Several reef questions for the experienced....

[jnaarnold]

I don't know if I should have posted this here or the newbie section. I am not really new to the saltwater aquarium in general. Howerever, when it comes to the more advanced areas I really need some help. Some of these questions may be very basic to some of you so be kind in your responses. I am just not seeing the results from where I thought my setup should be. It has been up for about 15 months now. Our water parameters are very good. We use RO/DI (from The Filter Guys--great business by the way)water only now, but was not the case when we first set it up. We test every couple of weeks. I will post parameters in the next few days. The constants are 1.024 salinity and 76-77 degree water. The tank is a 75g All-Glass, it is not drilled, nor does it have an internal overflow. I wish it did. I am running a pan world 100px-x pump(which is too much for this I know, but water is returned back to the inlet of the 30 gallon sump to control the water level of the aquarium and sump). I run a Turboflotor skimmer externally with a mag pump. The sump has your basic bubble trap and also houses live rock and chaeto in the middle section. Lights are on opposite the lighting on the tank.The overflow is a Lifereef with twin u-tubes and a standpipe. The aquarium inhabitants are; mated pair of clowns, a goby, a blue linkia star, several types of crabs and snails. We have a Toadstool leather, some zoas, blue mushrooms, xenia, unknown type of polyps. For lighting we use 4x65w Actinics and 4X65w 10K's, for a approx. total of 520 watts. We have two powerheads and an eductor on one of the two returns coming back into the tank. Now on to the questions.
1. Should we be getting a lot of skimate from the skimmer? We have only had to empty the collection cup once in the last 3 months. As I had stated it is on the intake side of the sump, externally mounted. We have the heater located there and a filter sock on the inlet pipe.
2. I have my pump flow turned way down to reduce flow out of the sump(via ball valve). I know it is a lot of pump. My question is, with the overflow I have is there anyway to get a lot of quiet flow? Or should we just install a submersible Mag pump and use the Pan World for a closed loop system? We just cannot seem to get enough flow from the overflow to the sump. If I take the standpipe out the flow greatly increases, but so does the noise.
3. Coralline growth. I know that that a great reef is know by it color. We have slowly had coralline growth. We are dosing magnesium, calcium and iodine. I also feep phytoplankton. I just see tanks on here that are vibrant with blues and purples, what are the secrets?
4. Zoas- are zoas are just not doing as good as they were. There are three types on one rock, and only one type seems to be thriving. Should I frag. I will post picks of what I can. We have moved them in and out of flow and lighting. We have been very gentle as too the amount we subject them to. We just feel they could be better.
Please reply with as much constructive criticism as you can. I have enjoyed the countless hours I have spent reading the posts on here.
John and Amy


Zoas before--August 2007

Zoas Now
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/139688Zoas2.jpg
Any help with what these are?

[Pmolan]

I am not familiar with that skimmer but you should be getting a hell of alot more skimmate than that. There are DIY mods available for most skimmers to increase the efficency. Also with smaller skimmers, I tend to run them "wet". Grean tea like skimmate. I think its impossible to get the nice sludge without a mod.

There are also doohickeys available to go in place of your standpipe to decrease the noise with maximum flow.

Coraline.. I used to just dose 2 part. The halides did the rest.

[chrismunn]

you dont have very many fish, so your bio-load shouldnt be huge, but after 3 months it seems like you should have filled up a 5g bucket with skimmate. im unframiliar with the type of skimmer you have, but you may doing just fine? is what your pulling out really thick dark brown, or transparent light green? you might be skimming really dry so you dont collect all that much. or your venturi line is clogged with salt creep, and your not getting enough air into the reaction chamber. you say your using a mag on your skimmer right? do you have a venturi and needle wheele impellar? there are bubbles in the skimmer right? not sure exactly, it could be a few different things?

for your overflow, well it sounds like you need a bigger one. if you want more flow, but you cant accept more flow because your pump is putting out more water than your overflow can handle, you need an over flow with a higher gph rating. for example, if you have an 800gph return pump, get an overflow rated for more than that. you have a standpipe in your external overflow? ive never used an external overflow before soi dont know much about them.
the secret to a healthy tank is a great education on reefing. sorry, that doesnt help much right. just keep reading books and asking questions. i dont think there is going to be a simple answer to "how do you grow god coralline" it just happens when your doing a good job
your zoas might have been under different lighting when you got them, plus, after 15 months have you changed your light bulbs? after about 12 months or so your pc's are going to start shifting spectrum. also, how often do you test params? and what exactly do you test for? do you get the same reading every time, or at least close to it? there are so many reasons a coral might go south...
post all of your params for us. everything! all of your equipment, and more pictures of equipment and live stock

[shootist]

Use a turkey baster and squirt around your zoas and see if a lot of detritus floats up. I suspect that they need some more flow. You say you have 2 powerheads on a 75,Im running 4 different ones on a 55 and I still dont think I have enough flow. The zoas really like a good bit of flow they should be bouncing around quite a bit and they hate having stuff collect on the rock around their bases. They may close up when you first put good flow on them but in a few days they will start to enjoy it. Im not familiar with your skimmer but from what I can see in your pic there isnt enough bubbles in the chamber to be effective. You may be able to mod the impeller or increase the air into the venturi or this or that,if you mess with it enough you may get it going good. Or you can look on the buy/sell board and find a nice skimmer like a Euroreef,plug it in and in a day you will see the other one was just wasting electricity and your time.

[jnaarnold]

The other thing I was going to ask is on the top of our aquarium we have had some 1/8 " thick glass cut and have just enough room for the return line and powerhead cords. Could this be bad for gas exchange/oxygen exchange? We are going to try and run it today without the glass on it and see if there is any change.
John

[jnaarnold]

Ok, I turkey basted the zoas and the leather I have. The toadstool looks GREAT! I also removed my skimmer and cleaned the pump and airline. I was really confused on the aqua medic site about the pump to skimmer connection. It says the tubing goes from the suction side of the pump to the skimmer. This is not the way I bought it...(used).
Thanks again all.
John

[SaltyNovice]

I have a Turbo 1000 Multi. I currently have it on the side of my sump. I have found that the depth of the pump in the water determines the skimmate's thickness. Atleast that is what I seem to have discovered. If the pump is not deep enough in the water it produces less bubbles and dryer skimmate. When I put it deeper in the water - it seems to produce more bubbles and wetter skimmate. Are you in a position to adjust the pump or the water level where the pump is? How do you like the Lifereef overflow? I'm thinking about redoing my sump and putting the turboflotor in the sump and I also am rethinking my overflow setup.

[jnaarnold]

SaltyNovice,
My pump for the skimmer is at the bottom of the sump. I took it out and thoroughly cleaned it. The skimmate has always been almost black...very dark green and very thick. I like the lifereef setup, but I am thinking on going to this design and trying it... http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=297623
John

[FishBait]

Do you have any pics of how your skimmer is setup? I ran one for several years on a 90 gal and it kicked butt...although I had a higher bioload than you do. Are you running it w/just one pump? How are you actually feeding it? Mine ran connected to the overflow to feed it, then I replaced the Rio w/a Mag seven and ran an air pump on the venturi, both of those mods mad a HUGE difference in efficiency.

It also sounds like you might want a bit more flow moving across your polyps. Maybe add another eductor to your second return and try to get a good wash effect across the animals.

I read that you are dosing Mg, Ca, and iodine. What about any alk supplements? You may not be providing a balanced addition and could be dealing with a deficiency of carbs/bicarbs to coincide with your calcium levels.