JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Greetings all. Life has continues to be hectic and Reefing has kind of taken a back seat for me these days. But I do intend to get back into it when things level out for me. So at the moment I'm just doing the bare minimum to keep the animals alive and have the tank semi-presentable.
So looks like I last updated this thread in August. Since then...
Got the Aqua Logic controllers. Huge thumbs up, recommend heartily. Super simple and look and feel really solid.
I never keep up with the Phosban changing. It's a job I simply hate. There is still PO4 in the system but Salifert testing shows around 0.2
In December I tried something a bit radical - a school of Royal Grammas. I bought ten of them but I think this bioload was too much for my 50g QT. Unfortunately none survived. I'd like to try again but in two batches of 5.
My male Anthias jumped out - leaves two of the original 5.
Right now I have a problem but I'm unsure as to the solution. My now adult Emperor Angel has a swim bladder infection. It's got progressively worse over the last few weeks and now I'm see white blotchy skin over teh distended area of its stomach. It can still swim but not as well and it's only a matter of time. I posted a thread a few days ago:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1345220
I know this is a result of bad husbandry by me - namely the lask of regular water changes. I'm going to do 50g water changes every two weeks from now on but this fish needs a cure now. I can't find any medicine for this condition. What can I do? If I lose this fish I'll be pretty devastated.
So looks like I last updated this thread in August. Since then...
Got the Aqua Logic controllers. Huge thumbs up, recommend heartily. Super simple and look and feel really solid.
I never keep up with the Phosban changing. It's a job I simply hate. There is still PO4 in the system but Salifert testing shows around 0.2
In December I tried something a bit radical - a school of Royal Grammas. I bought ten of them but I think this bioload was too much for my 50g QT. Unfortunately none survived. I'd like to try again but in two batches of 5.
My male Anthias jumped out - leaves two of the original 5.
Right now I have a problem but I'm unsure as to the solution. My now adult Emperor Angel has a swim bladder infection. It's got progressively worse over the last few weeks and now I'm see white blotchy skin over teh distended area of its stomach. It can still swim but not as well and it's only a matter of time. I posted a thread a few days ago:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1345220
I know this is a result of bad husbandry by me - namely the lask of regular water changes. I'm going to do 50g water changes every two weeks from now on but this fish needs a cure now. I can't find any medicine for this condition. What can I do? If I lose this fish I'll be pretty devastated.
Electrobes
Montipora type guy
Just wanted to give my support, hope everything leveled out okay and that your fish pulled through. Let us know 
I'm still around, kind of. The maintenance of the tank really got to me. So many things went wrong and teh money pit continued to expand. It's still up and running but nothing has been done to it in over a year.
The Emperor did die. Just disappeared one day and never saw it again.
I lost a Henochius (jumped out) a while back.
My male Clarkii that I had 4 years jumped out for some reason. That was quite gutting for me.
My 2 Bangai Cardinals are spawning regularly. One baby made it a few months ago and is getting big now. They spawned again a few weeks ago and another baby made it. They both made it by living in the anenome (much to the female Clarkii's annoyance).
My frogspawn died all teh way back to a centimetre of polyps and then grew all teh way back again bigger and stronger than before.
The hammer coral is pretty big. I broke off a few pieces and they continue to grow.
The only other coral that survived is a toadstool (I think that's what it's called). It's big too but it lives next to the anenome. The anenome hasn't split in a long time and it's 2 foot across almost went the lights are on.
The huge clam is still in there. Fish left are the Yellow Tang, Blue Line Angel, Powder Blue Tang, female Clarkii, Henochius, 4 Bangaiis, 2 Anthias, 1 Copperband Butterfly, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Coral Beauty.
I took it upon myself to clean the skimmer today. I knocked up a little drain by-pass and pulled the skimmer out and have it running in vinegar at the mo. Haven't cleaned it in 3 years and the performance is poor. Hoping this will fix that.
Might try and get back into this year but the hobby is so expensive, does my head in. If I want to keep SPS I know I need a calcium reactor so need to get my head around that.
Oh yea, Vortechs - terrible. What a terrible product. Gone through 4 now. They are all broken. Vortech did send me 2 replacements. They lasted 6 months. They fall apart, they just stop working, they fail to stick to the side of the tank etc etc. So many things go wrong with them. If I can afford it I'm going to get some Tunzes.
All teh closed loop pumps are busted due to my RODI line busting and flooding the fish room because teh drain was blocked. Think I wrote about that a while back as it happened ages ago. The pumps don't do well submerged, lol.
So if I am going to get back into it I will need to:
1) Order more LR and rebuild the rockwork.
2) Get a reactor/decent kalk stirrer.
3) Get Tunzes.
One good thing is that I don't need to be lazy on the water changes now as I have the system sorted. Fill up reservoir, dump in salt and powerheads, wait 24 hours, hook up drain to bulkhead, open valve, drain, turn on pumps, finished.
Now I just need a simple system for cleaning the front panel.
The Emperor did die. Just disappeared one day and never saw it again.
I lost a Henochius (jumped out) a while back.
My male Clarkii that I had 4 years jumped out for some reason. That was quite gutting for me.
My 2 Bangai Cardinals are spawning regularly. One baby made it a few months ago and is getting big now. They spawned again a few weeks ago and another baby made it. They both made it by living in the anenome (much to the female Clarkii's annoyance).
My frogspawn died all teh way back to a centimetre of polyps and then grew all teh way back again bigger and stronger than before.
The hammer coral is pretty big. I broke off a few pieces and they continue to grow.
The only other coral that survived is a toadstool (I think that's what it's called). It's big too but it lives next to the anenome. The anenome hasn't split in a long time and it's 2 foot across almost went the lights are on.
The huge clam is still in there. Fish left are the Yellow Tang, Blue Line Angel, Powder Blue Tang, female Clarkii, Henochius, 4 Bangaiis, 2 Anthias, 1 Copperband Butterfly, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Coral Beauty.
I took it upon myself to clean the skimmer today. I knocked up a little drain by-pass and pulled the skimmer out and have it running in vinegar at the mo. Haven't cleaned it in 3 years and the performance is poor. Hoping this will fix that.
Might try and get back into this year but the hobby is so expensive, does my head in. If I want to keep SPS I know I need a calcium reactor so need to get my head around that.
Oh yea, Vortechs - terrible. What a terrible product. Gone through 4 now. They are all broken. Vortech did send me 2 replacements. They lasted 6 months. They fall apart, they just stop working, they fail to stick to the side of the tank etc etc. So many things go wrong with them. If I can afford it I'm going to get some Tunzes.
All teh closed loop pumps are busted due to my RODI line busting and flooding the fish room because teh drain was blocked. Think I wrote about that a while back as it happened ages ago. The pumps don't do well submerged, lol.
So if I am going to get back into it I will need to:
1) Order more LR and rebuild the rockwork.
2) Get a reactor/decent kalk stirrer.
3) Get Tunzes.
One good thing is that I don't need to be lazy on the water changes now as I have the system sorted. Fill up reservoir, dump in salt and powerheads, wait 24 hours, hook up drain to bulkhead, open valve, drain, turn on pumps, finished.
Now I just need a simple system for cleaning the front panel.
Bax
Premium Member
Laurence
Good to see you around. Too bad about all the problems, but that is a side effect of this "hobby". And, I feel you on the expense! Be sure to let us know if you figure out that whole front glass cleaning thing!
So hows your Blue Line Angel been as a reef inhabitant? I am really enamored with these and may attempt to add one, along witha Majestic, in my next upgrade, a 375 that's now sitting waiting for the economy to turn around enough that I can afford a water change now and again for it.
Good to see you around. Too bad about all the problems, but that is a side effect of this "hobby". And, I feel you on the expense! Be sure to let us know if you figure out that whole front glass cleaning thing!
So hows your Blue Line Angel been as a reef inhabitant? I am really enamored with these and may attempt to add one, along witha Majestic, in my next upgrade, a 375 that's now sitting waiting for the economy to turn around enough that I can afford a water change now and again for it.
jnarowe
New member
Laurence: So glad to see a post from you, and I feel your pain! :lol: Isn't it interesting that you can keep the clam alive amid water quality issues and no reactor? Perhaps it is a result of how much light it is getting, as would be the same for anemones growing so large. I have a couple of gigantic anemones and I think that is mostly due to the amount of light they are getting.
I am actually taking a break myself due to some health issues. I just can't properly take care of my system and I really don't want harm to come to the livestock that I have so painstakingly taken care of. The fish in my system are really the healthiest I have seen in a tank, as are most of the livestock. It would be a shame to lose them because I can't do the job.
I am actually taking a break myself due to some health issues. I just can't properly take care of my system and I really don't want harm to come to the livestock that I have so painstakingly taken care of. The fish in my system are really the healthiest I have seen in a tank, as are most of the livestock. It would be a shame to lose them because I can't do the job.
Awesome to see the old faces. 
@gkarshens - went on holiday and lost the charger for the batter on my camera. That was last summer (you get the idea, lol). But looks like the memory on my PC is dying so I need to head over to the electric shop so I'll see wha I can do. How did you lose your Emperor? I had always wanted one and to see it change from juvi to full adult was simply amazing. I tried to save it with Melafix but it was too far gone. But now I'm not scared of water changes it's not an issue. I do a 50g change monthly. Would do it twice a month but each WC costs 7,000 yen so it ain't cheap.
@Bax - the BlueLine is a model ciizen. Granted I don't have loads of SPS to really test it but when I did he was fine. It's an awesome fish to watch under the flourescents.
@jnarowe - I can't believe you're taking a break! What have done with your massive tank? Sorry to hear of your health issues. I remember you had a stroke which gave you the time to get into the hobby. Hope you're ok and the the choc business is still flying! The clam has always been high, maybe that's why it's survived. But when I redo the tank I want to put it on the sand. My idea is to have a large rock structure on the left but have the right open with a large sand area with a wall around the side. And the clam as the showpiece in the center of the sand. (The clam is MASSIVE).
@Hop - hows teh new tank? I remember you pulled down your 450 at some point. Check out your site and see you're using the under-rock loc-line CL. Mine worked great and was really happy with it. I could get another Sequence 1000 to replace the broken one but there would be so much crap down there that turning it on now would kill the tank I'm sure. I intend to move the rock from the right side and dive into the tank and cut mine out - then repeat for the left. Then rebuild the rockwork. Vortechs, meh. Sore subject with me.
@FFrankie - wow someone else that tore their system down and restarted. The new system looks MUCH better. Love teh clean look at the colour is awesome. I'm also using Radiums.
Woke up the other day to a milky tank. Some of the algae spawned (or whatever you call it). No idea what algae it is. It just started to grow on the LR in the sump so I let it grow. Anyhow, it wasn't too bad as only a small portion of it released and it was gone by end of the day. Have algae in two areas in the sump. First area has 24/7 light and the other area is the section I was going to use as a frag grow-out. It now has algae, urchins and anenomes, lol. I finally caught that huge black long-spined urchin that went around demolishing the rockwork.
I saw a huge crab a few times a few months ago. Looked harmless but was quite big. Kids loved it.
@gkarshens - went on holiday and lost the charger for the batter on my camera. That was last summer (you get the idea, lol). But looks like the memory on my PC is dying so I need to head over to the electric shop so I'll see wha I can do. How did you lose your Emperor? I had always wanted one and to see it change from juvi to full adult was simply amazing. I tried to save it with Melafix but it was too far gone. But now I'm not scared of water changes it's not an issue. I do a 50g change monthly. Would do it twice a month but each WC costs 7,000 yen so it ain't cheap.
@Bax - the BlueLine is a model ciizen. Granted I don't have loads of SPS to really test it but when I did he was fine. It's an awesome fish to watch under the flourescents.
@jnarowe - I can't believe you're taking a break! What have done with your massive tank? Sorry to hear of your health issues. I remember you had a stroke which gave you the time to get into the hobby. Hope you're ok and the the choc business is still flying! The clam has always been high, maybe that's why it's survived. But when I redo the tank I want to put it on the sand. My idea is to have a large rock structure on the left but have the right open with a large sand area with a wall around the side. And the clam as the showpiece in the center of the sand. (The clam is MASSIVE).
@Hop - hows teh new tank? I remember you pulled down your 450 at some point. Check out your site and see you're using the under-rock loc-line CL. Mine worked great and was really happy with it. I could get another Sequence 1000 to replace the broken one but there would be so much crap down there that turning it on now would kill the tank I'm sure. I intend to move the rock from the right side and dive into the tank and cut mine out - then repeat for the left. Then rebuild the rockwork. Vortechs, meh. Sore subject with me.
@FFrankie - wow someone else that tore their system down and restarted. The new system looks MUCH better. Love teh clean look at the colour is awesome. I'm also using Radiums.
Woke up the other day to a milky tank. Some of the algae spawned (or whatever you call it). No idea what algae it is. It just started to grow on the LR in the sump so I let it grow. Anyhow, it wasn't too bad as only a small portion of it released and it was gone by end of the day. Have algae in two areas in the sump. First area has 24/7 light and the other area is the section I was going to use as a frag grow-out. It now has algae, urchins and anenomes, lol. I finally caught that huge black long-spined urchin that went around demolishing the rockwork.
I saw a huge crab a few times a few months ago. Looked harmless but was quite big. Kids loved it.
melev
Well-known member
Glad to see you back again. Sounds like you still have some interesting life in that tank, even with all the issues you described.
I bet that clam filtered out the stuff from the macro, which is probably a strain of caulerpa.
Did you ever upgrade your Vortechs to Gen2? Or are you still using the original ones from years ago? The upgrade makes quite a bit of difference, as far as I'm concerned.
Let's see some pictures. Does your cellphone take good pictures, as I'm always hearing people in your part of the world demand the most from the phone's megapixel range. Or maybe you could order that battery charger finally.
I bet that clam filtered out the stuff from the macro, which is probably a strain of caulerpa.
Did you ever upgrade your Vortechs to Gen2? Or are you still using the original ones from years ago? The upgrade makes quite a bit of difference, as far as I'm concerned.
Let's see some pictures. Does your cellphone take good pictures, as I'm always hearing people in your part of the world demand the most from the phone's megapixel range. Or maybe you could order that battery charger finally.
Hey Marc.
I'll see what I can do. You're gonna make me clean the front pane aren't you? Cos it hasn't been done for 2 months.
The tank has zero flow in it now by the way. Just the return flow which isn't alot. Vortechs dead, 2 CL pumps dead. I do have a spare Hammerhead still in its plastic wrapping, maybe I can hook it up. But with no SPS there is no need and the LPS don't seem to mind.
Here's a shot from the phone:
And a video shot from the phone to show you how dirty the tank is:
http://japanreef.com/video/march_2009.mpg
But coming back to RC is making me hunger for it again. I think I'm going to make an effort.
I'll see what I can do. You're gonna make me clean the front pane aren't you? Cos it hasn't been done for 2 months.
The tank has zero flow in it now by the way. Just the return flow which isn't alot. Vortechs dead, 2 CL pumps dead. I do have a spare Hammerhead still in its plastic wrapping, maybe I can hook it up. But with no SPS there is no need and the LPS don't seem to mind.
Here's a shot from the phone:
And a video shot from the phone to show you how dirty the tank is:
http://japanreef.com/video/march_2009.mpg
But coming back to RC is making me hunger for it again. I think I'm going to make an effort.
Hey Eric.
Done, but from the phone just makes it look more crap than it actually is.
I really know I could turn things around as I've really been through the mill. I definitely know what doesn't work!
Does anyone have recommendations for Tunzes on this size tank (model and quantity).
I'll get the Calcium Reactor in Japan so I can lean on the vendor to help me with the CO2 tank and that thing that connects the two (my memory is terrible for names).
In the "video" you can see the hammer closest to the camera, bright green blog is the frogspawn, above that is the clam and the anenome on the far side. Toadstool is not really open today.
I put button mushrooms in the tank a while back and they are everywhere now but they don't bother me.
I put button mushrooms in the tank a while back and they are everywhere now but they don't bother me.
melev
Well-known member
Why not try to get what you need for the original pumps, and get them working again? It isn't that I'm against you buying new equipment, but you've already made the initial investment and it seems like repairing / upgrading them would be the best choice and not spend a lot of money. That's what I would do.
Then you could afford new pads for your cleaning magnet.
Unwrap that new Hammerhead, and get one closed loop up again.
It looks like you have quite a bit of happy LPS in there.
Then you could afford new pads for your cleaning magnet.
Unwrap that new Hammerhead, and get one closed loop up again.
It looks like you have quite a bit of happy LPS in there.
