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TeenyReef's 10g Fusion - ATO Disaster


teenyreef

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Not much change yet. Still no detectable levels for the cycle, still no skimmate in the skimmer.

 

Red cyano has slowed down but there's now some green algae forming. I did a five gallon water change last night just to keep it clean.

 

If there's algae growing, there's obviously plenty of nitrates and phosphate for it to feed off of. I understand it's consuming all of it and that's why it doesn't show up when I test. But I don't understand why the skimmer isn't pulling anything out yet. I may just stick in my Pico Skim 2.0 for a day or two just to confirm whether the skimmer's working right.

 

In other news, I have new goodies coming. Ordered a Tunze ATO when it was on sale the other day, and I'm also adding another four outlet box to the Apex. I just haven't decided yet whether to use the extra outlets for the 4g CAD Lights in the next room, or use it on this tank.

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Is there a wireless option on the powerbar? I'm curious how you could use it in the next room???? I'm tempted to get a few things for my Apex on Friday with the sale at Marine Depot. I gotta buy something for goodness' sake LOL.

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No wireless on the powerbar, sorry to get your hopes up. The next room is just on the other side of the wall, and I already have a hole in the wall to run network cables between the rooms. So all I have to do is run a 15' USB cable between the two power bars and I can control both tanks.

 

Now I'm kicking myself for getting a 4 outlet bar instead of the 8. How many times must I learn the lesson of not going cheap on equipment? :rant:

 

I'm with you on getting Apex stuff on Friday - it's never on sale. Maybe I'll get another power bar. And the Ph box. And the salinity box. :bling: But every time I start wanting to monitor Ph and Salinity, I remind myself that those two parameters hardly ever change in my tanks, as long as I'm maintaining dosing and the ATO isn't messed up.

 

I think I just talked myself into getting to 8 outlet bar and a second temperature sensor. Thanks, Gena! :happydance:

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The clean up crew from Reefcleaners arrived today. My tank is going through a snailocaust now. omgomgomg Pictures later.

 

A few of the dwarf certihs turned out to be hermits. They are too small to tell what kind. I didn't plan to keep hermits but I'll see what kind they grow up to be and watch how they do before I decide whether to remove them. The only problem is that I don't have empty shells for them to grow into. On the other hand, I have about 100 snails, so if they take over a few of them I don't think it will hurt anything.

 

I also got a bag of pods and a $.01 macro algae :)

 

Finally, I got a Salifert test kit for Nitrates since my API test keeps saying I have 0 nitrates. Salifert, in the high res scale, says I have .02. So I guess the API test was pretty much right on after all. No ammonia or nitrites, either.

 

A lot of the cyano has receded, and is being replaced by diatoms.

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No wireless on the powerbar, sorry to get your hopes up. The next room is just on the other side of the wall, and I already have a hole in the wall to run network cables between the rooms. So all I have to do is run a 15' USB cable between the two power bars and I can control both tanks.

 

Now I'm kicking myself for getting a 4 outlet bar instead of the 8. How many times must I learn the lesson of not going cheap on equipment? :rant:

 

I'm with you on getting Apex stuff on Friday - it's never on sale. Maybe I'll get another power bar. And the Ph box. And the salinity box. :bling: But every time I start wanting to monitor Ph and Salinity, I remind myself that those two parameters hardly ever change in my tanks, as long as I'm maintaining dosing and the ATO isn't messed up.

 

I think I just talked myself into getting to 8 outlet bar and a second temperature sensor. Thanks, Gena! :happydance:

Gotchya...I was wondering about that LOL. Convenient to have the hole in the wall :).

 

If I order it will be another 8 outlet power bar and the salinity monitor. I have the pH monitor and I love having it. Yesterday I was baking for several hours (gas oven) and the pH dropped on the tank. I walked in the room and saw it sitting at 7.88 WTH. Then I remembered it was from baking. So I opened a window in the fish room :).

 

I really want that salinity probe though. But I also want another mp10. I think I'll put the salinity probe on the wish list that goes to my husband :).

 

 

Snailocaust LOLOLOL. That's so true :).

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Some updated pictures now that there's some visible change in the tank. Lots of algae, can't wait for the CUC to arrive. I think I will invest in a Mithrax crab too.

 

15848802305_49a09414a9_b.jpg

 

15226506534_68bea663fa_b.jpg

 

 

im a fan of the rock scape

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Unfortunately the only picture I got of the snailpocalypse was on my cell phone:

15869961806_23a758179d_b.jpg

 

Here's one of the stealth hermit crabs. He looks just like one of the guys until you notice that he's moving way too quick :ninja:

15887023742_b33dc03521_b.jpg

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I spent a frantic afternoon last Wednesday getting the snails put in and making sure both tanks were ready to be left alone for a few days while I went out of town for a long Thanksgiving weekend. I'll be back Sunday afternoon. It will be interesting to see how the cyano/diatom bloom is going. In my first tank I kind of freaked out when everything got covered in algae in the first month. Now I know it's just a positive sign that things are cycling properly and it's just something to wait through.

 

I'll be going right back out of town again for work on Monday through Friday, so I'm being forced to be patient anyway. I'll try to get some updated pictures on Sunday just to show how things are progressing.

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The tank looks great! I really like the scape. I was going to go more columnar, but now you have me thinking bridge/horseshoe!

 

Your under tank setup is awesome, so clean and precise!

But every time I start wanting to monitor Ph and Salinity, I remind myself that those two parameters hardly ever change in my tanks, as long as I'm maintaining dosing and the ATO isn't messed up.

 

What are you dosing right now?
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reefernanoman

On the ATO, yes, I put a Hydor Smart ATO in the third chamber. The problem is that when the MP10 really gets cranking, the level in that chamber rises. Then it goes back down again when the MP10 slows down. The level actually goes up and down by about an inch.

 

Since the sensor is thermal, it needs a minute or two to register a change in water level, so I'm not sure it's going to work. I tried it for a day or two in chamber 1 but of course the level there doesn't change enough to kick in when it needs to. So I've got it back in chamber 3 as of tonight. I turned the MP10 down a little so that level isn't going up and down as much. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I suspect this would be fine with a traditional level sensor using a float valve. You could just put it deep enough that it only kicks in when the water level gets really low, and it wouldn't care about the level going up. You could then use a secondary sensor for overflow detection.

 

If I can't make this work I think I'll get a Tunze.

Hmm, I just got a hydor auto smart sensor for my tank too. I wonder if I'll have issues too, but I run my wp10 at its slowest speed. What really changes my water level quickly back there is if I lift my skimmer cup, but that is a given.
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In other news, I have new goodies coming. Ordered a Tunze ATO when it was on sale the other day, and I'm also adding another four outlet box to the Apex. I just haven't decided yet whether to use the extra outlets for the 4g CAD Lights in the next room, or use it on this tank.

Which Tunze model did you order?

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Which Tunze model did you order?

Good question! Wanting to know that myself, I am considering the 3152 Nano size. If you get it, lemme know how well it does! B)

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The tank looks great! I really like the scape. I was going to go more columnar, but now you have me thinking bridge/horseshoe!

 

Your under tank setup is awesome, so clean and precise!

What are you dosing right now?

Thanks! I'm not dosing in this tank right now since it's still cycling and going through the lots of algae ugly duckling phase. But in my other tank I dose Seachem Reef Fusion 1 & 2 plus Seachem Aquatro Vitro Ions. All those fancy labels work out to your basic 2-part plus magnesium.

 

Eventually when I start dosing this tank I hope to get a dosing pump.

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Hmm, I just got a hydor auto smart sensor for my tank too. I wonder if I'll have issues too, but I run my wp10 at its slowest speed. What really changes my water level quickly back there is if I lift my skimmer cup, but that is a given.

I think you'll be fine. I just got annoyed with the constant overflow alarm every time the water went up a tiny bit. But it worked great for me in my old tank when I didn't have room for a float sensor!

 

Which Tunze model did you order?

I got the big boy model Tunze 3155. It was on sale for $145 so I couldn't pass it up.

 

Good question! Wanting to know that myself, I am considering the 3152 Nano size. If you get it, lemme know how well it does! B)

I have the Tunze Nano on my 4g CAD Lights. Somewhere in that thread I compared the Tunze Nano with the Hydor. Basically, the problem I had with the Nano is that it would only fit in the display tank and the snails kept crawling up the float and getting it stuck on. The only overflow protection it has is a timer that turns off the pump after two minutes...which is like 25% of the volume of my 4g tank :o

 

In my 4g CAD Lights, there's room in the rear chamber. Since the snails don't go back there much I don't have any trouble using it in that tank. It's much more precise than the Hydor so I prefer it now.

 

The more expensive 3155 has two different sensors - an optical sensor (snail proof) and a mechanical overflow sensor. So you can completely control the level at which the ATO starts and stops (controlled by the first sensor) and the level at which at stops no matter what (the mechanical sensor).

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Just got back late this afternoon from Thanksgiving weekend with the family and I spent most of the rest of the day getting my two tanks ready to go for another five days while I'm out of town for work this week. My flight leaves in a little less than four hours :wacko:

The good news is that the cyano/diatom outbreak is almost completely done. The bad news is I now seem to have multiple nuisance algae growing :angry:

In other good news, ammonia and nitrates are still at zero, even with all the new snails I added earlier this week.

In still other good news, I was able to get the white balance fixed in the pictures I took tonight. These pictures look reasonably close to what I actually see when I look at the tank. :)

FTS: 30 November 2014

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Cute little shaving brush type dudes on the front rock. You can also see some of the nice coralline that's on all the rocks. And some of the nuisance algae...

15297963404_59acb581da_b.jpg

 

Suspicious algae. I'm pretty sure the bluish colored flat stuff is Dictyota, and I'm almost certain the green stuff is Bryopsis. I've never had either one in my tank before so it's hard to be sure just from pictures. And just to round things out, there's some wiry red stuff in the bottom center of the picture that might be Gelidium.

15300543153_8267f7b882_b.jpg

 

I plan to let things just take their natural course for the next couple weeks. Maybe add some known algae eaters like an Emerald Crab, urchin, or a Sea Hare.

 

There's a lot of nice growth on the live rock like sponges, worms, feather dusters, and coralline algae, so I don't want to just take all the rock out and nuke it. But on the other hand, I'm not going to start putting expensive corals in this tank until I've got a better idea of how the macro algae is going to turn out.

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hows is the live rock looking?

 

seems like a lot of algae?

Spider, the live rock is beautiful but I'm worried about the nuisance algae. The little bits of algae you could see in the picture of the hermit is gone, though. The sand is perfectly clean.

 

im a fan of the rock scape

Thanks! I need to start gluing it together but I've been waiting to make sure I won't need to tear it apart. Like, for example, to start burning patches of Bryopsis off...

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Tuxedo sea urchin =no hair algea! That worked great for my tank.

Do you still have it? Is it like having a turbo snail where it runs out of stuff to eat quickly?

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reefernanoman

Do you still have it? Is it like having a turbo snail where it runs out of stuff to eat quickly?

My damn female Maroon Clownfish killed it! She kept turning it over! But when I did have this little guy, it kept my rock 99% GHA free. I would leave some of it on my backwall (just a little) so that it wouldn't starve. I had a turbo snail and it knocked my corals over, even when they were cemented down! It was like a tractor, don't get one. They grow huuuge too.

 

I'm thinking a red mithrax crab and an urchin. Anybody know if a pencil urchin will work as well as a Tuxedo?

I felt that the pencil sea urchin was not as effective as my deceased tuxedo sea urchin. I actually gave it away, since it looked to me like it was eating more of my coralline algea than my GHA.
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I'm thinking a red mithrax crab and an urchin. Anybody know if a pencil urchin will work as well as a Tuxedo?

No...in my experience the pencil just goes for coralline algae and soft corals :o. Stick with a tuxedo urchin :).

 

I had that same bryopsis looking algae on my rocks and it goes away in a month or two. I don't think it's a true bryopsis. It's thinner and more feathery. Might be the same family but not as annoying :D.

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