700 gallon tank, or how i spent my daughters inheritance

[Reefski's]

Marc- no picture of the Gorgonian. the orange thing looks kind of plating. i don't think it is hollow and i don't know if it was hard or soft.

you may be right about the pool. i don't have time or energy for that. it may be cheaper just to sandblast it when the time comes.

 

[Reefski's]

Marc:

it really isn't bubbly. it looks more plating coral like Monti Cap but i think it is soft as i could see it twitch a bit in the surge.

there are probably 5 brittle stars in that picture. there are hundreds, a plague of them in the tank. i wish something ate them. i think the two hawkfishes or the six line wrasse might eat a Harlequin shrimp but that would be cool.

the pond will have to wait until we sell the house to look pretty. i don't have the time or patience to clean it with muriatic acid and it does need to be replastered. there are some big cracks.

no recent Gorgonian picture but it continues to do well.

if i could catch the Maroon clowns i would put in some of the anemones that are in a garage tank along with the B&W percs.

 

[Reefski's]

There still continues to be a dearth of small crustaceans. When I look in the tank at night I don’t see any small crustaceans. The Mandarin continues to pick at the rockwork and doesn’t seem to be suffering.

This garage tank has no fish. It grows macroalgae and sponges but there doesn’t look to be any life in the sand. That is probably not true but that is how it looks.

 

[Chihuahua6]

"The waste water is going into the 1200 gallon storage container in the yard to be used for all yard watering."

Can you tell me the mechanism for delivering the water to the sprinkler system? I always liked the idea of using the waste water but have no clue how to hook it up to the sprinkler system.

 

[Reefski's]

There still continues to be a dearth of small crustaceans. When I look in the tank at night I don’t see any small crustaceans. The Mandarin continues to pick at the rockwork and doesn’t seem to be suffering.

the surge tanks are kept in the dark. one is empty and the other has several pounds of long established live rock with sponges et al. over that i put a layer of 1" size dry coral. that was 6 months ago.

when i look in these tanks and the garage tanks that are fishless i don't see any pods moving around. the only waer movement in the surge tanks is the inflow of water to fill. the surges are fed from water at the end of the sumps.

should i run a powerhead in the surges? should i fed these other tanks directly?

i think my water quality overall is getting better. i have been running the ro/di almost continually and changing out water with Seachem ASW. the cyano in the display has gone. the one Acro remaining is growing and the Heliopora is still doing well in the garage tank with lot of macroalgae seen below.

there may still be a few small crustaceans. i saw one Mysis shrimp the other night after lights out. i think it was just the exoskeleton blowing in the current but it means there was/is mysis still in the system. when i first set up the tank there were no fish in the system and the display tank was ruled by hundreds of mysis. i know many of the fish i have like them, the two hawkfish, copperband, 6 line wrasse, Mandarin, et al.

when i don't clean the viewing panel for a few days there are some very small, less than 1mm pods in the algae film.

there are lots of feather dusters in the sumps and garage tanks. i know the copperband in the display is likely eating any there.

in the display there are lots of the tube worms with two feeding tentacles in the sand. there is also hundreds of mini brittle stars all over the system. is there a fish that likes to eat them? i don't think a Harlequin shrimp would survive the hawkfish.

should i feed more? should i feed after lights out? i only occasionally feed after dark.

PO4 levels were 0.19 a couple of days ago and i used Lanthanum Chloride for the first time in many weeks.

there is a lot to do later today. 150 gallon water change while sucking out aiptasia and debris, clean skimmer, change carbon and GFO. clean tank.

 

[Reefski's]

"The waste water is going into the 1200 gallon storage container in the yard to be used for all yard watering."

Can you tell me the mechanism for delivering the water to the sprinkler system? I always liked the idea of using the waste water but have no clue how to hook it up to the sprinkler system.

the cistern has its own pump that i just hook a hose up to and pump into the yard. the yard doesn't have grass and each area has a raised border around it that will allow it to hold several inches of water. so it is really a manual kind of thing.

Carl

 

[Reefski's]

i am having a problem posting the wrong pictures are showing up from my photobucket account.

more later.

 

[popper231]

my corals were dying too, so until if figure out what's wrong, i move them all to a friend's tank...

 

[matt & pam]

I'm surprised you don't have any pods in your ATS. Mine is usually loaded with them. Wonder if you could get some sand from others in the area to help stimulate some diversity.

 

[Reefski's]

matt and pam- i have a friend nearby that i will ask for some new sand with critters. he is also going to give me a couple of sps corals from his tank to see if they live in my system.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

how about some updated pics on your sump room area?

 

[Reefski's]

thanks for the prod. I need too take some updated pix. i have been meaning to get some current pix. thanks for the reminder. it probably won't be for a few days.

 

[Reefski's]

I recently needed to make some fish food. I am lucky. I have an Asian Supermarket and a fish market nearby. I buy nori, I think 30 10x10 sheets, for about $4.50. the dog loves them too.

 

[Reefski's]

Clams, shrimp, mussels, squid, sardines, tuna, vitamins and AA, rotifers, cyclopeeze, mysis, and ???
It makes about 15 pounds and will last a few months. The kitchen Aid was not an aid. The sharp blade on the Cuisinard food processor works much better, pulsing as needed.

 

[Elliott]

wow, those fish eat better than most people, I thought I was looking at the cooking channel for a minute :lol:

 

[Reefski's]

it is way cheaper than 15 pounds of food from the LFS. it is all really good food. i made all that for around $120.

 

[Elliott]

I can't even imagine what you would have paid for that at a LFS, don't think you could get that quality of food anyway, which is why you probably did it yourself, great job!

 

[Reefski's]

i may have trouble with the corals but the fish are fat and seem healthy and vigorous.

 

[kmacartney]

LOL, I should eat that healthy!

 

[melev]

That's not fish food, that's goulash! Wow - I bet your fish are going to be happy as can be. As they poop in the tank, the corals will be fed, so no worries there.

Your sand looks nice and clean, and what you've reported recently sounds good. I don't believe I would up the feeding volume or you may find more algae outbreaks again.

I don't know if the Hawkfish would allow the Harlequin Shrimp to live. Probably better to not chance it.