Disaster's 80gal + 15gal SPS Reef Tank

[Justind823]

Damn. That's seriously just one of those pumps huh? Crazy.

 

Tank is looking good, awesome upgrade. Keep the updates coming!

[disaster999]

Pressure from the video, you can see how bad the algae is.

 

A friend told me to try dosing Zeovit's ZeoZym to control the nutrients in my tank and the Coral Snow helps export organics and makes it easier to be filtered out mechanically

 

Ive been dosing this combo for a while and I must say it seem to be working. Ive scraped most of the brown algae off the glass and overflow. Removed all unused pumps and rearranged the Gyre pumps.

 

[HarryPotter]

CN we see a video of the new flow with the two gyres?

[jedimasterben]

I bought some pure calcium carbonite powder to replace buying shitloads of Coral Snow. $65 for 500mL of CS or a pound of CaCO3 for $10 that will last significantly longer and do the same job. Coral Snow is just a powdered limestone chalk in some water.

CN we see a video of the new flow with the two gyres?

[disaster999]

CN we see a video of the new flow with the two gyres?

Definitely, Ill take video when I dose Coral Snow.

I bought some pure calcium carbonite powder to replace buying shitloads of Coral Snow. $65 for 500mL of CS or a pound of CaCO3 for $10 that will last significantly longer and do the same job. Coral Snow is just a powdered limestone chalk in some water.

 

THANK JEDI!!! That is valuable information...time to hunt down some calcium carbonate powder

[Learn It]

i'm sorry about the downfall, but your new tank looks like its well on its way to success!

[Sk8n Reefer]

That FTS looks great-how have the sps responded to the flow? I have the 130 for my 50gal. Waiting to be set up. I like the videos showing the flow. Lots of good water movement across the surface- which I like- does it make a huge difference with how close you place it to the surface since it moves the whole water volume anyway?

[disaster999]

For me, when I had the 150 cranked up on wave mode, having it closer to the surface of the water creates some splashes and crashing water sound which I didnt like. Lowering it into the water helped eliminating it

[disaster999]

Heres a video demonstrating the flow of the Gyre using Coral Snow and ZeoZym

 

[jedimasterben]

I like how your arm just sneaks in on the left there

[HarryPotter]

Very cool, those Gyres. Tank looks awesome and super clean

[disaster999]

I like how your arm just sneaks in on the left there

im camera shy

 

Very cool, those Gyres. Tank looks awesome and super clean

yeah, Im loving these gyres. Tones of flow, no dead spots

[RollaJase]

I must say, I love the scape. Tank is looking a lot cleaner, time really is the telling factor with algae.

[justinfox]

Scape is looking damn nice! Less is more, super sexy!

[jedimasterben]

If you want to be proactive against algae, look into getting a rabbitfish

[jedimasterben]

Also, an update to the KZ Coral Snow/CaCO3 thing: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/363652-in-amber-clad/?p=5118825

[disaster999]

Its not exactly algae Im dealing with here. From what others have told me, the brown hair algae looking thing is more of a bacterial growth similar to cyano/red slime, which leads to nutrient issue with my tank. ZeoZym would help clear it up and Im guessing the CS is there to help clear suspended stuff and get filtered away.

 

Im seeing some "die offs" on the rocks where a patch of that brown stuff used to be, but now turned into this pale white "dust". Blasting my rocks with a small power head dislodges some of the debris and gets blown away by the Gyre.

 

Ill continue using this combo and see if this helps with my nutrient problem.

[TheKleinReef]

Is it that same brown sludge that metrokat and i were dealing with?

[disaster999]

I must say, I love the scape. Tank is looking a lot cleaner, time really is the telling factor with algae.

Thanks, The coral Snow helped with the clarity. Hopefully I finally fixed my algae issue. Lets see if they return.

Scape is looking damn nice! Less is more, super sexy!

Thanks, I still have a few places to put some SPS. Probably some branching corals at the back, wait for all my sps to grow and I think this will complete the "look"

Also, an update to the KZ Coral Snow/CaCO3 thing: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/363652-in-amber-clad/?p=5118825

Very informative. I would have to get some calcium carbonate when I run out of coral snow.

Is it that same brown sludge that metrokat and i were dealing with?

got a link/picture of that brown sludge you and kat is dealing with? Looking at your latest FTS, it seems like you have more green algae on your glass than the brown hairy stuff Im dealing with.

[TheKleinReef]

 

got a link/picture of that brown sludge you and kat is dealing with? Looking at your latest FTS, it seems like you have more green algae on your glass than the brown hairy stuff Im dealing with.

 

I solved my issue around christmas time. and yeah, I like to have a little bit of green algae, I'll sacrifice a little color to get away from too low of nutrient levels. More wiggle room. but here's the pic of what i was dealing with:

12_20_14-8 by Roger Klein, on Flickr

 

it was an over dose of pohl's xtra and coral vitalizer that let this bloom. since decreasing the dosing amount, it hasn't returned.

[disaster999]

its SIMILAR to what i was dealing with. If left untouch, it will form those bubbles. Especially on the back wall and overflow where its hard to get to, aka im lazy.

 

Still not sure why that algae/bacteria is developing in my tank. Im blaming mostly on the old rocks im using which is leeching nutrients back into my tank. I sure hope whatever Im doing now will fix it.

[TheKleinReef]

yeah i had to up the flow a lot too, which helped. but ultimately my nutrient import did not line up with the export. You'll get it under control!

[disaster999]

Well, after some time using the Zeovit stuff to help control the brown algae. It seemed to work at first, but another type of brown algae seem to be taking over and my tank dont seem to be getting any better. I had a feeling my skimmer is a big under powered for my tank. Initially I wanted to upgrade to the Vertex Omega 180, but after some research, I figured the 180 isnt much of an upgrade to what I am using currently. My friend highly recommended Skimz skimmer, And BRS just recently started stocking them so I started looking into them. Size wasnt a concern for me as my sump can pretty much hold anything I want. At first I was thinking of getting the regular wine bottle hybrid design from Skimz, but I settled on the newer Oval Model. I was advised the Oval/cone shaped skimmer produces a better skimmate than the regular cylinder/wine bottle design. I dont think both matter as much, but he just wanted to sell me the more expensive model. It was only 40 bucks more, but Im buying a newer model. Also, having the pump vertical inside the skimmer and using the diffuser plate as a volute was a pretty cool concept and space saving. Not like I needed the extra space, but the custom volute was a high selling point.

 

 

Here it is next to my Avast Marine CS-1 Skimmer. I have just put the skimmer inside the tank and its still breaking in so its not skimming anything.

 

Heres the skimmer fully broken in. I raised the skimmer a few inches also and it allows my to run my skimmer at full power. The skimmate it produces is pretty dark and thick.

 

Here it is the next day after Ive stirred up everything in my tank, dislodging any debris between my rocks. It more than doubled the skimmate it produced the day before

 

Overall Im very happy with the quality and performance of this skimmer. Its silent compared to my old skimmer and produces a lot more skimmate.

[RollaJase]

Nice new skimmer . I'm having the same issue as you with the algae, mine looks the same, bubbles the same and grows the same, been fighting it for almost 6 months now along with some cyano. I'm thinking I may try what Roger suggested, up the water flow and as I dose Salifert Amino's I may cut that back by 50% weekly.

[Benny314]

I've had a similar algae, I desperately need to improve the flow in my tank, think that's half the battle. But my lights controller failed the other day after a power outage and I ended up with an unexpected 3 day black out before I was able to fix the controller. This black out has instantly cured the algae issue, how long it will be before it returns is another matter. But I had added a tuxedo urchin the other week to try and help keep on top of things. With it now all but gone I'm hoping the CUC and my immanent wave maker upgrade will prevent the algae returning.