Kat's Ol' Max

[Deleted User 3]

Haha I was thinking the same thing.

 

 

My anemone is harboring some GHA around it's base where he CUC cannot get so I have to manually pluck it myself. There are also some spots cropping up in my zoa colony. Nothing too bad though.

I have a few patches growing on the rocks, and on the heater holder, and a bit for the 3rd time on a SPS frag that is re-growing,

[Nano sapiens]

How do you pluck it out? My tweezers don't manage to grasp it. Do you use human hair plucking tweezers?

 

You'll need a pair of precision tweezers (preferably, true stainless). I'd imagine either the electronics or the surgical industries would have something like this.

[metrokat]

So Piggy needs some help. His fuge is all cloudy. I suggested he aerate it as it seems like a bacterial bloom. That has not helped. He skims and has done water changes without any improvement.

 

Anybody have any thoughts?

[ZephNYC]

So Piggy needs some help. His fuge is all cloudy. I suggested he aerate it as it seems like a bacterial bloom. That has not helped. He skims and has done water changes without any improvement.

 

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

If it is the tank he feeds the frozen NPS food to, the problem is you cant freeze phyto. If you could there would be 5000 brands of frozen phyto cubes out there. Check you BSD cryo preserved frozen phyto, they add glycerin to it to prevent it from freezing. When phyto freezes the cells explode rendering a useless mess.

...of course it could be something else.

 

oh I got excited I thought your thread said batgirls underwear Metropolis.

[jgpico]

It probably says somewhere in your thread but what is the solo cup in the tank for?

[metrokat]

It probably says somewhere in your thread but what is the solo cup in the tank for?

Houses corals that need TLC from time to time.

[ZephNYC]

If it is the tank he feeds the frozen NPS food to, the problem is you cant freeze phyto. If you could there would be 5000 brands of frozen phyto cubes out there. Check you BSD cryo preserved frozen phyto, they add glycerin to it to prevent it from freezing. When phyto freezes the cells explode rendering a useless mess.

...of course it could be something else.

 

oh I got excited I thought your thread said batgirls underwear Metropolis.

 

I mean katwoman...my bad.

[metrokat]

If it is the tank he feeds the frozen NPS food to, the problem is you cant freeze phyto. If you could there would be 5000 brands of frozen phyto cubes out there. Check you BSD cryo preserved frozen phyto, they add glycerin to it to prevent it from freezing. When phyto freezes the cells explode rendering a useless mess.

...of course it could be something else.

 

oh I got excited I thought your thread said batgirls underwear Metropolis.

It's not the NPS tank he says

[FishDooD65]

So Piggy needs some help. His fuge is all cloudy. I suggested he aerate it as it seems like a bacterial bloom. That has not helped. He skims and has done water changes without any improvement.

 

Anybody have any thoughts?

bacterial bloom?? UV sterilizer might work

[Kfmmartin19]

EVEN MOAR PICTURES! Who doesn't like to hate crappy cell phone pictures.

 

FTS June 2013

 

Top Shelf including Oreo the Clam.

 

The coralline that encrusts and scrolls

 

Spaghetti worms, have about a bazillion of these and the clear ones too

 

Asternias have been multiplying too

 

OMG! NEKKID SPAGHETTI WORM!

 

Peroxide dipped this little rock of Captain America palys. The red dictyota turned orange. Die die die!

meh.

[Veng]

You know what drives me crazy Kat? You've got amazing subject matter, and yet you shoot it with a cellphone!!! With proper use of the tank sitter's equipment, you could have magazine cover worthy shots with most of these photos!

[Veng]

BTW, the FTS in your OP is 6 month out of date.

[MrAnderson]

Yessss.

 

I have a bacteria Q. My tank is 1.5 years old and has a ton of gunk. It is holding it's own but that could change for a number of reasons. Would you know of any product or variety of products which have the best combination of bacteria to replenish and refresh old systems?

 

I'm currently sporadically dosing Dr Tim's waste away and Microbacter7. I have a bottle of Eco-balance on the way. But I wonder if I can do more. Thoughts?

 

 

first of all, anything i say has to be preceded by saying that you already know what you're doing to get a tank to look like that.

 

that said, you already know my steez - i'm big on natural systems, and letting things balance naturally. your tank equilibrated to have some "gunk" as part of the overall nutrient processing system based on load. if they didn't have stuff to eat, the bacterial populations wouldn't have expanded to the levels you observe.

 

unless you are exporting biologicals specifically i wouldn't add any - physics, conservation of mass, matter can neither be created or destroyed. adding stuff without removing stuff changes balance. if you're adding bacteria without removing something, that could account for the extra gunk..

 

because of my leanings and research, i'm the wrong person to ask about additives. any cultured additives are artificial imo. there are so many bacteria in natural reef environments that can't be cultured - vbnc, or "viable but not culturable", and these contribute to overall biogeochemical cycling in nature. it's impossible to know what the "good bacteria" are, and they can't necessarily be grown.

 

if i wanted to "refresh" a system, i'd get a good chunk of the freshest, uncured as possible live rock, or nice scraped biofilms from fresh rock, and add that. whatever subpopulations that like the environment of your tank will expand, those that don't will die off, but at least you would be inoculating with natural populations, and select for those that are compatible with your system.

 

maybe i'll let you know next time i have some live rock air-shipped from indonesia. it shows up covered in a nice thick biofilm and it doesn't really "cycle".

[metrokat]

@Veng Or you could make a trip out here with the cake Goddess and be trigger happy.

 

 

@ Mr Anderson: YES YES oh GOSH YES to uncured rock covered in biofilm.

[Veng]

@Veng Or you could make a trip out here with the cake Goddess and be trigger happy.

I'd love to, but I've already used up most of my time off for the year. The remainder is for when the fraglet comes.

[jedimasterben]

I can collect macros straight from the ocean, and I believe I can take some sand, too, but no rocks. That has to count for something, right Mr. A?

btw, your new name is Señor A.

[Nano sapiens]

Yessss.

 

I have a bacteria Q. My tank is 1.5 years old and has a ton of gunk. It is holding it's own but that could change for a number of reasons. Would you know of any product or variety of products which have the best combination of bacteria to replenish and refresh old systems?

 

I'm currently sporadically dosing Dr Tim's waste away and Microbacter7. I have a bottle of Eco-balance on the way. But I wonder if I can do more. Thoughts?

 

Your tank is still quite young at 1.5 years, but I would be concerned if it is accumulating a lot of 'Gunk'. If allowed to build up over time, you run the risk of reaching a point where increasing eutrophication causes unintended consequences. Being a proponent of the so called 'Natural Method' (as if one can call our aquariums 'natural'), manual removal of unwanted material is always the best first-line procedure IMO. Once excess/offensive material is removed (not just converted to something else) then it can do no further harm to the system.

 

The various bacteria needed in a reef tank are nearly always there (assuming it was started with LR and/or LS and nothing was done to selectively destroy certain bacterial types), but not always in the optimal proportions. A clean, well maintained tank will favor those conditions that benefit beneficial bacteria, while fouling conditions will favor undesirable bacterial populations. Having said that, it can do no harm to add a piece or two of new LR as 'Mr. Anderson' suggests to add some new bacterial life.

[metrokat]

I asked Piggy to post about his tank here and I hope he does. But this tank he says has been cloudy for 6 months. It has zoanthids and fish now but at first held his mantis then the Octopus. Water is cloudy, aeration and water changes do not help. He does not feed phyto to this tank.

[metrokat]

Your tank is still quite young at 1.5 years, but I would be concerned if it is accumulating a lot of 'Gunk'. If allowed to build up over time, you run the risk of reaching a point where increasing eutrophication causes unintended consequences. Being a proponent of the so called 'Natural Method' (as if one can call our aquariums 'natural'), manual removal of unwanted material is always the best first-line procedure IMO. Once excess/offensive material is removed (not just converted to something else) then it can do no further harm to the system.

 

The various bacteria needed in a reef tank are nearly always there (assuming it was started with LR and/or LS and nothing was done to selectively destroy certain bacterial types), but not always in the optimal proportions. A clean, well maintained tank will favor those conditions that benefit beneficial bacteria, while fouling conditions will favor undesirable bacterial populations. Having said that, it can do no harm to add a piece or two of new LR as 'Mr. Anderson' suggests to add some new bacterial life.

Agreed on how young the tank is but I have over loaded it with gunk these last few weeks because of a mandarin that is not eating frozen and stressing me out. I tried training her but she was so stressed that I had to let her out of the breeder net in a hurry. Have a canister filter on the way and I am planning on a major siphoning.

[eitallent]

I use a canister filter on my 125g. I use it mostly with poly-fil pillow stuffing, I include GAC every other time I filter. I stir as much stuff as I can into the water column (stirring stuff up at regular intervals) while the canister is running. When I remove the poly-fil it is full of the stuff that was in the water. I do this at least twice a week. It works!

 

You asked about the water that gets removed from the tank to fill the canister in a previous post. I fill my canister with fresh SW and then start it up. This way it does not lower the water level in the tank. IDK if you can do this with your new canister filter.

[metrokat]

That is a great idea Ms. E. I think I will fill up the canister with water before I start it. Thank you.

I was going to siphon the sand bed but I will try the stirring this first time. How can I prevent the danger of the canister getting completely jammed? I know what my siphoning pulls up in detritus quantity so I am concerned.

[eitallent]

Hmmm... You may just have to run it for a short amount of time at first. Clean it out and repeat the process.

 

Mine has never jammed and it has sucked in small bits of macroalgae.

[mike c]

Holy crap, Kat!! Your tank has had awesome growth, since the last time Ive been on the forums.

[metrokat]

Holy crap, Kat!! Your tank has had awesome growth, since the last time Ive been on the forums.

Welcome back! Where have you been Mike? How is everything salty? Hope your wife is also doing well. Don't be a stranger.

 

The tank has filled in rather quickly, I attribute the growth to steady dosing of ALK and CAL and to heavy feeding.

[Kfmmartin19]

I was jk Kat, ur tank is gawgeous