The perfect storm?

[Fokkerdmr]

It was suggested by a LFS employee to have a "storm" in my tank periodically to simulate natural occurances at sea. This would be accomplished by the use of a powerhead and "blowing" it on the LR to stir up and break off algae/waste/stuff that are not well affixed. Right now, the red cyano hair algae is the biggest offender.

I have not done this yet, but thought it would be wise to ask the wise on this subject. Is this a common practice? Should I do it periodically? I'm a few days away from getting two more powerheads and a wave generator. Should this take care of the "storm" need?

My tank has been up for a month, still suffers from some diatom algae. The LR was from an established tank, and the argonite was "live" when I put it in. I put some phosphate adsorption material in the Fluval for a few days this last week, but without a phosphate test, I don't know what it's at.

My most recent testing shows pH at 7.8 and ammonia at .25, nitrates at 0. I believe the tank is close to finishing its initial cycle. Salinity is at 1.021. I have not used RO/DI water, but have used a "better than average" tapwater filter (Multi-pure) (I know, I know... )

Setup:

55 gal acrylic
CPR BakPak2, Fluval 304 (no floss, just 1 bag of carbon and ceramic beads)
1 small powerhead (probably about 75 gph or less)
100 lbs LR
Fish: Coral Beauty Angel, Lawnmower Blenny, Banded Watchman Goby, (2) Yellow Tail Blue Damsels, Sixline Wrasse
Crustaceans: Sally Lightfoot Crab, 2 zebra hermit crabs
Snails: 14 Trochus, 2 Bumblebee
Softies: Rose Bubble Anemone, Waving Hand Xenia, Anthelia
Corals: 1 small branch coral, 8-12 green polyps, (2) leather corals
Other: Brittle Star, Flame Scallop

 

[bradreef]

BB is better for this because if you have substrate you dont want to release too many nutrients. I blow off my rock with a turkey baster but a powerhead works better. also you can hook up tubing to a ph and then you can get to the hard spots. You basically want the detritus to go through the filtration instead of sitting in dead spots and fowling the water.

 

[M.Maddox]

I have a small BB nano (no room for a DSB) and I blow off the rocks once a week before my weekly 100% water changes.

 

[plack]

I would get your ph up to 8.3 if possible and yes the powerheads will move the waste around a bit more than without With a sand bed you can drain out 4 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket then clean off 1 rock at a time and then put your new water in to clean off your rocks or just raise the rock up to the powerhead's and rotate it slowly to clean off the waste to be skimmed off.

 

[mojoreef]

I wouldnt call blowing off your LR a storm. It should be a normal maintence regime once every couple of weeks, it doesnt matter what kind of flow you have you still need to do it.
If you are using a fluval for anything beside the P remover I would loose it unless you clean it every 3 to 4 days ore it will it self become a problem. Try to slow down on the critter adding until you can bury that ammonia, its very toxic to the critters you have. If the tank has cycled properly you should have a ammonia reading unless you are still suffering from some type of die off, was the LR uncured?? Regardless I would Water change 20% eery third day until you get rid of that ammonia .
Some other notes. Your PH is a little low, try raising it up to 8.35 at the end of the lighting period. Do this slowly over a week. Also at the sae time try to get that salinity up to 1.024 to 1.026, do it the same way with the wc's and over the coarse of a week or so.
Cyano, diatoms and other algaes at this point of the game is a normal event. Your tank is in the process of stablizing, s it will go from bacterial bloom to algael bloom for a period of time until it normalizes. Get a P test so you can check the tap water, If it is a source of P you wont get out of the algae bloom


Hope it helps


Mike

 

[Fokkerdmr]

Thanks all for the words of wisdom. After I finally figured out what BB means, I'll probably suck out 80-90% of the substrate. I really like the looks of it, but if it's just going to mean more trouble over the long haul, then time to hook up the siphon.

I've planned on bringing up the pH. Suggestions for additives? I hadn't considered bringing up the salinity too much more, but not a biggie to do that.

I'm guessing on the ammonia at .25, only because it looks "a wee bit greener" than the yellow on my comparison chart. LFS tested it, called it '0'.

Until I get the other powerheads, the fluval is providing 90% of the water movement. Funny how the LFS won't tell you you don't really need the fluval for your saltwater tank, just a good protein skimmer and some LR. Sigh...

 

[bc_slc]

BB = bare bottom. i.e. no sand in the tank.

Before you go about the tremendous work of changing out the substrate, read up a bit on bare bottom vs sand bed systems. There are pros and cons along both theories of husbandry. BB has become quite popular of late, but you should decide for yourself if it is the best thing for your tank. I can tell you that after having a crushed coral substrate for 2 years, I went about the process of getting rid of it. Oh my god, it was a lot of work and it definitely destabilized the tank with an unfortunate loss of a few specimens. That being said, I converted to sand, and am super happy with it. You should decide for yourself.

Mat

 

[mojoreef]

Actually Mat BB has been around for about 30 years, DSB's have become the latest fad about 3 to 4 years ago.
However Mat does bring up a good point. Thier are pro's and cons to both systems. DSB are quite forgiving for newer aquarists and will bury alot of problems. They are also good for folks that are planning on keeping nutrient loving corals such as softies and simular. In order to run one however you do need to know how they work and how to maintain them, this can buy you more life time.
It is kind of a requirement for a reef that you have a series of test kits. Such as Calcium, alkalinity, Phosphate and magnesium if you can. This will make it alot easier to tell you and for you to know how to correct chemistry problems. On the PH, it is tied to alkalinity which is tied to calcium and magnesium...You see what I mean?? I would say get the test kits and then we can dial it in for ya. At least get the calcium and alk test kits. (salifert if you can) and then it will be easy.
On the salinity most folks run from 1.023 to 1.026, personally I perfer 1.026 as that is the normal average for the critters we keep
Mike

 

[Fokkerdmr]

On the subject of BB, I do really like the look of my tank with the substrate in it. It appears much more natural. If I think about the tank you first see when walking into Saltwater City, it is a BB tank. It just feels like someone plopped a bunch of LR, corals and fish into a tank, rather than attempted to build a natural habitat. Makes me curious about Mat's sand bottom.

 

[mojoreef]

What kind of tank are you looking to do Fokkerdmr?? is it going to be soft corals? LPS?? or SPS


Mike

 

[Fokkerdmr]

Honestly, at this point it's been somewhat unplanned. I know it's not best for the long haul, but at this point, I'm very happy with the items I have, and don't plan to add any more for quite some time. So, you can refer to my original post, and that's what I intend to keep. I may end up offering up the one hard coral branch, as it has greater lighting requirements than what I can offer right now.