NewPortRichey's Tank Rebound!

[Bifferwine]

Post a picture of the dirt-looking stuff.

[reeffreak]

Dirt looking stuff?

All that comes to mind is sand or debris from decaying matter.

[NewPortRichey]

Originally Posted by reeffreak

Dirt looking stuff?

All that comes to mind is sand or debris from decaying matter.

It's late, sorry no pics tonight. It looks like a rust color. I repositioned some of the power heads and stirred things up. I think it's the dead algae from before showing it's ugly head. I need to up my filtration equipment to eradicate it. I've still got the sump to do as well as order a beefier protein skimmer.

[Bifferwine]

Sounds like diatoms. Nothing much you can do about those, but wait it out. Diatoms are normal, they come and go. Everyone gets them once in a while.

[fishbait]

tank looks great! that's an amazing turnaround.
i agree with biff, it sounds like diatoms. it's common on new tank settups. or if something has changed drasically in an established tank. such as addition of lots of live rock, or even taking all the old rock out and cleaning it off, lots of algae die off, etc

[MikMcgyver]

Tank is lookin great now, all clearin up....Keep up the good work

[NewPortRichey]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I'm starting to become proud of it again. I'm all set up to do a new sump tonight. We'll see how it goes. I've never done one before so I'm sure there will be a little trial/error. I'm going to get the longest tank I can at the LFS and just put in baffles made out of plexiglass. I don't know how hard it is to cut that stuff but I'm sure I'll find out tonight. Thanks again for the words of encouragement.

[Bifferwine]

Buy your plexiglass at Lowe's and they will cut it for you, for free.

[fishbait]

if you are a diy'r you can cut it with a jigsaw. just use a fine tooth blade and go slow.

[NewPortRichey]

Just bought a 30 gallon glass for the sump. The measurements are 36 x 12 x 16. I think that should be sufficient. Also, I bought a MagDrive 700 gph pump. Did I get a good deal?
MagDrive 700gph Water Pump - NEW - (eBay item 3980490396 end time Sep-30-07 17:26:27 PDT)
Here's the new protein skimmer. Not the best but not the worst either:
Octopus Needlewheel 150 Marine Solutions Online Store
I'm going to construct the sump tonight and get everything set up using my existing equipment. If everything dries in time I'll get some pics up. In the meantime, what do you guys think of the products I've chosen?