Aquarium Pharmaceuticals tap water filter...

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
I do. You just read what you want too.
The ONLY reason I've made it this far in the hobby is because I'm open to take advise from others. I do not "read what I want to" I look for inconsistencies and misleading comments... and your statements are full of them.

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
I kinda disagree with that statement.
With all due respect I have blocked Bob a couple times using his own posts and he has never once admitted to being wrong or messing up.

 

[bang guy]

Noted

 

[overanalyzer]

Hey Bob if you are happy that is fine - I thought you had another picture of it somewhere ....newer (maybe that is hte one Kip is talking about).
as for cheapo lighting the yellow work lights that are 13 watts @ wal-mart are nice for refugiums and nano's!

 

[reefnut]

Not sure but I think it might be here... looking pretty rough.

 

[cincyreefer]

Hey Bob whats your email?

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Some things suffered when nitrAtes spikes because the plant life slowed down.
What caused the spike? Plants simply "slowing down" should not cause a spike, should it?

 

[joerdie]

mabey the spike occured when some corals died durring the move. mabey the move didnt affect these deaths as much as using tap water though.

 

[footbag]

BOB,
What is the egg-crate for in the backround?

 

[squidd]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Yep I don't think he is gonna make it. ... Some things suffered when nitrAtes spikes because the plant life slowed down.
A good reason to have "multiple" or "redundant" filtration systems in place and running...ie. skimmers,large tub of RO/DI water for W/C,etc...No telling which one causes the reduction but at least one of them will...
N ow with the in tank and more active plant life nitrates are back to where they were before and hopefully headed lower. One thing at a time...
Kip Yep that's the way it will look once thenitrAtes re down. Give me a couple of months LOL.
In June 03 in a thread to me you had high "trates" and were hoping they would "trend down" ...a few months later they were higher because of "PLANT FAILURE" and you were hoping they were trending down...Now you have PLANT FAILURE again and your hoping nitrates are trending down...
It does not look to me like your 'essential plants" are working for you nor are your trates "trending down" they just keep bouncing around at unacceptable levels...
How can you honestly say "This is what works for me" when it is OBVIOUS that it does not...
I think a more correct statement would be that You are "HOPING" this works for you...

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Of course it will. you remove plant life, decrease lighting and so on so there is less plant activity then nitrates consumption will decrease. Either spiking nitrAtes or at lease slowing down the nitrAte decrease. Just as they spike when you add cleaner crews to eat the hair algae that had taken over a new system.
So then it is reasonable to say that relying on plant life to control your nitrates or to remove tap water pollutants is a very unstable method. It is also reasonable to conclude from your experience that a failure in plant life can cause coral death. Further, with you having two failures in a short amount of time it would also be reasonable to conclude plants (edit: when used as a single source filtration) potentially fail more frequently than mechanical filters. Is that a fair statement?

 

[joerdie]

???????

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
none of those filtration systems will consume nitrAtes.
A RO/DI will in fact remove nitrates... skimmers remove proteins that turn into nitrate. In both cases eliminating a portion of nitrates.

 

[reefnut]

Nothing here to support that. It obviously took a considerable amount of my interference to cause the failure of the plants. mechanical system wear out without intervention.What interference? Mechanical systems require maintenance yes...
plants
more waste= more plant growth=more filtering. Seems stable to me.
One "slow down" can cause more harm than a malfunctioning RO/DI filter.
mechanical:
more waste= clogged mechanical filters,= less filtering. not too stable.
Never has happened to me.
plants let them grow.
Then they will grow to the point they choke themselves causing mass die off.
mechanical filters: replacing filter media, cleaning, adjusting, checking.
Pretty simple.
Seems like a whole lot more to go wrong with mechanical means.
Based on your experience that doesn't seem to be the case.
edit: and yes plant slowdown can cause corals or fish to die. So it is better to have plants thriving than to not have plants thriving.
Just another reason not to solely rely on plant life to take care of your tank for you.

 

[reefnut]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Skimmers to remove proteins that reduce to ammonia and nitrates. If they cost $1.99 then they might be worth it. But at $150.00+ they are not. And again another mechanical thing that must be adjusted, maintained, and can fail. Buying a 75g instead of a 55g is a much better investment. To me all skimmers do is interfere with the biological filtration. The aerobic bacteria combined with plant action will reduce all wastes from even the heaviest bio load.
All opinions which we are all entitled to. My skimmer was 200+ and worth every penny.

 

[footbag]

read the instructions
What are those?

 

[reefnut]

my playing with the plants
:notsure: sound private to me... I wont ask.
So you never had to replace a filter pad?
Yes I have replaced filters... no they were never clogged causing less filtration.
You simply do not understand how plants work. They slow down their growth rate was nutrients are consumed. Then that mass jsut grows slower.
That's where your wrong. Remember... I have a very active fuge. If I do not remove the macros regularly they do in fact start to die off.
In case none has got the message yet, I have had more problems with mechanical filters than with any planted setup.
Sounds like the reason is you dislike maintaining things. Put a little effort out and you would have better luck.
Well i do have to put food in there also. But what i don't need is $1000 worth of stuff to adjust, maintain and fail on me.
I can understand money concerns. If you can not afford a nice skimmer and things there is nothing wrong with that. It does not give you the right to downgrade their importance to others.
I don't understand the lack of motivation to maintain the tank but to each his own...
edit: BTW bob, over 1000 views... that has to make you happy??

 

[squidd]

Originally posted by beaslbob
none of those filtration systems will consume nitrAtes.
Never said it would "consume" them...Just that the pr oven end result is lowered levels...
High nitrAtes in and of itself is not a failure.
If you claim "plants alone/tap water use" will reduce nitrates it sure is...
Again, even with these failures
So, you do see it...
Yes I am hoping the nitrates will go to 0.0 in my display...
that is the reason I advise the newbies to establish plant life... Why? Because of my experience.
But your *experience* does not show "trending down" of trates, nor do you have *experience* to recommend that "first establishing plant life" would be any better than your current "failures/wishful thinking"

 

[bang guy]

Interesting reading.
I just want to caution those who add Caulerpa to their system. We're not talking about a plant and they do behave differently than plants.
If Caulerpa runs low on nutrients it will not just slow growth. It will start to convert it's mass into gametes in preparation for a spawn. When this spawn happens most of the nutrients captured will be converted into tiny oxygen consuming swimming spores that look like pale green fog. This condition can be lethal if there was a lot of algae matter present and corrective action isn't taken.
This can easily be prevented by harvesting the algae on a regular basis. Some species are more prone to sporulation than others. I recommend several species instead of a lot of one specie and regular pruning of the oldest vines on the algae.
I've seen Halimeda sporulate but never Chaetomorpha. I'm pretty sure all of the Caulerpas will do this.

 

[reefnut]

Hey Guy, good to bring that up. I'm referring to Caulerpa. Will the Chaetomorpha grow to the point it chokes its self? Not going sexual but just dieing off? Seems to me any type of algae or plant could. They have a growth spurt and when the nutrients are used up they would start to die if you did not harvest them?? Maybe even the bottom layers dieing off because the top layers have filled in so think lighting is no longer getting through??