:-(" :-(" :-("
Just kidding, but this is as close to a high 5 as we have smileys for… slap-stick slap-stick
Seriously your little tank gooks great. How is operation nitrate reduction going??? You would think the hair algae would eat that stuff up.
Did you start the small daily water changes? Everything looks fantastic, glad both clowns are playing in the nem.
Thanks for humoring me guys :BEER
i made it through 3 small water changes, and have a 4th on standby. I ended up doing 5g about every 2-3 days.
also i haven’t had the skimmer running for about a month… nitrates are down to 20… brown algae is up to a maximum … I just keep thinking somethings gotta kick in and consume these nitrates soon… i mean damn, i only have a pair of clowns… and only feed 1 cube of mysis weekly, and a few pinches of dry food here and there…
I feel your pain on the nitrates bro. The cheato, and regular water changes have been doing a good job of slowly getting my nitrates down from 40ppm to 10ppm…seem to be holding at 10ppm for now, which I’m totally fine with for now. Any update on the hair algae? Decent CUC in there? Go buy the Kole tang at DPA and once he’s done mowing the lawn in your tank, I’ll buy em off ya and put him in my 90! Semi-serious 
saltcreep, which LEDs are you using?
I have found green corals color up crazily with my ebay LED’s compared to those running T5’s.
[quote=“Faralon, post:104, topic:5824”]
I feel your pain on the nitrates bro. The cheato, and regular water changes have been doing a good job of slowly getting my nitrates down from 40ppm to 10ppm…seem to be holding at 10ppm for now, which I’m totally fine with for now. Any update on the hair algae? Decent CUC in there? Go buy the Kole tang at DPA and once he’s done mowing the lawn in your tank, I’ll buy em off ya and put him in my 90! Semi-serious :D[/quote]
The H/A has been replaced by brown crap now verdict_in but a change in the cycle is good. about 10 snails, and an emerald crab are in there… i may add a few more snails :
:
chateo has always been in the fuge, but it gets out-grown by the other macros…
and no more fish… it’s strictly for the clowns…
[quote=“jtnova13, post:105, topic:5824”]
saltcreep, which LEDs are you using?
I have found green corals color up crazily with my ebay LED’s compared to those running T5’s.[/quote] My light does make greens look amazing also :
: the light i have seems like an ebay-ish item… and not in a bad way… well made, GREAT color and easy mounting, nice removable cords, two power cords for seperate "blue/white dusk/ dawn, and it has 420’s and a few red and greens… not much growth to speak of yet… no sps in there… but the crocea clam has grown since adding the light. for about $170 i think… they’re a great deal imo.
here’s johnHB’s thread about the same light http://delreefclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=28&topic=6660.0 I removed the optics from mine, but the led chip still has a little dome lens on it… great par readings also
although… i may be a little biased, i’m still smiling over winning my light at the meeting YahoO
Is your tank still cycling John? any idea why it went from HA to brown crap? are the CUC helping any?
what do you mean/ i thought it was so good, i came over to see the tank! and drop some skittles.
[quote=“reefman66, post:107, topic:5824”]
Is your tank still cycling John? any idea why it went from HA to brown crap? are the CUC helping any?[/quote]
I’m not sure A, everything seems good but the nitrates ::
the cuc helps a little…
[quote=“kaptken, post:108, topic:5824”]
what do you mean/ i thought it was so good, i came over to see the tank! and drop some skittles.[/quote]
:
: thanks again Ken, all the skittels look great… and the brown background really makes the colors pop ::
John, dosing anything? Phosphate removal,bio-pellets, anything that may be adding to a bacterial bloom?
Have you ever checked the nitrate level in your w/c water? Just wondering
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:110, topic:5824”]
John, dosing anything? Phosphate removal,bio-pellets, anything that may be adding to a bacterial bloom?[/quote]
no craig, but i have some gfo that i need to put in the reactor. i have a sock of chemi pure … i think thats the name, ken turned me onto a jar of it. also a sock of carbon…
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:111, topic:5824”]
Have you ever checked the nitrate level in your w/c water? Just wondering[/quote]
funny john, i double checked that a couple of weeks ago, 0 tds also… nuthin there. when i set up the big tank a few years back i was testing nitrates in every batch of w/c water… it was a bit obsessive but testing through a couple season changes i never saw any trace of nitrates. wish i could find something though.
I think this dsb plenum just needs more time to mature, and i think some more flow in the DT would benefit as well.
I’m not discouraged, i just turkey baste, and tooth brush it real quick, wash out the sock and it cleans up in 10 minutes… little tank has its benefits ::
[quote=“saltcreep, post:112, topic:5824”]
I think this dsb plenum just needs more time to mature, and i think some more flow in the DT would benefit as well.[/quote]
I think that’s your troubles right there John. The plenum does need more time to mature and the flow does help with transffering oxygen to the sand bed. It does mention it in Bob Goeman little hand book.
Well i haven’t done much with the tank lately, and i attended my first meeting after missing the last two in a row.
Craig requested a live update at the meeting, but i didn’t want to brag about my algae farming skills ::
basically 2 months ago the clowns started being hosted by the sabae anenome. A week later i added a larger powerhead (in the morning)… all seemed ok, and the nem was still getting roughly the same flow… so i thought… until the 2nd night after the new P/H addition i was up at 3am and noticed white crap swirling in the tank (lights off it was hard to tell) at a closer look i saw a large chunk on the p/h… another look and the clowns are in the flower pot… NO NEM THERE! so i put the tank lights on, turn off all pumps, and started scooping floating chunks out with the net. there wasn’t much of the nem left on the powerhead… a fitty-cent sized piece that never moved or showed signs of life.
After that, i cleaned the sock, put new gfo and carbon in… and haven’t touched it since, except to turn the lights off/on and top it off. It pretty much pissed me off, discouraged me, and had me cussin the hobby…
I still love my clowns, them and a crocea clam are the only things that are doing great in the tank… softies and a bubble coral look so-so…an my gbta’s have been shrunken all tiny since the nem in a blender episode.
I’m gonna test the nitrates here in a minute for the 1st time in months… and need to get kh and Ca kits.
The brown algae and HA have been growing like MAD…I don’t feed much except a pinch or two of dry food for the clowns every other day… there’s plenty of live mysid shrimp they munch on in-between…
I dunno, ever since my big tank went down hill ( to put it nicely), and for what exact reason i have no clue, I gave up on the 125 awhile ago and focused on this small system…can’t get it right either… i’ll get some test numbers posted within a couple days, and hopefully find something that needs tweeking… a w/c is needed also… I’d like to get this setup growing soon so i can take advantage,and have fun grabbing some goodies at the swap!
John, having a small tank for several years now I can tell you they are a blessing and a curse, easy to work on yes but also very susceptible to even minor changes.
The best thing you can do for a small tank is run a good GAC ROX.08 or Matrix and change it weekly.
That Nem going through the powerhead is trouble, you will need to change carbon out several times to get those pollutants out
[quote=“Hudzon, post:115, topic:5824”]
That Nem going through the powerhead is trouble, you will need to change carbon out several times to get those pollutants out[/quote]
yep, that and all the feces in there really polluted it… feces you ask? I was so angry that i sat in the corner like a primate, just growling and hurling poo at the tank
LOCO<
[quote=“saltcreep, post:116, topic:5824”]
[quote=“Hudzon, post:115, topic:5824”]
That Nem going through the powerhead is trouble, you will need to change carbon out several times to get those pollutants out[/quote]
yep, that and all the feces in there really polluted it… feces you ask? I was so angry that i sat in the corner like a primate, just growling and hurling poo at the tank
LOCO<[/quote]
Yup, know the feeling John. If it wasn’t for the animals in the tank, i would have smashed that darn tank and put it out of its misery.