OP
OP
Altmann
What have I gotten myself into?
Okay so sump vs something? I am leaning a whole new vocabulary here. Is the entire tank containg the skimmer / refugium considered a sump or is a sump something in addition? Omg I feel like I should lick windows, and yet I am enjoying the learning....Trust me you going to want to want to go with the sump for multiple reasons.
OP
OP
Altmann
What have I gotten myself into?
Thank goodness. I lived for the knowledge here as I first got Puff going. I knew it was time to join when I am butt deep into this reef and couldn't figure out what I was doing with this whole bottom tank business. I know someday I will look back on this and laugh, but until then.... thank you all in advance!
- Joined
- May 20, 2020
- Messages
- 8,352
- Reaction score
- 45,562
You'll do just fine, being here is a great start where folks will help you through the growing pains of the first year!!!
Good luck!!!
danieyella
unfriendly local swamp witch
Hey welcome! Sump is your whole bottom tank, sometimes the refugium is part of it, sometimes separate. My sump holds my skimmer and my refugium is part of it as well. You'll come to realize there are many ways to do it that will all work, just to add to the confusion lol
WirelessMike
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2020
- Messages
- 877
- Reaction score
- 3,718
Welcome to the reef! Glad to have you. Plenty of different options here and as much help as you could ever want in different threads.
Raven09
Community Member
Just stop!!! Take a deep breath!! STOP STOP STOP.
Hopefully you don’t have fish or corals. Now, if the algae is that bad drain the tank, spray all areas with Nitrogen Peroxide. This will kill the algae, now wait for the peroxide to work. Then use vinegar to wash all areas and then flush VERY-VERY-VERY WELL. If you leave any algae behind it will regrow SO MAKE SURE IT IS CLEAN!!
Now STOP, take another deep breath and start again. But first find out what you did wrong so you don’t repeat your mistake. Hope this helps!
OP
OP
Altmann
What have I gotten myself into?
I'm breathing! The tank with the ***** algae bloom is my puffer tank. Puff Daddy is my Green spotted puffer that I have had abt 8 years. He has no coral because he is a butthead and will eat them . He gets glorious hard plastic plants because if I put anything that moves with the water flow - he bites it. Levels in his tank are a dream. I change his filters every 2 weeks (at most). (Last summer with all the pandemic insanity with shipping delays and out of stocks etc was the only exception - I kept saying but I have had the same autoship for 5 years! Aquarium supplies and cat litter ARE ESSENTIAL!) Any way when everything got backed up his Nitrates went up. I did little water changes for months, used Nitrate remover and talked to a wall.... nothing mattered.. So I did a 50% water change.... monitored levels every couple days did my maintenance and within 2 weeks I was growing hair algae like I was breeding it for money.. nitrates were back up and trace amounts of ammonia. I added Dr. Tims and a week later my tank smelled like rotting fish. (Insert the 'oh hell naw' here) I put Puff in a makeshift holding tank (i went to use my emergency use 'fish hospital' and saw it was cracked - insert 'I can't even' here- and gutted his tank. I scrubbed each rock individually before I put it back in and all live rock was pulled out scrubbed and kept out) I put it all back together minus plastic plants (which I threw away) and live rock. PUFF WAS BIG MAD! chomping his beak at me through the glass talking all kinds of smack. His nooks and crannies- fun hiding spots and adventures all gone. Just Puff, some rock, his filter, under gravel filters and powerhead and bubblers. Levels are perfect. And the tank begins to cycle. Algae starts blooming and I'm scrubbing - Again. Puff is nagging me and I am nagging back - we may need couples therapy after this. I pulled out all his rocks (I haven't bother with fancy substrate for years because it hinders the undergravel flow and he is a messy eater) I took out his old river rocks put brand new in after I scrubbed the entire system again (only 15% water change though) I have added submersible uv sterilizer into his otb bio-wheel filter and PhosGuard will be here tomorrow so I can add socks of that in the lifters to his undergravel filter.
Phew.
Seriously though. This is my tank with my one GSP. But he is my boy and when his belly is brown and he tucks his tail, it breaks my heart. Hopefully this is the end of the cycling and we can return to our standard methodical happy consistent ways.
I may have to start a go fund me for our therapy though.
My reef was fishless cycled for months before I added a couple cleaners. Levels are good and everything is progressing nicely in there. I have decided that even though I started it following the sump-less plan, that I will feel more comfortable with the sump and protein skimmer and all the benefits that come with using it as the holding room for adding new 'stuffs'. But that was a whole new level of fun - which made me say "what have I gotten myself into?"
OP
OP
Altmann
What have I gotten myself into?
Seriously though... for 10 years I said I would love a reef but the money and the time....my son says hey Mom let's do a reef and cool corals and I'm like sure... I have bags of money I have been waiting to burn... and here I am.
OP
OP
Altmann
What have I gotten myself into?
Thank you! I realized I was confusing myself. Put it all together today and I will create a new thread when I find where it should go (lol) so people can give advice and make suggestions! Thanks for the love and support!
Clownfish_Boy
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum ! I don't know about a "for dummies" book, but Paul B.'s The Avant-Garde Marine Aquarist - 60 Years Of Fishkeeping is a really good, informative read and well worth the 5 bucks cost of a Kindle edition. It is very entertaining and contains a lot of valuable information for beginner and advanced aquarists. You can find it on Amazon.
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