The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[GreshamH]

He could still be recouping from IMAC I know it takes a lot out of me to do the shows with a small crew and he does them K Solo

Did you manage to use the bit of screen I gave you or did you find some other? I'm having issues with them right now but should have the main bulk in a week they claim.

 

[jnarowe]

Very strange about Curt. He usually gets back to emails, phone calls and PM in less than a day.

I hope you can post pics of the screen and clips. Sounds very interesting.

 

[Sparkss]

Gresh
I got some from a fellow RCer. So far it is working out great. It is 1/4" mesh, which is smaller than I originally wanted, due to not wanting to block too much light, but to be honest, I can't tell any difference with it on or off, so I am glad to have gotten the 1/4". The mesh size was a tough one for me.. I knew 1/2" was too big and that some of the fish that we wanted would be able to jump through (firefish, etc), but 1/4" seemed too small, with too much possibly blocking the light.. 3/8" seemed perfect, but it was hard to come by, so we went with 1/4". I am very glad that we did . I still would like to get a piece from you to have as a backup, since I know that this one won't last forever, even if it is UV resistant (of which I don't have confirmation, but from my discussions with the seller, it is).

Jonathan
Today got away from me, so I didn't make it to getting any pictures, but I will snap a couple tomorrow for sure. I also added a setup so that accessing the front of the tank is easier, including a latch to hold the screen up and out of my way. You will see in the pictures tomorrow . For now, here is a link to the clips I used :

http://hardware.hardwarestore.com/72-156-window-screen-clips/screen-clip-gray-606514.aspx

http://www.azpartsmaster.com/shopazp/Screen+Clips+-+3|8"+Plastic+(PL7742).html

We got ours at Lowes, but as with most small items, finding anything on Lowes or HD's website is a joke.

 

[Sparkss]

well, I took the pictures earlier today, but our web hosting site is down, so I can't upload and link to them. I have a ticket opened with them so hopefully it will be resolved soon enough and I can share the pictures of our mesh top.

On the topic of the cloudiness I know have identified it as micro bubbles (after watching the water column very closely for much longer than would be considered sane ). Since I tested for the source by turning both the return pump and all Vortecs off separately, the only thing left would be algae in the tank giving off bubbles. I did notice some on the rocks that I can only describe as "red turf algae" (at least the name seems to describe what I am seeing pretty accurately). The algae is lots of short, stiff, bristle like dark red/maroon stalks, almost like a 2 -3 day old beard. I don't have alot of options aside from putting in some urchins to clean it off (still too many frags not secured enough for that option). So I will focus on the phosphate levels as best as I can. I plan to increase the sugar dosing from once a week to the same amount twice a week (every 3 days). So far 3 weeks worth of sugar dosing has brought the phosphates down from .19 to .04 (tested today). I also added some PHOSaR in a filter bag into a pretty high flow area of the sump. I did note that the algae was only on a few specific rocks, so it is likely living off of stored phosphated within the rocks, which just means it will take time to leech it all out. I also think that the high flow levels within the tank are why I didn't notice the bubbles coming from or on the aglae itself. After a couple of weeks with our current game plan I will re-assess and see if there is any positive progress. If not then I may try the "3 days with no light" treatement to see if it makes any difference. Any advice or suggestions on how best to combat the bubbles and algae are welcomed .

 

[Sparkss]

ok, so I finally got our hosting issues taken care of, so here are the pictures of the mesh top.


You can see the frame clips along the back (I haven't trimmed the excess yet, so I just folded it up along hte back to uncover the clips)

Here is it in place, you can see that we did get it to lay down flat (through use of the clips)

And we did it in 1 piece, across the entire tank

 

[Sparkss]

On the front side we place 2 clips on the tank, one on the right :

and one on the left :

and one clip on the header beam above the tank opening (to hold the screen up out of the way when we need access to the tank from the front)

Here it is from as far back as I could go and still hold the access door open (I need to get a locking hinge or other support for it, but haven't found one that we liked just yet)

For back access I can unclip the 4 back clips and hold up the back of the screen with a hook from the support rack above it. For full tank access I can unclip the same back 4 clips and jsut slide the screen out and off of the tank.


Well, that's it . Pretty simple and straight forward, but functional

 

[cbui2]

:thumbsup: Tom, what kind of netting are you using?

 

[Sparkss]

just some netting that I got from jmflies here on RC. I couldn't tell you any more than that I am afraid, sorry

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10155247#post10155247 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
well, I took the pictures earlier today, but our web hosting site is down, so I can't upload and link to them. I have a ticket opened with them so hopefully it will be resolved soon enough and I can share the pictures of our mesh top.

On the topic of the cloudiness I know have identified it as micro bubbles (after watching the water column very closely for much longer than would be considered sane ). Since I tested for the source by turning both the return pump and all Vortecs off separately, the only thing left would be algae in the tank giving off bubbles. I did notice some on the rocks that I can only describe as "red turf algae" (at least the name seems to describe what I am seeing pretty accurately). The algae is lots of short, stiff, bristle like dark red/maroon stalks, almost like a 2 -3 day old beard. I don't have alot of options aside from putting in some urchins to clean it off (still too many frags not secured enough for that option). So I will focus on the phosphate levels as best as I can. I plan to increase the sugar dosing from once a week to the same amount twice a week (every 3 days). So far 3 weeks worth of sugar dosing has brought the phosphates down from .19 to .04 (tested today). I also added some PHOSaR in a filter bag into a pretty high flow area of the sump. I did note that the algae was only on a few specific rocks, so it is likely living off of stored phosphated within the rocks, which just means it will take time to leech it all out. I also think that the high flow levels within the tank are why I didn't notice the bubbles coming from or on the aglae itself. After a couple of weeks with our current game plan I will re-assess and see if there is any positive progress. If not then I may try the "3 days with no light" treatement to see if it makes any difference. Any advice or suggestions on how best to combat the bubbles and algae are welcomed .

Elevating my MG levels for a week really helped knock back all my bubble algae

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10158986#post10158986 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GreshamH
Elevating my MG levels for a week really helped knock back all my bubble algae

Please share...elevating to what level?

Thanks

 

[TandN]

Im taking MG means magnesium. And if so how does that kill off Bubble algae ??? Im very intriged in this im battling BA right now myself

 

[GreshamH]

I'm just out the door so I won't go into detail just yet. Search RC and Reef Frontiers for a posting by Mike Obrian. I followed his advice from many years ago and knocked back a large chunk of my bubble algae. IT has something to do with blocking the uptake of nutrients IIRC.

Mine turned white and faded away. Same with briopsis.

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10159148#post10159148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tanya72806
Im taking MG means magnesium. And if so how does that kill off Bubble algae ??? Im very intriged in this im battling BA right now myself

Well technically it's Mg but yah, Magnesium

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10159285#post10159285 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GreshamH
I'm just out the door so I won't go into detail just yet. Search RC and Reef Frontiers for a posting by Mike Obrian. I followed his advice from many years ago and knocked back a large chunk of my bubble algae. IT has something to do with blocking the uptake of nutrients IIRC.

Mine turned white and faded away. Same with briopsis.

Serached RC's chemistry forum for Mike Obrian and bubble algae...no hits. Do you know what forum it's in?

 

[mrcrab]

Found it...try this link for the links:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1114641&highlight=mike+obrien

 

[Sparkss]

trouble is that we are battling red turf algae, not bryopsis. I am going to look for a couple of mexican turbo snails at he LFS this week and see if they help. I would perfer to stay away from urchins since from what I can read and tell they either will disrupt your frags or eat them, neither options are something that I am interested in dealing with at the moment

 

[obarrera]

What kind of pump is that on the tank(the one that is half inside and half ouside the tank), I've been looking for something like that, it's a pump right, tunze?

 

[jnarowe]

Tom,

Mexican Turbos will knock over stuff too, and they poo huge mounds, as well as being not good for captive reefs. Also, when the check out, they are seriously putrid.

Mario,

That's a Vortech MP-40.

 

[Sparkss]

Jonathan

I am leaning towards the "zebra turbos", which are really the margarita snails. While they are smaller than the turbos, I still expect problems with them. If you have a better suggestion for tackling this red turf algae, I am all ears

Mario
As Jonathan stated, it is a Vortec. Check the Ice Cap forum here on RC for many many posts about them . We have 4 in our tank currently. If you look back at some previous tank shots you can see the wet ends in the tank, 2 on the back wall and 1 each on the side walls. HTH

 

[obarrera]

Oh ok, thanks!

Im gonna start reading on them.

EDIT:Wow, these are awsome, I thought you had to drill your tank, but just found out it's not necessary. where is the cheapest pleace one can find them?