Even after I etched some pukani rock and then soaked it in fresh saltwater it was still leaching phosphate. I ended up doing several treatments with lanthium chloride and that took care of it. Its amazing what gets tied up in the rock. I added two small pieces to my display this summer without etching them and they quickly turned into green furballs.
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The 210 tank build
- Thread starter mnat
- Start date
On my new system I bought 350lbs of live rock from a guy in charlotte that was breaking down a 5 yr old system. I had him test the water and send me pictures of the results but there was no proof of what water he was testing. The pictures looked great but when I got the rock and put it in my rock tank the po4 was around 1.4 on my martini po4 test kit. I went to the local pool store looking for seaklear phosphate remover and the guy said they didn't carry it but asked what I was using it for. He told me to try Natural Chemistry Phosfree phosphate remover and that he has been using it in on his koi pond and in his reef tank for years with no problems. So since I didn't have any corals or fish at the time, I decided to give it a shot. I started adding 100ml per day for the first week and my po4 level dropped to half. I then cut the dose to 50 ml per day and by the end of the 2nd week my po4 was under .10 at which point I did a water change, lowered the daily dosage to 10ml and by the end of the 3rd week my po4 was down to .01. There was no clouding of the water, I added it directly to the water and it worked great. I am flushing the natureef reactor once a day, I've done two 10% and one 5% wc in the last three months. My po4 has been solid between .03 and .05. Here's what I used....
http://www.mypoolyard.com/product_i...xfsqwjcJ_zdEvsLew7Ln827TqrGKxi5fbixoC0Crw_wcB
http://www.mypoolyard.com/product_i...xfsqwjcJ_zdEvsLew7Ln827TqrGKxi5fbixoC0Crw_wcB
We totally agree on the rock, that is why we tried to etch it, but not destroy it. We will see how it goes. Real Reef has released some branch but not a ton, they do have the shelf and other sizes down pretty well though if we need to figure something out. We will never get rid of all the branch rock, it just might not be 100% of our display. Drilling or adding another overflow would be really tough given where the tank is and drilling down through the floor to get to the fish room. I think adding the multiple powerheads in different areas will help. The problem with the mp60 is that if you really crank it, it sucks up small fish which everyone knows our tank is full of. It is just not an option for us, however the hydro wizard you can go full blast on and it has almost no "suction" to it at all. That would give us incredible flow, but wont bother the fish. Same with a Gyre verticle against the back wall to kick everything out to the front of the tank.
Thanks for chiming in, glad this is turning into a discussion. I love to post pics all the time, but we need some serious talk too.
+1 for phosfree, I used it and it works great. I have a bunch left over you can have for free if you are ever around cherry hill
I will have to check that stuff out, considering the rock is sitting in a tub right now, there are not fish and corals. Thanks again for all the responses.
They have a review of the new one up on reef builders but I can't look at reef builders in the office so I can't post it. We got to "play" with the pump at MACNA, and yes it was the smaller pump that is not massive and pushes 5000gph. It also does that on like 24w (or something really low like that). We were able to put our hands in the tank and feel the flow going in and out and as I said there was no suction at all. They said like 90% of the energy goes into the output hence the reason why it does not pull fish in (this was a little while ago so my memory is a little hazy on the exact reason). The only reason I don't have one now it because they are pricey. I have some equipment to sell, so I will just have to stop being lazy and put it up for sale to fund the pump.
As far as the Gyre goes, I have now seen it at MACNA, NJRC swap, and at dnov99s house and I think it is a legit pump. There is also nothing like it that can go vertical on your back wall to create flow in areas you could not in the past. I think the combo approach would work pretty awesomely.
Remember you saying something about branching Real reef rocks ...well Dr Mac has them for you. http://www.njreefers.org/showthread.php?88775-Real-Reef-Rock-shipping-included!
Rock is still out in the garage, but now in salted water so we can start testing this week. Algae in the display and the frag tank is down dramatically which is what we were hoping for so that is good. Hoping to get everything in the tank in about a week but we will see.
Maxspect gyre installed tonight, and it is just as impressive as I hoped. Really happy with it.
Any other shroom people out there?
Maxspect gyre installed tonight, and it is just as impressive as I hoped. Really happy with it.
Any other shroom people out there?
Sooooo. . . it has been almost two months since our last update. The good: most of the rock transfer went fine. The rock went out, the rock was cooked, the phosphate readings were low, the rock came back in.
The bad: we lost several fish and a bunch of corals. Several of my assessor basslets disappeared during the transfer. I think there were not enough hiding places, and they fought. I was very bummed.
The ugly: we are now going through a new tank cycle. Nuisance algae has arrived! Some of our rock looks great, some of it is covered with algae. We will just have to ride it out. The good news is that now that the rock is back in, we are doing better than expected. We discovered that a few fish we did not think we had any more (a high fin goby and a pipefish) were in fact in the tank and thriving. We also got rid of a LOT of aptasia, although we still have a few kicking around. The frag tank is looking significantly better, and the algae in the refugium has exploded.
We are struggling a bit with alk, it is lower than we would like and it just isn't budging. As a result, the SPS are mad at us. Some just have burned tips. Some are worse. Of all the things to be recovering and thriving, the piorites that was really not doing well last winter is making an amazing recovery. It is polyped and growing nicely. Fingers crossed that the little rocks will be covered over again soon.
Well, that is my update for today. Hugs and kisses,
Nikki
The bad: we lost several fish and a bunch of corals. Several of my assessor basslets disappeared during the transfer. I think there were not enough hiding places, and they fought. I was very bummed.
The ugly: we are now going through a new tank cycle. Nuisance algae has arrived! Some of our rock looks great, some of it is covered with algae. We will just have to ride it out. The good news is that now that the rock is back in, we are doing better than expected. We discovered that a few fish we did not think we had any more (a high fin goby and a pipefish) were in fact in the tank and thriving. We also got rid of a LOT of aptasia, although we still have a few kicking around. The frag tank is looking significantly better, and the algae in the refugium has exploded.
We are struggling a bit with alk, it is lower than we would like and it just isn't budging. As a result, the SPS are mad at us. Some just have burned tips. Some are worse. Of all the things to be recovering and thriving, the piorites that was really not doing well last winter is making an amazing recovery. It is polyped and growing nicely. Fingers crossed that the little rocks will be covered over again soon.
Well, that is my update for today. Hugs and kisses,
Nikki
Sorry about the fish loss. Hang in there with the algae. I'm guessing that the rock was bone white when you put it back in. Every time I've added etched rock it's looked like hell for a while but eventually it comes around. It just seems that the nuisance algae establishes itself faster on barren rock.
Sorry about your losses.
To get rid of aptasia, I'd recommend you try some berghia nudibraunchs once you're tank stablizes a bit. My fish left mine alone while they ate my aptasia to extinction and then presumably died of starvation before I could find any of them (they are small, camouflaged, and nocturnal). But for a few bucks, my tank is now pest anemone free.
To get rid of aptasia, I'd recommend you try some berghia nudibraunchs once you're tank stablizes a bit. My fish left mine alone while they ate my aptasia to extinction and then presumably died of starvation before I could find any of them (they are small, camouflaged, and nocturnal). But for a few bucks, my tank is now pest anemone free.
Sorry about the fish. As you guys said the algae will pass. When I started up my tank with etched rock I had the same issues. I would clean it all up and feel good about it only to come back 15 minutes later and it was back. I think mine took about 3 months Maybe a little more to settle out. You guys will get everything together soon enough and it will be as good as new. Best of luck!
Sorry about the losses. 
I'm sure the tank will come back much better once you get through the "ugly phase".
I'm sure the tank will come back much better once you get through the "ugly phase".As we said things are a lot better. Display is still cycling through the algae but it is already going away. A half dozen topcrown snails will do that, but it is not coming back where they hoover it up. Seriously, if you have some lingering algae issues, top crowns are absolutely amazing at mowing through it. They make turbos look like slowmos (HA!).
So no wall of text tonight, just a wall of pictures to you all to rock out to while we are hunkered down waiting for the heavy stuff.
So no wall of text tonight, just a wall of pictures to you all to rock out to while we are hunkered down waiting for the heavy stuff.