45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!

[chrishayes]

Kudos Man!!!!!!! That's great news! I'm dealing with that same issue with my male Lyretail anthia.. He won't eat anything but frozen or live food.. The females.... no problems... they eat everything.. So, he continues to look like a crack-head even though I feed frozen at least once a day.. I try to double up the forzen feedings on the weekend, but even then it can be difficult with my schedule.. Honestly, if I could get him aout and maybe try another male, I would..

Yeah if I could get him out I would for sure. I decided to feed the rods real heavy this morning like real heavy, so well see how that tides him over for the week. I have been getting a green film on the glass every day or two so im thinking I need to up the vodka dose a little rather than feed less cause the coral look so much better with the increased feeding...I dont know Ill try it awhile and see.

Chris,

Good to hear things are coming along. Love the FTS. how's the fuge doing? Did all the macro make it?

yeah things are starting to look a little less bleek for me. Ive had a really tough time with this surgery, its taken a toll on me emotionally which I have a hard time dealing with but im getting better and stronger everyday.

The fuge is still going although not growing much. I havent had to harvest anything for months. All your macros made it except the dragons tounge one or whatever it was called...I just took a bunch of pictures but the fuge lights were off so ill get a picture when they come on and post one for you tonight.

Good news glad to hear you were able to do your own water change. That is good news indeed. As for the cardinal I have never had one before but they do seem skittish from other fish around them that I've seen.
Anyway to answer your question from the other page. I havent quite decided what build to do. Either a small tank in the dining room, 30x24x22 or a larger one in the living room. 45x30x22. Larger sounds ideal of course but not sure about the upkeep cost vs the upkeep cost on the smaller tank. Plus the dining room / kitchen is where the family spends the bulk of our time. The living room is smaller so not used as much but has a spot avaiable for a larger tank. A decision I've been going back and forth on for months. I take a lot of time to decide.

If I were you I would try to do the biggest tank possible in the most active area of your home. No one wants to go somewhere they arent comfortable to view their tank. You want to enjoy it rather than being anti social with it. I for sure would give up tank size for viewability anyday. Hope that helps your decision. Remember size doesnt matter, right?

 

[chrishayes]

Here are the pics I took. I decided not to do a progression slide today but I intend to eventually when I get the motivation so I figure ill just post them for now. THings are doing well in the tank. Everything that is supposed to be a good color is but the rest of my noname coral are just heathy and brown like they are supposed to be i guess. The tips have good color but I believe thats just the way they are. My tank is about as stable and healthy as Ive ever had so thats my assumtion anyways. Notice the rocks have all been covered in coralline finally which is giving the tank a much more established look. I dont know if its related but it came on when I started feeding heavier. Anyhow, on to the pics.

In the center of this pic is the blue ridge coral that I told you guys about. Hasnt done much but its got good PE and color.

growing well

This tri color was nothing more than a few polyps when I started this tank and has just all of a sudden started taking off and coloring up for me. Sweet!

 

[chrishayes]

My little monitpora experiment.

Hammerspawn is at about 20 heads now and gets more green everytime I feed the tank heavy.

 

[chrishayes]

Zooanthids that look great but dont grow.

Great growth, no color

great color, no growth lol

 

[chrishayes]

 

[chrishayes]

Here ya go skinnipuppi

 

[aquaph8]

Very nice Chris.

 

[chrishayes]

Very nice Chris.

Thanks Brett! I feel its coming around.

On a sad note, the cardinal that I was worried about was stuck to my mp40 yesterday. Guess I dont have to worry about him eating anymore. Damn that makes me sad, hate losing fish, especially to starvation. Its cruel in my book.

Anyone want to suggest a few fish to replace it with? I had a trio of them and they werent neagatively affecting my water quality so I can put some more schoolers or solitary fishes in there I feel. I want something that can stand up for itself with my current fish load. They are: Coral beauty, 2 perculas, YWG, sixline wrasse, saddle blenny.

I love the idea of small schooling fish but the options are limited to either mean old chromis or frail cardinals. Neither of which are on my list. Oh, no jumpers either, still open topped. So help me out fellas!

 

[Dana42078]

Still looking good Chris. Sorry to hear about your fish. I've seen some pretty cool looking athenia's. Pretty sure they can hold their own. I feel ya on the no color poopy sps. I have a rainbow milli that's is really bushy/healthy and is brown. But the tips are bright purple! What do you keep your alk at?

 

[chrishayes]

8.3-8.5 and rock solid. Ive kept it that way from the beginning. Cal fluctuated on me. I first let it fall in line with the IO numbers and equal additions of enough alk to keep it at the above number. However, the number it settled on was 400 and I dont like to keep it that low so I bumped it to 430 which is the balanced cal to alk of 8.3 and have kept it there with longer dosing times on the pumps and IO's cal being 330.

Ive thought about going back to reef crystals and bump the dosing to get numbers higher just to see what happens but ive not done it since my tank is doing ok where its at, plus my numbers are so stable I dont want to risk going through another crazy amount of testing to dial in a new number...ill probably leave it alone.

 

[jbanks]

Hey Careful wih RC when Carbon dosing, where you want to keep your al no higher than what it is right now.... RC mixes with an Alk of like 11 the last time I used it and can raise your alk over time... If your water changes are small, then it should not make that much of a difference.. I ran into this issue with my tank and end of having to mix it with another salt to finish what I had..


As for fish replacements ... wrasses.... Simply love em'

 

[Acronic]

sorry to hear about the cardinal, I also just lost three of mine it sucks. I like Jon's idea of a wrasse, there are some fabulous species. Also basslets are super cool.

Tank looks great btw

 

[Reef_Noob]

Hiya Chris,
Sorry about the fish loss. They are beautiful fish. Maybe it's some kinda odd ball ya got that dint eat.
As replacement il suggest maybe some blue chromis. Or few firefish

Guess IMHO stick to the salt that ya using. Adjust Ca by dosing. 430 seems to be a good number.

Your refugium looks beautiful and full of life.

 

[chrishayes]

Hey Careful wih RC when Carbon dosing, where you want to keep your al no higher than what it is right now.... RC mixes with an Alk of like 11 the last time I used it and can raise your alk over time... If your water changes are small, then it should not make that much of a difference.. I ran into this issue with my tank and end of having to mix it with another salt to finish what I had..


As for fish replacements ... wrasses.... Simply love em'

Hey good looking out jon but Im aware of the alk levels when carbon dosing. I was saying that I was thinking of quiting the vodka and switching to RC to try the higher elements and dirtier water approach. I shouldve said it that way but I assume all the time, one of my many faults...speaking of wrasses, my sixline went mia on me just a day after the cardinal died. He had to have jumped cause he was extrememly heathy and well adjusted. Hed been with me for quite a few years. I dont have a cover on my tank so it makes me hesitant to get another type of wrasse, I hate tile surfing fish.

sorry to hear about the cardinal, I also just lost three of mine it sucks. I like Jon's idea of a wrasse, there are some fabulous species. Also basslets are super cool.

Tank looks great btw

Thanks Brett, I like the idea of an old school royal gramma too! I still think its one of the nicest looking fish out there. It would also fit right in to my band of bullys. Cheap too!

Hiya Chris,
Sorry about the fish loss. They are beautiful fish. Maybe it's some kinda odd ball ya got that dint eat.
As replacement il suggest maybe some blue chromis. Or few firefish

Guess IMHO stick to the salt that ya using. Adjust Ca by dosing. 430 seems to be a good number.

Your refugium looks beautiful and full of life.

yeah I dont intend to change my numbers, Im just dreaming, you know how it goes. The grass is always greener sort of thing. About the chromis, Id love them but ive never heard anything good about them. Firefish wouldnt last a day in my open top tank either. I think its gonna be a captive bangai harem or a single bangai and a royal gramma. THat will give me a nice mix of hardy boisterous fish. Bland as all hell though, oh well im not a high end kinda guy anyways...

 

[jbanks]

Gotcha! I'm assuming your light is a single-ended MH, that's unshielded (toss this next statement out if I'm wrong. lol) It's always been my opinion that a tank lit with single-ended unshileded MHs is much more forgiving of nutrients than a T5 tank(due to less intensity), DE MH tank(due to less UV) or an LED tank(Due to virtually no UV past the surface of the water)... So, I totally agree with your tactic here.... Just watch out for nuisance algae making a charge once you pull the vodka.. Have you considered running a tiny amount of GFO or about kalk topoff if you're not doing these already... Both should help to keep PO4 at acceptable levels during and after the transition absent the vodka..

 

[bretcummings]

Great build thread. I will be using this thread to help me along with my build. Thanks

 

[Acropolooza]

Do you runZeo?

 

[furball504]

Looking good Chris

I got a trash can full of dried rock sitting in the garage. Will the acid bath remove the phosphate and Nitrate? And how long should I soak them for?

 

[REEF SMAC]

Tank's looking great man.

Sorry to hear about the Cardinals. Hate it when fish don't eat, so frustrating.

 

[westreef]

Sorry about your MIA 6-line. Mine went carpet surfing many years ago and got discovered by my daughter in time. He is still happily bullying his tank mates.
You have a beautiful tank. Shouldn't mess with it.:beer: