when it rains it pours

[Patti7dc]

It's preferred to let the water mix overnight so that everything can dissolve completely and O2, etc can exchange with the atmosphere.

As far as RO units, you will need at least 4 stages: Sediment filter; carbon block; RO membrane; DI resin. I went with a 5 stage because my water has tons of sediment, so I have a coarse, then a fine sediment filter.

There are two features that I consider "must have": ASO (auto shut off) valve; TDS meter. I have mine plumbed into a Brute can with a float valve. When the water reaches the valve, the water shuts off and the ASO then shuts down the entire unit. This allows me to forget the RO is running without having to worry about an accidental flood. The TDS meter allows me to monitor when the DI resin is exhausted.

What does TDS stand for?

To measure salinity I use a refractometer.

 

[spinoleo]

tds =total dissolved solids it will tell you junk is getting by your filters and time to change them

 

[tmz]

Ok so the update is that the Royal Gramma died a day or two ago. All the remaining fish are in a hospital tank as of this afternoon. The clowns were looking pretty gnarly (glazed and speckled) so I gave them a 5 minute dip in freshwater before putting them in the QT and they are looking better. So to go about treating the QT.... Copper based meds will help with ich. But not velvet or brooklynella, right? What specific medications (including brand) should I be dosing the hospital tank with at this point?

Sorry about the gramma.
Since the fish may have one or more of the diseases you noted and their condition sounds dire, I'd go with a formalin product which is a bit harsher than other methods but attacks all 3 of the diseases you noted as well as flukes.
I use ICH X (saltwater) by Hikari which is 3% formaldehyde . Don't be misled though;it is not reef safe but ok for a hospital tank.
Do not use other meds or ammonia detoxifiers with it.
A bath of 30 to 40 minutes in a gallon or two of salt water with 10ml pr gallon of this medication and an airstone or small power head willl give some qucik relief . Then a dose of 5ml per 10 gallons is used for the hospital tank. Follow the manufactures directions closely.

Monitor ammonia closely in the hospital tank. Move over some sponge or seeded filter mateial from the main tank to get ammonia oxidizing bacteria going.

As long as you have removed the rock. You culd just take the rest of it down;dry the tank an equipment thoroughly ;set it up without the exposed rock and eliminate the 72 day fishless wait for ich to die off . You'll till have to wait 72 days to reuse any exposed rock or substrate. i'd also put a small powerhead or airstone in teh rock with the bin or the stagnant water will become anoxic leading to die off and hydorgen sufide formation.

Good luck.

 

[erndog1001]

I guess I'll put it my two cents here.. lol I'd hold off on buying the reactor just yet. Their not really a necessary piece of equipment IMHO bc once you start using RO/DI water exclusively you're going to eliminate 95%+ of the algae problem to begin with.
Read up on carbon source dosing to lower your nitrates and give it time to work 10-20ppm is really no big deal But I understand wanting to have them as low as possible
Oh and as long as you have the rock out of the tank (if you still do) Give it a good scrubbing to get rid of what you can by hand.

 

[Patti7dc]

I use ICH X (saltwater) by Hikari which is 3% formaldehyde . Don't be misled though;it is not reef safe but ok for a hospital tank.
Do not use other meds or ammonia detoxifiers with it.
A bath of 30 to 40 minutes in a gallon or two of salt water with 10ml pr gallon of this medication and an airstone or small power head willl give some qucik relief . Then a dose of 5ml per 10 gallons is used for the hospital tank. Follow the manufactures directions closely.

Monitor ammonia closely in the hospital tank. Move over some sponge or seeded filter mateial from the main tank to get ammonia oxidizing bacteria going.

As long as you have removed the rock. You culd just take the rest of it down;dry the tank an equipment thoroughly ;set it up without the exposed rock and eliminate the 72 day fishless wait for ich to die off . You'll till have to wait 72 days to reuse any exposed rock or substrate. i'd also put a small powerhead or airstone in teh rock with the bin or the stagnant water will become anoxic leading to die off and hydorgen sufide formation.

Good luck.

Thanks Tom - I will get the medication today and start the treatment. I can move some LR I had in my sump into the hospital tank - but since I was using the tank as a quaratine tank for new additions - it has been set up with some live rock for a while. I had my crabs sequestered in there cuz they were attacking my leather corals so the bio filter was being used somewhat. I will definitely keep an eye on the ammonia and such.

You say I could dry out the tank and then set it up without the exposed rock to eliminate the 72 day wait. But what good would my tank be without the LR bio filter? I couldn't put the fish back in there right? I'd just have to take them out again 3 months down the road to put my LR back in. The only way to completely eliminate that 72 days would be to let my LR dry out too and re-cycle, right? Because if so, with so many pods in my rock, that isn't a route I'm willing to take. :hmm2:

 

[Patti7dc]

I guess I'll put it my two cents here.. lol I'd hold off on buying the reactor just yet. Their not really a necessary piece of equipment IMHO bc once you start using RO/DI water exclusively you're going to eliminate 95%+ of the algae problem to begin with.
Read up on carbon source dosing to lower your nitrates and give it time to work 10-20ppm is really no big deal But I understand wanting to have them as low as possible
Oh and as long as you have the rock out of the tank (if you still do) Give it a good scrubbing to get rid of what you can by hand.

Thanks for the input. The RO/DI equipment will be ordered asap. I didn't think 10-20 nitrates was a huge deal either, but some coral frags (that I paid good $ for) didn't appreciate it.

I was looking into running a reactor with bio-pellets/bio-plastics because I read that they serve as a carbon source and feed the nitrifying bacteria. Did I read this correctly? And what is the consensus on these bio pellets? I'd just like to make sure that when I set the tank back up I'm being proactive in my nitrate-reducing efforts and not reactive (like I am now trying to do so many wc)

 

[erndog1001]

Hmmmm I'd look else where for what's bothering your frags. Bc IMHO I seriously doubt that 10-20ppm Nitrate is going to bother them a great deal. I'm just getting mine under control. But for a while they were even a little higher(up to 30+) and all my corals were doing just fine.
Again I agree Lower is better

 

[tmz]

You are welcome. Sounds good.

Thanks Tom -




You say I could dry out the tank and then set it up without the exposed rock to eliminate the 72 day wait. But what good would my tank be without the LR bio filter? I couldn't put the fish back in there right? I'd just have to take them out again 3 months down the road to put my LR back in. The only way to completely eliminate that 72 days would be to let my LR dry out too and re-cycle, right? Because if so, with so many pods in my rock, that isn't a route I'm willing to take.
:hmm2:

To keep the live rock alive and free it of viable ich cysts you'll need a 72 day fishless period. The tank and equipment once dried could be set up and cycled with minimalist aquascaping with some new ich free live rock in the meantime and the older rock added back in after the 72 days or used in a refugium if you wish.


This thread on fish acclimation and treatment may be of interest going forward:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2185929&highlight=fish+acclimation+and+quarantine

 

[tmz]

10 to 20ppm nitrates is ok for many corals. Birdnest and some others don' do well even at those levels ,ime.

I'm not a pellet fan but do dose organic carbon( vodka and vinegar).

This thread provides information on organic carbon dosing which may help get you started in studying it and deciding whether or not you wish to use it as well as which method(s) you might choose to use :

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2134105&highlight=organic+carbon+dosing

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

And I'm still confused as to what I should put in the reactor.... Gary you said you run the TLF reactor partially filled with.... GAC?

short answer: use different chemical filtration depending on what's needed.
In my reactor I usually run GAC or GFO... but that doesn't necessarily mean YOU should.

I'm not a fan of those new-to-the hobby getting into carbon dosing.
This is something better left to experienced hobbyists. That's just my opinion.
I'm not saying I'm right

 

[tmz]

I'd wait on any organic carbon dosing until the tank was settlled in for 6 months or so and take the time to study it and consider carefully if it's right for your tank. I'd use the reactor for gac ; if PO4 was high, gfo. . You can run them both in the same reactor but they may exhaust at differnt times ;so, its easier to run them separately.

 

[Buckeye Hydro]

There are two features that I consider "must have": ASO (auto shut off) valve; TDS meter.

A little different take on this:
Some people want/need and ASOV, and for others it's not needed - all depends on how you want to set up/run your RODI.

To me, the two must have's are: TDS meter and a pressure gauge.

Russ

 

[Patti7dc]

Update on the situation - The hospital tank has been treated (going on a week now) with Cupramine instead of the Ich-X because the store I went to didn't have the latter. But the clowns (only ones that were showing signs) cleared up within two days and every single fish is happily and actively swimming around now and looking fantastic. I have been doing frequent partial WC to keep ammonia at no higher than 0.25.

Thank you Thank you Thank you so much for all the advice.

The main tank was drained about 60% of water and set back up (rock had to be removed when I took the fish out) and filled with ro/di saltwater from my new ro/di system . It had a mini-cycle that lasted 4 days and killed 3 trochus snails (which my mithrax crabs greedily and immediately devoured). But now the water is crystal clear and the snails, crabs, and corals left are looking very happy. Nitrates are reading back at 0 (finally!) and the hair algae is fading. I will keep the tank fish-less for a total of 3 months so I don't have to deal with any nasties anymore.

A moment of silence for the casualties:
-my pretty royal gramma:sad1:
-trochus snails
-blue mushrooms
-pink ricordeas
-War Coral
-beautiful sunset monti frag I just bought :-(
-decent sized blasto colony
-hot pink acan colony
-rather expensive trachy brain coral (that I also JUST bought.... grrr)
-maxi/mini anemone

I'm bummed for what I lost - but it would have been so much worse if I hadn't followed the advice given and intervened. I consider this an over-all success and a learning experience and once again I'm so grateful for all the level-headed and un-biased advice you all give. Cheers!

 

[tmz]

Thankyou for the update. Sorry for the losses .Glad some were saved.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

Glad things are improving, and I'm sorry about the things lost. One can't really take it too slowly developing a new tank. Try thinking long term and how waiting a few months between additions in order to check your progress will only have positive effects on how the tank looks 3 or 4 years from now. Congrats on the new rodi; it's maybe the most essential peice of maintenance equipment.