Jim's 75

more algae tha I care to deal with

Algae bloom is in full swing now. Added 10 Scarlet Hermit Crabs - wanted 24 of the little critters, but apparently they are hard to get right now. Two of my three LFSs weren't able to get any this past week, and even Vivid Aquariums were out and didn't get the one's they ordered. Guess I'll try again next week.

My Spotted Cardinals are still doing well. The two Percula Clowns in the isolation tank are happy and show no signs of disease. I'll be adding them to the DT this coming Saturday.

Nitrates still holding steady at 10ppm - The Chaeto in the fuge doesn't seem to have changed this at all.

Put the sock back in and did a serious turkey baster dusting of all the rock yesterday. Also added ChemiPure to the sump yesterday - water this morning is sparkling. I will start my regiment of water changes next week and start focusing on my calc and alk - haven't tested for them yet.

Turned the second MH off. I have two of the Fiji rocks which are sprouting an algae which looks like green grass. I saw it posted somewhere as a macro, but can't find the post again. I'm hoping it's a macro, but only time will tell. Attached pic of the algae if anyone can ID.

 

scarlet hermit crab mowing algae

I was really concerned that the green algae would be a real nuisance, but after spending the better part of an hour trying to ID it, I found one of my scarlet hermit crabs has almost cleaned one of the rocks with it growing.

Let's here it for Mr. Hermit!!

 

WOW what a difference in cleanup!

I'm rather glad that I was not able to find additional Red Legged Hermits. Yesterday I added:

• Orangespot Diamond Goby (Valencienna strigata)
• Bristletooth Tomini Tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)
• Blue Tuxedo Urchin (Mespilia globulus)

WOW - what a difference these additions made. Overnight the Goby had the sand sparkling clean, and the Tang and Tuxedo Urchin did a major cleanup of algae on the rock and the back of the tank.

Today I started my weekly water changes and tank cleanings. I put the sock back in. I don't like the residue in the water falling out as it passes through the sump - leaving more for me to cleanup in more difficult places.

To date my Live Stock are:

Cleanup Crew:
12 Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.)
3 Astrea Snail (Astrea Tecta)
1 Blue Tuxedo Urchin (Mespilia globulus)
10 Red Leg Hermit Crab (Paguristes cadenati)
1 Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)

Fish:
1 Orangespot Diamond Goby (Valencienna strigata)
1 Bristletooth Tomini Tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)
2 Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion percula)
2 Spotted Cardinal (Sphaeramia nematoptera)

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So far everyone is a happy pappy!! I'll let the tank settle out overnight and do my water parameters tests in the morning. I'm going to try my hand at taking and posting a short video after the lights come on.

A side note - The final addition of the Tang/Goby/Urchin prompted me to turn on both Metal Halides just so everyone will have enough food.

 

sounds like your doing a awesome job....... can't waite to see some more pics....

 

New Pics and parameters

I did do a video - honest I did. But it's been so long since I used my video software, I have to go back and learn it all over again (Adobe Premier). So instead I have included some pics.

Water params:
Salinity - 1.0235 <- borderline for corals
Amonia - 0
Nitirites - 0
Nitrates - 0
Phosphates - 0
Calcium - 400 ppm <- borderline for corals
Carbonate Hardness (KH) - 7dKH - 125.3 ppm KH <- Again borderline
Temp (last 24 hrs.) 76.8 - 78.1
PH (last 24 hrs. ) 8.06 - 8.08 <- Again borderline

I was unable to measure my Iodine because the kit I bought from Marine Depot was missing the stoppers - It'll be interesting to see what they do about this one.

I'm not sure why, but I seem to be having an increase in micro bubbles after the major maintenance I did yesterday - but it does appear to be decreasing.

I'm really pleased at the progress of the tank. Five weeks and three days, and it's looking really good. Now if I can just keep it on track.

Next week I plan on adding a Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)

And now for the PICS:

 

And the last 3 pics

The one at the end is a behind the rocks shot - upside down of course.

 

Added last of fish today

Added:

• 1 Purple Firefish Goby (Nemateleotris decora)
• 2 Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
• 1 Tricolor Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki)

Fish population is now:

• 1 Orangespot Diamond Goby (Valencienna strigata)
• 1 Bristletooth Tomini Tang (Ctenochaetus tominiensis)
• 2 Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion percula)
• 2 Spotted Cardinal (Sphaeramia nematoptera)
• 1 Purple Firefish Goby (Nemateleotris decora)
• 2 Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
• 1 Tricolor Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus lubbocki)

With the exception of the Tang, all fish are small so the bio load on the tank should not be that high.

I'll let the tank cook for a week or two and then start shopping for corals, mushrooms, etc.

So far it appears that the Tang is the only messy fish of the bunch, but he sure does keep the rock clean.

I would have thought I would have more coraline algae by now, but it sure is slow in growing. Very few small patches.

Mixing water for tomorrow's change. Mix and cook . . .

 

Update 01/31

Because of the layout of my sump/fug, there is an area on the overflow side from the protein skimmer which has a plastic cover with many holes for the water to drip through. When I received the sump/fug, this area was filled with bio balls which I quickly discarded because of all the posts I read indicating they were nitrate traps. Well I've been reading posts from some of the more experienced aquarium keepers here who say that isn't the case.

To make a long story short, I've been fighting micro bubbles from the skimmer from the beginning. I finally put a sponge between the above mentioned chamber and the pump return chamber and solved the problem. Needless to say a sponge needs regular cleaning. Not so with bio balls - and they are excellent bubble disbursers. Removed my sponge and replaced it with bio balls and wa lah bubble issue is resolved with a better solution.

Tank Params this week (day after water change):

Salinity 1.0235 (can't seem to get this to rise)
Ammonio 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
Phosphates 0
Iodine 0.06
Calcium 480
Alk 7.0 (125.30
Ph 8.06 - 8.10 (past 24 hrs)
Temp 77.3 - 78.1 (past 24 hrs)

I must say that I was surprised the the calcium level was higher. I'm using SeaChem Reef Salt because I had read on several forums that other users didn't have to dose calcium after switching to it. Perhaps it is true . Although I don't have and corals yet. I'll see after I start adding them. Bear in mind I'm only changing four gallons a week - that's 6.7% of my water volume.

 

A lesson learned

Took the sock out after last Saturday's water change (2/6). At the same time, I replaced the Chemi-Pure with activated carbon. I followed the instructions for preparing the carbon using a 300 Micron filter media bag and rinsing the carbon until the water was clean and one final soak/wash in RO/DI water.

When I fired the system back up, all was well. Nothing unusual observed as a result of the changes. Three days later, I noticed that I was having a green algae bloom. I observe the functions of the equipment daily, and had not noticed anything unusual. I thought the bloom might be a result of more materials being recycled as a result of removing the sock, and was just a spike. Last night I noticed that the green algae was turning black in some areas. I gave the equipment a closer inspection and also observed that the capture cup for my skimmer had also turned black. Looking at it closer, I noticed that it wasn't skimming any more. The bubbles were there, but they weren't going up into the chamber of the cup. Looking at my refugium I found that all my macro algae was dying and also had a black hue.

Bottom line - the black diamond carbon was leaching small dust size particles. I removed the carbon, put the sock back in added a layer of filter floss to the return from the skimmer chamber and did a super cleaning of the skimmer. I also started up my spare circulation pump and kicked the MP40 to max. Grabbed the turkey baster and spent the next hour going back and forth from one end of the tank to the other blasting what I could off the rock.

Surprisingly the sand doesn't appear to be affected by this. The Phosphate filter media has also turned black, so I will need to remove and replace the media and clean the equipment. I'll also have to tear down the UV and give it a thourough cleaning. I suspect I may have to take a tooth brush to the rock if the baster blasting doesn't do the job.

It will probably take a week of due diligence of the cleaning process to get the tank back to where it was. Needless to say that I will not be using any more black diamond carbon in my tank. Chemi-Pure is more expensive, but a lot less anxiety than what I am going through.

I haven't lost any fish yet, although I haven't seen my Tricolor Fairy Wrasse for several days. Doesn't even show up at feeding time. I'm thrilled that I haven't added any corals yet. I'm sure this incident would have wiped them out. To me this is the perfect example of why we should go slow with our tanks. I had planned on purchasing my first corals this weekend, but I think I'll wait until my tank is at least three months old and stable before I start the additions.

 

Where did you put your carbon. Carbon is soft, you can't beat it up with a bunch of flow for it to tumble. Reactors are much more efficient and hold the carbon.

I can understand the carbon being caught in all the algae, but do not see it as the cause for the bloom or the malfunction of your skimmer.