My Absence

[CastleRock]

Well I have been AWOL from the site and club for a bit now and well this is the reason.....
My tank started looking bad, OK not a big deal I can fix that!, right?
So the more I did the worse it got...

All my water tests were right on target but slime algae and red slime and red hair algae were taking over

water change, water change, water change till my arms hurt
to no avail, so I looked at my RO water to see if that was the problem, Nope dead end again......

All my SPS began to bleach, all I could do was sit and watch all my SPS slowly die and a ton of money go down the drain...
Then my turbo snails began to die one by one.......
I was now convinced my tank was in the mists of a major crash

I thought hmmm maybe its my lights, so yup changed them to EVC 10K, what a mistake these things suck on my ballast they look GREEN :mad2:

So in my preparation of giving up and shutting down the tank and selling it all, it dawned on me, I have not looked at everything...

Well my skimmer I knew was a POS but never knew how much so.
I disassembled it and lo and behold this thing is making next to no bubbles and no skim mate, what a POS:mad2:
It was a home made one that came with the tank

SO I ordered a ASM G3 yesterday in hopes this will fix a good portion of my problems:confused:

Only time will tell but I have my fingers crossed and my SPS buying on indefinite hold

My zoos and PPE's do seem to be doing OK on the upside but color sucks
My Carpet is not happy but is OK so far:worried:

SO that's my story and will hopefully have good news when I get the new skimmer up and running.....:worried:

[Deuce67]

Just hang in there bud. The G3 will definitely help and glad to hear you wont give it up.

[The Haj]

I agree, start pulling out all those extra nutrients and you will hopefully be on track in no time:uzi: :uzi: = red slime and algae.

[murfman]

sorry to hear that Doug. Let me know when all is stable and I should have some frags for you.

[racer69]

Keep working at it man. I'm sure a few of us can spare some frags when you get everything in order. By the way that ASM is an awesome skimmer. I have one and just did the gate valve mod on it. The mad made it really easy to adjust. Make sure you keep us updated on your progress.

[CastleRock]

Thanks guys :)

[murfman]

Doug is it possible that some kind of toxin got into the tank? Glass cleaner, hairspray, varnish/stain, paint. Even the fumes in an enclosed house could have an affect on the tank.

[CastleRock]

I thought about that,
but I don't think so but not ruling that out.
I did find some wired sponge/foam block in the skimmer stuck to the bottom, hard as a rock and looked like some kind of black packaging foam it was pretty big, not sure why or how it got there but it was the guy I got the setup from I'm sure.
It was removed and i'm still doing water changes
That may have very well been it:confused:

but still not ruling out anything at this point
If I have to I will go get 150 gal worth of trash cans and heaters change 100% of the water but that's a last resort at this point as I don't have much left to save anyway.

But My carpet is the big thing as of now still looking OK not great but OK a little gaping but nothing drastic.
I do have one SPS that's hanging in there and looks good
so that's really wired...
No red bug, no sps flatworm thought of those but nope
It will be a few months after it gets back up will I start to restock I have 4 LE's on hold from reef farmers was supposed to get them this month

So when the skimmer gets here I hope that will do the trick and I can get this turned back to the upswing.

[CastleRock]

Well just 2 or 3 days after removing that stupid foam/sponge, my algae seems to be receding, the power heads that were engulfed in algae are now clear for the most part and the red slime seems to be following suite
My scraping of the front glass I have not had to do since I removed that thing and that was a daily task
I'm sure the skimmer is part of it but I think 99.99% I found my problem!

Now the new skimmer will be here Wednesday and I hope that will finish the job of cleaning up the tank and I can get the sandbed recharged and began planing a restock! :D
Just shows how ONE small thing overlooked can devastate a tank...

[Deuce67]

Thats good news Doug! Hey, I can hold on to those LE's for you till you tank is ready. There might be a chunk missing though when you pick them up.:D

[CastleRock]

Deuce LOL thanks man that will pick my spirits up a bit :)

[Crit21]

I can babysit some stuff for you. My tank is doing great. Let me know and we'll make arrangements.

[Crit21]

I can babysit some stuff for you. My tank is doing great. Let me know and we'll make arrangements.

[CastleRock]

Thanks for the offer guys :)
But Tryee is holding them till May for me

[Crit21]

Do you mean Trey?

[CastleRock]

yea how ever you spell his name :D Reeffarmers.com

[murfman]

steve tyree

[CastleRock]

Update.
The ASM G-3 arrived last night and was cleaned out ran for a bit in the tub and installed.
So its breaking in but the amount of fine bubbles is just insane!
Im impressed with it so far!
This morning there was about 3/4 inch of med/dark color skim gunk in the cup.
It does not like the Ozone hooked to it it seems but I have more playing with it to do.
I hope this is the end of this chapter in the tanks history....

[murfman]

Aqua C only recommend O3 for 3-4 days out of the month, since it impacts the bubbling of the skimmer. As long as I am getting crap out, either through the skimmer or the O3, I don't care which one takes credit for it.

[CastleRock]

Ozone is way down on the priority list right now:(
But I will get some small POS skimmer to run the Ozone through later.
I was running mine with the controller and set to 375 so it came on and off when needed
Im just jacked that I have BUBBLES! LOL
Im amused easily:D

[Deuce67]

Any updates on the tank?

[CastleRock]

Well the algae is still receding little by little.
My Carpet has a spot on the outside edge like a whitish color about the size of a quarter :( Im watching it close but not much I can do but wait
Im thinking it was too little to late:(
But only time will tell Im doing 30 gal W/C per week now so all I can do is being done

[murfman]

try increasing some flow in that area.