Luvmyreef's 180g Diary

luvmyreef

Active Member
Ok, just placed an order for tropic marin reef salt. Will be here in about a week due to the holiday. Tomorrow, I am gonna suction all I can find, including the back glass. Change out my carbon, due one large water change due to all I will be removing, and go from there. Thanks for the input spanko, appreciate it.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
You know, I was thinking that if it does work, I might start doing the whole NO WATER CHANGE THING. If I do, how do I go about it. What do I dose. Ca, Mg, etc?? Like Part A, B,? Any info?
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Well, it was too late yesterday to cancel my order, and it has just arrived. The little tailspot blenny is really cute. I am acclimating him to the 10g with the black clown. The clown is acting all weird, don't know if he likes having a buddy, or not. The corals are still in their bags, temp acclimating at the moment in the 180. Not sure what I am gonna do with them at this point. Lights have been off since yesterday, and the fish are very unhappy. I sure hope I can beat this, seeing this new little blenny makes me want to keep fighting this crap....I luv this hobby, so this really sucks...
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Any algae is caused by excess nutrients in the water column. Reduce and eliminate nitrate and phosphate and there will be no fuel source for the algae to grow. Look into meowsers stinky thread - she vaccuumed a part of her sand bed and got a bunch of excess nutrients out, and eventually her water quality will improve.
I say the best thing you can do right now is add an emergency algae scrubber made out of a 5g bucket suspended from above the tank. A properly built scrubber takes about a month to rid your tank of algaes, but it's well worth it, and will reduce and eliminate all excess nitrate and phosphate from the system. It will compete with your dinoflagellates and get rid of them. It's definitely worth a shot.
About the whole no water change thing:
I only do a water change once a year if I need it. It's not for everyone, but it's worth it to me. It all just depends on your filtration, salinity etc.
I use kalkwasser to make up for calcium and alkalinity when necessary. If calcium is out of balance, I use calcium chloride. If alkalinity is out of balance I use baking soda. If I need to add magnesium, I set a cup of epsom salt in my sump and let it dissolve. For trace elements, I dose a capfull or two of Kent's Essentials every now and then, but mainly for the iron supplement, which lets my algae scrubber grow really green.
 

spanko

Active Member
Hang in the Luvvy. Don't give in to wanting the lights on, just leave them off and see how things develop over the next days.
Does it look like there is any less today?
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
No worries spanko. Lights remain off. I can't really tell if there is a difference yet. And snake, my nitrates and phos have been zero since I started up this tank. I replaced the sand in front of the tank month or so ago. I feed once a day, rinsing my frozen mysis or brine really well. And of course the tangs get a daily algae sheet. I haven't added anything for the corals in months.
New stuff is acclimated and in place. Pics later.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I don't pay much attention to test kit readings anymore, lol. It might be zero, but that doesn't mean it's not present. Algae consumes it, giving you a false negative.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/378946/luvmyreefs-180g-diary/480#post_3436843
I don't pay much attention to test kit readings anymore, lol. It might be zero, but that doesn't mean it's not present. Algae consumes it, giving you a false negative.
Like I said, the readings have been zero since the beginning of this tank a year ago. After the cycle, I added my refugium, and that is when nitrates went to zero and stayed there. Dino's feed off of trace elements, etc. hence the whole no water change when trying to get rid of it. On another note, I had to turn on the lights for about 5 minutes this am so I could feed my fish. I don't like to let any animal go without eating for a whole day. Looks like I am starting to see an improvement on the rocks, and on the back glass. The sand in the back still has a slight orange coloration to it. Will keep the lights off another day and see how it goes. Cleaned the skimmer, because it had pulled a lot of dark brown waste out. From my readings, could be pulling out the dino that is in the water column. Same with the filter. So, some progress....yeah....:) But the battles continues.....
 

spanko

Active Member
Fish will find food lights or not if they are hungry.
Yes you are starting to see the skimmer and filter pull our the nasty stuff. Keep them light out, or on for 5 minute feeding if you feel you must but out the rest of the time.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Will do Spanko. I just worry about the anthias. I never saw them at all yesterday, and today they acted like they were starved when I fed them. Lights were on for only 5 min, if that. But I was able to evaluate the algae better. It is going away. I don't even run the refugium or moon lights. The refugium light would go into the tank unfortunately.
 
S

siptang

Guest
sorry to hear about your tank... i'm going through similar ordeals... T_T
Very depressed atm.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Hang in there siptang. We all have our good and bad days. You are not alone. Remember that. On a side note, my corals are not liking the lights out, and my dang ph has dropped to 7.8
!! Ugh!!! I am gonna crash this tank yet....
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
If you had an algae scrubber going full force, it would have kept your pH relatively stable, and removed some nutrients the dinoflagellates were using to grow. Just sayin' lol.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
That is probably true. Only thing I would have against algae scrubbers is this....they would stink. All algae stinks. Even refugiums stink. But if comes to that, I would consider doing one temporarily. I have only one problem that I can think of....My tank is not drilled. Where would I put it LOL. Will consider if the lights out doesnt work.
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Actually I am at work, and will not be home until 8pm tonight. So lights will remain out. I will update when I get home. Hopefully, it is gone. Last night, the sand in the back still had a light orange color on it. So I dunno...
 
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