Zer0 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Looks great dude! Are you ever going to run sand again? I'm getting pretty sick of my sandbed too though.. I don't have any serious issues like cyano.. I just can't keep it clean without having a conch in there that winds up dying once the sandbed is cleaned up.. :/ It's really a shame though.. I like sand too much! Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I havent used the nutrisea in over 2 months. The photo will look like crap any larger. tomorrow ill shoot some larger shots. Im running Rowa Phos Phosphate remover in a Next Reef Reactor. Ill be re adding a sand bed once everything clears up. probably a 1" bed of fine sand. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Good, bare bottom tanks look awful unless it's so full you can't see the bottom! How water have you changed out since then? Did you notice a huge drop of phosphate when you added the Rowa Phos? Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have done 2 25% water changes twice a week for the past 2.5 months with Red Sea Reef Salt. phosphates were over .58 a month ago. and who knows what they were before i even tested lol. They are down to .10 ish. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I have done 2 25% water changes twice a week for the past 2.5 months with Red Sea Reef Salt. phosphates were over .58 a month ago. and who knows what they were before i even tested lol. They are down to .10 ish. Well, that's a damn good difference lol, but if you're running that stuff I'd expect there to be 0 unless phosphates keep coming from somewhere. I presume that you're thinking it was leaching from the sand? Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Well, that's a damn good difference lol, but if you're running that stuff I'd expect there to be 0 unless phosphates keep coming from somewhere. I presume that you're thinking it was leaching from the sand? Well the truth is when you run GFO on small systems its difficult to get the reactor to run properly. Most reactors are designed for much larger systems. Much larger systems require an increased amount of GFO. An amount that would actually cover the entire reactor plate. In my tank i can only add roughly 6 teaspoons of GFO. So basically the reactor doesn't work to its potential. Water will take the least resistant path and its not actually treating as well as intended. It's working so i don't mind the wait. I'm impatient but i truthfully would rather it decrease in a stable fashion. I removed the sand for two reasons, Fear that it was or will leach phosphates/silicates, and two - because i hated the sand grade in general from the beginning. Hopefully things get better. around 70% of the rock is foam/epoxy. never know if it is the root of the problem. I figured i would start by removing my sandbed, running gfo and increasing water changes. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Well the truth is when you run GFO on small systems its difficult to get the reactor to run properly. Most reactors are designed for much larger systems. Much larger systems require an increased amount of GFO. An amount that would actually cover the entire reactor plate. In my tank i can only add roughly 6 teaspoons of GFO. So basically the reactor doesn't work to its potential. Water will take the least resistant path and its not actually treating as well as intended. It's working so i don't mind the wait. I'm impatient but i truthfully would rather it decrease in a stable fashion. I removed the sand for two reasons, Fear that it was or will leach phosphates/silicates, and two - because i hated the sand grade in general from the beginning. Hopefully things get better. around 70% of the rock is foam/epoxy. never know if it is the root of the problem. I figured i would start by removing my sandbed, running gfo and increasing water changes. What I would do is make some more of the foam epoxy and put it in a bucket with some freshly mixed water and leave it for a few days/week and test nitrate and phosphate, that will test that variable. What kind of sand did you have? Aragonite? On a tank as small as yours I would just use one of the foam pads. I run one on my 55g system, I use 1/5th of the pad at a time, it works for 1 month+ and I just toss it out and put in another piece. Link to comment
Rehype Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Good to hear;) the truth is marco dry rock is notorious for harboring phosphates. Coupled with the fact your system had high phosphates and maintened them over a period of time gave the rock plenty of time to absorb additional phosphates. Even though your using an effective form of phosphate removal the rock will continue to slowly leech the phosphates it has stored... sometimes over the course of a few months. But you've got the phosphates on the ropes just keep up the regimen we talked about. Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I actually removed a man made rock to a bucket of water [and an airstone] last week, but unfortunetly i don't have any Hanna Reagents left to check the water. It was Argonite sand, i couldnt stand it. The grade, the smoke storms, ugly. My friends actually uses one of those pads, i figured it was crap. already invested in a reactor and media -might as well go with it. Also when i plumb this to a larger system in the near future ill already have a suitable reactor for it. Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 make sure u view at 720 Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Yeah man! Closer tank shot! Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Yeah man! Closer tank shot! its so hard to get a good shot, there are so many different light levels going on between the tank and the exposed rock. really need a good camera. Going to try in an hour. Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 here u go.... a little better .... Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Man, I always loved this tank. Gald you got everything under control again!!!! Link to comment
jm82792 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 What kind of LED lights are you using? I like the color! This is such a nice tank, I need to get mine from out of the wind, rain, and sunlight. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 What kind of LED lights are you using? I like the color! As per the OP: Lighting: 4 Evil Par 38's [20k] Link to comment
jonny roks Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 thanks, yes 4 par 38's - 20k 2 are 60degree and 2 80 degree, its a nice crisp color especially now that i lowered the lights 3 inches. Link to comment
MasterMind9 Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Remarkable idea and design Link to comment
JDK Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Well the truth is when you run GFO on small systems its difficult to get the reactor to run properly. Most reactors are designed for much larger systems. Much larger systems require an increased amount of GFO. An amount that would actually cover the entire reactor plate. In my tank i can only add roughly 6 teaspoons of GFO. So basically the reactor doesn't work to its potential. Hey great tank! Read most of the thread here is some things that may help..... I run a CPR Nano-reactor in my Biocube 29. It is specifically designed to run small amounts of media. I use 5 TBSP of BRS GFO and it is perfect. Check my sig and thread there are a cpl things you have to do to make the reactor work well with GFO. I can evenly and lightly tumble the GFO as the reactor is very small. This product is not even on the market yet but is available only on ebay as a first production run from Ameka Aquatics. Here is a link- CPR Nano-Reactor Remember that GFO can be exhausted very very quickly if phosphates are really high. GFO has a finite capacity and the more saturated the water the faster it is exhausted. It could potentially be used up in as little as a day or two. Also I would buy a bottle of Brightwells MicroBacter7. It is cheap and worked wonders on my cyano. Follow the directions on the bottle and I think you will see a difference. I believe the the MB7 out-competes the cyano for food. After about 2 weeks of using it my cyano just died off and floated away. Keep in mind I was also changing my GFO every 2-3 days during this two week period. I would be weary to use the red slime remover as I believe it kills good bacteria as well as the cyano. That is kind of a double edge sword because you need the good bacteria to eat the stuff the cyano and algae eat. It will kill the cyano but I feel as though it makes you vulnerable to more cyano. Hope this helps great tank love the concept. CPR NANO-REACTOR Link to comment
nickjqz Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 That is an awesome reactor JDK!! Nice find Link to comment
jonny roks Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 thanks for the advice, i ordered one! Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 You're using dry rock right? Link to comment
Quantum Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 The double rimlessness (new word) aspect looks really clean and great. I was wondering, is there anything you can do to bring some color to the rock which is OUT of the water? If so, it would really draw the two halves of the tank together and make it look more like one unit (I know it is). Link to comment
jonny roks Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 The double rimlessness (new word) aspect looks really clean and great. I was wondering, is there anything you can do to bring some color to the rock which is OUT of the water? If so, it would really draw the two halves of the tank together and make it look more like one unit (I know it is). i actually use to run water [drip] lines to the waterfall in different sections and it colored up in the spots that the water would flow too. but i felt it could be the reason i was getting the algae issues so i removed it. truth is, i could probably paint it with acrylic paint or something but for the time being im actually fine with it. its not much of an eyesore to me. Maybe in the future ill paint it to match the rest. You're using dry rock right? yep, who knows if its the root of my issues. [brs reef saver rock] diatoms = gone cyano = gone hair algae - everywhere lol Link to comment
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