Should I start over????

[Krish]

I was thinking about kinda started over. Is there any disadvntage in doing this? My reason being is that I am tired of fighting this cyno algae problem. I do a 10 gallon water change weekly on my 90 gal with ro/di water and I only have 7 small fish ( about 2 in each) which I feed once a day. I took a few rocks out of my tank that was covered with th algae and scrubbed it off and couldn't believe the amount of caralline that was under it. So my thoughts were to take out all of the fish (so I wouldn't have any fish waste and rotten food in the tank), clean off all of the rocks, add some more water flow to catch any possible dead spots, do probably a 25-30% water change and let it run for a while. During this time I want to also add a refugium to see if I can culture the macro algae there. I was goona see if I could have implement it in my Pro150 wet/dry but I don't think I have sufficient space. I also want to add some sort of pad to remove any phosphates and see how it goes. I'm waiting for the test kits to come in to check where my phosphates and nitrates are at so that I can make any needed changes or additions to the aquarium while my fish aren't in there. Let me know what you think.

For the record my tank is a 90 gal, it has a 260 watt corallife retrofit compact flourescent, 80 lbs of crushed coral, 10 lbs of fiji pink, 110 lbs of live rock, my nitrites and ammonia are 0 (always has been), the tank is 3 months old, I use a Pro 150 wet/dry (pumping 700gph) with skimmer, H.O.T Magnum 250 & Magnum 350 cannister filter (for water flow and charcoal), use ro/di water and add liquid calcium to the tank daily.

 

[wrightme43]

If you want. What kind of liquid calcium? could that be the problem? You could try running polyfilters or a phos-sorbing media. Its up to you. hth Steve

 

[Witfull]

sometimes a fresh start is what the doctor orders....take what you have learned,,incorperate it,,,and see what happens...

 

[LowCel]

If you do decide to start over you may want to consider removing your crushed coral at that time. It would be much easier to do it at that point than later.

 

[DonW]

I would just to get rid of the crushed coral. Is that an IAP pro150 wet/dry with the built in skimmer? Are the bioballs still in it?

Don

 

[Angelscrx]

If your tank has only been up for three months then I would say you are probably still in the cycle process. Disturbing the tank in starting over could cause the cycle process to take even longer. Keep doing what you are doing and give it time. Patience is a must in this hobby. Try adding the polyfilters or a phos-sorbing media like wrightme43 said. Do you have any soft corals in there? I read somewhere that Xenias can help with the phosphates too.

 

[Krish]

It's a pro clear 150 wet/dry made my proclear aquatics and yes the bio-balls are still in there. The main reason I wanted to startover (or atleast tear it down quite a bit) is because I wanted to rid my tank my tank of dead spots. Some of my rocks, if not most, are leaninig against the back wall. Also, I wanted to scrub off all of the cyno and try out different things (ie polyfilter, refugium, denitrator etc) without stressing out my fish and to allow my coralline to really take off. I know if all of the cyno's needs are met they will continue to grow so my main concern is to get rid of them and have my coralline grow nicely first then I'd worry about fish later.

P.S no corals yet.

 

[dnjan]

With that many fish in only three months, you probably accumulated detritus in your crushed coral faster than your critters multiplied to process the detritus. So the detritus in the crushed coral is probably what is "fueling" the cyano.

As far as starting over - where would the fish go in the mean time?

I understand the desire to change your rockwork and flow (and probably do something about the crushed coral detritus trap). Sounds more like a major remodel than truly starting over.

I would at a minimum, vaccum the crushed coral. Do about 1/3 at a time max. If you take it out completely, I would rinse it as best as I could, dry it, and save it for building some aragocrete for your next tank.

 

[DonW]

Chances are that you'll find alot of fish dung and food in your CC bed. The bio balls easily turn into a nitrate factory. The canister filter are also nitrate factories, the carbon pores easily plug and turn into a bio filter creating nitrates. If your wet dry has a blue/white floss pad that to will quickly become a nitrate factory.
You can see where I'm going with this, anything that collects crud and bacteria will eventually pollute your tank fueling the cyno. This is why skimming is so important, everything goes into the cup. To keep your system health you really have to concentrate how to get out of the system entirely (down the kitchen sink).

Don

 

[Angelscrx]

With that many fish in only three months, you probably accumulated detritus in your crushed coral faster than your critters multiplied to process the detritus. So the detritus in the crushed coral is probably what is "fueling" the cyano.

I agree, I was looking at your site and as the pictures went on I saw more and more fish. How many do you have total now?

I would at a minimum, vaccum the crushed coral. Do about 1/3 at a time max. If you take it out completely, I would rinse it as best as I could, dry it, and save it for building some aragocrete for your next tank.

Wouldn't the phosphates trapped in the CC now cause another red slime outbreak later in the aragocrete?

 

[Krish]

I never posted a picture of my tank...Maybe you looked at the wrong thing.LOL. 5 fish @ 2 inches long in a 90 gallon I think is little don't you think?

 

[Angelscrx]

I never posted a picture of my tank...Maybe you looked at the wrong thing.LOL. 5 fish @ 2 inches long in a 90 gallon I think is little don't you think?

Sorry that's what happens when you have Reef Frontiers open in several windows at once. No it doesn't sound like you have to many.

 

[Krish]

Sorry that's what happens when you have Reef Frontiers open in several windows at once. No it doesn't sound like you have to many.

LOL @ Angelscrx. You had me scared...I thought you must have a hidden web cam in my house LOL. Another question. Why change out the crushed corals and change it to what?

 

[Ed Hahn]

Crushed Coral being larger than sand traps waste more readily. There are more spots with little or no flow in Crushed coral substrate. If you remove any media especially Crushed coral please do it slowly if you are going to keep tank running. I am hoping your tank will cycle easily and adapt to changes. I am hoping for the best for you and your animals. I think you are going to be surprised in what filtered its way to the bottom of your Crushed coral bed in such a short time.
Good luck,
Ed

 

[Krish]

Thanks for all of the info. I'll put it all to good use and hopefully by summer when the water warms up a bit, i'll go out and dive me up some nice things. I'll start posting some pics soon so you can see my custom stand and canopy I made and how everything is set up. Thanks again.

 

[Ed Hahn]

Krish,
I just saw you are from the Bahamas. You got it made. Dive me up some nice things indeed, I wish we all were so lucky.
Ed

 

[dnjan]

I never posted a picture of my tank...Maybe you looked at the wrong thing.LOL. 5 fish @ 2 inches long in a 90 gallon I think is little don't you think?

The first post in this thread says 7 small fish, not five. Did you lose 2?

I'm not saying that 5 (or 7) small fish is too many for a 90. What I am saying is that you have a lot of fish in a short amount of time (3 months). The detritus production from the fish exceded the reproduction rate of the critters in the crushed coral to process the detritus. Anytime you add a waste-producer to a tank, it takes a while for the various waste-processing mechanisms in the tank to catch up.

Concerning the release of phosphates in crushed coral when the crushed coral is used later in aragocrete - if the (contaminated) crushed coral is rinsed well, any remaining phosphate, etc. should be minimal.

 

[Angelscrx]

I would take out the CC and put in a nice fine sand bed. I did and the tank looks awesome. I have to give it some time to settle but everything is looking great.

Like dnjan said too many fish in a short period of time. I wonder would it be the same for corals? Can I have my tank cycled and then add 5 grand worth of corals? Or do I need to add corals slowly?

 

[dnjan]

Would probably depend a bit on the corals (in terms of waste production and waste processing). Trachophyllias, etc. that you feed somewhat regularly would have a lot more waste produced than 1" Acro frags.

The problem with adding lots of corals to a young tank is that corals are (generally) much less adaptive than fish. Corals really like stability. Many young tanks aren't that stable yet. Stable in terms of temperature (heater and cooling fans "dialed in"), stable in terms of water chemistry, stable in terms of skimmer performance, etc.

 

[Angelscrx]

Would probably depend a bit on the corals (in terms of waste production and waste processing). Trachophyllias, etc. that you feed somewhat regularly would have a lot more waste produced than 1" Acro frags.

The problem with adding lots of corals to a young tank is that corals are (generally) much less adaptive than fish. Corals really like stability. Many young tanks aren't that stable yet. Stable in terms of temperature (heater and cooling fans "dialed in"), stable in terms of water chemistry, stable in terms of skimmer performance, etc.

So would you say a tank that has been cycled and running for 6 months and the params, temp, lighting etc were all balanced, still add corals slowly huh? I agree, I would hate to lose 5 grand because I was in a rush to get my slice of ocean.