P
Pedro
Guest
Well i finally decided to setup a tank thread. It is of course of my redone 75gal Oceanic. It was a decision i often thought about but i finally decided the time was right for a change.
In the last few years i came down with a bad case of bubble algea. Despite my efforts, water changes, rowaphos, phosban, denitrate, etc, it would never die down. We all know that valonia is one of the toughest algeas to get rid of. It can grow without light, and with minimal nutrients. I often siphoned out alot and it seemed to not put a dent into it. I must say that this was the only algea present in my system. For some reason it flourished. I got tired of wasting money trying to combat it. I threw in the towel and broke down my system.
I setup a 32gal brute container for the temporary housing of my fish and some corals. I then poured 4.5gals of vinegar into the system while it was still running to clean the pipes and soften the buildup. I let it run for 48hrs. The wife was patient as the apt was not too comfy. I left all lights off, turned off all heaters/chillers. I wanted to sterilized the system. I left in the few rocks i was keeping so that they too can get cleaned. After it was said and done it was draining and cleaning. The most important piece of equipment for me was a python water changer hose system. This thing worked great. It drained the fouly water and then i used it to pump fresh water back to keep cleaning the glass and stuff. I tell you it was the best $28 i spent.
After all was cleaned, including the pipes, i ran my RO/DI until the system was full. I poured some reef crystals in withoout the sand so that it dissolves quickly. I then added the sand, cleaned off the particles that it came with and then waited for the skimmer to remove the silt. Withing 24hrs it was clear. I was then able to play with the rockwork.
Luckily, there wasn't much detritus under my starboard, which btw, i would not go back to. Just a matter of aesthetics. I learned not to follow the trends. I went back to the my roots. I thought about what had worked for me in the past and i am trying to duplicate it. I think the more advanced we get, the more we forget the basic things. I went with a deep sand bed again comprised of aragonite seafloor speacial grade sand. What i learned here is 2 things. (1) That southdown is garbage. (2) That starboard is not really necessary to provide high flow. How do i know this? Well consider that i have 2 6100 streams full blast and the sand does not blow around. Yes it is still shifting until it finds the sweet spot. But as long as it does not create dust storms, i'm good with that. So for those that advocate starboard as the only way to provide high flow, i say it's nonsense. You just have to use the right kind of sand, not the cheap stuff.
I also decided to keep the aquascape as open as possible. This will provide the flow necessary to keep detritus from settling and just keep a nice healthy flow within the structure. I kept all rocks away from the glass. I made a pvc rock structure so that i can stagger my rocks and create interesting patterns but at the same time keeping the profile small enough to fill a 2x2 area. After i added some tonga you can barely see the pvc, and it will be less noticeable once corraline takes over. Tonga branch is perfect for creating openness in the rockwork. For this system i had a vision in my mind of the piece of a reef that i wanted to re-create. Since i have numerous dives, i remember what sections kind of look like. So i put the plan together and executed it.
This time around the system will be fish only with limited corals, such as a leather and some polyps if i can get away with it, and my anemones. I plan to keep an angel. The reason for this is that i was always fascinated by the fish. I already did the reef thing, so now i want to venture into raising fish until they grow big. I love feeding them.
My tank will also be on lockdown as well. No trades for a long time. That is how the crap gets around. I went through alot of trouble for this because i want to provide the best possible enviroment for the fish. I really don't need to inherit the pests of the hobby.
So there you have the general diary of my 75gal. I will answer any questions that arise. Pics to follow.
In the last few years i came down with a bad case of bubble algea. Despite my efforts, water changes, rowaphos, phosban, denitrate, etc, it would never die down. We all know that valonia is one of the toughest algeas to get rid of. It can grow without light, and with minimal nutrients. I often siphoned out alot and it seemed to not put a dent into it. I must say that this was the only algea present in my system. For some reason it flourished. I got tired of wasting money trying to combat it. I threw in the towel and broke down my system.
I setup a 32gal brute container for the temporary housing of my fish and some corals. I then poured 4.5gals of vinegar into the system while it was still running to clean the pipes and soften the buildup. I let it run for 48hrs. The wife was patient as the apt was not too comfy. I left all lights off, turned off all heaters/chillers. I wanted to sterilized the system. I left in the few rocks i was keeping so that they too can get cleaned. After it was said and done it was draining and cleaning. The most important piece of equipment for me was a python water changer hose system. This thing worked great. It drained the fouly water and then i used it to pump fresh water back to keep cleaning the glass and stuff. I tell you it was the best $28 i spent.
After all was cleaned, including the pipes, i ran my RO/DI until the system was full. I poured some reef crystals in withoout the sand so that it dissolves quickly. I then added the sand, cleaned off the particles that it came with and then waited for the skimmer to remove the silt. Withing 24hrs it was clear. I was then able to play with the rockwork.
Luckily, there wasn't much detritus under my starboard, which btw, i would not go back to. Just a matter of aesthetics. I learned not to follow the trends. I went back to the my roots. I thought about what had worked for me in the past and i am trying to duplicate it. I think the more advanced we get, the more we forget the basic things. I went with a deep sand bed again comprised of aragonite seafloor speacial grade sand. What i learned here is 2 things. (1) That southdown is garbage. (2) That starboard is not really necessary to provide high flow. How do i know this? Well consider that i have 2 6100 streams full blast and the sand does not blow around. Yes it is still shifting until it finds the sweet spot. But as long as it does not create dust storms, i'm good with that. So for those that advocate starboard as the only way to provide high flow, i say it's nonsense. You just have to use the right kind of sand, not the cheap stuff.
I also decided to keep the aquascape as open as possible. This will provide the flow necessary to keep detritus from settling and just keep a nice healthy flow within the structure. I kept all rocks away from the glass. I made a pvc rock structure so that i can stagger my rocks and create interesting patterns but at the same time keeping the profile small enough to fill a 2x2 area. After i added some tonga you can barely see the pvc, and it will be less noticeable once corraline takes over. Tonga branch is perfect for creating openness in the rockwork. For this system i had a vision in my mind of the piece of a reef that i wanted to re-create. Since i have numerous dives, i remember what sections kind of look like. So i put the plan together and executed it.
This time around the system will be fish only with limited corals, such as a leather and some polyps if i can get away with it, and my anemones. I plan to keep an angel. The reason for this is that i was always fascinated by the fish. I already did the reef thing, so now i want to venture into raising fish until they grow big. I love feeding them.
My tank will also be on lockdown as well. No trades for a long time. That is how the crap gets around. I went through alot of trouble for this because i want to provide the best possible enviroment for the fish. I really don't need to inherit the pests of the hobby.
So there you have the general diary of my 75gal. I will answer any questions that arise. Pics to follow.
