150 Gallon Build Thread

[goochesfish]

I took my biopellets off line too and left sitting it around with stagnant water. I also now run only 6 bulbs on my ati.

 

[inktomi]

Check out this amazing catch from the Divers Den today...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30998766@N03/6346261608/" title="Acropora plana by inktomi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6060/6346261608_95afe69c09.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="Acropora plana"></a>

Acropora plana. Should be here on Wednesday.

 

[goochesfish]

I'd like to see the colors in your tank. That's a beautiful coral. Hw big is it supposed to be?

 

[inktomi]

They always brown out some in shipping and come back over the next few months. It's supposed to be about 4"

 

[strout]

Make sure you keep us updated with pics of this corral, will look nice in your tank.

 

[inktomi]

One thing I really need to do soon is switch my bulbs. They're getting up there in age and I'm blaming them for my cyano.

 

[ohm786]

Great build!

 

[inktomi]

Thank you for that compliment!

I just bought a canister filter to use as a vacuum in the tank.. really trying to keep things cleaned up and looking nice. How else will I win tank of the month? =p

The coral should be here around lunchtime. I turn my lights off for coral or fish additions, but I'll put up a photo of it under actinic light as I'm leaving back to work.

 

[AlfieReef]

Awesome collection. I love the morish idol also. I've had one for a short period of time, they are difficult to keep, I hope you have better luck than me.

 

[inktomi]

Mine seems to be doing well. It was added around 3/24/2010, so we're going on two years in my tank now.

 

[inktomi]

We'll see if this works for me or not. The acros always look better in the photos from the store, but this one has lots of potential to color up. It doesn't look bad, even right out of the bag.

 

[goochesfish]

The coral looks pretty good. i don't know what they do with the lighting when a coral is photographed for sale. I am having cyano on the sand and I vacuum and it returns before weeks end. Then I tried blowing the sand with baster and cyano returns by the next day. How do you keep from sucking all the sand out?

 

[inktomi]

I use one of those gravel vacuums that they sell for freshwater tanks and vacuum the sand weekly. It's not enough to help though.. need to get my refugium going again (died after the light burnt out and I didn't notice it).

My sand isn't a deep sand bed, so I just vacum it out weekly with my water change. Doing that tonight in fact.

 

[eagle9252]

what kind of fish is this?

 

[inktomi]

That's a spotted mandarin, captive bred by ORA. Live Aquaria's Divers Den has them in singles and pairs pretty often - I'm sure your LFS could order them as well.

This guy mostly eats pods and whatnot around the tank, but I've seen him/her eating bits of mysis and that sort of thing as well if they're in the right part of the tank at the right time for it to see them.

Great little fish, interesting to watch it go around looking for things to eat.

 

[inktomi]

Just an update with the battle I've been going through. SPS nightmare!

I've lost three of my favorite colonies, including two that have been going strong for months (over a year in one case), and my millipora is holding in it's polyps as well. Not a good sign.

I can't seem to figure out what's what with the tank, nothing chemically seems to be out of wack. I hope this is the last of it!

[edit]
Also, my clam died. I got it at Reef-a-Palooza last year, and it had been growing and doing well.. then suddenly.. empty shell

 

[inktomi]

Still having issues with the tank.. pretty discouraging! I've lost basically all my favorite SPS, and yet everything that I can test for tests fine. Ph, Temp, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Alk, Calcium, Mag..

It wouldn't be so discouraging if I had something that I could test, something that I could fix. Gaaa!!

It'll come around. It has to. I'll just up on the maintenance and water changes and cleaning and just try to make sure anything intangible is perfect..

 

[inktomi]

In an attempt to bring some excitement to the tank, to avoid it all being too depressing, I purchased a Burgess Butterflyfish. The thinking here is that since all my parameters are perfect every time I test the water, that maybe there isn't enough nutrients in the system or something along those lines.

I did some research, and in the few years between now and ordering a pair of Tinkeri butterflyfish I thought that it would be good to start with something a bit more common - and the Burgess Butterflyfish seem to be hardy and reasonably easy to take care of. So here we are! It's doing well in my QT tank at the moment, arrived today. It's already picking at the rocks - and taken care of the few aptasia that were in the tank.

I'm still battling whatever it is that is annoying my SPS. Acropora are being inundated by something - montipora are doing fine. Nothing comes off when I blast the corals with a baster, so I don't think it's a pest.

It starts with cyano, and then the tips of the coral die back, and cyano attaches, and aggravates the polyps, and they recede, and it's a vicious cycle. ARG!!!!

 

[jeffreylam1132]

That's a gorgeous fish! Does it nip at corals or clam?

 

[inktomi]

It might go for clam, and LPS is a possibility with any butterfly. I don't have much in the way of LPS though, so I'm not too worried about nipping. It's in the QT tank at the moment, so there's nothing for it to nip at. I did buy a few clams at the store today - going to try offering one on the half shell tomorrow.

BIG NEWS! I finally figured out what I've been battling! It's dinoflagellates - for sure. I thought it was cyano, but it has all the halmarks of dinos. It's horrible, horrible news - but at least I know what I'm fighting.