steelerfan's 30 Gallon Breeder Journal/Build

That's why are asked if there was still any diatoms. Just odd its worse with the light on.

Your friend is correct. You do have a very low bioload but you have also been feeding. I suppose if every scrap is being consumed you may have some bacteria die off but if the bacteria was dying at that rate you would have no doubt seen a spike due to the death of the bacteria

So how much rubble are you using? There is no reason should have to have a skimmer at this point but it can't hurt to add one.

oh sorry bud, nope, no diatoms to speak off. some GHA (very few strands) as well as some other wavy stringy stuff and a tad bit of green.

no spike witnessed by my testing, but to be honest i only do it once a week now as nothing has changed for me to do more.

going monday to pick up some rubble from him. he said he can give me a few pounds and some sand if i want it.
 
Hey Steelerfan, how are things? Hope the tank is getting better! My 20 gallon long is like a baby size of your tank. Give us an update on the tank!
 
hi benson,

will be setting qt up and ordering some liverock for main tank.

am going to qt it first to watch for pests then throw in main tank.

will then cycle qt tank with the dr tim stuff and look to add livestock as soon as that stuff does its job.
 
first fish is going to be a red spotted blenny. play it by ear after that. will try to keep zoas and some lps as well.

first must fix the issue b4 i subject anymore life to the tank.
 
You need a "recap" post of what you have done from start until now.. 25 pages is a long read.

Have you tried back to back near 100% water changes? I would try that on a 30G.. get a 50gal bag of salt and do 2 25G water changes 24 hours apart, each time putting a powerhead against the rocks to blow out as much as possible to get it into the water column right before the water change. If it is a bacteria bloom due to excess, then blowing out the rocks then siphoning out 25G and replacing should reduce the amount quite a bit, do it 2x in a row and I would think it could be down to manageable levels.

One way to tell if it is a bacteria bloom, does it leave a white sticky film residue on the glass? Not talking about the algae film which is more like a dust, bacteria is sticky when it blooms in a tank.
 
You need a "recap" post of what you have done from start until now.. 25 pages is a long read.

Have you tried back to back near 100% water changes? I would try that on a 30G.. get a 50gal bag of salt and do 2 25G water changes 24 hours apart, each time putting a powerhead against the rocks to blow out as much as possible to get it into the water column right before the water change. If it is a bacteria bloom due to excess, then blowing out the rocks then siphoning out 25G and replacing should reduce the amount quite a bit, do it 2x in a row and I would think it could be down to manageable levels.

One way to tell if it is a bacteria bloom, does it leave a white sticky film residue on the glass? Not talking about the algae film which is more like a dust, bacteria is sticky when it blooms in a tank.

hi ace,

thanks for your time.

brief recap is i started the tank with dry rock and sand ad cycled with 1.5 raw dead shrimp.

all went fine until around the 2 month mark in april where i got the below pic going on.

all that is in the tank is snails and a cleaner shrimp so there is a low low bioload.

i have drained tank and put rock into a brute and used a powerhead to give them a good cleaning and have done 2 10 gallon changes but never the 25 like you said.

within days it is back, but yet at night, a lot of the times the tank is crystal clear only to have the smog present again in the morning.

the last week or so though i still have the haze it has not been near as bad so i don't know if i am getting better or not.

the film on the glass is not sticky, but a dust.

thanks again for your time.



tank042.jpg

tank042.jpg
 
i really hate doing this as i know i am jinxing myself, but this morning tank is almost clear which it is never almost clear in the morning.

i am really hoping that the rowa phos/carbon/polyfilter is catching up to whatever the fiji was/is leaching.

i guess time will tell.

monday i am doing a 10 gallon water change as i am filling my qt tank with the old water and start the dr tim stuff in qt.
 
Did you find a source for LR?
 
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