Ratvan's Fluval Spec 3 - [THREAD CLOSED - LEAK]

[ECLS Reefer]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

Hopefully your won't be the terror that mine was 

He's in there alone with shrimp. I have no plans to give him any fish friends because it's only a 5g. So, him, a skunk cleaner and some sexy shrimp. Surely he will be okay by himself.

[Ratvan]

2 hours ago, Picogoby said:

Could be??? Are the photos the actual frags? If so they look good to me! Never have much luck getting cheap frags in the uk..... you?

Nice... £5?!?!?

Yup, I tend to find good deals on ebay with collection only. If no more than 30 miles. Plus there is usually a freebie

[Tigahboy]

Nice job on the wall!  👏👏

[Ratvan]

So got sent this picture from home today 

[Ratvan]

Right then, not looking so hot right now. Tonnes of microbubbles still all over the tank, got me thinking that maybe it maybe the foam isn't suitable for saltwater... 

 

Added a spare 50gph freshwater pump with gubbinz removed to see if increased circulation helps. 

 

Montipora not looking good

[debbeach13]

Is it dino's?

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, debbeach13 said:

Is it dino's?

Not sure, taking home my test kits tonight as well as a couple of vials for a shakey shake test 

 

Montipora completely bleached out this morning before I left, phyto and pods have arrived today so if it is, at least its well timed to be faught against

[SaltyGallon]

When did you get the tank wet mate? Don't take it to heart, the tank's probably just going through the cycling motions - montis can be silly fussy too!

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Azur said:

When did you get the tank wet mate? Don't take it to heart, the tank's probably just going through the cycling motions - montis can be silly fussy too!

1st Feb, got a few things to look at

[SaltyGallon]

15 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

1st Feb, got a few things to look at

Yeah, let us know how you get on mate. Still early days... New tanks, who'd have em!

[Ratvan]

33 minutes ago, Azur said:

Yeah, let us know how you get on mate. Still early days... New tanks, who'd have em!

Will do, I think that it'll be one of two things

 

1. My Macroalgae has used up the phosphates and nitrates in the tank (along with the bio filtration) - will remove Caulerpa Prolifera if this is the case

2. The Foam wall is leeching something into the tank 

 

I also have a 100% record in losing every SPS i have tried, so it could also be i'm that shite at them 😄

[Ratvan]

OK so fairly sure Hermit is dead. Tested the water and my phosphates have spiked? From 0.03 to 1.0

Nitrates have remained at 5

 

Not done a water change/siphon/rinse whatever, too late for this evening now. 

 

Algae looks worse, I can't quite capture it in photos. 

Bubbles are at the base of or very close to these long, very fine white hairs that shoot up from the dusty/red algal base/mat. 

 

Plan is tomorrow not get caught in the office till 9pm, get home and test phosphate levels of tank and stored RO water. Buy water at LFS, test that f*cked too. Scrub, scrub, scrub. Perform water change to reduce phosphates

 

[Ratvan]

@mcarroll any idea's on this stuff?

Will be getting better photos in a few hours when i get home, need anything else for an ID?

[Ratvan]

Ok so the Mrs takes better photo's

[debbeach13]

Is this the first time you have used that particular foam in SW? If it isn't the foam what else might be leaching some thing?

I would be very tempted to manually scrub everything and do 100% WC to see if it all came back again. I know that will not identify what is going on but what if it was some thing dumb. Like lotion on your hands or fumes from a house hold cleaner. I don't know. I hope the tank clears up.

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, debbeach13 said:

Is this the first time you have used that particular foam in SW? If it isn't the foam what else might be leaching some thing?

I would be very tempted to manually scrub everything and do 100% WC to see if it all came back again. I know that will not identify what is going on but what if it was some thing dumb. Like lotion on your hands or fumes from a house hold cleaner. I don't know. I hope the tank clears up.

IN SW yes, I did cover everything with a contact cement to seal it all in, however might have missed some area's.

The rock could be leeching I suppose. I did cure it using the process below

 

I follow the below guidelines when curing dry rock.  

A)    I use dechlorinated tap water for soaking the dry rock, no salt. 

B)    I fill a 5G container that is safe for holding aquarium water. 

C)    After adding the rock and water, I will also add a power head to the container to get water movement around the rock. No need for a heater as there is no bacteria on the rock to save.

D)    After the rock has been soaking for two or three days, I will use a fresh water test kit to check the nitrate and phosphate levels every second day.

E)     If I find any nitrates or phosphates in the water, I will change all of the water in the container.

F)     I will continue this process until the nitrates and phosphates are not detachable by my test kit for at least 4 days in a row. Once that has happened, I can now add this soaked (cured) dry rock to my aquarium at any time without risk.

[Elizabeth94]

The tissue on your monti looks like it is melting away. As if an irritant is in the water. Guess that foam is the biggest suspect. 
 

You probably have a few things going on at the same time that could be unrelated. Hm 

[Ratvan]

Just now, Elizabeth94 said:

The tissue on your monti looks like it is melting away. As if an irritant is in the water. Guess that foam is the biggest suspect. 
 

You probably have a few things going on at the same time that could be unrelated. Hm 

Monti has melted away now. Went in a single night and was covered in that white fuzzy crap in the morning 

 

I just cant accept its the foam to be honest, it takes 24 hours to dray and I left mine at least a week before filling with water so without a doubt should have been inert! I cant remember the whole chemical ingredient list but am sure that it was a Polyurethane Sealant, so should be fine there. 

 

I got a while to figure this out still 😄

 

29 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Is this the first time you have used that particular foam in SW? If it isn't the foam what else might be leaching some thing?

I would be very tempted to manually scrub everything and do 100% WC to see if it all came back again. I know that will not identify what is going on but what if it was some thing dumb. Like lotion on your hands or fumes from a house hold cleaner. I don't know. I hope the tank clears up.

Yeah that's the plan for this evening, plus test all the water for phosphates. Have purchased 5 Gallons of Salt from the LFS just in case

[Lingwendil]

Nice work on the wall, bummer on the sloughing off of tissue. Weird- I wonder what the issue is? My first thought would be the foam or the contact cement used to seal it.

[Ratvan]

58 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

The tissue on your monti looks like it is melting away. As if an irritant is in the water. Guess that foam is the biggest suspect. 
 

You probably have a few things going on at the same time that could be unrelated. Hm 

 

2 minutes ago, Lingwendil said:

Nice work on the wall, bummer on the sloughing off of tissue. Weird- I wonder what the issue is? My first thought would be the foam or the contact cement used to seal it.

 

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

Is this the first time you have used that particular foam in SW? If it isn't the foam what else might be leaching some thing?

I would be very tempted to manually scrub everything and do 100% WC to see if it all came back again. I know that will not identify what is going on but what if it was some thing dumb. Like lotion on your hands or fumes from a house hold cleaner. I don't know. I hope the tank clears up.

Right one way to settle this, Foam in Cup with RODI, this foam has been covered in contact cement as per the rockwall

 

[ECLS Reefer]

You could always get some polyfilter and see what color it turns.

[A.m.P]

Those look to be chrysophytes, which is odd because they usually prefer low-nutrient water. That said they can be an insanely-resilient stage of a tank's uglies.
They do go nuts for silicates supposedly, also possible that the concrete wasn't totally cured perhaps? Oldschool was to have it in freshwater then saltwater for a few weeks with quite-a-few waterchanges to stop it from leeching, messing with ph, etc.

[ECLS Reefer]

Poly-Filter

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/poly-filter

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Poly-Filter

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/poly-filter

I know what it is, just cant see how it would help?

£25 for 2"x2" pads, GTFO

[Ratvan]

16 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Those look to be chrysophytes, which is odd because they usually prefer low-nutrient water. That said they can be an insanely-resilient stage of a tank's uglies.
They do go nuts for silicates supposedly, also possible that the concrete wasn't totally cured perhaps? Oldschool was to have it in freshwater then saltwater for a few weeks with quite-a-few waterchanges to stop it form leeching, messing with ph, etc.

Also covered the whole thing in superglue (runny watery stuff) for additional sealing