New reef JBJ CF nano

[Mrc8858]

Pics have been delayed as i got sick and he didn't know what i really wanted. water is still "milky" and he feels that there is more garbage under the sump. he wants to bring a water hose from outside and flush this section and then suction it all out. haven't lost any livestock, so i'm at least pleased with that. my ricordea have doubled in size and i later picked up with a Kenya Tree coral. it is beautiful. i will now wait a couple of weeks or more before purchasing anything new, as next Saturday, i will be leaving town for a week and will probably be exhausted when i return. i have to teach my husband how to run the tank as well as 4 freshwater tanks.
tomorrow, i will tell him what i want in pics for you guys, so i should have them for you by evening. thanks for the patience.

Just tell him if he has any questions to just ask us so he doesn't have to bother you on your trip lol

 

[AquaTricia]

thanks. you guys are great! the lights for the tank don't come on for a few more minutes, then i have to wait for the corals to open up. then i'll get the pictures. finally.

 

[Grizz]

Just tell him if he has any questions to just ask us so he doesn't have to bother you on your trip lol

+1 lol

 

[AquaTricia]

Here are some of my latest pictures

 

[AquaTricia]

The top pic shows the tiny green star polyp on the left and the Kenya tree in the middle. The second pic is of the other side of the tank and shows my little clowns and the torch coral is at the bottom left, ricordea (green) above that. The third pic is basically the same, just a couple of feet over. The bottom is the front of the tank. At the bottom is a frag of what I think is a candy cane, and to the right of that is red/orange mushrooms. You can see the Kenya tree top left. Maybe I should have taken the pics closer, but the hubby was having difficulty with the pixel size, so if I told him to send 8 shots, he would have shot me!

 

[AquaTricia]

New/old problem: i've mentioned that we vacuumed the sump and got out salty/sandy stuff that is believed to be dead algae from my lovely green algae bloom a couple of weeks ago. i think i may have also mentioned the sump beneath the sump, and my husband has taken a pic of it for diagnosis. you will see the bottom of the equipment sump and then the area in question. any ideas?

 

[AquaTricia]

Boy, did I really confuse everybody? Haven't heard a thing on my last post and I only have 4 more days to fix the problem, once diagnosed. I'm leaving town for a little over a week and don't want to turn the problem over to my husband without me knowing what's going on. I'll be worried to death. Any ideas?

 

[Grizz]

vacuum it again and try to put some poly fill in the intake area it will help polish your water
every thing looks good water will clear just takes time

 

[Qube]

That appears to be settled detritus (fish poo, uneaten food, decaying matter,etc.). Letting it build up will fuel your phosphates and nitrates, so I would try to get out as much as you can. On my cube, I siphon that area out every other week with my water change. You won't get everything, so don't get frustrated if you still see a little floating after you siphon it.

 

[AquaTricia]

thank you both. i had another guy tell me they were worms. i was down on my knees with a flashlight trying to see the worms. do you agree to bring in a water hose to flush the area while i siphon? and is it that bottom part that needs vacuuming or just the two compartments that contain the pumps?

 

[Qube]

If they are hard and attached, then they are most likely spionid worms, which are harmless. If it is detritus, just siphon out what you can (through the pump chambers) when you do water changes.

 

[AquaTricia]

gottcha! the white stuff appears to be salt/sand rather than worms. looks like detrius but what would i have in my tank that would produce that much? i shined a flashlight with both white and red lights and saw no movement, but it is floating a little in both the pump compartments. very, very tiny particles. before i leave town, we will vacuum again.
last night, after lights out, when i was looking over the tank, i noticed brown areas on the sand. unlike diatoms, which i'm used to, this is hairy. so far it's only in the back two corners, so i rearranged my powerhead that direction. this morning, it's worse. snails, crabs and shrimp walk across it, but don't help get rid of it. the hairs are between an 1/8 of an inch to more than an inch tall. i admit that at this point, i haven't checked for phosphates, but ammonia, nitrite are 0, nitrates are less than 10.

 

[Grizz]

Sounds like (Hate to say it) brown hair algae, good news is your tank is acting like most new setups Just hang in there it will settle down in time

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok, that's what I thought it was. So just let it alone and it will go away itself like diatoms? I was planning on Friday to do a water change and get the detritus out of the pump area at the same time. I don't want my husband going thru anything interesting, if you know what I mean, while I'm gone. Tonight he sprayed a disinfectant on the counter right next to the filter media I was changing the filter with. He got a lecture and the filter media went in the trash. I feel like I'm leaving my newborn baby with a sitter for the first time.

 

[Grizz]

I feel like I'm leaving my newborn baby with a sitter for the first time.

My wife says i worry about my tank way too much says it's supposed to lower your blood pressure

Try to remove as much of the hair as you can as it will fuel the next outbreak when it dies off. Nature loves it's cycles

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok. Will do so. I've been picking it up with my fingers and removing it, but it's beyond that now. Your wife is right. Pets are supposed to lower your blood pressure, but whoever said that never had a reef tank.

 

[Grizz]

Pets are supposed to lower your blood pressure, but whoever said that never had a reef tank.

lol that would make a great Sig.

 

[AquaTricia]

hey! that's a good idea.

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok. Leaving in the morning. Trained husband on how to care for new reef tank, two cichlids tanks, and two tropicals. He's pretty responsible, but of course, I will call every night to go over the instructions again, if he doesn't hang up on me. I am still having trouble with the brown hair algae. Where I pointed my power head, it has disipated greatly, but I can't get the power head placed in the two back corners, due to the wavemaker's pump outlets and I can't get them to point down. Will do a filter change and substrate scraping in the morning before I leave and hope for the best!

 

[Grizz]

He just might have a green or is it a wet thumb.

fingers crossed.