jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 well, my (cussing) caulerpa went sexual, (cussing), i knew this was going to happen but i was holding off on taking it out til i had the new tank up and running, just 1 more month :(. what are my options here? ive been in touch with a member of the club who lives close to me, thanks steve, and hopefully i can get my corals into his tank tomorrow, weve lost our melanarus and our bar goby, oh by the gods am i gonna die for this one. im out of salt til tomorrow, (flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame)(flame) if anyone ever tells me to put caulerpa in my tank again, i swear to the gods im gonna brain em Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 i tested earlier today, my readings were near spot on ph - 8.2 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - .25 Now my readings are: ph - 7.8 Ammonia - 4.0 Nitrite - 2.0 or higher Nitrate - 10 I'm gonna say its officially crashed i hate my life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 does anyone have any suggestions for me on what i should do? or is the tank done for and i should just nuke the rock and start all over with the new tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 with no salt.. tough one.. do you have carbon that you can throw in the tank? But really a water change would be better. Sry to hear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 thanks reef, i think im just gonna say screw this one, get my corals in someone else's tank for now and then tear it down and get the other one up and running asap and on the carbon issue, no, sorry, no carbon, unfortunately :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 you may still be able to recover by tomorrow if you can find salt locally or ask Steve to borrow some.. Do a 20% water change. If you tank is mature, the Nitrite should be consume fairly quick.. you'll just have to deal with the Nitrate. I had caulerpa issue before, but had salt on hand to do water change and carbon to help absorb some impurities. Now I always have at least 2 buckets of salt around for emergency and 30g of water ready to go. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Thanks man, the reason im just thinkin about tearing this one down is the fact that next month I'll be finishing up my new build, all im waiting on now is 2 part, new test kits, plumbing supplies, which im still unsure on what to get, as well as some stuff to make my baffles with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 here's the new tank in case anyone is curious its a visio 40 breeder with euro-bracing-thanks again Arson, its an awesome tank and i cant wait to fill it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 it's always fun to start over.. even though it's not starting over fresh, but a new start... I just finished over hauling my tank due to lack of maintenance and up keep. Dead SPS, receeding LPS, bubble algae all over the rocks and these green fuzzy algae all over the algae... replaced 75% of the rocks and all gravel, soak and cleaned all pumps and pipes that I can clean and the sump and skimmer. As well as upgraded all my RO/DI unit to higher output rate. Now just waiting for my water sensor that will shut my return pump off in the event water is overflowing from my return pump. My sump is hooked up to my house drain so rather shut the pump down and have it flow into my sump and drain. Lots of work and $$$, but fun restocking and seeing a major improvement in the tank. Keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 thanks man, i will, an thats a good lookin tank, how big is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Thanks. It's a 280g built by James at Envision Acrylics about 7 years ago. [language filter] time flies. There are corals in the tank. Really there are. Just didn't show up in the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 i saw some of them, not bad, my only question is about your flow LOL all i saw was the return and something else, how much turnover do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I try to hide all my returns like Steve Weast did when he has his tank running.. Learned many good techniques from him. For the return pump, I have a Dolphin 3600 pump. It was actually the Dolphin 3000/4000 pump, but the flow wasn't there, so I swapped out my 3600 impeller and now I get more flow than before. I also have a CL with out all the outlet hidden in the rocks. The CL pump is a Dolphin 5600. It's suppose to get 6000GPH with 2" pipe. There is a cavity behind the rock work so all my fish like to go hide in there. And I have the CL output blowing any dust or detritus out from the back to the front. I want to get more flow, but don't like the looks of powerhead in the tank. Oh, for the return, it's supposed to be 2 1" SS with upgrade motor, but I dropped one and crack the entire body. Have a box for it, just need to drill it and put it back together. The stock 1" SS didn't do the job and the motor died after a year. My skimmer is a was custom built by Reef Mania (No longer in business). The guy lived in mid-west and flew it out to me to see it get installed. It's has 2 re-circ pumps on the skimmer. I think he said it was rated for up to 750g. I think the skimmer body is 14" across, or basically the diameter of a 5g bucket. He gave me a huge discount so I bought it. He CNC all the parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 good lord man what are the dims on it? have you considered the vortech powerheads? they're a lot smaller than any other stock powerhead you'll need for that size tank, the mp40w is really nice i want an mp20 for my new build, but its gonna have to wait a few months lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 just thought of something.. and maybe someone can chime in and say Yes or no... but if you can't get salt, what about using Ammonia remover and Nitrite remover. I'm concern about Nitrite.. No so much for the Nitrate, even though its high... but will likely brown out your corals in the short term. Also, any buddy told me that he bought some live Manila Clams from a local asian store and that lowered his Ammonia... never tried this, but have to be careful from the clam dying. Okay.. hope you can find some salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 yeah... looked into the Vortech 40mpw, but the only place I can put it is close to the top and I'm concern it will create a water funnel and suck air into the tank and now I have to deal with noise from it.. mean, the pump sucking air from the surface. Tanks is 72" x 30" x 30". With an external overflow on the left side of the tank. It was designed for the last house and got lucky with the new house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 im getting the corals out in the morning, giving them to a buddy to hold for me til the new tank is up and running then tomorrow afternoon, im taking my rock out, its covered in caulerpa, i want it gone, and im gonna nuke it dump the sand clean out the tank and put it in the garage for now fix my stand, it needs to be about 4" taller than what it currently build my canopy get my baffles installed get the reactors from scott get 15lbs of live rock get new test kits get 2 part get new sugar sized white sand get new powerhead, preferably 1 k3 get all plumbing supplies get new tank up and running and yes, i know, some of that is out of order sorry for making intentionally so long, im still highly pissed at myself thanks again reefcam, an check out those vortechs, they'll make your tank ROCK lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefcam Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I feel for you man... it's a love-hate type of hobby... but more love cause we are crazy and still doing it. Just a thought on some of you plumbing and equipment (i.e. pumps). You might consider using vinegar to clean them.. it does a great job.. that's what I did to make the equipment back to new condition. And kill off anything you don't want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 nice idea, thanks man, ill do that as soon as i start breaking this thing down tomorrow boy do i gotta lot of building to do in the next few weeks and ive gotta redo my stand, im still kicking myself in the *** for that one, thats for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 well, i got the corals out, thanks again steve, and am in the process of tearing everything down. if anyone has a K3 they want to get rid of, let me know, i can either buy it from you or work out a trade of some kind thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylaster Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 as i see it the only real option is turn the lights down low, get out the wine and go with it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 24, 2010 Author Share Posted January 24, 2010 LOL thats about it man, thats about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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