The Upgrade Build... From 110 to 180

[TheWB]

I started dosing Vibrant this morning.
I dosed 20ml for my approximate 200g water volume. The brown algae / diatoms are getting bad looking and I would like to try to nip it in the bud and try stay ahead of it from there.

I will monitor over the next week to see if I need to dose every 2 weeks or every week or if I need to dose at all.

Who knows. I may just go get a Tang or Foxface.

I used vibrant to combat a fairly serious algae issue and it worked pretty good over the 9 week treatment cycle. I didn’t do enough to get my parameters in check during that time so a new algae has cropped up that I originally thought was green cyano. I’m interested to see if dosing it at this stage helps with your diatoms. For a tank the size of yours I would think that the early addition of a Tomini or Kole Tang and Foxface would be beneficial to help with natural algae control going forward too. Assuming you like and want to keep those fish of course.

 

[Dj City]

Yellow Tang and Bicolored Foxface added today. Let the algae eat-a-thon begin.

Pics to come

 

[Dj City]

Once the tank heys finished with this bacterial bloom I should be able to take better pics.
These pics are for documentation purposes.

 

[787will]

This is a nice build! I always go through the brown ugly phase using dry rock and it eventually goes away. I’ve never done anything to treat it and let it run it’s course. IMO it’s nothing to stress over.

 

[Dj City]

This is a nice build! I always go through the brown ugly phase using dry rock and it eventually goes away. I’ve never done anything to treat it and let it run it’s course. IMO it’s nothing to stress over.

Thank you.
It's been a long time since I've set up a brand new tank. This brown "ugly" phase caught me slightly by surprise. I expected something but not the amount and thickness of the brown "stuff" I have now.
I've had dusting of diatoms on new tanks in the past but what I have now is more than a "dusting'

I guess I will have to just let it ride.

 

[Dj City]

I decided to pull the Sulfur Denitrator.
I can go back to it in the future if it's needed but right now I don't think I absolutely NEED it. My nitrates have been very low and I don't believe the sulfur denitrator was even cycled yet.

I will keep a close eye on Nitrate now that it's offline.

I hope I have not taken it offline too soon. Flip side of that is, I wonder if I may have put it online too soon?

EDIT:
I believe the Sulfur Denitrator was the reason I could not get past the bacterial bloom I have been going through.
Water in the denitrator is Milky!
I don't WANT to take it offline but I can't deal with the bacterial bloom anymore.

I have not hooked up my UV yet but that will be happening sometime this coming week as long as I can get my 1 inch flow sensor from Marine Depot during this crisis we are in.

I'm also getting Easy Masstick ready to use fish food along with Clarisea replacement XL filter roll.

 

[Dj City]

I promise I am not as indecisive as I appear to be in this thread.

I have re-employed my Sulfur denitrator.
I took it offline earlier today and when I ran a nitrate test this evening...
Wow! My nitrate jumped from 0 - 5ppm to 5 -10ppm.

I poured all the water out the denitrator and added fresh saltwater. I have it running WIDE open. No recirculating pump. Just the aqualifter. I will run this till tomorrow. I hope that by tomorrow the water will be running clear through the denitrator. If it's clear or only "slightly" cloudy, I will run it with the recirculating pump at a slow 1 drop per second.

I will soon have my manifold up and running with my UV Sterilizer so a bacterial bloom will no longer be an issue.

 

[lilchris_357]

Hey I would let your tank settle first before I put the sulfur Dinitrater back on. It sounds like you’re still going through your cycle. 5 to 10 ppm Nitrates is nothing a couple water changes can’t handle. Plus you have some poop monsters in there. Keep it simple and you will have success. Adding to many gadgets will just frustrate the **** out of you when things go side ways. Stick with a skimmer, (refugium, ATS or Algae reactor), water changes. Just my suggestions. Looking good so far, Good luck.

 

[Dj City]

Ugh!

Foxface developed Ick.
I'm debating on what to do. He's had it for at least 2 days now and it's getting worse instead of better. He's still eating but not eating with gusto.

I already know the tank will have ick as all tanks do but my debate is weather I should try to catch him and treat him in coppersafe or wait and see if his immune system kicks in and fends off the ick.

recommendations are welcome.

 

[Dj City]

Ok so here's the ironic part...

Just as I am setting up the qt tank, I'm looking at my foxface. He is acting weird, swimming weird and Changing color. I'm thinking he's going downhill fast. I have the qt 90% filled with RO/DI water and look at my foxface. I see his slime coat sloughing off the ick. I REALLY would like that to happen in qt as i'm treating him with copper power but I'm watching him and the ick is just starting to slide off.
The water in the qt is ICE cold as it is coming straight from the RO/DI unit and it has no salt yet so I'm stuck with the ick being released into the tank.

I understand that as long as the fish went into the tank with ick, the tank HAS ick but I don't want ALL the ick that was JUST on the fish in the water.
I grab my net and do my best to scoop out the slime coat that I see coming off the foxface.
I believe I caught the majority but I know the display now has ick.

I was never shooting for an ick free system. I know that my fish from the 110 gallon have ick. They are healthy enough that ick is not a problem for them.
I just don't want an explosion of ick in the system.

I'm going to keep the qt up and running for a bit but I am going to observe the foxface instead of simply grabbing him and treating him with copper.
If he's healthy enough to fight ick off without my help then that's all good by me.

My UV Sterilizer should be up and running by next week. I will have the gate valve and flow meter installed for accurate flow through the unit to knock back parasites.
When i'm done with the parasites, I will increase the flow through the UV to keep algae at bay.

I WILL be ordering food from this place though...

Fish Foods : Everything Aquatic Store

Everything Aquatic Store : Fish Foods - Fish Foods Filters - Sponge Breeding Supplies Gift Certificate Driftwood and Leaves

store.everythingaquatic.net

Thanks @TheWB

 

[Dj City]

Update...

I have the UV Sterilizer up and running but I'm running in the dark. I have not received the flow meter yet.

I have it running straight off the Jebao DCT 10000 on its lowest setting through 1inch flex tubing.
The pump is rated for 3000L to 10000L (792g to 2641g)
At the lowest setting it seems to be getting AN AWFUL LOT of flow. It's a very short run. About a foot up and over the sump to the UV laying horizontally then about a foot up and over the sump to drain.

I turned it on and skimmer simply stopped producing. All I get is water and bubbles like boiling water. NO foam whatsoever. I get a lot of microbubbles that get into the display so I shut the skimmer down for the time being.
I will run it overnight to break it back in.

 

[Dj City]

In other news....
Foxface seems to be doing fine! Im happy I did not have to pull him out (yet). I wanted him to be able to cope with the parasite since I really can't eradicate it. I'm practicing ick management.

I pretty much have the bacterial bloom under control but still can't get the tank clear.
I have soooooo much tiny "stuff" floating and blowing around in the display it's stupid.
I have a Clarisea SK-5000 and i'm about 1/2 way through my 2nd roll. I do not have the bypass open.
I don't understand this. Maybe I have too much flow and it keeps everything blowing around in the tank?
I don't know.

I am very open to suggestions.

 

[TheWB]

In other news....
Foxface seems to be doing fine! Im happy I did not have to pull him out (yet). I wanted him to be able to cope with the parasite since I really can't eradicate it. I'm practicing ick management.

I pretty much have the bacterial bloom under control but still can't get the tank clear.
I have soooooo much tiny "stuff" floating and blowing around in the display it's stupid.
I have a Clarisea SK-5000 and i'm about 1/2 way through my 2nd roll. I do not have the bypass open.
I don't understand this. Maybe I have too much flow and it keeps everything blowing around in the tank?
I don't know.

I am very open to suggestions.

Happy to hear the Foxface is doing well. When is the medicated food from Everything Aquatic going to arrive? My fish love it and I believe it really helps to keep things under control when you can’t qt.

 

[Albertan22]

In other news....
Foxface seems to be doing fine! Im happy I did not have to pull him out (yet). I wanted him to be able to cope with the parasite since I really can't eradicate it. I'm practicing ick management.

I pretty much have the bacterial bloom under control but still can't get the tank clear.
I have soooooo much tiny "stuff" floating and blowing around in the display it's stupid.
I have a Clarisea SK-5000 and i'm about 1/2 way through my 2nd roll. I do not have the bypass open.
I don't understand this. Maybe I have too much flow and it keeps everything blowing around in the tank?
I don't know.

I am very open to suggestions.

Do your returns or powerheads push everything away from your overflow? I’ve found that sometimes it takes a little re-angling of the loc line to allow stuff to make it to the overflow.

 

[Dj City]

Happy to hear the Foxface is doing well. When is the medicated food from Everything Aquatic going to arrive? My fish love it and I believe it really helps to keep things under control when you can’t qt.

Good morning.
I have not ordered the food yet but I will hopefully order next week. I have some Masstick on the way that I ordered before you gave me that link.
I have some meds and focus that i may use with the Masstick.

 

[Dj City]

Do your returns or powerheads push everything away from your overflow? I’ve found that sometimes it takes a little re-angling of the loc line to allow stuff to make it to the overflow.

I have 4 Wav powerheads on the back wall and 2 Gyre 350's on either side of the aquarium.
Everything gets pushed everywhere.

 

[count krunk]

I would let the tank balance out before running any sort of reactor Don't dose vibrant so early as well. It's dry rock its going to be ugly for a bit.

 

[Dj City]

I would let the tank balance out before running any sort of reactor Don't dose vibrant so early as well. It's dry rock its going to be ugly for a bit.

Good morning. Thanks for the advice.
I did the 1 dose of Vibrant. I'm not going to do another.
I put the Sulfur Denitrator online because I wanted to deal with and get ahead of the nitrates that come with a brand new tank. I plan on ZERO water changes unless something goes drastically wrong so water changes won't help me with nitrates.

 

[Dj City]

My UV is NOT working with me! Urrrrgh!

I have my manifold up and running. I have my UV and Algae Reactor hooked up. I have 1inch soft tubing for my UV coming off a 3/4" manifold.
I have 643gph going through the UV. I should have a minimum of 943gph - 1574gph to deal with algae and bacteria.
To deal with protozoa (Ick and things like that) I only need 157gph - 262gph. That is easy to get to by turning the DC pump down OR closing the gate valve down.
Getting up to the minimum suggested flow rate for bacteria and algae is proving to be VERY difficult to do.

 

[Albertan22]

My UV is NOT working with me! Urrrrgh!

I have my manifold up and running. I have my UV and Algae Reactor hooked up. I have 1inch soft tubing for my UV coming off a 3/4" manifold.
I have 643gph going through the UV. I should have a minimum of 943gph - 1574gph to deal with algae and bacteria.
To deal with protozoa (Ick and things like that) I only need 157gph - 262gph. That is easy to get to by turning the DC pump down OR closing the gate valve down.
Getting up to the minimum suggested flow rate for bacteria and algae is proving to be VERY difficult to do.

I believe a 3/4 inch pipe maxes out at around 1400 gph. If you've got an algae reactor running off that same pipe it may be robbing you of the necessary flow. If that same manifold is also feeding your return lines then there is no way physics will allow you to get enough flow through that manifold no matter how big your return pump sadly. Assuming your manifold is stand alone and not linked to the return, maybe try turning off flow to the algae reactor and see if that does the trick. A lot of people build their plumbing not realizing how flow limiting the smaller sized pipes are, there are tables online.

I would build a manifold out of 1 inch of 1.25 inch pipe if you can manage it.