To anyone who has a problem with Bleaching and STN in their BB tank:

[Wiskey]

I did, it eventually made me go back to sand but that's not much of a long term fix is it?

I like BB tanks better, especially ones with little rock, however I had no success running one, despite everyones help, so I am doing an experiment in the Reef Buildoff.

The full description of the problem I had is in this thread, if you have the same problems I did, you might find it interesting:

Follow along and see if it works!
http://thereeftank.com/forums/showth...163#post904163

Whiskey

[Leonardo's Reef]

I'm curious about this setup! I will follow the thread closely.

btw, I think I have the answer for the problems in my tank, it's going better and better. But I wont go offtopic here

When do you expect the tank to be up and running? Good luck!

Leonardo

(can I better post this in the other thread???)

[Mike O'Brien]

It work's just fine, however, I'd have a place to grow some macro to suck up the extra nutrient's.

That's how my setup is basically, bb tank with lot's of flow and a dsb in the sump. Every coral in the tank is happy and growing. And it's been a while since I could say that.

[Casey]

Im gonna have to watch this one closely.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Leonardo's Reef

I'm curious about this setup! I will follow the thread closely.

btw, I think I have the answer for the problems in my tank, it's going better and better. But I wont go offtopic here

You can go off topic here if you like, I want to hear what yoru up to

When do you expect the tank to be up and running? Good luck!

Leonardo

I expeted to start today, but I got lazy I need to get out to HD to get sand and look for DSB rubbermaid continers. I probably still will get started, but I am working 14 hour days and I need to put 6 computers together for friends so it may be slow going at the begining.

(can I better post this in the other thread???)

Sure! I would like people to post in my contest thread, but I would like to keep that one on topic.

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Mike O'Brien

It work's just fine, however, I'd have a place to grow some macro to suck up the extra nutrient's.

That's how my setup is basically, bb tank with lot's of flow and a dsb in the sump. Every coral in the tank is happy and growing. And it's been a while since I could say that.

I forgot to mention that The top DSB will have spill over light from the MH pendint, I intend to put macro and a mangrove tree in it for that purpose.

Good to know it's working for you Mike! Can you give us some more details on this sump? Do you have a pic?

Whiskey

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Casey

Im gonna have to watch this one closely.

Glad to have you onboard Casey!!!

Whiskey

[gman0526]

I know this is just an experiment, but... what makes you think adding the sand will make things better? I'm just trying to see your logic behind this

If this tank does any better you'll come up with the conclusion that the tank was underfed and/or overskimmed. Regardless good luck and you know I'll definetely keep track of your progress.

Now.... WE NEED A NEW MODERATOR

JK.

Jorge

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by gman0526

I know this is just an experiment, but... what makes you think adding the sand will make things better? I'm just trying to see your logic behind this

If this tank does any better you'll come up with the conclusion that the tank was underfed and/or overskimmed. Regardless good luck and you know I'll definetely keep track of your progress.

I have sucess with my DSB tanks and my method of keeping a reef, when I went BB I did not have sucess with keeping a reef. I tried to modify my method of keeping a reef when I went BB and still did not have sucess. It was an amazing learning experiance, and I am now able to keep a much nicer DSB tank, but not a BB tank.

Since I don't have sucess without sand, I think something the sand does works for me.

Now.... WE NEED A NEW MODERATOR

Accually I agreed, and posed that very question, but I was told by people who had been mods far longer that I was being silly.

JK.

Jorge

Glad to have you on board!
Whiskey

[gman0526]

Accually I agreed, and posed that very question, but I was told by people who had been mods far longer that I was being silly

And right they were, that's just plain silly One thing though set it and don't start "Whiskeyzising" with it ( New word to appear on next edition of the Webter's Dict. ), I know you can just let it be.

[Wiskey]

That's the thing though, I don't Whiskyisize my current tank at all, in fact I fretted over the thought of replacing a failing return pump with one that pumped just slightly more (old 500 GPH, new 600GPH) because I worried I would ruin what was working.

With the BB tank I was flailing, trying to get it to do well, now that one is, I don't touch it, (except for adjusting the dosing pump to keep my levels stedy).

Whhiskey

[elephen]

Whiskey- Been a long time since I posted on TRT but I was in the same boat (kinda) as you. My BB 120 had been up and running for 8 months or so, was doing good, I could keep anything alive but could never get the colors I wanted.

Over the summer my leisuely activities got the best of me and I sort-of neglected my tank for 3-4 months. I still did monthly water changes but the tank went downhill really fast. Green HA on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE. I have been battling it for over 2 months now. I do weekly 35g water changes. Skim very hard and wet. I don't put any nutrients into the tank except a small sliver of frozen brine every other 3 days for my few fish. All my SPS are dead and I can't keep snails alive at all.

I have tried everything but the HA just keeps coming back and at this point I don't know what to do. So my project today is to setup my 60g cube (2x2x2) with rock from the 120, water and fish then drain my 120. Bleach everything out real well and let the system run for a few hours with bleach water to kill anything and everything in it. Then I'll start over BB from scratch again - yipee. All along the while that my little 60 cube is keeping my fish alive.

[Mike O'Brien]

I've got your basic sump. Skimmer on the left, it's sitting on a stand. Under that there is rubble and liverock and the sand start's there and goes up to about 6 " at the other end. There it goes through a baffle and into the return pump area. I've got 2 fish down there as well. Sump is 55 gallon's.

[Jimbo]

I'm on round 3 with frags, just picked up some new ones on saturday. I've been feeding blender mush twice a day until I started to see some algae grow and cut back to once a day.

I've also cut the light from 400watts to 250watts 14kk mh and on just 4 hours a day.

Just need to wait and see if the new frags bleach out or not.

[Leonardo's Reef]

Wiskey, I "solved" the problem of starving my SPS by dosing large amounts of amino acids, and coral food from Salifert, every night.

Of course I have a too small bioload, but I think this supplements replace it. The corals have better PE, grow faster and have deeper colours. I think I finally got the situation under control.
Didn't change my Lights, skimmer etc. Also I didn't add a RDSB (yet).

There is a topic on the "other" forum about an Italian method, I think I'm gonna give that a try.
Basically it's a combination of high levels (Ca 500, Mg 1500, KH 10) combined with HEAVY feeding of a sort of "blender mush" + amino acids. I think it will work, especially in a BB tank.

Leonardo