Thinking about starting a reef tank again

[Chris-Nicol]

I have been thinking and I think I want to add another powerhead or 2 to the back wall of my tank.

Does anyone know of any small, reliable and reasonably priced power heads?

I have had a quick look and was thinking about the Eheim StreamON 1800.

 

[bribo12]

I’ve been using the Jaebos in my tanks and they work pretty well. Fully adjustable and most come with a controller I believe

 

[Brookster123]

Jabao pp4 is a sweet little deal

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Thanks. They do look pretty good for the price they are. Kinda wish I got them to begin with rather than my hydors

 

[Brookster123]

Thanks. They do look pretty good for the price they are. Kinda wish I got them to begin with rather than my hydors

Hey me too.. I have $150 worth of hydor about to go in a box...

 

[Chris-Nicol]

So today is the end of the 72hr blackout period. I just had look and the dinos are still there. The only difference is that there is less bubbles over it than before.

Is this normal? Should I start adding the Dino x now or give it another couple of days and try another 72hr blackout?

 

[Sniperhank]

Treat the system and see what happens.

 

[Brookster123]

Get them while they're weak?? I. Not sure what side effects the dino x may cause?? Have you looked it up?

 

[Chris-Nicol]

I had a quick look at a few videos and it seems to do the trick.

I am just having a nightmare at the mo.

I was about to empty the tank and start again as I also have a flatworm outbreak but this is the last resort. I lost all 5 of my Fish due to the clownfish fighting and stressing out the other Fish. Things just haven’t went my way which I wouldn’t mind if I got lazy with the tank but I didn’t. I was doing all maintenance and weekly pwc’s.

I’m hoping this works because I am beginning to loose faith a bit. My frags are still fighting but they have seen better days.

Here is the tank now

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Little update. I have been treating with the Dino x for a couple of weeks now. Along with manual removal I have managed to shift quite a bit.

There still seems to be little bubbles appearing on my LR though [emoji848]. I think I am going to keep dosing for the 10 treatments which is the company’s recommended max amount.

I also removed all the ceramic pieces in my tank and bought more rock. I added some more sand so I will also expect a diatom bloom at some point.

Glad the tank is looking better but I’m still not confident that this will be the end of the dinos

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Also I lost my first frag. The pulsing Xenia took the bullet even though it looked the strongest after the blackout

 

[Sniperhank]

Things like xenia can be very sensitive to alkalinity swings. They either flourish or wither away in people's tanks. IMO not as hardy as people say.
With that said, continue to follow the instructions. The continued addition of actual live rock will also be beneficial. Blow out any of the bubbles and junk that you can during water changes.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Things like xenia can be very sensitive to alkalinity swings. They either flourish or wither away in people's tanks. IMO not as hardy as people say.
With that said, continue to follow the instructions. The continued addition of actual live rock will also be beneficial. Blow out any of the bubbles and junk that you can during water changes.

Yeah it was looking pretty health and doing fine before all this. With the way people speak about them it’s maybe not such a bad thing that it’s gone.

Yeah well I have been scraping off junk and catching it in a net. I’m not allowed to do water changes when using this Dino x. First one will be just b4 Christmas. I think I will do a 20%-30% then and just scrub and syphon at the same time.

Skinner is going crazy after adding the new rock and sand [emoji30]

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Still having an issue with my skimmer. It’s just overflowing all the time. I’ve tried raising it but it’s still just overflowing.

It’s currently draining into a bucket. Any suggestions on how to get it to stop?

 

[Sniperhank]

Might be from the Dino x. Just turn it off til done with treatment.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Tomorrow is the last treatment of the Dino x. I have left all the rock and sand for a couple of days and there is some signs of brown algae on the sand but I think this might be the start of the diatom bloom from adding the new sand.

I will give the sand a good vacuum and rocks a good scrub on Wednesday and put my light schedule back to normal and hopefully that will help my coral out.

On the plus side I have seen less flatworms so not sure if the dinos were killing them off but I’m still going to treat with FWE just to be sure. I will probably do that at the weekend when I have a bit more time.

If all goes well I hope to add a pair of clowns at the end of next month so fingers crossed.

I think I have decided not to QT my Fish as the daily water changes were nuts when it was summer and my RO water container has froze twice this month already! Hopefully I can get a pair of clowns rather than tryin to pair them.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

I want to buy a fluidised reactor to run carbon in as I have noticed that sometimes there is a tank smell in my living room.

Anyway I was looking at the D&D h2 ocean reactor. This comes with a pump. Does anyone else recommend another type of reactor?

Also I was thinking of also running something to remove phosphate. Can I alternate between the two or is it possible to run both in the same reactor? Don’t want to buy 2 reactors because it’s more money and the fact that I have ran out of sockets [emoji30]

Any input is appreciated

 

[Chris-Nicol]

http://www.swelluk.com/d-and-d-fluidised-reactor-complete/

This is the one I have been looking at

 

[Sniperhank]

One shouldn't mix carbon and gfo. They require different tumbling speeds to be effective. I've never used the one you are mentioning as I've only used BRS or simply made one myself out of a pump, gate valve, and an empty bottle.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Yeah I’ve seen the BRS ones mentioned on here a few times. Only problem is I can’t seem to find a supplier in the U.K. ideally I would like a dual reactor to run both. Just don’t know which one to buy as I have never run a reactor before.