Maximo
Aquarium Advice Activist
Hello. It has been a while since I have been to AA or any aquarium forum for that matter. In fact I have not properly cared for my tank in about 6 months. In Jul '04 I purchased the tank and equipment and followed the advice found here on AA. I put in 100 lbs of CaribSea oolitic sand, 47lbs base rock and one fresh shrimp from the supermarket. Cycle went as expected and a month later I added 65lbs of live rock from liverocks.com. A few weeks later I started to add a cleanup crew. At that point I realized I had a mantis shrimp as he started taken out snails and crabs. The live rock came with so much life it is amazing. 2 urchins have seemed to thrive in the tank even though I have not been caring for it very well. I top off for evaporation with ro/di as needed and check the temp but that has been about it. With the original setup of the tank I purchased a 36" Current Dual satellite PC 192watt fixture. About 6 months ago one of the ballasts went out. That is also when my cyano outbreak was at its peak. Not caring for the tank also included not turning the light on daily. Of course this caused the cyano to go away.
So to summarize; for about 6months the tank has sat without light and only been topped off as needed. I have not put any food in the tank during this time either. The urchins were doing ok for some time but now I can tell they are getting smaller and one of them is dropping spines. Since I have noticed him dropping spines I have started to put a small amount of Formula1 and Formula2 in every other day. It is amazing there is still little crabs and the mantis that come out to feed as well. Before I stopped caring for it regularly I was trying to figure out what to do about the cyano problem. I determined a fuge and or sump would be a start. I also have a Remora pro skimmer which I have not been running due to noise and not being impressed by performance. I have not been able to get much more than cloudy water in the collection cup. I also hate the mag 3 hanging in the display along with 3 other power heads. The tank is in my room which is above the garage. Noise is a factor I thought i could live with but now realise I can not. The Remora is noisy as is the fan on the light. I assume a return pump in my room for sump under the tank would only add to the racket. I also have to consider the drain noise. One thought was to put a sump in the garage which would give me a head measurement of about 8-10 ft. The tank is not reef ready so it would have to be drilled. I do not want to try a weir.
I know this is a bunch to chew on but I need/want to do something. I am open to suggestions. Sump.. no sump whatever. What if I bought a piece of black acyrilic large enough to create a false back in the back side of the tank? I could put some of the equipment such as heater/skimmer and make it a fuge as well.
Sorry for such a long post and thanks for any input.
-Eric
So to summarize; for about 6months the tank has sat without light and only been topped off as needed. I have not put any food in the tank during this time either. The urchins were doing ok for some time but now I can tell they are getting smaller and one of them is dropping spines. Since I have noticed him dropping spines I have started to put a small amount of Formula1 and Formula2 in every other day. It is amazing there is still little crabs and the mantis that come out to feed as well. Before I stopped caring for it regularly I was trying to figure out what to do about the cyano problem. I determined a fuge and or sump would be a start. I also have a Remora pro skimmer which I have not been running due to noise and not being impressed by performance. I have not been able to get much more than cloudy water in the collection cup. I also hate the mag 3 hanging in the display along with 3 other power heads. The tank is in my room which is above the garage. Noise is a factor I thought i could live with but now realise I can not. The Remora is noisy as is the fan on the light. I assume a return pump in my room for sump under the tank would only add to the racket. I also have to consider the drain noise. One thought was to put a sump in the garage which would give me a head measurement of about 8-10 ft. The tank is not reef ready so it would have to be drilled. I do not want to try a weir.
I know this is a bunch to chew on but I need/want to do something. I am open to suggestions. Sump.. no sump whatever. What if I bought a piece of black acyrilic large enough to create a false back in the back side of the tank? I could put some of the equipment such as heater/skimmer and make it a fuge as well.
Sorry for such a long post and thanks for any input.
-Eric