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Dirty Tank - Is this unusual?


Pies

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A few weeks ago Suphew chucked a Laguna 7 pump into his tank, it has a DIY strainer on it, about a foot long wrapped in filter wool.

I remember going over there and commenting on how dirty the filter wool was. Even after just one day, it was a dirty mushy brown colour. He has had an outbreak of cyno and calurpa so just assumed it was related to that.

In the weekend I chucked this pump into my own tank. After 24 hrs the filter wool was filthy. I have repeated this a few times, same thing every time.

My water is cristal clear, and was before hand. Skimmer output doesn't appear to have changed.

Anyone else running filter wool on a power head? Be interested to know other peoples experances.

Pie

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Isn't this kind of expected?

If you're not expecting stuff to get trapped in filter wool in a powerhead, how do you expect the skimmer to remove anything?

The stuff that ends up in the skimmer cup was obviously floating in the water, so why shouldn't the filter wool get dirty?

Layton

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some info i came across.

This month before finishing I want to take up a matter that whilst not strictly a disease, is one that causes many losses in Marine Aquariums. The subject is Cyanobacteria, aka Red Algae.

I get many calls about it as we have a product for getting rid of this. However I have for a few years been investigating the underlying reasons for this phenomena & would invite those Hobbyists who have this problem & would care to cooperate in some research to contact me.

There are several references in the literature to the alleged fact that Cyanobacteria are supposed to thrive when the Phosphate levels are excessive. Many times Hobbyists have contacted me to say, that they are plagued by "Red Algae", but that their Phosphate levels are either zero, or almost so.

I began a few years ago to make some preliminary investigations, as I had a suspicion that perhaps the cause was not PO4, (inorganic Phosphate), but in fact PO3 (orthophosphate or organic ). At that time, some 10 Hobbyists were kind enough to send me samples of their water & in every case I tested the water showed as they said almost no PO4, but substantial PO3 values.

I would very much like to take this research a little further, & would invite any of you who would be kind enough to cooperate, to let me have a sample of your Aquarium water, in a clean small container ( safe for shipping), from an Aquarium experiencing this scourge. I will reply with my findings to each person who sends me a sample.

Also if any of you out there, have any idea how the PO3 becomes transformed in the biological interactions that take place in an Aquarium, I would like to have your ideas, as well as any references in the literature, as I have been unable to find any. This would be important in trying to find some methods of prevention, rather than cure. As the several Phosphate "sponges" or similar on the market, only remove PO4, such would be a most useful contribution to the Hobby, as so many beautiful Reef Tanks are ruined by this "slime".

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I had a small cyno problem that would not go away.

Checked everything and my maintenace regine--------all fine

decided to try talking to a vet as a last resort

He prescribed a tablet back in April

did a dosage that month it still came back, but in a much smaller amount did another dosage in June and the tank has been cyno free since :bounce: :bounce:

The tablet has had no bad effect on the reef system I am running

Most of my corals have doubled in size

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Yup, and the tablet is an antibiotic so that MUST have an impact on your biological filter...just how much is the question! :-?

Just that you can SEE the cyno disappearing.

Three months down the track and I havnt had the cyno back and

It didn't cause any harm that is obvious, as my fish are still alive, my corals are flourishing and my shrimp are having babies :wink:

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How about attacking the root cause of cyano: phosphorous?

Vodka etc may help appearances, but it's just skewing the balance from one bacteria type, to another, less visible type.

Doesn't fix the root problem, which is an accumulation of detritus and associated phosphorus.

The cyano is there for a reason: to break down rotting stuff. Get rid of the rotting stuff, and you get rid of the cyano.

That's the approach i'd take anyway.

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ok Layton, I agree, but how. Don't just say remove nutrients, what can I do that I'm not already doing - specifically.

Flow... get this stuff suspended into the water and to the skimmer where it's removed.

You might need to rearrange the existing flow, or it may take more pumps.

And you can never have too much flow. :D

Layton

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If you are adding Vodka you are adding a pretty much pure carbon food source, and skimming goes nuts as a result of the extra bacteria created it.

All those bacteria also contain loads of phospherous and other things like nitrogen that get removed, so I dont see how you can say that this is not speeding up nutrient removal??

Thats the whole idea - supplying pure energy with no nutirents.

Empty carbs. :D

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