Surprise Attack! Trying Something New!

[Marc.The.Shark]

I keep getting so many ideas for future builds from this thread! That Honeywell sensor is perfect, looks like decent quality for practically no money

Yeah, there were a bunch of them on Fleabay for that price, pretty inexpensive.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Got the new DCT8000 pump in & swapped it out. It gave me another 1/2" of water level, so I'm now 1" from the lip of the tank running it at 90%. I'd like to be at 1/2" from the top, but here's what slipped my mind....When I was designing the overflow/returns, I planned on running two 1/2" returns out of one side of the 3/4" SCWD at a time with a total of four returns and I tested this way. This got me the return flow that I needed to push the water level higher. I only put a gate valve on one 1" overflow, not both. So, now that I have only one 1/2" return running at a time (cause it's pushing enuf water) I cant get the flow high enough to push the water level higher. I have the overflow with the gate valve dialed back to only 10-15% open. The only other option is to tear the plumbing apart & add another gare vavle. Don't think i want to do that & everything is dead silent, even with all the 90's in my plumbing. I'll keep the DCT6000 for a spare and just roll the way I have it. I suppose I could take the screen off of the open drain & block it off 1/2 way or something to push some water to the controllable drain, but eh, I think its fine as is.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Also picked up one of these a few weeks ago. Staples had them on closeout for $39.99 with free shipping. Has all the attachment goodies & also a remote shutter control. Can use it for my tank & also on vacations. I have an underwater camera right now, but it's old & blows!

 

[Marc.The.Shark]

Cycle completed a couple of days ago. I dumped enuf BioSpira in for a 200gal tank! Lol. Been running the lights on regular, so got some diatoms on sand/rock/sump. Not horrible, but the rock/sand is definitely turning a little brown. I moved one hermit & a nerite over from my 8gal to start working on it. Nitrates aren't horrible (about 20), so gonna hold off till the weekend & do a water change. Also doing a 3 day blackout on my 8gal tank. When i moved it to make way for the new tank, it now sits with direct line to the sliding glass door & gets some direct light in the morning which has been causing some algae issues over the last few months. Gonna try to starve it out some before i move stuff over in the next month or so.

[Oceanbox Designs]

Wow didn't know you got her wet already... Coming together nicely! Can't wait to see this tank matured.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Wow didn't know you got her wet already... Coming together nicely! Can't wait to see this tank matured.

Thanks buddy!

 

Moved my clown over to his new home last night.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Starting to break down the Cylinder tank & transfer the coral to the new system. I make a couple egg crate racks for temporary housing while I figure out what I'm keeping & whats gotta go. Also have a frag rack in my sump from Phuong over at Oceanbox. He made it to my specs & it came out very nice. I have about 60% of the coral out of the 8 gal and have been working on it a little at a time while fragging some stuff along the way.

 

 

My blue/pink tipped torch that started as 2 heads a little over a year ago was fragged into 5 seperate plugs. Had a total of 15 heads!!

[Marc.The.Shark]

Well, everything was going smoothly until about a week ago. Got the old tank broken down, everything moved into new tank on racks for the time being, then about a week later started seeing white slime/stringy stuff on rocks & sump. Left it a few days to see if it would subside & started getting worse. Had to change filter socks twice a day & manual removal/blow off where I can. I think the issue started when my wife got my son a bubble blowing machine, that thing was spewing bubbles everywhere! I wasn't home, but when I saw it I immediately said only outside. Too late. I immediately ordered some Dr. Tims Re-Fresh that came today and will try to outcompete the bacterial bloom. After a 7-10 day round of that I'll switch to the Waste Away. I had this issue on my other tank a year & a half ago when we got the carpets cleaned and my wife let them spray some enzyme crap on it. I also put the Oxydizer back online to dose some H2O2, figured that can't hurt either.

 

 

On a more positive note, I also bought an ORA Yellow Assessor from Unique Corals about a week & a half ago. Doing good & eating well and starting to get less skittish. Plus I picked up an AquaLink T1 wireless controller for my Jebao DCT pump from Reefbreeders. Haven't hooked it up yet, but seems to be pretty awesome. It replaces the original controller, has app control, allows you to have full range power control over pump, overclock to 120%, and allows for custom timers. It also has different flow modes & a reverse for pump cleaning. Being that I'm not using powerheads, this will allow me to lower flow at night on a schedule. Has like 5 different flow modes including a gyre setting, but with me using a SCWD, I don't think these will be effective for me. We'll see, I'll play around with it. It's just a quick swap out of the original control box & setup the wifi, should be a snap.

[teenyreef]

That's bad news about the stringy stuff

 

I've been thinking about a yellow or golden assessor too, so I'm interested to see how yours does!

[metrokat]

You're doing the right things for the white slime.

[Marc.The.Shark]

You're doing the right things for the white slime.

 

Yeah, it's a PITA tho! Lol. Filter socks clog up FAST & that shit is back within a few hours of when I suck it off the rocks. Started the first dose of Re-Fresh yesterday & will do another tomorrow. Hoping to see some results after 3 or 4 doses. Fingers Crossed!

 

Water is starting to get a little cloudy now too

 

That's bad news about the stringy stuff

I've been thinking about a yellow or golden assessor too, so I'm interested to see how yours does!

I'll keep you posted on the assessor, pretty shy at 1st for about a week, but getting more comfortable now. If the assessor goes well, I plan on an orchid dotty from ORA as well.

[metrokat]

Keep it well oxygenated.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Keep it well oxygenated.

Got the skimmer going. Plus, I have very good surface agitation. Running some Rox too in media reactor. Is the carbon beneficial at this point?

[Marc.The.Shark]

Well, bacterial bloom was getting worse, dosed the Re-Fresh twice and just a third time last nite. Water had gotten quite cloudy (white) over the last few days & was getting worse & stringy stuff was just marginally better, if any. Said screw it last nite & hooked up a UV Sterilizer. It's an el cheapo Odyssea 18w & pretty big. Had to do some maneuvering to get it situated & I used an old quiet one pump I had laying around. Woke up this morning to a significantly clearer tank & skimmer overflowing. Going to do a good cleaning today & let the UV ride.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Update.

White slime/bacteria is significantly better. Not gone, but seems to be retreating or coming back more slowly. I dosed the Re-Fresh for about 2 weeks and also used the UV & skimmer 8 hours after dosing. My last dose of Re-Fresh was 3 days ago & I just did a half dose of Waste Away this morning. Going to run that maybe every 3rd day or so & see if I can kill it all. I was passively running H2O2 in my Oxydator too, but I doubt that had any effect as its the nano model & puts out a very small amount. So, coral look a little better, some monti's not too great & may or may not make it, but all softies looking good. Both fish have been fine & the assessor is starting to come out more & explore. I also pulled the UV & put it away, hadnt run it in a few days anyway & doesnt seem to be any worse without it. Easy to rig back up if i need to, but that crappy pump heats my water up too much in combination with the bulb.

[jack1978]

Glad it's getting better for you.

I had a bacterial Bloom on the cube....no fish, only coral.

Ran a UV as well and was crystal clear in a few days. But I left it cloudy for a good month before trying the UV.....thought it was the salt mix.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Glad it's getting better for you.

I had a bacterial Bloom on the cube....no fish, only coral.

Ran a UV as well and was crystal clear in a few days. But I left it cloudy for a good month before trying the UV.....thought it was the salt mix.

Thanks Jack. Although I jumped the gun on taking the UV out! Lol. The Waste Away clouded the water a little from the bloom. I added a little less than 1/2 dose as recommended & still a little cloudy. Of course this tank is fairly new & doesn't have a lot of waste built up either. I put the skimmer back online overnight & it still didn't clear, so back out came that honking sterilizer and it's running again. Lol. Maybe next dose of waste away will be 1/4 dose. No adverse effects tho. Ahhh, new tank growing pains, gotta luv it! At least the stringy stuff is like 95% gone. A little fuzz on a few frag plugs, but nothing too bad, plus I never mounted anything yet, so I can dip/scrub those if needed.

[teenyreef]

I'm glad things are getting better. I have an old UV sterilizer that's hooked up to my 90g FW tank, but the bulb has been burned out for years. It's nice to know it is a good backup option for when things get desperate, though!

[Marc.The.Shark]

Did a deep clean on the sump yesterday & holy crap! The glass was covered in clear slime below the waterline! Couldn't tell because it was clear, but when I took the water level down it was very apparent. It was like looking thru wavy misshapen glass. Cleaned all that out, plus skimmer and reactor. Filter socks not plugging as fast now, plus the stringy stuff is still much better. Seems it's still in the sand tho & I ordered a gravel vac to go thru that. When I stir the sand I get a bunch of gunk in the water column. Read some threads about issues with Tropic Eden sand & bacteril problems, hope that's not what caused this. I really like the sand. Also was wet skimming & syphoning junk out & holding off on WC's & let my salinity drop a little too low by accident, dammit! Bringing it back up now. Casualty might be my green psammocora. Hate to lose that! Plus my open brain lost a little color, but still nice & puffy.

[jack1978]

At least it's recovering.......I bet that sump cleaning will really help.

[Marc.The.Shark]

At least it's recovering.......I bet that sump cleaning will really help.

Yeah, it did help. Couldn't believe the slimy crap in there that I couldn't see! Cleaned the skimmer, reactor, return pump & all glass & baffles. Then ran GFO for 48 hours to try and remove any silicates that were present, in case that was feeding the bacteria. Then did a 3 day blackout over the weekend. Now 99% gone & I see a few floaties here & there once in a while, so I think the last of it is dying off. Got my salinity back up, but now no NO3 or PO4, so have to deal with that issue now. Lol, always sumthin'!

[teenyreef]

That's great news! I can't remember - are you doing carbon dosing?

[jack1978]

Yeah, it did help. Couldn't believe the slimy crap in there that I couldn't see! Cleaned the skimmer, reactor, return pump & all glass & baffles. Then ran GFO for 48 hours to try and remove any silicates that were present, in case that was feeding the bacteria. Then did a 3 day blackout over the weekend. Now 99% gone & I see a few floaties here & there once in a while, so I think the last of it is dying off. Got my salinity back up, but now no NO3 or PO4, so have to deal with that issue now. Lol, always sumthin'!

Ahhh yes. Such a relaxing hobby.

[Marc.The.Shark]

That's great news! I can't remember - are you doing carbon dosing?

No carbon dosing Teeny. I know that will cause the bacterial issues as well. Just growing pains, I guess. The speedy cycle with the bacteria introduction isn't the best way to start a tank either, which may have also played a part in the imbalance, among other things. But I wanted to get the other tank down as soon as possible. As it was, I had them both running for a couple of months. Think I'm definitely going to lose my green psammy from the salinity swing, was just brown but now I'm starting to see some white tips

[teenyreef]

Dang, sorry to hear about the psammocora Hopefully everything is OK now.