Quote:
Originally Posted by Reef Pilot
Well, your extreme actions, overdoses, etc, can't have been good for your tank. And if I remember correctly, you had your bio pellet reactor running offline for a while where it could have built up a lot of carbon from the pellets.
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When I dosed the chemiclean the first time? I put the intake and effluent lines in a bucket of salt water outside the tank so the reactor never actually got dosed with chemiclean, is that what you mean?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reef Pilot
Then the bacteria died, causing hydrogen sulphide. I believe you also discharged that into your tank, which then could have caused a die off in your live rock, which is still leaching out, and maybe causing your current issues.
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Nope, the last time water from that unmodified reactor made it in to the tank was the day the effluent line clogged. It couldn't, the lines were totally clogged, and I was very careful about taking it out of the tank after. However by that point I think the damage was done cuz I'm stoooopid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reef Pilot
So, a whole lot of things that could be causing your current problems. I think the old rule of not making drastic changes too quickly would apply here. That is especially important when using bio pellets or carbon dosing.
I used Chemiclean once (and followed instructions precisely) about 3 years, and it did the job well for me then. Have not needed it since, as I dose MB7.
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Well, I technically was following the instructions of both chemiclean and MB7. Chemiclean's instructions and FAQs say a second treatment after 48 hours and a water change is OK if the cyano problem is particularly pernicious, which mine was. I was also following the start-up dosing schedule for high nutrient systems (which based on the cyano problems I was having I thought I had) for my water volume printed on the back of the MB7 bottle. Now that I'm thinking about it I remember having done my math wrong for the maintenance dose. I thought it was 10 mL/day but you helped me sort it out as it was actually 5.4 or something. At that point I wasn't super awesome at dosing every day so I was either adding 5-6 mL/day, or more commonly 10 mL every few days if I'm remembering right.
I think you can follow product instructions and still get in to trouble. But as for the adage about not making changes to quickly, you are spot on. I was my own worst enemy. But to be fair, there's no way to dose chemiclean that isn't a sudden change. In three days you go from lots of cyano bacteria playing whatever role they have in your system, to high concentrations of antibiotics, to no more cyano. Using the product as instructed creates about as sudden a change as you can get.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reef Pilot
And should test for nitrites too. If they also are high, and nitrates low, then you indeed are having a cycle. But with a 2 year running tank, and with all the die off now, would expect your nitrates to be high instead.
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Yah if I can get away to get a test kit today I will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reef Pilot
Vertex warns against taking bio pellets offline and rapid changes in water parameters, even for a short time, and the dangers of hydrogen sulphide. When you saw the excess clumping and mulm in your bio pellet reactor, you should have dismantled and cleaned it, before returning it to service.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/manuals/ve...structions.pdf |
In theory that sounds good, but doesn't that put you in a d*mned if you do, d*mned if you don't situation? They warn against taking them offline or suddenly changing parameters, which I also did not want to do, but whether I had cleaned the reactor out at the first sign of mulmy grossness or after the effluent line had clogged, the effect would still have been a sudden removal of the pellets from the system and the collapse of whatever bacterial population the reactor was supporting. I know no H2S was being made prior to the line being clogged because I was opening the reactor every day or every other day to clean it's strainers, and after it failed I did dismantle it and clean it completely out. Once it started mulming up I can't see how I could have done anything that wouldn't have contravened Vertex's instructions.