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The cloudiness started to bother me, mostly because I don't know what it is. Originally I thought it was the phyto, but during WC yesterday, there was only a slight yellow tint and that could have been from some substrate vacuuming.

I figure there are 3 causes of turbidity - organic matter (algae/bacteria bloom), microbubbles, or sediment (am I missing any?). The easiest two I could test against was algae/bacteria so I ran activated carbon I had for the last 24 hours and while the water color has improved slightly (it wasn't that bad to begin with), the turbidity overall is still about the same. (Edit: except I might have screwed up and bottomed out my Nitrates... I pulled the carbon and turned off the skimmer which will hopefully get it back before a dino outbreak) This isn't a scientific study, so this is all perceived turbidity rather than measured.

For microbubbles I turned off the skimmer for a few hours and that didn't seem to help - note there is some air bubbles coming off the few remaining diatom blooms at the top of the rock and on the newly added marco ledges but even first thing in the morning it was not very clear.

This leaves sediment as the likely cause. The reef diaper is rated at 200 micron so I am guessing a lot of the very fine particles are making it through. I ordered a pair of 10 micron sock to see if that clears it up, they should arrive tomorrow. With that level of restriction, my guess is that I will have to reduce return flow which will put me at levels where the cheapo 9W UV will become somewhat effective. I will run for 12 hours with the UV off, see if that helps, then run another 12 hours with the UV on and see where it ends up.

My hope is the water will be perfectly clear when I leave town on Thurs afternoon for nobody to enjoy it :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing: .
 
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The cloudiness started to bother me, mostly because I don't know what it is. Originally I thought it was the phyto, but during WC yesterday, there was only a slight yellow tint and that could have been from some substrate vacuuming.

I figure there are 3 causes of turbidity - organic matter (algae/bacteria bloom), microbubbles, or sediment (am I missing any?). The easiest two I could test against was algae/bacteria so I ran activated carbon I had for the last 24 hours and while the water color has improved slightly (it wasn't that bad to begin with), the turbidity overall is still about the same. (Edit: except I might have screwed up and bottomed out my Nitrates... I pulled the carbon and turned off the skimmer which will hopefully get it back before a dino outbreak) This isn't a scientific study, so this is all perceived turbidity rather than measured.

For microbubbles I turned off the skimmer for a few hours and that didn't seem to help - note there is some air bubbles coming off the few remaining diatom blooms at the top of the rock and on the newly added marco ledges but even first thing in the morning it was not very clear.

This leaves sediment as the likely cause. The reef diaper is rated at 200 micron so I am guessing a lot of the very fine particles are making it through. I ordered a pair of 10 micron sock to see if that clears it up, they should arrive tomorrow. With that level of restriction, my guess is that I will have to reduce return flow which will put me at levels where the cheapo 9W UV will become somewhat effective. I will run for 12 hours with the UV off, see if that helps, then run another 12 hours with the UV on and see where it ends up.

My hope is the water will be perfectly clear when I leave town on Thurs afternoon for nobody to enjoy it :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing: .
Are you seeing a build up of sediment in your sump area? I had a big problem with that but I don't know that it caused any issues with my water clarity. Look at this #139. If that is happening then the 10 micron socks should help.
 
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Are you seeing a build up of sediment in your sump area? I had a big problem with that but I don't know that it caused any issues with my water clarity. Look at this #139. If that is happening then the 10 micron socks should help.

I hadn't noticed. I siphoned the return chamber last Monday and don't remember seeing debris in the hose, but I'll check again next week during WC. I think the socks are definitely going to help - fingers crossed at least.
 
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Whelp... First time leaving the tank unattended and a storm hit. Power has been out since 10:30 PM by my estimation. No backups. Feeling a little hopeless at the moment.
 
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That sucks. Is the power back on yet?

Not yet. I ordered a battery pump from Petco to deliver to the house but that just got cancelled. My buddy is going to try and grab one from Petco in Lynnwood in a bit. I figure fish can handle a day in a bag in transit, hopefully they can handle a day in the tank.
 
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Still no power, but a buddy of mine got a battery bubbler in the tank. Fish are still alive, lots of alcohol has been consumed.

Battery backup build soon.
Sorry to hear about this. Every time the wind starts blowing down here I worry about an outage. Try and keep that water moving and keep the room as warm as you can.
 
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Sorry to hear about this. Every time the wind starts blowing down here I worry about an outage. Try and keep that water moving and keep the room as warm as you can.

Fireplace turning on when we get home. I have the worst luck.
 

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Fireplace turning on when we get home. I have the worst luck.
We have EGo lawn mower, blower, trimmer etc.. so I bought an inverter for those 56v batteries. Last time we had a power outage I was able to keep a wavemaker running for several hours until power was restored. Luckily it was in the summer so the temp drop wasn’t too bad. If you have similar batteries get the inverter.
 
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We have EGo lawn mower, blower, trimmer etc.. so I bought an inverter for those 56v batteries. Last time we had a power outage I was able to keep a wavemaker running for several hours until power was restored. Luckily it was in the summer so the temp drop wasn’t too bad. If you have similar batteries get the inverter.

Smart. I have the Ryobi equivalent. I'll look into it.
 
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Looks like crisis averted. Emergency air seemed to do the trick. Power was restored yesterday morning, the fish have good color, are actively swimming, and eating well. Fish are lively today and probably appreciated the frozen brine. I forgot my feeder is set over the return chamber so they got an extra days worth of pellets yesterday when the pump kicked on after no food for a day.

I've obviously been thinking about how to be more prepared for next time. First project is going to be an auto-on air bubbler. I figured this one out on the plane ride home last night.

1667863003858.png


Basically the way it works is I use a USB-C charger to keep 2x3.7V lithium cells charged. While power is applied, it holds the relay module in the open position so the pump doesn't run. If power is lost, the relay closes and then the circuit is completed from the 3.7V battery, through a DC-DC converter to drop the voltage to 1.5V for the air pump. When power is restored, the circuit is opened, the air turns off, and the batteries are automatically recharged. Most of the modules come in multi-packs so if others are interested, I could kit them and ship them less the batteries, the USB-C wall charger, and the 1.5V air pump (I'll send links to what I use in a later thread after I build it and make sure it works).
 

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TheWB

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Looks like crisis averted. Emergency air seemed to do the trick. Power was restored yesterday morning, the fish have good color, are actively swimming, and eating well. Fish are lively today and probably appreciated the frozen brine. I forgot my feeder is set over the return chamber so they got an extra days worth of pellets yesterday when the pump kicked on after no food for a day.

I've obviously been thinking about how to be more prepared for next time. First project is going to be an auto-on air bubbler. I figured this one out on the plane ride home last night.

1667863003858.png


Basically the way it works is I use a USB-C charger to keep 2x3.7V lithium cells charged. While power is applied, it holds the relay module in the open position so the pump doesn't run. If power is lost, the relay closes and then the circuit is completed from the 3.7V battery, through a DC-DC converter to drop the voltage to 1.5V for the air pump. When power is restored, the circuit is opened, the air turns off, and the batteries are automatically recharged. Most of the modules come in multi-packs so if others are interested, I could kit them and ship them less the batteries, the USB-C wall charger, and the 1.5V air pump (I'll send links to what I use in a later thread after I build it and make sure it works).
Good to hear that everything turned out ok. Somehow I must have missed the part where you were not at home. More than a little nerve wracking I’m sure.
 
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Good to hear that everything turned out ok. Somehow I must have missed the part where you were not at home. More than a little nerve wracking I’m sure.

Definitely nerve wracking. I had a friend run to Petco and get a battery powered pump and he took care of everything. Got lucky this time, but will be more prepared for the next.
 
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Full tank shot because I haven't done that in a while. This will likely be the last shot without corals.

_MG_8288.jpg


Seattle Corals is having a big sale on Friday. Hoping to grab some zoas, and a duncan to start as test corals. I picked up some Coral Rx to dip, and some more super glue. You'll probably notice my cloudiness problem went away - reduced the return flow which made the UV effective. I'm going to swap from an inline UV to a stand alone. I picked up a 24W Green Killing Machine but it doesn't fit anywhere, so I'll be swapping for the 9W. That's what is on there right now and cleared the tank up in 24 hours so it should be fairly effective at keeping the algae at bay.

Finally, got confirmation from Dr. Reef that the Royal Gramma will be here next Friday!
 
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Big news! I've graduated from fish keeper to reef keeper this weekend. The folks at Seattle Coral were super helpful at spending my money for me .

PXL_20221113_231524935.jpg


I was able to pick up a few zoas, a Duncan, and a hammer for lay less than I was expecting to spend.

_MG_8295.jpg

_MG_8297.jpg

_MG_8292.jpg

_MG_8294.jpg


Dipped all the corals in Coral Rx and out popped 2 asterina starfish and a handful of planaria. Polyps opened by this morning. Flow was a little high on both the hammer and the Duncan so I adjusted my return nozzles and in the process, earned my first clown bite . I can't say I wasn't warned.

Also picked up Tanis, our new urchin. Tanis has already started building a collection of accessories, as you can see. A pincushion might get too big eventually, so Tanis might be returning to the LFS some day to get traded in for a younger model.
_MG_8293.jpg


Finally, I finished the power sensing emergency bubbler. I started a new thread for it here: Thread 'Emergency Power Outage Auto-On Battery Bubbler' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/emergency-power-outage-auto-on-battery-bubbler.947990/

_MG_8303.jpg
 
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Whelp, no new fish for me today. The Royal Gramma I ordered from Dr. Reef was DOA. Looks like the bag got too cold on the way. Super disappointing as this would be our first new fish since the clowns went in. The next 6 week stretch that I am home starts Dec 9th so if I start QT then, its basically the end of Jan for a new fish. :crying-face:
 

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Whelp, no new fish for me today. The Royal Gramma I ordered from Dr. Reef was DOA. Looks like the bag got too cold on the way. Super disappointing as this would be our first new fish since the clowns went in. The next 6 week stretch that I am home starts Dec 9th so if I start QT then, its basically the end of Jan for a new fish. :crying-face:
That's a shame. It's so disappointing when things like this happen. I've had my eye on a pair of Starki Damsels from Dr Reef for my upgrade but honestly I think I'll just end up working with one of the LFS to get them. I've had good luck with picking out my own fish rather than the online ordering process.
 
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That's a shame. It's so disappointing when things like this happen. I've had my eye on a pair of Starki Damsels from Dr Reef for my upgrade but honestly I think I'll just end up working with one of the LFS to get them. I've had good luck with picking out my own fish rather than the online ordering process.

When I went to Barrier Reef I noticed they had a hyposalinity tank set up. Do you know if they copper/prazi etc? Have you picked up fish from them? If so, do you trust them, or QT as well? I'm trying to figure out my next move.
 

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When I went to Barrier Reef I noticed they had a hyposalinity tank set up. Do you know if they copper/prazi etc? Have you picked up fish from them? If so, do you trust them, or QT as well? I'm trying to figure out my next move.
Barrier Reef has some sort of qt/conditioning type setup going on but I’m not 100% sure exactly what they do. I remember asking about it but it’s been a while and I can’t remember the details. I’d give them a call and ask first since you’re pretty far away to just drop by.
I have purchased 4 fish from Barrier Reef, 3 Chalk Basslets and a Royal Gramma. The Gramma and one of the Chalk basslets are doing great. The other two Chalk Basslets died but I don’t believe it was from a disease in either case. I think there was some basslet on basslet violence, kinda similar to green chromis, and that there can be “only one”. None ever showed any signs of distress, they just disappeared.
I have also purchased fish from Saltwater City. They do a hypo salinity thing there where they take the fish down quick and bring them back up quick. I don’t know if that does much but my Tomini Tang, Orange Back Fairy Wrasse, and the two mutant clowns all came from there and all have done great.
I would but with confidence from either place.
Full disclosure, I’ve never quarantined a fish. I’ve never had the room to set up a qt tank. I may do observational qt in the future if I can get a tank to hold a stable temp in the garage. It’s pretty cold out there. I’ve been lucky not to get a fish with something difficult to deal with. No tank wipeouts so far. I know ich is in my tank but I have not seen more than a few scattered spots on the clowns and none in a really long time. I was worried during my tank move in June but other than the zebra barred dartfish freaking out and dying a couple of days later I had no losses and no signs of ich or anything else. I keep my fish pretty well fed so that they are strong enough to fend off ich. I have no illusions that will continue if I import a fish with something worse.
Whatever you buy, if you can qt it, you probably should but you have to be disciplined and do it with everything wet that goes in the tank or else it’s ineffective. I’ve never been that disciplined.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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