Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

Hey Wes, you might be right...the Scoly has made a turn around! Big and puffy (what's left of it) the last couple days.

Lnace, these sorts of things hurt don't they?
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So here the detailed update:

The tank has really taken a beating this year since I was out of province until mid-July, and then had 3 weeks of holidays. Tank sitter was looking after it and is not as picky as I am regarding maintenance. It was so bad that there was a layer of detritus covering fairly large portions of the sand which was then covered in cyano, and hair algae was just starting to sprout up. Eck!

I finally got around to looking after the tank this week. I did a 20% waterchange vacuuming all the sand real well. Then I cheated and ChemiCleaned it to get rid of the cyano, following that with another 20% waterchange and vacuum 48 hours later (as per instructions). Over the last couple weeks I also replaced the GFO and carbon that had been in there since April. At the beginning of August I replaced the skimmer with a SWC 180 Cone, and am very happy with this skimmer! Great buy at the price point, and a powerhouse of a skimmer.

For anyone familiar with the Sicce PSK-2500 pumps that come with many of the SWC skimmers, I replaced the stock needle wheel with a Red Devil and so far have had no issues with re-start. I did a bunch of Googling and discovered the Red Devil seems to solve the re-start issues on all counts I could find.

I also started dosing potassium again a couple days ago as I quit back in February I think it was. As expected potassium was sitting around 250 ppm. I am up to about 350 ppm right now on my way up to 400 ppm and you guys should see the polyp extension! What a difference.

I am happy to say that the tank has bounced right back, and is now on the mend. Whew! It's nothing to brag about yet, but it is definitely doing much better in just a few weeks. The color difference from a week ago to today is pretty impressive if I do say so myself...I'm surprised actually!

I was messing around with some macro shots yesterday...I was trying to get accurate representation of color. I edited shadows to black out the background to make the photos look prettier because I can't figure out how to make my camera do that. LOL. Anyone know that trick? Colors are pretty accurate when I put them up on my plasma tv.

[bkelly]

great photos Mindy!
I love that rasta mulit color.
and thanks for all your help lately.
brent

[Myka]

Thanks Brent, and you're welcome!

[fishytime]

those is some pretty sweet macros there Girly

[Lance]

Yup, I'd say you have the macros down pat now.

[Myka]

Thanks guys!

[Myka]

[Myka]

Well, apparently I'm not over the hump yet...there has been diatoms on the sand since the last update, and some cyano starting up again. Those patches of hair algae that were starting up two weeks ago have grown now too. So...apparently it is still a toxic waste dump!

I should test phosphate today to see if my GFO is burned out already. I tested nitrate yesterday, and saw just a hint of color in the water...so maybe 0.1 ppm? I tested in the morning while the sand was still white for a better test. I'll do a waterchange today too. Potassium has been up to 400 ppm for a week now. I don't see any changes yet.

One other thought is I recently switched back to IO. I have done one waterchange with 50/50 IO/H2Ocean, and one waterchange with just IO so far.

[Myka]

I'm interested to see what this Milli does. I rescued it as a browned out, mostly receded, 3/4 dead piece. I chopped off all the dead branches, stuck it in the tank, and forgot about it. Now it is turning yellow...I hope it stays yellow, but I see some blue and green showing up too. Hmmm...




Yesterday's FTS. I wish I could get better at FTS. I really need to get those corals off the sand too.

[fishytime]

Um.... Not a milli Mindy..... Polyp structure isn't right.... Starting to look good whatever is is tho..... So does the FTS