Official Lifegard Aquatics Crystal (AIO) Aquarium Club!!

[dwdenny]

Sorry man I just trying get it the best I can so I can up grade as soon as I get it there hahahaha

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 3/20/2021 at 9:10 PM, Summyfield said:

So I have a 14.26 and I feel like the bottom strainer makes it hard to pack my filter correctly. Should I plug it? How do you get the strainer out? How do you have your side chamber filled? There isn’t much room.

If you upgraded to a higher GPH return pump I would recommend using the strainer as it lets more water through into the filtration area. If you are just using the stock pump that came with the tank, I would use the plug. The strainers can be hard to get out sometimes, try twisting it/rocking it back and forth while pulling it out to loosen it up. I used to run just regular, run of the mill filter floss and a small bag of carbon in my tank (media baskets work great for these tanks too 😉) ; heavy lifting could be done with just water changes 🙂 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 3/17/2021 at 9:11 PM, ReefahBarra84 said:

Competition time?

I wouldn't mind making and throwing in some free equipment for prizes if this ever comes to fruition 😁

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

5 minutes ago, dwdenny said:

Sorry man I just trying get it the best I can so I can up grade as soon as I get it there hahahaha

You're doing too good of a job at it. Making me jealous lol. 

[dwdenny]

Happy Easter everyone. Corals are happy and want a little food I think. 

Ugh just noticed that little bit of algae on the left of that frag going to have to pull it out and pluck it off. 

[Daniel92481]

Happy Easter man! I’m glad things are doing well. 🙂

[dwdenny]

Happy Easter everyone 

[dwdenny]

Think these are pods of some sort. Cant get a good picture with phone but I have attached a picture. They move around the glass some are really tiny liters about the size of a small gnat. 

[dwdenny]

And yes I have beefed up CUC coming Wednesday/Thursday to take care of the algae in the tank but it’s not all that bad. 

[dwdenny]

Need some help. My tank has started a bacterial bloom. Going to do a huge water change this evening and clean everything up really good. How do I get rid of this bloom? Not dosing any thing, or even running carbon. I have pulled out my filter floss as well.

 

[Daniel92481]

The water change should help for sure. Just wait it out. It will go away on its own. 

[dwdenny]

Just now, Daniel92481 said:

The water change should help for sure. Just wait it out. It will go away on its own. 

That is what I am hoping. Zoa's are closed up cause of this though. 

[Daniel92481]

Keep your levels steady. It will pass. 👍

[dwdenny]

2.5G water change this morning and refilled the corals in iodine. Dipped them when I got them as well. But upon examination after the 4 min dip this morning I find a dang Zoa spider (at least I am 99.99% sure it is). I looked for eggs but I need to get me a magnifying glass the next time so I can really inspect them. That is the only one I found so I will keep an eye out for others. 

[dwdenny]

Still have a hint of cloudy water and slight yellow tint. Was thinking of adding carbon to filter that water a little more does anyone run carbon on the 4.1 and what do you use to hold the carbon? Smallest sock I have found is 4"X8" that is huge for the back chamber. I also have a small UV sterilizer (3w Green machine) that will be here today just in case cloudy water decides to come back. 

[TatorTaco]

I'd just toss a bit in a sock or panty hose and set it atop the return pump which would suck water through it.  

[dwdenny]

2 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

I'd just toss a bit in a sock or panty hose and set it atop the return pump which would suck water through it.  

Never thought about panty hose Wife has some I could steal from her hahahahaha 

 

[Daniel92481]

1 hour ago, dwdenny said:

Still have a hint of cloudy water and slight yellow tint. Was thinking of adding carbon to filter that water a little more does anyone run carbon on the 4.1 and what do you use to hold the carbon? Smallest sock I have found is 4"X8" that is huge for the back chamber. I also have a small UV sterilizer (3w Green machine) that will be here today just in case cloudy water decides to come back. 

I always run a little bit of carbon to help keep the water clear. I use the chemipure blue nano packets, just one at a time for the 4.1 in the media basket and changed out every couple of months. It will take out the yellow tint for sure. 

[dwdenny]

1 hour ago, Daniel92481 said:

I always run a little bit of carbon to help keep the water clear. I use the chemipure blue nano packets, just one at a time for the 4.1 in the media basket and changed out every couple of months. It will take out the yellow tint for sure. 

The only thing holding me back in that my phosphates are really low as well as my nitrates. might have to start feeding corals a little to raise them. 

[Daniel92481]

Yea, put a tiny pinch of reef roids if you have them. Be careful though, it will shoot phosphates up quick. Do you have a fish? A small fish will get you some nitrates in there. Using only one nano pack won’t drastically reduce your phosphates, mine are about 0.04-0.06. 

[dwdenny]

No fish would like one but would have to order online and the way shipping is lately I don't trust online ordering. Going to run by LFS this afternoon on the way home and see what they have as far as fish and chemipure. I have seen it there just don't know if they have the nano packs. They also have the BRS Rox 0.8 but dang would only need like 1/3 of a TSP.

[Daniel92481]

Sounds good. Yea, they have containers for the chemipure as well, but it’s definitely wayyy too much for these tanks. The nano packets are perfect being that each packet is good for ~5 gallons and has predictable results. If you can’t find the nano packets, just get you some carbon for now. Not a big deal if you use a little too much carbon. Just not a good idea with chemipure or any other phosphate reducing media. As far as the fish, sometimes you can get lucky at your lfs, but if not, check out this website. They have awesome, healthy captive bred fish. I think he just added some dwarf gobies that only get to be an inch long! So cool. 
 

shop.thebiotagroup.com

[Camienard]

So last time I had an aquarium, all my fishes died, and I didn't know why. I was so disappointed that I didn't buy fishes for almost five years. I took it personally. But yesterday, my mom announced that she wants to buy a small tank because she thinks it will calm her. So now I started to do serious research on what could be suitable as substrates for the aquarium plants, what elements are the best, the roles, etc. But https://portlandaquarium.net/planted-tank-substrate/ gave me the answer. It refers to all kinds of them, and what I should use in every situation it's also offering varieties. I don't want my mom the same experience what I did.

[dwdenny]

1 hour ago, Camienard said:

So last time I had an aquarium, all my fishes died, and I didn't know why.

Could have been a number of things but I think for some reason fish are harder than corals. 

[itsamaybe]

On 11/19/2020 at 8:29 PM, Dpatron1977 said:

Water level now, and only 50 or so gph more. If you believe the oem junk is rated proper, I dont. The sicce is better made, very quiet and rated closer to truth for flow imho. 1st chamber filter floss over media basket with carbon and bio pellets. Not using the lower hole all water gets filtered. Heaters in next at an angle so most contact with rising water and never low. Then empty chamber with red mangrove. Last chamber is return and jbj optical a.t.o. the plan is many rock flowers primarily. So I wanted enough flow from the main return. This way I don't have a power head  chewing them up when they get to walking around. 

Looking to set up a 3.8 peninsula shortly so a few questions: What size diamond bit did you use? Did you just run the bit down through the weir slots to widen them? Appreciate it!