RIP !!!- Crushed Coral and my undergravel filter

Discussion in 'Sand' started by makinITwork, Dec 19, 2008.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. makinITwork

    makinITwork Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    97
    Location:
    Potomac Falls, VA
    Well, after talking to many on here, reading almost every post on Nitrates and sand/CC. My nitrates have been so high that I have done so many water changes that I think I used more salt then the state will use this winter. SO, I decided it was time to listen to those who have been where I am.

    I have a complicated set up (I will be taking pic's and showing everyone soon). but 3 weeks ago, I started the conversion. My tank is made up of 3 separate tanks, but the water is "connected". I started with one tank (35 gallon), since my Seahorses had not yet arrived, that went pretty well. I did not take pic's of the process as the room looked like a tornado went through. I waited a week and did the next tank (55 gallon). that went well, but my Jeweled dragon eel was not happy when I tried to catch him ( he is over 2 1/2 feet long, although the book say's 2 feet max). anyway. I wrapped that up and while my nitrates were still off the chart, everyone was happy and healthy.

    Now, the main tank (and where all my problems come from). It's 135 gallon, it had an under gravel filter and ~ 5" of CC. I got everything in order, I had trash cans all over. I mixed up 100 gallons of clean water and kept that circulating over night, and I siphoned most of the tank water. I had several "totes" with my live rock and other containers with all of the fish.

    I would like to take a moment to thank those at homedepot that design those wet/dry vac's as mine was a champ. I don't think it will be the same again, but it made quick work of removing WAY to much CC.

    I pulled out (and threw away) the plastic under gravel filter ( 2 sections), cleaned up the tank and put ~ 1" of sugar sand. Put back the rocks, water, and fish ( water and fish were actually a LONG process to keep mixing the new water with water that the fish were in to reduce stress etc). Everyone is back and getting used to the new rock formations. All of the Pumps etc are running and doing their things.

    30 mins after the 3 tanks were circulating water amongst themselves I retested the nitrates and that's the lowest I have EVER seen them. I know it's kinda a waste to test now as the tank(s) need time to settle in and cycle.

    This was actually the 1st time the nitrate level was actually on the scale. (woo hoo). those who worry about a nitrate reading of 20 or 30... pfftt.. my scale stopped at 200 and I was still higher then that after doing 30% water changes in 3 days in a row. for the 1st time I think I might have a chance.

    Anyway, I am happy that I listened to those on this site. The sand looks much nicer. it was a HUGE pain and I WISH I knew about this site before I made the CC mistake. I really mean it when I say thank you to all that have given advice.

    Thanks !!
     
    1 person likes this.
  2. Click Here!

  3. nanoreefer555

    nanoreefer555 Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2008
    Messages:
    324
    Amazing. I have witnessed fish and snails live in water w/trates at over 200 (I knew a place w/500g fowlr).

    There are several other long-term options you could try. Most subjects have threads on this site that are helpful. There is the DSB, the coil-denitrator, the refugium, and the Ca/phos reactor. I don't know if any or all of these topics are familiar to you but if not you can find a lot of info here regarding each subject. Also, if you don't have a skimmer running that can help remove particulate waste before it ever even hits your bio-filter.
     
  4. makinITwork

    makinITwork Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    97
    Location:
    Potomac Falls, VA
    I have 2 coil-denitrator's on the tank. Pretty much if it was the wrong thing to do.. I did it. I have lots of hardware trying to off set some bad ideas. Slowly I am trying to set things up in a better config.
     
  5. nanoreefer555

    nanoreefer555 Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2008
    Messages:
    324
    Could your describe your whole system?

    IMO, there are so many opinions on what is right and what is wrong that I don't think there are very many 100% correct answers available. People have been highly successful using all different setups. At the same time, others have failed miserabley using them all. IMO, the process is more about finding out what works for you. And sometimes it takes a long time to get a system dialed in. Other times, good systems take a dump. This hobby will keep you on your toes!
     
  6. makinITwork

    makinITwork Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    97
    Location:
    Potomac Falls, VA
    well.. here we go. This is my crazy setup. all 3 tanks now have ~ 1 inch of sugar sand.

    My Tank setup:

    Tanks:
    Primary “calm” tank – 135 gallon
    “Aggressive tank” – 55 gallon
    Seahorse tank – 35 gallon

    Heating, cooling, UV:
    With a Quietone 1200 pump, water is pumped from the primary tank, into a “Turbo Twist 36 watt UV sterilizer. The water then entering into a Hydor 300 watt inline heater and then finally passes through a 1/10 HP “Arctica Titanium chiller” and then finally the water returns back into the primary tank.

    ** For capacity (and redundancy) there are two circuits. ( 2 Quietones 1200, 2 UV Sterilizers, 2 heaters, 2 chillers ) I felt it better to use 2 smaller of each item, vs one large (so if there is a failure, something is still running)

    The temperature of the tank is controlled by a single controller medusa HC-100. Both heaters are set to 85 degrees and the chillers are set to 70 degrees. ( none of the internal thermostats are used, the setting are a backup incase the main controller malfunctions. The controller maintains 78.6 degrees. Heating and cooling kick in as needed.

    Filtering
    2 - Fluval FX5 canister filters on the main tank
    1 - Fluval FX5 connected to the 55 gallon, (the eel eats a lot, so he… a lot)
    2 – DIY Coil Denitrator’s
    2 – rena 200 air pumps

    How the tanks “connect”

    To take advantage of the existing cooling, heating etc, the tanks are connected. There is no additional filtering etc in 35 gallon tank, there is an exta filter in the 55 gallon.
    Water is pumped from the primary tank into the 35 gallon and 55 gallon tank with a quietone 2200 for the 35 gallon and a quiet one 3000 for the 55 gallon, the tanks then drain via gravity through a bulkhead back into the primary tank.

    Lighting:
    2 – (on the 135 tank) Current USA Satellite Power compact Lights (65 watts each)
    1 - Current USA 18 watt (35 gallon tank)
    1 – Current USA 36 watt (55 gallon tank)

    Power protection:
    The Quietone 2200 and the quietone 3000 that pumps the water from the primary tank to the 35 and 55 tanks is connected to a Xantrex power source 400. When the power is lost, these are the only item that are connect to the UPS. The water pouring back to the primary tanks from the gravity feed creates the water/oxygen exchange.
    Residents in the 55 gallon tank:

    1- Dragon Eel. ( also called jeweled moray eel )
    2- Volitan lion fish

    Residents in the 35 gallon hex tank
    14 Seahorses
    3 pipe fish (forgot the model of fish)


    Software / residents in the main tank:
    2 – Medium yellow tangs
    1 – Hippo tang
    2 – firefish goby
    4 - Ocellaris Clownfish
    4 - Orange Stripe Cardinalfish
    4 - Pajama Cardinalfish
    3 - Percula Clownfish
    3 - bicolor pseduochromis
    1 – sailfin tang
    1 – blue spot naso tang
    2 – Anemones (long tentacle )
    Handful of snails
    Handful of hermit crabs
     
    1 person likes this.
  7. KOgle

    KOgle Zoanthid

    Joined:
    May 4, 2007
    Messages:
    1,109
    Location:
    Columbus Indiana
    We need pictures or this thread is useless. ;D
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. nanoreefer555

    nanoreefer555 Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2008
    Messages:
    324
    :laugh5: the picture vultures on this site...::)
     
  10. 10acrewoods

    10acrewoods Fire Goby

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2008
    Messages:
    1,337
    Location:
    Carbondale Il
    Protien skimmer ?
    Live rock?
    These items will both help with nitrates
    I propose a sump with protien skimmer and chaeto.
    I also might be missing it but how many power heads do you have and what might be your tanks turn over rate.
     
  11. tigermike74

    tigermike74 Panda Puffer

    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2008
    Messages:
    2,116
    Location:
    Southern CA
    Glad to see you are getting your nitrates under control now after finding the problem. I remember we discussed nitrates in a thread I started, I believe, I bought up the "blood red" reading on the nitrates. I realized that my eheim canister was spitting out lots of nitrates not too long ago. Finding the dead hitch hikers and the eheim problem, my NO3 is finally down to ~40-60ppm, which is much better than 500ppm. There is always hope, good job! :beer:
     
  12. makinITwork

    makinITwork Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    97
    Location:
    Potomac Falls, VA
    Sorry.. Yes live Rock

    Almost 300 LB's total.
    35 gallon, 50 lbs
    55 gallon, 60lbs
    135 gallon, 175 lbs

    I have tried two diffrent kinds of skimmers, I have not been happy with one yet. My largest complaint is micro bubbles. Becasue I don't have a sump etc the skimmer hangs off of the main tank. It's either flooding my tank with bubbles or it's REALLY LOUD. I have both of them sitting on the shelf,

    the larger one was a Prizm Pro Deluxe Skimmer and the smaller one was a Seaclone 100 Skimmer with Pump. I am not against using one, just have not found the right combo yet. when I do my tank over, I will have a sump etc. my main tank is not drilled and space is really really really tight.

    Water flow, I just removed my power heads when I took the under gravel filter out. I will be adding two more back in once I do some research.

    Right now, I am turing about 20x an hour ~ 4k total per hour

    35 gallon - 700 gallons per hour
    55 gallon - 780 gallons per hour, plus ~800 gallons for the FX5 = ~ 1500
    135 - 2 x 800 for the fx 5's = 1600, plus the return from the 35 and 55

    lots of water movment. It's taken more hours then I would like to admit getting the water flow right so it's moving.. but it's not a flash flood.