75 Gallon Stand

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nluchau

Guest
Originally Posted by oceangrl11
nluchau:
One of my cromis died last week, my heart was broken b/c i have had him for over a year.
My wife would be heart broken too if one of ours died. So sorry - was it age? or do you know what happened?
 
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nluchau

Guest
A few more pictures of the fish - Six line was camera shy today.

 
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oceangrl11

Guest
I think it may have been age and stress combined. He has not been doing so great since i moved everything about 2 mo ago from Florida. Some days he would act normal and other days he would be breathing really heavy. Not really sure what happened. Just know i found him at the bottom of the tank with my hermits munching on him (ewww).
 
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oceangrl11

Guest
Originally Posted by DSkidmore
Not all that odd, the readings you see mean you have an efficient biofilter. Nitrate is the end product, that will not go down without some means of removal.
Some people claim bioballs create nitrates. Nitrifying bacteria are areobic, and grow great in a wet/dry. Denitrifying bacteria are anerobic, and grow in the depths of your live rock. If you decide to take the bioballs out, only remove about 1/4 per week, so the bacteria population on the rock can grow to catch the extra load.
I will have to try this to see if it works. i am going to do another water change today. Thanks :)
 
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oceangrl11

Guest
Originally Posted by daytonaree
Just a couple thoughts, 2nd a 2" depth is more than adequite and anything deeper only traps traits and keeps them high. Using a phosphate sponge and nitrate sponge, phosguard helps a great deal. Place them in the higher h2o leveled area of your sump. Use both for three days then test your h2o. At the same time, using a sufficient sized container remove enough sand to bring your tank depth closer to approx. 2" . The sand ise i trapping detrius/ uneaten food etc.. which in return is maintaining your trait levels.
Not sure if i really want to stir up the sand bed in the tanks for 1 of two reasons. First i think it will spike the trates even higher than they are and i do not want to kill all the fish. Second the first layer of my sand bed is crushed coral and the top layer is regular reef sand. If i try to take anything out the fine sand will settle to the bottom and leave the crushed coral on top and i really dont like it very much. i will 'measure' the actualy depth today and see what it is.
I am going to try to do a fuge in about a month and see if the cuperla rock or whatever its called will help take down the trates. Also skidsmore suggested taking out some of the bioballs, i think i might try that before a fuge too...we'll see, something will work eventually. Right now things are not all dying nor do they seem stressed. I think it might just be new tank issues......thanks for all the ideas, i will try them to see how things go.....
 
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nluchau

Guest
Fish are still swimming happily in the 75 gallon. I am starting to see some red slime algae on some of the rock and back glass. Is there anything I can add to my canister filter to aid in the removal of this? And yes I did use tap water to fill it up if you are wondering. I will be using RO water for Water changes and top offs.
Thanks
 
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nluchau

Guest
I took the turkey baster tonight and blew it off the rocks. Hopefully it will go away soon. I have lots of water movement also, that should help
 
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nluchau

Guest
I was able to remove the red slime with a turkey baster a few days ago and so far it hasnt grown back yet. I will have to do a water change sometime this week.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by daytonaree
Just a couple thoughts, :thinking: 1st the snails will only stir up detrius that is buried in the sand, 2nd a 2" depth is more than adequite and anything deeper only traps traits and keeps them high. Using a phosphate sponge and nitrate sponge, phosguard helps a great deal. Place them in the higher h2o leveled area of your sump. Use both for three days then test your h2o. At the same time, using a sufficient sized container remove enough sand to bring your tank depth closer to approx. 2" . The sand is trapping detrius/ uneaten food etc.. which in return is maintaining your trait levels. Keep enough h2o in the container to be able to run a powerhead to keep it circulating. ( Saving this sand is so that if my idea does not help it will give you the option to put it back without purchasing new) On day three remove the nitrate sponge or both if your levels r good. If not, leaving the phosguard in test daily and remove when your levels a down. :notsure: I don't know all your dynamics, what you're running or anything but really do hope you will try this. My husband and I helped run a saltwater store and have been saltwater hobbiest for over 10 years. We have just about did it all both wrong and right, trial and error of our own and by others. Getting the snails would be okay with all of this but I think that the horseshoe crabs stir the sand better and they too like detrius.
:yes: :D
Very good issue on your 2nd point......With research and understanding of DSB one willl realize that they need not to be deep to be effective....The nitrification and denitrification process takes place within the top 3/4" of a sand bed, so with that, what actually is the purpose of a DSB???? NONE...And if you look around not just this site, the DSB theory is being laid to the wayside for alternate methods to keep levels low......Sand beds must be maintenanced or you will have problems down the road though.....Snails and such do their job, but we have to help it along....During routine maintenance you can take a small area and rake it a bit.......It will not bother your sand bed adversely.....Being that you are not moving your entire sand bed all at one time thus while the remaining portion of the sand bed is still intact and functioning, the new area is being recolonized......There have been threads and topics about such things being done. And with that being said during your weekly water changes you just keep moving along the tank to a different area each time and by the end of the month you would have done your sand bed.
 
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oceangrl11

Guest
Originally Posted by acrylic51
Very good issue on your 2nd point......With research and understanding of DSB one willl realize that they need not to be deep to be effective....The nitrification and denitrification process takes place within the top 3/4" of a sand bed, so with that, what actually is the purpose of a DSB???? NONE...And if you look around not just this site, the DSB theory is being laid to the wayside for alternate methods to keep levels low......Sand beds must be maintenanced or you will have problems down the road though.....Snails and such do their job, but we have to help it along....During routine maintenance you can take a small area and rake it a bit.......It will not bother your sand bed adversely.....Being that you are not moving your entire sand bed all at one time thus while the remaining portion of the sand bed is still intact and functioning, the new area is being recolonized......There have been threads and topics about such things being done. And with that being said during your weekly water changes you just keep moving along the tank to a different area each time and by the end of the month you would have done your sand bed.
Hey thanks! that is a great idea. I did not think of that. I actually did not really want a DSB it just happened that way b/c of the move and the fact that i wanted to keep some of my old sand to help the tank cycle. it seems to be doing alright although sometimes i see itchy fish :( i bought some kent marine nitrate reducer. it should be here soon and i think that will help imensely. i think i will perhaps try to take out some of the sand. we'll see. thanks agian!
~H~
 
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nluchau

Guest
Well today I went to pick up a lawnmower blenny but it didn't want to come home with us. There was a piece of LR he was hiding in. The LFS guy tried to get him out with food but that didn't trick him. He put the Rock in a bucket with alittle water in it in hopes he would want to jump out - Nope. We ended up leaving w/o him. He was going to keep trying to catch it and place it in a tank where it can be easily caught. We'll see
Is 23.99 too much for a lawnmower?
 
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nluchau

Guest
I picked up a lawnmower blenny from a different pet store and paid 19.99 I figured that was a good deal. So far after 10 min of placing him in the tank he has picked at the LR
Here is a pic of him with the actinics on - its hard to see him I know. He is in the middle
 
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