I've had it!

[jesshimom]

Wellllll..... I set up Erwin's tank 6 or so weeks ago with existing rock and existing water... so why would I have this major ugly cycle worse than any of my other tanks ever had??? All beautiful one day and the next day I come home from work to red cyano EVERYWHERE and green so thick I could cut it with a knife. Nothing different maintenance wise... all I could figure was my new Tek light and perhaps a tad bit overfeeding. So we've vacuumed and vacuumed, done a couple water changes, cut down on the light (why did I buy the stupid thing?), reduced feeding substantially right now and am going to add some more snails this weekend. I'm really ticked because I've lost several corals and brought the others upstairs to my hex and they are ugly looking tonight so decided to do a water change on the hex and of course the rio croaks so I have to drive like a crazy woman 30 miles right at bed time to get a replacement.

Oh the only other thing is the tank is running quite hot so I have fans on it all the time (looks really nice with the doors open.. lol) and I think it's the sterilizer as I've NEVER had that problem before. It was 85 the day I came home from work. The minute I turn the fan off the heat goes up. I dont want to buy a chiller as it's in a nook and I dont think I can fit it anywhere. Besides I'm mad right now and not spending anything on it!

Any other thoughts? Both my tanks are a mess, yet Shilo's little 27 is going strong everything twice the size as a few months ago. Go figure.

Colleen

 

[kylem]

Lighting changes can make a major algae bloom. The change in type of light can either make the algae have brown light if decreased or green...if increased. Variations of height and type of light makes various effects.
The heat build up can be cause by the light because the rock in the tank absorbs the energy and heats the water around it. The more rock...the more heat...more light ...much more heat.

Kyle

 

[Alice]

Can you cut holes in each end of the canopy? Ideally, one fan blowing in and one pulling air out. A clip on fan pointed right down at the water should drop the water temp about 3-4 degrees on it's own as well.

Good luck!

 

[cookiemn]

Colleen,
I have seen the same problem with my nano. I cut the light down to 5 hours and performed more water changes. Why do you think it is the UV. I was thinking of getting one. BTW, I spole to reefgeek.com and they just got in the acrylic shields for the tek lights for $32.

Erwin

 

[NaH2O]

Colleen hang in there! We cut so many holes in the top of my canopy - it looks like swiss cheese. I also have 4-4inch fans blowing the heat out of the canopy, and a 6 inch fan blowing directly on the sump water. Without all of these fans I would have a heat issue with my 120. When my sump fan is off, the temp (without lights) is 80F.....with the sump fan blowing on the water, it is 77.8-79F without lights. Believe me...I was concerned I needed a chiller, but with fans and the lights it only reaches 81F.

What size is the tank....and is there a sump?

 

[jesshimom]

What are the shields about Erwin?? Scott and I thought it was the UV heating it up because he was running the same one on his fresh 150 and would always get high temps when it was running.

Nikki, it's a 60 and yes there is a sump now. We added the overflow and sump, which I know it was a good thing to do but I never had one before and never ever ever ever had any problem with my 55. I was using a canister and everything was fine.

And, I just checked but the pump I replaced in the other tank last night is a big (*&^%^bubble factory. Grrrrrr.....

 

[Ed Hahn]

Hello Jessimom,
I wish I could talk you into a digital thermometer with alarms. I also wonder if your tank is close to a window? As far as heat displacement. My little five dollar clip on fan is hidden in my canopy. Thats the best five dollars I have spent in a long time in my tank. If you like you can add a little clip on fan on your sump also. You could disconnect things one by one and find out what is over heating your tank. I love hearing bout your tanks and your little ones doings. Hang in There, I think everyone has a bad day. Thats what makes the next day so much more fun.

 

[Curtswearing]

All of us have said this at one point or another unless you are just getting into the hobby.

A problem presents itself that we just can't seem to solve. That's the great thing about forums like RF. Someone else will help you diagnose and fix the problem. It might not happen immediately but this can be fixed.

Like a couple of people have said, Hang in there. It won't be long before you are saying the same thing to someone else.

It's possible that the existing rock had accumulated a lot of nutrients and it is cleaning itself out. Add extra light, heat, and nutrients to the equation and you get cyanobacteria.

What are your test kit levels coming in at?

 

[cookiemn]

Colleen, the shield is to protect the bulbs and the reflectors from the water splash. I know I had to clean my lghts every now and then because of salt build up. It has nothing to do with heat. I would agree with several people who have replied that you should put a small clip on in your hood. When I had the tank it never got that high. Maybe it was because I had the windows open a lot. The entire back of the canopy is open so you shouldn't have enough space to put in a fan. I bought a $7 clip on fan from Lowes. I think they still have them on sale.

Erwin

 

[jesshimom]

The sheild sounds like a good idea if I decide to keep the setup and not throw it out in the front yard first.

Yes, I've had the small fans, but right now I have a big box fan on high because that is all that will keep it cool. Guess I'll have to rig up several smaller fans if I ever want to close the doors again

Thanks, Ed, yes it is very fun watching my daughter be involved with her tank. She just had a birthday so she's itching to buy more things, but she has already about outgrown her tank and visualing the next one! Wonder where that comes from! We are going to thin out a bunch of Kenya trees and rearrange her rock a bit and change water and head to Coral Beauty so she can spend her birthday money. Also Ed, it is not by a window, it is in a nook, downstairs where it is nice and cool. It would probably be at 90 if it were upstairs where it's HOT.

I tested the water this morning and everything is back to normal, I had nitrate/nitrite readings last week and earlier this week and this morning both were undetectable. So I would assume we are heading back to normal but all the rock looks so ugly. The fish seem fine and ate this morning. I'm afraid to feed them right now though!

I change my sock every three days... should I be changing it sooner? I wash them in the washer twice on hot. I'm also running phosguard in the sump. I dont think there is much more I can do other than let it right itself now that it is testing ok.

OHHH, also, regarding my light, it's almost twice as much as I had, so how should I go about increasing lighting once I get the tank stable so this doesnt happen again? I realllyyyyy love the look of both lights on. Slowly increase the amount of time I leave them on? That's probably where I went really wrong, as I leave them on too long (keep forgetting to get a timer) but with the other PC light it didnt seem to make any difference.

Thanks and sorry for rambling, I should have posted last week then Scott wouldn't have had to listen to me having tantrums.....

Colleen

 

[Ed Hahn]

Colleen,
You just told on your self. You leave your lights on too much you said. If you leave your photo period as close as possible your animals are less stressed.
I think it is fine to run your socks for three days and rotate them. If you have a issue you may rotate your micron socks more, JMO. Good to hear you are back to normal.
I wonder if your new increase in light if you had some die off which is normal. You learned a lot pretty quick, you figured out
what your problem was by yourself!

I wish my kids were more into Saltwater Tanks. My kids are into soccer, or anything else. Their soccer buddies enjoy the tank. I get about 5 minutes of bragging and their gone. Do you have anymore soccer buddies? I want to brag some more! You are so damn lucky!

Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the smile
Ed

 

[jesshimom]

Nope, no soccer here Ed! Only music, drama (oh my god, lots of drama... lol), swimming and saltwater tanks. You can have the soccer glory!

Colleen

 

[Ray Pollett]

The sheild sounds like a good idea if I decide to keep the setup and not throw it out in the front yard first.

Yes, I've had the small fans, but right now I have a big box fan on high because that is all that will keep it cool. Guess I'll have to rig up several smaller fans if I ever want to close the doors again

Thanks, Ed, yes it is very fun watching my daughter be involved with her tank. She just had a birthday so she's itching to buy more things, but she has already about outgrown her tank and visualing the next one! Wonder where that comes from! We are going to thin out a bunch of Kenya trees and rearrange her rock a bit and change water and head to Coral Beauty so she can spend her birthday money. Also Ed, it is not by a window, it is in a nook, downstairs where it is nice and cool. It would probably be at 90 if it were upstairs where it's HOT.

I tested the water this morning and everything is back to normal, I had nitrate/nitrite readings last week and earlier this week and this morning both were undetectable. So I would assume we are heading back to normal but all the rock looks so ugly. The fish seem fine and ate this morning. I'm afraid to feed them right now though!

I change my sock every three days... should I be changing it sooner? I wash them in the washer twice on hot. I'm also running phosguard in the sump. I dont think there is much more I can do other than let it right itself now that it is testing ok.

OHHH, also, regarding my light, it's almost twice as much as I had, so how should I go about increasing lighting once I get the tank stable so this doesnt happen again? I realllyyyyy love the look of both lights on. Slowly increase the amount of time I leave them on? That's probably where I went really wrong, as I leave them on too long (keep forgetting to get a timer) but with the other PC light it didnt seem to make any difference.

Thanks and sorry for rambling, I should have posted last week then Scott wouldn't have had to listen to me having tantrums.....

Colleen

Colleen,

I have two tanks sitting on the poach. Both are glass. I think they are a 40 and a 45 gallon. Just tanks. But you are welcome to one for Shilo if you can arange a time to come pick it up. Neither leaked before there were set out there in March.

Ray

 

[jesshimom]

Hey Ray, you better delete that before she logs on tonite and sees it.... Just kidding, that's very generous of you.

Hmmm.... Do you happen to know what the dimensions are?

Thanks, Colleen

 

[fishermann]

Colleen This is john what kind of substrate system do you have? What is the amount of time you are actually running your lites? To be honest I suspect maybe a sustrate issue holding to much detritus if you have a leaning towards over feeding. Sounds like you did a complete vac job and if you aren't running a true DSB, that is what you are going to have to do I would say aleast once a month. The bags well help greatly but they can't catch what doesn't reach them and most of you detritus well settle in the substrate unless you have some major current to keep it in the water column. You should start seeing some inprovement now that you vac'd the system. You also need to try and keep your systems temp fluxs from varying to much, lots of air movement, shorter photo period on hot days, maybe one lite instead of both, and for sure a timer not only for heat issues but so the living can have a time schedule that is consistant to them.

 

[jesshimom]

Hi John, When I switched tanks because of the bad scratches, we went bare bottom and added the sump. There is enough circulation, 5 maxi jets and a scwd with 4 of the jets on a wave maker. I vacuumed the cyano off is what i was talking about and the detritis never pools on the bottom at all. And, i vacuum and/or use a turkey baster on the rocks when I change water. All that you see on the bottom is green and red. Nice Christmas colors if nothing else. I want to build up to running my light with all four bulbs not just the two.

Whats the best idea for increasing the lighting?? I'm now just running half the light for 8 hours or so. I want to use the entire light though. It's a T5 Tek light with 4 bulbs, with 2 bulbs on seperate timers.

Thanks, Colleen

 

[kylem]

lighting and heat

I was reading from the book Reef Secrets that the Infrared (heat) light spectrum can not penetrate to far from the surface but it will heat your water up considerably. The UV will penetrate deeper and if you have rock close enough to the surface that will bake your rock enough to generate heat light a hot rock would. It will also retain heat so cooling will take a while to do. Once you reach a stable level of temperature it is much easier to keep it down.
The Blue light; which penetrates the deepest is what most of us have and in great quantity. This will also add heat to the lower rocks in your tank so overall the lighting will heat your entire tank of water. Having fans will help but I found that it is dependant on your ambient room temp. Having an AC or Central Air will help but you have to keep your room temp quite low to make an effective heat transfer. Sometimes the room can qet quite cold and who wants to spend their time looking at tropical fish while freezing. If you get a chiller and don't have AC you will have a simmiliar problem...unless you put the chiller outside. If you have a chiller with AC it does not matter...your AC can handle it but at more expense the cooling the house.

They really don't make chillers for out side so you probably would have to build a little shelter for the chiller to protect it.


Good luck with your decision...I just purchased a Arctica Titanium Chiller...1/5 hp.

 

[Ray Pollett]

Kylem,

"If you get a chiller and don't have AC you will have a simmiliar problem...unless you put the chiller outside. "

Not true. It may work a little harder, but if it is the proper size it will keep you water temperature down without being outside.

Ray

 

[fishermann]

Colleen Since you are BB I would say it is probably the temp swings causing some problems. There is not much to do but bite the bullet and get either the room or the tank cooled down. 5 pwr heads is alot on a 60 gal tank. I only run 2 in tank on my 60 that you saw, plus in the sump there is 1 for the skimmer,1 little one for the UV, and the return pump. If I try to run anymore in the tank it heats up to about 81 so I only run the 2 and it stays at 79 and as you know I have AC in the room. I guess that is why external pumps is a good way to go if you have room, anyway try cutting some pumps off and see what happens?

 

[jesshimom]

Well they are on a wave timer so they dont all run at once. I dont think it's too much when you look at the tank. The temp is stable with a fan right now, and the testing is ok, so I'm hoping it all clears up soon. I just haven't gotten the smaller fans to put inside, just using a box fan for the moment.