Water on the floor

xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
So I purchased 2 koralia magnum 7 powerheads. Awesome powerheads! So I install them, check the flow and call it a night. I wake up in the morning and there is about 1/2 a cup of water on the floor around my tank!!!!
The pumps are so strong that once they settled in they were actually creating 2-3" waves inside the tank. Mind you its 8' long. So of course I'm freaking out when I walk in thinking that some seam is busted somewhere. It was actually pushing a wave up against the black trim around the tank and the trim not being water tight was dripping about 1 drop every minute from the splash.
Needless to say it put a calm in me to simply turn off the powerheads as I was leaving for work in 20 minutes. Then I look over the tank, the powerheads have almost covered my plate coral and started to push sand towards my expensive zoas!!!! Now im rushing in the tank to uncover everything and finish getting ready for work.
So lesson of the day, NEVER make changes to your tank, 1 - late at night, 2 - whenever you cannot spend a considerable amount of time to watch the effects!
Nothing died in my tank, and the water on the floor was minimal, however, I can't help but think what if.
BTW! A friend of mine has 2 of these same powerheads in a 125 and no problems, so im thinking I just need to find a sweet spot. I placed them like I did due to coral placement, but I'll be moving things around soon.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Woah! That's amazing that they have that much flow. Cool. I hate that a little water leaked out. You just might have to do that.
I still can't get over how beautiful your tank is. If you would, could you show us another pic of your tank in this thread when you get the chance? maybe powerhead related?? lol
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Which one are you talking about the 80 or the 240? I will work on gathering some pictures to post.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xcali1985 http:///t/390369/water-on-the-floor#post_3456467
So lesson of the day, NEVER make changes to your tank, 1 - late at night, 2 - whenever you cannot spend a considerable amount of time to watch the effects!
LOL...I used to work nights, and that was my daytime even on the weekends. So I would like to add.
NEVER work on your tank in the middle of the night when all the stores are closed. Everyrtime you putz with your tank...something to anything can and will go wrong...it could be a major leak or spill, you may need premixed water because no time to mix your own and wait for it to dissolve, or something as small as a washer to stop a small leak from becoming a flood.
So if the stores are closed...don't touch it.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Yes, I broke the rule of 2 clowns. I had 5 and they played along very well. Sold them as they didn't play along so nicely with me and it got super annoying.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
I have to ask...how in the world do you keep the tank so clean? I see coraline only on the rocks and NOTHING else...my power heads are covered, and I have dots on my side glass, and on the back...forget about it. It looks like your tank was just set up yesterday and a ton of coral was set in place for a picture...how did you manage that?
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Ohh boy!
It's not a simple answer, i guess....
- 20% water changes every 2 weeks.
- Stir the top of the sand on 1st water change and top gravel vac on the second (just a tap along the top, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 deep)
- Wipe the glass every 2 days
- Scrape the glass once a week (with the back, I scraped when I first set up, now it has a kind of slime layer on it and coraline algae doesnt stick to it. IDK, I like the always black background, makes the colors pop! I do get spots every now and again, as you can see in a few pics, but I scrape them off at the next maintenance.)
- Flow, well this probably helps in keeping the coraline down on the glass, my flow is directed towards the sand and towards the rocks, coraline needs flow to spread, I simply deny it that. I do angle the flow into the caves and such but not along the glass and such.
- My powerheads I clean them once a month, remove them before maintenance and place in freshwater until all is cleaned, then I simply take a cloth and wipe them down. I'm not a big fan of powerheads to begin with as I don't like the equipment look, however, with the correct maintenance they should be fine. I have seen them covered in algae also, never understood why people don't clean them more than once every 3 or for months, the more junk on them the less flow they provide.
My 240 is the same way, I hardly ever get any algae on the glass, I don't believe in smaller water changes, as this is a process that stresses the livestock, I have seen where people do 10 percent weekly, I think that's too often, unless you are fighting a problem. I also have heard of people doing monthly 50% changes or around that level. I also think that's super stressful.
Im a little OCD and if I had a tank covered in algae I would almost be tempted to start scrubbing it like no other, so I basically prevent problems, by getting rid of problems through prevention, especially the mechanical kind.
Ohh also, I have always ran a refugium, now that looks like crap, but that's where you want the junk to end up at, I never clean that area. I pull some algae here and there that's it.
No of what I said is based on too much fact, however, I now have kept 2 successful reefs with minimal algae problems, and very few deaths. I have only lost 1 coral and it was a pink zoa coral. It was there one day and slimed the next, possible predator, not sure.
 
desertdawg

desertdawg

Member
Awesome looking tank !!!
While I don't do very many water changes with an algae scrubber, I do still try to keep my tank looking clean.
I do have one small area of diatoms on the sand and a little red slime algae on a rock or two, I;m working on these two issues but they really don't detract from the look.
I'm still trying to get some coraline growing, but with fewer water changes I've started buffering for low PH readings so I'm hoping that helps...
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Ok, here's the 240!
Like I said with the LEDs it's hard to get good pictures, and I had to take with the iphone as I can't find my memory card adapter.










 
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