Another night of watching a bucket fill. This time much slower. We got a new kitten so I figured it was time for some serious talks.
That is Cyano, I believe. Water changes will not do much. You need to introduce a dominating bacteria. Chemi-clean will work also, but that does not solve the problem. I forget, did you put any REAL live ocean sand in this tank, or is it all from a bottle?Came back from holiday and holy hell! I thought the diatoms would run themselves out. Nope. I did the glass and turkey basted the rocks and everything came off very easily. Within minutes it had already reformed on rocks. It is so bad it clogs the filter sock daily. Nitrates and phosphates are still zero. I can dose daily but not sure of this will help. Growing in sump now as well. Going to up water changes to weekly. Not sure what to do. Need to start showing house end of October so need this tank not to look like a mess. Snails, urchin, and fish seem unbothered.
Yes, I have a Spectrapure. The unit has in line TDS meters after every stage. I am at 98% efficiency when timed and all tds out are reading 0. Handheld TDS reads 0 from bucket. Which is not strange considering the Sediment and Carbon are changed every 3 months, I have a box of 60 each I bought ages ago, the Membrane was changed two years ago, the maxcap and silica buster were changed a year and a half ago. I usually get 5 years out of the membrane and 2 to 3 years out of the silica buster and maxcap. I have had this unit for 16 years now. I can rule out that as the issue. Now if I had a BRS unit or one of those horrid aqua craps then yes I would be worried. My salt mix maybe? Everyone is out of Nyos even saltwater aquarium crooks dot com. So I have to run up to Petco and see about picking something else up.
I couldn’t tell ya honestly… I’ve always used reef crystals myself as do millions of people and some of the nicest tanks I’ve ever seen.. if you go the petco route that would be my choice!
I used reef crystals for years. I can't find it now because it was taken with an actual camera, not a phone, it was that long ago, a picture of two inches of sludge on the bottom of my mixing bucket after a year of mixing salt. Nasty that was. I changed to Kent for another 5 years, then Red Sea, then finally Nyos. Nyos is amazing from the start to the end with consistency. I might have no choice though and have to get a smallish bag of reef crystals.
Petco carries Tropic Marin now... That's a clean mix!
I just bought aqua forest from bulk reef supply. Petco only had huge buckets at a huge markup.
Any of the @Tampa Bay Saltwater "Treasure Chest" packages ship UPS next day to your door/work.
Shipping is 170, triple the cost of the product with pick up at airport freight only in my area. A two hour drive I'm not willing to make. There was no option directly to me. Even though I get frieght every day at work. I tried.
