Gofor's 60"L X 30"W X 24"T LeeMar Upgrade

[gofor100]

Now for the Blue Jaw Trigger... it's weird, while in QT, he mostly stayed hidden in PVC and only came out when he knew it was feeding time. But from the moment he's been in the DT, he's been out riding the currents right in the middle of the tank. He's a really nice fish and adds a lot of character to the tank.

And then some full tank shots...

So now that the QT was empty after transferring over the Idol and Trigger, the only logical thing I could do is fill it back up again... which is what I did on Saturday. Pics are coming up!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

I'm sure I'll get a few people out there that think I'm crazy... I mean first, I get a Potter's Angel that wasn't eating in the store and is supposed to be one of the more difficult dwarf angelfish to keep, then I get a Moorish Idol- also not known for their hardiness... not to mention that neither of these fish are known to be completely reef safe.

What other fish, you might ask, am I willing to try and risk losing some corals in the process??? Well, it's the last of my "must have's"... the Regal Angel. This is another fish that I've been researching ever since I got into this hobby, and following along in my dives while in Fiji (there were two different ones that were right off shore, and several others on my dive/snorkel trips to the outer-reef). In my opinion, they are an awesome mix of color contrast and design, so when I went on my fish search Saturday, I kept an eye out for one.

Well, as luck would have it, on my second LFS stop, I came across one that is roughly 4 to 4 1/2 inches and eating really well. It looks to be a blue-chested variety (doesn't matter to me, but these are supposed to be better shippers), and within a couple of hours in QT, was already eating my frozen mixture along with a few pellets here and there. I also got some other smaller fish, but this one is the prized fish of this group.

Here's some pics on the day it was introduced...

Now don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not getting over-confident about my luck so far with these difficult fish... I know that the fish I'm dealing with are difficult-keepers and can take a turn for the worse quickly, but I figured I would at least try them considering I finally have a tank that can comfortably house them, and almost as important, a QT that is large enough to comfortably house them for the minimum 4 weeks of treatment. I'm really excited with how they are doing currently, and hope I can have continued success with these beautiful creatures.

Thanks everyone for looking!

-Chad

 

[iced98lx]

Looking good! Just read the whole thread, good documentation good procedures with QT, a great example of how to go about the hobby and have success!

 

[gofor100]

Looking good! Just read the whole thread, good documentation good procedures with QT, a great example of how to go about the hobby and have success!

Thanks bud! Would love to say that I've always done it this way, but unfortunately, like many of us, I've learned plenty from mistakes I've made in the past. I'm sure I'll learn plenty more with this build, but someday I'll get it right!

Thanks again,

Chad

 

[iced98lx]

Thanks bud! Would love to say that I've always done it this way, but unfortunately, like many of us, I've learned plenty from mistakes I've made in the past. I'm sure I'll learn plenty more with this build, but someday I'll get it right!

Thanks again,

Chad

Well, some of us are following along and using it as a lesson we hopefully don't have to learn

 

[gofor100]

Well, some of us are following along and using it as a lesson we hopefully don't have to learn

That's the goal... although I hope I don't make too many mistakes on this build for you to learn from

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Alright... so nothing really huge to update for this last weekend, although I really dedicated a good portion of my Saturday trying to figure out the algae problem and I may have finally found the issue.

So, when trying to suck the algae off of the sandbed a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a good portion of the sandbed was rock-hard, and that the rock-hard sand was the parts of the sandbed where the algae was the most prolific. I didn't have time last weekend to work too much on the tank (other than my weekly water change), so this last Saturday, I carefully broke apart the sandbed and removed most of the chunks that seemed to have become glued together. I then sucked up whatever little bits remained on the sandbed and did a decent-sized water change.

I think (and hope) the sandbed's inability to "breathe" may have been contributing to a build-up in nutrients in the water, which was then feeding the algae. Not sure exactly what caused the sandbed to solidify though. I have a bunch of sand-stirrers (i.e., nassarius snails, conches, etc.)...

This, in combination with my skimmer seeming to come back to normal (knock on wood) will hopefully rid my tank of the algae, but only time will tell.

Here's some pics I took over the weekend...

Thanks for looking!

-Chad

 

[reefinnewb]

Great looking tank and exactly the size I was looking at. If you don't mind me asking what you paid just for the tank so I can get an estimate of what I'm looking at spending. You can PM me.

 

[gofor100]

Great looking tank and exactly the size I was looking at. If you don't mind me asking what you paid just for the tank so I can get an estimate of what I'm looking at spending. You can PM me.

Thanks! I'll PM you the info.

-Chad

 

[bullitr]

Looks really good Chad
Envious on your moorish idol and regal angel!!
Hopefully one of these days I can have some in my Folwr.

 

[gofor100]

So I have a mid-week report that seems to be awesome news...

So after I ripped out some of my sandbed that seemed to have turn to concrete, the skimmer definitely started coming back to normal. I then noticed the flow coming from my return was reduced. So I took out the return pump, soaked it in a vinegar solution, then took it apart and found that there was a bunch of build-up in the foam/filter to the input of the pump. I cleaned it out, soaked it again, and the flow increased dramatically, and for some reason, ever since that day (just last Monday) my skimmer is doing really well (not skimming super wet anymore, just pulling out some nice dark skimmate that stinks like no other). So hopefully the combination of the sand/concrete and increased flow through the sump fixes whatever issue I was having with my skimmer. I'm just hoping that this continues and that I'm not speaking too soon .

Additionally, with this new development, the nuisance/hair algae in the tank is really starting to disappear over just the last couple of days.

I'll try to take some pics later this week or weekend.

Thanks for following!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Looks really good Chad
Envious on your moorish idol and regal angel!!
Hopefully one of these days I can have some in my Folwr.

Thanks Lawrence! The Idol is doing GREAT, however the Regal is hit and miss in my QT. Some days he is eating, others not really. I'm a little concerned with the Regal, but I kind of learned with the MI while he was in QT that there are good days and bad days during treatment. The only thing I can do is keep feeding and keep the water quality good.

We'll see what happens!

Thanks,

Chad

 

[gofor100]

Well, as promised, here's some updated pics of the tank and its progress. As you can see (or maybe you can't), the hair algae that seemed to plague this tank for a couple of months is now extinguished.

Didn't have too much time to do anything but do a water change over the weekend, but here you go...

Here's some tank shots...

Now time for some fish...

My blue jaw trigger...

The Potter's Angel... (too fast to get a good one with my iPhone)

The Neon Goby waiting to clean someone...

More to come shortly...

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

And of course some pics of the Idol...

And then some corals/inverts (can't really get the colors with my iPhone, but getting good growth)...

Enjoy!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Well, it's been a while since the last update.

First for the bad news... had a string of bad luck with fish the last month or so. First my Flame Wrasse decided to jump (luckily I had an eggcrate cover that will soon be a mesh cover instead), but ever since he knocked his head he swam slightly funny and never seemed to get back to normal. A couple of weeks after that incident (and who knows how many others while I wasn't watching), he died .

Then, around the same time, my Regal stopped eating while in QT. Some days he would show interest and eat a few pieces, then no interest. I checked the params and they all checked out. This was even before I started treatment, so I know it wasn't that. In the end, he stopped eating and starved. It was really sad, but looking back on it, I might stay away from the Regal Angel for now since I do like having my LPS and don't have my second tank set up yet in case I need to transfer the LPS into it.

On a positive note, the other two fish (a Sunburst Anthias and a Purple Firefish) made it through QT and I transferred them in this last weekend without any issues.

Couldn't get great pictures of either, since the Firefish is only coming out to eat for now, and Anthias hangs out in the water column, just not in the very front of the tank like all of the other fish.

Here's the anthias... love the markings and colors.

More pics and updates to come...

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Here's some tank shots over the last week or so... the cyano is cutting back on the rock, and I'm getting a little green algae on the sand in spots, but overall, things are looking good to me.

I'll probably be a little less generous on my feedings (per feeding), but will still be feeding 3 times/day with a my frozen seafood medley and pellets. One of these days I'll find the balance, but as long as my fish are thick and happy, and the corals have good colors and decent growth, then I'm good.

Speaking of thick and happy fish...

I want to see if I can get some growth comparison shots of some of my corals, some corals have really branched out while others are encrusting pretty good... so that'll be my next RC project. One little hiccup that may have momentarily stunted my corals growth is apparently one of my doser pumps stopped working (the one feeding alkalinity) and so my alk dropped to about 6.7 using a Salifert kit. No deaths, but I noticed that the PE was not as good as normal and some of the corals colors were fading a little. So I brought it up slowly a couple of weeks ago, and things seem to be back on track.

Thanks for looking!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

So here's a comparison shot of my ORA Purple Stylo (can't capture all of the color with my iPhone but you get the idea)...

April 1, 2012

July 8, 2012

Here's one of the ORA Red Planet (maintaining a decent green base that can't be seen in my washed out photo... seems to be encrusting more than growing vertically, but growing nonetheless).

April 1, 2012

July 8, 2012

I'll try to get more comparison shots later.

Thanks,

Chad

 

[Bigfish93]

How is everything going?

 

[gofor100]

How is everything going?

Thanks for asking!

Not much really. Things are growing pretty well, but I'm dealing with a bout of cyano that won't seem to go away.

So I went through a checklist of items to make sure I wasn't feeding the problem...

> Cut back slightly on the feeding, although I'm still feeding 3 times daily (with a 4th small automatic pellet feeding in the middle of the day while I'm at work), I just cut back a little on the amount per feeding, which doesn't seem to have any effect on my fat fish. Definitely not the Idol...

> Lights are less than a year old, so that shouldn't be it.

> Freshwater storage container- just to make sure the water I'm making isn't kicking out nutrients for whatever reason (everything read "0" and the TDS meter read "0" as well)

> Saltwater storage container- this is where some surprisingly high nitrates were found. Don't know exactly what the cause was, but I emptied it out, gave it a vinegar bath (which cleared up some calcified film at the bottom of the container) and filled it up with new water and mixed in the salt. Took readings a day later, and then again right before I was going to do a waterchange, and the nitrates were "0". I'm not taking Nitrate readings each week to make sure they stay near "0" since I suspect this was the root of the problem. Now I just need to stick with the water changes and siphoning as much cyano out each week.

> Temperature was warmer this summer than in the past, so the tank hovered around 80 degrees during the peak hours (normally keep it between 78 and 79 degrees). So this, combined with the nitrates I was feeding the tank EVERY WATER CHANGE probably didn't help any.

Can't think of anything else that might be causing it. Seems to grow back within a week (just in time for my water change).

Thanks again for checking in!

-Chad

 

[gofor100]

Hey Everyone,

So, it's been a while since I've actually had an update, so I figured since I'm coming up on a full year since I received the tank (this weekend will mark the one-year anniversary of me receiving it, but it wasn't up and running until well into January).

So the summer was a rough time for both me and my tank... I had some family issues that I had to deal with (and am still dealing with), and my tank was in the midst of a cyano outbreak. Well, I figured that as long as I pulled out all of the nutrients I could (through weekly water changes, skimmer, GFO, and Carbon), then it would eventually go away. Well... it didn't. So I finally took some action the last month or so.

First, I used Chemiclean Red Slime Remover... I did this a couple of weeks ago, and it got about 90% of the stuff out, so (because I didn't want to shock the system by doing too much at once), I did a second dose this last weekend.

In addition to this, I got one Queen Conch, and several other smaller conches to keep the sandbed clean.

Lastly, I added sandbed back into the tank since I vacuumed out a lot of it during my battle with the cyano.

So here's how the tank looked yesterday... pretty pleased with the results so far.

First with Actinics only...

Then with all of the lights blaring (sorry for the crappy quality)...

We'll see if this keeps up...

Thanks for checking it out!

-Chad