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  2. The PVC is also glued in, so it won't need any holding in place while tightening the nut. Which may actually be a useful question - is there any pressure on the PVC lines? There's a possibility that if the PVC was pushed into place in a way where it's not quite sitting normally it could put some uneven pressure on the seal and cause it from there. The solution would be to move one end (probably the sump, but maybe adjusting a union's angle) to relieve the pressure - at least if that was the cause. Something to check, at least.
  3. Today
  4. There’s nothing thing to tighten on the inside. The nut you see on the outside is what you tighten. Hold on to the threads that stick out u see the tank as you tighten to keep it from rotating, though it likely won’t be an issue as you tighten it. see image below - haven’t always seen a friction washer as in the image, but the rest should give you an idea of how it works. The “body” is what sits inside and sticks out through the hole in the tank.
  5. Thanks for info. I will keep updated as I go. As of right now I don't have any nems. I want to get but I'm dealing with a algae issue. I had a nem that had split into 3 pieces. My buddy gave it to me. It was cool for a bit then it didn't like something. Kept moving and shrinking up. Eventually lost all 3. Was a bummer. So i want to try without nems to see if I can accomplish it. We will see.
  6. Thanks for responses. Seems one side is different than the other and that is likely my source of issues. Went to tighten the inside nut and don't think there is a piece to tighten? Maybe again I'm stupid with plumbing but the other side sure seems more "correct".
  7. Yesterday
  8. I bought a bottle of microbacter 7 last fall when I was setting up a 65 seahorse, but ended up going with Dr. Tim's product. Dr. Tim's makes several types of bacteria products for use beyond an initial tank setup one. You may benefit from Dr. Tim's. I just picked up some waste away and the eco-balance probiotic for my main system since it has been running since 2005. Not that I'm having any problems, but I run ozone, skim heavy & use UV; never tried to replace beneficial bacteria. I have had experiences of losing a few sps corals to a little slow stn. Hence hoping beneficial bacteria will help. As for dosing phyto - I also would hold off a bit longer until you see few weeks of no signs of cyano returning before adding more nutrients - and reestablish beneficial bacteria base.
  9. Also, in case you’re having a tough time getting a grip on the nut, a pair of oil filter pliers works well - just found them in Home Depot this weekend. You do still need to be careful not to over tighten, but can make it easier to grip. if you end up having to redo the bulkhead, I highly recommend a layer of molykote on the gasket. I put it on every o-ring or gasket now, as it helps it get a good seal.
  10. Really glad to hear things are moving in the right direction! I would recommend holding off on the phyto dosing until you get things steadied for a week or two. There are so many factors at play in our reefs that rapidly changing and adding new things can complicate the outcome. Definitely dose the nitrate to keep it from bottoming out, and since you can directly measure it’s impact. At least that’s my take. Others might have some insights based on more experience. @ReefdUp
  11. A good update finally!!! Chemiclean seems to have taken care of almost all the cyano! My fish and inverts have thankfully been totally fine (my firefish seem pretty terrified of all the air bubbles, but they have made a few short appearances), and excitingly, every coral that remains alive has shown marked improvement, better than they have in weeks! Zoas are open, lobo has puffed back up some, leathers and pulsing sinularia are showing polyp extension, etc. The only one still struggling is my toadstool leather, which I now realize must have something other than cyano going on, and is still melting away as the red-brown patchy growths on its surface spread. Can softies get brown jelly or something like it? I'm going to try to see if I can cut a clean frag tomorrow, maybe dip the remainder in iodine. Given the remarkable improvement in coral health, I want to make sure the cyano is knocked back pretty hard for now. I left the first dose for 72 hours instead of 48 (since I still saw small amounts of cyano in the sand, overflow box, etc. at 48 hrs). Since I still see a few remaining traces of cyano tonight at the 72-hour mark (and thinking along the same line as how for human/animal health we use a longer course of antibiotics than needed to simply alleviate symptoms, to avoid development of resistant strains) I decided to run one more round of chemiclean, and added the dose tonight (second round as needed is recommended by Marc Levinson and some others). I'll let that go for 48, maybe 72 hours again, then do a big water change and add carbon to remove any remnants of the chemiclean. Nutrients are doing reasonably well, especially since I'd figured the chemiclean killing off the cyano would result in a nutrient spike, but it seems that it didn't release too much. Phosphates are up a bit but nitrates have reached the point where I absolutely need to start dosing now to avoid hitting 0 (also why I'm going with a second round of chemiclean, since nitrate dosing really stimulated cyano growth last time). Nitrate: 0.1 Phosphate: 0.22 Alk: 9.6 Calc: 411 Mag: 1120 Anyway, I'm so relieved that something finally seems to be going right! Now I just need to make sure I keep pushing things in the right direction and don't let the cyano rebound. I'm going to slightly increase the dose of Microbacter7 after the second round of chemiclean is done, and perhaps resume dosing of live phyto. Anything else I should consider? Should I start daily water changes again after chemiclean round 2 is done? Thanks for all the support, everyone - it's really been helpful to get feedback throughout this struggle!
  12. Last week
  13. Hopefully the lfs put a union inline on drain line under tank where leaking. You can also buy a python hose you connect to faucet or use a hose to drain overflow to work on it. Unless you go nuts you shouldn’t harm glass as thick as you describe by trying to tighten nut.
  14. If you can gently try to tighten the black nut sitting on glass, may be all that is needed, shouldn’t need to hold bulkhead on inside overflow unless it’s really loose and wobbly. You may be able to take a picture of bulkhead inside overflow to see if you can spot o ring between bulkhead and glass on inside overflow
  15. Thanks guys! Next dumb question, I assume to tighten it there is a piece in the overflow I need to lock in place with a set of pliers while tightening it from the bottom. I assume to remove it would just be reversed. I can't tell if anything is glued in place already or anything. I'm forcing myself to learn some more on the plumbing side instead of just putting a big ass funnel underneath of the drips to direct it into the sump lol (that will be plan D), I think it may be to severe to self seal. As soon as I poured a couple gallons into the overflow it started to leak. The glass is thick there its 1" so I will probably try to tighten it more but not break anything, if that doesn't work probably best it seems to just buy another bulkhead/gasket and replace it vs sili
  16. Especially if the glass is reasonably thick (> 1/4") tightening it a little with pliers is probably fine to do (try not to twist the glass off the rotation axis). Silicone can be used for a seal (it's not ideal, but it does generally work), you could probably cut the PVC and just replace the bulkhead and the bit going into it, and if it's on the order of a drop every now and then instead of a more continuous seeming leak, it may just seal itself with debris or salt creep. The glass should be very even, if there is any version of this that would be hardest to fix, it would be if something went wrong drilling the tank and there was breakout under the flange of the bulkhead that managed to get out from under the seal - unlikely, but even then possible to fix by drilling for a larger bulkhead and replacing it (with a reducer as needed.)
  17. It can be for few reasons 1. It’s not tight enough. 2. Gasket did not sit correctly 3. Faulty bulkhead
  18. New tank had the plumbing done by a LFS that did the tank install. As soon as water enters the overflow immediately the leaking begins from underneath the glass where the what I think is a bulkhead connects to another piece and the glass. I'd truthfully do not much if the drops didn't land on the sump edge and splash everywhere. It seems snug with slip joint pliers, maybe to snug is why it leaks? Can I just silicone inside the overflow chamber around the pipe and on the underneath where it leaks? I know nothing of plumbing and I'd hate to replace the pieces and just have it still leak if the glass isnt flush etc. Any ideas, sub-par picture shows the water drops around the flat gasket looking piece above the threading, it's the pipe connection nearest the camera.
  19. This is wonderful! Thank you for your service and a glimpse into your life & the 53 yo aquarium!
  20. Did you know we are now carrying freshwater as well as marine? Check out both stocklists! We try and update our stocklists weekly or when there are significant changes, update date is listed on the list. These are not live but as close as we can get with the volume of fish that we move. You can save this link and check it whenever you like, we try and have all updates done by Fridays. Saltwater fish Stocklist Freshwater Stocklist If you have never been to our store check out a quick video! Blue Ribbon store walkthrough Stay up to date on our specials and inventory by joining all of our social media! Blue Ribbon Social Media links Also hundreds and hundreds of corals, colonies and frags
  21. For ICP, I tried to upgrade a free sample I had (free version is just 5 elements, mostly what I've already been measuring). The packaging indicates I can pay a bit and upgrade it to a full test but I can't seem to do it on the company's app or on their website. I sent a message to their customer service days ago with no response. Just ordered a kit from a different vendor. I saved a sample from before I added the chemiclean, so will probably use that.
  22. Those parameters look a lot better. Good job! I hope the chemiclean works for you. I think I used it once, years ago. Went ok for me. Have you sent in an ICP test?
  23. Hey, everybody. I have switched over to Instant Ocean salt for the daily water changes now, and the tank move during window installation went surprisingly well. I decided to not stress about doing a major water change with everything else going on, so I just drained the tank down and filled it right back up again with the same water once moved. It's now back in its original spot, just with a new window right behind it. Unfortunately, over a week of H2O2 dosing hasn't seemed to have much of, if any, effect and coral health still keeps going downhill. Water quality parameters have improved somewhat, though nitrate is almost gone and I'll need to do something about that in the next few days. Current parameters: Nitrate 0.6 Phosphate 0.18 Alk 9.8 Calc 940 Mag 411 Given that the main part of my crash seemed to happen right around when I started trying to raise my nitrate levels in an unsuccessful attempt to counter the cyano, starting nitrate dosing again with everything but the cyano in even worse shape than before didn't seem like a good idea. I finally decided to use the cyano treatment option I'd been holding off on: following a major round of algae and cyano removal tonight, I dosed chemiclean. I don't seem to have nearly the tank diversity I had pre-algae/cyano, and I'm feeling perilously close to giving up on the whole tank. I have an extra air pump set up in the main tank with tons of small bubbles, and have an additional fine bubble air stone in the sump, along with my skimmer cup removed so the foam overflows back into the tank, and my tank drain line opened up so it gurgles and constantly pulls in air (annoying, but worth it for the extra aeration). I also added back in all the macroalgae I removed before starting H2O2 dosing, and removed the carbon in my sump to prevent premature removal of the chemiclean. I think I've done just about all I can do right now, though please let me know if there's anything I missed! Going to wait 48 hours, then do a 20% water change, add carbon, and put the skimmer cup back on. Here's hoping everything goes ok...
  24. Free sumps. Limit 1 per household
  25. Cyanobacteria. Siphon it out the best you can. Then use a powerhead to blow off the detritus on the rock. Bump up flow in that area slightly. See if it comes back before doing anything else. Patches like this are often caused by an area where detritus has settled and the flow is weak.
  26. What are your calcium and magnesium levels?
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