new 40g breader tank

wallie03

wallie03

Member
Hi, all just wanted to post some pictures of my new 40g breeder tank and give some info...ask a couple questions and get some input I just upgraded from my 30g Nanocube .. I used all the live rock,water and about two cups of my live sand and replaced the rest of it with new sand all corals came from the cube as well. as far as filtration I'm running a reef octopus BH-2000 and a AquaFuge2 Large 25.5" with some algae in the back its an extra 5g of water, as far as flow I have 2, koralia nano 425 and a 750 on a smart wave controller. And for lighting I'm running a Reef Brite Halide Hybrid 250w and 2 led acinic strips suspended about 12" off the water.. I make my own water using a RO/DI unit and I use tropic marine pro-reef salt mix. at a 36ppm tank stays between 79-80.5f all my levels seem to be great calcium 450-500 PH 8.2 nitrate reads 0 nitrite 0 and my phos is not detectable however i seem to be dealing with a lot of cyno issues I suspect is the reason i am not seeing any detectable levels i do run carbon and Purigen. the algae seems to just be on the sand bed its kind of a stringy brown mat... not sure if this is a little cycle or what the tank has been up for around a month and it just started a few days ago i did a 20% water change and siphon it all out but it was back a day later i do weekly water changes of 15-20g. i don't feel like i over feed i rinse my frozen food and typically feed ever other day and i use marine snow 2-3 times a week. any help with this issue would be appreciated. let me know what you guys thing and if you need any other info..
2- clowns
1- flame hawk fish
1- banggai cardinal fish
various snails about 10-20 and 4 hermits



 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
It is probably the marine snow causing the algae growth. I would turn off pumps when feeding the snow and try target feeding coral. Also age of your bulbs?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
That looks more like Dinoflagillates vs Cyanobacter. If it's decreased significantly in the morning after the lights have been off then you're right, it's Cyano.
I see nothing to worry about. Your sand bed has no critters but I will assume your old one did so the seeding you did should eventually populate your new sand bed. If you want to speed it up you can buy some freshly harvested live sand. The premium sand they sell here is pretty good. It's typically only 24 - 48 hours from being on the sea floor.
In regard to the marine snow, it's basically 99.9% water with some broken up bits of algae added. I don't see any reason it would contribute to your issue but I really don't see any reason for you to waste all that money buying it either.
Just for curiosity, what's the TDS reading of your RO/DI water?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
I see you have the Octopus BH-2000. This is the same skimmer I want. Will you answer me one question? What is the height required to remove the collection cup while hanging on the tank? Thanks.
 
O

osprey440

Guest
What is the name of the macro algae you have growing in your refugium?
 
wallie03

wallie03

Member
It is probably the marine snow causing the algae growth. I would turn off pumps when feeding the snow and try target feeding coral. Also age of your bulbs?
The bulbs are brand new 2 months old
That looks more like Dinoflagillates vs Cyanobacter.  If it's decreased significantly in the morning after the lights have been off then you're right, it's Cyano.
I see nothing to worry about.  Your sand bed has no critters but I will assume your old one did so the seeding you did should eventually populate your new sand bed.  If you want to speed it up you can buy some freshly harvested live sand.  The premium sand they sell here is pretty good.  It's typically only 24 - 48 hours from being on the sea floor.
In regard to the marine snow, it's basically 99.9% water with some broken up bits of algae added.  I don't see any reason it would contribute to your issue but I really don't see any reason for you to waste all that money buying it either.
Just for curiosity, what's the TDS reading of your RO/DI water?
Thanks bang my Tds meter that's on it says 0 out and 11 going in... I just ordered a Hanna low range checker it will be here Saturday.. My rodi unit is from brs it's only been up for about 5 months with a total of about 500g made give or take .. Is there any way to figure out if its dyno vs cyno
It looks like Caulerpa taxifolia. +1 that's exactly what it is
 
wallie03

wallie03

Member
I'm cutting my lighting down a bit ... Don't want to run a black out because of the sps in this system... I'm not going to feed for a week and continue to pull as much of it out as possible and continue weekly water change any other suggestions
 
wallie03

wallie03

Member
I'm supper bummed i think it may be Dinoflagillates it looks like most of the pictures i have seen .. also i noticed some in my refugium that looks red/purple growing on the Caulerpa with some bubbles trapped in it as well ... there doesn't seem to be any on the LR just the sand in the DT it is brown and defiantly matted stringy in high flow eras.. I don't see any air bubbles trapped in the matted ares in the DT ... should i remove this manually daily by hand .... more frequent water changes ? i only have api test kits at the moment until i get my Hanna checker in i wont know if my source water is where its coming from that's assuming it is elevated phosphates that are causing it
ph-8.2
p04-0ppm
No2-0ppm
No3-0ppm
KH-9 161.1 ppm
Ca2-520+ppm
salinity was a little high tonight due to evap bounced up to 38ppm ( added top off) down to 36ppm if i had salinity swings like this thought the day would this cause outbreaks i want to get an ATO but funds are tight
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
If it were me I wouldn't be super concerned at this stage of your tanks maturity. I wouldn't dim the lights. I would increase waterflow across the sand and siphon out as much Dino as possible. I wouldn't change anything else unless the issue wasn't resolved in a couple of weeks.
 
wallie03

wallie03

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bang Guy http:///t/394692/new-40g-breader-tank#post_3513195
If it were me I wouldn't be super concerned at this stage of your tanks maturity. I wouldn't dim the lights. I would increase water flow across the sand and siphon out as much Dino as possible. I wouldn't change anything else unless the issue wasn't resolved in a couple of weeks.
Thanks bang, I'm not even sure if it is Dino ...i removed as much of it as i could by hand yesterday and this morning there was very little in the tank and tonight there was a bit more nothing stringy just brown and matted in some low flow eras and there are no bubbles like i see in all the Dino pictures.. i got my phos checker in and both my DT and RODI is reading 0.00.. i tested my water out of the tap and it read 0.32 so i guess its working I'm making up some new water to do a water change on Sunday.. I will post pics again on Sunday before i do the WC to hopefully help identify what i actually have.. Thanks for your input
 
wallie03

wallie03

Member
Well it was back with a vengeance today sucked all i could see and blasted of all my rock work .. I guess I will just continue to remove it when it pops up see how it goes for the next few weeks here are some more pictures some areas where starting to turn red/purple i have also notice a few air bubbles in it as well .. once again thanks for everyone's input


 
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