Mariaface's Contest Tank?!

[SeaFurn]

9 minutes ago, stellablue said:

Your skimmer should stop putting out microbubbles once it is broken in. 

I'm not using a skimmer...so I don't really know why I'm getting so many.  And i thought if Maria was getting as many as i was there'd be plenty of dissolved O2 in her tank. 

 

I must have something set-up wrong. As soon as the water drops below 1/2" the last baffle I get bubbles galore. 

 

Don't want to hijack Maria's thread. Will post more about it on mine if I can't figure it out. 

[Coral_chef]

3 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

I'm getting so many micro bubbles in my tank. Are you not getting them? 

Are you running a skimmer?

 

i was getting a ton of bubbles till I filled the tank to about a inch below the second baffle. 

[Mariaface]

3 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

I'm not using a skimmer...so I don't really know why I'm getting so many.  And i thought if Maria was getting as many as i was there'd be plenty of dissolved O2 in her tank. 

 

I must have something set-up wrong. As soon as the water drops below 1/2" the last baffle I get bubbles galore. 

 

Don't want to hijack Maria's thread. Will post more about it on mine if I can't figure it out. 

 

Oh! If you're not running a skimmer, check to make sure your return's water level isn't too low. As water falls, it'll create bubbles under the surface. The flow's too fast to let them float and pop, so they get pulled through the return pump and turn into tiny bubbles. I'd aim for .25" at most if that's the case at .5" 

[Mariaface]

Did I come home to an almost opaquely cloudy tank?

 

Yes, yes I did.

 

But did the slime mats begin to dissolve away and look nowhere near as bad as before?

 

Yes, yes they did.

 

Plus it still smells pretty bad, but nowhere NEAR as bad.

 

Hopefully this is a turning point  

[lkoechle]

18 minutes ago, Mariaface said:

Did I come home to an almost opaquely cloudy tank?

 

Yes, yes I did.

 

But did the slime mats begin to dissolve away and look nowhere near as bad as before?

 

Yes, yes they did.

 

Plus it still smells pretty bad, but nowhere NEAR as bad.

 

Hopefully this is a turning point  

I feel like there should be a struggle bus prize.  I feel for you.   I hope it turns around!

[ReefWeeds]

Oh I couldn't like that post ?

 

But im glad the slime mats aren't as bad 

[SeaFurn]

19 minutes ago, stellablue said:

Oh I couldn't like that post ?

I hear you on that! we need to hit up @metrokat for some additional award categories (regardless of prizes - although we'll take them!) - she and jedimasterben can make them up as we go.   Example: Struggle Bus, loudest pump, most exotic hitchhikers (we all know who's leading in that category), best new idea, etc. etc etc??  

[Mariaface]

32 minutes ago, stellablue said:

Oh I couldn't like that post ?

 

But im glad the slime mats aren't as bad 

 

I actually really like it! I may like my own post! If I have bacteria floating around in the water column, that means its natural behavior isn't to form a mat and choke out lifeforms  So it's probably the heterotrophic bacteria getting its grip on the tank again, which is great!

 

I'll take this kind of bacterial activity over the other, for sure! And maybe oxygen is down a bit as a result, but things are still wiggling and moving around in there for now.

 

Que sera sera  And whatever survives this can fend itself against the curse of my house, right?

[Lula_Mae]

Looks disgusting, but in a good way. Fingers crossed you have turned the corner!

[ReefWeeds]

24 minutes ago, Mariaface said:

 

I actually really like it! I may like my own post! If I have bacteria floating around in the water column, that means its natural behavior isn't to form a mat and choke out lifeforms  So it's probably the heterotrophic bacteria getting its grip on the tank again, which is great!

 

I'll take this kind of bacterial activity over the other, for sure! And maybe oxygen is down a bit as a result, but things are still wiggling and moving around in there for now.

 

Que sera sera  And whatever survives this can fend itself against the curse of my house, right?

Okay,  I liked it now that I understand  

[metrokat]

10 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

I hear you on that! we need to hit up @metrokat for some additional award categories (regardless of prizes - although we'll take them!) - she and jedimasterben can make them up as we go.   Example: Struggle Bus, loudest pump, most exotic hitchhikers (we all know who's leading in that category), best new idea, etc. etc etc??  

 I can do this

[holy carp]

On 5/20/2017 at 8:58 PM, lkoechle said:

I actually hate prometheus. lol  I refuse to believe its a prequel so hard I forgot it existed until you reminded me...

Amen. Prometheus was attempted suicide for the Alien franchise.  It *almost* made Avatar seem well written.   We'll just have to see if Covenant is a resurrection.

 

But back to the tank. Did you try any treatments for that stuff like peroxide?

[Coral_chef]

Have you been trying to do frequent water changes?

[Mariaface]

So I didn't put in an airstone, I didn't 'treat' the tank other than the carbon I've already mentioned (haven't changed it out), I didn't set up the ATO even. I've basically just added a ridiculous amount of bacteria, basted the rocks, added more bacteria, fed some zooplantos-S and a drop of Liquid Reef daily for the filter feeders I know are in there.

 

And the cloudiness is gone! A couple of tiny patches of the slime are hanging on, but those are dissolving as well. And I have diatoms!   

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

Bacteria vs bacteria: who will win?

 

White slime is goin' dowwwwwn! (sorry, am tired and being silly)

[Mariaface]

For everyone's viewing/comparison pleasure:

 

The Nightmare:

 

A couple of days ago when it was weak:

 

During the haze storm when it began to dissolve:

 

Yesterday:

 

 

 

[Weetabix7]

18 hours ago, Mariaface said:

So I didn't put in an airstone, I didn't 'treat' the tank other than the carbon I've already mentioned (haven't changed it out), I didn't set up the ATO even. I've basically just added a ridiculous amount of bacteria, basted the rocks, added more bacteria, fed some zooplantos-S and a drop of Liquid Reef daily for the filter feeders I know are in there.

 

And the cloudiness is gone! A couple of tiny patches of the slime are hanging on, but those are dissolving as well. And I have diatoms!   

 

 

 

This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Coral_chef]

Nice!!

I would have no idea what to do. 

Looks so much better. 

[debbeach13]

Way to hang in there. Looking good.

[GregEmmitte]

Maria what is that slime? I've only cycled 2 tanks so I'm not an expert but I've never seen it.

[Mariaface]

3 minutes ago, GregEmmitte said:

Maria what is that slime? I've only cycled 2 tanks so I'm not an expert but I've never seen it.

 

From my understanding, it's an opportunistic bacteria that comes in on aerosols and other high VOC contaminants. Not fun  

[GregEmmitte]

Yuck. Glad it's dying!

[Mariaface]

Water's clear! Which means I need to find a better method of hanging that rock, huh?  

 

 

 

On the other hand, algae growth is rampant. The diatoms have died back and now there are cute macros and not-so-cute hair/cyano algae. 

 

Cute red macro:

 

Sargassum? Maybe?

 

The bivalve from my video, this time covered in algae:

 

 

And this is an awful potato picture, but these adorable little nubby polyps have started to come out of the rockwork. White and grey-ish striped, with the inside of the mouth looking like a burnt sienna color. I count four so far, one of which is tucked into a hole in the rock. It's off center (towards the top right).

[Pjanssen]

maybe you can hide the fishing lines with some kind of coral or algae growth

[Mariaface]

1 minute ago, Pjanssen said:

maybe you can hide the fishing lines with some kind of coral or algae growth

I hope so! I can probably also get creative with epoxy around it and let coral take that over..