Typhoon Time

[paul b]

Today I decided to have a typhoon in my reef. I do this sometimes twice a year and IMO it is the main secret as to what has kept my tank going so long.

I run a reverse undergravel filter like almost everyone on here! No? Oh I thought everyone did. In any case, this is what I do to keep the tank going. As you can see I have two diatom filters running at the same time. I could do it with one but it takes twice as long. A diatom filter removes anything smaller than a micron which is much smaller than Paris Hilton's dog.

I could do this with any canister filter but I was near the diatom filters so that is what I use.

Yes it does remove plenty of pods but their cousins will re populate the tank in no time as I have been doing this for almost fifty years and have not had a problem yet. My mandarins give me dirty looks but they will get over it.

My purpose is not to get every bit of detritus out of the tank as that will never happen, but I mainly want to open up channels in the gravel and clean out as many pores in the rock as I can. With the two diatom filters they will clear the tank in about half an hour, then I stir it again. I do this until I get tired or decide to do something else but it could take all day as I don't have to sit here and watch the particles going into the filter.

The numerous bristle worms hate this as they swim like a brick. I am sure my shrimp/gobi combination also will not like this and I am not surer where they are.

After the water is well stirred and I feel all I hit most of the gravel, I use the last few passes to clean off the rocks and corals. They close up during this and text me things that I can't post here but it must be done.

The sea has typhoons all the time and I have been underwater right after some of these, believe me, my diatom filter doesn't wreck as much havoc as a good typhoon. I know some people use a turkey baster for this and if you are keeping turkeys,that may work, but in a tank, especially an old tank, you need a "MAN" filter with a decent pump and not a Sissy turkey baster that was built for "Girly Men".

One of my chalk bass was so excited he just jumped into the algae trough, but I coaxed him back into the tank, I think he enjoyed the trip.

The only time I can't do this is when I have bluestriped pipefish as they disappear during this. I would imagine their tiny gill openings get clogged with muck. Every time I did this and had those pipefish, I lost them.

After this is over, the tank will look much better and the corals look much better.

Nothing lasts without maintenance and with my system I never see any detritus because it hides in between the gravel grains.

[Rosco's Reefs]

I am not sure I understand what you are saying...seems like from your words and the pictures that you are:

 

1. stirring up everything one to many times

2. have two temporary "diatom" filters hooked up pulling the water thru

3. finally "rinsing" everything off with a pump or powerhead after to get any residual muck that might have settled...

 

That about it?

 

Question: Are you stilling running pumps, sumps, and powerheads while doing this? Or are the temporarily turned off.

 

Sounds pretty cool, and I have read the rest of your posts with interest. Let us know. Thx

[Origami]

A good typhoon from time to time is a good thing to flush detritus from the system. With something bare-bottom (like my frag tank), a good vacuuming of the bottom both before and after is a good way to approach this. In this case, I use a pump as both a vacuum and as a "stirrer-upper" to displace the detritus and run it over my overflow. where a large filter sock awaits. I have a diatom filter but sometimes some of the solids are so heavy that the diatom filter's intake doesn't have much of a chance of getting to the stuff (unless I used it as a vacuum).

[swffan]

Whatever is happening there in that tank is cool I'm sure, but I found this write up amusing for a morning laugh. (Paris hIltons dog,,,etc) THANKS!

[flooddc]

Very interesting! I occasionally blast a section of my tank a bit but not even close to what your're doing. Has it ever crash on you?

[Rosco's Reefs]

I have always heard doing this can cause a nitrate surge or algae bloom or some such...Not sure of my terminology but thought there was some reason to avoid this. Thx

[paul b]

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Posted Today, 11:10 AM

I am not sure I understand what you are saying...seems like from your words and the pictures that you are:

 

1. stirring up everything one to many times

2. have two temporary "diatom" filters hooked up pulling the water thru

3. finally "rinsing" everything off with a pump or powerhead after to get any residual muck that might have settled...

 

That about it?

 

Question: Are you stilling running pumps, sumps, and powerheads while doing this? Or are the temporarily turned off.

 

Sounds pretty cool, and I have read the rest of your posts with interest. Let us know. Thx

 

You have to watch as the words come out of my mouth.

Lets see, I stir up everything to the bottom of the tank, or in my case, the ug filter. After much of it is sucked out, I finish with just blowing water over the rocks and corasl because they get a coating of detritus.

I leave my pumps on but turn off the reverse UG filter. The diatom filters are just temporary.

 

, but I found this write up amusing for a morning laugh. (Paris hIltons dog,,,etc)

 

I use her or her dog for many comparisoms, but I don't have a picture of her dog.

 

Has it ever crash on you?

 

No, the tank is running since 1971 but I have used this method since the early 60s with freshwater

 

I have always heard doing this can cause a nitrate surge or algae bloom or some such...

Much of what you read is wrong. But if you had a DSB and you did this, you would most likely have to get a new hobby soon afterward as the animals would croak.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Origami

[kjamaya]

will try it on my system.

[paul b]

will try it on my system

 

OK, but I am just reporting what I do. I don't condone, recommend, urge, specify, goad ,qualify, prescribe or ask that anyone else do what I do.

[smallreef]

LOL I use a TURKEY BASTER to blow off all the detritus and other gunk from my rocks and such about 10 minutes before I do a LARGE water change.... then change the filtersock, vac out the 1st sump chamber and the pump chamber for a SEMI typhoon, lol

[Steve175]

I rigged the largest maxi jet to a long piece of PVC and drilled a bunch of holes into the PVC (for intake) that I use weekly (takes ~ 5 min) to stir up upper layer of sand and keep rock nice and clean (I also feel that the turkey baster is a bit "girley"). I thought that I was being aggressive but, as always, I learn from PaulB that I need to man up a bit. With a reef almost as old as I am, he must be doing something right.

 

 

"How did 1500G of saltwater cost THAT much?"

[trockafella]

When are you gonna come down here and speak at a meeting again.? Its the only talk I actually listened to the whole thing. Mainly bc its an informative stand up comedy.

[paul b]

With a reef almost as old as I am, he must be doing something right.

 

Steve, my hermit crabs have canker sores on their lips older then you.

 

When are you gonna come down here and speak at a meeting again.? Its the only talk I actually listened to the whole thing. Mainly bc its an informative stand up comedy.

 

That was basically it. I usually speak on the history of the hobby because for some reason, they don't let me speak on Undergravel filters, blackworms or Paris Hilton. Besides I don't want everyone to know all the secrets, I like having the oldest tank on here.

[EBR]

(thread resurrected during a bit of related research on diatom filters... there are a lot of threads, and this one seemed as good as any to leverage...)

 

Paul -- What a day to learn.  Checking out the updates to the forums this morning, and I stumbled upon your "42 Year Old Tank" thread.   I haven't gotten through all of it, but it sure is an easy and fun read, packed with all sorts of ideas.  Having been born and raised on Long island only made it that much better.  I, too, rarely measure anything and just go by how the tank looks and sounds.

 

All -- Anyway, what caught my attention most was the discussion about a diatom filter Paul uses to clean house once a year.  I didn't even know there was such a thing before 8:30 this morning, and I'm wondering if it may help my situation.  I have a 125g/sump/skimmer system with a shallow sand bed that's been running for nine years now, and all is pretty good.  I used to have about an inch of substrate, but two years ago I had an event that really scared me, where (a story told by many, I'm sure) I let the cleaning go for a bit too long, and after a deep clean with the vacuum stirred up something nasty that pissed off everything in the tank.

 

So I pulled most of the substrate and everything has been easier to clean and keep in order ever since.  But I miss the look of a substrate and don't like the bare spots of glass whenever the clowns feel like pushing it all around.  I don't want a deep bed, certainly, but just enough to keep everything covered -- no more than an inch.

 

MY POINT -- So, I am intrigued by the notion of going back to a thicker sand bed, and then adopting a regimen with a diatom filter as well, stirring up the sand bed and sucking out all the crap on a semi-annual-or-so basis.  Since the event two years ago, I look at sandbeds like asbestos -- works well and won't kill you unless you disturb it.  I guess I'm looking for a way to keep the thicker sand bed while mitigating any buildup of bad stuff.

 

What do you think?

 

Matt

[paul b]

If you use fine sand, the diatom filter will also remove that so you have to be careful not to suck it up. It will clean out everything else in the sand down to a micron. I could not be able to run my reef without one even though I only use it once or twice a year. I love the thing.