Cali Kid Corals

Raddogz's 120g Piece of Reef

ok - gotcha.. that's easily done. :)

So - here's a sort of on-topic question.. #3 from above, I have a DSB (4" -to- 5") which is active producing nitrogen bubbles in the top 3" and 4" of the aragonite, so I am guessing that means it's working.. and I got a phosban reactor and was running it for a while, thinking it would help with the cyano.. but getting the media (ferric ox) swapped out was a PITA.. maybe I am going it wrong? are you supposed to put the media in dry, then just run the reactor to rinse the media out of the tank? (with DI fresh) or should you rise first, load, then rinse again? How long can you run the media also? 1 month? I stopped using the reactor because I saw no difference in running the media through the reactor or just leaving it in a pouch in one of the narrowish parts of my sump.. with a little carbon in a pouch on the other side of it... I only run the carbon once in a while, but keep replacing the phosban once a month.. can I push that longer?

ps: What's a denitrator?
 
You don't need a denitrator as you have a DSB that's working. For Cyano, you really just need better flow in your tank as the presence of Cyano mean dead spots in your tank where bacteria is flourishing. I usually change my phosphate media every 3 or 4 months. I put it into the reactor and just run the reactor until all the red loose powder is gone, then re-install into the tank. I like the reactor better for ferric oxide media as it passes the water evenly and consistently through the media.
 
ok! and yeah, makes sense on the reactor.. 3 or 4 months is much more reasonable duration considering the time invested in preperation of the device each swap out of media. whew. :)

edit: I recentl got my flow cranking.. love my new tunze 6025.. thinking about getting more of them to replace the Hydor Koralias I have..
 
Vortecs are awesome if you can afford it. I don't mind if you stray off topic a bit on this thread after it's not just nutrients that will fuel algae outbreaks.

If you have multiple things going on - poor circulation, not enough water changes, inefficient skimmer, trapped nutrients somewhere i.e. refugiums stuck/plugged up return pumps, not regularly changing out gfo, etc it can lead to various algae issues. There is no one simple magic bullet though no matter how expensive or inexpensive it is.
 
Well, I have a collection of overturned astrea shells which seems to generate the cyano... even with flow! must be starting inside of them and working outwards... no more astea snails for me! I will pluck them off the bottom this weekend.. I swear, I would not have gotten a 30" deep tank if I knew then what I know now.. getting to the bottom is a chore! lol.. but with my new aquascaping using the aquatongs is much easier.. anyways.. I for sure had nutrient build up + not enough flow.. the new flow seems to be doing the trick, but I need to get the shells out (I thought maybe my hermits might like them?) and do some more vacumming.. and am looking to get a BM skimmer also. I guess I am lucky I didn't have other algea issues along with the cyano.
 
I am in the same boat as you are in the sense that I have cyano issues in the tank at work vs. the display at home (btw, having multiple tanks at work and at home is pure gluttony for punishment) :D

I have upturned snail shells everywhere in that tank. A net sweeping the bottom is all that is needed but the removing the lights plus the glass top (the tank resides in my sales office - so kids and adults open the door and ta-da the tank is there) is a royal pain.

I'm looking to replace the skimmer in the near future on this tank.
 
lol.. nice. yeah, if I had more than one tank I would have to take vacations from work to do servicings. ;) I think I will need to use the tongs to get the shells though.. I would catch hermits and my fighting conch dragging a net. ;) I have some rubble like pieces of LR on my sand bed.. should I just clear them out? some of them don't have any cyano anywhere near them, but I was thinking it might cause anerobic areas under the rocks??
 
got the BM160 and did some clearing of astrea shells off my sand bed today.. my new salt water is too cold to do a water change with yet, so waiting on that unitil this evening or tomorrow. yay for labor day! whew.

anyways.. very happy with this skimmer so far... took about 24 hours before is started producing skimmate.. now it's getting some good skimmate, comparable to what the RS-80 was making. still tuning it a bit.. I know it will take while for full breakin, but so far so good. :)
 
Congrats on the new skimer. Now you need to start a thread and post some pictures. :D

I cleaned out the sump today, and added close to 25 gallons of water back into the sump. The display looks much clearer.
 
dude - fer sure :)

guess what? I decided to clean my sump this weekend also and found out that my phosban bag had a hole in it. grrrrrr.. I have ferric ox all in my return pump chamber... is that bad? I used a electic vacuum to get about 50% of it out, but there is more.. I reckon I need to get the rest, but need to power the return pump off, pull it, and then go to town in there.. whew. work work work. lol

ps: when I say "all in" I mean there is a layer of the stuff on the bottom.. not too thick, but it's visable..
 
I don't think it's bad, but it's probably a good idea to get all up.

If you can rig something up via an old return pump like a mj1200, you can suck the stuff up easily. If you drain the sump relatively down, you can use a wet/dry vacuum to clean up the debris.
 
yeah - that's a good idea... I need to service my sump pump anyways... it's been a while. :)

that's also one interesting way to do a WC... drain and fill the sump. :)
 
True, but it can have it's drawbacks as well.

The biggest is if you have critters such as pods in parts of the sump, when you drain and rinse you will eradicate the critter population for the time being.
 
Oh yeah, huh.. well, I think my pod bed is mostly in my over-flow compartment... I see lots of them down in there at the bottom of that (left back corner of tank) dancing in the thin layer of silt which has built up over the last year... still and all, I think there may be some in my sump also... I'm not going to make a habbit of draining filling that to do WCs.
 
It's an issue if you have fish such as mandarins that eat pods, but more so the tank in question is not mature enough where the display tank is lacking pods. Eventually the sump will re-populate, but it can be a concern.
 
right... my six line is always full.. I am sure he's pod hunting all day.. at night my flame hawk is eating the ones which swim into the open water.. fun to watch that in the moonlight LEDs. I was thinking about getting maybe some GARF grunge with tiny serpent stars and other types of pods in it to add some more diversity to that population.. anyone here ever get GARF grunge??
 
I have, and it's nothing more than if I took rubble rock from the top layer of a sand bed and sold it. A cup of live sand from a fellow aquarist would probably do the same than having coarse rock rubble strewn across either a bare bottom tank or one with fine aragonite. It will look kinda like those snail shells you have yet to pick up from the bottom of your tank ;D
 
Oh wow... well, I am glad I asked. that's not what I want at all... but I would like to swap some live sand with someone just for diversity's sake.. maybe at the next frag swap or something.. thanks again for all of your advice on things.. this is really helping me out a lot. :) where can I get some tiny serpent stars?

PS: the BM160 is a beast.. I love this skimmer. whew. skimmate pics tonight. :)
 
I'm sure if you ask around someone will have them. I know someone who brought some to one of the swaps.

Btw, ask away if you have any further questions.
 
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