Dirty Glass on tank

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Go slow on the vodka and read a lot before diving in. You also better have good tests for nitrate, and phosphate before you start as you will be using them a lot in the beginning. I dabble with the vodka in my 75 (as well as in my tonic with some lime) once you have it dialed in you will need to feed a lot. It is a lot of work to be warned. Also, your alkalinity is even more important once you get to the ulns. Good Luck with whatever avenue you choose.

 

[Craigar]

I started to do vodka but decided to spent the money and go with reef bio fuel I believe that's the name by bright well instead. It's a type of carbon dosing also. I just figured its made for the aquarium so...

 

[dirtefish]

More I read into vodka less I want to do it.
Think Ill try some simpler things first.
Got the carbon going and did another wc, going to try and clean every bit of the glass tomorrow. The back has a good layer of fuzz on it on the lower area. Makes me want to set up a second tank just to move rock and coral into just to do a really thorough cleaning.
After looking tonight the algae is really taking off on my powerheads and a huge layer on the side of my overflow that gets the most flow against it.

Ugh lots of cleaning tomorrow.

 

[Cake_Boss]

You could do a bio-pellet system, you might need to stop rinsing and feed more, so you don't starve your corals

 

[dirtefish]

You could do a bio-pellet system, you might need to stop rinsing and feed more, so you don't starve your corals

T

Thought about doing pellets, but was gonna give chaeto a try since Things looked decent before I killed off my chaeto. I think my coral feeding was amping the algae as well. Picked up two cans of food from the swap and I believe I was feeding a bit more than needed with it.

The frozen I dont do very ofted aside from target feedin my nems.

Wonder if there is a quick easy mod to turn my tlf phos reactor into a pellet tumbler, will have to look into it.

Through my reading tonight, I think it was from reef chemistry the gist was to shut down the bio pellets, gfo, and just run carbon. So mixed signal on the pellets as helping this or just being a larger part of the cycle that would produce em.

 

[dirtefish]

Read up further on biopellets and the easy little conversion for the tlf reactors. Two weeks till payday, but I think thats my best bet.

Thanks for the info and suggestions! Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon.

 

[Cake_Boss]

From my discussions on bp, it's easy to strip the water of all nutrients (water that is too clean). I really don't feel comfortable giving you bp advise since I've yet to run them for any length of time, but I can regurgitate what I've read/discussed like a champ. Maybe djkms or spstimie can chime in here.

 

[dirtefish]

Yup have read the same, about over doing it. Running 2 cups in s tlf and increasibg feeding after a couple slowly seems like a good bet.

But any pellet users advice is welcomed

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[Cake_Boss]

Bp have individualized info, everyone needs a different amount depending on your nutrients. I was going to start with 100mL on my 120

 

[dirtefish]

Bp have individualized info, everyone needs a different amount depending on your nutrients. I was going to start with 100mL on my 120

100ml to start, how much did u end up running? approx how long did it take to get there. I know will be diff for my system, but am curious,

 

[Cake_Boss]

Didn't end up starting, new tank doesn't need that clean of water. That figure came about after a few drinks and an hour or two. Come to think about it, you should really make it to January meeting.

 

[dirtefish]

I wanna go, but I work 8am to 8pm so it usually F's me out of doing anything fun on work days. If I end up with it off I will be going which will also give me full member status!

I think im comfortable getting this stuff set up after next payday. Do a solid 8 week run using 100ml and see where I end up. I am concerned about over cleaning the water, but not a whole lot of people experiencing issues with it. I think there is so much over feeding in this hobby it prolly doesnt come up too much.

I am wondering how my frogspawn and hammer are going to react to the water change. They seem to have opened up more than usual since the algae and nitrate issues began. Not sure if its in conjunction with the changes or just coincidence. At the same time they started opening up more my torch has been reducing how far he extends itself.

On a side note went through today and did a serious cleaning. Couple of spots on the back class I couldnt get to but it looks a lot better and there is a lot of nasty green being sucked out with the remaining getting filtered in my sump. Thank god for Walmart felt for cheap filter socks. Never ran one before and I can see why those things catch a lot, but damn they clog fast.

 

[Cake_Boss]

I ran a filter sock and I had no idea on the maintenance of it, I left it in for about 3 months before I realized it was causing my nutrient issues. Needless to say, I don't like them very much now. Took some serious water changes and half a bucket of PhosBan to get the chemistry back to normal.

 

[dirtefish]

I think the worst nutrient trap I found was a sponge filter that I had forgotten about lol. Months ago I had switched out pumps when one was acting up. The one I put in there was a
Sedra ksp7000 it can be run as an external or submerge and the thing is huge for only being 700gph. Anyhow its huge because of a plastic housing that covers the inlet when in submerged mode inside the housing is a fairly dense peice of sponge wrapping the inlet. During my cleaning spree yesterday I replaced my pump with the one I repaired and took this guy out for cleaning...
I started with a 5g bucket of clean tap water and no joke I had the nastiest murky brown sludge filling that bucket in about 30 seconds. That stupid piece of sponge took forever to get clean. And I am positive that I haven't cleaned it since I switched pumps atleast 3 months ago.
I wish I could get rid of every damn sponge or mechanical filtration in there. The sponge that is in my sump between baffles is the same way, but gets cleaned a lot more often.
Im wondering if I slow the flow down enough to the sump that it would settle without having a damn sponge in there. Geoff from RC is a huge supporter of bb tanks and helped me out with a lot of set up crap I did wrong swears by a slomo settling area for a sump. I believe he was even making a huge settling tank out of a conical water tank thing that would settle it then whirlpool clean when draining. Cool as hell.

You run your sump with any sponges? Mine is pretty simple. Input chamber w/ skimmer in that first section then about 15 inches till the next baffle which is a bubble trap and area for my sponge mech filter. Since it was an old wet/dry converted I think it would prolly benefit me to have one more baffle after my skimmer. Help keep the damn water height even in the skimmer spot. Just never got around to doing it.

Btw im off the 21st so will be going this month! Unless the wife vetos lol, but I think she might actually go with me. She is getting into the hobby slowly but surly I am sucking her in.