Come with me on my Custom 77 Gallon setup

[melev]

Looks really nice. Lots of changes to enjoy.

 

[Cuby2k]

Wow what a transformation, looks great.

Are the walls plaster? In the photo of the bath and the counter surround in the laundry it looks like it.

And the deck . . .warm summer nights drinking margarita's and gazing at the sky, ahhh.

 

[Stile2]

the walls that look like plaster in the bathroom is just where tile is going.

Thanks it has taken a lot to get here but I think that we are going to enjoy it. Especially my two kids when they get their own rooms.

 

[sps_addict]

It's come a long way. It looks really good. Do you have an expected completion time? Putting up rails on the deck?

 

[Stile2]

Completion should be mid-May. I have to hand it to my Contractor he said mid-May when he started and they are right on schedule.

No railing on the deck, we wanted the view, and it's only 20" off the ground. :lol:

The end of the deck that sticks out is the top of the ramp to the backyard. I'll finally be able to get into the backyard easily.

Keith

 

[Stile2]

I have had a coupe of issues with the tank lately.

I put a mesh bg of PhosGuard on the output of the skimmer, since almost all of the water goes through there. And about an hour lately the whole tank was milky!!! I immediately took the PhoGuard off and turned up the skimmer. I did some very wet skimming for a little while. It took about three hours for t to clear up.

Strangely the water is now clearer than it's been possibly ever.

But then a couple of days later two of my SPS RTN'd overnight.

I don't know if the two events are related or not. I am going to do a whole battery of tests later today to see if anything is out of whack.

The rest of the SPS and LPS are looking great, as is the clam and the fish.

Keith

 

[brentstep1]

Talk about resources

 

[Stile2]

Still haven't had time to do the battery of tests!!

Master's is back to kicking me to the ground again. For example, my new Monday class has three papers due Monday, 1 - 15 page, 1 - 9 page, and 1 - 5 page. But that will be finished by July 30th. Yeah!!!

Tank seems to be doing a bit better. The water cleared up and I have one SPS that is browning on one tip only about 1/16". I plan to trim that piece off this weekend.

The rest of the tank is doing well. At least most of it is looking good.

Brent,
What did you mean "talk about resources"?

Keith

 

[MJSavage]

The house is looking great! I guess I will have to wait until August for pictures with the new lens

Good Luck with school.

Mike

 

[Cprowler]

Hey Keith,

The renovations look like they are coming along nicely, I bet you can't wait for them to be finished. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics when it's all done, especially the fish room area.

Hopefully you don't have any more issues with RTNing, that seemed like a strange chain of events.

Anyway, I hope that when school and the reno wraps up you can enjoy the house, tank and rest of summer.

 

[Stile2]

Today I am doing the tests and trimming a bit more off of two more SPS. I really hope this stops.

Keith

 

[Stile2]

Well, I am still losing SPS t RTN'ing!!:mad2:

I did the whole battery of tests yesterday.

Salinity 1.025
Cal 335 (a little low)
Ak 7.93 dKh (a little low)
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0.2 ppm
Phosphate 0 ppm
pH 8.0
temp 79-82

So far I have lost Cali Tort, Tyree Frag, part of several others.

I ordered new bulbs today, trying almost anything at this point.

Suggestions?

Keith

 

[sps_addict]

What kind of water are you using?
I started getting some RTN from the last batch of NSW I used.

 

[Stile2]

I use either mixed SW from Shillingtons, or NSW from Pet World. Honestly I haven't done a lot of water changes latey, Masters been kicking me. I was hoping to find high PO4 or NO3, but both came back normal. I still have some bubble algae in the tank, bt that would lock up the PO4.

Could it be a strange disease? I know that Melev has been going through the same thing lately.

It seems to attack one coral at a time.

Keith

 

[sps_addict]

Disease was what I was thinking as well. I know a few people that had some strange RTN issue and fish death issue with the last batch of NSW, reason why I asked (I had issues as well from using Catalina SW). Since you haven't done many WC, have you introduced anything new into your tank (fish, coral, etc)? Your params look pretty good, maybe bump up the Ca a little, but that wouldn't cause much RTN.

 

[Stile2]

The last thing introduced to the tank right after the IEMAS meeting when we went to Aquarium in Motion. I traded a few things for a couple of Digis. But nothing since then.

Melev,
Do you think your problem could be a disease?

Keith

 

[Stile2]

New MH bulbs should be in today, so I change those out tonight. See if that makes a difference.

I also changed out my Quietne 3000 for a 4000. I was having trouble keeping enough flow in my fuge while keeping the water level in the skimmer right. Having a little more flow helps.

I also blew detrius off all the rocks and sucked it out, while vacuuming the sand. Hopefully it will cut down on any extra nutrients that may be causing the issue.

Keith

 

[Stile2]

I changed out my MH bulbs this morning. I am trying Hamilton 14K bulbs instead of the XM 15K. We'll see how that goes.

I haven't seen any more RTNing since I trimmed the corals back, so cross your fingers.

Keith

 

[avp]

help me out...

help me out...

ok, after reading the thread, I'm totally lost as to the meaning of your corals "RTN'ing" and the line about the the last batch of "NSW". It's probably something simple, but can someone explain those to a fish guy?

BTW, loving the Golden Rectangle idea. I actually was working on the measurements for one, when I found this thread!

-avp

 

[gkarshens]

I hope you like the new bulbs and your corals do to.

RTN = Rapid Tissue Narcossis (?) It means the coral is losing flesh quickly.

NSW = Natural Salt Water.