Poseidons Saltwater Endeavors

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

blah... stupid cyano... cant seem to get rid of this stuff even though my levels are perfectly fine

 

[Salty Cracker]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

How old are your bulbs?

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

How old are your bulbs?

Mh less than 5 months and 2 t5 less than 5 months and 2 t5s I don't really know
But the cyano is only in that one spot

I'm
Going to try a few things:
Syphon the sand, turkey Bast all the rocks off, get rid of the macro algae in my sump.
Try increase the flow abit towards to bottom of the tank

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

what about if i syphoned a good inch off the sand bed? would that help ?

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Some over on the reef tank suggested/ blamed my cyano issues on my bio pellets:... Does this have any grounding?

 

[KBennett]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Yes.  Cyano is bacteria.  The whole point of biopellets is to give bacteria a carbon source so it can grow.  Unfortunately it feeds the cyano too a bit. 

I put some vinegar in my tank with kalkwasser a couple weeks ago.  Now I have pretty thick cyano growing on my sandbed in a couple of places.

Most references I have seen say that when they add the biopellets, they get cyano for a little while and then it goes away. 

Here's hoping!

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Yes.  Cyano is bacteria.  The whole point of biopellets is to give bacteria a carbon source so it can grow.  Unfortunately it feeds the cyano too a bit. 

I put some vinegar in my tank with kalkwasser a couple weeks ago.  Now I have pretty thick cyano growing on my sandbed in a couple of places.

Most references I have seen say that when they add the biopellets, they get cyano for a little while and then it goes away. 

Here's hoping!

Thing is, I've had the bio pellets running for the lifespan of the tank, a little under a year, about a month ago I did ad about 150ml though

 

[KBennett]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

At one point, I had black, green, and red cyano.  I did the lights out for 72 hours thing.  cleared it right up.  Only a little red cyano like yours came back a couple months later.  Be careful of blowing it into other areas.  I blew it off a rock and now it's in my sand bed.

 

[nexusnight]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

increase the flow in that area.... always worked for me. So far I havnt seen any in my tank but its still pretty fresh. your tanks lookin great by the way

 

[monizb]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Syphon as much as u can make sure there is non in sump like I said run microbackter 7 first day run skimmer off for 4 hrs then run tank normal after  that I dose once a week now and its amazing never been happy

Samsung s3

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

so ive discovered what i think to be my issue, test kit problems** led me to believe my po4 was 0, while it most certainly is not, leading to cyano and some browning, the only thing i changed was my bio pellets, i changed from a fast flowing 150 , to a slow boil in a 550,
this is the only thing i can think of that has changed, as my water changes and gfo changes have all been on time. ( i also did start running carbon, but that shouldnt be related at all ... )

so i purchased a mag 5 and hooked it up to increase my flow, the vid below is what it is doing with the mag 5 full out, should i go  for more? i do have a mag 7 i can utilize... let me know what you guys think, could really use your opinion on this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keIhW0weqTg



** hanna phosphate reagents 'apparently' go bad, i was getting 0.00 with expired ones, i put in a new reagent and it read 0.08, naturally i flipped out and did it 3 times and i got 0.08-0.10 every time,
then i used and old expire reagent again and i got 0.00.....

 

[KBennett]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

How old is your Di resin?

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

How old is your Di resin?

di resin is changed out on schedule and tds is always 0,
my last di change was 2 weeks ago, and there is 0 po4 in my change up water, i test it frequently

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Was hoping to get some opinions on the tumbling rate in the vid, anyone ?

 

[Reef Hero]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Are you still reading 0 in your rodi water and new saltwater mix when using the newer not expired reagents?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[harleymike]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

I had all kinds of cyno for about 2 months. Then it just disappeared.
I added a mixed clean up crew about he same time, and cut  back on feedings. Don't know if that has anything to do with it.

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Are you still reading 0 in your rodi water and new saltwater mix when using the newer not expired reagents?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

yup, as soon as i found out i retested everything, still zero,

i placed a powerhead by the main trouble spot, adjusted the flow on the bio pellets and added new carbon,
most of the cyano's gone, with the exception of a few 1x1'' patches on the sand,
should i add more flow to the bio pellet reactor?

 

[jroovers]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

[quote author=Reef Hero link=topic=3486.msg67478#msg67478 date=1384061330]
Are you still reading 0 in your rodi water and new saltwater mix when using the newer not expired reagents?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

yup, as soon as i found out i retested everything, still zero,

i placed a powerhead by the main trouble spot, adjusted the flow on the bio pellets and added new carbon,
most of the cyano's gone, with the exception of a few 1x1'' patches on the sand,
should i add more flow to the bio pellet reactor?
[/quote]

In my experience, more flow in the reactor (or more pellets) means more carbon in the system which equals more cyano.  That is my system though.  Also, I find my cyano shows up where I have the best lighting for it (e.g. where it isn't shaded), and is actually in an area that is moderate in terms of flow.  So I'm not sure adding a powerhead actually eliminates the source of the problem.  I am in the process of removing my shallow sand bed, with each water change I've been suctioning out as much substrate as possible.  My sand bed is about three years old and especially in the areas I have trouble reaching, there is a ton of gunk in there.  I'm hoping this will eliminate the minor cyano issues I've been having.

 

[Poseidon]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

[quote author=Poseidon link=topic=3486.msg67558#msg67558 date=1384143807]
[quote author=Reef Hero link=topic=3486.msg67478#msg67478 date=1384061330]
Are you still reading 0 in your rodi water and new saltwater mix when using the newer not expired reagents?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

yup, as soon as i found out i retested everything, still zero,

i placed a powerhead by the main trouble spot, adjusted the flow on the bio pellets and added new carbon,
most of the cyano's gone, with the exception of a few 1x1'' patches on the sand,
should i add more flow to the bio pellet reactor?
[/quote]

In my experience, more flow in the reactor (or more pellets) means more carbon in the system which equals more cyano.  That is my system though.  Also, I find my cyano shows up where I have the best lighting for it (e.g. where it isn't shaded), and is actually in an area that is moderate in terms of flow.  So I'm not sure adding a powerhead actually eliminates the source of the problem.  I am in the process of removing my shallow sand bed, with each water change I've been suctioning out as much substrate as possible.  My sand bed is about three years old and especially in the areas I have trouble reaching, there is a ton of gunk in there.  I'm hoping this will eliminate the minor cyano issues I've been having.
[/quote]

I'm toying with the idea of reducing my send bed to a mere 1" or so, but I'm worried that my rocks will start shifting when I do this... Considering my island aquascape...

I also believe another issue is my system doesn't turn over as much water as I want it to, I only have 1- 1.5" drain, that's it... But that's something I can't and won't be doing to much about, but def something I'll be keeping in mind the next tank I get.

 

[curiousphil]

Re: 150g Peninsula Mixed Reef

Was hoping to get some opinions on the tumbling rate in the vid, anyone ?

Your biopellets seem to be tumbling the exact same way mine are.  I'm also using a TLF 550, powered by an MJ1200.  I modified the 550 slightly though.

Below the bottom plate I stuck a piece of tube into the bottom of the tube that I drilled 4 times.  At the very bottom, two perpendicular drill holes that create an outlet every 90 degrees, and just above that set of holes, an identical set of holes offset 45 degrees.  The bottom of my 550 is conical, not sure if all are.  So the end effect of this is that instead of having one hole at the bottom of the reactor that just hits the bottom and goes up, is 9 holes that hit the conical bottom and go up in a much more dispersed manner.  If you do want to create more flow, this would be a simple way to do it without bumping up your pump size.