240G Dream Tank of Frustration

[maron6977]

Sorry , no pics this time .
Been trying to get dosers dialed in . I'm close.
Added a few frags , thanks to Ryan & Walter. They seem to be doing good so far , except for 1 - tenius . A bit of STN , but alk is still a bit high - 10 . Moved it & see how it goes.
Picked up a few fish - 2 x anthias , naso , power blue & 2x star fish .
Power blue had ich & I don't have a quarantine tank , so in he went . I'm not super worried about that , cause I know the rest of my fish are quite health.
So far , so good . Ich is very minimal & no signs on any other fish . Now just get him eating & fattened up !
Staining pieces for canopy but weather permitting . Got to finish soon otherwise I'll have to wait till next June . Should be done in 1 week & hopefully I can sit back & enjoy it for a bit - till the next water change .


Flow - I added 2x hydor pumps cycling every 2min for 8hrs day .
Found it was a little much , turned them off & just running the gyre 150 . Surprising it seems good , right now just enough . Amazing for just 1 pump !
Mark

[maron6977]

Well, adding the fish with ich was one of the worst things I've done since starting this hobby 10yrs ago. It started off not too bad , then ramped up drastically over the next week . My tangs all had it bad & triggers . Tried Medic , garlic & fired up UV it seemed to help , but after another week the rest of the fish were getting it pretty bad . So it's been 3 weeks , tangs & triggers are looking pretty good . But a lot of the smaller fish have started dying off . Figure I've lost at least 10 ! And , oh Ya , power blue died after first week . Ich wasn't too bad but just wouldn't eat.

I remember having ich a couple times over my history & was never this bad .

On the flip side , everything else looks pretty good , considering .

[Duckhams]

Originally Posted by maron6977

Well, adding the fish with ich was one of the worst things I've done since starting this hobby 10yrs ago. It started off not too bad , then ramped up drastically over the next week . My tangs all had it bad & triggers . Tried Medic , garlic & fired up UV it seemed to help , but after another week the rest of the fish were getting it pretty bad . So it's been 3 weeks , tangs & triggers are looking pretty good . But a lot of the smaller fish have started dying off . Figure I've lost at least 10 ! And , oh Ya , power blue died after first week . Ich wasn't too bad but just wouldn't eat.

I remember having ich a couple times over my history & was never this bad .

On the flip side , everything else looks pretty good , considering .

So sorry to hear that. It sounds like you put up a good fight trying to save them, and thank you for sharing your experience so honestly. If you don't have/can't setup a QT, maybe the LFS you purchase fish from will hold them for you in a medicated QT tank. This isn't ideal, but still another line of defence.

[maron6977]

So picked up a 26g bow front tank , stand , light & aqua clear filter . Gonna set it up as a quarantine .
Is that filter good enough ? Would I need a skimmer ???
Thinking to add live rock , etc out of my main tank sump & get everything going . Figure I got a couple months !

[Myka]

Originally Posted by maron6977

So picked up a 26g bow front tank , stand , light & aqua clear filter . Gonna set it up as a quarantine .
Is that filter good enough ? Would I need a skimmer ???
Thinking to add live rock , etc out of my main tank sump & get everything going . Figure I got a couple months !

Excellent! The filter is fine, you may want to add a small Koralia or other type of cheap powerhead as some medications lower the oxygen level and pointing a powerhead at the surface helps with gas exchange. It helps to keep the scum off the surface too. You don't need a skimmer. Keep in mind that you won't be able to keep larger fish like Tangs or Rabbitfish in a QT that size though.

There are two ways (or many more) to set up a QT using live rock. The first method is you medicate with the rock/sand in the QT and that rock/sand has been sacrificed. It can never be used for a reef tank ever again. Or, you can use live rock, but skip the sand, and if you have to medicate you can remove the rock and replace it with a few pieces of PVC pipe. On the other hand, you can skip the live rock and sand and just use PVC pipe, or buy a couple fake plastic rock/coral formations. I've found that fish do better and are more comfortable if you provide either real live rock or fake formations rather than PVC. I think it's mainly due to the color - the darker colors help the fish feel more comfortable.

[maron6977]

Just to show it isn't a complete disaster !

[input80]

Looking really good Mark.