so the GF likes wrasses..... 55g sps tank... 65g fowlr+zoanthids..+lps


are my tanks even big enough 55 has a dottyback, scopas, target manderin, and lawnmower... 65 has a pair of gold stripe maroons and a ssb-dsb


want to try some nicer looking wrasses... more googling will follow once the current beer goggles are off.. but.. will anything from bwa upcomming hawian order fit in my tank.. preferably a pair, but will run anything that might work past the powers that be.

I have googled most of the wrasses on that order before but ...... right now while the lights are out i am more concerned with what might make the tank more interesting...

also considering something for algae control for the 65.. either another tang, or blenny, but i am worried if i have to recombine everything into a single larger tank at a later date THAT EVERYONONE .. dammed caps.. .has a chance of getting along..

I am not ruling out moving the dottyback either to the frag tank or to the lfs for bait.. as it has allready beat up a few potential additions including a mcoskers that is in my frag tank that might like to have other friends instead...


...

My corals have a major hate on me right now.

the day of fragfest.. my control for one of my mp10s fell in the tank. not replaced yet.

that day i picked up a used calcium reactor.. played with it for a few weeks and thought it got stabalized, stopeed testing for a week or so as i was busy with work, corals look funny, so i test.. alk is higher than usual(169@hanna) which is high for zeo, so i turn off the co2 for a few days.

in those few days my kind of noisy skimmer <skimz 161 with es2800> gets really noisy and stops skimming, or even pumping more than a trickle of water.

then yesterday i realized that all powerheads but my one mp10 that still works were turned off for 2-3 days as they are on the same powerbar as the skimmer.... and i was really frustrated at the skimmer and forgot to turn them on.

come today and i come home and my skimmer is moved from where it was<outside the tank to outside the tank> and for some reason there is a puddle of water under it. the pieces of controller for my mp10 that does not work is not on the shelf beside the tank any more but is now in the bottom of my tank. after some yelling and invasion by mom my 5yo admits to playing with the skimmer and says the cat knocked the controller in. the cat was the suspect for the contrller all along but the fact my kid blames the cat makes me wonder if it was him heh.

my corals that were just starting to look nice again after the tank crack back in the spring summer are all looking like crap.. some are bleached some have burnt tips.. algaee that was almost under control is growing.. and .. i .... just ... want.... a bigger tank that is worth skinning in and building cabinets/cubpoards for that will keep cats/kids out..

Ugh, sorry dude. Sounds like a bad run. I feel for ya.

added victim to my list.

1x250w radium bulb. approx one month use. was going to be switched out in the next month or so for the year old bulb currently on the tank.

it was 7 feet in the air on my shelf by the tank, currently housing all my fish stuff that needs to be kept away from the kids. a few weeks ago the gf moved the cat tree beside the shelf and i guess it took till today for the cat to try to climb up there, perhaps he thought it would be an easy jump into the kitty pool from there..

perhaps the frag tank will be moving to led's sooner than i thought.


on a side note.. any store in Ed carry radiums?


got my calcium reactor stabalized again, and did a 30% wc on the weekend.. coral stn/alkburn/random death appears to have slowed down. hopefully things only get better or i will be going FOWLR for a while. sick of seeing the $$ turn white and throw flesh off in the tank..

Hah on a related/similar note I not sure i want to add any fish right now even though some nice ones are comming in, and i was contemplating some wrasses off BWA's hawiian order.

damit another possible vicim of cat,child, equipment age.. my other mp10 controller fell into the water while i was gone. I thought i had all the cords done tied to the pegboard its on good enough that they would not touch but noo.. it was apparently just hanging in enough to get a little water in the housing but there is a big fried black mark up the middle of it, a little scary it could have started a tank side fire.

this weekends project.. to skin the tank area, making it cat and child proof, wether it looks sexy or not.

I also have not tested my levels yet but someone/thing pulled the feed tube to my calcium reactor out of the water so who knows how long that has been overloading itself<no controller yet doh>


it is obvious which corals are going to pull through and still look good and which are all ready done or probably not going to make it from all these adventures.

all my t5-s are past due for change.. sitting about 11 months right now but I'm going to stretch it out and either go led or upgrade to a more modular MH system<pendants of some kind> I am sick of these 2 little tanks tied together i want something that fills the same space 6-8 feet, unfortunately that wont be in the budget till after christmas unless something falls into my lap.

I do have a used 6' 135G setup with steel stand and sump sitting in the back of my shop right now Jon...cheap cheap.

Enjoyed the meet today, a few new faces I have not met before.

Finally saw and played with the maxspect razor at AI, I still like it and think it looks good for the upstairs tank, but am still tempted to see what i could pull off for DIY for the same price, perhaps over christmas.

I got a few new additions while at Marine experience, and with all the talking at the meet on the drive home i made a couple decisions.

I wrecked my aquascaping that i liked to get to the neon dotty back and finally get him out of the tank. Not sure if I want him gone for good but I want to add a few more fish in there and not worry about him going aggro.

I pulled all the frags from the frag tank and spread them on the dt. fixed the few accidental frags that allways happen when you move rocks smothered in sps, and called it good.

I want to cut down the fish space/expense in the basement for a bit while i save up for upgrades and running a MH light on a bunch of burnt out frags is not really saving heh. something about the thought of wanting to put a nice lookdown frag table in its place has my gears spinning today.

While leaving for a 10 day shift at six am this morning noticing the co2 cylinder will be empty by the end of the day= fail.

Oh well things in that tank can't look any worse than they do now anyway.

I don't need this $h1+ right now: domestic problems in the house so I Might have to shut things down and start over again at another time.

65g sumpless 2 maroons, bicolor blenny, manderin dragonet, cleaner wrasse, lots of zoas + lps, lots of rocks up for easy pickins

55g sps tank, lawnmower blenny, scopas tank, lots of struggling sps corals and lots of rocks. no hardware from this tank at this time.

probably post it up in the for sale section if i get time to take pictures.

Pm me to make any offers or suggestions

Drama averted... as usual more to it than that but The gf has to much going on when I am away at work and doesn't want to deal with the tanks. talked down to leaving them as is or perhaps shutting one down untill i can get the new tank setup.

on a positive note after a week of fiddling around at night when i can I finally popped the overflow off the new tank. it was in very tight to the main glass so tight i can not get a blade in everywhere. the main pains are the same way. Hopes are to strip it apart, change it to an external overflow + wave box, then rebuild it.

then build all the important things like stand, new sump, controller, and extra hardware to make it low maintenance and automatic so the gf and kids can just enjoy it.

Debating going off the zeo, but i will try to get a controller and small doser first before i do something drastic like that :)


BTW


HAPPY NEW YEAR

<celibrating in style with a beer and working on the tank hah>

tank.. is slowly turning around.

running MH now just because

bleached some corals with said mh.

corals that did not bleach are growing and getting better color slowly:rainbowa:

I was planning on getting a second lumenarc 2 reflector and good bulb for the new build, but unless something falls in my lap its only a little bit more to trial that new Rapid led light on the current settup, since for that price it seems so much easier than full diy which was my other option for the new build. I am planning no holds barred on it but also not putting a timeline on it so really how hard is it to spend 300$ to try out something when i have spent XXXhundred on junk and livestock that has been killed over the last few years.

Pics? :-)

So the switch over to MH was just a whim then?

Pics, bah my tank is a mess of barely alive but recovering sps frags/mini colonies with rock covered in apistasia. When I was thinking of a new build i thought i would "cheap" out on mh for a while, really I have been keeping my eyes for used lumenarc 2 reflectors for a while, when one came up at the right price i got it. I need another or some led's by the time the new tank comes up. its amazing how much more light gets into the tank from lumenarc/pheonix/magnetic ballast than with the 250w DE cheapo fixture or the t5ho unit thats now on my low maintenance tank. Also i was not digging the t-5 look, though I could use some t5 or led actinic to extend viewing hours. The lumenarc also throws more of a square which does not evenly light up my 36x18 tank right now.
the pheonix in the fixture supposedly has 6 months on it so i figured get everything growing again then try radium out again once corals aclimate to having proper light.

honestly I am just trying to get everything cleaned up and growing so it looks good when it goes into the new tank.

ok.. impending doom upon the fishtanks as stated a few months back.

my sps tank is slowly turning around. progress on new build is barely crawling along. low maintnance tank keeps getting forgotten about.

Playing with a few short term options.

Shutdown the upstairs tank, sell off what ever coral won't fit in the downstairs tank, sell or cook the rock. use any proffits towards new build.

move upstairs tank to the basement, drill a couple holes into it and tie it into the sps system, either the way it is or as a large LRR. thus adding a crapload of nutrients to the sps system, but who knows that might help things at this point.

hoping i wont have to renovate the house and sell it in a few months but that is not out of the picture yet either, hopfully if i have to move i will have the new build done for the new place.

on top of all that i REALLY need to get a controller and an automated feeder, in case i have to start going on the road again just to keep things sane around the house for the time being.... end of rant


ideas anyone ? buy a couple tangs for the upstairs tank to clean off all the lps and zoas then move all of them on? mostly HA a little other stuff

90% done the transfer, Crammed all the rock into the sump, the 20gLRR and the stuff with corals on it into the DT. still need to transfer some frag sized corals, move the fish and other critters, and sell off/trade/give away some oddballs.

I woke up today minus my male maroon clown that has been around since the start, he was fine last night i assume he jumped and got nibbled, also while moving all the rock i saw none of my shrimp, last week i still had 2 peppermints and 2 fire shrimp. hopefully they are still there somewhere.

all the zoa's opened up under the Phoenix right away so i guess they did not get shocked to much by the move, if they start shrinking from ulns instead of growing i will have to re home them. At least for now they can be cleaned up by team algae munch.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/08/ase8unaz.jpgI think it would be safe to start shutting this tank down.
Livestock only at this point. If you see anything that interests you pm an offer. I will post individual items for sale when I have time

Tank has been unattended since august. Finnaly saw it today. Agter getting the kids to bed and shovelling the walks I figured I could see what is up. Reffugeium had 0 flow to it but this looks to be recent as the water is still high. Skimmer pooched and microbubbling, now cleaned removed one destroyed cerith shell still needed new impeller. Return pump, drasticaly reduced flow, no time to clean that today but I think its slowly getting pooched.

Remaining fish scopas tang and a few cardinals.
Most sps gone..
Most lps.. gone my acans apparently were launching out of their sceletons at some ponint at least there are a few scattered survivors..
Zoas and palys.. some colonys totaly disapeared, a few thriving

Xenia.. monstor sized. Grew up through a few of my sps choking them out..

Hydroids.. a few new patches on rocks they were not on..

Random pest anenemies.. only one huge apastasia in the refugeium..many ..manajoes in the display and a few of those mini bubletip bastards left too but they look scungy not nice like they used to.

Pulled the zeo reactor out since.. there is no point.. then knocked my automatic fish feeder in dumping all the food In...

Hoping the water for a waterchange will finish mixxing before she comes home and I am done here.


Oh well it was nice while it lasted..


Think I am going to try to keep it in this state untill I can set up the next tank. Next build or even the fixing of this one will be lower maintnance.. try to avoid getting the sps bug and hopefully set up to survive up to 6 week shifts...

The 7 foot is parked, I might still use it and the glass for the 105 is still sitting outside in the snow against the stand for the 7 foot, guess I will hoard that for future use too since it never got picked up.

Happy new year!

Sucks to come home to this
Sounds like it's time for you to bail out until you have more time to keep your critters happy and alive

Happy New Year !

Separated with no contact order changed in the last few days.. I would have sold the tank months ago if life was that easy.

Now there is not much woth selling.

Frig. Sorry to hear about that

Don't worry about selling stuff if you can afford to hang onto it
Focus on what you can keep in boxes for later and make a comeback when you can

Well, things can only go uphill (positive) for you from here :boink:
If I were close enough you'd have some help with the bulky stuff

Sorry to hear you're starting the New Year this way, but I gotta tell ya ...

I've been through a couple New Years, and each one is better than the last :wink:

Alright, I lied
That's the crap my GrandPa tried to feed me when I was 5
Honestly, it only gets better when you are happy, and you are only happy when it's better

Chin up dude, it gets better :biggrin: Really :hug:

Chin is up lol.. just thought it was time for a tank update

Well, with a chin as big as Quagmire's I'm sure you'll get through :wink: :lol:

Working in Sylvan lake and renting a place.. Was going to start a small aio.. But asked the landlord if I could start a small tank.. I defined small as 10 to 40 gallons.. And got the green light.. I probably only be here another 10 months or so so I don't want anything to extravagant.. Just something to keep my feet wet... Where then I can finally shut down my 55 tank of most neglect

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Half debating just relocating my whole tank here since asking the landlord went so smoothly... would want to either rebuild my sump or get a smaller sump and new return pump.. kind of want to go internal so if there ever is any plumbing problems it spills back into the sump.

Or stick to my first idea.. something small and simple.. Cube coral tank.. perhaps a few fish..

cube would probably be a in kitchen project.. any other shape,size would be bedroom.. headboard reef perhaps?

moved the tank to Sylvan today... forgot my ro at the other house.. so i guess it can sit the way it sits for now 3/4 full and packed full of rock.

3 pajama cardinals and 1 scopas tang, and a few snails are the obvious survivors..

remaining coral. a few random palys and zoa's, one frag of 15-20 nuclear deaths. 2 large chunks of xenia, one or 2 blue mushrooms a bunch of bright green rodaddactis mushrooms, 1 mini carpet nem, a few bubletip lookalike pest nems. and that is all of note..


I dont want to use the sump that i have, the tank is 36 wide and the sump is 42.. kind of want to finally skirt this thing in.. was debating just using the tote i used to move some rock but then my ato won't function...

oh well.. ill get it figured out.. and those little fuzzy sticks will grow again

A standard 30g tank is 36"L and would make a good sump for your size of tank. Used ones go for pretty cheap. Good luck getting your tank all back together, moving a SW tank is a ton of work.

I bought a 20 long for a sump. small rubber maid for the input/skimmer chamber. This should do until I build or get built a custom sump. Might move some of my excess live rock down there as well, like my peice that 2 years later is still battling dychiota<sp algee>.

Skimmer is not working good as it used to but still pretty good.. a bunch of the pins on the impeller are busted off but there are enough to do the job for the current bioload.

Was debating just doing fish only.. but... now that everything is running again the tank seems empty without some sps in it.
Gotta track down a few cheap starter frags before i get anything fancy again i guess.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2..._47A%20Ave.jpg

Crappy quick cell phone FTS

Went home for a few days to see the kids.. come back and one of my 2 sps test pieces is not doing good. Its not done yet but I do not have much hope.. and to make it worse i decided to **** with the tank more after that.. pulled a bit more rock out to open it up. added some sand to block the light getting down to the sump and.. because i kind of missed having sand.. not much just 1/3 of a bag of seafloor grade. Now i need to get me some sand snails.

I need to build or get built a new sump.. i really don't like this using a plain tank, My first day of days off i was in calgary and did stop and concepts but just my luck everyone was busy on a call.

I am on the fence, probably decide after i get the sump issues sorted out.. to start up the zeo again, and sell off all the "sump rock" or leave all the rock in there and not bother with any crazy ULNS system.... dammed fuzzy sticks why do i like growing you..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...512_130431.jpg

So.. i had a few problems with my ato while in sylvan.. no more sticks. same problems killed one clam that i picked up... moved back to leduc... problem ato died in the move.. so did some of my last few fish and one shrimp. rushed unplanned move.. had no choice.

just over a month later.. things are looking good.. new fish settled in... almost tempted to get some cheap fuzzy sticks again. I wont be working on the road again for a while.. i just got put on disability while i wait for an operation.. dammed work wont put me on modified duties... it kind of sucks as im going to be pretty broke.. but on another note.. i will have lots of time.. perhaps time enough to tackle....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...512_125928.jpg

the 105 i got from Wayne ... 3 years ago now?

if i can get it built and holding water.. then i will build a nice stand for it.. then.. it might be time for fuzzy sticks again :)

Might have to start a new tank journal as well.

I write this journal more for myself than for you guys, so i can keep track of the antics of trying to keep a tank through the possess of separation and having three little monsters.

My tank looks like crap.

the tang i bought back in may, about a month after I got it.. i thought i was out of the woods with it, well one night the cleaner shrimp start riding on it and picking on it.. the next day its a gonner. all ready at that point i was having more HA than in the last posts pics. with no tang just a couple snails picking at the algae the algae got worse and worse and worse, I doubled my GFO up from a quarter to a half a cup and the algae seemed to like it even more and get worse.

I mixed up a batch of water.. and did not use it for a week or three, I go to look in my mixing barel and the water is labout 95 degrees with a thick layer of precipitate.. im like what the hell..

go through a bought of checking all my heaters.. to discover one on my tank is also on on one of those thirty degree days when the tank is 86-88 degrees and the heater is on as well.

down to one heater that works on the tank, and one that works for top up<although the dial is about ten degrees off> ever since fixing the heaters the tank has not toped 80 degrees even on the hottest days.

get the water all to the same temps and do a 10 gallon change<with the screwed up water>

back to the hair algae.. i got some turbo snails.. was like half way done acclimating them something came up and i had to leave.. so i just dumped them in anyways... come home and most of them are still sitting in the same spot stunned. one or two of them perk up and slowly munch away.

one or two die... or i thought they were dead.. so i pick them out with the tongs.. in front of my 7 year old. one was dead and one was just stunned.. the stunned one goes back the dead one i put in the garbage.

next day all the snails i bought are still there but any of my old ones are missing. i get really puzzled and frustrated.. looking in there every time i pass by my tank looking for the missing snails and to see if the few new ones are dead.

somewhere along the line i do another 10 gallon change

no change in the snails
so i buy two more snails while I am in Edmonton.. acclimate them properly

they start off ok, but by the next day they are laying around the bottom not doing anything either.
so I am really frustrated by now

My sons room starts stinking.. it smells kind of gross.. i think one of the kids or dogs must have done a one or a two or both in something and hid it instead of telling me.. get him to clean his room. low and behold these two teeny disposable zip lock containers buried in his room under dirty clothes and blankets.. I honestly thought there was poo and pee floating in them so i got him to put on gloves and clean up his mess but as he carry's them past me i notice its not poo and pee.. but rotting snails... all my missing snails... stinking that whole quadrant of the house up. He has all ways thought its funny to do what dad does and make little tanks everywhere in random objects but i thought i had him out of the habit of taking things out of my tank over two years ago.>

so a week goes by and I am in Edmonton again. I go in to MA with intent to get a couple more snails but thankfully Harvey starts asking me lots of questions and gets me thinking more.

I haven't tested water in forever.. all my test kits are outdated and im not getting new ones till i have stable income again.. but his conclusion is contaminants from the tank or something from the precipitated water is so out of wack its killing them. I get home from that visit set to clean out my water barrel and make more water.. only to find both my cleaner shrimp are done and some of my corals are looking even more rough, I can see most of my mini brittles.. they are not hiding as usual they are more like floating near where they normaly hide, even the brisstle worms are in on the sick.. big chunks of worm lazily hanging on to rock and floating around in the current instead of consciously probing for detrius... panic sets in.

vinegar wash of the brute barrel, let it fill.. mix salt as quick as i can.. and do a change when the kids are not awake and bam.. within minutes the snails start to perk up. not all of them some are st ill rough. so i mix up another barrel and finally today, 3 days after the last change i get to change another barrel. my brute filled to where i put the float switch is about a 27g water change, in a 55 gallon tank + sump so i have probably done a 1/3 water change twice in the last 4 days now. snails are all perking up more.

downside is now I am out of salt, I have one clam in there otherwise I don't really have need of REEF salt, I missed out on someone selling 25$pails of IO on the Edmonton reef group the other day, I guess ill just have to get a tub of io or reefcrystals and keep up the big water changes for a bit till the HA goes away. Perhaps then My disposable income level will come back up.

I put in new gfo today, using the last of the bit i had.. upped it to 3/4 a cup, and fresh carbon (1/2 cup as usual).

I looked at pics of my tank from when it was growing sps like mad and it just made me sad. one day it might be back that way.

Finally unpacked my test kits. DOH, I been back in this house since april.. through a few away after attempting to get results out of expired kits.

Po4 .07 I guess thats why my hair algae keeps on getting on.

the ok news PO4 out of my GFO reactor .01, and in my new water .00

I guess keep on pulling out the HA with the (as of late) frequent water changes, and stay on top of the GFO. I kind of think i probably had High phosphates the whole time i lived in sylvan lake but my now passed scopas tang was hiding any signs of it.
(tang didnt survive the rushed move home in winter temps)
Side note.. alk is low 5 in tank and 6 in fresh reef crystals(easy fix) and ca is high 500 in tank. My MG kit was one of the bunk ones. tanks a long way away from seeing fuzzy sticks again.

Tank is looking awesome for something that only has a few corals and 3 fish. unfortunately i might have to start a NEW tank journal soon since i have been building a tank up over the holidays. trying to figure out the nicest way to do this for my poor sps since the new tank needs to go where the old tank is. Plumbed in a 55 gal holding tank to make the outgoing transfer easier, not sure if i can tie it in to the new system after i get everything moved into place, here is hopping. I will at least take a couple good pics for a final FTS before i tear it down.

I forgot to take a fts before teardown, so here is a "damn im glad i only made one frag" quick shot of the new setup. Hoping the cycle is pretty light. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2017...8696973b07.jpg

my corals need more poo

been lurking forever but no updates. so.. tank had one hickup early summer last year.. corals rebounded... started having minor hickups before christmass, updated peices here and there.. including ading a neptune atk instead of just replacing my float valves on my jbj or moving them to my apex.
think i bought that back on thanksgiving.

have had nothing but ato related failures since then.. a few different ones.. but now down to either just repeatedly failed sensors/defective sensor port

most of my sps are dead.. i had a few barely hanging on a few weeks ago.. but i moved one of my power heads it blew some sand around and over a few days all my remaining newer sps rtn/stn.. guessing the ole disturb the sand and screw your tank syndrome.. i am down to a couple ancient monties barely hanging on. have not tested sh@#$ all through most of the mess.. i know whats wrong most of the time.

not getting rid of the tank but.. almost that frustrated.

fish are supposed to be to make the corals nice looking not be the only thing to look at but for now ill be fowlr+ whatever left.
also going to slowly suck out the sanded.. leaving a very shallow layer in with whatever rubble is in there.

currently running the top off outlet on a timer and relying on the float valve. but things are staying stable that way instead of ... drying out the return chamber.. burning out pumps.. and having the tank go empty like it was before...

That sounds like a mess! hang in there, get your ATO tuned and salinity consistent. Then work on ALK/CAL/MAG stability. With minimal corals you should be able to do biweekly WC and maintain for a while. Then PO4 and nitrates.

Hopefully you can get it all back on track, start back with some zoas so you get some nice color pop to look at. Then ease back in to SPS :smile:.

Well now that I don't have a job to keep me from fixing things in the tank. Worked with neptune to get my issues sorted out. When I got the atk I did all steps but it appears the apex classic dashboard did not update its webpages properly, add a couple capped out sensors and me working on the road and we get here. New sensors in the mail and things appear to be working correctly. It appeared to be working correctly in the past though it was only when nobody is home things act up. Neptune support was great I wish I had the time to start a ticket months ago. Now let's get this tank restocked while I have limited income lol.

lost the edit so.. FTS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...609_100425.jpg

Found a quick and easy way to deal with my bubble tip infestation.

pull rock.

spot spray hydrogen peroxide on bubble tip

wait 1-2 mins

pry foot with something small

bubble tip falls off into garbage.


Have not tried with mushrooms yet but i do not think it will work on them. and no need to put hundreds of ****ed off mushroom babies back in my tank.

This has worked on a few (purple) mushrooms that I've tried this method with. Also has worked for aiptasia for me. This is what I do. Except I don't pull out my rocks. I directly inject them with a syringe full of hydrogen peroxide. Watch them melt from the inside out. It is very satisfying. I use 30% peroxide, not the wimpy 3% stuff from drug stores.