Vesian Posted December 31, 2009 Author Share Posted December 31, 2009 mine took about 4 weeks to cycle I know it's still cycling :-) However, the murkiness of the water concerns me. The tank has already gone through the usual stages: Diatoms came and left, Algae bloom came and left. Now there's this crap all over the place and it has not going away for almost a week. On my first tank, the water cleared up shortly after these stages and STAYED clear. As such, I could use some input as to the murkiness, I am concerned. Thanks :-) Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Nitrite levels have dropped significantly over the past two days, and after I finally got some advice from a fellow reefer I went ahead with a 50% water change today to evaluate what is causing the murkiness in the water. The LFS ended up never ordering the MP10 for me, so I went in and (with an angry voice) told them to give me a refund. Sigh. Ordered it online, will get it Tuesday. Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 The tank has FINALLY completed the cycle, almost 4 weeks in. I guess some tanks just godda make you wait a little longer, right? :-) Monitoring it for a day or two for stability, then "the transfer" happens :-) Also have been doing 50% water changes to clear up the water. The clarity has been steadily increasing due to this venture. I also took the LR yesterday and strubbed them down with a toothbruth, something I should have done day 1. Got rid of a majority of the hair algae and misc. organics that were clinging to the rock. The color of the waste saltwater I cleaned them in was horrendous when it was all said and done, lol. Vortech arrives tomorrow! Yay! Link to comment
clownfish14 Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 lets see some more pics Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share Posted January 6, 2010 lets see some more pics Water is still milky white and I am having trouble finding help as to how to fix it :-( Bah Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 Just got home, water is still white. Could really use some help on this, guys! Link to comment
clownfish14 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 What are your test results on your water? Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 7, 2010 Author Share Posted January 7, 2010 What are your test results on your water? Finally, a reply! Current readings: Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 0ppm Nitrate: 0ppm pH: 8.2 Temperature: Constant at 78.5 degrees F Link to comment
harbingerofthefish Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 It's along shot but, try turning off your pumps for a few hours and see if it clears up any. The snails should be fine. It might still be particles form the sand floating in the wc. If you have some filter floss, you might add that in there as well but I would just see if it settles on its own first. Link to comment
bxz Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Bacteria blooming, it'll go away in a week. Just got home, water is still white. Could really use some help on this, guys! Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 Bacteria blooming, it'll go away in a week. Unfortunately, it is now January 15th and the water still looks this way. I am grasping for any solution here guys :-( Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 A current shot of the tank to show what I have to stare at: Anyone? Anything? This is killing me. Link to comment
nick1912 Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Bacteria blooming, it'll go away in a week. +1, I seriously think its a bacteria problem, more water changes and add carbon. Just carbon and not purigen or elite.. Rocky start but it will get better. Good Luck! Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 +1, I seriously think its a bacteria problem, more water changes and add carbon. Just carbon and not purigen or elite.. Rocky start but it will get better. Good Luck! Thanks for the reply! :-) I was able to almost fully resolve the problem by following the suggestion given to me on the Water Peram forum. Basically, he said that the cloudiness was due to my sand, and specifically because I did not clean it out before adding it to the tank. I hooked up a MJ900 to a long tube and ran the tube into a filter sock placed in the display. Over a few hours the tank cleared up dramatically. I periodically stirred the sand a bit to continue this process. While there are still some micro-particles in the display, it looks a lot better :-) With that, I was finally able to move my livestock over from the BC14 into the tank and pull the plug on the BC. Bit and Byte, my two clownfish, were stressed for a bit, but are now swimming around exploring the surroundings. Oddly enough, my firefish is actually out and exploring this tank (would hide in my LR for 24 hours a day in the old tank). Now to just determine how all my softies will react to the LED lighting! A current FTS: I'll be monitoring the param's closely and doing water changes as needed until the tank adjusts to the increased bioload. Link to comment
clownfish14 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 looks good im glad it finally cleared up Link to comment
cdr5y7 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 nice looking tank. iv been looking at adding a koralia to my tank also. do you think the kor.1 is enough or too much for the tank? Link to comment
canesfan44 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 do you grow chaeto on this tank? where? in the hob fuge or in one of the chambers. I'm thinking of buying this tank, or a used reg 28g NC, and putting in the nanocustoms 5.6 LED retro. What is so great, for me, about your setup is that I have an unused small CPR HOB fuge and Tunze 9002 that I was going to use on a tank, but never set that tank up, I already had enough tanks. So I'm going to following your tank. Thanks Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 21, 2010 Author Share Posted January 21, 2010 nice looking tank. iv been looking at adding a koralia to my tank also. do you think the kor.1 is enough or too much for the tank? The Koralia 1 has been switched off ever since I installed my Vortech MP10, but to answer your question: It is definitely not too much flow for the tank. It is either just right or not enough, depending on where you had it mounted and how your LR is set up (you may have dead zones in the tank). do you grow chaeto on this tank? where? in the hob fuge or in one of the chambers. I'm thinking of buying this tank, or a used reg 28g NC, and putting in the nanocustoms 5.6 LED retro. What is so great, for me, about your setup is that I have an unused small CPR HOB fuge and Tunze 9002 that I was going to use on a tank, but never set that tank up, I already had enough tanks. So I'm going to following your tank. Thanks Yep, I have about 2 cups of Chaeto at the bottom of the fuge, being lit by StevieT's dual submersible lights. I'm not sure if that's enough light for the chaeto at the moment, so we'll see. Let me know if you need any pics to help you with the installation or anything like that :-) Link to comment
RupertR32 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The Koralia 1 has been switched off ever since I installed my Vortech MP10, but to answer your question: It is definitely not too much flow for the tank. It is either just right or not enough, depending on where you had it mounted and how your LR is set up (you may have dead zones in the tank). Yep, I have about 2 cups of Chaeto at the bottom of the fuge, being lit by StevieT's dual submersible lights. I'm not sure if that's enough light for the chaeto at the moment, so we'll see. Let me know if you need any pics to help you with the installation or anything like that :-) Where did you get the HOB refugium pump to fit? I just ordered this for my tank and I will be doing a set up as yours. Btw... your tank is looking good! Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 26, 2010 Author Share Posted January 26, 2010 Where did you get the HOB refugium pump to fit? I just ordered this for my tank and I will be doing a set up as yours. Btw... your tank is looking good! Thanks! Not nearly enough coral or fish at the moment, but this hobby takes time :-) The pump is in the right rear chamber (if you were looking at the tank from the front, that is). It fits easily once you detach the hose leading to the return, push the pump down, then reattach the return line. Link to comment
Vesian Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Well, today the stock pump from the refugium finally pissed me off enough to replace it. It has woken me up three times now in the middle of the night due to LOUD noise (sounds the same as if the pump was blocked, but i've checked it several times and nothing was wrong) so I replaced it with my old MJ900 from my BC. So far everything's good. I also got around to (finally) removing the Koralia 1 from the display, and recently added 7 ricordeas to a rock at the base of the LR-work. Woohoo. Link to comment
Vesian Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 Hmm, haven't updated in a while :-) Several small changes to the tank over the past month: First, I removed a small chunk of a support that was attached to the Aquafuge. You can see it in an earlier screenshot. It was blocking my ability to remove and clean the media basket, thus making maintenance a major pita. I sawed it off (excrutiatingly) and can now remove the media basket without having to touch the fuge. It is still supported by the intake and return pumping, as well as the back wall. A few weeks back I ordered two new 5g water containers to mix water in. I was getting really, really agrivated with the whole water change routine, spilling water all over the place, having to transfer water from one place to another just to mix it and then somehow get it back into the tank. These jugs have large openings that allow Maxi-Jet pumps to be placed directly inside it to mix the water, and then pump it directly into the tank! I also bought my first new fish in over 9 months, a Six Line Wrasse. There was a bit of tension initially with the female clownfish chasing it off, but after a day or so things calmed down and now they all swim pretty peacefully together. I also replaced my Reefkeeper Lite with a Neptune Apex Lite controller. There was nothing wrong with the Reefkeeper, but a few features of the Apex made it a good buy for me: Custom-programmable inputs with yes/no statements makes it a breeze for me to completely customize how my equippment functions (One feed mode to turn off all my pumps only for water changes? Nice! Another feed mode to turn off only certain outlets to tinker with my vortech? Also nice! All without having to press buttons or manually unplug anything). Internet access allows me to both monitor my tank from my iphone and turn equippment on/off using my browser. Large display that I can easily read with several stats shown at once? Nice! 8 outlets stock instead of 4? Also a bonus. Finally, removed the stock media basket and replaced it with one of urbaneks new replacement baskets. I'm still evaluating it's effectiveness, but the build quality is nice, and it fits nicely in place. As for corals, haven't added anything new after the Ricordeas. I know I want SPS in the tank, but I guess i'm waiting for a good pack deal on the livestock page to take advantage of. The LFS sells SPS frags for $35+ per frag, it's horrible :-( Finally, about two days ago a bunch of diatoms appeared on the sandbed, seen here: Don't know why I had them re-appear recently as i've been maintaining my tank pretty regularly with water changes and the like. Did a 10g water change yesterday and ran some tests, 0 nitrates. Must be a phostphate issue. Hopefully the chemi-pure elite will handle it. Link to comment
menancy Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 I was wondering how your LED's compare to the 5.6 LED retro fit being offered by Nanotuners. And are your drivers dimmable? Link to comment
fishin4birds Posted February 22, 2010 Share Posted February 22, 2010 Those water containers look really convenient. Where did you find the wide lid ones? Link to comment
Vesian Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 I was wondering how your LED's compare to the 5.6 LED retro fit being offered by Nanotuners. And are your drivers dimmable? No idea how it compares to what nanotuners offers, but it's LED, all my corals love it, practically no heat, and the shimmer is fantastic, so I don't really think it matters :-) Those water containers look really convenient. Where did you find the wide lid ones? Here. They're more expensive then the standard ones, but they make my life SOOOO much easier, so money well spent IMO ;-) Link to comment
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