THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[atoll]

Yes but the Angler would take up the whole Aquarium

 

Albert

Not only that but an angler is a gross feeder and would pollute the aquarium water far quicker than the 2 fish mentioned above. Simply because a fish does not move much is no indication for the size of its tank. An angler will gulp down a fish its own size in one go and the resulting pollution would play havoc with water quality in a 5 gallon tank.

[albertthiel]

Not only that but an angler is a gross feeder and would pollute the aquarium water far quicker than the 2 fish mentioned above. Simply because a fish does not move much is no indication for the size of its tank. An angler will gulp down a fish its own size in one go and the resulting pollution would play havoc with water quality in a 5 gallon tank.

 

Indeed Les ...

 

IMO the Citron Goby and a bi-color blenny would be fine or maybe a Banggai Cardinal instead of the Blenny.

 

Albert

[ZephNYC]

Not only that but an angler is a gross feeder and would pollute the aquarium water far quicker than the 2 fish mentioned above. Simply because a fish does not move much is no indication for the size of its tank. An angler will gulp down a fish its own size in one go and the resulting pollution would play havoc with water quality in a 5 gallon tank.

 

I had no idea the intention was to also keep corals in this hypothetical 5 gal. Anglers don't care about water quality much I've had tons of them.

[albertthiel]

I had no idea the intention was to also keep corals in this hypothetical 5 gal. Anglers don't care about water quality much I've had tons of them.

 

For fish only tanks I do like them as well Zeph ... but for a reef tank ... not really as the tank will probably have small fishes in it that the Angler as you know can gobble down in a jiffy ...

 

Albert

[bucfan]

Got a cyano problem despite pretty solid parameters. PO=0.00 NO=10 Alk 8.6. Just not sure why the cyano keeps coming back. Have been using Dr. Tims Waste Away which did the trick in my small tank but will not work in the big one. I think that needs PO to work. Have a 100G bare bottom tank with 35G sump and skim 24/7. Feed only once daily. Got good coral growth. Just cannot keep cyano at bay. Growing mostly on zoas/palys and in between corals. Any ideas?

[albertthiel]

Got a cyano problem despite pretty solid parameters. PO=0.00 NO=10 Alk 8.6. Just not sure why the cyano keeps coming back. Have been using Dr. Tims Waste Away which did the trick in my small tank but will not work in the big one. I think that needs PO to work. Have a 100G bare bottom tank with 35G sump and skim 24/7. Feed only once daily. Got good coral growth. Just cannot keep cyano at bay. Growing mostly on zoas/palys and in between corals. Any ideas?

 

If you have enough circulation on that tank so you do not have dead spots where the Cyano would tend to grow then IMO your reading are off as you would not have zero PO4 and 10 NO3. IMO those are higher so you may want to have them tested by an LFS

 

Try the following first : change 10% of the wage every day for a week and each afternoon when you see cyanos after the lights have been on for a while siphon them out.

 

If that does not work then you may need to go for a chemical treatment : and I would suggest ChemiClean from Boyd Enterprises as based on all the feedback I have gotten about that product, it is safe for a reef and of course for a FOWLR too.

 

Hope that helps and do keep me posted will you

 

Ablert

[afyounie]

So I watched a video about sponges that someone posted on the site and it gave me some ideas for a natural way of fine filtration. My idea is that since sponges are detritivores, they are essentially doing the same job as skimmers. Granted a small sponge is not moving anywhere near the same amount of water that a skimmer does, but enough sponge mass might be able to. Along with carbon dosing, you should be able to provide the sponges with enough detritus, bacteria, and just food to keep it growing. This would help filter the tank in a more natural way and provide other animals with a home of some sort. I don't think this would work well with small tanks or really would work well with tanks without a large sump. My question to you Albert, have you ever seen or heard of this being done? Is this essentially what is done with cryptic zone systems? What kind of mass of sponges would be required to effectively filter an aquarium of say 100 gals or more? Could this be more effective for smaller tanks? Thought I'd bring this up because it sounds like an interesting idea. I'd like to get your opinion as well as others on this subject.

[bucfan]

If you have enough circulation on that tank so you do not have dead spots where the Cyano would tend to grow then IMO your reading are off as you would not have zero PO4 and 10 NO3. IMO those are higher so you may want to have them tested by an LFS

 

Try the following first : change 10% of the wage every day for a week and each afternoon when you see cyanos after the lights have been on for a while siphon them out.

 

If that does not work then you may need to go for a chemical treatment : and I would suggest ChemiClean from Boyd Enterprises as based on all the feedback I have gotten about that product, it is safe for a reef and of course for a FOWLR too.

 

Hope that helps and do keep me posted will you

 

Ablert

i had the water tested on my Hanna meter and by LFS. Both PO came back 0. I use Rowaphos and I think it does too good of a job. In fact I'd like my PO a bit higher for the acros just don't know how to get there. Everything else growing great. Might be dead spots but I have 2 MP40s at each end. So that should be plenty? Did you mean 10% water change?

[Paul.b]

I just got back from the south shore where I was at my friends house on the water. I picked up a load of amphipod infested seaweeds which I just put in a live bearer trap hanging in my reef. In a couple of days I will remove most of the seaweed which will die in the tank. I just want the bacteria and amphipods along with anything else that is alive.

Tomorrow I will go to my boat which is on the north shore and collect again.

You can't have to much life in a tank and you have to take advantage of it if you can

[atoll]

Bit of a dilemma here. I have a serious outbreak of hair algae in my new Fluval edge tank.. I suspect the live rock came with a lot of nutrients bound up in it as I got it secondhand from a tank break down. I was away for 5 days not long after setting it up and came home to the hair algae growing. I have a bag of Purigen in the filter compartment and will try some GFO after I have done some tests. The tank is still very immature though. I have a number of options ranging from letting it run its course as I have not fed the tank and removing by hand or attacking it with GFO and the like. Given the tank is only just over 2 weeks old perhaps I should just harvest the algae, do a large water change and see how it goes. I have never had hair algae appear so quickly in a tank before. I can discount my new 50w LED unit as I used it on my 2' cube without any such issues.What do you recon Albert?

[albertthiel]

So I watched a video about sponges that someone posted on the site and it gave me some ideas for a natural way of fine filtration. My idea is that since sponges are detritivores, they are essentially doing the same job as skimmers. Granted a small sponge is not moving anywhere near the same amount of water that a skimmer does, but enough sponge mass might be able to. Along with carbon dosing, you should be able to provide the sponges with enough detritus, bacteria, and just food to keep it growing. This would help filter the tank in a more natural way and provide other animals with a home of some sort. I don't think this would work well with small tanks or really would work well with tanks without a large sump. My question to you Albert, have you ever seen or heard of this being done? Is this essentially what is done with cryptic zone systems? What kind of mass of sponges would be required to effectively filter an aquarium of say 100 gals or more? Could this be more effective for smaller tanks? Thought I'd bring this up because it sounds like an interesting idea. I'd like to get your opinion as well as others on this subject.

 

I am afraid that I cannot help you with this ... I also want to point out that they will not replace what a skimmer can do as they feed on small participate matter in the water and not so much on dissolved organics.

 

Sorry but that question is totally out of my area of expertise so I cannot contribute to your knowledge on it.

 

I apologize

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

i had the water tested on my Hanna meter and by LFS. Both PO came back 0. I use Rowaphos and I think it does too good of a job. In fact I'd like my PO a bit higher for the acros just don't know how to get there. Everything else growing great. Might be dead spots but I have 2 MP40s at each end. So that should be plenty? Did you mean 10% water change?

 

Yes that sounds like plenty of water circulation indeed and yes I meant water changes and that is what I would recommend you try before you attempt to get rid of them with a chemical method.

 

ChemiClean will get rid of them but you may need to do more than one treatment, and you need to follow the directions for how much of the powder to use exactly ... based on the actual amount of water in the tank

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

I just got back from the south shore where I was at my friends house on the water. I picked up a load of amphipod infested seaweeds which I just put in a live bearer trap hanging in my reef. In a couple of days I will remove most of the seaweed which will die in the tank. I just want the bacteria and amphipods along with anything else that is alive.

Tomorrow I will go to my boat which is on the north shore and collect again.

You can't have to much life in a tank and you have to take advantage of it if you can

 

Sounds like a good plan Paul good to replenish all those life forms you like to add a few times a year and I like how you have them hanging in our tank so the seaweed does not get all over the place but so the pods and bacteria can get into the tank

 

Should be beneficial based on your previous experiences

 

Albert

 

PS On Monday I finally will have my left eye cataract surgery ... they delayed it by a week ..so I go in early on Mon morning and should get out of the Hospital hopefully a few hours later without too much issues ... other than having to add all those various drops 4x a day for two weeks and some for one week.

[albertthiel]

Bit of a dilemma here. I have a serious outbreak of hair algae in my new Fluval edge tank.. I suspect the live rock came with a lot of nutrients bound up in it as I got it secondhand from a tank break down. I was away for 5 days not long after setting it up and came home to the hair algae growing. I have a bag of Purigen in the filter compartment and will try some GFO after I have done some tests. The tank is still very immature though. I have a number of options ranging from letting it run its course as I have not fed the tank and removing by hand or attacking it with GFO and the like. Given the tank is only just over 2 weeks old perhaps I should just harvest the algae, do a large water change and see how it goes. I have never had hair algae appear so quickly in a tank before. I can discount my new 50w LED unit as I used it on my 2' cube without any such issues.What do you recon Albert?

 

Well I think you are probably right Les .. the rocks are the root cause of what is going on and had spores of algae on them and probably a nutrient base that had precipitated on the rocks themselves as well and then went into solution and between the two you got an outbreak of hair algae

 

I guess at this point since the tank is young, water changes and keeping the nutrient levels as low as possible may be the way to go and besides that use an Oxydator with possibly two catalysts and maybe stronger peroxide solution and as you say manually remove as much of the GHA as you can.

 

If you continue doing that for a number of days, possibly weeks, you should be able to get things under control and hopefully you will not get outbreaks of bubble algae as well which is also a possibility as there may be some on the rock you placed in that tank. I hope not but it could happen.

 

I guess in the worst of all cases you will need to get rid of the rock and start with a fresh batch that is clean and cured and has no history of coming from another tank that was running.

 

Keep us posted will you

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

Sorry about your cataracts Albert. We are getting old and falling apart.

My wife is doing much better and can walk a little without the walker. We even got on the boat today, but it was a long hard process as the ramp in the marina is long and steep and getting her to take the step to get on the boat also took a long time. But it was a beautiful day and we stood in the harbor. No bouncing around

[albertthiel]

Sorry about your cataracts Albert. We are getting old and falling apart.

My wife is doing much better and can walk a little without the walker. We even got on the boat today, but it was a long hard process as the ramp in the marina is long and steep and getting her to take the step to get on the boat also took a long time. But it was a beautiful day and we stood in the harbor. No bouncing around

 

Thanks Paul ... but cataract surgery as you know is nothing compared to what your wife had to go through so I am glad to read that she is doing a lot lot better.

 

Glad to read she was able to manage the ramp to the boat which has you explain is long and steep.

 

And yes, we are getting old, that is for sure ... oh well not much we can do about it can we ?

 

Albert

[atoll]

I have decided to transfer my sea hare over from my cube (esp as there is next to nothing now for it to eat) into my Fluval. It is currently acclimatizing. These creatures eat hair algae likes a lawn mower with a twin turbo attached.

Missed some of the posts on here sorry that's time difference mainly for you.

Good luck on Monday Albert with the eye surgery. Paul nice to hear your Mrs is at least able to get out and about following her surgery and trust she will be running rings round you like a nipper soon. (nipper UK speak for a child in case you don't have the same term )

[albertthiel]

I have decided to transfer my sea hare over from my cube (esp as there is next to nothing now for it to eat) into my Fluval. It is currently acclimatizing. These creatures eat hair algae likes a lawn mower with a twin turbo attached.

 

Missed some of the posts on here sorry that's time difference mainly for you.

Good luck on Monday Albert with the eye surgery. Paul nice to hear your Mrs is at least able to get out and about following her surgery and trust she will be running rings round you like a nipper soon. (nipper UK speak for a child in case you don't have the same term )

 

Excellent idea Les ... that should help a great deal in combination with some of the other actions you will be taking

 

Thanks for the wishes on the eye surgery ... should be OK based on what I am told.

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

I figured out another reason why I hate to change water even though I made it much easier with pumps so I don't carry any water or do almost anything physical.

I roll a 30 gallon container near the tank and using a large siphon hose with a strainer on it, I suck out about 25 gallons of water. Then I use the other 30 gallon container with the new water in it and pump it into the tank. That is the easy part. But when I do that, I un plug the pump that runs the skimmer because I don't have a sump (they were not invented when I set up the tank and me and Noah never heard of one)

If I left the skimmer running the intake would be out of the water and the pump would run dry so I shut the thing off. Of course, when you turn off a 30 year old powerhead, it doesn't want to start up again so you have to remove it and convince it to run just a few more years. To remove it is not that simple as it sits inside my tank to the rear and is connected to this surface skimmer (pictured). That and the pump have to be removed from behind the rocks in one unit. I have a latch that I have to turn that disconnects it from the Bio Ball reactor that just site there for the coolness factor with nothing in it but brittle stars. It is like a brittle star hotel and I didn't have the heart to evict them so I leave the reactor on there above the water and that feeds the protein skimmer.

So to remove all this, I have to lift it straight up. The LEDs are up there so I naturally hit that and knock off an LED lens. It falls in the tank and hits the arrow crab on the head who immediately yells "INCOMING" and runs behind the rocks taking the lens with him.

So I take apart the pump and see that it is gummed up and the shaft fell away from the hole that is now enlarged so the shaft doesn't stay in there any more and is egg shaped so the armature hits the sides of the powerhead. I clean the thing and have to epoxy the shaft back in. While that is curing, the algae trough is now dry because this pump also feeds that and I can just about hear all the brittle stars in there screaming that they are drying out. They are inside the reactor so it is muffled. Now, every few minutes I have to pour water in the trough to shut the brittle stars up. The thing is also filled with amphipods but they are more patient and I can see them all quietly walking to the lower end of the trough where they can all jump, one at a time back into the tank.

I go outside to water the plants, take out the garbage, feed the "Koi" (10 cent goldfish) in the pond and by that time the epoxy is cured and I can put it back together.

I plug it in and it runs so I put it back in the tank, hook it all back up to the empty bio ball reactor, make sure the cords are neat, plug it in, and, nothing. No water flow, just nothing but irritated brittle stars who are now breaking off parts of their arms in protest. Now I can really tell the brittle stars are panicking and I try not to let them see that I am also panicking as I don't want to have to get my remaining 35 year old spare powerhead because I would have to make a bunch of modifications on it to make it work in this configuration. So I again remove the surface skimmer, disconnect it from the reactor, un tangle the cords, lift it out and again hit the LEDs, this time knocking off a soldered connection so the lights go out. Not to worry as I built this LED fixture and can easily fix it. Did I mention my wife just had a major operation on her back and has to call me approximately every 18 seconds because she can't do just about anything unless it is located 5' off the floor?

So I get the parts on my work bench and take it apart. Before I can work on it, I hear the brittle stars so I have to pour water on them. They are in the dark now and don't know exactly where I am. I take the thing apart and the stupid adjustment on the powerhead was closed so it was an easy fix. I put the thing back together, put it back in the dark tank, connect it to the reactor, re set the top part of the surface skimmer so it sucks water from the top of the water. Turn it on and it works. I couldn't see the brittle stars as it was still dark but I think they gave a standing ovation which was hard on their broken arms.

Then I got my soldering iron and fixed the LED. It still didn't light because I must have damaged that LED when I hit it so I had to "by pass" it with a jumper so I could get the rest of the lights on.. I epoxied on the two LED lenses that I knocked off and ordered a few LEDs to replace the ones that croaked. Now, three hours later all is well and I went out on my boat and made love to a couple of Harvey Wallbangers knowing that my fish, brittle stars and amphipods are all happy.

 

Bio Ball reactor, Empty like it should be (I hate those stupid bio balls)

 

Surface skimmer with powerhead made by "Christopher Columbus Powerhead Company"

 

 

 

Algae trough and LEDs

 

 

Workshop

 

[Jorgieee]

Hey Albert, I'm new to nano reef and salt water aquriums, I'm planning on doing a 65 gallon build the dimensions are 36.5"x 20.5"x 21" , I really want to the led route, I have no idea what fixtures to use? I plan on spending 500 or so thanks

[atoll]

Raising daphnia again this summer as the fish really seem to enjoy them. So simple to cultivate and you will have a supply of fresh live food all summer.

.

[albertthiel]

I figured out another reason why I hate to change water even though I made it much easier with pumps so I don't carry any water or do almost anything physical.

I roll a 30 gallon container near the tank and using a large siphon hose with a strainer on it, I suck out about 25 gallons of water. Then I use the other 30 gallon container with the new water in it and pump it into the tank. That is the easy part. But when I do that, I un plug the pump that runs the skimmer because I don't have a sump (they were not invented when I set up the tank and me and Noah never heard of one)

If I left the skimmer running the intake would be out of the water and the pump would run dry so I shut the thing off. Of course, when you turn off a 30 year old powerhead, it doesn't want to start up again so you have to remove it and convince it to run just a few more years. To remove it is not that simple as it sits inside my tank to the rear and is connected to this surface skimmer (pictured). That and the pump have to be removed from behind the rocks in one unit. I have a latch that I have to turn that disconnects it from the Bio Ball reactor that just site there for the coolness factor with nothing in it but brittle stars. It is like a brittle star hotel and I didn't have the heart to evict them so I leave the reactor on there above the water and that feeds the protein skimmer.

So to remove all this, I have to lift it straight up. The LEDs are up there so I naturally hit that and knock off an LED lens. It falls in the tank and hits the arrow crab on the head who immediately yells "INCOMING" and runs behind the rocks taking the lens with him.

So I take apart the pump and see that it is gummed up and the shaft fell away from the hole that is now enlarged so the shaft doesn't stay in there any more and is egg shaped so the armature hits the sides of the powerhead. I clean the thing and have to epoxy the shaft back in. While that is curing, the algae trough is now dry because this pump also feeds that and I can just about hear all the brittle stars in there screaming that they are drying out. They are inside the reactor so it is muffled. Now, every few minutes I have to pour water in the trough to shut the brittle stars up. The thing is also filled with amphipods but they are more patient and I can see them all quietly walking to the lower end of the trough where they can all jump, one at a time back into the tank.

I go outside to water the plants, take out the garbage, feed the "Koi" (10 cent goldfish) in the pond and by that time the epoxy is cured and I can put it back together.

I plug it in and it runs so I put it back in the tank, hook it all back up to the empty bio ball reactor, make sure the cords are neat, plug it in, and, nothing. No water flow, just nothing but irritated brittle stars who are now breaking off parts of their arms in protest. Now I can really tell the brittle stars are panicking and I try not to let them see that I am also panicking as I don't want to have to get my remaining 35 year old spare powerhead because I would have to make a bunch of modifications on it to make it work in this configuration. So I again remove the surface skimmer, disconnect it from the reactor, un tangle the cords, lift it out and again hit the LEDs, this time knocking off a soldered connection so the lights go out. Not to worry as I built this LED fixture and can easily fix it. Did I mention my wife just had a major operation on her back and has to call me approximately every 18 seconds because she can't do just about anything unless it is located 5' off the floor?

So I get the parts on my work bench and take it apart. Before I can work on it, I hear the brittle stars so I have to pour water on them. They are in the dark now and don't know exactly where I am. I take the thing apart and the stupid adjustment on the powerhead was closed so it was an easy fix. I put the thing back together, put it back in the dark tank, connect it to the reactor, re set the top part of the surface skimmer so it sucks water from the top of the water. Turn it on and it works. I couldn't see the brittle stars as it was still dark but I think they gave a standing ovation which was hard on their broken arms.

Then I got my soldering iron and fixed the LED. It still didn't light because I must have damaged that LED when I hit it so I had to "by pass" it with a jumper so I could get the rest of the lights on.. I epoxied on the two LED lenses that I knocked off and ordered a few LEDs to replace the ones that croaked. Now, three hours later all is well and I went out on my boat and made love to a couple of Harvey Wallbangers knowing that my fish, brittle stars and amphipods are all happy.

 

Bio Ball reactor, Empty like it should be (I hate those stupid bio balls)

 

 

Surface skimmer with powerhead made by "Christopher Columbus Powerhead Company"

 

Algae trough and LEDs

 

Workshop

 

 

Sounds all very very simple indeed Paul .... just a little time consuming maybe to do it all though but if it works for you that is the most important thing.

 

There are so many ways to accomplish what we have to accomplish that there is not just 1 way to do it and yours is certainly a very interesting one as you describe it all in detail above

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Hey Albert, I'm new to nano reef and salt water aquriums, I'm planning on doing a 65 gallon build the dimensions are 36.5"x 20.5"x 21" , I really want to the led route, I have no idea what fixtures to use? I plan on spending 500 or so thanks

 

Personally I would suggest two Kessil A360W's which may be a bit more than the $500 but will IMHO give you excellent results and ease of use ...

 

Of course there are many brands available currently and there is a light that LES uses that the is very satisfied with and maybe he can comment on that one when he gets a chance .. he has done so before and expressed that he really gets excellent result from that Light

 

Albert

[Jorgieee]

I was looking towards getting the Maxspect razor R420R what do you think about that one ?

[albertthiel]

Hey Albert, I'm new to nano reef and salt water aquriums, I'm planning on doing a 65 gallon build the dimensions are 36.5"x 20.5"x 21" , I really want to the led route, I have no idea what fixtures to use? I plan on spending 500 or so thanks

 

Or perhaps 2 of these

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=884061081611071&set=gm.711111612284186&type=1&theater

 

 

Albert

 

I was looking towards getting the Maxspect razor R420R what do you think about that one ?

 

Yes that one generally gets excellent reviews and would be another choice

 

Albert