Reactors

[bkweibley]

I currently have a 90 gallon DT, and am working on plumbing a sump in my basement (55 gallon aquarium) along with a 40 gallon frag tank. Im also considering adding maybe a 20 gallon refug onto the system. I currently have a Phosban 550 running on my 90DT with the Phosban media in it. I have a Protein Skimmer, but honestly ive been having issues with it because I cant keep the water level in the sump that I currently have directly under my 90DT, so Ive had it unplugged. I have been having problems with an algae outbreak, and even with the Phosban with new media running I cant seem to get it under control. Algae grows because of Phosphates, so my Protein Skimmer not running wouldnt have any effect on this would it?

Should I have a second reactor running with a different media in it?

Ive also noticed that a lot of guys with larger systems arnt running 2 little fishes reactors, they have beefier ones. Are the 2 little fishes reactors not good? Is there a reason for this? My LFS also sells MR1 reactors, they look a little better built, are they any better?

 

[bkweibley]

No one has any input for me? :-(

 

[Mattiejay6]

I'm sure the protein skimmer not running really isn't helping the matter..

What is your phosphates at with GFO?

How much do you feed? What kind of algae is it! Hair, cyano?

Reactors are all personal pref. and nothing wrong with your reactor. Loud of people use it.

 

[gtbarsi]

largest source of phosphate to the tank is food. Not skimming probably means a lot more has been sitting in the system instead of getting skimmed out.

 

[hcoop]

Do you not have an ATO? What kind of algae? And what kind of media are you running?

 

[bkweibley]

I'm not sure why the pic is upside down, but u can see how much and how bad this algae is, this is hair algae right? I pull it off the rocks the best I can, and within a week it's looking like this again. I'm running the phosban media

 

[bkweibley]

largest source of phosphate to the tank is food. Not skimming probably means a lot more has been sitting in the system instead of getting skimmed out.

I don't believe I'm over feeding. 1 cube of PE Mysis every other day is all I'm feeding

 

[TheSaint216]

If it were me I would spend the money on an ATO. You can get a jbj for cheap. Check your local craigslist for them to. You need that to get that skimmer fired up and working. Get some Turbo snails and see what they do on that Algae. It doesnt matter what you put in the reactor your gonna keep having problems.

 

[bkweibley]

If it were me I would spend the money on an ATO. You can get a jbj for cheap. Check your local craigslist for them to. You need that to get that skimmer fired up and working. Get some Turbo snails and see what they do on that Algae. It doesnt matter what you put in the reactor your gonna keep having problems.

So this is all because of my protein skimmer being down?

 

[Mattiejay6]

Phosban is more of a helpful tool not an all in one fix it all.. Yes it is hair algae.

How old is this tank?

What are your water params?

Get the skimmer back into the game.

What kind of clean up crew do you have?

 

[Mattiejay6]

No not solely the skimmer..

 

[bkweibley]

Tank is over a year old
Salinity, pH, alk, nitrates, nitrites are all good. I have a Hanna for phosphates, but gotta get a new battery for it.
Had a fully loaded clean up crew but can't keep them alive now with what's going on with the tank. Only a few snails survived. I've been doing frequent water changes, 20% every week but it doesn't seem to help.

 

[evan.lundberg4]

What is your maintenance routine? Do you regularly clean your sand? Is there detritus buildup in your system? Are you using good RO/DI water? There's an obvious nutrient issuewith your system. These are all things that I didn't tend to with my old tank and I had similar algae issues.

 

[bkweibley]

What is your maintenance routine? Do you regularly clean your sand? Is there detritus buildup in your system? Are you using good RO/DI water? There's an obvious nutrient issuewith your system. These are all things that I didn't tend to with my old tank and I had similar algae issues.

I usually do a 20% water change once a month, but have been doing it every week because of this. My Rodi water is good, 0 total dissolved solids.
I have a semi deep sand bed, I haven't cleaned it because I haven't had to, I have a tiger tail in there (if he is still alive now) and had a good cleaning crew until this pretty much wiped them out. I had a power outage a few months back, it somehow triggered a cyno outbreak, which I got under control, about a month after that, this happened. Lost 2 tangs, a manderine, a royal Gramma, bunch of shrimp and crabs to this. Only about 5 fish and some snails survived it

 

[evan.lundberg4]

I have a semi deep sand bed, I haven't cleaned it because I haven't had to

I would start with the sand. Just in my experience without cleaning the sand you will have problems. I removed the sand out of my old tank and it was full of detritus. Has your sand been disturbed recently?

What's throwing me I'd your parameters being good, although the algae could be eating up nutrients giving you false readings. I'm no expert but this just sounds a lot like what happened to me.

 

[TheSaint216]

Take a flashlight at night and see if you can find the tigertail. If it died it could be contributing to your problems.

 

[bkweibley]

How can I find him? If I move sand around I could cause even more problems?

 

[TheSaint216]

Mine stayed in my rock and came out at night.

 

[Briguy350]

I'd check your RO again. You gotta be getting phosphates from somewhere. That might be a total tear down it's pretty bad. Maybe a couple emeralds crabs or something. I had bad bubble algea and they ate it all up. That and my sailfin tang. But gfo won't get rid of that.

 

[bkweibley]

I'd check your RO again. You gotta be getting phosphates from somewhere. That might be a total tear down it's pretty bad. Maybe a couple emeralds crabs or something. I had bad bubble algea and they ate it all up. That and my sailfin tang. But gfo won't get rid of that.

I have a TDI checker on my RODI, and its reading between 0 and 1 still.

I agree it is a really bad breakout, but if I can figure out exactly where the spike of phosphates are coming from, so I can nip it there, I believe I can save it without a tear down. I have been pulling out large clumps by hand, I just need to get my phosphates down, because im assuming that is what keeps killing most of my cleanup crew off. I didnt think phosphates did that, but all of my other readings are good yet all of a sudden i cant keep my cleanup crew alive. I believe my Mystery Wrasse could possibly be the culprit for the hermits dissapearing, but he doesnt eat emerald crabs or snails does he?