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10-19-2009, 06:02 AM
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Tales of Two Tanks
So as you all know I have two tanks.
A 12g custom nano in the bedroom that will be 4 years old in January. And a 55g tank in the room formally used for dining that recently turned 2 years old. I have been having problems with both tanks in different ways. This thread is going to be my confessional as well as how we are going to turn things around. Im going to start with the nano. I'm not sure when it first appeared - last winter or maybe spring. It is red bubble algae. It was just a few and they were rather cute looking. I liked it and I let it be. That was a big mistake and I should have know better. Red Bubble algae has taken over my nano.     Poor Bimbo the Barnacle Blenney had to vacate his home in the rock because the red bubbles had covered over his home.
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10-19-2009, 06:43 AM
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Those photogs were from October 5th.
I had removed some of the rocks and manually removed the red bubble algae in August and It is still that bad. Today I was going to watch some football in the bedroom. I went in there at 1pm and laid on the bed to watch a game and maybe take a nap. After lying on the bed I decided to do a water change on the nano. I removed about 3g of water then decide to attack the RBA. I remove all the rock on the left side of the tank and put them in the bucket. All the mushrooms and rics on the bottom I put in a separate container of tank water. I then took my syphon to the sand and removed a ton of gunk. At this point I have probably removed about 6g of water. I add a couple of gallons of new salt water to cover the remaining rock and leathers. I caught Bimbo and decide to transfer him to the 55g so I acclimated him to that tank. Then one by one I took the bubble covered rocks from the bucket and with scissors, knife, tweezer and toothbrush I removed all the bubbles I could. Id rinse with salt water then return to the tank. Then I did the same to the right side. The rock on the right side is one big rock covered with a toadstool leather that multiplies almost as quickly as the RBA does. Then I cleaned the mushrooms and ricks. Some of them were loose so I attached them to some small rocks from the 55g and now they are in the 55g tank. The mushrooms and rics that were attached to rock and empty snail shell stayed in the nano but I cleaned all RBA from their rocks. 6 hours of non stop work and 17g of new salt water later I now have a new nano.    
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10-19-2009, 07:03 AM
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Here are some photogs of Bimbo in his new tank. I am sure He will explore more in the next night or two and find a good hole to become his new home.
   Here are the 4 orange ricordia yumas that I attached to rubble from the 55g and them moved them to the big tank. There are also 3 ricordia floridas (not in this pic) that I attached to rubble moved too. The rock with the two different green zoanthids are the ones I just got from Thai. They took a week to all open. 
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10-19-2009, 02:01 PM
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That looks great Jeff! I do the same, think a little algae adds color and then it goes nuts. But you really worked your hiney off!!
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A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. ~ Albert Einstein An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex. ~ Aldous Huxley..shssh! shes still looking!  
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10-19-2009, 03:13 PM
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Wow!~ I've been waiting for the story of what's going on.
Hard work, and a good payoff! Your nano looks great! I need to use it for some inspiration. Can't wait to hear about the 55!
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The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. ~albert einstein~
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10-19-2009, 03:43 PM
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That is an absolute amazing transformation! Very nice job Jeff!!
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_____________________________ Greg "fuckin' A dittybag" Sometimes you need a little live rock to fall down and when you put it back it's in a better spot -Kathleen Hunt
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10-19-2009, 03:47 PM
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LOL Jeff thats exactly where I was, I had green bubbles everywhere then the red started, the bubbles get into and under corals forcing them off the rocks they are on, its quite invasive, I must admit the green and red bubble juice facial did wonders for my complexion, so smooth and silky now lol, as bubble algae is a great indication of mulm and detritus fuel you should see a good reduction in their numbers after the clean up, Ill keep you postedon how mine goes now youve exposed the awful truth he he
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You just walked into Mother Nature's Thunderdome, friend. And in this analogy, you're not Max; you're the dead retard.
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10-19-2009, 04:39 PM
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What?...secrets? Someone's been keeping secrets?
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_____________________________ Greg "fuckin' A dittybag" Sometimes you need a little live rock to fall down and when you put it back it's in a better spot -Kathleen Hunt
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10-19-2009, 04:47 PM
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Looks Great Jeff!! you certainly did work your hiney off
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Brenda ~ B9 Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music ~ George Carlin
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10-19-2009, 05:29 PM
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Thanks everyone!I dont know what got over me yesterday.
When I got started I was just going to do a WC. Next thing I knew I was scrubbing rock. When I had all the rock out of the tank I took the WC syphon hose to the substrate. I let the hose go all the way through the 2 inch sand bed and really clean the sand. I tried to make sure all the crap went into the bucket and not get the tank all cloudy. I was concerned with what toxic pocket I might expose but I did it anyway. That is why I went through 17g of water for a 12g tank. The clowns survived the night so If I had any toxic pockets in the sand bed I must have cleaned it out. Scubbing rock was not my first plan on attaching the RBA. I have been serious thinking of something else for some months now. I have been thinking of emptying the nano and putting all inhabitants (rock and all) in the 10g QT tank. I would scrub out the nano and all equipment and call Tampa Bay Saltwater and Order a 20-25g package. Then I would rebuild the nano with new TBS LR as well as some of the smaller TBS LR from the 55g. Some of the new LR would go into the 55g If I did it this way I thought I could probably get both parts of the TBS package at one time. I still may go the TBS route. We will see how quickly the RBA comes back. Maybe my possessed ass did a good enough job yesterday that I can attack the new RBA growth as it shows up. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon to get a flu shot and I am going to my LFS to get a new LED PowerBright strip for the nano to use as a lunar light.http://www.current-usa.com/powerbrite.html I could get it cheaper online But I an gonna support my LFS. I will try to get to the the tale of the 55g later this afternoon or this evening.
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Last edited by Goldenmean; 10-19-2009 at 05:37 PM.
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