FarmerTy

You and I don't know the same person he can be talked into almost anything............ Like being a moderator? [emoji23] I'm probably one more post from complete banishment... [emoji26]

Nice! I'm jelly! I wish I could have one!

Weird, I hope you find it Kim! Maybe check all the fans in your system... like in the Kessils or anything else that has a fan?

Oh no, he's going to ban me as his first action as a moderator for all the engineering smack talk I've given him over the years!It was good knowing all you guys! [emoji106] Congrats sir! Maybe I'll let you off the hook if you agree to QT some fish for my next system Oh no! Anything but QT! I'm so exhausted!

Oh no, he's going to ban me as his first action as a moderator for all the engineering smack talk I've given him over the years!It was good knowing all you guys! [emoji106] Congrats sir!

Out of sheer curiosity, I'm going to see if I can get a certain ex-reefing grad student to run a TOC sample on my tank for me.

Naaa, "Dynamic Equilibrium"! We're dealing with competing and opposing organisms in a complex ecosystem. I like it! We can call it the "DE". How's the DE in your tank?

Couldn't all of this be explained much simpler Tim? Corals fighting algae for the same nutrients. Bacterial wars, leading to potential harmful bacteria growth in coral mucus from the DOCs from algae, which could lead to a choking out and killing of the corals. It would be an additive effect, more algae growth, more DOCs from algae, more choking out of corals, algae wins. I get that your goal is to stem the tide, rip the algae out, fight for Team Coral. Yes, I can see no phosphate causing issues with the corals uptaking ammonia and nitrate but I run mine at 0.03 ppm of phosphates so there is enough to not cause issues. The goal is not to strip the water column of phosphates but with my heavy daily feedings, it would be near impossible for me to achieve that as there is a continual source of phosphate added daily.

How many people know their grams per liter of fish Tim? Best I have is a video. [emoji4] You tell me sir. How about instead of balance or equilibrium, we go with the term homeostasis? Homeostatic equilibrium? [emoji12]

A kids plastic shovel or a sturdy dustpan should make short work of the sand. For the vinegar... Well... You'll just have to endure. [emoji4]

Just to clarify my meaning, what TY and NUX said is spot on. You have to stay on top of GFO. Don't add to quick, make sure it doesn't expire, strip the water to fast ect. I don't use it because I'm a lazy reefer and that requires more maintenance then I want to do. A natural approach(refugium and crypic zones) is MUCH slower yet more hands off. My system is not a natural by any means my is completely geared toward low maintenance. I'll put my Tim hat on here and say, its entirely balanced on bioload. Keep a lower bioload, feed minimally, and your small refugium and cryptic zones in your sump should manage the nutrients with little issue. The problem is most tanks you see in an average reefer's home is actually considered medium to high bioload. With that, you will need a much more substantial refugium than most setups can contain and still be aestically pleasing. In actuality, you'd almost want the reverse of standard systems, with your display being about the size of most sumps and your sump being the size of most displays. With that, a natural, low maintenance system can be achieved. You can also go the route of an ATS but that's more maintenance than even I want to do. Keep a low bioload and don't keep SPS and you can run a low maintenance system until the cows come home. [emoji4] If you're lazy like me but still want the nice stuff, employ technology, which you're doing already. Biopellets for nitrates, large skimmer, calcium reactor for foundation elements, aminos on occasion for trace elements, and replace your GFO and carbon monthly. The only hands on thing I do is the GFO and carbon monthly. I wager that's a lot less work then pulling algae on a weekly basis. I'd rather just dump some media in a reactor and walk away for another month.

For either Cliff or Bobcat, I have the James Fatheree clam book he wrote if you want to borrow it. It's got some good info in it.

As no surprise, Tim and I's approach are very different. If introduced slowly, the GFO should not stress your SPS. You can slowly ramp up as your phosphate level slowly decreases.Tim's method is based on reaching equilibrium with the system and continual removal of the algae until something else outcompetes it or it exhausts itself within the system. Please correct me if I'm wrong Tim but that's the jist I pulled from it. While a more natural approach, results tend to take a long time and is very labor intensive. I think it took about 6 months of pulling algae for Mframe's tank to clear, right Tim? The removal of nutrients via reactors and the additions of more CUC usually works for me in about 2-3 weeks. While I don't ramp down my reactors, I could see using the reactors as a quick approach and then ramping down to reach a harmonic balance in the system would be the ideal middle ground between the two methods. That way you get to enjoy an algae free tank immediately while you allow it to reach a balance and allows you to not have to take a night shift as an algae puller/scraper for 6 months. [emoji4]

You have to slowly introduce GFO to any system you haven't used it on. The quick removal of phosphate from a system can cause just as much issues as a quick increase in phosphate. Also, I highly recommend not using the high capacity GFO to start. It'll strip your water too fast.

I think Gig'em has you covered on that. Agreed.

A tank like that needs a robosnail to wipe the glass!

It's just 3 TVs side by side showing an episode of the BBC special, Blue Planet Jimbo. So gullible... [emoji12]

That depends on what you are trying to prevent getting in your system. For instance, in mine, ich is something I don't want to introduce so I'd QT for 45 days (really it should be 76 but I'm comfortable with my shortened QT). If you just don't want flatworms, critters, potential pests, you can do a freshwater dip on them with RO/DI water. I'd look up a bit on how to do it but clams handle freshwater dips just fine. James Fatheree's book on clams demonstrates how to do this when I read it last.

Yikes! I've never encountered brooklynella before. The slime kept throwing me off in the pictures so that's a symptom of brooklynella, that absolutely makes sense. For what it's worth, CP treats both Marine velvet and brooklynella just in case the diagnosis is wrong. It will also treat ich as well.

Still hard to tell. Are the fish breathing very quickly? Gasping at the surface? Tangs swimming in front of powerheads? Any sensitivity to light?

I did get it from AAF but that was years ago and that name doesn't ring any bells for me. Thanks for chiming in!

Still very much beta but I like what I'm seeing. The Vertex crew has been all over any suggestions we've made so far and updates to the firmware take just a couple minutes with very little effort. I could see it running a simple tank in its current status but anything with more complicated equipment will need a couple more firmware updates to be able to handle those. It's great that everything is App based so these improvements have been implemented very quickly.

Can't tell based on the dead fish but that picture of the hippo and clownfish makes me think marine velvet, which is more common than you think these days. The distribution centers I heard were dealing with their own crisis of handling marine velvet in their systems. This is a very real issue for keeping fish these days, hence why the QT is important not just for ich purposes.Post a couple more shots of the fish when you get home sir and maybe we can confirm it.

Here's my take and please keep in mind, my experience with both the medias you use is non-existent, as well as the filtration unit itself. First, your katalyst denitrator media sounds like biopellets to me from the description from the manufacturer. To be truly effective, this needs to be combined with an adequate skimmer to remove the bacteria after they use the carbon source from the media and uptake nitrates and phosphates. Once the bacteria are exported from the system, then you've essentially removed that net amount of nitrogen from your system. For the g-nodes, the manufacturer says it helps with ammonia and nitrates. While a nice statement, it's mainly going to really do one or the other depending on the amount of flow over the media. Main reason is the amount of oxygen supplied to the nodes. In a filter setup like yours, there will be ample oxygen supplied to the nodes so you're basically bolstering ammonia and nitrite processing via nitrification. If they were put in a much slower flow, it can potentially reach suboxic conditions and allow for processing of nitrates via denitrification. I'm talking almost no flow so the filter setup is not ideal at all, even on its slowest setting. In summary, you're probably getting no help from either media with your nitrate issues. To remedy that, I'd make sure I had a good skimmer and route the effluent from your katalyst media to the skimmer input. Or, I'd relocate the nodes to a stagnant area in your sump with little water flow. As to why detritus is building up on your nodes, they are acting like a physical media catch, basically like a large filter sock, so that anything in the water column will be trapped in them. Then bacteria will probably grow and you get that stuff you see all over your nodes. Believe it or not but your nodes may actually be adding to your nitrate level issue. When you increase your tanks ability to process ammonia and nitrite even faster, you end up adding to your nitrate level. Randy Farley Holmes had a really good explanation of this phenomenon which I can't recount at this time but I thought the statement shocking when I first read it myself.

Kudos on allowing the silicone time to properly cure before using!