Thinking it might be time to start over

Please do not use stump remover. Its purity is not consistent. Potassium nitrate is dirt cheap on Amazon.


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I know that product is used by a lot of people but man that would make me nervous as hell putting that in my DT.

That is a problem by itself. I can not understand these people on RC and R2R. Use stump remover to save $1?


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Please do not use stump remover. Its purity is not consistent. Potassium nitrate is dirt cheap on Amazon.


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I have to agree. I used it for 6 months a couple years ago and did not have adverse effects, but others have. The purity isn’t guaranteed and why would it be. It makes no difference being poured on stumps.

I wouldn’t use it again and neither should you. I actually have an unopened bottle of Loud Wolf sodium Nitrate. You can have it for $10. I’m in Woburn if that is at all local to you.


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I think it’s time. Nothing is working. I can’t even get the tank to grow algae at this point. It’s just a massive brown mess. The fish, are happy and healthy by the looks of it. Nothing I have tried, has worked. I know “new tanks” go thru the uglies. But we are talking about a 10 month old setup. It’s not exactly a “new tank” any more. All the corals have died. (3 zoa frags and 1 gsp frag) and more inverts have fallen victim as well. My 90 didn’t do this. It actually had the opposite happen. I had green water blooms that I had to battle.

It’s been over a month since I’ve started this post, with ZERO difference in the tank. I’ve raised the phosphate and nitrate levels. I’ve been doing everything that’s been recommended. Haven’t done any water changes. But it’s just now working.


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I think it’s time. Nothing is working. I can’t even get the tank to grow algae at this point. It’s just a massive brown mess. The fish, are happy and healthy by the looks of it. Nothing I have tried, has worked. I know “new tanks” go thru the uglies. But we are talking about a 10 month old setup. It’s not exactly a “new tank” any more. All the corals have died. (3 zoa frags and 1 gsp frag) and more inverts have fallen victim as well. My 90 didn’t do this. It actually had the opposite happen. I had green water blooms that I had to battle.

It’s been over a month since I’ve started this post, with ZERO difference in the tank. I’ve raised the phosphate and nitrate levels. I’ve been doing everything that’s been recommended. Haven’t done any water changes. But it’s just now working.


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I just went thru the same problem on my 75. I took all of the rock out and put it into a barrel with water pump and cover (holes for air). left it there for two weeks with zero light. During that time i removed all of the sandbed and re-plumbed the system basically redid the build. After i rinsed the rock which was clear of any of what i expect to be dinos and placed back in the tank I am currently running a bare bottom tank until i am comfortable that the problem is solved. prior to the break down the tank had been running for a long time. almost ten years with just two clowns and a couple of leathers lol. Restarting sucks but at the same time its like getting a new tank and kind of re-sparks the love.
 
I just re-checked your build. I am wondering if your back wall material (spray insulation? is leaching anything. Did you re-seal it after cutting holes for your power heads? I can't think of anything else that could have affected it for that length of time.

Are you planning on ditching the back wall design? Or soaking that for a while and re-curing the rock like the other member suggested?
 
That might just be what I need. I knew the peninsula setup was going to be tough, from the time I started. I also knew “hiding” the power heads was going to raise concern for flow problems. I was skeptical of building a foam wall for the back of the tank, but followed many peoples advice and tackled it. The build was fun, but needs to be a little better. I don’t know exactly what’s missing, but it feels like it could use a little something else. (Ontop of a lack of Dino’s, LoL)


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I just re-checked your build. I am wondering if your back wall material (spray insulation? is leaching anything. Did you re-seal it after cutting holes for your power heads? I can't think of anything else that could have affected it for that length of time.

Are you planning on ditching the back wall design? Or soaking that for a while and re-curing the rock like the other member suggested?

I did not reseal the foam. I only sealed the foam from one side. I was under the impression that the pond foam was reef safe, and the sealer was to only adhere the sand for “texture”.

Originally the holes were cut and the openings were sealed/sanded. I later had to recut the holes as they were FAR too small. Again, none of the exposed foam was resealed. The back/inside face of that wall was never coated in any of the epoxy. Just the outside face where the sand is stuck to it for texture/appearance.


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In a last ditch effort, I have removed all of the visible inverts, dead or alive, as well as all the frags. I have hacked up the foam wall and cut slots into it where it meets the overflow box opening, hoping to increase the flow into the sump. I am headed out now to pick up a filter sock and plan to diligently blow off the rocks and capture as much as I can in the filter sock.

A problem I had noticed was that some things like floating foods wouldn’t make it down the overflow because the foam wall was kind of “high” there. Hoping these slots will improve that.


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I mean.. foam Is chemicals and if not properly cured those chemicals are not stable. I feel like salt can destroy virtually everything man made sooner or later?? Doesn't seem like a great option for a red tank with the approapraiate coating/sealant.

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that first and second picture looks like cyanobacteria to me (I could definitely be wrong because other people here say its dinos and they know way more than I) But those pictures look exactly like what I had. I did the same thing as you though (all dry rock and sand) And at 7 months the outbreak came pretty bad. I continued to siphon it out once a week as best as I could, I changed all my RODI filter media, I switched the lighting on my refugium to enhance my cheato growth as well. After about 5 or 6 weeks it just dissappeared as quickly as it came.
 
After reading mrcotes remarks I re looked at the second picture. I see air bubbles in some spots but not all. But what I also noticd and hopefully you cutting the top will help here is a surface scum. Almost like you have poor surface skimming.

If there are diatoms mixed it then silica could also be an issue for your water quality.


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Well... I feel stupid. Got the tank topped off today and put the filter sock on the drain. With both mag 5’s running full blast, the water level in the display is around 1/4” lower than its ever been. This wall has proven time and time again, that it is a nuisance. I used to have a valve open about 1/2 way on one of the pumps, returning the water to the refugium before. Hoping this helps.


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Stop pouring stuff into your tank. Especially stump remover.
Turn the lights off for 1 day and then turn them on 1 day. Shut lights off 2 days turn on for 1. Basically just mess up the lighting cycle for 2-3 weeks. A blackout doesn’t work because the leftover algae gets its lights back. If you mess up it’s grow cycle it will die. During that time do some normal maintenance water changes.
 
Stop pouring stuff into your tank. Especially stump remover.
Turn the lights off for 1 day and then turn them on 1 day. Shut lights off 2 days turn on for 1. Basically just mess up the lighting cycle for 2-3 weeks. A blackout doesn’t work because the leftover algae gets its lights back. If you mess up it’s grow cycle it will die. During that time do some normal maintenance water changes.

Haven’t added anything to the tank for 2 weeks. Just keeping it topped off, and over fed.

I am noticing the surface skimming problem has not improved. Things that float to the top of the display, stay there. They all kind of come together at the end of the task opposite the overflow and swirl around. I’m shopping around for equipment, so I can break this tank down and reboot it as a better performing system.


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Sounds like flow is too low then. I wonder how successful peninsulas are with one directional flow. Would it be better to create a gyer that goes along the bottom of the tank then returns via the top, or maybe all powerheads on one side to create a full rotation around your island and back on then other side towards the overflow.

Either that or you need more return flow to create more of a suction/flow on the overflow. Or a pump on the far side.




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I definitely don’t know how to fix this. Currently have 2 mag 5’s at 7’ (205gph each). That’s a 10x turnover. I assumed that would be enough when setting this up initially.

I am planning a reboot. I will look into going to a single, bigger pump, with a T for the dual returns and shoot for a 600+ gph turnover. The glass-holes overflow is rated to 700gph.

During the reboot, I will look into larger powerheads, too. Right now the pair of Jaebo RW-4’s are running at max. (~1,000gph each) I don’t know if the foam wall is creating a slow down, but they don’t appear to be flowing nearly that amount. Maybe i will keep them, and toss in one of the working TUNZE 6020’s I have to supplement. Trying to keep 3 sides of the glass, free of pumps.

Obviously the reboot will include discarding of the foam wall, the current sand bed, and a deep clean of all the rocks in the system. I plan to re-use the skimmer, but that’s it. Thinking of buying a pre-built sump, and building a new stand, too. Something with a canopy.


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Are you running both powerheads at the same time?
Try alternating there on cycles so the water that they’re pushing can actually rotate back and with it the sludge
 
Are you running both powerheads at the same time?
Try alternating there on cycles so the water that they’re pushing can actually rotate back and with it the sludge

They are on a 3 second alternating interval. The tunze would be set to all the time, as they don’t like being hooked up to the smart wave i have. The start/stops wore them out. One is junk, and the other probably isn’t far behind. That’s why i switched to the jaebo’s.


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Well, after letting the tank “go”, it looked to sort of fix itself. I’m not sure. The dark brown growth that was dinos, stopped growing and turned more into a light brown dust like detritus. Decided to give it a cleanup and toss out the foam wall. Here’s today’s pics. Definitely need to get more live rock. My sump is now empty, and I don’t LOVE the layout.

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