Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[jonelder68]

My glass starts getting covered within 24 hrs. It's a pain in the butt! How do you keep your glass clean for 600 days? The snails leave a lot behind.

Pods! And bacteria out competing. Though coralline is a different story

 

[jonelder68]

Sure looks like GHA with Dino’s or cyano competing @Randy Holmes-Farley

The brown/redish right above the bubble/white coral!?!? Chemi clean is common to cause a Dino outbreak! Sure looks similar to my GHA to Dino’s cycle. Exact same image and it’s Dino’s!

Take a sample and put it under the scope! I change opinion of cyano I’m betting Dino’s!

Exact image and cycle my tank went through…

 

[Waldek M.]

Fortunately TM nitribiotic does miracles.

lIt worked for me, too.

 

[Dan_P]

My glass starts getting covered within 24 hrs. It's a pain in the butt! How do you keep your glass clean for 600 days? The snails leave a lot behind.

I have 50 Margarites in a 70 gallon aquarium and I feed them daily. Besides the size of snail colony/herd/army, I might have been lucky about what grows on the glass and what they eat. They also chew on the coralline colonies making the colonies see-through but I still need to scrape. This group does not touch the hair algae the pops up-lazy buggers.

 

[ReeferTCG]

I would think nutrient control wont help too much as any if there are low nutrients algae is better than coral at using it to grow so limiting coral.. not sure is the best.

Give the clean up crew higher success chance by manually removing some of the algae then spot treating it hydrogen peroxide 1 ml per 10 gal.

 

[tripdad]

I battled a really nasty string algae/cyano/dinos cycle a couple years ago. It was remembering my high school science that helped me get ahead of it. "energy in a closed system is never lost. It can be converted in form but remains constant." So to that end I put in urchins and snails and macros in the sump. The thought was to get them eating the stuff as I also manually removed as much as possible. That interrupted the cycle by getting whatever it was feeding on into animals and export. I did use some bacteria additions, small ones, not sure if they had any effect. Took a while but I finally got the cycle broken and tank cleaned up. Just my .02

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Also the micro critters/pods. From my experience especially with this new tank pods thriving tank is trouble free and on cruise control. Pods disappear and smaller numbers troubles coming .

No quick fix in this hobby! I was shocked to see Randy use chemi clean!?!? I was tempted so many times! But let it run its course per my coach Baruch

I think Randy just reset the tank with it . Fortunately TM nitribiotic does miracles. But it’s a slow road…

If the fuges are growing it’s not a trace element issue. I went down that road it did nothing. ICP showed I was low on iron and basically everything in chaetogro I dose. I upped dosage and got even worse. Sadly I think it’s the tank biome took a hit from the chemi clean and until it reestablishes and settles it will be a rollercoaster.

Maybe TBS will send you a booster pack of there sludge/mud? @LiverockRocks?

I did not rush into it, but was not having success with other means (such as reducing organics), and some, such as more flow, were out for noise reasons.

Tylosin (the antibiotic in Chemi clean) does not kill most bacteria. Just certain types.

Was it an issue? Maybe yes, but again, I’ve used Chemiclean on this tank once already without any gha issues, and did use it once on my old tank without issue (IIRC).

Pods have been down before the Chemiclean since both mandarins are sucking them up in the display, but I’ll check in the refugia to see what’s up there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I may use the Dinkins gift certificate from the partner drive to get more pods.

 

[Waldek M.]

W Polsce jest mądre(!) przysłowie: „nie lecz objawów, lecz przyczynę”! Randy, jesteś wybitnym chemikiem, ale jak widzisz, nawet chemia nie pokona biologii. Pytałem, czy nie bałeś się tyle razy używać Chemicleanu – i co się stało? Nawet nie odpowiedziałeś!!!Nie da się naprawić systemu chemikaliami.
By acting that way, you simply wrecked the tank's biology

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

W Polsce jest mądre(!) przysłowie: „nie lecz objawów, lecz przyczynę”! Randy, jesteś wybitnym chemikiem, ale jak widzisz, nawet chemia nie pokona biologii. Pytałem, czy nie bałeś się tyle razy używać Chemicleanu – i co się stało? Nawet nie odpowiedziałeś!!!Nie da się naprawić systemu chemikaliami.
By acting that way, you simply wrecked the tank's biology

Maybe. :)

 

[jonelder68]

I may use the Dinkins gift certificate from the partner drive to get more pods.

Some pods, 2-3 tuxedo urchins, and some TM nitribiotic dosing would be a winning combo in my opinion

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Some pods, 2-3 tuxedo urchins, and some TM nitribiotic dosing would be a winning combo in my opinion

Thanks. Not sure on the pods. I don’t really see a shortage of them, and have not really seen evidence that tylosin kills them. I see them running on the glass.

 

[Reefahholic]

And….He’s back in the game folks!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hair Algae

I may need to rethink my husbandry if these new snails do not make some headway on the GHA. It’s getting worse, not better. I may consider vinegar dosing the way I did on my last tank. I never had such issues with it.

I also never dosed trace elements that way I do now with the AFR. I might be just driving it too much. Last tank I mostly just dosed kalk and fish food and vinegar, and while it was by no means perfect, neither cyano nor gha was ever this bad.

Comparing your September photograph with the latest one, the coral appears noticeably paler.

I’m wondering whether this could reflect a change in symbiont density or chlorophyll content rather than simply a change in pigmentation.

Have you noticed any changes in its growth or overall condition? I’m particularly curious whether nutrient availability, including your ammonium dosing, could be influencing the coral and algae differently.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't see any apparent change in color when looking in person.

The iphone strongly adjusts both color and exposure as the light color and intensity getting to it changes. It is especially noticeable just be moving the camera around the same coral with different other things in the picture. That makes looking at color changes tricky. The darker background of green hair algae causes a shift that would have been different with a purple/pink coralline background.

But in any case, I will monitor for such changes in color. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not the best morning. Algae is out of control, but I knew that already.

National Grid came by for a routine gas meter replacement. He could not restart the perfectly functioning water heater. Gas valve not reopening.

He said I needed a private plumber. I could either replace the valve for $700 and hope the draining process required does not crack the water heater (plumber said it sometimes happens) or replace the whole thing for more than $2600.

I have a national grid claim form, but I doubt they will pay.
I could have solved the algae problem in any number of ways and had money to spare if National Grid had not come by. lol

:(

 

[BeanAnimal]

Is this just for potable water heat, or hydronic as well?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Anyway, the issue is more than likely the thermocouple and not the valve. It sits in the pilot flame and sends a few mV to the valve to keep it open. They are replaceable, but not a money maker for the plumber. $10 part and 10 mins of work. Many plumbers will say "Nah, its a sealed system" or whatever to upsell a new heater.

If it is the actual valve, then that sucks. They used to be $20, but are now integrated with electronics and marked up to $200 or so wholesale. So with part markup and labor $700. Highway robbery.

The shattering tank issue: The tanks are carbon steel with a porcelain lining. The act of hard wrenching on the gas valve pipe that connects it to the tank can sometimes crack the porcelain. That allows water to deteriorate the tank faster.

So I guess the question is, how old is the tank to begin with? They are minimally engineered to live their warranty period and no more.

$2700 is a lot, even with labor.
How many gallons and is it power vented or not?
I can fly up there, replace it and take a swim in the pond for less -- though I am sure MA has some law about not being certified and licensed in MA and touching anything but the thermostat.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is this just for potable water heat, or hydronic as well?

Just a gas fired water heater for tap water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Anyway, the issue is more than likely the thermocouple and not the valve. It sits in the pilot flame and sends a few mV to the valve to keep it open. They are replaceable, but not a money maker for the plumber. $10 part and 10 mins of work. Many plumbers will say "Nah, its a sealed system" or whatever to upsell a new heater.

If it is the actual valve, then that sucks. They used to be $20, but are now integrated with electronics and marked up to $200 or so wholesale. So with part markup and labor $700. Highway robbery.

The shattering tank issue: The tanks are carbon steel with a porcelain lining. The act of hard wrenching on the gas valve pipe that connects it to the tank can sometimes crack the porcelain. That allows water to deteriorate the tank faster.

So I guess the question is, how old is the tank to begin with? They are minimally engineered to live their warranty period and no more.

$2700 is a lot, even with labor.
How many gallons and is it power vented or not?
I can fly up there, replace it and take a swim in the pond for less -- though I am sure MA has some law about not being certified and licensed in MA and touching anything but the thermostat.

He said the valve was not releasing gas even when the pilot button was pushed in to try to light it.

What ever it is, the old water heater is now on their truck. Too late to fly out. lol