Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR

[Floyd R Turbo]

Fourth stage cleaning - 12/23/2009

Got in there today with 50 gallons of water and as it turns out, the exact amount of salt left over from the 200g box I bought to make the SW. How’s that for luck?

I didn’t do any special cleaning (besides Magfloat on the glass), I just started siphoning the gravel. It was so bas in places that chunks of waste came out that were so big, I had to jam the Python intake down into them to break them up. I found one section in front of the base of the overflow that was 6 inches long and an inch wide.

Before I started, I measured the tank dimensions to get surface area and calculated how many inches of water I could remove. By the time I was about ½ way to the line, I was less than ½ done with the area I had left over to do from the last cleaning, and there was no way I was going to cut corners. I ended up leaving roughly the last foot of the gravel alone, filled up the tank, had about 5 gallons left (didn’t remove the area from the overflows from my calculation) and siphoned out what I could, and topped it off.

No pics, had to get home and prep for xmas travel. Winter storm in the Midwest. Driving on I-35 from Des Moines to Minneapolis tomorrow will be an adventure!!!

The next step in this system is to finish off the gravel siphon, service the pump (take apart & clean), replace the return hoses, disassemble the bulkhead connections and clean the U-tube intakes (gunky), clean the overflow hoses…did I leave anything out????

He also had a UV sterilizer on his 225 (which was a discus tank) and I’m thinking that would be good to run in line with the return pump. Does a UV sterilizer need to run at a lower flow rate to work effectively? Should I run it on a Y off the return pump on a lower flow rate to maximize it’s effectiveness?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Good job Floyd. Have a good Christmas.

 

[SHARPiE]

Floyd, you are a miracle worker -
May I ask if this is free work, or paid?


Safe travels

PS - (It was 42 celcius where I live yesterday - 108F, still struggling to keep the temps below 28.5 c or 83F, wish it was a little cooler )

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

So far I've charged him about $300 and I gave him a $40 discount on the first service call, so really about $260. I've agreed to get paid in food. We have 4 kids so each time we order it's about $35-45, even with 3 meals for all he still owes about $125. We'll be eating there for free for quite a while! But I also told him that I would be using my work on his system for advertising my services, so once I figure that in, I should be getting more out of it than I put into it, eventually.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nice. Sounds like you've got quite a good deal going!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Fifth Stage Cleaning - 12/28/2009

So, yesterday I did another 50 gallon water change, and finished off the gravel siphoning, which was only about 15% of the remaining gravel. There's still some algae/cyano growing on the overflows and on the LR, and I can still see some gunk in the overflow (below the lower intakes) and I don't really know how I'm going to get that out of there, maybe I'll try to find a longer tube cleaner.

The next step is to replace all the pump hoses and clamps, pull the U-tubes and clean them out, clean the powerhead, and give the sump a good once over again (rinse bio-balls, etc). I also might rotate the bioball tower and install a filter sock on one of the intakes, the sump still gets quite a bit of chunky waste in it.

Anyways, here's how it looks now:

Full tank shot

Left

Middle

Right

Right closeup

Also you'll notice the Koralia 4 powerhead. I just got one because I wasn't sure he wanted to pop for it, even though he needs 2 and it sounded like he understood. He also has the protein skimmer ordered so that should be in by the end of the week.

We also discussed replacing the substrate, since the gravel siphoning just couldn't get all the gunk caught in it. The waste is heavy enough that it won't get sucked up, Python hoses have that shutoff that really slows down the flow rate, no matter what level the other end of the hose is at. So we're going to replace it in sections. The next question is with what?

Obviously there are 3 choices: aragonite sand, aragonite, and crushed coral. I'm thinking that a mix of aragonite (Arag-Alive brand Special Grade Sand) and Florida Crushed Coral would look nice. Or even just the crushed coral. Either way, the pH of the tank won't budge from 7.8, which is why I think mixing the 2 would be good, best of both worlds. Any opinions?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Don't they all say Crushed Coral = High Nitrates later down the road? Something to do with gunk getting caught in all the small nooks and crannies in the coral. Just what I've heard, no actual experience.

 

[SHARPiE]

Some hate CC and some Love it.
People will debate until their wits end about it

Go to google and type in Crushed Coral Nitrates, you can see some of the large debates.

Plenty of pros and cons for both CC and Aragnite Sand.
With a mix, I guess you would have the best of both worlds!

At the end of the day - It's really up to the owner and cleaner of the tank.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

 

[fishboy444]

I only see a damsel in the last pics,where is the dog face puffer and sergeant majors?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I only see a damsel in the last pics,where is the dog face puffer and sergeant majors?

Hiding

Don't they all say Crushed Coral = High Nitrates later down the road? Something to do with gunk getting caught in all the small nooks and crannies in the coral.

That what LFS told me too. Going to just replace with like kind.

I ran another set of tests, diluting the sample again for Nitrate, and came up with about 25-30 on the 1/8 strength sample, or 200-240. Salifert kit on the 1/8 strength showed between 25 and 50, I pegged it at around 40.

Phosphates were around 2 both on API & Salifert.

Now I've got the flu, so happy new year to all!

 

[fishboy444]

Aww that sucks .Well get better soon !!Happy new year to you to Floyd!!

 

[thincat]

Floyd, if you mix the aragonite and the crushed coral, they will seperate and form two layers. One, the aragonite will help buffer your tank and two, the crushed coral will eventually lead you back to where you started....Nitrate city.......Looks to me it might have been easier to just tear the whole tank down and start from scatch. imo
Anyway, nice work and I'm sure you have learned a ton of experience.
Nice job!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Looks to me it might have been easier to just tear the whole tank down and start from scatch. imo

yeah, but customer wasn't up for that and I probably would have lost the puffer if I tried to move it.

Gonna go with just Aragonite, now the next question is: do I bother to keep any of what he already has? Is it doing any good after a deep siphon? It may have harbored some anaerobic bacteria, but that colony A) wasn't doing it's job and B) is probably 1/4 or less of what it was before deep siphoning. So would it be beneficial at all to just cover it up with another layer of new and leave the old stuff in there?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Turning dead rock into live

I have searched through several threads regarding curing live rock, etc, but didn't see an answer to my question. I have 110+ lbs of fiji & florida rock that I bought via craigslist that is dry and dead. I want to turn this into live rock. I understand that since it is dried out, it most likely harbors no organisms, and they would be dead it anything and just need to be rinsed away and soaked to ensure no ammonia spike, etc. What I was hoping to do is turn this into live rock quickly. I read one thread along the way where someone took a piece of fully cured LR and crushed it up with a sledgehammer into sand (essentially) and poured that over the dead rock and let it cure up, and this quickly turned the dead/base rock into LR, organisms and all. Has anyone else done this with success? Is this an acceptable technique, and are there additional steps that need to be taken to ensure the curing takes hold, other than the usual large water changes, heater, powerhead, skimmer, etc?

Also, can this be done in a rubbermaid tub with no light, or would it be better to do this in a tank with a light?

I have an empty 92 corner that I am intending to eventually turn into a SW reef, but I would have to re-arrange my office and move my 55 to make that happen.

 

[thincat]

Floyd, If you syphoned that sand out pretty good I would just add the additional sand to make up for what has been syphoned out. The way that tank is now I would just rinse that Baserock out really well and just add it directly to the tank. The faster it starts to become live the better for the fish that are left . As far as crushing the liverock....You already have the sand that should have some life to it. Just add some LR for diversity of lifeforms and monitor in case of a small ammonia or nitrite spike and PWC as needed and you should be good to go.

 

[austinsdad]

I'd put the rock in a rubbermaid with SW and a powerhead. Then, I'd check the water readings to make sure there isn't any die-off occuring. Just cause it's dry doesn't mean some water added won't start further decay. With that much (100lbs you say?), I wouldn't chance it. Rinse the dry stuff off with FW and brush just in case and you'll likely be OK.

Forgive me for not reading back, but would this 100lbs be added to the stuff in the previous pics?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yes, I will be rinsing it well and soaking in a tub of SW w/power head before doing anything with it. I will probably not add all of it, but quite a bit would go in. Based on what I think everything weighed when I pulled the existing LR out to clean the cyano off (which I'll probably have to do again) there is about 40-60 lbs in there, plus some non-reef rock (and ugly decor) that I will take out in favor of the new base rock.

Still one more major job to go before tackling that - clean the power head & replace the hoses. That's this week's job.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Yes! THE BARREL MUST DIE!!!!

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Sixth cleaning 1/11/10

I did a big water change on Monday this week. 2 batched of 40 gallons each, I emptied and cleaned the sump, rinsed the bio-balls, then filled the sump up with 15 gallons, pulled 45 out of the tank and filled it with the remaining 25, then pulled about 20 more out while mixing up the other 40 and filled all the way - effectively about 74 gallons, or just under 50%.

I took apart the power head, which wasn’t as dirty as I thought it would be. I replaced the return hoses, which was a darn good thing, because I took off one of the clamps and the hose came off the bulkhead with just a wiggle, and it was dry and hard. It could have been bumped off at any time, so it was good that I took care not to disturb it this whole time!!

I was going to remove the intake bulkhead and clean inside the overflow, but skipped that part for now. The insides of the return pipes are pretty dirty, goo gooped up on the inside, but that’ll have to wait for another day.
I didn’t do any gravel siphoning, but I did notice that the gravel, LR and glass are growing quite a bit of green hair algae.

I ran the Magnum overnight, on a brand new cartridge, and when I got there the next day it was sucked in on itself, so the cleaning job really stirred up a lot of gunk. I had to take a toothbrush all around the edges, and a stiff scrub brush and algae scraper wand to the overflow towers to get the calcified dead algae off of it. It looks a lot better now. No pic, sorry. The job took me 4 hours, and I was exhausted after that.

I tested the water yesterday 1/12 and here are my results:

Temp 80.2 F (Digital)
pH 7.8 t 7.9 (API)
KH 11.5 (Salifert)
Salinity 35 (refractometer)
Ammonia 0 (API)
Nitrite 0 (API)
Phosphate between 2 and 4 hard to tell (Salifert)
Nitrate 80 (API extrapolated)

The Phosphates are interesting to note, because back on 12/29/09, they tested about 2. Now after about 2 weeks of soak time and a 50% water change, they’re higher. This can only be from feeding practices, but he feeds them ¼ of a piece of frozen shrimp a day, so would that cause a phosphate rise?

What interesting about the Nitrates is that 80 now extrapolates to 160 before, which is lower than or equal to what it was after the last water change. It’s possible that some de-nitrification is happening, but then again, it is an API test kit we’re talking about.

I plan on doing another 50% water change to get the nitrates down to 40 and hopefully the phosphates down to below 2, then I will add a phosphate remover to the sump and install the protein skimmer (which should have arrived already, but for some reason has not)

I am also scheduled to get my 150 GPD RO/DI unit TODAY! It’s on the truck, out for delivery. The wait is killing me. NO MORE TRIPS TO WAL-MART!!!

Also, I’m going to soak a bunch of the base rock I have to make sure there’s no dead organisms that would give off ammonia, and put a ton in there. Also need to replace all the bulbs, and scrub the LR again to get the algae off. I’m guessing that the absence of the Yellow Tang is probably not helping, he probably kept the algae under control a little bit.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Keep it up Floyd! Has the barrel suffered an unfortunate demise yet?