TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

That is one good thing about the poly fill you can stuff and manipulate it into the cracks that the water might be flowing by. Didn’t you just add a bunch of bacterial mud of stuff from a recent order? Maybe that will help.

That’s true about the polyfil, it is more malleable to fit into the whole space better. I did just add IPSF’s wonder mud and live sand activator to increase bio diversity.

 

[TheWB]

What products would you recommend for bacteria?

I’m interested in the answer to this question as well

 

[TheWB]

Hey trying to give you some advice here man.
Reefing secrets ( when much detritus is present its because there's no good bacteria eating it) dead indicator! Same thing with most weird algae issues, not enough good bacteria! Add good bacteria!

Do you have some suggestions?

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Sorry.
Yeah fritz turbo start, I've used it to beat all kinds of stuff.
Good bacteria gets out of whack more than people think, and people think its phosphate problems or over feeding issues. But more than likely, especially in a younger system something has out competed your good bacteria, and has taken over I use fritz when doing water changes.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

And any time something weird is happening, it's good to not forget the roots of being able to sustain a healthy ecosystem, which is the good bacteria to sustain life.

 

[TheWB]

And any time something weird is happening, it's good to not forget the roots of being able to sustain a healthy ecosystem, which is the good bacteria to sustain life.

Thank you for the recommendation and for checking out my thread. I appreciate the input.

 

[Dj City]

I'm all caught up.

Really glad to see the chalice bounce back. I knew it would.

Tank is looking good.
As far as your lights, don't forget what I said about the reefbreeders photon v2+
I know you have the radion but it's an idea that might serve you well in the future.

 

[Dj City]

Selling daughters photon v2 with remote all works well

asking $250

I just saw this and thought about you.

 

[TheWB]

I'm all caught up.

Really glad to see the chalice bounce back. I knew it would.

Tank is looking good.
As far as your lights, don't forget what I said about the reefbreeders photon v2+
I know you have the radion but it's an idea that might serve you well in the future.

Thanks for checking in. I just saw your latest update and all your corals are looking great. I’m still on the fence about what to do with the lighting. If I change to a Photon I also will need to change my screen top. Not really interested in doing that right now. It’s not like it’s a big emergency or anything. Maybe I’ll do something after Xmas depending on available reefing funds.

 

[TheWB]

This week I took the advice of @tommyhere and started adding some beneficial bacteria to my tank in order to get my parameters back in line. My ratio of nitrates to phosphates has been upside down. I have been using a combination of Microbacter 7, Fritzyme 9 and continuing to use Microbacter Clean. No real scientific dosing plan or anything like that, just adding about 10ml of one or the other every night. I have not seen a bacterial bloom at all. When I tested this morning Nitrates were at 5 on the Seachem test kit and Phosphates were at 0.02 on the Hanna Checker. Phosphate has not been that low ever. I’m going to skip today’s water change because I don’t want to bottom out and risk Dino’s. I’ll monitor for the next week and see how N and P rise with my normal feeding pattern. With Zoas and LPS I think I’d rather have the N at about 10 and the P less than .05 but I want to try and get there naturally, I don’t want to chase the numbers but I don’t want them too low either. There is a little cyano forming in the front left quadrant of the tank that I’m going to have to manage. Hopefully N and P rising a little over the next week in the right amounts will knock that out along with some siphoning at my next water change.
I have some Seachem Matrix and mesh bags on order and my plan will be to introduce some of that to the return pump chamber as needed to increase surface area for the additional bacteria and see if I can’t stable out my system that way instead of using Nopox or whatever other chemical remedies. The DIY algae scrubber is also probably helping somewhat but it’s only a 8”x4” screen so it’s not big enough to have a huge impact.

 

[TheWB]

Well so much for avoiding Dino’s. That cyano started to get worse and then there was just a big growth spurt of brownish algae with a little bit of bubbles. The volume got way bigger than what I normally have growing in the tank. I sought out some help in the nuisance algae forum and the consensus seems to be Dino’s and bryopsis with a little cyano mixed in. I really thought I was turning a corner on nutrients but apparently not lol. So now I’ve got a plan to try and straighten this mess out thanks to some helpful folks over in the algae forum.

 

[Dj City]

That really sucks!
You know I fought Dinos and won.
If you need help, let me know and I will give you step by step on what I did to kill them off.

 

[TheWB]

That really sucks!
You know I fought Dinos and won.
If you need help, let me know and I will give you step by step on what I did to kill them off.

Thank you. Much appreciated. I’m going to take a look under the hood and see where things are later tonight. You might be hearing from me.

 

[TheWB]

I turned just the blues on at 10% intensity so the fish would come out and get some food. It gave me an opportunity to look at what 48 hours worth of no lights looks like. I scrubbed the rocks with a stiff brush to loosen what I could and turned the flow up to max. Most of the coral look ok and are opening even with just 10% intensity. Blew off the rocks with a turkey baster as well. Hopefully a lot of the detritus ends up in the overflows which are packed with floss. I’ll leave the lights on for another hour or two and then power down for another 48 hours with h2o2 going in at night and beneficial bacteria in the mornings. I’m hoping by Sunday night for a major improvement.

 

[Dj City]

I've done what you are doing now with no luck. Hydrogen peroxide did not help.
Do you have a UV sterilizer?

 

[TheWB]

I've done what you are doing now with no luck. Hydrogen peroxide did not help.
Do you have a UV sterilizer?

I have the IM AquaShield 11w model but I just found out my bulb is burned out. I need to order a new one. I’ll see where I’m at tomorrow night and then reassess.

 

[Dj City]

Check out my build thread again. Especially the part that pertains to UV and dinos.
I would really prefer you not have to go through a lot of nonsense to get this issue resolved. Dinos are a prehistoric monster but they CAN be beaten.

Dinos can and will be the bain of your existence unless and until you get a hold over them.

I shut down my 110g because of dinos.
Please don't make the same mistakes I made and don't go chasing dragons.
What I did worked.

 

[jcolliii]

Wow man - sorry to hear about your dinos. I would definitely recommend getting the Matrix in there - I have nearly a liter stuffed into mine and I believe it is responsible for keeping my NO3 down to around 5ppm (I see bubbles come out of my floss whenever i change it and I make sure all of the bubbles are out when I put it in - the matrix is directly below the floss holders). I know this is a bit late, but I use Aquavitro Seed - it's what my LFS had in stock.

I know you hate the idea, but I have not seen dinos since I went bare bottom. I had some hanging around here and there on my substrate. I took the substrate out and never saw them again. Hope you can find a new bulb for your UV - that was definitely helpful when I was battling them.

Keep your chin up man.

 

[TheWB]

Wow man - sorry to hear about your dinos. I would definitely recommend getting the Matrix in there - I have nearly a liter stuffed into mine and I believe it is responsible for keeping my NO3 down to around 5ppm (I see bubbles come out of my floss whenever i change it and I make sure all of the bubbles are out when I put it in - the matrix is directly below the floss holders). I know this is a bit late, but I use Aquavitro Seed - it's what my LFS had in stock.

I know you hate the idea, but I have not seen dinos since I went bare bottom. I had some hanging around here and there on my substrate. I took the substrate out and never saw them again. Hope you can find a new bulb for your UV - that was definitely helpful when I was battling them.

Keep your chin up man.

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I’m really not too stressed out about it. It’s all part of the tank journey. I’m going to keep the lights real low, keep cleaning the rocks and sand and just keep working until balance has been restored. I’ve got the UV bulb coming on the 6th. Couldn’t get one on Prime for next day, they are completely gone from Amazon so I had to go to BRS.
I’m warming up to the idea of bare bottom but I would have to have some travertine tiles or something similar that has the color of sand to keep the look. The black bottom really turns me off. I don’t like black sand ether. There’s another reefer on here who did tiles in the same tank that I have and it looks pretty good but he hasn’t updated his thread in ages. I might have to ping him and see how he’s doing.

 

[jcolliii]

Tiles... hmm. Don't think I've ever seen that.

I will say, though, that the second reason I took my starboard out (1st was the coralline I couldn't scrape off) was that hair algae started growing in the space all around the edges where detritus started to collect. I kept blowing it out, but once a bit of hair gets in there it baffles more grunge pretty quickly. I wonder if the space between the tiles would do the same? Does sound like a neat idea though. I hear you on the sand though - man does pristine sand look good!