Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR

[Floyd R Turbo]

The barrel still lives. However, it's remaining lifespan is extremely short.

Question about soaking the base rock - do I need to soak it in SW or will FW do? If I'm just determining if there are any organisms in it that would cause a spike, I would think FW would be fine, but I would feel pretty stupid if I was wrong. Someone please chime in?

Got my 150 GPD RO/DI on Wednesday, and hooked it up last night. After rigging it up with our household system using about 5 shutoff valves (so I can use it for aquarium water, and then to supplement the household system otherwise) and a few hardware fixes, then flushing for an hour, I started making 0 ppm water around 8 am, now 6pm and 35 gallons, so it's running about 80 GPD, the feed water is pretty cold. Going to rig a pre-heater with 20 feet of tubing in a 5g bucket with a heater in it, I've heard that can boost output. Now my only problem is that I need more 5g Home Depot buckets, I have 11 and need at least 5 more for an 80g change.

 

[austinsdad]

Not sure of the origin of your base rock. I'd hope brushing it off in hot water vigourously would remove anything. That's if it looks like just rock without any dried stuff on it.

On the water buckets. Can ya do a new trash can on a wheel dolly? I believe its 44g. Makes things real easy to mix and transport.

 

[thincat]

Floyd, I would think that since you are just rehydrating the organic stuff on the dry rock that a first soak in FW would be fine, followed by a saltwater soak later.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Take some pictures when you finish aquascaping the tank! (And of you smashing the barrel with a sledgehammer. )

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

On the water buckets. Can ya do a new trash can on a wheel dolly? I believe its 44g. Makes things real easy to mix and transport.

I have two 44 gallon Rubbermaid BRUTE cans and now 22 5 gallon buckets, so I can make and store over 100 gallons. No wheel dolly though, but I haven't had a need for one, I just set it where I need it, heat and mix salt. I also have eight 300W heaters, so I can bring 40g of water up 20F in roughly 2 hours. That helps when your tap/RODI water is 57F. Just got the second 44g can the other day because I've got to do another 80g change, and last time I had 8 5g buckets each with a 300W heater in it while I was filling the tank out of the first batch, I want to do it all in one shot this time. Plus now I can leave one at home to fill up while I use the other for PWCs (after today). I'm going to need it, because the next fill is for his FW 225, and I'm doing that with RO water to keep algae at bay, then I've still got another SW tank to do 35-40g PWC on.

Take some pictures when you finish aquascaping the tank! (And of you smashing the barrel with a sledgehammer

You know it! It's hard to catch an action shot with a digital camera, but I'll sure try!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Seventh cleaning 1/17/10

Did a gravel vac of the areas I could get to, which wasn’t done since 12/28/09, and a coat of algae has formed over the top that was exactly like it was before, adhered to the gravel and thick enough where it wouldn’t get sucked up the vac tube. I guess I am going to have to hurry up and get him some snails and hermits, or stir the gravel a couple times a week.

I will also admit something kinda stupid on my part, especially since I’m an engineer and should be able to calculate volume pretty easily. The tank is not a 135, it’s a 125 Long. 72x18x20. I don’t know where I came up with 135. I figured it out when I was calculating how much water to remove. Here’s how I do that, in case anyone is interested:

1 cubic foot of water = 7.5 gallons (7.48, but who cares).
1 cu ft = 1728 cu in
Inside dimensions of125L is 71-1/4 x 17-1/4.
Overflows are 7” on a side, ¼ round, so 2 of them I just called 7x7, when you subtract that off the interior, it’s about 1180 sq in.
1728 / 1180 = 1.46 in (= 7.5g).
So removing 80 gallons would be 80 / 7.5 = 10.66 cu ft, or 18432 cu in.
18432 / 1180 = 15.6 inches.

When I measured that, I figured out that I was not correct on the size of the tank. Oh well. That means I’ve been doing a little higher % of PWCs, which in turn means that the Nitrates and Phosphates are being produced at a higher rate than I previously thought, and also that the initial Nitrate level was probably higher. Now take a breath, because I did a backwards calculated what the Nitrate level was before I started anything by taking the latest reading and extrapolating what the Nitrate level would be at prior to that water change, all the way back to the beginning using the formula (NO3 after water change) divided by (1 minus the percentage of the water change) to come up with the Nitrate level before the water change. For instance, if I tested 80 ppm after a 53% water change, then 80 / (1-.53) = 170. Those are the actual test numbers and PWC %s from the test on 1/12 and PWC % on 1/11. Going backwards, PWCs were 36%, 36%, 36%, 27%, 25%. If you plug those number in, the Nitrate level was originally 1169. Of course, Nitrates were probably being produced, but those PWCs were all done within a 30 day period starting 12/13/09 and ending 1/11/09. So they couldn’t be increasing that fast!!!

Pics and test results tomorrow. Ciao!

 

[eatsomepopcorn]

What contributes to the cyano?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nitrates of 1169!?!!? Who else wants to form an angry mob with pitchforks and torches!?!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

What contributes to the cyano?

Nitrate, Phosphates, Lighting, Water flow.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nitrate, Phosphates.

We know there was lots of them.

 

[Krypt]

This thread is like a suspense film, can't wait to see what unfolds next. Looks like you've done a great job on bringing the tank back from the brink of death. Your journal has enlightened me to a few cleaning tips for my own tank. Keep up the good work!

 

[eatsomepopcorn]

This has been a very interesting, yet disturbing and probably not all that atypical for business owners who don't pay for regular maintenance.

 

[fishboy444]

What are the tank dimensions for the 135 gallon?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Aquarium dimensions - reference

135 is 4 inches taller than a 125L

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Pics 1/17 to 1/20 and Test Results

So here’s test results from 1/18/10

pH 8.3
KH 11.5-11.8
Salinity 35.5
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 50-60
Phosphate 2-3

And a set of pics, the first is from 1/17 of the open side of the tank, half cleaned and half not. Guess which is which

Pics on 1/18

Flash pic of full tank

No flash

One thing to note here, I fired up his 225 Cichlid tank, and that had the exact same light fixture and bulbs, but was only a year old or so, so we swapped the fixtures, and oh what a difference. Still probably should replace the bulbs, but this is better than the old ones!!

Closeup of right (open) side

That stuff grows a skin over the top layer of substrate and I can’t siphon it off without taking the gravel. Gotta get the Nitrates and Phosphates down and get that skimmer in, I’m losing this battle.

Pufffer

Pics on 1/20, 3 days after cleaning

Substrate on right (open) side super close

Rock (non-reef, slate rock) with green hair algae

And, the red cyano is growing on the overflows again. And everywhere else. I’m gonna get some ROWAPHOS and see if that helps. They make a nitrate remover for freshwater, why not for saltwater?

 

[Mitchell0605]

I know theres some out there Floyd. Not sure about specifics though.

 

[thincat]

Floyd, other then PWC's I don't think anyone makes an additive to reduce nitrates in a marine tank.
Read here:http://www.aquariumpros.com/faqpro/chemistry_2.shtml#05201612

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Thanks, I was hoping to find a marine version of Nitra-Zorb or something like that. Does anyone know the reason why Nitra-zorb can't be used on a SW tank, and why no one has developed a similar SW product? You're stuck with large amounts of LR, PWCs, denitrators (aquariupure, seachem, kent, etc)...seems like some chemist out there would have figured this out. Besides the sulfur denitrator method, which I know little about, except that it works rather quickly and precipitates something into your water.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Clean-up Crew - looking for input

I am going to buy a clean-up crew for this tank from reefcleaners.org. Here's what I'm considering, based on what they have available. I think this will be a good start, and probably will be some food for the puffer, so we'll see how it goes:

5 assorted hermit crabs
20 dwarf Cerith snails
5 nassarius snails
20 small to medium Nerite snails
10 large Nerite snails

From what I've read, it's suggested 1 hermit per 4 gallons, 1 nassarius per 3 gallons, and 1 per gallon for the rest. This adds up to about 85 gallons worth of CUC.

The only concern I had was with the Nassarius snails, they suggest a 4" deep substrate since they burrow in it. This tank only has 1", but it's plenty dirty, so I figured 5 would be more than enough, considering the massive food source there (it looks even worse than the last set of pics, a skin of red cyano over all exposed substrate).

Any other suggestions or ideas?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Wow... with all those snails, your puffer is going to think it's Christmas again!