The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[jnarowe]

the algae is growing because of a nutrient problem, and it's safe to say that the clarity issue may be connected, but I would definitely look at sand as a major component of PO4 issues.

When I stopped using filter socks (because they suck), my aiptasia population exploded. I would HIGHLY recommend that you install a filter floss shelf so that your drain lines flow over that and then into the sump. You could also install a canister but getting it from the overflow gives it little chance to hide in the sump or any other accessories.

Any vessel attached to the system can accumulate detritus, and if it is near your return line, it could be getting shot back into the display. Lots of things to consider, so start at one end and work your way to the other.

 

[mrcrab]

Jonathan,

his return water is running more than 8' from the time it leaves the skimmer. I doubt much of anything is getting back into the system.

 

[EBOLII]

Filter floss shelf? Interesting do you have a reference image I can see?

 

[jnarowe]

Barry,

I disagree. Detritus/fish poo, etc. can make it into a nook and cranny of a system, and even settle in the bottom of a skimmer. It piles up in overflows, where you would assume it couldn't because of water movement. My overflow, with 4200+gph running through it, has a 1/3" layer of detritus in it right now. And it's 8' long!

I have 2 filter socks on the outbound side of my skimmer and I have to change them every 3 - 4 days.

EBOLII: I don't really know of any pictures of one off hand. Essentially it's a perforated shelf or drawer installed in the sump above the water level with overflow pipes above that. You place floss on the shelf and the water falls onto the floss. Because it's not closed, it doesn't cause spillage problems and floss is much easier to deal with than filter socks IMO.

I use the washable filter material from Aquatic Eco because although it costs more, it really does a superior job, and is really washable. It's the best I have found. This is a common way of dealing with mechanical filtration, particularly on large tanks with large sumps.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10277924#post10277924 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
the algae is growing because of a nutrient problem, and it's safe to say that the clarity issue may be connected, but I would definitely look at sand as a major component of PO4 issues.

Actually the turf algae has been found to flourish in nutrient poor environments, you would think that PO4 and what not would be linked to it, but many other tanks inflicted with this scourge have shown that PO4 levels do not play the role one would think. High flow and intense lights are what help this pest to spread. However, I am still going to approach it as if the rocks have PO4 locked into them and just keep dosing sugar and running PHosAR in the sump and trying to pull the levels down as low as I can (they are already below .01 as per our hanna colorimeter. Eventually they will all have to leech out (eventually.. *sigh*).

Also, there is zero algae of any sort detectable on the sand. Guess we are lucky in that regard

 

[jnarowe]

sand is your enemy...you hard it here first.

 

[mrcrab]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10278419#post10278419 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Barry,

I disagree. Detritus/fish poo, etc. can make it into a nook and cranny of a system, and even settle in the bottom of a skimmer. It piles up in overflows, where you would assume it couldn't because of water movement. My overflow, with 4200+gph running through it, has a 1/3" layer of detritus in it right now. And it's 8' long!

I have 2 filter socks on the outbound side of my skimmer and I have to change them every 3 - 4 days.

his return water is running more than 8' from the time it leaves the skimmer. I doubt much of anything is getting back into the system.

What I meant to say was...getting back into the display tank not system.

Have you had your PROZAC today?

 

[token]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10278671#post10278671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
Actually the turf algae has been found to flourish in nutrient poor environments, you would think that PO4 and what not would be linked to it, but many other tanks inflicted with this scourge have shown that PO4 levels do not play the role one would think. High flow and intense lights are what help this pest to spread. However, I am still going to approach it as if the rocks have PO4 locked into them and just keep dosing sugar and running PHosAR in the sump and trying to pull the levels down as low as I can (they are already below .01 as per our hanna colorimeter. Eventually they will all have to leech out (eventually.. *sigh*).

Also, there is zero algae of any sort detectable on the sand. Guess we are lucky in that regard

An additional thought: Nitrate has an "optimal" range, below which the red stuff grows and above which.... well, all kinds of stuff can happen. It seems that the nitrogen cycle can be completed inside the confines of our closed systems only if we strive to maintain a very small amount of nitrate at all times so that the bacteria that actually convert it, finishing the nitrogen cycle, don't starve. I don't have the article here at the house; I took it to the office but the info was in an issue of Coral earlier this year.

 

[Sparkss]

interesting information token... hopefully you can find a link to post. I would be very interested if you have any more information on that topic.

Thanks

 

[token]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10280619#post10280619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
interesting information token... hopefully you can find a link to post. I would be very interested if you have any more information on that topic.

Thanks

I have a few minutes as I eat lunch. The article is titled, "Large Reef Aquariums: Plan Well, Build Once" and authored by Torsten Luther and Daniel Knop. It appeared in Volume 4, number 2 (April/May, 2007) of Coral, which can be found on the web here.

I quote from page 34 in the sub-section entitled "Nitrate": "...nitrate must be kept at a low level. ¶The ideal range for the aquarium is relatively wide: Between 1 to 20 milligrams per liter (mg/l). Below this threshold, an unpleasant film of cyanobacteria (slime algae) may occur, as these algae are able to use the nitrogen dissolved in the water directly, unlike plants and other algae. Therefore, a minimal amount of nitrate should always be present in the water. (emphasis mine)"

The article is a great read. I find the magazine one of the best in the hobby.

 

[Sparkss]

Tank is on "auto-pilot" for the next couple of weeks. I will do what I can to post updates, but no promises

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1158832

 

[token]

... and you thought lighting decisions were hard...

I bet we all beg for updates and some of them won't be about the tank!

Congratulations and best wishes for your family!

 

[Sparkss]

Well, time for a short update and a couple of pictures... I am going to start off with the FTS first and then work backwards to some updates on livestock and progress

Here is a quick and dirty FTS done using some freeware stitching tools (hugin, autopano-SIFT and enblend). I spent little to no time tweaking or optimizing any of it, so don't blame the programs for the results (I also took the pictures at the wrong time of day and ended up with a bit more glare that I cared for.. I will try to do better next time )

You can see how good a job the urchin has been doing on the left/back side of the right most rock. You can see where he has not yet been on the left rock and the right side of the right rock.

The clam in the back is one of my favorite croceas.. I really like the coloration of it's "spots"

 

[token]

Pics aren't showing for me. I hope it's just me.

 

[Sparkss]

Nope, I goofed the links... corrected now . More updates and picts to follow, I jsut got "called away" by the little one

 

[Sparkss]

We had a couple of coral deaths over the last 2 weeks, both about 2 or so days apart.

This one took 2 days to die and started from the base up. I thought I had more time to frag it to "rescue" it, but I was wrong.. and it happened during a time where we had very little time and even less sleep . This one had been with us through thick and thin over the last couple of years and was one of the few survivors of the AEFW plague that wiped out most all acros from our old tank. It will be missed

This one RTNed over night. It was fine the day before and the next morning it was gone. At least I believe so.. I say this because I honestly don't recall seeing any problems with it the day before I found it dead.. but what with everything else going on I can't really say for sure. I really liked this one. We had gotten 3 small frags of this type of coral, in 3 different color variations.. at this time we only have 1 left, the first one departing several months ago.

I chekced all water parms and everything checked out just fine, and everything else seemed to be doing just dandy, so I don't really know what to attribute the deaths to, outside of "things just happen"

I also think that we lost one of our purple firefish. Since we added the pair several weeks ago I have only seen 1 of them swimming araound (although it is still very secretive and only comes out at feeding time currently). We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

 

[raddogz]

Tom - I usually have at least one that hides out underneath the rock where it has burrowed itself at any one point. Mine seem to stay on opposite sides of the tank in their own burrow/hiding spot.

Good luck!

 

[Sparkss]

Thanks Eileen..that is what we are hoping also, but I sort of expected to have seen both of them around feeding time by now.. but like I said before, we are not giving up on them

we had a power outage a couple of weeks ago and during that short outage our Vortec Battery Backup unit ate itself. It shorted so badly that it scorched the concrete that is had been sitting on. I am jsut glad that we hadn't hung it on the wall or next to anything flammable. That could have gone very badly. I also had gotten out of bed and gone down to check out the tank and equipment and was able to unplug the BB unit from the driver. Luckily it didn't damage the driver either, but it took a while for the burnt electronics smell to go away (even in a fish room next to the skimmer). I have been too musy to open a trouble ticket with IceCap over it yet, but plan to shortly. If I have the time I am going to take pictures of the burn mark it left on the concrete *shudder* .

On a happier note (or at least not so scary a one) we are dosing sugar Mon-Wed-Fri now and it seems to have helped the water clarity level. The Chauvet control unit has been working great and comes in very handy when doing maintenance on the tank and equipment. My only regret was not getting one sooner

We also moved all of our frags up off of the sand bed and epoxied them into their final "homes" within our tank.

Here is what the right side, where the one coral RTNed, looks like now :

(forgive the horrible white balance.. I am still learning to use this camera ).

 

[Sparkss]

Here is one of our fairy wrasses coming our of his/her home. I was playing around with the camera settings when he peeked out, so I had to go with what I had for camera settings, which resutled in a washed out look and blur from the fish movement. But I still wanted to share how the fish was using the corals for cover. I will try to get better pictures next time. :

 

[Sparkss]

This guy tried to get into just about every picture, so I guess I should post at least one that he made it into

and we have a nice little patch of small blue cloves (segregated on a rock in the sand, so they can't take over any base rocks ).