Another Build Thread You Won't Read

[Devisissy]

For a little algae?

It's not a little algae. Anymore. No matter what I do how much I remove it comes right back. I have a lot going on right now too. New property, another project car, and well life. When I bought this tank I told myself if I screwed it up again I was out for good. I have five other tanks. So it's not like I'm done done just giving up on salt. I'm going to find my microscope and see what I'm working with here.

 

[907_Reefer]

Well then siphon some sh** out and let's talk about the good news, what is this project car for example.. Say '93 RX-7..

 

[Devisissy]

Well then siphon some sh** out and let's talk about the good news, what is this project car for example.. Say '93 RX-7..

Could not find my scope so bought a new one. It's a 1991 MR2 Turbo.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Could not find my scope so bought a new one. It's a 1991 MR2 Turbo.

I didn’t know Toyota made scopes...

 

[Devisissy]

I didn’t know Toyota made scopes...

The car, THE CAR!

 

[Devisissy]

So I have ordered some pods. A mix of the basic critters most get and some of this snake oil stuff that looks like the Hot Sauce people in New York eat. I bought a new microscope even though I have one somewhere in storage. However I think that the algae is going to run it's course by the time it comes. It is by far the weirdest algae I have ever seen. There has been many many people on this forum with the same algae and they never got any answers.

I have not changed much. Still using MB7 and Bio, but I did add GFO. Nitrates and phosphates are rock bottom. Resisting the urge to dose until I get the scope. But the best my tank looked was when I was dosing. Those three weeks I noticed a large response in the growth of the algae. It was melting away and where I blew it off and stayed off.

The algae blows off the rocks very easily. But where it lands it just sits and keeps on growing. It's thin sheets. But I have noticed where the rocks are hit with the MP40's and some parts of the sand the algae is not growing back so I have hope. The algae scrubber is growing green algae and this weird bubbled gunk that looks like low tide foam. So an obvious bacteria of some sort. It also coats my arm hairs and has to be scrubbed off my skin after tank maintenance. There is also this thick hard to remove what I would assume is turf algae but it is stark white and can eventually be pulled off with a toothbrush and serious scrubbing.

So that is where we are at. I am getting this tank all fine just in time to break it all down and move. Which I think I decided to leave the hobby, although the misses says, "You spent all this money just to give up then? Fine."

Need to order some Nyos, still can't find it! Everyone sold out. Aquaforest takes twice as much for the same salinity. Expensive. So that's where I am.

 

[Devisissy]

Well since BRS decided to charge me for three to five day shipping but mail it on the fifth day my salt won't be here until Tuesday I am unable to do a water change. I was going to run up to Petco but I'm done buying salt I'll never use.

These past few days have really really made me reconsider this hobby. All jokes aside. I stopped everything I was doing. No MB7, no more dosing nitrates or phosphate. Just pulling as much algae out as I could. Things got bad. I bought that red sauce and dosed it two nights in a row and woke up to a milk bath and the algae was insane. Way worse. All my dosing had it retreating.

Day three it actually became clear but the algae was insane. I put a sock on the end of a hose and started sucking off the...rocks and gravel.

So a while back you will recall I ordered a bunch of fish. Over the last few months each one has died off. First the blenny, then the dispar, and now the wrasse. He was fine this morning. He seized then died.

Here is what made me decide to give up. Just now. Like five minutes ago. I watch the wrasse die. Ok whatever all the fish from that place were sickly from the get go. I go to grab my net. As I am walking back to get him out of the tank he perfectly, as if he was alive and able to swim, directly into the MP40, which made the same noise my Mazda 626 88' in white made when the timing belt broke on the black canyon freeway when it was 119 degrees. The wrasse is now in 8,000 perfectly bite sized pieces and all the other fish just decided to eat like I have never fed them before.

I laugh cried. That delirious half laugh half cry. I have never had anything more tragic yet hilarious happen to me in all 23 years I've had salt tanks.

So now all the fish are eating this wrasse who has God knows what wrong with it. And so now they will all probably die.

I have a great microscope,I paid 1300 for it back in the nineties when I thought I would live up to my dad's expectations. But we packed everything away because well we are getting the house ready to show. So I bought a fisher price P+O+S off of eBay. And the light broke immediately. So I am really unable to get good photos. Tomorrow I will try to prepare a real slide. See what there is going on.

You guys and gals. Seriously,what the heck. Oh and it's my birthday. I'm so old. So so old.

We officially adopted Phineas Von Ripper. Foster fails.

 

[907_Reefer]

Pretty sure that cat is thinking, "cool probs, bro"..

MP40s aside, nature is a B. You should hear a juvenile black bear learning to take down a moose calf for 2 hours. Omg wrasse in MP40 all day please.

Not sure if I'm helping..

 

[Devisissy]

I have decided spending 60 a week on this tank is NOT working at all. This $60 was Probio in the red version, Phytoplankton, pods, and diatom. I kept up with it for about a month and saw NO difference what so ever. I turned off the lights and this is day 9 of no lights, I am noticing the sand by the back of the tank the dinos are receding. I ran out of diatoms but have been dosing silica everyday and MB7 and keeping nitrates at 10ppm and phosphates at .025. This is something I tried before with much success, and I am seeing it is working again. The UV light does nothing. I will be removing it again, I do not have the free floating version and all the UV is doing is taking up space and killing any bacteria that can out compete the dinos. I am also going to break down the algae scrubber as it is unneeded. We are actively looking for a new place to live so I am half hearted fighting this. I have decided the tank will be broken down, livestock given away, and I will start new after sanitizing everything. However I have decided I will be using ocean live rock on the next start up. So sorry for anyone following along for the lackluster conclusion. The SCA tank is fine, but I really don't like Euro Braced, the stand is too short for the return on the tank. So I will most likely be getting some sort of package deal or finding a tank that has a return positioned behind the tank instead of under.

 

[Devisissy]

So we are moving. It happened fast. I will be putting the fish in a nice deluxe Tupperware with a skimmer and a prayer. They will live in this until I get the tank set back up. I think I might take all the rock out now, leave a few pieces behind and bleach it into oblivion. I am going to use live rock and sand from which ever company will ship DIRECTLY to my freight dock.

 

[907_Reefer]

LR FTW!

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I used Tampa bay saltwater for my rock, Spokane would have been cake to get flown to, but I had to go and make it difficult and ask them to fly to Lewiston to their tiny po-dunk airport. Almost didn't make it. Had to get them to re-route while in air otherwise it would have delayed in salt lake for 2 days. Almost a huge headache but their customer service is rockin' and they made it all possible. It was totally my airports' fault, they only get Delta once a day so if a flight is delayed anywhere, you miss it for the whole day.

 

[Devisissy]

I used Tampa bay saltwater for my rock, Spokane would have been cake to get flown to, but I had to go and make it difficult and ask them to fly to Lewiston to their tiny po-dunk airport. Almost didn't make it. Had to get them to re-route while in air otherwise it would have delayed in salt lake for 2 days. Almost a huge headache but their customer service is rockin' and they made it all possible. It was totally my airports' fault, they only get Delta once a day so if a flight is delayed anywhere, you miss it for the whole day.

Geiger is two hours away from me. I get freight daily. We have a loading dock because of the product that ships in. I guess it's not a deal breaker. New house is closer to Lewiston! Do you all think it's worth keeping any of the Marco or should I go all live?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Geiger is two hours away from me. I get freight daily. We have a loading dock because of the product that ships in. I guess it's not a deal breaker. New house is closer to Lewiston! Do you all think it's worth keeping any of the Marco or should I go all live?

I would keep the Marco and add live. You have already created an aquascape Marco is natural reef rock and will accept the live biome readily.

 

[Devisissy]

I would keep the Marco and add live. You have already created an aquascape Marco is natural reef rock and will accept the live biome readily.

I have to take the tank all the way down though. I am going to bleach that rock to kill the dinos. I think I can get it back into that shape though. I'll take photos. Sand is going.

 

[Devisissy]

So it's been lights out with dosing silicates and I'm winning the battle. Only the window provides light. It's dying off so fast I have to empty sock daily.

 

[Chikpeas]

Listen, I know I’m already an adult, but I still hope I grow up to be like you

Best of luck nuking those monsters !!!

 

[Devisissy]

So it's been 14 days of no lights and today the dinoflagellates are mostly dead. There is a fine dusting of diatoms on the sump floor. I bought a couple of bottles of diatoms from reef legends. And fed them daily glass water. I am convinced this could be done with lights on but it would have taken longer. So this weekend the fish go into their temporary home and the rock pulled. Again. For the move.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

So it's been 14 days of no lights and today the dinoflagellates are mostly dead. There is a fine dusting of diatoms on the sump floor. I bought a couple of bottles of diatoms from reef legends. And fed them daily glass water. I am convinced this could be done with lights on but it would have taken longer. So this weekend the fish go into their temporary home and the rock pulled. Again. For the move.

You said your going closer to Lewiston, right? Where at? In a town? Or boonies?

I'm outside of Lewiston about an hour east on hwy 12. There is a lfs in Lewiston I love, but not lots of coral, but good selection of fish and they'll order whatever.

 

[Devisissy]

You said your going closer to Lewiston, right? Where at? In a town? Or boonies?

I'm outside of Lewiston about an hour east on hwy 12. There is a lfs in Lewiston I love, but not lots of coral, but good selection of fish and they'll order whatever.

NICE TRY ISIS! LOL kidding.

I'm in Sandpoint. We are moving here into a WAAAAY bigger house much much closer. But here is the thing. I have a huge warehouse. With a loading bay. We get HEAVY crap all day long. We get private freight, Fed Ex, UPS, USPS freight. I am unwilling to work with a company that can not make use of this. I had the tank delivered directly to the house so I wouldn't have to transport it, but a box of live rocks should be able to be brought right to our loading bay where one of my guys can shove it in the back of my car. One company had no problem shipping directly to my business. Tampa never got back to me about it, and that Hawaii place never got back to me (it appears they are out of business). So KP all day!

We are contacting movers. None of them seem to want to work with the tank. I have friends but none of them I want to bother with a tank. Last time I contacted the people that claim they move tanks it was frustrating. I told them it was a standard rimmed 90, 48 x 18 x 26 with 1/2 inch thick glass 296 pounds empty. And they wanted to know all this crazy crap. I might be a snob but I was like don't you move tanks all the time, it says you do, why do you need all these weird photos of the tank, its a freaking standard 90. So after taking 10 photos of the tank, them wanting to come by the house to look at it, all this for 15 feet. It was moving from one room to another, I decided to lose their number. It wasn't a custom build into a wall, just take this off the floor put in another room on stand.

I might have to find some crackheads or something.