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Tank frustrations still

Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hmm.. No sand. Filter sock. Particulate, not bubbles, right? That's tough. If you're filtering as much as you can out of the tank and sucking the detritus out of the sump/tank during water changes you may just have it as good as it can get? Are you running carbon? Active or Passive?
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

I am running both carbon and phos in reactors.

I am sure it is not bubbles. I am wondering if it is just detritus not getting pulled out of the tank. I would think with that much flow it would get pushed into the overflow eventually. But maybe not. I have 2 more korilia 4's that I am going to drop in. That should bring me to 7000gph, we will see what stirs up.

I think my fish load is very light for a 90. (md yellow tang, med sailfin tang, 2 chromis, lawnmower blenny, and a small P clown)
CUC consists of about 40 hermits, 10 various snails, a linka, a large brittle star (had him since my 20 gal he is now about 14"), and a cucumber.

Camera is still charging, will post a pic when charged.
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

here is the FTS. The korilias I just put in to see if moving more water would help.




although it doesn't look like in in the pic, the water surface has plenty of flow.
 
M

mkreef

Joe,

You have a calc reactor, correct? Do you also drip Kalk? If you drip Kalk, is it possible that the particles might be Calcium Carbonate (byproduct) sediment being pumped into your tank?
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

m_kerrane said:
Joe,

You have a calc reactor, correct? Do you also drip Kalk? If you drip Kalk, is it possible that the particles might be Calcium Carbonate (byproduct) sediment being pumped into your tank?
Click to expand...

I do have a calc reactor, and dose Kalk with my ATO. I was thinking that a while back too, so what I did was raise the ATO pump about an inch from the bottom of the tub I also have the ATO dump into a 100 micron sock. I am thinking maybe it is just percip from the MG being so low. I am working on a few things now, I will post after I get everything organized.
 
DiazE

DiazE

May I suggest taking a cup of the water and check it with a magnifier?
Maybe it's baby pods, hopefully.
::)
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

Over the weekend I did some very extensive cleaning of the tank. All tank parameters are in order now. The amount of floaters has decreased but they are still noticeable. I am going to run a 50 micron sock over night and see what everything looks like in the morning.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Still looking at particulate in the water, huh? Hmmm. I'll read back through the thread tonight from start to finish (I'd hate to suggest something you've already done). I'll let you know if anything jumps out at me!
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

After doing all that cleaning this past weekend I thought I would go into the tank again and blow off the rocks. Looked like a snow storm. Large and small pieces flying everywhere, it almost looks like tiny pieces of LR. I have a 50 micron sock on there now, and the return pump at full power. I will go back in an hr or so and blow everything around again.

Out on a limb here, but is it possible that the LR is breaking down because of the decreasing ca level in the tank beings I am still having problems with the reactor?
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

Well the ton of flow didn't do the trick, so I tried turning down the flow. So yesterday I turned off all power heads and have just the return pump going maybe 700gph and I am also running a 50 micron sock. But this tank must be in the twilight zone, because nothing is fixing this issue.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

TheGuyFromNJ said:
ca 480
alk 9
ph 8.1
Click to expand...

I'm still leaning towards the pet dander...but can you confirm the Alk number - is that meq/L or dKh? Just wondering because if it's meq/L - the water is supersaturated.

but if it's the dander - do you see any nasty build up in the socks? I guess I don't understand why the filter socks are not getting the stuff out.
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

Hawkeye said:
TheGuyFromNJ said:
ca 480
alk 9
ph 8.1
Click to expand...

I'm still leaning towards the pet dander...but can you confirm the Alk number - is that meq/L or dKh? Just wondering because if it's meq/L - the water is supersaturated.

but if it's the dander - do you see any nasty build up in the socks? I guess I don't understand why the filter socks are not getting the stuff out.
Click to expand...

Its dKH. And I am not understanding why its not being pulled out either. There are filters on the fans now. Also I really don't see much in the sump water, it looks better than my DT water.
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

OK I am sold on the fact that it is detritus. Blowing off the rocks really thoroughly has me convinced. Now I just have to find a way to get it into the filter sock. There is still a ton of flow in the tank about 6600gph, aiming all different directions. Power heads are aimed at the bottom and the middle and across the entire front of the tank. After blowing of the rocks, I went all around the tank with a hose and sucked everything off the bottom, but a few hours later there it is again. I have been moving the power heads around to find a happy medium but no luck yet. Stuff is blowing everywhere except into the overflow. I am still running a 50 micron sock changed every other day, and still skimming real wet.

I would like to add sand eventually, but I know I will have to lower the flow in the tank a bit to prevent a sand storm. But if I can't get this detritus into the overflow with this much current how am I ever going to do it with less flow?

I can post pics of anything to help solve this issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

Well I am back to trying to solve this again! (well still) I have been trying a few things and nothing I have tried has yet to work. I have adjusted the flow from 600gph to 7300gph but still no change.

Last night I took a few gallons of water from the tank in a bucket and ran it through a 25 micron ocean clear filter then into a 25 micron sock then back in the bucket. When I pull a glass of water out that stuff can still be seen.

What could be passing through a 25 micron filter and still be able to be seen? I am thinking if it was detritus then it would have been filtered out.

I also took a glass of this water and let is just sit for a few hours, and that stuff was still suspending!

Right now the tank is broken down again and all the rocks are getting blasted off before I re-scape.

I am completely out of ideas here. Any help is appreciated.
 
C

calaxa

I went back and looked at your original photo. Are all those things clinging to the glass or actually in the water column? If it's on the glass, I am thinking it is the start of hair algae and pods cause I get the same thing on my 58G. I just introduced the rest of my livestock and everyone is picking the glass clean now. If it's in the column, I'm wondering if it could be precipitation of calcium. Your calc level was fairly high for that dKH. Do you have a Mg reading?
 
T

TheGuyFromNJ

calaxa said:
I went back and looked at your original photo. Are all those things clinging to the glass or actually in the water column? If it's on the glass, I am thinking it is the start of hair algae and pods cause I get the same thing on my 58G. I just introduced the rest of my livestock and everyone is picking the glass clean now. If it's in the column, I'm wondering if it could be precipitation of calcium. Your calc level was fairly high for that dKH. Do you have a Mg reading?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. The stuff is actually in the water column, not on the glass.
I just tested the tank this morning and the levels are:
Ca: 460
Alk:10dkh
Mg: 1280

I just put up a post I am thinking about trying a diatom filter.
 
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