Gulf Coast

[Snoopdog]

Hey there locals, in west mobile here

Well about time some new blood shows up. Tell us .... everything.....

Pictures also help.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Hey there locals, in west mobile here

Welcome! @Snoopdog is in west mobile. @.Haliax. and myself are in Daphne.

What kind of setup do you have?

And @.Haliax. what do you do for work? You married? Have kids?

 

[Snoopdog]

This will be my first hurricane season. I guess I need to come up a battery backup to at least keep a couple of powerheads running when I inevitably lose power.

Lately I have been trying to recover from the huge algae blooms in the display tank and quarantine tank from when I was out of town. I have been trying to figure out why bad algaes have been outcompeting my chaeto in the display tank.

In the quarantine tank, where all of the corals are I have been doing 2-4x weekly water changes but still have all kinds of algae covering the sand bed. Everytime I do a water change I clean the sand bed with the python and within 12 hours the algae is back at it. I haven't tested my water levels, but I haven't added any food into this tank in at least a couple of week, so I can't imagine there are many nitrates or phosphates left in there. Starting tomorrow I'm removing all red, green, and white lighting from my lighting spectrum to see if that helps any. But I'm at a loss.

How are you doing? Are you back to overflowing your sump with corals?

Do not underestimate what hurricanes can do. Katrina, Ivan and Dennis basically wiped out what was originally MBRK. I remember people with 120+ gallon tanks searching for fuel, generators, portable cooling, etc. Remember, it is not just circulation, cooling also. You may be able to keep cool or tolerate intense heat for days, weeks, but can your tank? Depending on the storm you maybe have a cool day or two after because of residual wind, cloud cover helps. But following a storm it eventually heats back since since we are normally in September, beginning of October. Some of the guys had acro heavy tanks and I cannot imagine what they had invested and completely wiped. Over time I have seen people come and go from this hobby and it is a shame since you invest so much in gear and coral. Personally I am trying to grow and harvest more coral than I pull from the ocean and give back, a personal goal. Like I said, do not underestimate nature because it will put you in your place very quickly.

On your algae blooms, look at your flow. Also, blooms are typically just an immature tank.

How are you doing? Are you back to overflowing your sump with corals? Oh yeah, definitely although I did pull from my own stock recently we are still searching for room down there.

 

[Snoopdog]

And I would personally like to say I like where this thread is going, I like the communication and am glad it is getting traction. The Facebook groups are nothing but one massive ad for the local vendors. I know they need to make money but those groups lack any type of collaboration and I miss that. Even if there was chatter on those groups, the way Facebook is designed it is impossible it seems to have a real conversation.

Oh another thing I did recently was install three spinstreams in my tank, I like those things and now my flow has some nice swirly patterns with the random patterns, I am all high tech now.

 

[.Haliax.]

Welcome! And @.Haliax. what do you do for work? You married? Have kids?

I’m currently working as a contractor for the Navy. My work is mostly done at Austal, but I have an office in downtown Mobile. I'm married and we have 3 kids - 11, 7 and 3 years old.

How about yourself?

 

[mcgallagherc]

What's up guys, recently got into the hobby after walking by and staring at the tank we have at work for almost 7 years. Rich from progressive marine set me up with a 48x24x24. 6 months in and am absolutely addicted!

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I’m currently working as a contractor for the Navy. My work is mostly done at Austal, but I have an office in downtown Mobile. I'm married and we have 3 kids - 11, 7 and 3 years old.

How about yourself?

That's pretty cool other than having to cross the bridge twice a week. I work for the navy as well. I'm a civilian firefighter for at the construction battalion base in Gulfport. I have 4 kids: 8, 8, 4, and 1.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Do not underestimate what hurricanes can do. Katrina, Ivan and Dennis basically wiped out what was originally MBRK. I remember people with 120+ gallon tanks searching for fuel, generators, portable cooling, etc. Remember, it is not just circulation, cooling also. You may be able to keep cool or tolerate intense heat for days, weeks, but can your tank? Depending on the storm you maybe have a cool day or two after because of residual wind, cloud cover helps. But following a storm it eventually heats back since since we are normally in September, beginning of October. Some of the guys had acro heavy tanks and I cannot imagine what they had invested and completely wiped. Over time I have seen people come and go from this hobby and it is a shame since you invest so much in gear and coral. Personally I am trying to grow and harvest more coral than I pull from the ocean and give back, a personal goal. Like I said, do not underestimate nature because it will put you in your place very quickly.

On your algae blooms, look at your flow. Also, blooms are typically just an immature tank.

How are you doing? Are you back to overflowing your sump with corals? Oh yeah, definitely although I did pull from my own stock recently we are still searching for room down there.

What setup do you have for dealing with a hurricane?

In the QT my flow is definitely low. Originally I did not intend to have that rank setup as long as it has been .

 

[Snoopdog]

What's up guys, recently got into the hobby after walking by and staring at the tank we have at work for almost 7 years. Rich from progressive marine set me up with a 48x24x24. 6 months in and am absolutely addicted!

Rich is still around?

 

[Snoopdog]

What setup do you have for dealing with a hurricane?

In the QT my flow is definitely low. Originally I did not intend to have that rank setup as long as it has been .

Two 5k inverter generators and two portable AC units

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Rich is still around?

He's dealing out of his house.

 

[mcgallagherc]

Rich is still around?

Yes, moved shop to his home. I see him twice a week at work when he does maintenance on tank. He's swinging by my house tomorrow to give it a look, was running undetectable nutrients and after unplugging skimmer and a little nitrate dose I have a little cyano going on. Without the help of Rich I'd be up the creek without a paddle lol

 

[mcgallagherc]

I also see Bill at wet pets, super nice guy, retired military and services his vehicle with us. Both guys have been very good to me!

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Two 5k inverter generators and two portable AC units

Well, I guess I'm generator shopping now.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I also see Bill at wet pets, super nice guy, retired military and services his vehicle with us. Both guys have been very good to me!

Yeah, I think Bill said he was Coast Guard. What service center do you work at?

 

[mcgallagherc]

Yeah, I think Bill said he was Coast Guard. What service center do you work at?

I'm the new car director at Palmers Toyota

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I'm the new car director at Palmers Toyota

Right on. I'll trade you some aragrocrete base rock for a sienna.

 

[mcgallagherc]

Dude, im sure you know but sienna are the hardest vehicle to get right now. Might be able to find you a 20 year old wholesale sienna

 

[mcgallagherc]

Few pics of my 6 month old tank

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Dude, im sure you know but sienna are the hardest vehicle to get right now. Might be able to find you a 20 year old wholesale sienna

Yeah, I wouldn't know what to do with a vehicle under 160,000 miles.

That tank looks really good for 6 months. Mine has only been up and running for 8 months. I have a 40 gallon.