MBVette November 14, 2012 Author November 14, 2012 So Is there really anyway to tell what was in there? I am thinking it is velvet just b/c of how fast things went. All of these fish were eating and did not have fin rot; and then they were gone. The day before the last chromis died I did see spots on him, but he was still eating and swimming fine at that point, and then he died that night. I found one of the grammas and he was laying on his side breating very hard with his mouth wide open, but no other signs. I have tested the water almost every day w/ salifert kits, and one day there was a slight blip on the ammonia, but it settled back down to zero in a day. And nitrates have hovered around .5, but dropped to about .2 yesterday. And when you say everything, do you QT your cleanup crews?
MBVette November 20, 2012 Author November 20, 2012 So I just setup my avast super locker. My skimmer has been pulling so much crap lately that it is filling the cup every 2 days, so I went ahead and just setup the super locker. Now I can have 5 gallons of stinky skimmate!
SunWyrm November 20, 2012 November 20, 2012 Looking good! I'm trying to figure out how to QT clean up crews too, especially when it's cheaper to get a large amount of critters. Where am I supposed to put all of these?!
Ryan S November 20, 2012 November 20, 2012 awesome locker. should last for months without needing to be changed.
MBVette November 20, 2012 Author November 20, 2012 I'm guessing I can go 2 weeks maybe a little longer. But I plan in emptying it once a week and will never ha e to worry about an overflow.
Coral Hind November 20, 2012 November 20, 2012 I think anything over 1/2g of skimmate should be classified as hazardous waste. You could throw it on the bad kids and call it Nickelodeon Green Slime.
Ryan S November 20, 2012 November 20, 2012 I'm guessing I can go 2 weeks maybe a little longer. But I plan in emptying it once a week and will never ha e to worry about an overflow. That's it? How dark is the skimmate?
MBVette November 20, 2012 Author November 20, 2012 Pretty dark, but not super dark. I just emptied the cup to setup the locker, but I will take a picture of it as soon as I have some accumulate into the bucket.
Ryan S November 20, 2012 November 20, 2012 I thought you needed a large bioload for a large dark amount of skimmate. Like how Jan's tank used to be, with 30 fish including like 10 huge honking tangs, that might produce a lot of dark skimmate, but if you're running w/ just 2 small clowns, or no fish at all... I don't understand how you are producing so much dark skimmate?
MBVette November 20, 2012 Author November 20, 2012 I thought you needed a large bioload for a large dark amount of skimmate. Like how Jan's tank used to be, with 30 fish including like 10 huge honking tangs, that might produce a lot of dark skimmate, but if you're running w/ just 2 small clowns, or no fish at all... I don't understand how you are producing so much dark skimmate? Me either, but maybe what Im considering dark is not really all that dark. I'll get a picture. The two clowns are still in there, I was out of town the last 2 days and with the 4 day weekend coming up Im going to wait until monday to move them. I dont want to put them in that new tank w/ me not being here to see them for 4 days.
MBVette November 21, 2012 Author November 21, 2012 ok so the skimmate has almost made the 7' run to the locker. Here is a pic of the skimmate going through the hose, you can see the color of it.
MBVette November 26, 2012 Author November 26, 2012 Just got the cabinet installed and this it came out pretty good. They missed the blocking the waterline, but Im just going to deal with it as its not the end of the world to me. Now if I can just get the ammonia out of the QT I will move those darn clowns.
epleeds November 26, 2012 November 26, 2012 ok so the skimmate has almost made the 7' run to the locker. Here is a pic of the skimmate going through the hose, you can see the color of it. your running 7 feet of line to the locker....?
MBVette November 26, 2012 Author November 26, 2012 your running 7 feet of line to the locker....? It might be closer to 6' but yeah. The skimmer is in my first chamber and the locker is on the far right underneath the stand. It is flowing all the way to the locker now, but since it goes up a little at one point I might raise the skimmer up just a little bit to try and make it a full downhill run.
AlanM November 26, 2012 November 26, 2012 It's really close to the water line on the top. Wonder if a simple U shaped piece of stainless sheet would be enough to extend it a fraction and cover it. You could screw it in from the back. Or nail on a small piece of facing trim to the edge if its really close.
MBVette November 26, 2012 Author November 26, 2012 It might actually cover it. But bc of the way it's built it does not sit flush against the tank, so you look up at that area and might be just looking slightly behind the hinged opening. I'm not going to make any changes since I wouldn't match the laminate. Only thing I need to find is some nice hinges that will keep that top area open. It's 3/4" plywood and heavy as H-E-double hockey sticks.
BowieReefer84 November 27, 2012 November 27, 2012 Prime is a product to remove ammonia. Read up on it. Kalk. Add this to the locker to keep the smell down. I read on another thread the kalk powder keeps the skimmate from stinking. Cabinet looks great.
MBVette November 27, 2012 Author November 27, 2012 Prime is a product to remove ammonia. Read up on it. Kalk. Add this to the locker to keep the smell down. I read on another thread the kalk powder keeps the skimmate from stinking. Cabinet looks great. I have been adding both prime and stability for a week and for some reason I am still at 2 ammonia, not sure why its not getting any better. How bout a shot from the front. I'll try to get one today when the lights come on, problem is my phones camera doesnt take a wide enough shot with my back against the wall. So I might have to break out a real camera to get the picture
AlanM November 27, 2012 November 27, 2012 I've read that Prime binds ammonia and will "detoxify" it, but it doesn't really remove it, so it will show up on a test. Seems like Stability should get rid of it, though, since it's bacteria, right?
MBVette November 27, 2012 Author November 27, 2012 ok, so even though I am reading ammonia it would be safe to add the fish in since it has detoxified it?
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