Turtle's Deep Blue Sea

[SashimiTurtle]

Loving the new scape, looks great in the video.

That was you making the noise in the video... the email notification. It was this comment.

Leave an area front view somewhere so you can see in to see how it is getting on!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

You're absolutely right about needing to keep nutrients up high enough however i couldn't do it and I got to the point I was feeding heavily 3 times a day plus reef roids 2 or 3 days a week and phyto at least 3 nights a week if not more.... i just couldn't keep up!

I think too he has a very small skimmer on that tank where we have bigger skimmers most likely pulling a lot more out of the water... His reactor i would say is the primary filtration on that system. We're in the opposite position of that equation me thinks.

Heck, does that mean I can pull the cup off my skimmer? Or just open the drain so it doesn't fill the sump with bubbles... haha, seriously tho, something to think about.

Is chaeto, when given the right parameters to grow, powerful enough to be the only filtration system on a tank? I think it's possible. Maybe a bit of carbon to remove any yellowing dyes in the water.

 

[najer]

Don't start me lol, skimmer refugium heater, 2 return pumps, 2 powerhaeads, how complicated does it need to be?!
I dose and top up ro manually, virtually no water changes, not triton.
Took this just now, I think more people need to take a breath, think less about the numbers and let their "system" develop.
Just imo.

DSC_0005 by sshipuk, on Flickr

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Hahaha @najer... right now all I have in the sump is a heater, skimmer, ground probe and return pump. I have an ATO and a dosing pump, because I don't have a wimpy 9-5 job... I work swing shift, I'm never home at the same time every day to dose or even test consistantly.

Nutrients are gonna start to build up here soon tho... that is why I'm trying my hardest to get chaeto to grow. Refugium is a no go. There's just no flow thru there. Water changes are expensive, also a no go. My next effort will be the chaeto reactor.

You saw the video tho, everything is looking so much better since switching the rocks.

 

[Scurvy]

Heck, does that mean I can pull the cup off my skimmer? Or just open the drain so it doesn't fill the sump with bubbles... haha, seriously tho, something to think about.

Is chaeto, when given the right parameters to grow, powerful enough to be the only filtration system on a tank? I think it's possible. Maybe a bit of carbon to remove any yellowing dyes in the water.

I think it can be.... Though i like a skimmer for aeration purposes I dont think it's a requirement.

My latest experiment is an 18g, with 2g HOB fuge lit with a kessil a80 grow light. Ive got dry puquani basically curing in tank and chaeto is currently growing. No corals yet in tank with 1 fish. We'll see in a couple months whether I wind up ok or doing what you did and rip out the rock to start fresh. Its totally an experiment so failure, for once is an Option!

 

[najer]

Just a general thought, I used to work a 12 hour day night shift rota, when I ran my 55 litre tank that I am not allowed to name, , yes the tank that was shut down for 24 hours recently!
This was in there before the break (stored in the big tank), also zero water changes, ... back to my original point, it was allowed to become a system, the more anyone rushes the more they create their problems when they try to react too quickly, ... imo!
Technically the tank is 9 days old!

DSC_0008 by sshipuk, on Flickr

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Darn, just missed this guy...

 

[sfin52]

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Anyone know what this algae is? It's brown and growing on my forest fire digi, and pretty much everything else. Coral is not happy about it.

View attachment 20180222_153717.jpg

 

[Zack K]

Do you have a better picture? Kind of hard to tell their.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Ummm let me see, I'm at work right now. Took that before I left this afternoon. I did have to scrape the glass A LOT when I woke up. There were air bubbles in the algae on the glass. Crazy stuff. This whole idea of just leaving things alone is the worse advice I've ever heard of... since when does algae grow on living coral? Also my lobo has yet to get fluffy. The spikes sticking out of it have that algae stuff growing on them. The zoas and acans seem to be unaffected.

This is a pic from last week, but you can see the start of the brown takeover on the rocks.

I'm about to give up on corals and put 5 gallons of carbon and GFO in this tank and call it FOWLR. This has been the most frustrating tank ever. I might just put 5 gallons of bleach in it.

 

[Snyder1456]

Ummm let me see, I'm at work right now. Took that before I left this afternoon. I did have to scrape the glass A LOT when I woke up. There were air bubbles in the algae on the glass. Crazy stuff. This whole idea of just leaving things alone is the worse advice I've ever heard of... since when does algae grow on living coral? Also my lobo has yet to get fluffy. The spikes sticking out of it have that algae stuff growing on them. The zoas and acans seem to be unaffected.

This is a pic from last week, but you can see the start of the brown takeover on the rocks.

View attachment 684376

I'm about to give up on corals and put 5 gallons of carbon and GFO in this tank and call it FOWLR. This has been the most frustrating tank ever. I might just put 5 gallons of bleach in it.

Sounds frustrating. I've been following along with you guys for the most part and I must say I am learning a ton. It seems there's SO MANY ways to do things in this hobby and no sure fire way to be 100% successful. Hope you find a solution soon

 

[Zack K]

Lol. Deep breaths Turtle. We have all been in your shoes. Not a fun place to be....we understand.
On to the Algae. Below is a picture of Cyano and Dino’s. If you said it had bubbles well. Not sounding great. Does it go away when the lights turn off and come back in the morning?

Cyano
Dino’s

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sounds frustrating. I've been following along with you guys for the most part and I must say I am learning a ton. It seems there's SO MANY ways to do things in this hobby and no sure fire way to be 100% successful. Hope you find a solution soon

I see so many people just set up a tank, add fish and coral and sit back and things grow. Me... no, can't have that. That would mean something went right.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I've been working night shift so my interactions with the tank since Thursday have been; wake up, thaw out food, dump in tank, go to work. Today I took two glances at the tank instead of one and I saw brown algae everwhere with bubbles on the glass. Quick scraped it off and kinda noticed the water was a little cloudy. May have been my eyes still foggy...

I'm off from tomorrow morning until next Tuesday. I'll figure out what is going on with this tank, and if I end up selling everything or not....

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Sounds frustrating. I've been following along with you guys for the most part and I must say I am learning a ton. It seems there's SO MANY ways to do things in this hobby and no sure fire way to be 100% successful. Hope you find a solution soon

Where are my manners...

Welcome to the Deep Blue Sea @Snyder1456! Glad to have you on board, although we seem to be hitting a bit of a squall right now. Batten down the hatches and prepare to bail water. Things might get rough before they get better.

 

[Snyder1456]

Where are my manners...

Welcome to the Deep Blue Sea @Snyder1456! Glad to have you on board, although we seem to be hitting a bit of a squall right now. Batten down the hatches and prepare to bail water. Things might get rough before they get better.

Lucky for you I work on barges and tug boats!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Lucky for you I work on barges and tug boats!

That's cool. I swear I was a pirate in a previous life; love of the sea, adventure, shiny things, rum.... so I have that going for me. And aye, I have me sea legs on at all times ya scurvy land lover...

 

[sfin52]

You just changed all rock. May have started a cyno outbreak. What your nitrates and phosphates at.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

You just changed all rock. May have started a cyno outbreak. What your nitrates and phosphates at.

No clue what anything is right now... but this is nothing like the cyano I had on the old rock. I come home, feed the dog, get a shower, go to sleep, wake up, feed the dog and the fish, go to work...

I'll test tomorrow afternoon when I wake up. I'm also planning on doing a very large water change to reset any yucky stuff I have and clean the sump out with my shop vac. Gotta run and get those brute cans from Lowe's, my biggest bucket is a 5g tote.

I have an order in with algae barn. More marine pure, chaeto, 5280 pods and phytoplankton. They said they are slammed right now, and my order won't ship until the 5th... gotta hang on to this tank until then.