Hello Arizona reefers!!

[xanthurum]

Where in Glendale are you? I'm in surprise and always willing to lend a hand or chatting if you have questions. I run 3 Radions on my setup and prefer them to AI fixtures for about 873 reasons. Hit me up if you need anything

 

[spscrackhead]

I had a long response typed out and as I hit submit the internet kicked out..... Of course lol.
I would like to piggy back off Xanthurum's offer. I work in Glendale and enjoy helping out when and where I can! I wouldn't mind swinging by and talking your ear off. Something as simple as being there to shoot a text to bounce ideas off of to coming over and helping you iron out a maintenance schedule. Whatever you need. I am new to the area and have no friends lol.
If you would like, shoot me a PM and I can give you my cell.

 

[NurseReefer]

Fantastic, I would love to have some more experienced individuals come over and critique my system! I did pay Arie from reef doctors to come to my place 3 days after I initially setup the tank, just to make sure I didn't make any grave mistakes that would soon crash the system. His rate is $80/hour however and so I'd much prefer a fellow hobbyist who will come just because they want to and help me out. I'm a talker myself and I ask lots of questions. I'd like to maybe rearrange some of the aquascaping and move some corals around but I'm very unfamiliar with the corals I currently have as well as their requirements so I definitely need some help with placement. I also need to get my first water change done but I don't really know how to vacuum the bottom of the tank without causing another major dust storm, which is something I'm very worried about seeing as how the last time I did that (when adding more sand) my yellow tang ended up dead:sad1:. I plan on doing weekly water changes but because when setting up the tank I had to add about 50% new water, and I had read that I should wait a little bit before doing another change due to that large volume. The baffles I ordered for my empty 30 gallon tank should be coming in this week so once I fix those in place I'll promptly be switching that out with my current 20 gallon that's acting as my sump. I will then use that same 20 gallon for my quarantine tank, which I want to set up soon that way I can get a purple tang to replace the yellow I lost.

I live at 51st Ave. & Butler, which is halfway between Olive & Northern. I'm in between full time work right now so my schedule is rather free. I drive part-time for Uber but only on Friday & Saturday nights so again I'm VERY flexible with my availability.

 

[azjohnny]

So I made a mistake last night. I only had 40lbs of live sand in my tank so I wanted to add 40 more. Specifically I'm using the oolite aragonite from CaribSea. I didn't rinse it because its live sand, and so sure enough when I placed it in the aquarium a dust armageddon occurred. All my fish made it the first time I placed the sand with no issues. But when I woke up this morning, I found my yellow tang dead in one of the bottom corners. Sigh, I'm frustrated with myself because I should have looked up a better way of placing sand in an existing aquarium and then I would've known about the method using pvc piping. Now I've lost my first marine fish, and my large plate montipora had an angry white spot on it that doubled in size overnight. So now my question is what do I do about the monti? The two pictures are before & after adding new sand.

For future reference

When adding sand to a tank you want the sand to be as close as possible to the bottom of the tank, in the past I have used a PVC pipe, this will keep the dust to a minimum

 

[azjohnny]

Fantastic, I would love to have some more experienced individuals come over and critique my system! I did pay Arie from reef doctors to come to my place 3 days after I initially setup the tank, just to make sure I didn't make any grave mistakes that would soon crash the system. His rate is $80/hour however and so I'd much prefer a fellow hobbyist who will come just because they want to and help me out. I'm a talker myself and I ask lots of questions. I'd like to maybe rearrange some of the aquascaping and move some corals around but I'm very unfamiliar with the corals I currently have as well as their requirements so I definitely need some help with placement. I also need to get my first water change done but I don't really know how to vacuum the bottom of the tank without causing another major dust storm, which is something I'm very worried about seeing as how the last time I did that (when adding more sand) my yellow tang ended up dead:sad1:. I plan on doing weekly water changes but because when setting up the tank I had to add about 50% new water, and I had read that I should wait a little bit before doing another change due to that large volume. The baffles I ordered for my empty 30 gallon tank should be coming in this week so once I fix those in place I'll promptly be switching that out with my current 20 gallon that's acting as my sump. I will then use that same 20 gallon for my quarantine tank, which I want to set up soon that way I can get a purple tang to replace the yellow I lost.

I live at 51st Ave. & Butler, which is halfway between Olive & Northern. I'm in between full time work right now so my schedule is rather free. I drive part-time for Uber but only on Friday & Saturday nights so again I'm VERY flexible with my availability.

FYI

Its better to do more frequent smaller volume water changes as opposed to fewer larger ones, this stresses the corals and fish less

 

[spscrackhead]

The general rule of thumb is 25% biweekly waterchanges.
I sent a PM your way bud.
Something like a python syphon will allow you to change your water and clean the sand easily. I like the simple ones w out all the valves and crap.

 

[NurseReefer]

For future reference

When adding sand to a tank you want the sand to be as close as possible to the bottom of the tank, in the past I have used a PVC pipe, this will keep the dust to a minimum

Yes, this unfortunately is a mark of my inexperience which had consequences. After I discovered the dead fish I searched for a superior way of adding sand and came across the pvc method. Most of the instructions said to use a 2" pipe the same length as the depth of your tank, and put a 2" to 4" pvc adaptor at the top to act as a funnel when putting sand in the pipe. Place the pipe full sand at the bottom where you want to add the sand and very slowly lift it up and the sand will roll out where you want it. Is this the method you're referring to?

FYI

Its better to do more frequent smaller volume water changes as opposed to fewer larger ones, this stresses the corals and fish less

I completely agree, adding the 50% new water when initially setting up the tank was out of necessity because a lot of the water had become very dirty during transport, and was no longer suitable to put back in the tank. I also had to place the fish in a container with a heater and an aerator for several hours while I was putting all the tank components back together, and so I didn't reuse that water either. I moved the whole system from the southern part of San Tan Valley to Glendale so it was about an hour & twenty minute drive, not to mention this was literally the first time I'd ever touched a reef system let alone moved one. All the livestock (coral too) survived the transport so I was pretty happy about that. The move took 12 hour from break down to setting back up.

 

[azjohnny]

Place the pipe full sand at the bottom where you want to add the sand and very slowly lift it up and the sand will roll out where you want it. Is this the method you're referring to?

Yes it is