OldReefer

Now you have me really thinking. I just got 33 with a freshly mixed batch of DD Ocean. I got 15 with 0 TDS RO/DI I think I may have to toss this thing. I have spent about $50 on GFO chasing the numbers this thing has generated. I should known better than to chase test numbers. The tank has been looking fine.

I have the same challenge with the bio pellet nozzle. I need to clean it every-other week.

+1 on that...

I have been running a massive amount of pellets for about 3 years in a ridiculously big reactor I bought from Justin. Like Justin, I have a big population of breeding Mysis in the reactor. I try to keep about 1/2 gallon of pellets running with about 500 gph flow. When I have it working well, I have undectable nitrate and phosphate. If I let the reactor clog up or get low, I see the numbers creep up right away. My experience is that you can't have too much of a good thing when it comes to pellets.

I am playing with my ULR. I am only using a single vial, and I am getting results around 20 ppb. I was testing close to zero with the original LR Phosphate tester. This thing is pretty sensitive!

I am pretty sure they use the stock needle wheel impellers with thier own custom Venturi. I expect they are enroute to MACNA.

Don't hurry to throw things out. Give it a week or two, I have had some Montis cone back from a bad place. Basically if it start growing algae, it is time to toss it or frag it back to live tissue.

Big water changes are a good way to move parameters back in line. I always worry about metals and toxins. For that I will run Polyfilters and carbon after things go wrong.

+1 on filter sock and siphoning. This is a great product. You can easily dose twice the recommended level with no ill effects. Use lots of carbon and plan to re-treat in a few days. I have also ignored infestations of flatworms and they eventually just faded away. This is one of the easier plagues in the hobby.

If you have a controller with two extra plugs, it would make sense to just plug in two BRS dosers and have at it. Like Steve says, there are some excellent stand alone dosing systems out there, but if you have a controller you already have paid for half of the package. By using simple dosers plugged into your controller, you can do thing like turn off the Alk if pH gets too high, or only dose if the lights are out. Lots of flexibility for not so much money.

Looking at the picture, it is clear that his problem can be fixed with beer. Nice bar-tank,,,Thatis a great way to enter the hobby. I am sure there are plenty if experienced reefers in his forum ready to make house calls. Seroiously, A filter sock should knock down particulates. Some serious skimming should knock down a bacterial bloom. Those are about the only two ways to make a tank cloudy.

If you already have a controller, the BRS dosers are simpe and cheap.

Check the dates on the thread Josh. It is a pretty old one. I got my tank from Glass Cages 4 years ago with no problem. It is a little hit and miss, but not as bad as it used to be.

I really expected the TechM treatment to work as well. I hope nobody gets resistant strain I picked up. I just learned a really hard lesson that with every plague there is a precious fleeting moment when you can just toss a rock and get rid of it. If only I could turn back time.

Rob is right.... High mag is known to kill bryopsis, but the stuff I have survived a run up to 1900 using Tech M. I killed massive amounts of coral and most of my inverts in the process. As soon as I dropped the levels back down it came back violently. I did a complete tank breakdown with new rock and then it came back again from the bases of the corals I managed to save. Keep in mind the entire time I had near-zero phosphates and nitrates. Here is what does not work... Lettuce Nudibranchs Concentrated hydrogen peroxide High-pressure steam I have probably spent more than $3,000 battling this stuff for over 2 years (GFO, Tech M, new rock, new coral, etc). Right now you have a problem with a $10 rock. You may want to consider losing the rock. Every weekend I pull out some rocks and hit them with high-concentration hydrogen peroxide ( which does knock it back for a couple weeks). I also have to pull out my MP40s and soak them in bleach at least once a month along with high-concentration muriatic acid. Then I scrape the spots on the overflows and the silicone where the holdfasts have become imbedded. It grows back on those spots every two weeks. Occasionally I drain the tank down partially and hit the exposed areas with high-pressure steam. That knocks it back for about a month in those areas but it does not kill the holdfasts. How much do you love that rock?

If it is rooting to the rocks it is bryopsis. Take that rock out now. Drive it to a place far away and set it on fire. Nothing eats it. It will grow with zero phosphates and nitrates detectable. It is almost impossible to control once it takes root in your tank. I am on the edge of loosing my tank to that for a second time from this stuff. Trust me, absolutely nothing eats it or kills it.

Definitely want to start bringing that Alk level up slowly. Keep in mind that the Hannah Alk tester tends to read a little high compared to other tests (like Salifert). So if you are reading 116 (6.5 dKh), you may be even a bit lower in reality. I try to keep my tank up around 170 (9.5 dKh). That gives me a bit of room for error either way if something goes wrong. Bring the level up slowly though, A big alk swing is a great way to make acros RTN. Water changes with Reef Crystals should bring the Alk up. Like Tom says, that stuff mixes up as high as 13 dKH. You might want to think about carbon dosing using vodka or pellets to knock that nitrate level down. There is only so much you can do to keep your tank and sump clean. With carbon dosing I am able to export a lot more nutrients.

I am soaking frozen mysis in the stuff. Seems like a great product. .

I love my 1000s but watch the impellers. I just had one swell up and split open. There have been a few other reports of that on the boards. Have a look next time you clean yours. The 1000s and the 2500 impellers are definately not interchangeable.

You might want to consider creating a virtual outlet called sump-low and placing your switch1 commands and defer commands under that outlet. That would limit the complex interactions that could arise with OSC, Mintime, and defer commands layered on top of each other. I am not sure if I can figure out which of those commands would take precedence with all the possible combinations. It would be easier to troubleshoot and monitor if you put some of those commands under a virtual outlet and then used the state of that outlet to trigger your ATO. Keep in mind you can't monitor or control a switch online, but you can watch and control a virtual outlet. Likewise you might want to set up a virtual outlet called Leak that is triggered by Switchx4_1 and Switchx4_2. If you add that outlet to your email alarm outlet, you will get an email alarm that tells you the Leak outlet is ON. If you do that for all your switch-driven alarm states, you will always get an email that tells you what is wrong (Sump_Low, Sump_High, etc). Otherwise you will just get an email with no indication what switch triggered it. I hope that helps.

Roni, The breakout boxes are the cheapest accessory you can buy, and they will distract you from more expensive projects... Go for it!

You've got it figured out now Roni. Welcome to the back side of the learning curve. It gets fun from hear.

Strange to have a big mature tank like that go into decline. My reaction is always to through a Poly Filter in and see if it shows metal in. the system. If nothing else it will pull out a bunch of phosphates. Copper contamination is often the cause of unexplained invert death. Go over your whole system carefully with that possibility in mind.

I am thinking you have the wrong switch. It is an easy error if you do not have the breakout box. I assume AVAST would wire it to switch 1, but it would be worth checking, either by trial and error or by shooting Justin a note.

I have a school of Bartlett Anthias a bunch of other fish. I try to feed at least 4 or 5 times a day.