Aquaforest Guide

[landlubber]

well its over @Anirban . this morning the rest of my acropora are white.

 

[Anirban]

well its over @Anirban . this morning the rest of my acropora are white.

Ohhh man, what else do you have in tank?

 

[landlubber]

Ohhh man, what else do you have in tank?

a couple of rock flower anemones, a couple of richordia and a bunch of zoanthids that haven't opened in over a month. the only thing that looks remotely healthy is the problematic algae. not even sure where i'm going to go from here. if that fluccanozole doesn't end up working i'll likely reboot the tank but unfortunately i'm not financially prepared to start another reef.

 

[Anirban]

a couple of rock flower anemones, a couple of richordia and a bunch of zoanthids that haven't opened in over a month. the only thing that looks remotely healthy is the problematic algae. not even sure where i'm going to go from here. if that fluccanozole doesn't end up working i'll likely reboot the tank but unfortunately i'm not financially prepared to start another reef.

Rebooting will again shift you back to the start which I dont want. First slowly bring up the NO3 a bit and also keep treating with Flucanozole. I will suggest to do the treatment first and then increase the NO3 or other way round. Don't do both together. Also, keep you parameters stable all the time.

 

[landlubber]

Rebooting will again shift you back to the start which I dont want. First slowly bring up the NO3 a bit and also keep treating with Flucanozole. I will suggest to do the treatment first and then increase the NO3 or other way round. Don't do both together. Also, keep you parameters stable all the time.

yea i'm stuck waiting for the mailman on both of the products i need the most. i still have some pricey zoas i'm trying to save and am not giving up on the hobby but dang man... i'm into the thousands on lost sps now. frustrated doesn't scratch the surface on how i'm feeling.

 

[Anirban]

yea i'm stuck waiting for the mailman on both of the products i need the most. i still have some pricey zoas i'm trying to save and am not giving up on the hobby but dang man... i'm into the thousands on lost sps now. frustrated doesn't scratch the surface on how i'm feeling.

Zoa are pretty resilient so dont bother about them. As far losing money on SPS I think you are still good compared to me. I lost my whole tank when I was on vacation last winter including my fishes. But I started again and if you look at my SPS frag rack alot of people here will envy. So, either you do it or you dont. I always belong to the first group.

 

[landlubber]

Zoa are pretty resilient so dont bother about them. As far losing money on SPS I think you are still good compared to me. I lost my whole tank when I was on vacation last winter including my fishes. But I started again and if you look at my SPS frag rack alot of people here will envy. So, either you do it or you dont. I always belong to the first group.

for sure man. i'm not done... just a little sad.
i have to give you acknowledgement man. you've shown amazing patience with me over this process and i appreciate all that you've done.

 

[Anirban]

for sure man. i'm not done... just a little sad.
i have to give you acknowledgement man. you've shown amazing patience with me over this process and i appreciate all that you've done.

Good because I am not done with you too....I want to see that thing up and running. As far acknowledgement goes you can pay by beer (I am collecting them from whoever I help and currently owe few from 2-3 people here). In the mean time read threads here about spectraside and fulcanozole.

 

[landlubber]

Good because I am not done with you too....I want to see that thing up and running. As far acknowledgement goes you can pay by beer (I am collecting them from whoever I help and currently owe few from 2-3 people here). In the mean time read threads here about spectraside and fulcanozole.

i definitely have been. i plan on starting the fluccanozole first, i'll pull my activated carbon, run the skimmer without the drain line on it and refrain from water changes throughout the medication period.
as for spectracide, i still have to learn more about it.

 

[landlubber]

@Anirban
just to update:
parameters haven't shifted at all over the past week which is a good thing... the beginnings of stability.
neither of my mail-ordered products have shown yet but the fluccanozole should be here any time now.
enjoy your weekend!

 

[Anirban]

@Anirban
just to update:
parameters haven't shifted at all over the past week which is a good thing... the beginnings of stability.
neither of my mail-ordered products have shown yet but the fluccanozole should be here any time now.
enjoy your weekend!

I am really happy that you find the chemical stability...but I will really like to see the tank also find its biological balance. Keep me in loop when you start the treatment because it will affect the chemical balance too. Have a great weekend.

 

[landlubber]

well i have good news again... my fluccanozole made it in today

 

[JOKER]

Why do they recommend using this salt so quickly? I let red sea and IO set for a month before I use it all in my auto water change. I bought some of this salt and when reading they recommend using it in 48 hour. Anyone keep it longer??

 

[landlubber]

Why do they recommend using this salt so quickly? I let red sea and IO set for a month before I use it all in my auto water change. I bought some of this salt and when reading they recommend using it in 48 hour. Anyone keep it longer??

yea you can't do that with the probiotic as from what i've read it has to be used within 24 hours of mixing. the idea is to introduce the the probiotic bacteria into the system before they colonize in your mixing container reducing their effectiveness.

 

[landlubber]

good morning @Anirban
just wanted to keep you updated a little over the medication process. we're in day 3 of treatment with the fluccanozole and as expected not much has changed. by day 10 or 12 i expect to see some positive moves. i was too busy this weekend but will certainly be taking some photos so i have something to gauge progress with
the one question i did have for you was about the aquaforest carbon dosing products i use. should i continue dosing them? the reason i ask is that without a skimmer collecting the bio-mass i am unsure if it'll be a cause for more trouble than good. any ideas?

 

[Anirban]

good morning @Anirban
just wanted to keep you updated a little over the medication process. we're in day 3 of treatment with the fluccanozole and as expected not much has changed. by day 10 or 12 i expect to see some positive moves. i was too busy this weekend but will certainly be taking some photos so i have something to gauge progress with
the one question i did have for you was about the aquaforest carbon dosing products i use. should i continue dosing them? the reason i ask is that without a skimmer collecting the bio-mass i am unsure if it'll be a cause for more trouble than good. any ideas?

You can stop that at the moment..

 

[JOKER]

yea you can't do that with the probiotic as from what i've read it has to be used within 24 hours of mixing. the idea is to introduce the the probiotic bacteria into the system before they colonize in your mixing container reducing their effectiveness.

I am just using the regular salt so it would be ok??

 

[landlubber]

I am just using the regular salt so it would be ok??

i've read so many contradictory and anecdotal pieces of advice on the shelf life of mixed reef salt that this one might be better left to one of the aquaforest guys. @Anirban any ideas?

 

[Anirban]

i've read so many contradictory and anecdotal pieces of advice on the shelf life of mixed reef salt that this one might be better left to one of the aquaforest guys. @Anirban any ideas?

For normal salt I will say a week time is fine as I personally did that before. But for a month I dont know the effect. But the probiotic salt should be used within 24 hours as it contains bacteria, amino and vitamins.

 

[landlubber]

hello @Anirban
just wanted to give you the heads up that i just finished my 2 weeks fluccanozole medication period and i'm very impressed with the difference it made. there is still some remaining green hair algae in the tank but i'd say 95% of what was there is gone. one interesting thing i found about using it was before treatment the problematic algae would kill off the snails that ate it but after a week into treatment it was as if the snails all sensed the danger in eating it disappeared and they went back to mowing it down safely.
the treatment required no skimmer for a while and due to that i stopped carbon dosing for that time as well. both of these along with the die off of all the algae and lack of water changes really raised my nutrient levels (nitrate 25ppm and phosphate 0.08ppm) but i feel the worst is behind me.
i imagine by the end of this week i'll have a better grip on things and perhaps at least will have my phosphates where i like them at 0.04ppm and probably a couple of weeks for the nitrates to sit between 2 and 5 ppm.