EvilTwin's 75g tank

[EvilTwin]

Well, once it's grown out a bit more (the leather) perhaps I can start fragging it and send you one on those nice frag plugs you are sending me.

[EvilTwin]

I know this is a photo thread, but it seemed the best place to just provide updates on my tank. I made some changes today after getting back from a week away in Boulder.

The first thing I had noticed was my gorg was not looking well. The polyps are now much browner in color, as opposed to the nice white that they were. I did a 20% water change so we'll see if that helps at all. After doing the change my xenia turned quite grey and shriveled for a while and my leather retracted. I suspect the temp as the water was a little cold.

I took a trip to That Fish Place since I needed salt and I picked up some other stuff while there. I got a pair of PowerSwwp 228 powerheads. These are the ones with a built in sweeping output. They are only rated at 270gph and I have them in each corner of the tank. I also have an additional 400 gph ph in the back center of the tank pointing forward. So I now have plenty of water movement but not so powerful it blows everything over. My old powerheads kept coming loose from the walls and blowing substrate everywhere so these were needed.

I figure the sweeping powerheads will be a bit of an experiment. I have not seen any reviews so I guess I will have to review them. It looks like they sweep in a 90 degree arc, and sweep faster one way than the other. One good thing is they come with a very solid mount with 4 suction cups. It stays very secure in my tank and runs quietly.

[FragOutpost]

That is weird about the gorgonian polyps turning brown. I'm not sure what causes that to happen. I had bought a couple of zoomed powersweeps when I first set up my tank a while back and they worked great for a while but after about 6 months the sweeping motion would start to lock up and they soon became either locked in a fixed position or the nozzle that sweeps would quit sweeping and you would have to aim in a certain direction. A few months later I just tossed them. It is a nice concept but I think it has too many moving parts which means too many things that could break. I hope that they have improved the durability of these powerheads and I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

[EvilTwin]

Well, I ran tests today after my water change. PH dropped to 8.0, which is huge after only a 20% water change. Nitrates are now undetectable. I also tested for iodine which cam up at .02, this is low. Phosphates were zero but silicates were really high. I suspect this is the reason for my diatom problem I have been fighting. My fish don't seem to be stressing, but the gorg isn't looking any better. My finger leather has been a bit retracted since yesterday as well. I suspect if I let things settle out I'll see some improvement. The xenia is still quite retracted. I will get some iodine to dose in the next day or so.

[FragOutpost]

Once your PH rises to 8.2 your xenia should bounce back like nothing happened. Quick changes in PH are very stressful to reef invertebrates. The general rule of thumb is that PH should not fluctuate more than 0.2 +/- within any 24 hour period. Silicates would explain the diatoms issues although Calfo also says that excessive iodine may contribute to diatom outbreaks. Are you using RO/DI water? I think kent makes a silica busting DI cartridge. Could your silicates be coming from somewhere else?

[EvilTwin]

Took some pics today. The gorg is doing badly but the Digi seems quite happy (I swear I see new growth ) and my yellow polyps are really coming around

[FragOutpost]

The digi is looking great. Sorry to hear that the gorgonian is not doing as well.