phenom5
03/02/2006, 02:16 PM
you ever have one of those days...you know, when the lights come on in your tank and everybody opens up nicely and your tank just looks good. i've had those days, but not lately. my tank is frustrating the hell out of me right now, its a nice blend of laziness on my part, mixed with some setup issues. so this thread is a chance for me to vent, and "think out loud" if you will.
first a little background. my tank has been setup for a little over 2 years. originally i set up this tank as a temporary setup...something to hold me over until my wife and i were in our house (i didn't want to move a big tank), the reality of life has kept me from upgrading...things like paying my own way through school, buying a house, stuff like that has really put a limit on my budget (a budget that i exceeded long ago). this is important, because i've changed what my goals for this tank are several times...its gone from a simple & inexpensive nano, to a complex & expensive tank.
the tank has a 2.5g "sump" that is a converted DIY refuge. a small pump pumps water up into the sump, which then drains water back to the display via gravity. i'm running about 45x turnover, and an HQI light. the tank has about 15lbs of LR that is a combination of premium fiji & seeded BR. tank is now BB after running it with a SSB for about the first 14 mos. tank has a royal gramma, BL hermits, astras, stromellas (spell?), zoos, LPS & SPS. the focus of the tank has gone from zoos, shrooms, and that kind of stuff to LPS to SPS.
now on to my issues...
Algae
i've fought back various types of both green & red, bubble & hair algae. there are still small patches of bubble algae, but that is to be expected in any tank, and at this point any BA that's left is dying back more then its spreading. however, i've run into a new algae. most of my BR is coated with a very fine green algae, it appears to be white fuzzy algae from the right angle...if you look at the edges against the dark backround, but as far as i can tell what i thought was two different algaes are one in the same, and it is just the different view that makes it look different. i haven't researched a whole lot about this algae, mostly because i'm pretty sure i know what i'll find...the algae is cause by elevated nutrient levels, bump up water changes, blah, blah, blah...i'll get back to that.
Frogspawn
my frogspawn has been in the tank for a little over a year. when i bought it it was 3 heads, which have all since split, and one of the heads has split again, with another about to split for a third time. about a week ago one of the heads completely closed up, and now is lost, no "flesh" anywhere to be found. at first i wasn't concerned, b/c i've had head closed up for a day or two for one reason or another, only to be back & fully extended after a day or two. now, this could again be a water quality issue, but it may also be too much flow. i've more then doubled my flow since switching to BB, and it may be too much for my FS. or another alternative, i added a few peppermints a while back to take care of some aiptasia...which they made short work of. now i've kept one peppermint to stand guard, and his fellow aiptasia warriors have moved on to my father-in-law's 125g ready to be re-deployed at the first sign of aiptasia in my tank. however, yesterday i noticed a different head of my FS displaying the same characteristics as the one head that i lost, and my peppermint was hanging around it. i couldn't tell if the peppermint was picking at the FS, or just kind of picking through it to see if there were any bits of food to eat. i feed my tank very lightly, but i'm going to bump up the feeding slightly to see if i can keep the peppermint off the FS...and of course i'm keeping a close eye on the shrimp & the FS.
GSP
i think i am offically the only person on the planet that doesn't have wild, out of control GSP growth. it grows a bit, then dies back, then grows a bit, then dies back some, and so on and so on...anyway, it generally ****es me off. i don't mind GSP, i think its acually a pretty cool coral, but at this point its kind of like-"hey GSP, poop or get off the pot". and yes, i've seen that picture of that tank where the GSP has overrun the tank...i actually think its kind of cool, and if/ when i upgrade i might keep my 10g up and running and let different variations of star polyps run wild.:D
SPS
all in all, the SPS in my system are doing very well. i've got one acro that i'm keeping an eye on. it came loose from its plug during shipping which resulted in some damage, but overall its growing nicely although the color isn't great, and PE is limited. we'll see how it does, only time will tell.
Setup
there are some issues with my setup that absolutely drive me nuts. some of it is because of changes that i've made...like the DIY sump. back when i had a SSB and was using it as a DIY fuge it worked great, but now that i'm BB it sucks. the problem is it is severely hampering my poop loop. although i don't have ideal flow, i've still got pretty good flow, but it doesn't really matter that i keep the detritus suspended...rather then flowing down a drain to be skimmed out, in my tank the suspended detritus acts as little more then a constent supply of the perfect material to clog pumps, and merely clogs up the pump that pumps water up to the "sump". certainly this is a major PITA, but beyond that it kind of goes against everything i, or anyone else would be trying to achieve with a BB system.
when i made the switch to BB i had a limited understanding of the methodology. now that i have a much better understanding of it, i still think it is a great way to set up certain tanks...i don't think it is the magic bullet that some reefers would try and lead you to believe it is, but with the right application it can be a very nice way to go. one of the best quotes i've seen in a while was something pugroyale said in regard to BB setups-" I found a lot of cheerleaders for BB and very few coaches".
the sump itself is fine, but with it sitting above and behind the tank it makes maintenance no easier then if the tank were sumpless...and in fact, it makes maintenance of the DIY skimmer difficult b/c its a very tight space back there.
my stand/ canopy would be another thing that bugs me. i built the stand in a bit of a rush, i had a bunch of frags coming in, and i wanted to get my tank on the new stand before the frags got to me. i mean, the stand/ canopy are fine...if anyone from RC, or anybody else came over they wouldn't notice anything wrong with the stand/ canopy, but for me there are some mistakes that when i look at it...that's all i see. those of you that have built your own stand know what i'm talking about, it may be a small mistake that nobody notices, but its the first thing you as the builder notices. Jesus may have been a carpenter, but i sure the hell am not.:D
Maintenance
look...i know there's no way around it, even with a huge tank that has tens of thousand of dollars in equipment to make maintenance easier (because then you have to maintain the equipment that is doing the automated maintenance :D ). maintenance is no longer a labor of love for me though...its become a chore, and you all know what that means. part of it is that i don't have an RO/DI unit. **gasp** what's that? no RO/DI? yup, it's true, i've been lugging my 5g jug all the way down to the grocery store ( actually i go to the drug store across the street, less traffic, and either way it takes my all of about 2 mins to get through my neighborhood and to the stores on the corner...i probably spen more time filling up the jug then i do driving) for the last 2 years. i know, with all the $1.25's of water i've gotten from there i could have bought a nice RO unit...and i know, that's not the best place for source water, but it's had to do. hopefully, sometime in the near future i'll be getting one, that will give me better water, and it will be much easier to handle some of the maintenance. some of the issues that i'm having could probably be explained right here. i know that, but i still try not to go more then 10 days between water changes (only in a very rare once in a while it'll be 10 business days). i've worked on ways of making the maintenance as easy as possible by streamlining the water mixing & water changes, and i know there are ways that i could do even more...but then again i run into the problem of how my tank is setup. if i had a below tank, traditional sump adding a ATO/ Kalk doser would be much easier.
so where does all this complaining, ranting, and venting leave me? which BTW, if you read through all this, i'm very impressed...
well, i need to figure out what to do. there are plenty of options...but i don't know.
do i improve my current setup? upgrade to a new tank?
i've kicked around upgrading, i've got a 29g sitting in my workshop...but the reality is i can't really justify dropping 2 or 3 grand on an upgrade, at least not right now.
if i change around my current setup i can either, pull & cook the rock, add sand back to the tank. this would be the cheapest & easiest way to go, but then i'm still left with the setup issues that make maintenance more difficult then it could be, and working to automate some of the maintenance would be difficult as well. i could change around my setup to improve it as a BB...pull & cook the LR, add an overflow & more traditional sump, tweak the flow a bit, but then i'm looking at a 10g tank that carries a price tag that is bordering on outrageous.
i could go back to nice and simple...get rid of the SPS, and go back to tons of different zoos, and LPS. the problem with that is i'm completely hooked on keeping SPS.
another issue that i'm having is my LR. it is way too pockpile-ish. i want a crazy structure built with a PVC frame or acrylic rods...but that's not a big deal, i can do that with some BR and just cure it with some LR for a few months.
basically, i don't know what the point of this thread is other then to complain...i just don't know what to do. not that i expect anybody to be able to tell me what to do...i can't imagine spending another $500 on this tank, but even a modest upgrade would drive the cost up considerablely. i guess the point of this thread is to throw this out there, and maybe with some input from the nano forum posters i can come up with a solution.
first a little background. my tank has been setup for a little over 2 years. originally i set up this tank as a temporary setup...something to hold me over until my wife and i were in our house (i didn't want to move a big tank), the reality of life has kept me from upgrading...things like paying my own way through school, buying a house, stuff like that has really put a limit on my budget (a budget that i exceeded long ago). this is important, because i've changed what my goals for this tank are several times...its gone from a simple & inexpensive nano, to a complex & expensive tank.
the tank has a 2.5g "sump" that is a converted DIY refuge. a small pump pumps water up into the sump, which then drains water back to the display via gravity. i'm running about 45x turnover, and an HQI light. the tank has about 15lbs of LR that is a combination of premium fiji & seeded BR. tank is now BB after running it with a SSB for about the first 14 mos. tank has a royal gramma, BL hermits, astras, stromellas (spell?), zoos, LPS & SPS. the focus of the tank has gone from zoos, shrooms, and that kind of stuff to LPS to SPS.
now on to my issues...
Algae
i've fought back various types of both green & red, bubble & hair algae. there are still small patches of bubble algae, but that is to be expected in any tank, and at this point any BA that's left is dying back more then its spreading. however, i've run into a new algae. most of my BR is coated with a very fine green algae, it appears to be white fuzzy algae from the right angle...if you look at the edges against the dark backround, but as far as i can tell what i thought was two different algaes are one in the same, and it is just the different view that makes it look different. i haven't researched a whole lot about this algae, mostly because i'm pretty sure i know what i'll find...the algae is cause by elevated nutrient levels, bump up water changes, blah, blah, blah...i'll get back to that.
Frogspawn
my frogspawn has been in the tank for a little over a year. when i bought it it was 3 heads, which have all since split, and one of the heads has split again, with another about to split for a third time. about a week ago one of the heads completely closed up, and now is lost, no "flesh" anywhere to be found. at first i wasn't concerned, b/c i've had head closed up for a day or two for one reason or another, only to be back & fully extended after a day or two. now, this could again be a water quality issue, but it may also be too much flow. i've more then doubled my flow since switching to BB, and it may be too much for my FS. or another alternative, i added a few peppermints a while back to take care of some aiptasia...which they made short work of. now i've kept one peppermint to stand guard, and his fellow aiptasia warriors have moved on to my father-in-law's 125g ready to be re-deployed at the first sign of aiptasia in my tank. however, yesterday i noticed a different head of my FS displaying the same characteristics as the one head that i lost, and my peppermint was hanging around it. i couldn't tell if the peppermint was picking at the FS, or just kind of picking through it to see if there were any bits of food to eat. i feed my tank very lightly, but i'm going to bump up the feeding slightly to see if i can keep the peppermint off the FS...and of course i'm keeping a close eye on the shrimp & the FS.
GSP
i think i am offically the only person on the planet that doesn't have wild, out of control GSP growth. it grows a bit, then dies back, then grows a bit, then dies back some, and so on and so on...anyway, it generally ****es me off. i don't mind GSP, i think its acually a pretty cool coral, but at this point its kind of like-"hey GSP, poop or get off the pot". and yes, i've seen that picture of that tank where the GSP has overrun the tank...i actually think its kind of cool, and if/ when i upgrade i might keep my 10g up and running and let different variations of star polyps run wild.:D
SPS
all in all, the SPS in my system are doing very well. i've got one acro that i'm keeping an eye on. it came loose from its plug during shipping which resulted in some damage, but overall its growing nicely although the color isn't great, and PE is limited. we'll see how it does, only time will tell.
Setup
there are some issues with my setup that absolutely drive me nuts. some of it is because of changes that i've made...like the DIY sump. back when i had a SSB and was using it as a DIY fuge it worked great, but now that i'm BB it sucks. the problem is it is severely hampering my poop loop. although i don't have ideal flow, i've still got pretty good flow, but it doesn't really matter that i keep the detritus suspended...rather then flowing down a drain to be skimmed out, in my tank the suspended detritus acts as little more then a constent supply of the perfect material to clog pumps, and merely clogs up the pump that pumps water up to the "sump". certainly this is a major PITA, but beyond that it kind of goes against everything i, or anyone else would be trying to achieve with a BB system.
when i made the switch to BB i had a limited understanding of the methodology. now that i have a much better understanding of it, i still think it is a great way to set up certain tanks...i don't think it is the magic bullet that some reefers would try and lead you to believe it is, but with the right application it can be a very nice way to go. one of the best quotes i've seen in a while was something pugroyale said in regard to BB setups-" I found a lot of cheerleaders for BB and very few coaches".
the sump itself is fine, but with it sitting above and behind the tank it makes maintenance no easier then if the tank were sumpless...and in fact, it makes maintenance of the DIY skimmer difficult b/c its a very tight space back there.
my stand/ canopy would be another thing that bugs me. i built the stand in a bit of a rush, i had a bunch of frags coming in, and i wanted to get my tank on the new stand before the frags got to me. i mean, the stand/ canopy are fine...if anyone from RC, or anybody else came over they wouldn't notice anything wrong with the stand/ canopy, but for me there are some mistakes that when i look at it...that's all i see. those of you that have built your own stand know what i'm talking about, it may be a small mistake that nobody notices, but its the first thing you as the builder notices. Jesus may have been a carpenter, but i sure the hell am not.:D
Maintenance
look...i know there's no way around it, even with a huge tank that has tens of thousand of dollars in equipment to make maintenance easier (because then you have to maintain the equipment that is doing the automated maintenance :D ). maintenance is no longer a labor of love for me though...its become a chore, and you all know what that means. part of it is that i don't have an RO/DI unit. **gasp** what's that? no RO/DI? yup, it's true, i've been lugging my 5g jug all the way down to the grocery store ( actually i go to the drug store across the street, less traffic, and either way it takes my all of about 2 mins to get through my neighborhood and to the stores on the corner...i probably spen more time filling up the jug then i do driving) for the last 2 years. i know, with all the $1.25's of water i've gotten from there i could have bought a nice RO unit...and i know, that's not the best place for source water, but it's had to do. hopefully, sometime in the near future i'll be getting one, that will give me better water, and it will be much easier to handle some of the maintenance. some of the issues that i'm having could probably be explained right here. i know that, but i still try not to go more then 10 days between water changes (only in a very rare once in a while it'll be 10 business days). i've worked on ways of making the maintenance as easy as possible by streamlining the water mixing & water changes, and i know there are ways that i could do even more...but then again i run into the problem of how my tank is setup. if i had a below tank, traditional sump adding a ATO/ Kalk doser would be much easier.
so where does all this complaining, ranting, and venting leave me? which BTW, if you read through all this, i'm very impressed...
well, i need to figure out what to do. there are plenty of options...but i don't know.
do i improve my current setup? upgrade to a new tank?
i've kicked around upgrading, i've got a 29g sitting in my workshop...but the reality is i can't really justify dropping 2 or 3 grand on an upgrade, at least not right now.
if i change around my current setup i can either, pull & cook the rock, add sand back to the tank. this would be the cheapest & easiest way to go, but then i'm still left with the setup issues that make maintenance more difficult then it could be, and working to automate some of the maintenance would be difficult as well. i could change around my setup to improve it as a BB...pull & cook the LR, add an overflow & more traditional sump, tweak the flow a bit, but then i'm looking at a 10g tank that carries a price tag that is bordering on outrageous.
i could go back to nice and simple...get rid of the SPS, and go back to tons of different zoos, and LPS. the problem with that is i'm completely hooked on keeping SPS.
another issue that i'm having is my LR. it is way too pockpile-ish. i want a crazy structure built with a PVC frame or acrylic rods...but that's not a big deal, i can do that with some BR and just cure it with some LR for a few months.
basically, i don't know what the point of this thread is other then to complain...i just don't know what to do. not that i expect anybody to be able to tell me what to do...i can't imagine spending another $500 on this tank, but even a modest upgrade would drive the cost up considerablely. i guess the point of this thread is to throw this out there, and maybe with some input from the nano forum posters i can come up with a solution.