75 gallon reef build

[wrxreefer823]

Time for a LONG overdue update. Well, work has been INSANELY busy (working 12-13 hour days along with weekends) and unfortunately, the tank got pushed aside for a little bit. Nothing more than a good algea scrubbing and a few water changes didn't fix though... Since my last FTS, my toadstool has nearly doubled in size, and is splitting down the middle, so I'm pretty excited about that. I finally took the Colt out, as it was not opening and was showing some dead spots on it as well... not really sure what was up with that...

This past Saturday I added a male Squarespot Anthias to the mix... I love the color it brought to the tank. He's still VERY shy and is a bit reluctant to eat, but I'm sure over the next few days as he becomes more acclimated to his new home, he'll warm up to his surroundings.

Happy Reefing!

 

[wrxreefer823]

So after a Saturday afternoon trip to the Camden Aquarium, I realized that my tank was WAY overcrowded... Haha. The girlfriend and I spent the following afternoon catching a rather spiteful yellow striped damnsel (Stripey) and three green chromis (Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3, in respect to their sizes). In doing so, I completely re-aquascaped the tank as well.. I opted for a more minimalistic, three "islands" type of look. I'm still trying to decide if I like the end result, but I don't really plan on changing it AGAIN. I'm now down to an Occelaris Clown, Cleaner Wrasse, Pygmy Cherub Angel, the new Anthias, and yes, a Yellow, Powder Blue, and Hippo Tang (quick, ALERT THE TANG POLICE!!!!! In all seriousness, there's NO problems there as they are all relatively small)

Here's some quick new pics to show... First is a full tank shot with the new Aquascape.

One of the Anthias being very timid...

Just a random clown/tang coral shot.

Lastly, a picture of the pup stupervising pre-aquascaping-fish-catching-fest.

Cheers!

 

[wrxreefer823]

Welp, a sad week in the reefing world. Finally got the anthias eating very well (I picked up from "Reef Plankton" which he was very interested in) on Saturday... but then I woke up to his little lifeless body on Wednesday. No signs of a fight, and he was completely healthy (minus his picky eating habits). That's only the start of it.

Today, I came home from work to find my Pygmy Angel barely hanging onto life, hiding in the rock work... again, perfectly healthy, eating VERY well... I've had her for a year and a half with no problems. Well as the afternoon progressed, her state of life digressed to the point of her just clinging onto life on the sand... so I made the decission to remove her from the tank.

Parameters test fine, there's no visible parasite outbreak, and both fish were visually okay before (and right after) they passed. I'm pretty much at a loss for what is going on in my tank.

 

[wrxreefer823]

So the time has come for me to make some decisions in my reefkeeping habits. My nitrates are through the roof (picked up a NEW test kit, old one was barely reading anything, go figure). I'm down to four fish, all covered in ich, and some very sad looking corals.

Initially I was ready to break down the tank and call it a day. Maybe just get a small nano or pico for my desk. Then common sense kicked in and I told myself that I've got too much time and effort into this tank and would hate to see it go. SO- I've decided to QT all the fish, and start the DP fresh. My main reasoning for wanting to do that, is that all of my rock is COVERED (emphasis on FREAKIN COVERED) in vermetid snails. So much so that I'm afraid to eventually add anymore corals because they would just get poked to death.

My plan is to set up a 29 gallon tank I have laying around, and medicate for ich for the next two to three months. In doing so, this will give me PLENTY of time to get my live rock out, scrub the all the junk off of it, and pretty much give the ENTIRE system a good cleaning.

Oh, and the time has also come for me to ditch the API Tapwater Filter I've been using, which I think is the main source of my problem. Anybody know of a good RO/DI system I can get in the $150 to $200 range?

Wish me luck!!!

 

[james30ct]

spectrapure.com has refurbished 90gpd units that are really good just dont let the ro membrane dry out like I did.

 

[Draven451]

Great thread. I enjoyed watching your tank grow and develop throughout the different stages. Sorry to hear about the rebuilding phase but it sounds like the RO/DI system will be beneficial

Keep us posted!

 

[wrxreefer823]

spectrapure.com has refurbished 90gpd units that are really good just dont let the ro membrane dry out like I did.

Thanks for the advice! I'll certainly look into it.

Great thread. I enjoyed watching your tank grow and develop throughout the different stages. Sorry to hear about the rebuilding phase but it sounds like the RO/DI system will be beneficial

Keep us posted!

Thanks! I've been in the hobby for 4 years now or so, and I'm still learning new things everyday, and how to tackle certain situations. This rebuilding phase just boils down to the fact that I got lazy, but I am treating this as an opportunity to make improvements to the system as well, since I don't have to worry about working on it while it's running.

 

[wrxreefer823]

So after a lot of heavy thinking over the weekend, I put the tank up for sale on craigslist. Within an hour I had the fish and coral sold, and have a potential buyer for the equipment. I'm not out of the hobby just yet, moneys just tight right now, and to keep dumping funds into the tank right now is, to put it bluntly, irresponsible of me. I plan on picking up a small cube for my desk to hold me over for the time being.