Saltgator's 240 Build

Aquaph8 · Apr 6, 2014

The mag thing works great for hair algae but its only the Kent brand techMag, not so much the mag itself but a bi-product of that specific mag product.

Yeah its all part of the cycle, the fun part is now removing all of what the PO4 has caused. I like to think the more algae you remove the more PO4 you remove. But the algae is masking the PO4 at this point, its still high just the algae consumed it and the test isnt reading it.

schooleyosis · Apr 6, 2014

Feeding habits? It took me months to fight my algae once I started running GFO and cut my feedings drastically

Saltgator · Apr 6, 2014

schooleyosis said:
Feeding habits? It took me months to fight my algae once I started running GFO and cut my feedings drastically

Aquaph8 said:
The mag thing works great for hair algae but its only the Kent brand techMag, not so much the mag itself but a bi-product of that specific mag product.

Yeah its all part of the cycle, the fun part is now removing all of what the PO4 has caused. I like to think the more algae you remove the more PO4 you remove. But the algae is masking the PO4 at this point, its still high just the algae consumed it and the test isnt reading it.

Thanks guys. I'm gonna start removing the junk this week. I ain't really to happy the way the dt looks. 2 cubes of Mysis every 3rd day, nori on off days.

Reefing Madness · Apr 7, 2014

HOLY COW!!
I would't have stopped dosing, looks as if you were pulling it outta the rock. Might wanna get that back up. Ya gots HA and Green Cyano goin on there. But, if your running a ATS, then that will strip the system of PO4, not to worry there. But, what are you Nitartes reading during all this? Once the system has pulled out the PO4 from the rocks, you'll be back in the clear.

Saltgator · Apr 7, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
HOLY COW!!
I would't have stopped dosing, looks as if you were pulling it outta the rock. Might wanna get that back up. Ya gots HA and Green Cyano goin on there. But, if your running a ATS, then that will strip the system of PO4, not to worry there. But, what are you Nitartes reading during all this? Once the system has pulled out the PO4 from the rocks, you'll be back in the clear.

Thanks for looking. I started back @ 4 caps of seaklear right before I pm'd you. The ats isn't that spectacular, but appears to be growing. Not sure on the no3, test are reading zero (which I'm not really believing). How will the seaklear and a beginning ats react together?

Reefing Madness · Apr 7, 2014

Ah kinda roughly, ya need to start bringing down the dosing weekly until your at 0.

Saltgator · Apr 7, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
Ah kinda roughly, ya need to start bringing down the dosing weekly until your at 0.

Cool. I appreciate it.

Saltgator · Apr 16, 2014

Do you guys think these (pics above) are dinos? They continue to come back each day after I blow off the rocks. Plus it's thriving on all my pumps. But my 4 zebra turbos do occasionally mow thru a bit on the walls and my 2 rabbits pick at it occasionally.

This weekend's plan is to remove every rock and siphon 3/4 of the water out and replace with new. I'm also going to switch out my di resin. Being that I'm on a well, I'm considering silicate too.

I'm losing sps left and right, it's getting to the point of beyond fustrated.

schooleyosis · Apr 16, 2014

It's got bubbles in it so I don't think it would dinos... You might be on the right track that it's silicates though...

I would just stick with your normal cleaning duties, put the GFO back online. Between the GFO and the ATS I think in time it will slowly go away. It's not going to happen overnight.

It stinks about the sps but for now get your nuisance algae under control and then get back into sps once it has cleared up. It's such a large system that its going to take a lot of time to clear up. With diligence, patience, and careful observation I know you can get through this! Keep fighting the good battle.

Saltgator · Apr 16, 2014

You think the 3/4 WC is good or bad Ryan?

schooleyosis · Apr 16, 2014

I wouldn't do one that large. Maybe 50%... I'd let the GFO and ATS do their things. Measure P04 weekly so you know when to change the GFO.

Saltgator · Apr 16, 2014

schooleyosis said:
I wouldn't do one that large. Maybe 50%... I'd let the GFO and ATS do their things. Measure P04 weekly so you know when to change the GFO.

That's just the thing, po4 is reading low at 0.02 via hanna, even though I'm sure it's false because of this junk. Haven't used GFO in a while, been dosing 4 caps of lanthanum Chloride (seaklear). Things looked great till I went from 4 caps per week to 5 caps, boom, junk and chaos.

-Logzor · Apr 16, 2014

I wouldn't do anything too drastic in trying to reduce the algae, I think if you give you scrubbing time to catch up, reduce feedings, and attempt a bit of manual remove to help the export process, then you will see some results. Keeping up with 20% weekly WC's will help as well. I think anything more than a 50% change is a little too much unless the aquarium has been poisoned.

Saltgator · Apr 16, 2014

-Logzor said:
I wouldn't do anything too drastic in trying to reduce the algae, I think if you give you scrubbing time to catch up, reduce feedings, and attempt a bit of manual remove to help the export process, then you will see some results. Keeping up with 20% weekly WC's will help as well. I think anything more than a 50% change is a little too much unless the aquarium has been poisoned.

Thanks. I'll just do 25% than.

I might siphon the junk out into a sock hanging into a 30g, then run thru a canister filter returning to the sump. Thoughts?

Y'all think sticking with the lanthanum Chloride @ 4 caps per week or go to GFO or both?

schooleyosis · Apr 16, 2014

The siphon trick is a good idea. I'd use the filter sock method and get as much as you can. I have no experience with the lanthanum but I know when I started running GFO and cut on my feedings it took almost 5 months for visible signs of it working! I started off replacing the GFO every other week and now I'm replacing every three weeks. At first I was running two cups of GFO and now I'm at one cup. So it takes times but it does help!

Saltgator · Apr 16, 2014

2 cups! Lasts time I used 2 cups, I had issues. I'll probably stay at 1 cup a week to start with, in a canister filter if I go the gfo route. Comparing the 2 via reviews online as we speak.

I'm already feeding less now, 2 small amounts of Mysis every other day with nori in between. This weekend I'll possibly be getting 2 fish out of my lineup too. My emperor is going to possibly be removed to go into another reefer's larger system and my blue jaw trigger is going back to his original owner. Having these 2 out is going to take some poop out in it's self, but also allow me to reduce the nutrients and feedings.

schooleyosis · Apr 16, 2014

What issues did you have when you ran 2 cups previously? What is the flow through the reactor/canister you are using? I keep my flow to a minimum where the surface of the GFO barely tumbles.