430gal., L-shaped display
- Thread starter "Umm fish?"
- Start date
- Status
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Well, thanks y'all! I love taking pictures of small things. The past couple years have been killing me.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
The 90 is cycled! No ammonia, no nitrites, and a little nitrate. And man, is it a mess in there. Diatoms everywhere, hair algae, and this is the tank with the aiptasia rock.
The rest of the tanks are not through the cycle yet, though the deep sand bed tank has a huge crop of hair algae. I put a few hermit crabs in there yesterday.
But, we have first fish! A pair of Chaetodon auriga, the threadfin butterfly. Very definitely not reef safe and mentioned by name by Scott Michaels for controlling aiptasia.
Butterfly #1:
And #2 (please excuse the demon eyes). This one got a little lip damage trying to get it out of the dealer's tank:
The pair:
And #1 again:
The rest of the tanks are not through the cycle yet, though the deep sand bed tank has a huge crop of hair algae. I put a few hermit crabs in there yesterday.
But, we have first fish! A pair of Chaetodon auriga, the threadfin butterfly. Very definitely not reef safe and mentioned by name by Scott Michaels for controlling aiptasia.
Butterfly #1:
And #2 (please excuse the demon eyes). This one got a little lip damage trying to get it out of the dealer's tank:
The pair:
And #1 again:
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Heh Andy. I would clean up those pieces of PVC pipe if I were you. The fish may pick at the burrs and hurt their mouths.
Just a thought. Nice fish though. What’s the plan -- I assume they're not going in the reef tank?
Just a thought. Nice fish though. What’s the plan -- I assume they're not going in the reef tank?
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thanks, Greg! Yeah, it took getting the metal guys back a couple of times to get those doors adjusted right (mostly right), but I really like how they ended up. Functionally they get up and completely out of the way and aesthetically they look pretty darn nice.
And thanks to you Alan! I didn't clean them in the first place 'cause I couldn't find the box with my files but I pulled the pieces back out and wiped the edges vigorously with a towel and it seemed to do pretty well. So, thanks for reminding me.
I saw one of the butterflies eat a small Aiptasia this morning! The one with the lip injury seems to be healing.
The plan for them is to leave one of the 90s as a fish-only tank. So, I can (and will!) keep these guys as long as I can.
Zero readings on everything in the 90. The rest of the system is still stuck on a low level of ammonia and zero for nitrites and nitrates. Harumph.
And thanks to you Alan! I didn't clean them in the first place 'cause I couldn't find the box with my files but I pulled the pieces back out and wiped the edges vigorously with a towel and it seemed to do pretty well. So, thanks for reminding me.
I saw one of the butterflies eat a small Aiptasia this morning! The one with the lip injury seems to be healing.
The plan for them is to leave one of the 90s as a fish-only tank. So, I can (and will!) keep these guys as long as I can.
Zero readings on everything in the 90. The rest of the system is still stuck on a low level of ammonia and zero for nitrites and nitrates. Harumph.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Yeah, right? 
I'm a pretty patient guy but I'm ready for water. It's been ... 14 months on this thread now?
We've been hiding.
Thanks, Joey!
The rock guy is finally fairly close to what I want. He's going to come back and--hopefully--finish up tomorrow. Then I shall begin flushing it out. The worry on that is the weather. We're supposed to get a snow storm starting tomorrow PM and continuing through Friday. I'm not sure it'll stop me, though.
I'm a pretty patient guy but I'm ready for water. It's been ... 14 months on this thread now?We've been hiding.
Thanks, Joey!
The rock guy is finally fairly close to what I want. He's going to come back and--hopefully--finish up tomorrow. Then I shall begin flushing it out. The worry on that is the weather. We're supposed to get a snow storm starting tomorrow PM and continuing through Friday. I'm not sure it'll stop me, though.
Hopeful Reefer
Premium Member
Hmmm...I think more pics are in order!! 
falesdk
New member
Wow, a snowstorm...We just had a prespring thaw and I'd forgotten that its going to snow again. I hate that!
I think its really neat how you've decided to do all those tanks separately and plumb them together. I'd love to have a bunch of different tanks that I could play with!
I think its really neat how you've decided to do all those tanks separately and plumb them together. I'd love to have a bunch of different tanks that I could play with!
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Well, you know, it was 70 last week. Yesterday was weird: in the middle of the afternoon we had a 30 minute snowstorm, then the sun came out and thawed everything, then overnight we got two more inches. It was all gone by this afternoon but tomorrow it's supposed to start again. Weird.
Yeah, I like having the water volume divided like this. It really gives me a lot of flexibility on what to do with them all.
I added three peppermints to the butterfly tank, still hoping to kill aiptasia. The butterflies are, in fact, eating them but only the small ones. Immediately the butterflies were fighting over who could be most passive and get cleaned first. The peps went ahead and cleaned them. Pretty cool.
I also got a couple of conchs and some nassarius snails for the DSB.
No photos yet (there's still concrete all over the glass of the tank), but he should have that cleaned up tomorrow. Then, lots of photos.
Yeah, I like having the water volume divided like this. It really gives me a lot of flexibility on what to do with them all.
I added three peppermints to the butterfly tank, still hoping to kill aiptasia. The butterflies are, in fact, eating them but only the small ones. Immediately the butterflies were fighting over who could be most passive and get cleaned first. The peps went ahead and cleaned them. Pretty cool.
I also got a couple of conchs and some nassarius snails for the DSB.
No photos yet (there's still concrete all over the glass of the tank), but he should have that cleaned up tomorrow. Then, lots of photos.
Ok I don't know which thread to follow, here or masc? I think they are almost identical for the updates. I just don't want to miss the next set of pics and was wondering when I could come up and take a little peek? I know, you need to get more life in there but I could always look at the spot the shrimp was, I'm sure it is liquified now. Glad to see you are in the final turn of this awesome setup.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Hey Cris! I try to keep the updates consistent on all the threads but the discussions flow on their own on whichever site. You can certainly come up whenever you'd like. The concrete guy is supposed to finish up the rockwork tomorrow. After that I'll just be rinsing rock. The fishroom is _really_ ugly right now. Hair algae and diatoms everywhere and my culture of DIBS snails died off a few months ago. So, I'll be playing catch-up on the herbivory. But yeah, any time.
So, the update:
Wow! I just watched one of these butterflies take down a large aiptasia. It was a cool technique! It faced the polyp and used its pectoral fins (really quickly) to move the water quickly and from multiple directions around the polyp until the polyp retracted its tentacles. As soon as the tentacles were out of the way--wham--a quick strike at the base of the anemone. Way cool!
So, the update:
Wow! I just watched one of these butterflies take down a large aiptasia. It was a cool technique! It faced the polyp and used its pectoral fins (really quickly) to move the water quickly and from multiple directions around the polyp until the polyp retracted its tentacles. As soon as the tentacles were out of the way--wham--a quick strike at the base of the anemone. Way cool!
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
So, Cris.... My lovely bride and daughter both just came down with a fever again today. So, maybe in a week or so....
So, the rock guy finished up today. He stained the rocks--despite the fact they'll be covered in six months--and he did a lovely job. He used greens and browns, though, so they look like freshwater rocks, but still. I have to say, he did a really nice job on the concrete work and I'd use him again.
In fact, as long as I'm throwing recommendations around, Mike--the system designer and installer from Aqua Imports--did a fantastic job of taking all of my various interests and designing up a system that lets me pursue them. And then of getting the system installed and (almost) up-and-running. I'd _certainly_ use him again.
I can't say as I'd really steer anyone toward the tank builder, but we were pretty desperate after the whole Aquariums for You debacle and it does seem like the tank's going to hold water.
So, all that said, photos:
I took a bunch of flash pics, but they didn't really turn out. This is the best of the bunch:
Then I tried without flash. Here are a couple _with water!!!_
So, the rock guy finished up today. He stained the rocks--despite the fact they'll be covered in six months--and he did a lovely job. He used greens and browns, though, so they look like freshwater rocks, but still. I have to say, he did a really nice job on the concrete work and I'd use him again.
In fact, as long as I'm throwing recommendations around, Mike--the system designer and installer from Aqua Imports--did a fantastic job of taking all of my various interests and designing up a system that lets me pursue them. And then of getting the system installed and (almost) up-and-running. I'd _certainly_ use him again.
I can't say as I'd really steer anyone toward the tank builder, but we were pretty desperate after the whole Aquariums for You debacle and it does seem like the tank's going to hold water.
So, all that said, photos:
I took a bunch of flash pics, but they didn't really turn out. This is the best of the bunch:
Then I tried without flash. Here are a couple _with water!!!_
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Thanks, y'all! The copepods were pretty easy. They pretty much stay on the same plane. It's not like trying to shoot bumblebees or anything. It's more like trying to take a picture of snowflakes. But, yeah, I know what you mean. "I never knew I wanted to see one of those, but I always wanted to see one of those."
I don't know what type of stain. It's the same thing he used when he did the zoo exhibits.
I don't know what type of stain. It's the same thing he used when he did the zoo exhibits.
"Umm fish?"
Premium Member
Hmm. Being sick of watching test not change I didn't test water quality for a couple of days. Today: ammonia, 0; nitrite, 0; nitrate, 0. I have to try that again tomorrow before I believe it.
So, Mike came by today to work on some things and he actually cleaned up the fishroom for me (which was way beyond the call of duty Mike--thanks!). So, a bunch of photos:
Still with the ugly stairs. Sigh. The inspector is supposed to come by again on Tuesday.
Only one of the tanks still needs a set of bulbs. All of the bulbs that came in this week arrived broken.
DSB. The conchs are starting to get hold of the algae problem.
Obligatory skimmer shot:
And the butterflies. The one with the lip injury (that's almost healed now) is the passive one. The other spent a lot of time last evening following the injured one around behind and below, occasionally nudging the abdomen. Hmm.
Thanks!
So, Mike came by today to work on some things and he actually cleaned up the fishroom for me (which was way beyond the call of duty Mike--thanks!). So, a bunch of photos:
Still with the ugly stairs. Sigh. The inspector is supposed to come by again on Tuesday.
Only one of the tanks still needs a set of bulbs. All of the bulbs that came in this week arrived broken.
DSB. The conchs are starting to get hold of the algae problem.
Obligatory skimmer shot:
And the butterflies. The one with the lip injury (that's almost healed now) is the passive one. The other spent a lot of time last evening following the injured one around behind and below, occasionally nudging the abdomen. Hmm.
Thanks!
- Status
