17g Green Leaf Rimless

[divecj5]

I don't wonder, I know my mind is lost.

Macro looking okay?

 

Ha ha.

 

Yeah, the macro looks great. I seem some more growth on the flame algae and the macro you sent me looks great. So far so good.

[divecj5]

Looking for some feedback. So the tank has been up and running for 2 1/2 months now and I'm starting to wonder if it's still not completely "cycled." Like a good reefing detective, I've tried to lay the situation out in my head and not just jump to any conclusions.

 

The Situation (and no, I'm not Lebron James )

-Overnight and in the morning, the sand bed is pearly white with just a few 1" patches of brown algae (diatoms)

-Lights come on, run for 5 hours and then turn off...no real increase in diatoms

-Within 30 minutes after the lights turn off, the ENTIRE sand bed is covered and I can see small bubbles on the surface

 

The Variables

-The only bulbs I turn on are 3 ATI Blue + that are less than 2 months old

-Top off water and water change = 0 TDS

-No fish = No feeding

-3g water changes 1x a week

-More than enough flow with the MP10 at 50-55%

 

My Conclusions

Well my conclusions are more like cooked up ideas that I have floating around my brain. Here is what I've narrowed it down to -

-Since 99% of the rock was dead, base rock from BRS, maybe the tank still hasn't fully cycled

-For a week, I didn't realize that my RO/DI water had creeped up to 40 TDS. Maybe I ended up loading the tank with solid goodness.

-Maybe I need a bigger cleanup crew? Doesn't seem right since I've never had issues before with a small "crew"

 

Wanted to see what everyone else thought. Maybe I just need to be patient, but in another 2 weeks, the tank will be up for 3 months and that seems like a pretty long time for things to settle out. I'm thinking about adding an Eheim or Rena XP1 filter to the tank in the coming weeks but would rather try and figure things out biologically before tossing mechanical/chemical filtration into the mix.

 

Thanks for any insight or "just let things go" comments you may have.

 

-Adam

[Rehype]

It sounds like the tank hasnt fully cycled to me. Whats your nitrate and phosphate levels? Honestly i would just give it some more time. In the meantime id suggest doing a water change but replacing it with water from your existing tank to help boost the bacteria populations. HTH

[spanko]

Where did the sand come from and what kind is it and was it live or dry?

 

Diatoms = feeding on silicates. Will pass. Not detrimental to any inhabitants.

 

Very little if any nitrifying bacteria contained in the water column so can't see using water from an existing tank doing any real help.

 

Tanks are constantly cycling depending on the bioload. As the bioload increases so do the nitrifying bacteria. The opposite is also true, decrease bioload - decrease bacteria. However if you have measured your initial cycle, saw the requisite ammonia - nitrites spike and then decrease your tank has done it's initial cycle. The diatom issue in my mind is separate from that.

[Deleted User 6]

did you rinse sand/rocks? have you tested phosphates/nitrates?

[geaux xman]

i'm cycling a 17g GLA atm also. ~15lbs LR, 20lbs of "live" sand, mp10, AC50, heater temp 80, and 3 shrimps.

 

after 3 days, my ammonia is 5 and i have positive nitrite.

 

didnt mean to distract from the thread. just sharing my current experience.

[divecj5]

Wow...thanks for all of the responses.

 

It sounds like the tank hasnt fully cycled to me.

 

Thanks man. I really appreciate the insight and confirmation. I haven't checked my Nitrate and Phosphate levels since starting the tank since I knew it was going to be in "cycling" mode for a bit. I have a Phosphate kit (although not sure how reliable) and believe I still have a Nitrate kit as well. If not, I'll grab one on the way home.

 

Where did the sand come from and what kind is it and was it live or dry?

 

Diatoms = feeding on silicates. Will pass. Not detrimental to any inhabitants.

 

Tanks are constantly cycling depending on the bioload. As the bioload increases so do the nitrifying bacteria. The opposite is also true, decrease bioload - decrease bacteria. However if you have measured your initial cycle, saw the requisite ammonia - nitrites spike and then decrease your tank has done it's initial cycle. The diatom issue in my mind is separate from that.

 

The sand is Arag-Alive (not sure how alive it was) fine grain that I bought a new bag of when I first set up the tank.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head with Diatoms = feeding on silicates. When my TDS unknowingly spiked up to 40, I'm sure I spent a solid two water changes dumping silicates and other goodies that would have usually been picked up by the DI resin.

 

Also, I may have spiked things when I recently fed the Acan that's in there. Between the higher TDS and addition of sinking pellets for the Acan, maybe the bacteria are still getting fully established.

 

did you rinse sand/rocks? have you tested phosphates/nitrates?

 

I gave the base rock from BRS a solid soak in RO/DI before placing it in the tank but didn't rinse the sand. See above for Nitrate/Phosphate testing.

 

i'm cycling a 17g GLA atm also. ~15lbs LR, 20lbs of "live" sand, mp10, AC50, heater temp 80, and 3 shrimps.

 

after 3 days, my ammonia is 5 and i have positive nitrite.

 

didnt mean to distract from the thread. just sharing my current experience.

 

No distraction here and there's never any sort of wasted information. It's always great to have as reference to what others experience.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It sounds like I should just ride things out for another couple of weeks. Thinking more about it now, when I was unknowingly adding "dirty" RO/DI water, some green hair algae started to crop up. After I changed all of the pre-filters and DI resin, it quickly went away so I'm fairly certain that it's not the water. Sounds like the diatoms are either feeding off the silicates present in the water or they haven't reached an equilibrium point.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback. Sometimes this hobby really gets you chasing your tail

 

Last question - do I keep running the lights as if there aren't any diatoms or should I run them every other day until things settle down? Seems like the diatoms are present regardless of the lighting and since they aren't old bulbs, they should be alright.

[Deleted User 6]

you don't have anything in that tank, right? if there's nothing in it, lights off imo.

[divecj5]

you don't have anything in that tank, right? if there's nothing in it, lights off imo.

 

The only things that are in there are -

• Flame and Dictyota Algae
  
• Frogspawn Frag
  
• Acan
  

 

Nothing that couldn't survive with a 2-3 days of "perpetual nighttime."

[Deleted User 6]

yeah, i'd give it a good storm simulation, lol. dark and turbulent.

[divecj5]

yeah, i'd give it a good storm simulation, lol. dark and turbulent.

 

[animalmaster6]

What DH said was actually really good to do in a reef tank. Blast the pump settings up (VorTech in your case) and turn off the lights for a day or two. Simulates a complete storm and the corals, fish, inverts, etc come out amd look better than ever.

[divecj5]

What DH said was actually really good to do in a reef tank. Blast the pump settings up (VorTech in your case) and turn off the lights for a day or two. Simulates a complete storm and the corals, fish, inverts, etc come out amd look better than ever.

 

The August Storm of 2010 is currently rolling through the reef....we'll see how things look on Sunday

[animalmaster6]

Awesome!

[divecj5]

Just wanted to report back following "hurricane season" on the Chucktown reef.

 

Things are looking fantastic. I did run the lights for a few hours yesterday (just couldn't resist) and by the time the lights went out, there were only very small patches of diatoms.

 

Also, I checked Nitrates the other night and they were 0. Going to check on Phosphates after a water change today but I was happy to see that Nitrates weren't through the roof.

 

I'm heading up to DC for a few days this week but plan on snagging a fish and some other inverts this coming weekend

 

Also, DFason is getting closer and closer to completing the LED fixture, should be another week or two. I pooped a little after the last set of pictures he sent

[Deleted User 6]

Gross!

 

Also, I love a good hurricane season in the reef.

[divecj5]

Gross!

 

Also, I love a good hurricane season in the reef.

 

 

I'm always amazed at how well things look after a couple of days without light.

[Deleted User 6]

glad everything's bouncing back - you might have had some nutrients trapped in dead spots and stuff that the storm kicked up and moved. i read somewhere that one guy did a 2 day storm once a month. i might start doing that.

[animalmaster6]

Very glad it worked!

[divecj5]

glad everything's bouncing back - you might have had some nutrients trapped in dead spots and stuff that the storm kicked up and moved. i read somewhere that one guy did a 2 day storm once a month. i might start doing that.

 

Yeah, things definitely look better. There are still some patches where diatoms crop up but nothing a little Phosban and mature live rock can't take care of in the future.

 

I agree about the "storm" events in our little reefs...they are probably incredibly beneficial since it's not exactly bright and sunny on natural reefs. Sometimes I don't think there's enough variation in our tanks.

 

 

Very glad it worked!

 

Me too!!

[DaveFason]

Random is coming

[divecj5]

Random is coming

[Deleted User 6]

 

hey dave, make me a led fuge light ktx.

[divecj5]

hey dave, make me a led fuge light ktx.

 

Get in the back in the line D I think Dave is going to have plenty of business once he releases the first few of these. Tons of flexibility in his design with all the right bells and whistles.

 

On another note, I'd really like to get some cool inverts for this tank. I was thinking about a porcelain crab and possibly some sexy shrimp but I'm wide open really. The only concern I have is I don't have a ton of hiding spaces, other than under the left rock and behind the right rock island. I might hold off until I have some more coral and macro in there to provide more hiding space but wanted to do some research now. Inverts were lacking in my 20H and I remember how cool they were have in previous tanks.

 

-Adam

[Deleted User 6]

I want one of these so bad:

 

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/product_info...;products_id=86

 

I'm waiting until I can get a couple flower nems for them though.