Hello, Geezer coming back to this forum. Paul B

[griss]

I didn't realize I had so many fish and I even found this guy who I haven't seen since the day I put him in. I thought he croaked or jumped out someplace but he is fine and even colored up more. After I put the rocks back in, I am sure I will never see him again.



I couldn't save 2 of the anemones because they went into a hole in large rocks and I couldn't get them out. I found one of my fish in a bucket of rock that jumped out when I removed the rock, but he is fine.

Grand Kids are coming over today so I can't do anything but I plan on Tuesday or wednesday to do the big switch and put everything back.

I am not sure if the stress will affect the fish so maybe I will throw some Prozac in the water just to make sure.

What kind of fish is that Paul? Some kind of blenny?

 

[Paul B]

It's a red waspfish. Very cool but I think you only see him after you remove all the rocks from your tank which may be troublesome at times.

I like him and may get a couple more of them if I see them. Not very common fish.

 

[Paul B]

I just found this "hunting" story on another site from 2 years ago.

Once on an LZ a deer walked out of a clearing about 100 yards away. We normally ate C Rations and since we had a lot of Red Necks with us some of them decided to shoot the thing and one of then would cook it.

About a dozen of them started firing at the poor creature who just stood there in Awe. M-16s fully automatic, grenade launchers and I think one of them fired at it with a 60 caliper machine gun.

The deer eventually walked away. I said, "Please, if we get attacked here, you guys stand behind me so I can actually shoot something" .

 

[Paul B]

I am not sure my fish will survive through all this as it is a big change to go from real water that is very old to brand new ASW but we will see. If the tank crashes, and there is a real possibility of that, I will still consider it a success. Of course the fish may not see it exactly like that.

I am trying as hard as I can with what I know and the time constraints I have in doing this to keep everything alive and not killing the important bacteria and pods that keep the tank healthy.

My many pod eaters may have to go on a diet for a couple of weeks and I hope they can find enough to eat but it is what it is and I am doing the best I can.

I just went downstairs to check the tank because I was concerned with all the fish in there there may not be enough bacteria left to keep the water healthy. But they are fine and happy looking, some of them are doing the Macarena.

The very large rock I have outside is frozen and the sponges on it look like ice cubes so I can "assume" the nasty stuff is dead. Now I have to scrape off the dead, frozen sponge and rinse it off in salt water to get it ready to go back in.

If I was not afraid this sponge would take over the ocean here, I would bring all the sponge encrusted rocks to the sea and scrape and wash them off in the sea.

I won't do that but that would be the best thing.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Did I see your Koran in a tank this morning?
I also saw some nice yellow banded pipe fish.

 

[Paul B]

I am trying to give that Koran away. He is beautiful but a little big for my liking. Do you know someone who wants him? He is about 5" and very healthy

 

[Paul B]

Tomorrow is the day I remove all the fish, dump out the water and re fill the tank and re aquascape. I have to go and get ashes first as it is Ash Wednesday and that is my wife's Idea. If I don't take her she will go by herself and I don't need her mad at me on a very busy day when my tanks life is in the balance. This will be very difficult, moving all this water and rocks around and keeping it all warm, aerated and "happy for the 12 or so hours it will take.

Then another day or two to glue back all the corals, mostly gorgonians. I purposely didn't feed the fish yesterday to limit wastes and today, if the rain lets up a little I would like to go down to the sea to pick up some barnacle encrusted rocks to temporarily add to my tank for the fresh bacteria.

This is a good time for that because I killed a lot of bacteria on the heavily sponge encrusted rocks I had to bleach.

 

[Reefing102]

Good luck with everything!

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

I second that.

 

[JohnL]

Good luck Paul

 

[Paul B]

I have two 40 gallon tubs and some 5 gallon buckets full of live rock and a bunch I had to bleach. I also have my diatom filter filled with powder because I am not removing the gravel and it will be full of detritus and I don't want to remove all of it.

The first thing I will do is partially empty the tank and catch all the fish and remaining corals. I hope I can find all of them.

Any of you guys want that beautiful Koran Angel? He is coming out tomorrow.

 

[montepora]

Vinny, I am not assuming I will be able to remove every vestige of sponge. I am hoping the ASW will kill it because it won't have any silicates in it .

I used a wire brush and needle nose pliers.

I think they are small enough for your angles to pick on and be kept under control..... ☺☺☺ Good luck with your task!!

 

[Paul B]

Montepora, Thank you. And remember I am blaming you for this because it was your idea that pushed me to do it.

 

[Paul B]

I got everything back in the tank and everything looks good. The fish are hunting for food and so far I didn't lose anything.

This only took me 7 hours and I have more live rock left over than I started with. Like 3 five gallon buckets.

I have my big angel fish in a bucket and I almost lost him. I noticed the water looked very funky and it smelled. I could see sparks under the water. The heater broke.

Luckily it was only for a minute or so and being I am an electrician my fish don't care about electricity in their water.

 

[JohnL]

I could see sparks under the water. The heater broke.

Oh boy

 

[BeanAnimal]

Paul I would def run a copper test if you have one and/or run a cuprisorb asap. I have never had one break, but have read numerous stories about wiped out tanks due to a shorted heater and funky water.

 

[Paul B]

Bean I don't have such a thing but it was in a bucket and I dumped out all that water.

 

[Paul B]

I didn't see the tank yet this morning and I won't be able to do much because I have a thousand "paper" cuts on my hands from the tiny tube worms on the rocks.

Today, if he is still alive I will bring that Koran Angel to a LFS and hope he takes it.
I had my diatom filter running all night for the fine particles floating all over which looks like powder.

Unless of course my fish are so annoyed at me that they are doing cocaine. I hope not.

I realized last night that there is nothing in the tank for my large, very old urchin to eat so I will get some clams and lettuce, his two favorite foods.

I also hope my 4 pipefish, 2 mandarins and 3 ruby reds find enough pods because the tank is really clean now. Much to clean but I had to do this to get all that sponge out and unfortunately, the algae and food sources went with it. I will throw a bunch of sinking pellets in there to feed the pods.

After I put the rocks and water back in I ran my Diatom filter 7 times to clean it up. I really don't know how people stay in this hobby without one. I could never survive.

I think I went through maybe 8 of them in the years I have been doing this.

 

[Paul B]

It's getting there. I still have to add more rock (I have plenty left) and I have about a dozen gorgonians to glue back.

Tonight I made linguine and clams so my fish ate clams as did my urchin who doesn't know he is a vegan.

 

[Reefing102]

Looking great!