Angler Away! - Wartskin Macro Tank

[ccapasso]

Yeah. Not seeing much change today. In fact, everything looked like it does every morning...relatively good. Until noon when the GE 6500K bulb comes on. Within an hour or so of it being on, the entire tank is covered in a loose brown dusting. Very light and very easy to blow away with turkey baster.

 

I'm hoping things are better tomorrow. Really don't want to run w/ out a skimmer all weekend. Thinking I may have to hook it back up tomorrow. Instructions say to do a water change too.

[Islandoftiki]

Yeah, I've never noticed much difference on the first day. The second day is where you start to see it.

 

Personally, I'd leave the skimmer off for 5 days or so when you're treating.

[ccapasso]

I might just do that. Was even thinking about just leaving the skimmer off and letting the air stone run all weekend until I get back Monday.

[ccapasso]

Day two and most of the "slime" is gone. Still have a lot of the dusty brown everywhere.

 

Here are a few pics of the nasty-ness:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't look too bad right now, but that is because I have had the lights off to try and help combat this stuff.

[BadCrab]

Goofy. That is much heavier then I thought, I would have thought all the macro uptook mostthe excess nutrients in the tank?

[ccapasso]

That's the odd thing. Water parameters in check but yet algae outbreak.

[ccapasso]

Came in this morning and wow what a difference!

 

Everything looks clean. And I mean cleaner that it ever has before!

 

I hooked the skimmer back up and put the lights back on their normal cycle. Going to monitor today and see if anymore brown comes back with the lights on. I'm really hoping not.

 

So far, it looks like only one causality...and of course that had to be the awesome rock nem .

[ccapasso]

Pic from this morning after the treatment with Chemi-clean and no light over the weekend.

 

 

The dragons breath lost its orange, but it will come back. In fact, I'm already seeing some of it this morning.

 

If the algae is gone, I fully expect all macros to make a full comeback in short time.

[BadCrab]

RIP Rock Nem! You can always get another. I really liked the rock nem in the tank, so I hope you do

[Islandoftiki]

Told you ChemiClean does a good job.

[ccapasso]

Yup. Chemi-Clean did a very good job of cleaning things up.

 

As far as how today has gone with algae..not so good.

 

While things are overly bad yet, there is a brown film on the acrylic and on the macros already. None of this was there this morning nor during the time the initial lights were on. As soon as the GE6500K bulb came on, shortly thereafter the brown started to come back.

 

I'm really starting to think this bulb is causing issues. I am going to look to replace it, but need to get new bulbs first (again).

[Lalani]

I'm going to have to give chemiclean a go in the 10gal also. Haven't been able to shake the cyano. :/

[jedimasterben]

I'm going to have to give chemiclean a go in the 10gal also. Haven't been able to shake the cyano. :/

Why were you trying to shake it? How did you keep the water in the tank when shaking it?

[Lalani]

Why were you trying to shake it? How did you keep the water in the tank when shaking it?

Cuz I'm a little slow in da head, durrrr.

 

Sometimes I get mad and just blast all the rocks with a turkey baster and cackle with delight as it all floats around. It comes back 2 days later.... with a vengeance.

[ccapasso]

Cuz I'm a little slow in da head, durrrr.

 

Sometimes I get mad and just blast all the rocks with a turkey baster and cackle with delight as it all floats around. It comes back 2 days later.... with a vengeance.

 

That's exactly what I was doing. I'd hit it with the turkey baster, it would look awesome again...until the next day!

 

I'll stand by chemi-clean..It removed the cyano quite well.

[ccapasso]

Called Marinedepot yesterday to address the burnt out bulb. Apparently ATI only covers bulbs for 30 days!

 

So a bulb less than 2 months old burnt out and no warranty! No good.

 

Luckily, the guys at marinedepot are awesome and are getting me a replacement bulb. Granted, I had to pay for the bulb but they are covering shipping.

 

Everything looked good this morning when I got to the office. I can tell things are turning around since the fire and ice zoas are starting to open back up again! Still get that evil brown when the noon lights come on, which I will be addressing and hopefully fixing.

 

Placed an order with John @ reefcleaners.org for a few cleaners to help . Should have more update tomorrow.

[ccapasso]

Looking for some input on water flow please.

 

Currently, I have the Maxi-Jet 900 Utility Pump as my return. I have this going into loc-line with a Y-Splitter to give more direction:

 

In addition, I have my mp10 position on the left side of my tank running in lagoon mode:

 

For the longest time, I ran this at about 40%. I have since increased it to 60%.

 

I feel like there should be enough flow in the tank, but I don't feel like I'm getting enough from my return. I can see good circulation, but there are certain spots that are not getting much flow.

 

My questions are as follows:

1. Should I look to upgrade my return pump? If so, what would you recommend? (it must be quiet)
2. Should I position the loc-line different?
3. Should I change the position of the mp10? (up, down, left, right)?
4. Should I run a different mode than lagoon and if so, which and at what percentage?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

[ccapasso]

The cyano is completely gone (thanks to chemi-clean). However, the light brown dusting that covers everything keeps coming back. The areas of the tank that are getting good flow do not have this buildup. However, all other areas do get it. I still think it looks like diatoms but cannot confirm 100%.

 

Any thoughts on the previous post regarding flow that may help?

[markalot]

What kind of substrate did you use? Any chance it had iron in it? I get a brown dusting on everything when I add one tiny drop of Seachem Iron (for planted tanks) to my 40. Cleanup crew loves the stuff, but just one drop will do it every time.

[ccapasso]

The substrate has been in place for a while now and this is just recently happening. Not sure if it had iron in it but if it did, I would imagine this would have already happened?

 

This is the substrate I used though last year:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/300172-angler-away-wartskin-macro-tank/?p=3846442

[Spirofucci]

I'd put the MP10 on reef crest and turn it up till the substrate starts blowing around, then turn it down a hair. The macros and the gorgs will love it.

 

Also if you have a bunch of junk in your substrate try putting a cannister filter temorarily to remove it......also might help with the cyano.

 

I used chemiclean a while back and had some success with it but also lost some corals and macros.

 

I might try Dr Tim's next.......

[ccapasso]

Thanks! I'll give that a shot. Although, I know my substrate won't blow around (too heavy as it isn't sand).

 

In regards to the canister filter, what exactly are you thinking?

 

 

Updates:

 

Reefcleaners order came in! Hooray! I now have a couple of fuzzy chitons to help with the algae and two fighting conchs (these guys will move to the 55g).

[Islandoftiki]

Fuzzy chitons are pretty cool. Mine didn't live too long, but they were cool.

[ccapasso]

These guys are awesome looking!

 

 

So random thought:

 

Currently, my substrate isn't sand per say (as indicated in previous posts). I'm contemplating switching it out for an actual sand bed now that I no longer have the mantis .

 

My thoughts were to remove all of the live rock and macros and place in a big bowl with water for a short bit. Then remove the substrate (not sure how best to do this, lol) then add in new live sand. Once in, I figured I'd put the live rock and macros all back.

 

As far as substrate, I was thinking of just using live sand. I assume this would be best so that I do not cause a full cycle. Does that make sense?

 

Currently, my substrate is about 2". I thought about taking it down to about 1" maybe 1.5". Any issues with macros that would require me to keep a deeper sand bed?

[Islandoftiki]

I think it's safe to use either live sand or clean non-live aragonite.

 

I really think the larger grain substrate leads to water quality issues in the long run. I've been slowly switching out the substrate in my peacock tank from crushed coral to a mix of finer grain aragonite. I'm doing it in about 6 stages by siphoning out a section at each water change and replacing it with some sand from an old tank that I cleaned thoroughly and have been running with a powerhead and a heater in a bucket for a couple weeks with some microbacter 7 just to be safe since it's used sand.

 

I'd probably do it in stages so you don't stir up too much stuff all at once.