Hello!

[Holly]

Hi everyone! I'm a newbie to the hobby but already hooked. We're about six months into our first marine (reef) tank. I was just introduced to PNWMAS after discovering Fanta-Seas this week. =) Great site!

[fly guy]

Welcome

Looks like youve got the equipment to do GREAT things : )

[JManrow]

Hi Holly! Welcome to the group. Your 180g Acrylic sounds like a nice beginner tank. :)
We are having a meeting Sunday, so let us know if you want to be on the Evite list!

[Michael7979]

Hello Holly!
Glad to see you found the site. Hopefully you will enjoy it and find it and the people here helpful and glad to help. Sounds like you have a great set-up.

Take a look around and have fun and if you are interested in becoming a member of the club....don't hesitate to ask.

[H20cooled]

Yes welcome! Nice setup, even if you cannot make the Nov meeting definatly try to make it to the Dec one, there will be a good frag trade and sales.

Rich

[Lowman]

yeah the november meeting is at Saltwater Fanta-seas, so you know where it is. Welcome to the site.

[R-3]

Welcome to PNWMAS.ORG!! Hopefully you will find what ya need here. Check out our calendar for future events. Later Ryan

[CCR]

Welcome Holly, Enjoy :)

[Holly]

THANKS everyone!! We hope to be at the Sunday meeting. Can't wait! I hope/plan to join the club .. =) I never knew there was such a reef group around the area.. It's good to know. Seems like Portland's lucky, compared to other areas, as far as reef resources go... See you Sunday !

[Holly]

PS

Manrow - I've already decided that acryllic is BAD for reefs (IMO). Mine's scratched and I spend tons of time removing them. I won't buy anything but glass again. It's all a learning curve, I guess...

Flyguy - 'nderstanding women = nailing jello' - HA HA!! great quote

Lowman - LOVE the quotes... That's a Scottish flag!.. Love it .. Husband and I were married in Scotland.. My maiden was MacDougall .. =)

You guys all sound like a great group! Can't wait to meet you all ..

Thanks!
H~

[Chief]

Welcome. I hope you like it here at the PNWMAS. We have a great group of hobbyists here. That's a very nice setup you have there. Patrick at Fanta-Seas has a wealth of information, you are lucky to have him near you. If you have any questions, just fire away. That's what we are here for.

Jay

[impur]

Welcome to the site!!

Now how about some pics!!??


Miles

[reefgeek84]

Welcome...yes we are very lucky with all the stores we have around and all the local members...Do not be shy on the site...ask questions, chat participate...the more the better...Also every monday night at 8pm, there is chat time! you will find the button towards the bottom of the page, that is good fun...

[vanz]

Wow, six months???

180g Acryllic, 200lbs LR
750W 10K MH, 624W T5 Actinic
46g sump/refug, MRC MR-2, 96W T5 Sun
K2R Ca reactor, 1/4hp chiller, 250W heater
Wavemaker w powerheads & Tunze
Watchman goby, 2 purple firefish, 2 PJ cardinals
Maroon clown with BTA
Misc crabs, shrimp, janitors
Softies & LPS right now
AquaController Pro III

Looks like you were in the hobby for years!! Welcome to the site!

[Holly]

Thanks Vanz! I researched and planned for about a year before we did it; however, no amt of research is equivalent to having reef people you can actually talk to (which we didn't have at the time).

Right now we have a chronic phosphate problem. We lost our 3 SPS, an LPS and a soft already. No amt of phosphate remover, water change, or overhaul has helped. I only have star polyps, PPE, sinularia, frogspawn, flowerpot remaining (I'm amazed they're doing as well as they are). Hair algae completely covered my tank, and all the beautiful coralline is gone. Patrick's been trying to help us out.

My husband and I did a 100gwater change about two weeks ago, and it didn't help at all. Phosphates were still off the charts.

Last week, Patrick came out, and we gutted the entire tank, drained all the water, removed all the sand, put in all-new sand and water, washed off all the original rock, then replaced some of it with new Tongan LR... It didn't even take the edge off the phosphates. No change at all. The tank now looks like a brand-new set-up again--clean and hair-algae-free, but barren.

Rowa, phosban, and phosguard haven't helped at all either.

It's frustrating to have a chronic issue that we can't get to the bottom of. Not sure where all the phosphates could be coming from. My husband thinks it's leaching from the original rocks, since we removed everything else. Who knows at this point. Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate zero.

Anyway, this is the tank, as plain as it is. Pic was taken this morning. (At least my fish and inverts are doing well. Saw a peppermint shrimp loaded with eggs the other day!) =)

[CCR]

RO/DI have you checked it's output, Have you changed the di FILTERS?

[Holly]

Our RO/DI is only about 2-3 months old, and we've only ever used it for top-off. (FS did the initial tank fill-up). The RO/DI water's been phosphate-free thus far. I now test it before adding any

[Barleychown]

Welcome!

What are you feeding? Are you adding any phyto?

[Holly]

Thanks!

Not now (phyto), but I did once in August: a tiny drop of both phyto and zoo. Not since then, though. It seemed to be too messy.

I feed once a day, about 1/3 of a cube of Mysis (they eat it all in about 2-3 minutes). I only have six small fish.

Now we're getting cyano. I went to Fanta-seas today and loaded up on macro (for the tank, not the sump; sump already has some and it's getting full).

If the macro starts to take over the tank, I'll just remove some and take it back to Patrick.

[Lowman]

Holly where did you get the water to initially fill up your tank? I think your husband is on the right track. The phosphate is more than likely leaching from the rock.

[Holly]

It was a LFS, but the rocks and water were perfect for about 4 months. (I tested it all the time, being a paranoid newbie).

What can you do to remove it from the rocks other than continue to skim and change water? Eventually, it has to leach out. Esp with the amt of Rowa we've been circulating in the reactor and Phosban in the sock!

[Michael7979]

You can always 'cook' the rock.

[nu2reef-n]

Welcome to the site.

[Holly]

NU2 - lol @ the smiley beating its head

Mike - Good idea, but what can I do with rocks that already have corals firmly attached to them?

[Michael7979]

Break them off..........sucks I know but it'll work. Just think you can start all over AGAIN!!!!! hehe

[Lowman]

Patrick will be getting that phosphate remover in the nexr couple of days. Let's try some of that and see.

[Holly]

Phosphates are down to 1ppm now. I know that's still too high, but considering it's been off the chart for weeks, it's progress. I put in new Rowa and Phosban.

[Chief]

Phosphates are down to 1ppm now. I know that's still too high, but considering it's been off the chart for weeks, it's progress. I put in new Rowa and Phosban.

Good to here it. Keep fighting, it will all come out fine.

Jay

[dippin61]

Welcome to the site!

[Holly]

Thanks dippin!

It's still lingering between 1-2ppm. I'm holding high hopes for the new phosphate remover that's coming in.

In other entertainment news, my urchin picks up chunks of macro every time he gets near, pulling it out and carrying it to other areas of the tank.

Next step in total tank demolition: a giant horseshoe.

[ReefRocker]

Hi Holly! Welcome! I have heard that Xenia is suspected of absorbing Phosphate as a nutrient. You might try that. I can try to get a small piece of mine off, and bring it to the meeting for you if you are interested.

Jim

[Holly]

I read that on several sites, as well. I asked about getting some Xenia while at Fanta-Seas. Unfortunately, Patrick didn't have any at the time.

THANK YOU for the offer of the frag. That'd be very much appreciated!! (dancing)

[Ronjunior]

I need to get a phosphate test; since my fish have passed and all have been out of my tank since Sunday, the algae is starting to spread to some of my candy cane and others quite rapidly. We'll see if my surviving Lawnmower Bennie, Lemonpeel and 3 crabs can catch up when out of QT tonight!

[Piero]

I'd recommend a high-grade test for phosphates instead of an aquarium-grade you might want to go with lab-grade, but they are significantly more expensive.

http://www.lamotte.com/

[Lowman]

I have some xenia for you Holly, I'll bring it to the meeting

[R-3]

Yeah Piero is right most phosphate test kits suck. I know its spendy for a lab-grade but if its a big problem then I would do it. Later Ryan

[Holly]

Thanks Lowman!

I think you guys are right about the test kits. I have Salifert, but it doesn't seem reliable.

Thanks for the head's up on LaMotte, Piero. I checked all the listed distributors and ordered one. (clap) Only Marine Depot had the phosphate test, of the sites I saw. http://www.marinedepot.com/a_tk_lm.asp

You guys are muey helpful. Thanks!

[Ronjunior]

Yeah Piero is right most phosphate test kits suck. I know its spendy for a lab-grade but if its a big problem then I would do it. Later Ryan
Since I don't use RO/DI water yet, I'm sure there are plenty of phosphates and other explicit's in our water in Damascus...heck, the Nitrates were above 10 the last time I checked, straight out of the tap.(Clackamas River water) I just want to try to keep up on the algae that has started to spread in a few spots rather quickly since fish loss. I just now put my Lemonpeel, Lawnmower and Blue Devil back in my display and I'm not putting anymore fish in for well over a month until I feel it's safe from bacteria. No more tangs to eat up all the bad stuff for awhile. Corals on the other hand are doing fine except I noticed some green stuff on my montipora (flame) today and that got me going.
Anyone try the Marineland/ Instant Ocean brand test and get fairly accurate results?

[R-3]

Most phosphates are hard to detect with normal test kits even Salifert (which is upper end for most) If they are registering then thats a bad thing. Late Ryan

[Holly]

Nice to meet you today (those we had time to meet)!

Our kids were overdue for their nap and about to combust, so we had to run out before we could join, but we plan to do so online or at the next meeting.

The Phos-Buster has done it! Phosphates are barely traceable now (Salifert)! I should get my lab-quality phosphate test tomorrow via UPS and we'll see, but it hasn't been this low in so long, this is cause to celebrate. YAY @ Phos-Buster

Thanks again Lowman for the Xenia. =)

[H20cooled]

Holly,
If its not to late you might consider cancelling your LaMotte kit, they do not go down to a low enough level to really be worth your time. LINK (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=933738&highlight=DD+Merck+Phosphate+Test)The Merck kits are supposed to be good and they are not to much more, I just ordered one from Premium Aquatics (http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ROWA-728621&Category_Code=Merck), they were a LOT less then Marine Depot...

[Holly]

They already shipped the LaMotte kit, so it's too late to cancel. That's fine. I'm just RELIEVED to have the phos down. It's not even registering 0.3 now. I can't believe how fast it worked!! (clap)

[Fanta-Sea Man]

Holly,

Glad to hear that the Phos Buster worked so fast. Still keep up with the Phosguard in the sump to keep the Phos away. How is everything looking? How is the extra flow with the Seio pump?

I am glad that you were able to make it to the meeting. Aren't kids great (ha ha).

Please let me know how this are going and if there is anything at all I can do to help.

Patrick

[Holly]

The Seio's working great. Thnx. It definitely added more movement. I'm thinking of getting one more Tunze.

I took a load of tests today (including my new LaMotte phosphate test, which seems clearer IMO).
Temp 79.5
SG 1.024
pH 8.25
Ammonia - trace (0.1, maybe)*
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0.02 =)
Calcium 400
Iodide 0.06

*I suspect I might be having another small cycle because we put in all new water and sand. ?

Everything looks great, but I scrubbed all the algae off this morning, and it's already growing back again... Not sure what it's feeding on if my phosphates are this much lower, but I figure it'll work itself out within the next week or two...

Thanks everyone!

[180Brandy]

Welcome to the Club!!! (dancing)

[Holly]

Thanks you ! :D

[WAVES]

You might also look into Prodibio, its a bacteria that eleminates phosphates and nitrates. Very cool system. Check out the forum at robsreef.com

Glad the phosbuster worked!