks and i can say things are moving MUCH Quicker .... i have algae at nite and none in the moring !
go figure

blaaaaaa

 

[WaterKeeper]

Three weeks!!! Heck, it took you 8 months just to get that rock pH down below 9. You should be used to waiting.

Glad to hear things are improving. The algae outbreak after messing with a sandbed is not as long as it is in a new tank; it just seems that way. :thumbsup:

 

[marinegirl]

it sure feels like it ......... i was considering buying a bottle of U BEAUT FIX EVERY THING BACTERIA ....... what do u think !

 

[WaterKeeper]

Sure they fix everything including your roof. Want the good stuff? Then use My Secret Formula.

 

[craftytony]

Thanks WK!

Thanks WK!

WOW WK, took me awhile to read through this almost 2 year long thread! lol
Such great information and points into the right directions. Thank you for all the info!
I'm on week one of my 90 gallon, 20 gal sump, skimmer, setup. I have about 55 lbs of rock in so far. I have my lights running between 6-8pm every day. Now i'm just going crazy waiting to see something happen! lol...yeah i know i got a while to go...
anyway, thanks again, this thread was not only informative, but very entertaining!

 

[TXMike]

Wow, Waterkeeper...lots of info to take in. I keep reading about sumps...I have a 55 gallon (glass tank from wal-mart) with a Fluval 304 canister filter, and no sump. Should I be worried? Does a sump take place of a canister filter or can/should it be in addition to? Should I race out and get one or am I okay until I decide to upgrade at my leisure?

 

[Zaphod]

Canister filters can lead to a buildup of nitrates if you are not carefull. It is probably ok if you are having fidh only but if you are going to have a reef I would look into more natural filtration. A sump is not required but nice because you can hide a lot of unsightly equiptment.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Canisters are really handy but they should not be used as biofilters on a SW tank. For more on that The Filtration Thread. Note: this is a thread in progress at the moment

 

[craftytony]

Nice to see ya WK! Where have you been? or have you just been absent from this thread?

 

[WaterKeeper]

Lurking around as usual and working on the filter thread. This thread has been buried for awhile, which no one will mourn over.

 

[dastratt]

Yeah you got it WK we RC newbies are just laying low right now and slacking off around here until the next roll call

 

[Acreagedad]

Great news WK! I just got a 125g tank, canopy, and stand; sure beats having the 37g tank. Janelly's like "WOW DAD, does this mean I can have a sting ray?" Slow down young one!

I'm open to anything, bur NO MORE ANEMONES!

I'm having someone come over who built a custom sump tank, refugium, installation of the plumbing, etc. Refugium? Yes, I said refugium. Underneath requires 40 additional gallons of space for all of this stuff. I'm shopping for lights at the moment. I'll be curing the kaelini rock in containers that I picked up at the dollar store.

???I'm to fill up the containers with regular r/o water??? How much live rock is too much for a container??? Stupid question!

I'll be rotating the skimmer and the lights over the rocks daily and I'll try to keep things even and on a true rotation.

???Lights over the live rock, is that really required???

???How often do I change the water in the live rock containers...never??? I hear it can smell pretty bad.

I'm getting about 150 lbs of the Home Depot play sand and I plan on getting about 60 lbs of live sand. I can only start with 100 lbs of live rock. Don't yell at me! I should have more live rock. Christmas and all...plus I have to balance life. I'll keep the filteration off until the sand settles.

???I rather keep the live rock out of the tank until the middle of January?? Is that ok?

This is a lot of work, but it sure beats looking at the 37g tank. Moving up to a larger tank makes me feel the way I did when I dumped my first girlfriend. It's been 25 years since I had that feeling. What to do with good old 37g. Hmmm? Maybe I'll put it in Janelly's room. Maybe I'll sell it! I could keep it going for emergencies. It's too big for a QT.

I am very excited by all of this!

Regards,

Carlos

 

[WaterKeeper]

Great to hear Carlos,

I think you'll find that is far better than the small tank. Small tanks, to me at least, are mainly for specialty tanks, like the 29 gallon seahorse tank I have set up for the daycare center. If one wishes a diverse tank then bigger is the way to go.

To answer some of your questions

• People squeeze quite a bit of rock into curing vats. The disadvantage is that the rock doesn't receive good circulation and the curing process takes longer. Also, where the rock is resting against other rocks, it causes dead spots in the contact areas. These repair themselves over time but it is something to think about. I like a single layer of rock in a shallow vat.
  
• Lights aren't needed but they do allow the coralline present on the rock to recover better than being in the dark for a week or two. With your plans to cure the rock into January you will have better looking rock at the end of the period if you provide some lighting. It doesn't need to be too much. I like a couple of shop light strips with some daylight fluorescent tubes. I rotate the tubes between vats. Even if you can't light it everyday, some light is better than total darkness.
  
• Change away on the water (50% or more per day is not too much). It is ammonia laced, toxin filled, oxygen deprived water and doesn't do the invertebrates on the rock a lot of good. It is a myth that by changing water you slow the cure. The bacteria are fixed to the rock and not many are swimming about. By removing the nasty stuff that is dying each day you lessen the load on the curing system and speed the process. Don't worry about removing nutrients as there is more than enough to support a hoard of bacteria as the rock cures.
  
• Your plan sounds good and allowing 4-5 weeks for curing will indeed pay off in lessened algae outbreaks when the rock is introduce to the display.

Now, just make sure you get a REAL Xmas tree this year as the pine smell helps cover up the stink from the curing rock.