Uhuru Posted October 14, 2007 Author Share Posted October 14, 2007 What else do you have in the tank? My hawkfish will pick on a fish that is scared of it but otherwise it doesn't bother anything - nor does it take crap from anything (I also have a sixline). Small crabs and shrimp are another story. You will find them dead sooner or later. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Well after losing my beloved clam (my most valued inhabitant) to dinoflagellate toxicosis (yes it turns out that I was not fighting cyano after all), I knew my tank was not going to make it unless I really changed things. This clam had already bored into the rock so deep that when it died the strands are impossible to pull out. Very sad, and I take full responsibility. My BB system, while great when things were in balance, was extremely difficult to pull back into balance when things were off. This was due to many factors, including not enough water volume (dilution factor), not enough live rock/biological filtration, and really nothing to help bring the tank back into stability. The dinos were keeping everything else from thriving, including denitrifying bacteria. So basically as long as I had something producing waste (fish, snails) it was taking up the nutrients before anything else could. I didn't have an inch of other algae growth anywhere for weeks. That is not normal! As much as we don't like algae I expect to have to wipe the panels at least once a week. As I did more research I was surprised to see how many BB'ers were dosing vodka/sugar, running RDSB's, or regularly replacing LR with fresh LR. If it weren't for the fact that all my corals were already dying, I would have incorporated these methods. At this point, however, I needed faster results because I was on the verge of losing more than my clam. Dinoflagellates were literally poisoning the entire tank. So, I'm sorry to dissapoint my fellow BB'ers, but I've crossed over to the "other" side. I've started the zeovit system, and it's only been 1 week but the dinoflagellates are 95% gone. Corals are finally opening up again. PE as I have not seen in a long time. I added a sand bed for increased substrate for the bacteria to populate within the display - to help reduce nutrients that do not make it to the sump or skimmer. I used 2mm size aragonite so that I could still run 2 tunze 6045's without sand storm issues. I know that the dino can still come back, it probabaly will try to recuperate and take over again - but I'm hoping I now with strong skimming, strong adsorption AND strong bacterial filtration it will not be successful. So on to the pics: ^^ if you look closely, you can see the dino threads here and there. That is a HUGE improvement. Before they actually covered the entire rock and my RPE's could never open until night time when they dinos died off. ^^this is the most PE I've seen from my pink lemonade for a long time ^^what a starving coral looks like, this guy used to be fluorescent green. Very easy to starve corals with a BB tank. ^^my birdsnest was hit the hardest. everytime I blew off the dinos, it would come right back and attack the tissue. Again, this is the best my birdsnest has looked in a long time. ^^more zoas that are finally able to open, before they were covered with dino slime ^^this OR tort is supposed to be dark blue. Notice the bali green behind it. Totally unaffected by any of this. This coral is the "damsel fish" of SPS corals. ^^another very resilient SPS coral. ^^this is all it takes to run a zeovit system. A $40 phos reactor. Right now the pump is off, normally the water overflows into the sump. It's on a 3 hr on/off timer. In a nano tank the supplies will last you for months, probably past the expiration. In other words, cost is not an issue - diligence and very good recordkeeping is. I set up a dry erase board and make a chart like they do in hospitals. I mark off and track every dose like I'm treating a sick patient. This is officially a "rescue mission." Link to comment
Maeda Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 DINO's SUCK! Everything looks to be recovering well though... You're running zeo and seeing some starved coral? I have a recipe to fix that. Link to comment
AdriftQuasar Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I'm sorry to hear about your misfourtune, but at the same time this thread is one of the reasons I love this forum; I get to see people better at this hobby than me try new things. It really helps me to get an idea of what works. I cut corners on my first tank, but I will not be cutting any on my next. Thanks for the education. Link to comment
Jemhidiah Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 you know rimless tanks are getting really popular with rc's large reef crowd. I wouldn't be suprised to hear some horror stories coming up. It wouldn't happen to yours cause that thing is a tank, but Im just saying. Watch out for the rc backlash against rimless tanks Yeah I love my new 16''X14''X10'' 1/2'' rimless. I dont forsee anything happening to it. the acrylic doesnt bow at all even if I push on it from both sides. Way stronger than glass tanks of the same size ive seen. Link to comment
AcroporaLokani Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Sorry to hear about the corals. But they seem to be coming back stong. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 DINO's SUCK! Everything looks to be recovering well though... You're running zeo and seeing some starved coral? I have a recipe to fix that. What would that be? Pappone?? Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 Sorry to hear about the corals. But they seem to be coming back stong. Thanks everyone. I hope I can bring these corals back to good health! Link to comment
Matty1124 Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 oh man i love looking at your tank... i hope everything pulls through Link to comment
Maeda Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Pappone?? Want me to whip up a batch for yah? Link to comment
AdriftQuasar Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 I really think I might try setting up a tank using the Zeovit system sometime after the 1st of the year. Really interesting stuff. Link to comment
AcroporaLokani Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 How the tank going? Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 It's going pretty good, growth is excellent, color is slow to come back but this is normal with zeovit. You have to wait for several months before you can start working on the colors. Skimmer has really kicked it up a notch with the increased bacteria in the water. I am putting together a new 29g sump and a 40 breeder that will be connected to this system. I should be all set up by the end of this weekend. It will be running this skimmer: that little eheim 1250 blows away anything in it's size, including the bubble king mini red dragon pump, and for less wattage - it almost pulls as much air as an eheim 1260 needlwheel Link to comment
Maeda Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 wait wait wait wait. What happened to the BK then? Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2007 Author Share Posted December 14, 2007 Basically I'm setting up 2 different systems over the winter break because I have nothing better to do I am waiting for some parts to get here for the 70g cube so I decided to do a quick and dirty 40g breeder setup in the meantime. The nano cone will be for this setup (85g total volume) and the BK mini will be for the 70g cube (100g total volume). I'm hoping that suddenly increasing the water volume on this system does not wipe out my tank! All the parameters should remain exactly the same since it's the same water source. BTW I will most likely have a DAS EX1 for sale Link to comment
supernip Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 how much did that cone cost you anywho? I think I saw a thread about it on rc. Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2007 Author Share Posted December 14, 2007 it's only a test model you can see the pricing on the website: www.atbskimmers.com I got mine for a largely discounted price I don't know if Victor is still offering that deal on the final model Link to comment
supernip Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 hook it up with the test model! Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2007 Author Share Posted December 14, 2007 Sorry I think I got the last one and I'm not selling it anytime soon! Link to comment
supernip Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 bah dirty vietnameses! Link to comment
Maeda Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 Basically I'm setting up 2 different systems over the winter break because I have nothing better to do I am waiting for some parts to get here for the 70g cube so I decided to do a quick and dirty 40g breeder setup in the meantime. The nano cone will be for this setup (85g total volume) and the BK mini will be for the 70g cube (100g total volume). I'm hoping that suddenly increasing the water volume on this system does not wipe out my tank! All the parameters should remain exactly the same since it's the same water source. BTW I will most likely have a DAS EX1 for sale I will be checking out that DAS Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 14, 2007 Author Share Posted December 14, 2007 looks like a local club member wants to pick it up this weekend already but I'll let you know if that doesn't go through Link to comment
Uhuru Posted December 21, 2007 Author Share Posted December 21, 2007 ghetto almost coast to coast overflow: behind the scenes: Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.