Better than ever after tank crash
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DeepBlueSomething
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Thanks for sharing and so glad you are back. Would love to hear more about the ugly mess you had and how you cleared out of the quagmire?
OP
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Squamosa
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Thank you, it's been a long road
OP
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Squamosa
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OP
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Squamosa
Well-Known Member
The tank ran for around 2 years when it crashed.
I changed out 50% of the water at first and then left it for around 1.5 months.
Didn't touch anything after that except for a slight aquascape and chiselling coral bases off rocks.
I don't do water changes and carbon dose with vodka and the nutrients were left to drop in the fallow period and then I added the frags.
GHA eventually died off (after 2 months or so) after the bound PO4 in the rock became exhausted.
Next up came dino's, Ostreopsis flavour and those were beaten back with the use of Vibrant.
After that I had the odd patch of cyano but that has cleared up and the tank basically runs on autopilot now.
I have to add that I added a filter using crushed coral that runs on a similar principle to the Dutch 'Dymico' system, minus the calcium reactor part of their filter. In this filter that recirculates a part of the tank return water, there is ~60 kg of crushed coral (5-10 mm). Basically water comes in over the top in the middle compartment, gets recirculated around the filter by a small pump in compartment B and then exits through the bottom of compartment C and overflows back into the sump. I filter ~300 L/hour of my tank water this way and I had to stop carbon dosing, turned off my skimmer and I still have to add NO3 in from time to time, that's how efficient it is working for me.
Here is an image of it:
I also made my own calcium reactor that takes care of the big 3 for dosing
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OP
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Squamosa
Well-Known Member
I have tried every additive and had a mixed bag of results or none at all, so I put my training in science to good use, researched and made a series of trace element solutions of my own to use and bingo, they work!
DeepBlueSomething
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2017
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- 487
- Reaction score
- 1,048
- Location
- Houston, Texas
- What state or country do you live in
- Texas
The tank ran for around 2 years when it crashed.
I changed out 50% of the water at first and then left it for around 1.5 months.
Didn't touch anything after that except for a slight aquascape and chiselling coral bases off rocks.
I don't do water changes and carbon dose with vodka and the nutrients were left to drop in the fallow period and then I added the frags.
GHA eventually died off (after 2 months or so) after the bound PO4 in the rock became exhausted.
Next up came dino's, Ostreopsis flavour and those were beaten back with the use of Vibrant.
After that I had the odd patch of cyano but that has cleared up and the tank basically runs on autopilot now.
I have to add that I added a filter using crushed coral that runs on a similar principle to the Dutch 'Dymico' system, minus the calcium reactor part of their filter. In this filter that recirculates a part of the tank return water, there is ~60 kg of crushed coral (5-10 mm). Basically water comes in over the top in the middle compartment, gets recirculated around the filter by a small pump in compartment B and then exits through the bottom of compartment C and overflows back into the sump. I filter ~300 L/hour of my tank water this way and I had to stop carbon dosing, turned off my skimmer and I still have to add NO3 in from time to time, that's how efficient it is working for me.
Here is an image of it:
I also made my own calcium reactor that takes care of the big 3 for dosing
Awesome - thanks for sharing. I think the great takeaway for me is that even with a total loss - with patience and a practical approach, new life and beauty can be around the corner. Very cool.
If you have other threads or information on your DIY filter or reactors would enjoy the read.
