thetedinator 240g Build

I have been experiencing cloudy water off and on since I early January. Some days it would be very clear (although not crystal clear) and other days it would be cloudy enough to be depressing. After some research and everything I have tried below, I finally decided the cloudiness is being caused by diatoms and/or a bacterial bloom.

I done three 25g water changes without much affect. I am running ozone. Raising the target ORP has not really affected the cloudiness (now at 375). I have run (and am still running carbon) which might have helped a little but the water is still cloudy most of the time. I am skimming like crazy. I had chaeto in the sump but it was not tumbling so part of it turns brown so I removed that in case the cloudiness is from the disintegrating chaeto. That did not affect anything.

I have a chiton and some cerith and nerite snails which all eat diatoms. I am thinking to add more.

Note: I also have some hair algae on the back wall of the tank and a very small cyano patch in one low flow area of the tank.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks
 
The Reef Whisperer gave me a green tipped BTA. I have never had one for fear I would kill it and wipe out a tank.

It appears that BTA has settled into on spot in some rock work on the left side of my tank. I have three Ocellaris Clown Fish who "live" 4ft. away on the back wall on the right side of the tank. When I say live, I mean the female black snowflake never ventures away from her corner. The male black snowflake and the male normal Ocellaris are more adventurous and roam along the back wall as far as the side of the overflow box which is not very near the BTA.

Will the Clowns 'discover' the BTA via a chemical the BTA produces? Short of 'manning up' and venturing into the rest of the tank, how are the Clowns going to find the BTA?

Thanks
 
Surprised about the clowns. Usually the boys stay home and the female goes out. You have to wait until she lays some eggs.
You could try to shine a flash light on BTA at night to get them to host. Leave it on all night. It worked for me.
 
Update - Top Down Macros of Various Corals

Update - Top Down Macros of Various Corals

Lights are set to 14k.

Pretty blue unknown Acropora from UC -
IMG_8695_zpsjst0rfzs.jpg
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Acropora yongei from UC -
IMG_8689_zpsgyxb1fyg.jpg
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Green Seriotopa (Birdsnest) from o2manyfish -
IMG_8701_zps5s8mgexf.jpg
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Blue Clavularia from o2manyfish -
IMG_8686_zps0rqspvco.jpg
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Top Down Macros - con't

Top Down Macros - con't

Again, under 14k lighting.

Green Mile Acropora (millepora?) from WWC -
IMG_8677_zpsuxz6vnd5.jpg
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Blue Echinata from WWC -
IMG_8690_zpsfkpw4keg.jpg
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Green Montipora digitata(?) from o2manyfish -
IMG_8699_zpsf1kmce3e.jpg
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Red Montipora digitata from WWC -
IMG_8696_zpsypea8d0d.jpg
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Pink Polyp Montipora from WWC -
IMG_8721_zpskwv7apmx.jpg
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The last remaining frag of a pretty light blue Acropora from 02manyfish. Dave gave me a 3" colony and I managed to kill it except for this bit -
IMG_8673_zpshvby0281.jpg
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Unknown from WWC -
IMG_8685_zpsxvrnht3u.jpg
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Finally, a short video of a light blue Torch coral (Euphyllia sp.) from UC -
th_MVI_8728_zpsxq0lhgnm.mp4
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Last edited:
FTS from today. I manually removed so much GHA that it affected my pH.

pH usually goes from 8.24 or so to 8.44. I will be surprised if it makes it above 8.4 today.

4a360369e0d9fe51e657612cbbddb3f8.jpg
 
Update - 20160408

Update - 20160408

The latest...

Still battling GHA but I'm winning. I am doing 25g water changes every two weeks and many removing the GHA. In addition I beefed up the clean up crew. I ordered an ARID reactor from UC. They are back ordered so it will be a few weeks before it arrives.

You might have noticed that I am running 7 Radions. I had one fail. It was under warranty and EcoTech is shipping a replacement. Kudos to EcoTech Customer Service.

My Alkalinity and Calcium are where I want them and stable (low to mid 9s for and ~450ppm). Most corals in the system are happy and a few are encrusting nicely. I took a few pictures today. Some from the side, some top down. All shot under 14k and then processed in LR where I adjusted the WB to 14k.

Green with Purple Tips Acro
TJT_20160408IMG_8792_zpss5xm2dwc.jpg
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Teal with Purple Tips Acro
TJT_20160408IMG_8786_zpsadnvmjv5.jpg
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Blue Aussie (I think) Stag
TJT_20160408IMG_8783_zpsw5czs0pk.jpg
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Bali Maricultured A. yongei
TJT_20160408IMG_8784_zpspbevi7fb.jpg
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Grafted Red and Green Monticap. Green is just starting to show
TJT_20160408IMG_8801_zpsvso3arab.jpg
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Update - 20160408 continued

Update - 20160408 continued

More pictures

Green Tips Acro
TJT_20160408IMG_8787_zpsnhhhodx7.jpg
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ORA Transparent Cave Goby
TJT_20160408IMG_8771_zpsffkrnsts.jpg
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Nicely encrusted Green and Purple Tips Acro
TJT_20160408IMG_8782_zpsqi1fhcpl.jpg
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ORA Red Planet (I think). Encrusting nicely.
TJT_20160408IMG_8736_zpswfq78kpq.jpg
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In the background is a soft coral I got from o2manyfish. It is not xenia but I can't remember what it is. You can also see some kind of green macro algae on the same rock.
TJT_20160408IMG_8744_zpsuliaes8w.jpg
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Green Stylophora (I think) that I got from o2manyfish
TJT_20160408IMG_8748_zpscfchcxmm.jpg
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Close up of some Zoanthids
TJT_20160408IMG_8743_zpsiitaq0a1.jpg
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Update - 20160506

Update - 20160506

Since the last update...

My ARID reactor arrived. I started it up seeding (not kidding) about a table spoon of Chaetormorpha into it. Initially ran it for 8 hours of day but I recently up'd the run time to 12 hours a day. I cleaned the ARID today and I was disappointed. I expected tons of Chaeto but I barely had a tablespoon remaining. but I am not going to judge this too quickly since I did not follow the directions exactly.

The first fish I added back in January were three Yellow Tangs. It seemed like one of them might have flukes but after a few weeks, they were swimming around fat and happy so I added some ORA fish. At the end of March I lost 1 of the YT and I am pretty sure it was flukes. I continued monitoring things and the other two tangs went down hill and I have concluded they have flukes (they have what I think are classic symptoms: white margins around the gills, other blotchiness, loss of appetite, shaking their 'heads'). They have not been sick enough that I could catch them and at night they sleep inside rock structure so today I decided to treat the system with PraziPro. Almost immediately after the Prazi hit the DT, brittlestar legs appeared from in the rock and the Xenia and Clavularia closed up unhappy. After about 15 minutes, the Xenia started opening up like normal. I don't know if the stars are dead but the the legs disappeared from the rocks. In the meantime, the appetite of the tangs has seemed to improve. They have both been grazing on algae on the rock work and swimming more in the open so I am guessing the flukes are dropping off their gills, etc. Snails, Conchs and Chitons are unaffected. I have a couple of hermit crabs but I can't find them so I don't know if they are kicked it or ?

To dose the Prazi, I turned off the skimmer per the instructions but the instructions don't indicate if you are to leave the skimmer off for the whole treatment. Does anyone have any experience dosing their DT with Prazi? How long did you keep the skimmer off.

I have some video of the YT with the fluke symptoms as well as the the unhappy Xenia. I might post that later.
 
Hmmm, I just cleaned my reactor yesterday and it was 90% full. I took it all out with the exception of two 4"X 1" pieces which wrapped barber pole style around the light on upper and lower. I filled a gallon size ziploc about 25%.

As for prazi, I'd reach out to Lawrence or David/blkg
 
thetedinator 240g Build

Turn off the skimmer sir
For at least 3 days during the treatment then repeat in a week

My suggestion is to Remove the remaining fish and start qt. if my qt tank wasnt so full i will gladly help you out. As we speak main tank is in fallow to minimized the risk of flukes, ick and velvet. You can text me too sir
 
Turn off the skimmer sir
For at least 3 days during the treatment then repeat in a week

My suggestion is to Remove the remaining fish and start qt. if my qt tank wasnt so full i will gladly help you out. As we speak main tank is in fallow to minimized the risk of flukes, ick and velvet. You can text me too sir

Which is your main tank?
 
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