My Aquarium

[Thunderkat]

Somebody asked for screenshots of my aquarium. I am not sure if this is going to work but we shall see. If not I can email them.

Picture one is my cleaner wrasse eating flake food.

Picture two is my entire tank.

Picture three is my live rock covered with macroalgae that was covered by cyano (yes the long strands) then covered with calcium carbonate after the white out.

You can see the beginning of my dinoflagellette bloom, this morning the tank looks like pale green soup. As soon as I get home I am going to put my live rock and fish into a 5 and 10 gallon aquarium with a UV steralizer going and going to raise pH to 8.6 to kill the dinos (girlfriend had the entire weekend off so after work its aquarium and laundry time).

[Polkster13]

Pictures not showing up.

Try editing your first post.

Click on the browse icon and then select the picture. Then add your comment in the File Comment dialog box and THEN click on the Add Attachment icon and finally click on the Submit icon. You should then see your picture in your post.

HTH

[Thunderkat]

Second try, pic was massive.

Proof of my cleaner wrasse eating flake food. See it going for the flake food ^_^

[Thunderkat]

Pic of entire tank.

[Thunderkat]

Pic of my live rock up close.

Had lots of macro algae, then covered with cyano (yes even the strands, it just adapted to the high flow) and then was covered with calcium carbonate. If you look really really close you might see some dinos.

[Thunderkat]

Double post.

[GaryP]

I think I see a few dinos.

[Thunderkat]

Algae blenny wondering what I am up to. I hope it is still alive, dinos bloomed like crazy and I didn't haven't seen it for 2 days.

http://www.pixpond.com/may/algaeblenny.JPG


Couldn't get this picture to upload so I used pixpond, will only be here for 30 days.

[GaryP]

If it accidently grazed on some of the dinos it could have killed him.

[Thunderkat]

It might still be alive because my cleaner wrasse is a real military fish. It has adapted to my schedule and wakes up when I do and goes to bed a few minutes before I turn off the lights.

The blenny sleeps in and I wasn't home during day time over weekend. That fish is a civilian (silly villan).

Somebody said I had a problem with nutrients, I only have 2 fish in there and I only feed my cleaner wrasse very little and any that makes it to the bottom it later hunts down and eats it (hence the name Lil' Piggy). There is plenty of hair algae in my tank so thats the blenny's food. I doubt my zoos and mushrooms in the small numbers I have a causing a problem.

[Reef69]

I need to ask, what did you do to it for the tank to look like that?, you said you have had SW tanks in the past, did you do something different this time?..Honestly what i would have done myself is start all over again, those things are going to take forever to go away..

[Thunderkat]

Was using tap water for the longest time (I have an RO unit now). I used tap water also when I was in hawaii and the only problem I had there was cyano but not nearly as much as here and the cyano didn't make bubbles like this one does so it stayed on the bottom.

The white is from calcium carbonate precipitating out after adding calcium chloride and buffer too fast.

[Reef69]

When i first started doing SW, i didnt know MAAST, so i did everything wrong, i started with tap water, i have pics and it looked really nice, i then broke it down because i had a huge ick outbreak. I would break it down, clean it all, really clean it up..buy live rock, and fresh made saltwater...believe me, it will pay off..

[smelleybrad]

That looks like something out of a horror film! :w00t

[Thunderkat]

Yeah, Gary took a look at my tank, smacked me around a couple of times, and then told me what I needed to do.

I have a new sump that is not up and running yet but when it is I plan on filling it full of live rock rubble. I am also going to use the plenum system when I get it set up again. I am going to take that limestone out and replaceing with live rock. I need to leave the barnacles because that is where the cleaner wrasse sleeps. Everything for the wrasse!

[jaded]

I know from your recent posts that you aren't happy with the look of the tank... Now that I've seen what you have I'd have to agree with the "start all over" technique!!!

I have a 15-20 gallon tank that you could use to keep your fish while you cycle the tank for another go around!!! Once your up and running I have access to loads of good looking grape vine caluarpa (since I know you love the green stuff) but what you have going on there is, well... ugly. That looks like a reef in calavares lake (no offence)

[Reef69]

Well, the problem here is that he likes algea..lol, and a good looking reef shouldnt havee all that stuff in it, you should try maybe a pond tank?..keep a few tadpoles..?..maybe a flake eating pleco?? .jk..I would seriously start over..

As far as the flake eating cleaner wrasse..lol..shes not serving her puropse AT ALL!. I would start over, add a few nice fish she could clean, give her a good life...

[Thunderkat]

Is macro algae not good in salt water aquariums either?

[thedude]

Depends on what you want to keep but generally, macro can be a pain to keep in check. Wow, I had no idea what I was getting into when I said to cook that rock. And also, when I said too many nutrients, the nutrients don't necessarily come from overfeeding or bioload. You used tap water for long enough that there are PLENTY of nutrients for that disgusting algae. And let me see if I got this correct, is that live rock or is that just limestone? It looks to me like this is definitely a case of scrub and start over. It should be very easy to do though IMO. Take anything you wish to save, and put it in a bucket with tank water. Take the tank outside and dump everything else LOL and give it a good scrub down/ razor blading. You could either use southdown sand (cheap, small grain, not live) and seed it with other reefer's sand, or use actual live sand. I don't know about SA but Austin sells already cured live rock so that the spike after adding it to your tank would be very minimal. I'd honestly be afraid to stick my hand in your tank at the point it is at.

To me, it looks like a lack of beneficial algae, and nutrient overdrive. The tap water is your culprit. Also I don't know if you stated it, but what kind of lighting are you using, and how old are the bulbs? Old bulbs change spectrums and lead to algae outbreaks. The one thing that I'd say with the liverock rubble plan in the sump is that for me, a ton of detritus accumulates under it and is very difficult to siphon out.

I'm glad to see that you're concerned enough about your tank to do the research to get it healthy! Keep us posted on its progress!

[Reef69]

Does the APSCA protect fish?...lol...you are lucky they havent knocked at your door..

[Thunderkat]

I can't remember the brand name but in the hood there are a pair of 10ks and 2 of the actinic. The lights should be almost a year old, I bought them at the same time as the tank.

I have been using my RO unit for almost 2 months so I think this second go around will be better.

There is one piece of limestone (the far right piece) and one big barnacle thing the cleaner wrasse likes to sleep in right next to it.

I can't find the algae blenny, didn't see it or its body today at lunch. It may be alive and it may be dead but I can't find the body. The water is super cloudy from dinos. I will know for sure when I get off of work and can empty out tank and put livestock in my 10 gallon and 5 gallon aquariums.

Don't forget, Gary has seen my aquarium and given me a sound plan of attack for it.

[thedude]

Yep time for new bulbs my friend! Bulbs change spectrums at a year old and I promise you'll have much better success with new ones. It's also great you have an RO unit and it will definitely go better around this time. Yeah, no live rock in there, there aren't any good bacteria to help you in your battle. Also, who knows what that large piece of limestone could leak into your tank? Limestone is a porous rock and could have soaked up anything, the sky is basically the limit. Whatever the big barnacle thing is, I'm sure you'll be fine reusing it but be sure to give it a HEALTHY scrub. I'm still in disagreement on the plenum idea, as they're been tried and have failed but more power to you if you can make it work. IMO live sand and live rock will you do you loads of good this time around.

You also want to watch the emperor, as I had one running on a 20 gal about two years ago. The wheel can become a source of nitrates so if you're readings are excessively high, it could be the culprit.

[Thunderkat]

The weird thing is the only thing I have had for nitrates and nitrites is a zero reading. I did come up positive for ammonia but then I read on my bottle of Reef DNA that it can cause false positive readings for ammonia and/or high readings. It came in at 0.09 ammonia when I checked it. I have the cpr dual pak and the emperor 20 filter running (think thats tons of filtration for a 50 ) and soon I will have my sump up and running.

[thedude]

Is that tons of filtration for a 50 gal? No not really in all honesty. The only thing your emperor is going to do is convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate which is helpful, but is really small in comparison to what some good live rock can do. If you had a consistent lvl of 0 nitrate I suspect that it is either all locked up in the algae, or you are having a phosphate problem. The reason this hobby has taken such advanced steps in the last decade or so was the use of liverock. Also stop dosing. You can seriously get by with just regular water changes and maybe if stocked heavily with corals, calcium replenishment.

Just as an fyi, I'm a little overkill, but will be running a Euro-reef CS6-1 on my 30 gal reef, and just live rock. That is a lot of filtration!

[Reef69]

..The thing that i dont understand is, why is it so hard to do it right?..I mean, whats the hard thing about buying normal live rock..sand..use RO water..get a good skimmer..sorry, but i dont get it..

[Thunderkat]

Have live rock, have a RO unit, have sand, and have greatly increased my flow. I think though a year of running badly can't be fixed by 2 months of running properly that is why I am starting all over. I knew there was a problem so I have sought out help and have implemented everything people have told me in the way of constructive advice.

If you still don't understand then there is nothing that can be done for you. Your aquarium and fish are nice, your attitude well lets just say they don't match. :lol

You may be right about me being a knuckle head and waiting so long to redo this tank.

[Reef69]

The obvious thing you DONT understand is these fish dont want to be in our tanks, they were living happily in some reef until some guy with a snorkel caught them, all we can do is try to customize our aquariums in such ways they resemble the ocean and can live as happy as possible. In the other hand, that flake eating wrasse and the dead algea blenny were better left off in the LFS, any ammonia filled bag would have been a better habitat for those poor fish, and honestly , i would have torn down that tank from the moment it started to look like that, i can put money on it, anybody here would agree with me on that 1. It reminds me of when im flipping channels and i see the animal cops show on Animal planet and they find a house with S**t all over, 40 cats, and an old lady caring for the cats. Good luck with it..LOL

[Thunderkat]

Lol, oh my goodness, this guy has 2 tiny fish in his 50 gallon aquarium. I am a really bad person!

I don't even know if that blenny is dead yet, I hope not though, I do love these fish.

[CD]

oh my goodness, this guy has 2 tiny fish in his 50 gallon aquarium.


Thunderkat - I don't think that's the point Diego is trying to get across. That is not a aquaruim, it is a toxic wasteland at this point. I'm all about helping people work through their tank problems, but this is a definite "do over". I'd say take out any living creature/coral/etc., put them in a suitable QT tank, then disassemble that entire set up....scrub everything down (you may even need to boil some things), get RID of the limestone, put down a nice 3"+ sandbed (nix on the plenum BTW), seed it with some LS (I can bring some to the meeting if you need it), put some nice live rock in there, and find yourself a good skimmer. You mentioned something about a sump, right? Anyway, a skimmer would be a *really* good addition. Your flow s/b just fine with the 6060. As far as macro, if you don't want to go the 'fuge route right now, you can use one of those "fry net" containers that you hang in FW tanks for baby fish...these things work great for holding macro, and will help soak up the phosphates. Mangroves work great too.

Wendy

[eric]

I agree with Wendy exactly. Especially, I'd lose the limestone.

[Thunderkat]

Yeah, he means well. I have a 5 gallon hospital tank and I went out and bought a 10 gallon aquarium and now I have them rigged so they are linked and just about to transfer fish and rocks over.

[thedude]

Thank god Wendy chimed in, I was beginning to think I was alone here. Like she said, nix the plenum idea, they're way more trouble than they're worth. Get some good quality sand and live rock and you shoud be back on track in no time. If you really like the look of macro, why not try some of the leafy type that produces roots into the sand? Again with the biowheel comment, I would take the wheel out completely and just use it as a carbon filter. And no more limestone in reef tanks!

[Thunderkat]

Hooray, working on emptying the tank out and the algae blenny lives!

I returned the digital camera to my coworker otherwise I would submit a pic right now.

I think Polkster was selling some 100% cured live rock so as soon as system is filled with salt water again I am getting some more.

If not a plenum system how about a 3-4 inch deep sand bed?

[GaryP]

Cool off guys. Thunderkat is relatively new to SW and he is doing the best he can under some trying circumstances that few of us would be able to handle. Identifying Dinos is not that easy, and its many times harder to treat. If you have never successfully treated Dinos then I think you need to reserve your comments. It is the hardest nuisance algae to treat, that is if you can correctly identify it in the first place. Otherwise, anything you do is probably a waste of time and money. Not too long ago I would have ID'ed it as hair algae just like he did. He needs consultants, not critics. Can any of you say that you never ran into a problem that overwhelmed you when you first got started?

He has a good plan of action and rather than being critical I think he could use some support. His problem isn't nothing that a good toothbrush, some Kalk, and some bleach can't handle.

OK, I will shut up now before I p*ss off the other half of you.

[cbianco]

Thunderkat

Good luck with the rebuild. With a bit of husbandry you should have that tank looking good again in no time! What ever you do stay away from SA tap water it sucks! I also learned that the hard way when I built up my original 3 gallon nano, lol.

Christopher

[thedude]

Thunder, a 3-4 inch sand bed sounds great. If you want to turn it into a full on DSB I'd do 4 or more inches. Great to hear your algae blenny lives!

[Thunderkat]

Yeah, reef69 is about half right though.

These fish would be happier in the ocean but I have also read that in well maintained tanks salt water fish live longer in captivity provided their needs are met.

If I wasn't trying to do anything to help my fish (which is what reef69 mayb be thinking) then yes I would deserve to have my backside tanned.

Working really hard to make it better ^_^

[JimD]

ahhhhh, kalk,,,, the magic word....

[cbianco]

lol @ JimD. Kalk the cure-all :)

Christopher

[GaryP]

I squeezed it in just for you Jim.

Actually we have already talked about dosing Kalk as a prophylactic measure after the tank clean-up.

[GaryP]

lol @ JimD. Kalk the cure-all :)


It is the cure all for Dinos. Nothing else will control it. Dinos are highly pH sensitive.

[cbianco]

I know gary...

I was just laughing because I have read more about kalk and its abilities these past few days, than I ever came across in my whole life.

Christopher

[JimD]

Why would you call it a "prophylactic" measure? Sounds more like the implimentation of a direct objective... :-)~ Oh, and do you mind if I squeeze "Alk" in there between Ph and sensitive in your post? lmao

[Thunderkat]

Have all my fish (both of them), live rocks, and coral transferred over to my two holding tanks. I have the rocks and fish, and emerald crab in my 10 gallon, and my corals in my 5 gallon aquarium.

The 10 gallon has a emperor 20 with biowheel, heater, digital temp/pH meter, and a filter sock full of fresh activated carbon. The tank has a hood with a flourescent light also.

In my 5 gallon aquarium it has a little filter with biowheel built into the hood, the hood also has a light in it.

Inside my 5 gallon tank I have a pump that is drawing a suction from it and going to the UV steralizer (die evil dinoflagellettes!). The discharge for the UV steralizer is going to my 10 gallon aquarium. Connecting the two tanks are two siphon tubes to keep the water going from the 10 gallon to the 5 gallon aquarium.

Whoever wanted that sand from my main tank its ready for pick up. Just PM me and I will tell you how to get to my apartment.

Despite the conditions of my main tank one of the mushrooms had a baby ^_^

[Dozer]

Thunder- Good luck and I like the approach you are taking! Seeking out a website like this and asking long time successful hobbyists such as GaryP to actually come over and help you roll up your sleeves and tackle this shows initiative and a sincere desire to do the right thing(s). I think you should be applauded for your efforts and for keeping your temper when others might get really defensive and feel personally attacked in your situation (fwiw I don't think they were meant as personal attacks, but it still doesn't feel good to be on the receiving end of things sometimes). Kudos to you for swallowing your pride and taking it like a man and all those cliches.

Comment to everyone else: Sometimes we forget but we need to remember that our group is somewhat isolated. What I mean by that is that we often only tend to see the more serious and successful aquarists. Unfortunately I would venture to guess that the vast majority of people who attempt to get into this hobby end up with tanks that look worse than Thunder's. He stands out on this site because those other aforementioned people would never make it here for everyone to scrutinize. I guess this is my long-winded way of trying to say that he's doing better than a lot of newbies out there are I bet and given his desire to learn will likely soon do much better if I had to guess.

Just my 1.5 cents, and all JMHO!

Yikes, I hope that didn't sound like a soapbox, I just like when someone new to the hobby seems to actually care- as opposed to those that we've all been next to at a fish store saying all the things that make us cringe.

[Tim Marvin]

Set-up a plenum and you'll have a lot worse that that in a few years. It is very commonly known that plenums do not work long term without a maintenance routine and changeing sand out. Very labor intensive. You'd be much better off useing a refugium, and they are much easier to maintain.

[NaCl_H2O]

Wow, I have missed this entire thread ... must be working too much :(

Thunder, keep asking, doing, and learning! Folks here are passionate about this hobby, if you couldn't tell ;) I haven't battled dyno's, but Gary is the right source to help you out, glad you pulled him over to take a look. Some serious attention is definitely required, and some investment in a DSB, skimmer, etc. Folks here are very willing to help, loan equipment, or cut you a great deal on custom equipment. Don't buy any high priced commercial (possibly junk) equipment without asking your friends on MAAST first.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to keep posting and PM'ing any of us that can help.

Glad your blenny & others are alive. Keep an eye on those small tanks, they can go haywire FAST!

[Thunderkat]

The main aquarium is finally empty, dried, and crystal clean. My pumps are also very clean now (thanks for the vinegar idea Gary ^_^ ).

That vinegar eats the calcium carbonate right off too.

I don't know how you people with tanks larger than 55 gallons do it. That tank was hard enough to carry on my own without damaging it, I would hate to think about a 100 or larger. Maybe if I gripped 'em by the husk...

I am going to let the tank sit dry for maybe a day or two days to make sure the dinos are dead. I let it stand for a day with bleach and tap water but I have no idea how tough those dinos are.

I can't seem to get the pH to my temporary tanks over 8.25. I need to get it to 8.5 or higher for elimination of dinos so my corals and the rocks can be clean.

My fish seem suprisingly happy even after being put in the smaller tanks.

The algae blenny swims back and forth between the tanks through the siphon tubes. Crazy fishie :lol

[thedude]

Sounds like youi're doing everything right! Keep us posted and may I say, good work!