Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board  

Go Back   Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board > General > Tank Journal

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 04-02-2008, 05:26 AM
Marlin65's Avatar
Marlin65 Marlin65 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: New Westminster
Posts: 1,024
Marlin65 is on a distinguished road
Default

Nice additions too your tank I was thinking about you today OA has a nice Majestic angel there a big one he must be at least 5" I thought he would fit in your tank quite well.
__________________
150 Gal system 3'x3' 400W M/H, Bekett skimmer, Dart return,1/4 HP Chiller
180 Gal Drop tank, LED lights, Bubble master 250 skimmer,Hammerhead on a closed loop, Speed wave return.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-02-2008, 05:29 AM
Marlin65's Avatar
Marlin65 Marlin65 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: New Westminster
Posts: 1,024
Marlin65 is on a distinguished road
Default

Did you get another cleaner I only saw one when I was there?
__________________
150 Gal system 3'x3' 400W M/H, Bekett skimmer, Dart return,1/4 HP Chiller
180 Gal Drop tank, LED lights, Bubble master 250 skimmer,Hammerhead on a closed loop, Speed wave return.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-02-2008, 06:31 AM
argan's Avatar
argan argan is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Kamloops (Brock)
Posts: 189
argan is on a distinguished road
Send a message via MSN to argan
Default

It looks like the gorgonians on that rock contracted the gobies to build them a wall around their property. :P
__________________
My Other Car is a Reef Tank
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-03-2008, 06:00 AM
untamed's Avatar
untamed untamed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 2,248
untamed is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by argan View Post
It looks like the gorgonians on that rock contracted the gobies to build them a wall around their property. :P
I have a couple of non-fishy friends that drop by regularly to see the tank and they thought I built the mound myself. They couldn't believe that the fish did it in only a few days.

They build so fast that they buried a large snail. When the snail decided to move out, it caused a collapse near their entrance. It was really amazing to watch them set about to repair it because they carefully selected large objects to fill the hole. The larger one grabbed a very large rock from some ways away and dropped it directly over the hole. The smaller one then manipulated that rock to test fit it a few different ways before they moved on to bury that rock with additional small rubble.

Another entertaining few minutes at the tank!
__________________
400 gal reef. Established April, 2007. 3 Sequence Dart, RM12-4 skimmer, 2 x OM4Ways, Yellow Tang, Maroon Clown (pair), Blonde Naso Tang, Vlamingi Tang, Foxface Rabbit, Unicorn Tang, 2 Pakistani Butterflies and a few coral gobies

My Tank: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28436
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-19-2008, 06:01 PM
untamed's Avatar
untamed untamed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 2,248
untamed is on a distinguished road
Default Ca Reactor challenges

For some time now, I've been challenged to keep the tank's alkalinity up. Each time I noticed the alk falling, I would increase the flow to the reactor a bit. Eventually, I hit the max output of my pump (117ml/min)...and began to think..."this isn't right!".

My Ca/Alk usage shouldn't be extremely high...yet. My corals aren't large enough and there are lots of other tanks with much more coral that haven't max'd their Ca reactor.

One popular theory was that I was flowing so much water through the reactor that I was not allowing time for the media to dissolve. I began to measure the alk output of the reactor. My first reading was 13! (I was hearing other people had readings over 20).

So I began to turn the reactor flow down, and measure the output every day. I got right down to 65ml/minute and the alk had only increased to 14. No...this wasn't a flow problem.

So I started working on the pH. I dropped the pH of the reactor from 6.6 to 6.55...no change. I dropped the pH to 6.50, no change....

Then, I recalibrated my pH probe and dropped the reactor to 6.45. Alkalinity jumped to 24! As always, because I had done two things I don't know which solved the problem. I strongly suspect that the probe had become inaccurate.

Anyway...the lesson learned is.."Calibrate your reactor pH probe frequently".
__________________
400 gal reef. Established April, 2007. 3 Sequence Dart, RM12-4 skimmer, 2 x OM4Ways, Yellow Tang, Maroon Clown (pair), Blonde Naso Tang, Vlamingi Tang, Foxface Rabbit, Unicorn Tang, 2 Pakistani Butterflies and a few coral gobies

My Tank: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28436
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 04-30-2008, 12:22 AM
untamed's Avatar
untamed untamed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 2,248
untamed is on a distinguished road
Default Routine day in the tank....

The gobies continue to make a remarkable difference to the overall look of the tank. My entire sand bed is now perfectly clean and tossed, all the time. The down side is that the water column is not as clear as before. There is always some very fine sediment being kicked up by the gobies somewhere. I'm hoping it clears out eventually, but I can live with it if it doesn't.

Twice now, the gobies (Bonnie and Clyde) have piled up the gravel so high that it starts to cover some corals on the lower rocks. They have smothered a couple of corals and some have had some die back.

Bonnie (the smaller one) gave us a bit of a scare recently when she disappeared for nearly 3 days. From what I've read, this might be consistent with breeding behaviour. It is possible that she would have disappeared for longer if her health had been enough to sustain her in her burrow. As is, it may have been a practice run.

Enough words...here's some pictures!

The Atlantic Blue Tang is really striking colour. It is really hard to describe, but I've come close to capturing it with this picture.


The dynamic digging duo....


Pitstop at the cleaning station...
__________________
400 gal reef. Established April, 2007. 3 Sequence Dart, RM12-4 skimmer, 2 x OM4Ways, Yellow Tang, Maroon Clown (pair), Blonde Naso Tang, Vlamingi Tang, Foxface Rabbit, Unicorn Tang, 2 Pakistani Butterflies and a few coral gobies

My Tank: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28436

Last edited by untamed; 04-30-2008 at 12:25 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 04-30-2008, 04:13 AM
Pan's Avatar
Pan Pan is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Didsbury
Posts: 1,137
Pan is on a distinguished road
Default

Beautiful Atlantic Tang.
Mine has blue edges and just a hint of blue anywhere else, still very young.
__________________
I once had a Big tank...I now have two Huskies and a coyote



Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 04-03-2008, 01:51 AM
untamed's Avatar
untamed untamed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Coquitlam
Posts: 2,248
untamed is on a distinguished road
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marlin65 View Post
Nice additions too your tank I was thinking about you today OA has a nice Majestic angel there a big one he must be at least 5" I thought he would fit in your tank quite well.
I was also at OA today. They actually had two of those Majestics. Ran into TomR at the same time...small world. I wonder how long it takes a Majestic to get that large? Mine is nice and fat, but isn't growing noticeably. (not like the Vlamingi, who I swear gets bigger every single day. He just passed the White Cheek Tank in overall size a few days ago)



I did start with one cleaner, but added the 2nd one quite a while ago. They split up frequently, so they both may have been there.
__________________
400 gal reef. Established April, 2007. 3 Sequence Dart, RM12-4 skimmer, 2 x OM4Ways, Yellow Tang, Maroon Clown (pair), Blonde Naso Tang, Vlamingi Tang, Foxface Rabbit, Unicorn Tang, 2 Pakistani Butterflies and a few coral gobies

My Tank: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=28436

Last edited by untamed; 04-03-2008 at 01:55 AM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 12:48 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.