Hey all! Enough whining. I brought pictures.
I had to travel all week last week and so I didn't get to as much stuff as I'd hoped by then. (If this seems like a recurring theme then you've been reading this thead!)
We added 20 blue-green chromis last Saturday and one yellow tang. Kathy talked me into it; I was more inclined to hold off and let things stabilize again. However, it was inexpensive and I felt the water quality was good enough to just dump her straight in. Whether that's the case remains to be seen.
Anyway, one chromis died in transit. We've since lost four more, as some of you predicted. I did, however, read the threads... and mass die-off sounds like it's about fifty-fifty. I'm somewhat convinced now that FEEDING can help reduce it just by watching them get antsy if they haven't gotten food in a while. I guess that remains to be seen. I'll keep a running countdown.
Kathy doesn't like the "boring blue fish," but I think they are cool. Poor Tabitha, as the tang has been named, has had a rougher time of settling in. She still "stress-jerks" whenever we get close to the tank, so I've taken to either watching from a distance, hiding on the stairs (behind the rail), or planning to sit very still and let her chill out for a while each time I come close. To say nothing of the lights shocking her, the tank maintenance I've had to keep doing, etc.
The good news is that I think she is coming around. I see less of the stressed jerking around and she is
eating now, which is great. She mostly eats the hair algae, which you'll see I have plenty of in the pictures below! It is going to take more than Tabitha to consume all the algae in this tank, I fear. She also has red fins, which she obtained a couple days into her life in Bertha. We read that this can be caused by almost any stressor or illness, and also that it's likely she'll recover on her own if the tank conditions are good. Chemically, everything still looks great... nothing but a single ppm of nitrates at this point. I hope she will pull through. If it gets really bad or I notice any fin damage, I will have to try to trap her and properly QT. (The rest of my fish
will be QTed and medicated as needed, but I took an intentional shortcut with this one!)
The tank itself needs an auto-top-off, which I'm slowly in the process of building. I got my solenoids from McMaster last week while I was gone, so I just need to do some plumbing and then wire it all up. Once Aquatronica helps me figure out what's wrong with my controller, I think it'll be good to go.
I'm also eager to get the fuge online. It needs plumbing as well, but is full of RODI and ready to go other than sand and salt otherwise. I would like to algae growing in there instead of in the main sooner rather than later!
That's about it for now. Let me know your thoughts and opinions, as I know you will! Oh -- pics:
Here's a semi-good shot of the "room view:"
Little Tabitha:
Tabitha and some chromii:
End-on view. Very hard to shoot without a wider lens since the stairs are right next to it. I'll be shooting better FTSes with a tripod and the correct lenses "real soon now." Also note the ugly Tunze right in the view. I can't figure out how to get good flow on this end with the Tunzes all on the far wall yet... probably either need more Tunzes or a better arrangement with slower, alternating flow. Also note the blowing bare patches of sand on the bottom. I really have to get those things pointed right, but I'm lazy.
Also note the algae on the sand. It comes and goes with the light cycle at this point.
Last one for now...
Ben
. we would all love to see your new additions. also, maybe you can give us a fts and we can try to find them. i bet the tang looks like a penny in the pic 
