it's been almost 4 months since i did my last entry, so here's been what's going on... i had to deal with these issues:
1) my PM Ca reactor, bought new, had a bad impeller in the recycle pump. it's a reverse flow design, so technically the recycle pump draws from the top of the reactor, then pushes from the bottom. the CO2 is introduced into this recycle flow and recollects at the top (vs escaping thru the effluent hole). well, the flow from the Eheim 1048 (158 gph) should have been plenty strong to prevent any accumulation at the top of the reactor. however this is what i saw:
i got in touch with PM who asked me to verify that 1) there were no clogs and 2) the pump was primed and not binding. check and check. so i got Jake/RCA involved as i had gotten it from their sale late last summer. he was wise enough to simply submerge the pump only and it was only trickling out. hey, i didn't know any better so PM sent me a new pump.
so got the replacement pump and i plumbed it in, and same thing... argh!!! brought both pumps to Jake and he figured out that the impeller blades should be fixed to the magnet. this is how both impellers came:
the new impeller design has 4 notches on the magnet side which engages with the teeth on the blade side, but this didn't work too well in my case as the teeth got worn down on my original pump/impeller. anyways, Jake glued the blades to the magnet and voila we got flow! i took the pumps back and plumbed the newer one in, but unfortunately i was a little too zealous in tightening and cracked the pump housing... F^&* !!! PM doesn't use the Eheim fitting, so it was easy to overtighten. i swapped out pumps and was uber careful to not overtighten, and assembled the reactor, filled with water, then let ran for 12 hrs. i found a small leak i figured i cracked the housing again as i could feel moisture in the proximity of where it happened last time. i didn't want to mess with it again, so i brought it to RCA and they confirmed i did crack it. they swapped it out with one of their pumps and i was back in business. they (RCA nor PM) didn't give me grief for cracking 2 pumps, so great customer support from Jake & Gilbert and PM.
i would have to say i was rather disappointed that PM didn't QA their product to ensure it was functional before leaving their warehouse, but c'est la vie. btw, this process from the time i first plumbed the reactor to when it was completely functional took over 2.5 months.
2) after accumulating 12 fish, i added unlucky 13 which was a beautiful powder blue @ the beginning of Feb. it eventually got ich (2 weeks later), then the kole, firefish, and mccosker got it. i felt so bad for the powder as it looked like a teenager with a serious case of acne. so i picked up some garlic extract, pellets w/ garlic, and soaked the nori w/ garlic and gave this approach a week to see if it would subside, well no luck there. so i setup my 29g tank as a QT. i was already prepared and had the sponge for the sponge filter sitting in my sump since day 1. i picked up some QuICK Cure, pvc elbows, etc, then netted 7 out of the 13 (powder, kole, 2 clowns, 2 firefish, mccosker - i couldn't catch the bicolor, lawnmower, diamond, and 3 chromis). so i followed the treatment, but eventually the kole died, then the powder, then the clowns. the firefish and mccosker looked healthy so i decided to return them to the display, but those died shortly as i'm guessing from the stress of the move. the bicolor, lawnmower, and diamond, which were all kept in the DT, died so i was basically down to the original 3 chromis which started my tank.
all parameters were good as tested by me and RCA, so no clue why i got wiped out. i dropped in 2 bags of Purigen and plumbed my GFO reactor to pull out whatever i could.
i have since struggled trying to keep diamonds (3) and lawnmowers (2) alive in my tank. i currently have a dragon goby instead of the diamond, and debating if i need an algae grazer like the lawnmower or will another kole, which is what i was planning on getting eventually, be enough.
3) though my parameters were always spot on, i eventually got a cyanobacteria outbreak. i didn't recover 3-4 fish bodies over this timeframe, so i'm guessing this lead to a spike in DOCs and nitrates though my skimmer was very productive and i could see the Purigen was working (changing color). at first i tried reducing the photoperiod, increasing the flow on my 2 vortechs, and routinely blowing off growth on the rocks, but it kept coming back. so next i tried lights off
Chemiclean
