Colin's refurbished Partition Tank

[colinsoon]

hide and seek???

[colinsoon]

tested my water for phos level on sat afternoon at 1700hrs.

[colinsoon]

reading on sunday afternoon 1700 hrs. precisely 24hours later.

[colinsoon]

but i am getting this.

[colinsoon]

and this.

[colinsoon]

most expensive thing i purchased that comes in so small a bottle...

but at least its working.

hope it can last for a while. before i change the media again. 3 months would be nice.

[Soul]

thats cos the phosphates and silicates are trapped within the sand, u can get zero reading but still have algae growth in the sand unless u had treated the sand first during the initial setting up.

[colinsoon]

ok... how is the treatment like? can i like do anything bout it now???

[w3ish3ng]

your naso looking good! must better then before.

[jervismun]

Bro Soul mentioned before... sprinkle some Rowaphos on to your sand bed (especially those spots with diatom appearing)

[acidjazz]

most expensive thing i purchased that comes in so small a bottle...

but at least its working.

hope it can last for a while. before i change the media again. 3 months would be nice.

hey mate, i think u might have to replace the Rowa once every month. It all depends on how many fishes u keep also. .

[Soul]

Most ppl would use tap water to wash the new sand then placing into the tank during the initial setup causing nutrients to be in the sand. There isnt much u can do now except increase flow at the areas effected or try wat i suggested which is burying rowaphos bits here and there to minimise growth and spread.

The correct way to cure/clean the sand during setup is to use DI or RO water instead of direct tap water.

[acidjazz]

Most ppl would use tap water to wash the new sand then placing into the tank during the initial setup causing nutrients to be in the sand. There isnt much u can do now except increase flow at the areas effected or try wat i suggested which is burying rowaphos bits here and there to minimise growth and spread.

The correct way to cure/clean the sand during setup is to use DI or RO water instead of direct tap water.

DI-RO unit is very good. Only downside is the long term cost especially if u have a huge tank or u like to do frequent water changes.

[jacobus]

bro .. your phos may be down ... but that just means ur diatoms cannot spread ... the existing patched still have to be manually removed..

[raydiative]

hey bro...

good luck for the battle!

[colinsoon]

hmmm. i tested my tap water using the same kit, it reads zero. so i guess there is not much detectable phosphates in the tank. but then, it sounds a little too good to be true ya...?

will monitor the phos levels. once it goes up and doesnt come down i will know its time to change the media... thanx acidjazz and jacobus for the input.

dun think i can like add rowa under the sand now, cos i got sea cukes, which i seriously think that they will somehow or rather consume the media. last thing i wan is the cukes dying cos they ate something that should not be there... cant increase the flow rate too. cos i got no idea how to do so without screwing up the water flow inside the tank..

[mashmallow]

Add turbo snail from RB.....known to eat this diatom

[colinsoon]

i am actually trying to avoid turbos.. cos i had a few in the past, and they kept toppling my corals. last thing i need from them is that... thanks for the suggestion though..

any other possible remedies?

thanx bros for helping me out...

[Soul]

Tap water has silicate content that ur phosphate testing kit doesnt test, rowaphos is harmless to fishes and inverts so ur cucumber wont die eating it. My fish occasionally eats the rowa accidently none has died.

[jacobus]

heres something i did ... take a stick or something ... stir the water just above the diatom patch ( 1inch above the SB ) in a circular motion ... like your trying to make a whirlpool .. once the topmost layer of sand begins to float up ... scoop it up with a net .. becareful not to stir too strongly as it will mess up ur tank.

note this is a delicate operation.. haha

it will stress your livestock too but this is the cheapest way to clear it off..... unless u want to buy a siphon tube ... that would be better la ..

[colinsoon]

ok will try that out... juz got a few pieces of LR from my friend who decided to decom. will rescape my tank a bit. will try it out as i rescape.

[colinsoon]

with all the big tanks coming, my tank seems sooo puny..

anyway tested my phos level again. 36 hours after running rowa..

[colinsoon]

diatoms on the SB..

[colinsoon]

bought a huge piece of LR from AM juz now, and along with the remaining pieces of LR that my friend passed me, i throughly rescaped the tank again. took me 3 hours. took the chance to also try to clear away the diatoms on the SB.. used a net to scoop up the sand with diatoms from the SB, then after collecting all, washed them before returning them to the tank...

tried to do a pretty huge pillar at the end, but discovered that it doesnt look nice, cos the tank is too short.. and too tall..

a half hour after recaping...

[colinsoon]

other side.

super murky water...