Angler Away! - Wartskin Macro Tank

[ccapasso]

Thanks for the feedback .

 

I'm hoping things continue to clear up, but I agree with you. I think the larger grain substrate can lead to issues.

[ccapasso]

New (replacement) bulb came in on Friday. Ended up taking out the GE6500K and keep the AquaBlue Special.

 

Decided to let the light run its normal cycle over the weekend and hope that the algae stayed in check.

 

When I arrived this morning, the walls needed a quick cleaning with the magnet. Other than that, things looked really good! The Dragon's Breath has made a nearly full recovery with orange tips really coming through now. The purple Gorgs seem very happy as they are once again fully opened.

 

The only negative thing that happened was my ATO. Somehow, it ran and ran all the way empty over the weekend. The tank was quite a bit fuller than normal. Luckily, nothing overflowed (but it was damn close, lol).

 

I will bring the refractometer in tomorrow to check levels and will also plan on doing a water change this week. If I get a chance to snap some pics later today of the recovery progress, I will be sure to post them up.

[ccapasso]

Errrrr.....not happy!

 

It isn't the specific bulb as I had thought. Already today, even after being very clear this morning, it is all brown again. I took the turkey baster and blew off all of the brown and it is already back on the walls (and starting back on the substrate and rocks)!....Grrrrr......

 

Other than a water change, I'm at a loss.

 

I'm really considering taking all of the rocks out and washing them off (using tank water of course), removing all of the crushed substrate and replacing with live sand, then putting it all back. This way, it'll be a "clean" start again (sort of).

 

What's odd, the macros look healthy and the brown algae blows right off of them and everything else. If this were a mini cycle, I should see a spike in Nitrates but I don't and, it should be over by now (but it isn't). Yet I continue to think that it looks more and more like diatoms.

 

Next time I get the chance, I'll snap some new pics of the brown all over everything and try and shoot a quick video of how easy it is removed and what it looks like as well.

[Spirofucci]

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).

I have a couple of left over cannister filters from my freswater days. You know those filters that sit on the floor or hang on the back. You can stuff them with almost anykind of filter media.....

 

I have a Marineland 350 that I use about once a month when I do a big cleaning and water change. The intake on the cannister filters is in the middle or near the bottom of the tank so it sucks out more junk and detritus than just hopeing it will get up in the overflow on normal reef tanks. You'd be suprised all the junk is sucks out........

[ccapasso]

I have a couple of left over cannister filters from my freswater days. You know those filters that sit on the floor or hang on the back. You can stuff them with almost anykind of filter media.....

 

I have a Marineland 350 that I use about once a month when I do a big cleaning and water change. The intake on the cannister filters is in the middle or near the bottom of the tank so it sucks out more junk and detritus than just hopeing it will get up in the overflow on normal reef tanks. You'd be suprised all the junk is sucks out........

 

You mean one of these:

 

Would you run it normal or modify it or fill it with media or ?????

[Spirofucci]

You mean one of these:

 

Would you run it normal or modify it or fill it with media or ?????

That's exactley what I mean!!!!

 

You can just run it with the blue foam stuff, but I often add carbon with a layer of GFO and run it for 2-3 days while doing my best to turkeybaste or stir up the sand every few hours......

[ccapasso]

I was able to get a few pics today of the nasty brown. Keep in mind, when I came in this morning, none of this was on the rocks. By noon, this is what it looked like:

 

 

 

 

I did my best to capture a quick video showing how easy it goes away with the turkey baster:

http://tinypic.com/r/67rr14/5

[Dark_ice]

ima follow just cus this is one of my top 5 fave fish

[Lalani]

That looks pretty nasty. Like a cyano/diatom combo.

[ccapasso]

ima follow just cus this is one of my top 5 fave fish

Thanks . Hopefully I get this nasty crap all taken care of and can get back to nice pictures instead .

 

That looks pretty nasty. Like a cyano/diatom combo.

Indeed. I'm not sure on cyano. I did treat with chemi-clean and that did remove all of the slime cyano that I saw. If diatom, I'm confused as to why it is still here. You'd think that if I started a mini cycle that my parameters would reflect that. However, last I checked, everything was in check.

 

I made up my mind that I'm replacing the substrate! I just ordered my live sand from Dr. Foster & Smith! When it arrives, I have a plan of attack to hopefully quickly replace the current substrate with new live sand. Not sure if this will help, but either way I want to have nicer looking substrate!

 

I also sent an email off to John @ reefcleaners to see if he has any suggestions. Really hoping to get this thing beat.

 

Also, should I move my mp10 so that it is pushing water (facing) towards my overflow? Right now it is on the same side as the overflow (left side of the tank).

[Dark_ice]

im sure all will work out

[ccapasso]

I was doing some reading and something caught my attention. There was mention of the RO/DI unit that was suppose to remove the the silicates.

I recently changed all of the filters in my RO/DI unit, with the exception of the very top tiny one (the membrane I believe it is called). I then ran a good 5 gallons through and discarded it. Then I started making my RO/DI water for a water change.

The more I think of it, this outbreak started right after that water change. I wonder if maybe there were extra silicates in the system still that didn't get filtered?

My plan is to do a water change as soon as possible. Hopefully that will help ?

[Islandoftiki]

Silicates show up as TDS, so you can check that really easily.

[ccapasso]

Hmmm... I think I have a TDS checker.. ??

[Islandoftiki]

Silicates can get through the RO membrane from what I understand, hence the DI resin to remove any remaining ions of silicate, phosphate, etc...

TDS meters are like $12.00 on Amazon if you don't already have one.

[ccapasso]

Yup, that is what I read as well.

 

The interesting thing is, I've been using the same water as top off for my 55g and not a single outbreak. However, I only started using the water for the 55 after I did the big water change to this tank.

 

Maybe the new filters (and I did replace all 3 of them on the RO/DI) were just not broken in and extra stuff was getting through that no longer is?

 

I've made new buckets of water recently, just need to add salt and mix. Will try to get done tonight and will check for my TDS meter. Since I've never used the TDS Meter, I assume I only test the RO/DI water not the tank water right?

[Islandoftiki]

Yeah, just turn the TDS meter on and stick the probe end into the RO water. You can also test your tap water if you want to see what your filters are up against.

 

My crazy BRS 6 stage RO/DI unit has a built-in TDS meter that tests the water coming out of the membrane and again at the final stage after the DI resin. This helps you know if your membrane is working properly.

 

Does your municipality use chlorine for chloramine?

[ccapasso]

Not sure what my municipality uses. And to be honest, I'm not sure how I'd go about finding out.

[Islandoftiki]

You can call the water bureau to find out. The reason I ask is that if you're using a system designed for chlorine removal and your water has chloramines in it, it will take out the chlorine part of chloramine and leave the ammonia. You'll be dumping ammonia into your tank with every water change/top-off.

 

Here's a good video from BRS:

 

[ccapasso]

I found a TDS meter and tested my tap water and my Salt+RO/DI Mix. Tap was in the 135 range. The salt water mix was 735ppm. I am new to TDS, but I'm not sure that is a good thing?

[ccapasso]

As a follow up, I tested water right after I ran it through my RO/DI unit. TDS meter showed .002ppm.

 

I usually make up a bunch of RO/DI water in the orange Home Depot buckets. Sometimes this sits for a bit before I mix up salt. Could this be causing issues?

[Islandoftiki]

I don't think salt water TDS is of any concern. It's obviously going to be very high.

 

Your tap water TDS is fairly average. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we enjoy really low TDS water...

 

This is my tap water (yes, I'm lucky):

 

Coming out of the RO membrane (This value will drop to zero after 10 minutes of operation. I just fired up the filter for the pics)

 

And coming out of the unit, as you should expect, zero:

 

 

I'm concerned that you may have a problem with your RO/DI unit and it's probably time to start researching the technical details of RO/DI systems. They're actually a little more complicated than I originally would have thought. It's fun sciencey stuff though and well worth knowing about.

As a follow up, I tested water right after I ran it through my RO/DI unit. TDS meter showed .002ppm. I usually make up a bunch of RO/DI water in the orange Home Depot buckets. Sometimes this sits for a bit before I mix up salt. Could this be causing issues?

 

ANY amount of residue in the bucket will affect the TDS. A little leftover calcium precipitate will muck up the readings after it sits a while. I clean my buckets with a "Magic eraser" between uses and it seems to get them thoroughly clean.

[ccapasso]

Thanks for the reply.

 

A problem with the RO/DI? The water from it measured at .001-.002ppm. That was just after turning it on. I didn't let it flush or anything. Will let it run tomorrow and test again.

[Islandoftiki]

Thanks for the reply. A problem with the RO/DI? The water from it measured at .001-.002ppm. That was just after turning it on. I didn't let it flush or anything. Will let it run tomorrow and test again.

 

It would probably be useful to see what kind of TDS you're getting coming out of the RO membrane before it hits the DI resin.

 

Also, can you test your RO/DI water for ammonia? That would probably tell us if you have Chloramine in your water and a RO/DI unit that isn't appropriate for chloramine.

 

I'd really like to find out what's going on with your weird algae/diatom issue. It just doesn't seem right and I'm curious to learn more about diagnosing odd problems in reef tanks.

[ccapasso]

It would probably be useful to see what kind of TDS you're getting coming out of the RO membrane before it hits the DI resin.

 

Also, can you test your RO/DI water for ammonia? That would probably tell us if you have Chloramine in your water and a RO/DI unit that isn't appropriate for chloramine.

 

I'd really like to find out what's going on with your weird algae/diatom issue. It just doesn't seem right and I'm curious to learn more about diagnosing odd problems in reef tanks.

 

I can test the RO/DI for ammonia. I know I've done this before and it came back negative but I'll double check. Not sure how I'd test the water coming out of the membrane before it hits the DI resin...short of maybe removing the filter in the DI resin and letting the water come as normal then?

 

Water change completed this morning. Will lots of gunk removed from the tank via siphoning. Will monitor and report back.

 

Also, should I move my mp10 so that it is pushing water (facing) towards my overflow? Right now it is on the same side as the overflow (left side of the tank).