Our Progress To-Date on New 135RR (Image Intense)

[melev]

Cyano isn't algae, it is bacteria. And ChemiClean will kill it within 24 hours.

Sorry about the loss of your coral. There can be a number of reasons why it didn't make it, including RTN, STN, or even simply because it is wild-caught perhaps. I might have gotten the same coral and lost it just as quickly. You really should consider getting frags instead, because they have a better chance of survival and cost far less.

Some of us in our club are considering buying a large coral at the LFS and then fragging it on the spot so that we all absorb the cost at $10 - $20 each instead.

You've come a very long way in the past 9 months or so, and learned a lot. If you are comparing your tank to those of the TOTM or even to mine and others, don't. Each box of water is different and thus they will progress at different levels.

(Tony will post later tonight.)

[tesfeld]

I had a hair algae bloom that covered every inch of rock not occupied by a coral. Two softball sized wads of algae were vacuumed out, MH bulbs changed, and rowaphos added. In one month it's 70% recovered. Then, I went on my honeymoon and came home to a PBT with ich that killed him and spread and killed my heniochus, rabbit fish, and orchid dottyback. It took me back to my original two true percs.
Cleaning lady touched the J tube on the 30 cube fuge overflow. Ended up with 12 gallons of salt water on my 6 week old laminate wood floor that I installed myself. She even called the fire department. Flooded my kitchen with my RO twice after she did that. Insult to injury.

Hang in there. 6 months and counting with my problems, but the end is near.

[xchrisjb]

Originally posted by melev
Doug, meet Tony. Tony, meet Doug.

Now Tony, tell Doug what you've been going through with your tank, and why your still patiently plugging away at your tank.

ReefCentral is basically just group therapy anyways, right?

[ChloroPhil]

Doug and Cathy,

I'm sorry to hear that this is being so challenging for you two. I've been visiting here every visit since I started visiting RC and y'all have been a major inspiration to me. Your examples of patience and forethought have helped me keep my hand in check. I'm sorry these plagues are happening to you, but I can't think of a couple better suited to deal with them than you two.

Due to some topoff chemistry problems I'm losing a bi color Acro and a pocillipora frag with not much to do about it. The capricornis is plating off like mad now though! What successes have you had lately?


Tony,

I'm glad to see you made it over here to RC. I've enjoyed looking at your tank on the DFWAPC gallery and am very sorry to hear it's had those difficulties. That's gorgeous tank!!

Best,
Phil

[lovetoreef]

Doug and Cathy,

I am sorry to hear about your recent difficulties, but you will make it. My last tank, 75 gallon mixed, I had a hair algae attack that I felt like could not beat - so I broke the tank down and have regretted the decision since. Just keep fighting and things will improve. A closed loop should make a world of difference! It will get better!

Gerard

[steve68]

Doug sorry to hear about u'r tank & the nice acro but may bee u have learned something the hard way & yes it sucks but i think u should hang in there & i know what u mean about trying to figure out what could be wrong, u cant let this hobby consume u cuz u will burn out faster then u think, when i set up my 210 i had a nasty bloom of cyano & red algae & i dint enjoy looking at my tank but i bought more turbo snails,scarlet crabs,cerith snails & nasarius snails they helped out a lot i bought a hole package from reeftopia & did the same thing u did got more water movement & a couple of weeks later everything looked nice again, so i went out & bought some nice acros well they lasted about 2 weeks right then i said ok forget the SPS 4 now & just stuck to LPS & Softies well that was over a year ago & now with my tank more stablished i bought SPS frags from a friend & they are growing great, so just give it time SPS are nice but i know a lot of people that have beutifull softie & LPS tank's i love my softies & would never trade them 4 anything even though my wife keeps telling me to switch i wont cuz i know how fast they can RTN, just in case u need motivation here u go.
never give up

Left side


Center


Right side

[dmiannay]

Well I must say this outpouring of sentiment has truly brought a tear to my eye Your words are definitely doing the trick. Why, at dinner tonight I mentioned to Cin... Cathy that I'm going out next week to pick up a 650 gallon all glass tank to go with the 135. I'm inspired to build a closed loop system that makes the NY subway system look like a kindergarten project. I'm really fired up... nothing can stop me now

Uhhh... what's that... ahhh, honey... was I sleeping? I just had a horrible dream

Back to reality. We hit a real depressing dip where all the forces seemed aligned against success and I'm afraid I let it get to me. It didn't last long though since I snapped out of it fairly quickly and embarked on a plan to attack and destroy the problem. That doesn't lessen the nagging issue of always having to deal with something, though... actually I'm just a bit surprised since it was unexpected. I really believed that if done "properly" we'd have a stable, prospering system. I have certainly grown more respectful of those with long running and successful tanks. I know it can be done... with perseverance and encouragement from great folks like all of you!

Thanks a million for injecting more optimism into our daily walk with the box of water! We really had no chance at all without the awesome support of the RC therapists!

[cmiannay]

Hey y'all! Yeah, its been really frustrating lately. But we are hopeful that everything will settle down and fly on autopilot for a little while -- at least until after our Thanksgiving trip!

At least I caught the Scopas Tang. Oh my goodness... I hope I don't ever have to go through that again! But we won't be adding any other new livestock until the tank stablizes. I still want a Sailfin Tang, 4 female Anthias (poor Soloman is still wifeless), and a Flame Angel.

Tony: Holy cow, that's aweful! I am truly inspired that you didn't give up after the flood. Hats off to you!

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

[dmiannay]

RJ: Those are two great shots (before an after). Time will tell... thanks again for being here for us! We appreciate your contributions and insight!

Hey there Steve (steve68)... the pictures of your tank are terrific! No doubt we'll get there in another year or so! Keep up the great work and thanks for helping us stay focused!

Tony: Wow, you sure went through a difficult spell! While it's difficult to listen to all the tales of woe it is instructive that there follows an upside! I appreciate your comments!

Phil: Successes... well everything else other than the Xenia and Acropora are doing great! The fish are all healthy and the remaining corals seem to be doing great and flourishing. Still real odd about the Xenia but we'll get another sometime soon.

Gerard: It's scary to think how close I came to walking away from this. I suppose after pouring all we had into this over the last year I expected things to be more stable and predictable. I certainly expect your next adventure to be bigger and better!

And last but not least... Marc: Always steady, always the voice of reason! Thanks for hanging in there with us... it's been quite a ride. Your thought about frags is a good one. Our LFS has an area of the store full of various frags he let's go for under $10.00 apiece and some of them are very nice. Maybe that's the more prudent way to go.

Now, please explain RTN and STN for me.

[lovetoreef]

rapid tissue necrosis and slow tissue necrosis - strikes sps corals commonly - i will let someone else that knows more than i do take it the rest of the way!

[dmiannay]

Thanks Gerard... now I'm armed to go do some research on what they mean and what are the common causes.

[NuclearReefs]

dmiannay, I swear I know you and Cathy did you all used to live in lawrencville? I managed Shark Bay in Atlanta back in 96-98..
Did you all start out with a 65 gallon?


Nathan

[NuclearReefs]

neva mind,, I looked at your page,, your not the same people.. hehe.. We will have to get together though. Im moving back that way soon..

[dmiannay]

Nathan: Where do you live now? Near Marc? When are you planning to be back this way?

[NuclearReefs]

im in dallas now. Marc is going to hold my corals til I get set back up their.. I will be living back in the grant park area of midtown in atlanta....

[lovetoreef]

aah, come on nathan, you know you want to delve into the ins and outs of rtn and stn!!

[NuclearReefs]

I'll be fine,, Ive moved tanks before,, hehe.. I may risk a 24 hour move on a few things like my fish,, I have no idea what to do with them.. and Im so attached,, My purple tang loves me!

[dmiannay]

Nathan: I had a good friend some time ago that lived near midtown and Grant Park. Used to hang there with him often on weekends. The Cyclorama is kinda cool if you like Civil War history.

What's bringing you back... the job?

[NuclearReefs]

lack of job here in dallas .IT is impossible unless you know someone here...... and Ive lived there( In atlanta) for about 10 years,, I love atlanta,, close to my family and I have tons of friends there...

No seasons here in dallas......

[lovetoreef]

we will miss you nathan - this is a loss to the reefing community here in dallas. good luck with the move and wish i had my tank setup already, I would love to give your p.t. a new home! unless you want to donate your system to me for babysitting!

gerard

[NuclearReefs]

Yea,, Marc tells me that as well.. I was hesitant to get back into reefing while I was here because I wasnt sure how long I would be in dallas.. BUt I will continue to post on the local dfwmas forum

[Mickey]

Doug and Cathy:

don't give up. It will get better. It just takes quite a while for tanks to stabilize, etc. I suggest you read the "Maturity" thread in Eric's Coral Forum. He gives an amazing explanation of some of the various cycles and changes a tank -- and the tankkeepers -- go through over time.

I was close to giving up a year ago and where am I now -- starting to set up my new 200+!!!

Hang in there. We are all with you.

Mickey

[rjwilson37]

Yep, a different type of problem strikes us all at different times and you never know what it is going to be. Just work through it the best you can and you will prevail, I mean it's not rocket science.... Is it.... no.. of course not.... hmmm...

Good luck and remember what Dori say's.. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... just keep swimming, swimming, swimming... what do we do, we swim, swim, swim.

[melev]

It looks like things are taking a turn for the better in this thread. For the most part, a tank will run on autopilot, be even pilots have to remain seated to make minor adjustments due to various outside influences, right? Weather patterns, other traffic, etc all necessitate small corrections to avoid problems later.

My tanks get tinkered with daily, but not in such a way that I'm overloaded with the aggravation you've suffered. I had cyano in my tank for about 3 weeks myself recently, and decided to use ChemiClean to kill it in a day. During the past 30 days, I've changed 300g of water, and I don't have the convenience that you do unfortunately. It's a real job changing water on my system currently.

My daily routine is to feed the tank and check on the water level to make sure it is topping off correctly. I do have to manually turn on and off the VHOs because the timer is flakier than a Pillsbury biscuit. I start a new batch of brine shrimp each day and feed the current batch. I clip a piece of Nori on the glass each morning to keep the tangs away from my SPS. During feedings, the return pump is off for 15 to 60 mins. I do make more water if necessary, probably every other day or so. And I check the status of the skimmer each day.

I test water about every two weeks.

What is your daily routine? Maybe this is more a mental obstacle than a real workload. I don't think I can ever just sit back and enjoy the tank without some type of interaction.

Algae blooms are one of the biggest problems for saltwater husbandry, and that is why you see so many threads on the topic. If you can keep NO3 and PO4 as low as possible, you stop a lot of it in its tracks. A clean up crew is mandatory and if it isn't keeping up, get more crew members. Clean the skimmer, maintain a healthy refugium full of macro algae and keep a few herbivores in the display and your tank should look very nice.

Some of the recent pictures in this thread are proof it can be done, and you'll be posting those as well one day. Odds are someone will be struggling with despair and you'll be there to encourage them.

[dmiannay]

Hi Everyone!

I hope our US friends all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were supposed to go to my parents place in NC (traditional) but Cathy came down with the flu several days before and we had to cancel the trip. Had a small dinner (courtesy of Honey Baked ) here with Cathy and one of our daughters instead, which was terrific!

The tank is back to "normal" now following the Chemi-Clear treatment and pump replacements. Flow has been increased and we've added a bag of carbon in the bubble trap as a regular thing now. The protein skimmer is doing its thing as well... all in all we're back to a great looking tank That was a tough road during the cyano debacle... but thanks to many of you here we made it through and are marching ahead!

The beautiful Acropora finally died so we removed the skeleton and are bleaching it now for a friend to use in their FO tank.

I have to say that all the corals are looking livelier than ever and seem to be VERY healthy. The cyano problem clearly hampered their progress!

Now, with additional flow (no closed loop yet, Marc! ) plus carbon plus Cheatomorpha plus a large cleanup crew along with zeros across the board for all the nitrogen cycle measurements, should we expect the cyano to remain at bay? Do you think it wise to do a monthly Chemi-Clear treatment as a maintenance dose or is that unhealthy due to using too many chemicals?