Jacob's 360 Gallon Build

[tfp]

Jake, I got a lot of colorful montis for ya. Just find the time to come on over man.

 

[Jacob D]

Tim, thanks so much. I would love to come by and check out your tank, I've never seen it in person. How are things coming back?

 

[tfp]

color has finally kicked in the last 2 weeks. finally get to focus on the tank now that its cold out .

 

[Bamm Bamm]

Jacob when your ready I'll hook you up with a frag of ponape birdsnest I have a big colony of it in my tank

 

[Jacob D]

color has finally kicked in the last 2 weeks. finally get to focus on the tank now that its cold out .

Good to hear things are back on track... that seemed quick but I'm sure it doesn't feel like it.

Jacob when your ready I'll hook you up with a frag of ponape birdsnest I have a big colony of it in my tank

Thanks Dan. I didn't see your post until today. I'll probably take you up on that sometime in the near future, I like the Ponape.

 

[Jacob D]

What medication do you use in your QT?

Do you mean, a list of everything I use? I'd have to think about that for a few minutes...


My normal protocol is:
1) Get fish acclimated to the QT and eating for 1-2 weeks. Observe for problems.
2) If problems arise treat as necessary.
3) If no problems arise treat for flukes and "worms" with Prazipro for 5 days.
4) Recovery period of 1 week
5) Second round of Prazipro if flukes were seen initially, otherwise introduce to display tank.

The only time I would deviate from this is if the fish comes to me with an obvious fluke infestation. Then I might start the Prazi right away. I haven't had this problem as I buy most of my fish from the Diver's Den and 90% of the time they are very healthy and free of any obvious pests.

I have been doing things this way for a while now with good results. I was formerly doing either copper or chloroquine phosphate in addition to the above but now I hold off on those unless I see signs of Ich or other issue that would call for their use.

 

[Paul B]

Jacob, my normal protocol is
I open the bag and aclimate the fish for 30 minutes or so. Put him in my reef , then go to have a nice dinner with my wife, enjoy a good glass of wine then after dinner we come home and see what the fish is doing.
It's been working well so far. :lol:

 

[Jacob D]

Well, I always say 'whatever works for you'... but I stopped that method after it cost me some prized fish on my last tank. I have already lived the reality of trying to catch sick fish in this tank and it's an exercise in futility... in QT I can put the ninja swoop on them with ease if necessary

 

[Paul B]

Aha, but the fish should never get sick, thats the secret.
How is your wife's tank doing? It was great the last time I saw it.

 

[Jacob D]

I agree, that's why I QT everything.

The one time I had sick fish (in this tank) was when I lost everything (well, almost everything) in my tank after putting in a big bunch of macro algae which I didn't really QT. All of a sudden every fish had white clumpy stuff on it and were dying rapidly, which then led the crash. I'm slowly restocking but what I lost is difficult to replace from a monetary stand point, and in a couple of cases just due to the rarity of the fish. It was really depressing to lose all those fish over $50 of algae. Total stupidity on my part.

So aside from that incident I have not had a sick fish prior to that or since if the fish made it through QT.

Wife's tank was sold off not too long after you visited. I was trying to remember who I sold it to earlier, she had undergone major surgery and I was preoccupied with other things at the time...

 

[Paul B]

Oh yeah, I remember that now.

 

[Jacob D]

Here are a few pics of the latest additions, a pair of multibar angels. They've been in QT for the past 5 weeks and just introduced into the tank on Christmas night.

... and a few other random recent pics...

cleaning station 1

cleaning station 2

more anthias

super male (bottom right)

the starfish

terribly executed FTS

A couple of things have changed since the images from 11/14 posted above...
1) Flatworm population has been devastated by wrasses. There are almost zero visible flatworms anywhere.

2) The only hair algae remaining is the patch on the middle of the back-left side of the tank. No more algae in the gravel or on the LR.

 

[tfp]

man, those are some very crisp, clear pics! those multibars are nice

 

[RiOnRoxXx]

Sweet shots Jacob! Agreed with Tim, those multibars are teh seks!!! Good stuff, looks like the pellets are working great for you. I love the open swimming area in your tank.

 

[Suohhen]

Wow those are some beautiful Angels, and they are paired?

CVR has a PAR meter that they pass around, you just have to be a contributing member and be on the waiting list. I am not sure if you are a CVR member but if you were interested in it I could vouch for you if you are a new member, and I am sure there are others as well.

Funny, I get a lot of great close up shots of my tank, but never seem to get any good full tank shots, I think it requires a much different focus from the shooter and a lot of shots that you can go through to find the perfect one. Most of the time my FTSs aren't even straight.

 

[Jacob D]

Thanks guys.

@Ryan, about the open space... one of these days a long, long time from now my corals will be grown up into the water column and give the fish some interesting scenery to swim around. I'm trying to wait patiently... I guess I waited this long to finally have things running and be on the right side of any issues, I can wait some more...

@Sean, according to the DD people, they were collected as a pair. They do show typical "paired" behavior.


My main concern with them right now is getting them fed. It's amazing (and scary) how fast that group of anthias can devour a lot of food. One of the angels is getting the idea that he has to get in the mix to snag some food, but the other hasn't caught on yet.

 

[RiOnRoxXx]

Sweet. After you said that I can totally see what you mean. That would be an awesome site to see Jake. Only if John would sell that super large coral in his softie tank. The one attached to the PVC structure.

BTW any luck getting ahold of Mac for the xenia? I miss that guy

 

[sfexplicit]

Man I could swim in there.

 

[Suohhen]

You might want to try to get them to eat food off the clip, anthias won't even mess with algae, but I mean even beyond dried seaweed there are other options such as Roger's Reef Food.
www.rogersreeffood.com

 

[cjscott]

I was looking at the terribly executed full tank shot which I think is quite beautiful and thinking that your tank reminds me how this hobby is about fish too. I find myself getting so obsessed with my corals and the fish become an after thought. Nice tank! Beautiful fish!