Who's Into Saltwater?
- Thread starter Tony
- Start date
Tony
Staff member
The commitment is actually not that bad. I have just had a severe run of "lack of money" so I have not been able to order the salt that i need so the tank has not had a water change in quite some time. We had to back off of our feedings which is what I think inevitably killed the fish. Just lack of food. The engineer gobies stay at the bottom of the tank and the larger and faster fish would not let the food get to them. The Fox Face Rabbitfish I think was just bullied too much by my Yellow Tang. Then the lack of food for him just was too much. I have absolutely no plans of purchasing anything more for this tank other than salt to try to get things going again.
ON another update, I have pulled out 4 rocks that are covered with GSP (Green Star Polyps) and they are sitting outside right now to kill that stuff off. The GSP is taking over my tank and I'm having to take drastic action to get rid of it. It's trying to cover my pipe organ coral and that is just not going to happen. And the Montipora is going friggin crazy. I can only imagine what will happen once I get good water back in this tank...
ON another update, I have pulled out 4 rocks that are covered with GSP (Green Star Polyps) and they are sitting outside right now to kill that stuff off. The GSP is taking over my tank and I'm having to take drastic action to get rid of it. It's trying to cover my pipe organ coral and that is just not going to happen. And the Montipora is going friggin crazy. I can only imagine what will happen once I get good water back in this tank...
Tony
Staff member
So I'm not too friggin happy right now. I have never in my life had an issue with nitrates or ammonia in my tank. Even with no water changes. I found some old salt sitting in the office and decided to mix up a batch. I decided to do 10 scoops (1c scoops) which would make 20 gallons of 1.023 saltwater (1.023 is the salinity level, or salt content). However, I'm running my salinity at 1.026 so this made exactly 15 gallons which I marked on my barrel and I just so happen to have 3 jugs for the old water. It's perfect.
So I mixed up the salt water, heated it up, checked the salinity with my refractrometer and the new water was perfect. The water in my tank was at 1.025 though so when I put water in, I over filled the tank so that when the water evaporates, it will raise my salinity slightly until I can get it back up to 1.026. Should take about 5 water changes.
So anyway, not only is only have my tank lit because I lost a $50 driver that I can't afford, but my ammonia level is about .25-.50 which is pretty high and my nitrate is at 40ppm (parts per million) which is VERY FRIGGIN HIGH!!!
So I now know why I lost the corals and the fish. Nitrate is very toxic to them and they start breathing hard and acting very lethargic. Just like my Royal Gramma is doing right now. I'm so pissed at my self right now for that it's not even funny.
For those that don't know, the cycle is always the same. Things die. It could be from bacteria in the rock, to coral to fish and inverts. When they die and decompose, they create ammonia. The natural cycle will take that ammonia and break it down into Nitrite (that is NitrIte, with an I at the end). From there, the natural cycle will break the Nitrite down into Nitrate (with an A at the end) which you take out with regular water changes. This tank has not had a water change in over two years.
So I need to keep doing this process of water changes of 15 gallons every day for at least two weeks, then weekly 20 gallon water changes after that for about 6 months, then I can go back to doing weekly 10 gallon water changes like I have always done. This is a 90 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. The sump, when the system is running holds about 25 gallons of water so my tank in all reality is a 115 gallon system. You are supposed to do 20% water changes weekly, but holy crap that is a lot of salt, and salt costs money lol.
How much do you want to bet that once the first month is over, things are growing like ape s**t in that tank again? Yea, I'm not looking forward to that either. There is a LOT of coral that is going to get tossed in the yard to dry...
So I mixed up the salt water, heated it up, checked the salinity with my refractrometer and the new water was perfect. The water in my tank was at 1.025 though so when I put water in, I over filled the tank so that when the water evaporates, it will raise my salinity slightly until I can get it back up to 1.026. Should take about 5 water changes.
So anyway, not only is only have my tank lit because I lost a $50 driver that I can't afford, but my ammonia level is about .25-.50 which is pretty high and my nitrate is at 40ppm (parts per million) which is VERY FRIGGIN HIGH!!!
So I now know why I lost the corals and the fish. Nitrate is very toxic to them and they start breathing hard and acting very lethargic. Just like my Royal Gramma is doing right now. I'm so pissed at my self right now for that it's not even funny.
For those that don't know, the cycle is always the same. Things die. It could be from bacteria in the rock, to coral to fish and inverts. When they die and decompose, they create ammonia. The natural cycle will take that ammonia and break it down into Nitrite (that is NitrIte, with an I at the end). From there, the natural cycle will break the Nitrite down into Nitrate (with an A at the end) which you take out with regular water changes. This tank has not had a water change in over two years.
So I need to keep doing this process of water changes of 15 gallons every day for at least two weeks, then weekly 20 gallon water changes after that for about 6 months, then I can go back to doing weekly 10 gallon water changes like I have always done. This is a 90 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. The sump, when the system is running holds about 25 gallons of water so my tank in all reality is a 115 gallon system. You are supposed to do 20% water changes weekly, but holy crap that is a lot of salt, and salt costs money lol.
How much do you want to bet that once the first month is over, things are growing like ape s**t in that tank again? Yea, I'm not looking forward to that either. There is a LOT of coral that is going to get tossed in the yard to dry...
Tony
Staff member
Looks like RC is going to have to take a back seat to this tank for a little bit. Because of the failure of the light driver and the horribly high ammonia and nitrate, i have to do something about this tank before anything else. Just the look on the wifes face when I thought about shutting it down was enough to tell me that killing it was not going to happen.
So this morning I had to do a little shopping. First thing is first, the tank needs water changes in a horrible way, so I ordered a box of salt. A box will get you 200 gallons of water IF you are going for a Specific Gravity (SG) of 1.023. However, Natural Sea Water (NSW) is 1.026 so that is where I keep my tank. This means I will have to use more salt per gallon so I will not be getting the full 200 gallons out of this box. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it in this thread, but I use a reef blend salt, not just the salt that you would use for a 'Fish Only With Live Rock' (FOWLR) tank, so it's a little more expensive. But, it's ordered and should be here this week, I hope. The holiday could screw that hope all to hell.
From there, I had to look at my RO/DI system. I have been using the ROsave Z filters on my system, and they are by far the best filters out there. I thought I would buy them, waste the extra money that I spent on them, and go back to my cheap filters that I have always ran. Well, I have been running the same filters (a 5 micron pre sediment filter and a 1 micron sediment filter, before the carbon blocks) for about a year and a half now. After 3 months with my old, cheap filters, I would notice the carbon blocks starting to change colors. And by the way, my system has two carbon blocks, again, 5 and 1 micron. Well, a year and a half after I put these filters in, the covering on the first 5 micron carbon filter still has not shown any discoloration from sediment getting past the two pre filters. This has sold me on the more expensive filters. It's just cheaper this way.
The other thing is that my DI (Deionization) resin was completely depleted. I use a resin that starts out blue, and as you use it and it gets depleted, it will turn brown. Well, my resin has been brown for some time now. Thankfully I had another bad of resin with my many cheap filters that I never use so I don't have to purchase that. That stuff is highly expensive!!!
So I headed over to BRS who are the only ones that I trust with my RO/DI system components and I put a 5 micron and a 1 micron Z filter in my cart. I always try to get a large order because their shipping charges are OMG high for small orders. After all, their name is BULK Reef Supply. But much to my surprise, they now have a free shipping option!
So I make the order for the two filters and now I can get my RO/DI system running very clean again. And for those that don't know, my system is a 5 stage (well, 6 if you count my second sediment filter, and 7 if you count the fact that I'm running two RO membranes), So the way this system works is first, you have to plumb it into your water system. My water is from a well, so I have red clay in my water (not near as much as I did the first two years I was here!). This is why I'm running two sediment filters and not just one. Now, because i"m on a well, my water pressure is not that of the houses in the city on city water. I have a pressure switch on my well that is a 40/60 switch. It will turn on at 40psi, and off at 60psi. And with a system that only makes 150 gallons of water a day, it takes a VERY long time to lower the water pressure enough to kick the well pump on. So I have (or choose to run) a booster pump. This pump can run my system well over 100psi, but I keep it right at 70psi which is the sweet spot for the membranes.
So now we have the well water going into the pressure pump. From the pump, it's fed into the first 5 micron sediment filter. Once through there, it feeds into my second sediment filter which is 1 micron. From there it will go through the 5 micron solid carbon filter and then through the 1 micron solid carbon filter (both carbon filters are to filter out odors, and I have hydrogen sulfide in my water. Not toxic, just doesn't smell that great if say... we have an earthquake and it releases more of it into the water than usual... Yea, my water is smelling pretty bad right now, but it will tame down in a few days). From the carbon filters it runs into the first RO membrane.
This is where things get cool (to me anyway). If I was only running one membrane, then I would be making about 75 gallons of good water a day. The RO membrane has about a 75% rejection rate. So if you feed it 4 gallons of water (or you could use liters for you guys across the pond), then 3 gallons (or liters [litres for some]) would be sent to the sewage drain and 1 gallon would be ready for use, clean, clear and odor and mineral free. But, I'm running a second RO membrane. This membrane takes the waste water from the first membrane and filters that water yet again, thus theoretically doubling my output of water per day to 150. It's not quite that high, but it's close. I think I measured this system at about 140 when I tested it when I first got it. I need to test it again to see if my membranes are still good. This system is over 4 years old, so it may be time.
Right behind the membranes is a valve and a pressure bypass switch. These are so you can 'flush' the membranes before each use. Yea, with where my system is setup, there is no way in hell that I'm going to flush it every time someone gets a drink of water (more on this later). So I do it for about 10 minutes when I change the filters. So it's been a while since this system was flushed. But it was still working quite well.
So now we have perfectly clean (well, mine is coming out at 9ppm TDS [Total Dissolved Solids. From minerals like iron and calcium]) and that is much lower than some. I have not measured my well water in some time, but I think I'm in the 75ppm range which is still low compared to some water systems, including municipal. This water is perfectly safe to drink and it is, in fact, what we drink here at my house. Because of this, I ordered (when I got my system) a 3 gallon pressure tank so that I always had water on hand and I didn't have to wait for the water to be made at a rate of about 150 gallons per day. It just gets stored in the tank.
This is where MY system gets fun, and in due time, it's going to get even more fun lol. So the water has come out of the membranes and has made its way to the water pressure tank, ready for use. Well, it doesn't stop there. Just outside the tank I have a T fitting. This T fitting is there to feed my refrigerator so that I can have cold water and ice. And yes, it's all fed off of the same tank. There is also a spout on my sink where I can get water directly from the tank.
So now you are saying, "that is only 6 stages", and you are right, there is 1 more stage, the deionization stage. BUT, the water that goes through this stage has to go very slow for maximum effectiveness. This stage I feed directly off of the water that has just come out of the membranes but before it gets to the pressure holding tank. But the tank would cause water to flow too fast, which is why I put a one way valve between the tank and my DI stage. This way, the RO system is feeding the system directly, and people can still get good drinking water while I'm making clean water. From the DI stage, the water that is made is ready for use in the aquarium, be it the ATO system (Automatic Top Off, water evaporates, salt does not) or to mix new saltwater.
However, DI water is NOT safe to drink. This stuff comes out, virtually, as two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The purest form of water you can get. And because of that, it doesn't do well in the body (which is why we drink the RO water, and not the RO/DI water)
With all of that said, the filters that were on my system (sediment) were pretty bad after that quake we had the other day (knocked dirt loose on the wall of the well) so I went ahead and replaced both sediment filters with a 5 and 1 micron cheap filter which I have plenty of. This way, I can save my quite expensive carbon filters since I'm getting ready to make a crap ton of water for massive water changes. Once I replaced those (simply unscrew the filters from the base, take out, rinse, and replace) I moved on to the DI resin. This stuff is like large micro beads that you used to find in shampoo. And it sticks to EVERYTHING! I cleaned out the container, rinsed and filled it up with brand new resin. Now, instead of getting water that is at 1ppm, it's at 0 when it comes out of the resin. And it's blue again, not brown lol.
Great, the fresh water for the tank is exactly where it needs to be and is ready for action.
One thing that I did because I knew that I was not going to be here much is I took my felt filter socks out of my tank and I put in mesh filter socks. The difference is, the mesh only traps large particles, not the small ones. So these have been in the sump over a year and never washed. Guess where my ammonia and nitrate problem came from. Yup, right there in my sump! So I pulled out the mesh socks and they are going in the trash. No more being lazy, it's felt from now on. And I have felt socks that have been hanging over my washer since I put the mesh filters in. So I grabbed my long socks (14") and that is what I'm using now to polish the water as I'm cleaning the every loving crap out of it. I also have some 7" socks that I will put in once these get clogged, which should be tonight after I clean up this sump (it's nasty as hell!!!).
The thing that I knew I was going to have to do is order new filter socks. But damn, these things are $7.00 a piece!!! You know where this is going... HELLO EBAY!!! lmao. On there, I found the same 4"x14" filter socks for a buck fiddy (that's $1.50 for those that don't speak 'cool'
lmao). So I ordered 10 of them, and I will order 10 more when I get more money. Since I use two filters at a time, and I already have 4 socks here, that gives me a pair of socks a day if I wash them every weekend. And this is what the tank needs. I will use the 7" short socks when I'm washing all of the other ones.
There is a HUGE debate over filter socks. Some people are calling them "Nitrate Factories" and if you do like I have been doing, that is EXACTLY what they are. But, if you replace them every other day, or at most, every week, they will not produce the ammonia and nitrates as things break down. The socks are not the issue, it's the people using them. So I have enough to replace them every day for a while until I can get everything out of my tank and get it stable again, then I will go to once a week more than likely.
Great, filters are ordered, Salt is ordered, socks are ordered, and my water filter is ready for action!! Now it's time to start cleaning the tank and sump.
The first thing I did was clean the two outflow ports that come from my return pump back to the tank. these things have an opening of about 1/8" but they were closed down to about a mm because of algae and worms (natural). So I cleaned the crap out of them and it's flowing like it should now. Then, I turned to the sand bed and I removed every piece of broken monti, mushrooms that had come off the main rock and Green Stars and put them in a bowl to dry out and die. This really cleaned the sand bed up, but I still need to get a goby to sift the sand and get it back to where it was. You guessed it, my last one died...
So that is where I am right now. I have 15 gallons of water mixed up and ready to go into the tank. I made up this batch (which is my last batch until I get more salt) so that I can clean out my horribly dirty sump. I will be pulling out the return pump, skimmer, filter socks and everything else in there (no reactor since Matt stole it... lol) and I'm going to clean all of the detritus off of the floor of this sump and clean out the refugium of all of that horrible algae that is in there. Once I get the sump clean and the water that it is in it out, I will fill it back up with clean, fresh saltwater.
That should be the start to getting rid of this nitrate problem that I have. Every tank is going to have nitrates, but they should be below 5ppm at most. If you do big enough, and frequent enough water changes, then they should be undetectable. That is where I'm hoping to be in a month with everything that I'm doing. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I ordered the driver for my light as well.
So lets get the fun started. It's time to clean out the sump... Oh what fun... All in the name of a happy marriage.
So this morning I had to do a little shopping. First thing is first, the tank needs water changes in a horrible way, so I ordered a box of salt. A box will get you 200 gallons of water IF you are going for a Specific Gravity (SG) of 1.023. However, Natural Sea Water (NSW) is 1.026 so that is where I keep my tank. This means I will have to use more salt per gallon so I will not be getting the full 200 gallons out of this box. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it in this thread, but I use a reef blend salt, not just the salt that you would use for a 'Fish Only With Live Rock' (FOWLR) tank, so it's a little more expensive. But, it's ordered and should be here this week, I hope. The holiday could screw that hope all to hell.
From there, I had to look at my RO/DI system. I have been using the ROsave Z filters on my system, and they are by far the best filters out there. I thought I would buy them, waste the extra money that I spent on them, and go back to my cheap filters that I have always ran. Well, I have been running the same filters (a 5 micron pre sediment filter and a 1 micron sediment filter, before the carbon blocks) for about a year and a half now. After 3 months with my old, cheap filters, I would notice the carbon blocks starting to change colors. And by the way, my system has two carbon blocks, again, 5 and 1 micron. Well, a year and a half after I put these filters in, the covering on the first 5 micron carbon filter still has not shown any discoloration from sediment getting past the two pre filters. This has sold me on the more expensive filters. It's just cheaper this way.
The other thing is that my DI (Deionization) resin was completely depleted. I use a resin that starts out blue, and as you use it and it gets depleted, it will turn brown. Well, my resin has been brown for some time now. Thankfully I had another bad of resin with my many cheap filters that I never use so I don't have to purchase that. That stuff is highly expensive!!!
So I headed over to BRS who are the only ones that I trust with my RO/DI system components and I put a 5 micron and a 1 micron Z filter in my cart. I always try to get a large order because their shipping charges are OMG high for small orders. After all, their name is BULK Reef Supply. But much to my surprise, they now have a free shipping option!
So I make the order for the two filters and now I can get my RO/DI system running very clean again. And for those that don't know, my system is a 5 stage (well, 6 if you count my second sediment filter, and 7 if you count the fact that I'm running two RO membranes), So the way this system works is first, you have to plumb it into your water system. My water is from a well, so I have red clay in my water (not near as much as I did the first two years I was here!). This is why I'm running two sediment filters and not just one. Now, because i"m on a well, my water pressure is not that of the houses in the city on city water. I have a pressure switch on my well that is a 40/60 switch. It will turn on at 40psi, and off at 60psi. And with a system that only makes 150 gallons of water a day, it takes a VERY long time to lower the water pressure enough to kick the well pump on. So I have (or choose to run) a booster pump. This pump can run my system well over 100psi, but I keep it right at 70psi which is the sweet spot for the membranes.
So now we have the well water going into the pressure pump. From the pump, it's fed into the first 5 micron sediment filter. Once through there, it feeds into my second sediment filter which is 1 micron. From there it will go through the 5 micron solid carbon filter and then through the 1 micron solid carbon filter (both carbon filters are to filter out odors, and I have hydrogen sulfide in my water. Not toxic, just doesn't smell that great if say... we have an earthquake and it releases more of it into the water than usual... Yea, my water is smelling pretty bad right now, but it will tame down in a few days). From the carbon filters it runs into the first RO membrane.
This is where things get cool (to me anyway). If I was only running one membrane, then I would be making about 75 gallons of good water a day. The RO membrane has about a 75% rejection rate. So if you feed it 4 gallons of water (or you could use liters for you guys across the pond), then 3 gallons (or liters [litres for some]) would be sent to the sewage drain and 1 gallon would be ready for use, clean, clear and odor and mineral free. But, I'm running a second RO membrane. This membrane takes the waste water from the first membrane and filters that water yet again, thus theoretically doubling my output of water per day to 150. It's not quite that high, but it's close. I think I measured this system at about 140 when I tested it when I first got it. I need to test it again to see if my membranes are still good. This system is over 4 years old, so it may be time.
Right behind the membranes is a valve and a pressure bypass switch. These are so you can 'flush' the membranes before each use. Yea, with where my system is setup, there is no way in hell that I'm going to flush it every time someone gets a drink of water (more on this later). So I do it for about 10 minutes when I change the filters. So it's been a while since this system was flushed. But it was still working quite well.
So now we have perfectly clean (well, mine is coming out at 9ppm TDS [Total Dissolved Solids. From minerals like iron and calcium]) and that is much lower than some. I have not measured my well water in some time, but I think I'm in the 75ppm range which is still low compared to some water systems, including municipal. This water is perfectly safe to drink and it is, in fact, what we drink here at my house. Because of this, I ordered (when I got my system) a 3 gallon pressure tank so that I always had water on hand and I didn't have to wait for the water to be made at a rate of about 150 gallons per day. It just gets stored in the tank.
This is where MY system gets fun, and in due time, it's going to get even more fun lol. So the water has come out of the membranes and has made its way to the water pressure tank, ready for use. Well, it doesn't stop there. Just outside the tank I have a T fitting. This T fitting is there to feed my refrigerator so that I can have cold water and ice. And yes, it's all fed off of the same tank. There is also a spout on my sink where I can get water directly from the tank.
So now you are saying, "that is only 6 stages", and you are right, there is 1 more stage, the deionization stage. BUT, the water that goes through this stage has to go very slow for maximum effectiveness. This stage I feed directly off of the water that has just come out of the membranes but before it gets to the pressure holding tank. But the tank would cause water to flow too fast, which is why I put a one way valve between the tank and my DI stage. This way, the RO system is feeding the system directly, and people can still get good drinking water while I'm making clean water. From the DI stage, the water that is made is ready for use in the aquarium, be it the ATO system (Automatic Top Off, water evaporates, salt does not) or to mix new saltwater.
However, DI water is NOT safe to drink. This stuff comes out, virtually, as two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. The purest form of water you can get. And because of that, it doesn't do well in the body (which is why we drink the RO water, and not the RO/DI water)
With all of that said, the filters that were on my system (sediment) were pretty bad after that quake we had the other day (knocked dirt loose on the wall of the well) so I went ahead and replaced both sediment filters with a 5 and 1 micron cheap filter which I have plenty of. This way, I can save my quite expensive carbon filters since I'm getting ready to make a crap ton of water for massive water changes. Once I replaced those (simply unscrew the filters from the base, take out, rinse, and replace) I moved on to the DI resin. This stuff is like large micro beads that you used to find in shampoo. And it sticks to EVERYTHING! I cleaned out the container, rinsed and filled it up with brand new resin. Now, instead of getting water that is at 1ppm, it's at 0 when it comes out of the resin. And it's blue again, not brown lol.
Great, the fresh water for the tank is exactly where it needs to be and is ready for action.
One thing that I did because I knew that I was not going to be here much is I took my felt filter socks out of my tank and I put in mesh filter socks. The difference is, the mesh only traps large particles, not the small ones. So these have been in the sump over a year and never washed. Guess where my ammonia and nitrate problem came from. Yup, right there in my sump! So I pulled out the mesh socks and they are going in the trash. No more being lazy, it's felt from now on. And I have felt socks that have been hanging over my washer since I put the mesh filters in. So I grabbed my long socks (14") and that is what I'm using now to polish the water as I'm cleaning the every loving crap out of it. I also have some 7" socks that I will put in once these get clogged, which should be tonight after I clean up this sump (it's nasty as hell!!!).
The thing that I knew I was going to have to do is order new filter socks. But damn, these things are $7.00 a piece!!! You know where this is going... HELLO EBAY!!! lmao. On there, I found the same 4"x14" filter socks for a buck fiddy (that's $1.50 for those that don't speak 'cool'
lmao). So I ordered 10 of them, and I will order 10 more when I get more money. Since I use two filters at a time, and I already have 4 socks here, that gives me a pair of socks a day if I wash them every weekend. And this is what the tank needs. I will use the 7" short socks when I'm washing all of the other ones. There is a HUGE debate over filter socks. Some people are calling them "Nitrate Factories" and if you do like I have been doing, that is EXACTLY what they are. But, if you replace them every other day, or at most, every week, they will not produce the ammonia and nitrates as things break down. The socks are not the issue, it's the people using them. So I have enough to replace them every day for a while until I can get everything out of my tank and get it stable again, then I will go to once a week more than likely.
Great, filters are ordered, Salt is ordered, socks are ordered, and my water filter is ready for action!! Now it's time to start cleaning the tank and sump.
The first thing I did was clean the two outflow ports that come from my return pump back to the tank. these things have an opening of about 1/8" but they were closed down to about a mm because of algae and worms (natural). So I cleaned the crap out of them and it's flowing like it should now. Then, I turned to the sand bed and I removed every piece of broken monti, mushrooms that had come off the main rock and Green Stars and put them in a bowl to dry out and die. This really cleaned the sand bed up, but I still need to get a goby to sift the sand and get it back to where it was. You guessed it, my last one died...
So that is where I am right now. I have 15 gallons of water mixed up and ready to go into the tank. I made up this batch (which is my last batch until I get more salt) so that I can clean out my horribly dirty sump. I will be pulling out the return pump, skimmer, filter socks and everything else in there (no reactor since Matt stole it... lol) and I'm going to clean all of the detritus off of the floor of this sump and clean out the refugium of all of that horrible algae that is in there. Once I get the sump clean and the water that it is in it out, I will fill it back up with clean, fresh saltwater.
That should be the start to getting rid of this nitrate problem that I have. Every tank is going to have nitrates, but they should be below 5ppm at most. If you do big enough, and frequent enough water changes, then they should be undetectable. That is where I'm hoping to be in a month with everything that I'm doing. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I ordered the driver for my light as well.
So lets get the fun started. It's time to clean out the sump... Oh what fun... All in the name of a happy marriage.
callsign4223
Staff member
We need new pics.
Tony
Staff member
Today is a sad day. My Coral Banded Shrimp has met the end of his life. Turns out they only live 3-5 years and we have had him a little over 4 years, and he was pretty large when we got him. So he lived his full life expectancy. Just sucks that the "Bad Ass" of the tank is now taking his last breaths.
I was going to pull him out, but he was still alive. I would rather him die naturally than suffocate. I will pull him out in the morning if he is still there. The Urchin may get to him before I can though. Circle of live in the ocean.
I was going to pull him out, but he was still alive. I would rather him die naturally than suffocate. I will pull him out in the morning if he is still there. The Urchin may get to him before I can though. Circle of live in the ocean.
callsign4223
Staff member
That sucks man. I know my coral banded is one of the coolest things in my tank.
Tony
Staff member
So I woke up this morning with a little issue on my hands. None of my lights were on, my skimmer was not on, nothing. The only thing that was on was the main pump. That is when it clicked, that is how I have this thing programmed. In the event the two power bars lose connection with the base unit, everything shuts off except for the main pump so that water still circulates. But why in the hell is nothing working.
I open up the cabinet and the base unit has a solid green light. So it is getting power from the EB8. So I open the other door to look at the EB8's (I have two) and they are flashing orange meaning no communication. So, we are getting power from the EB8 to the base unit, but none of the 1's and 0's are getting by... Fine, pull the EB8's out of the wall outlet and completely power cycle them..... Nothing. Okay, so I pull the USB 'like' cables from them and plug them back in, maybe they had a little splash of saltwater and are just not making a good connection.... Nothing.
So I go online and try searching for why in the hell I have a green light on the base unit and orange on both EB8's. Well the internet only told me what I already know, it's not communicating... I figured that out on my own... Fine, only one more thing to try, I have already run the USB cables in different ways, unplugged all of them, plugging them into different ports, allowing the other EB8 to power the base unit, and all for nothing. Until.... I touched the little USB plug for the Display Module...
The Display Module is the blue screen that you have seen in here. I have already had to send it back once because it released the magic smoke and they sent me a new one. So I didn't even think that was the issue. When I touched the plug in the base unit that goes to the Display Module (DM), things started to turn on like my skimmer, the left light on the tank and so on. So I unplugged the DM completely from the base unit and boom, everything powered on, green lights on everything and all was well. But what in the HELL happened to yet another DM... I have yet to take it down and open it up, but I suspect I will find the same damage as last time.
But this time, there will not be any sending it back, I'm done with the DM. I will take one of my old iPhone's and turn that into a DM Wirelessly!! Screw that DM lmao. I have way more functionality with an iPhone than the DM ever had.
So why not just use an Android tablet? Yea, I have a few of those... Well they seem to HATE Android. The Apex Fusion app is only available on the iPhone and iPad. You are stuck with the old app on Android and compared to Fusion, it SUCKS! So, I must use an iPhone or an iPad to use this. Granted, I could just pull up apexfusion.com and get into it that way on an Android, but it's nice not having that header there.
So that is how my morning started out... UGH...........
I open up the cabinet and the base unit has a solid green light. So it is getting power from the EB8. So I open the other door to look at the EB8's (I have two) and they are flashing orange meaning no communication. So, we are getting power from the EB8 to the base unit, but none of the 1's and 0's are getting by... Fine, pull the EB8's out of the wall outlet and completely power cycle them..... Nothing. Okay, so I pull the USB 'like' cables from them and plug them back in, maybe they had a little splash of saltwater and are just not making a good connection.... Nothing.
So I go online and try searching for why in the hell I have a green light on the base unit and orange on both EB8's. Well the internet only told me what I already know, it's not communicating... I figured that out on my own... Fine, only one more thing to try, I have already run the USB cables in different ways, unplugged all of them, plugging them into different ports, allowing the other EB8 to power the base unit, and all for nothing. Until.... I touched the little USB plug for the Display Module...
The Display Module is the blue screen that you have seen in here. I have already had to send it back once because it released the magic smoke and they sent me a new one. So I didn't even think that was the issue. When I touched the plug in the base unit that goes to the Display Module (DM), things started to turn on like my skimmer, the left light on the tank and so on. So I unplugged the DM completely from the base unit and boom, everything powered on, green lights on everything and all was well. But what in the HELL happened to yet another DM... I have yet to take it down and open it up, but I suspect I will find the same damage as last time.
But this time, there will not be any sending it back, I'm done with the DM. I will take one of my old iPhone's and turn that into a DM Wirelessly!! Screw that DM lmao. I have way more functionality with an iPhone than the DM ever had.
So why not just use an Android tablet? Yea, I have a few of those... Well they seem to HATE Android. The Apex Fusion app is only available on the iPhone and iPad. You are stuck with the old app on Android and compared to Fusion, it SUCKS! So, I must use an iPhone or an iPad to use this. Granted, I could just pull up apexfusion.com and get into it that way on an Android, but it's nice not having that header there.
So that is how my morning started out... UGH...........
Jacob Davis
Member
That does sound like a fun morning but you have to admit, the tank is pretty nice to have.
ChopDrifter
Member
Talk about algae, I've got a fish pond at the back yard that has some severe algae infestation, what do you use to get rid of them? All gold fish
Tony
Staff member
For a pond, you need to put something in there to reduce the Nitrates and Phosphates. Some plants that actually look good will do it. Another thing, goldfish are dirty as hell and produce a LOT of detritus or DOC's. It's an uphill battle with those things. And something else you can do is to shade the pond with some kind of cover to block out direct sunlight. No sunlight, no algae.
ChopDrifter
Member
Exactly how I feel about it.
Any particular plant that you recommend?
I also made a shade to block out sunlight. The ones you use to cover ferns. Not sure what that green material is called.