Cali Kid Corals

Andrew's Red Sea Reefer 250

PizzaOven said:
I turned up the MP-40s a tad, removed as much cyano as I could, and covered the tank for a 3-day blackout. I'm hoping the combination of increased flow, reduced feeding, and 3 days of complete darkness will solve the problem. I turned off all dosers, except kalk to keep pH from dropping too low. I'll monitor Alk and adjust the kalk amount as needed to keep it from going too high.

Anyone ever connect a cannister filter to a gravel vacuum? This way I can vacuum as much as I want without worrying about draining too much water.
View attachment 65178
View attachment 65179

I covered the tank with contractors' paper and towels to prevent any ambient light from getting through.
View attachment 65177

I'll do a large water change once it's finished...
Click to expand...
Glad you're going with blackout and vacuuming method! The Reef Beef trick was using the Marineland canister filter which is similar to what you did (yours is pretty interesting though). Hopefully this works out for you. Let us know if the skimmate changes.
 
Darkxerox said:
Glad you're going with blackout and vacuuming method! The Reef Beef trick was using the Marineland canister filter which is similar to what you did (yours is pretty interesting though). Hopefully this works out for you. Let us know if the skimmate changes.
Click to expand...
I'll keep an eye on the skimmate. I guess it should start turning red when the cyano dies off? I read that in an ancient reef central post.
 
Just finished the blackout and turned the lights back on. Things definitely look better. I probably could have done a better job w/ manual removal before the blackout, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I noticed a lot more skimmate than usual, which I guess is due to the breakdown of dying algae/cyano. pH dropped from 8.45 to 8.35 and Alk held steady at ~9 dKH.

I've also made some adjustments per suggestions from other members (thanks for the help!):
  • Increased flow on both MP-40s to 35% (Reef Crest mode). I'll turn them up more next week if the softies/LPS can handle it.
  • Plan to reduce feeding going forward
  • Cleaned out detritus from sump (there was a lot!)
  • Reduced photoperiod from 10 hours to 8 hours (includes ramp on/off).
1738160891051.png

1738160920752.png

1738160948561.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top