jenjen's upgrade to 180gal

[jenjen]

Today's water param's:

QT:
sg - 1.025
ammonia - 0
nitrate - 50
PH - 8

DT
sg - 1.025
ammonia - 0
nitrate - 10
PH - 8.1
dKH - 8
calc - 360

I am loving the Vertex skimmer. Now that we have it sitting at the right height it's happily skimming away.

My Chocolate Tang & Atl Blue Tang are both doing excellent in QT. They seem to be little buddies & are swimming together a fair bit. They're both eating well, and they eat anything I put in the tank. They devour nori. One week of QT down - 3 to go.

I also added a BTA last week. I ended up with a standard BTA with orange tips. It immediately moved off the rock it came on and moved about 18 inches to the left of where I had placed it, within the first afternoon & evening. It hasn't moved since. It stays open and in my un-educated opinion it looks 'happy'.

Since the move I've lost a conch and I have one acan who isn't looking good. Aside from that everything seems to have made it - amazing! I think I'll head down to J&L tomorrow & fill out the CUC, then just sit back and watch it all settle in for the next few weeks.

 

[jenjen]

FTS from today:

my unhappy acan:

happy clam:

foxface cammo:

 

[H.Veras]

hey jenjen nice pictures.... no picture of your qt yet?

 

[jenjen]

Oh right, almost forgot!

Here's the 90gal which I'm using as a QT for now until I sell it. Don't mind the messy water, I just did a water change and it stirred up all the junk in the sand again - I'll take a 'nice' pic once the water settles out. And the fish are inside the PVC at the moment - I'll try and grab a pic of them later on too, if they happen to come out.

And the tank I usually use for QT (minus all the stuff I'm currently storing in it):

 

[jenjen]

Woke up this morning to what appeared to be ich, completely covering my Atl Blue Tang in QT. It looked absolutely fine last night. I didn't have time to do anything about it this morning, and came home intending to start hypo this evening. Oddly the fish looks back to totally normal now - it's been maybe 8 hours since I last saw it, and not a spot on him.

I've never seen ich drop off a fish so quickly, so I'm sceptical. Maybe I was imagining things this morning???

I think I'll just observe both fish closely for now, and not 'do' anything. If I see any spots I have lots of water on hand & will start hypo right away.

I have been doing every third day small water changes on the QT, which I think I'll step up to daily for a few days just to make sure the water stays perfect.

On another note, my 'unhappy acan' seems to be responding a tiny bit to it's new location in the tank. It didn't seem to like either of the first two spots I picked, but looks a little better today and actually showed a bit of a response to target feeding which it hasn't done since the tank move. Fingers crossed!

 

[jenjen]

Everything seems to be settling in nicely in the new tank. I've switched to weekly water tests, since everything seems very stable. The anemone hasn't moved since the first day I put it in. It's always open, though it doesn't bubble up it's tentacles very much. My red acan is starting to open up finally - happy to see that, I thought it was a goner. And I'm 'pleased' to say the aiptasia is flourishing too - I see Joe's Juice in my future.

I definitely need more flow in the tank. The surface movement is pretty good, but there's some dead spots in the front & I'm getting some detrius buildup. Not sure whether to add more K4's, or try something different. I don't like looking at powerheads, so I'd love some lower profile ones but haven't found anything I like yet. I also like the variable speed ones, and have been looking at the controllable Koralia's. Decisions, decisions.

I'm quite pleased with the lighting setup I've ended up with, with the 400w MH in the center and a 250w on each side. I was intending to switch them all out to the same, but having brighter light in the middle of the tank is growing on me. Maybe I can use that budget to get better powerheads!

The lone casualty of the upgrade has been the conch so I think for now I'll replace him & hope the sand gets stirred up enough for the time being, while I keep researching powerheads. Blech, I really don't like the 'equipment picking' part of this hobby.

 

[robot2222]

Im sorry it is reefcleaners.org.............. i was going to tell you what cuc i purchased i relized i gave you the wrong websight . i got a little of everything 100ceriths, florida ceriths , nerite snails , 2 fuzzy chitons , 2 pepermint shrimp ,limpets , nassarus, blue legged hermits . if you email them they will customize a cuc for you they usually get back to you within a day or 2 . i took his list and added some things so iwas over 150.00 for free overnight shipping . everything arived alive its been 2 months and all are still living . check out there web sight.

 

[robot2222]

the cuc really adds alot of diversity. my sand went from not looking so good in a big spot in my tank too bright white within 2 days . they also had a fighting conch but i thought it would be to big for a 72 gallon.

 

[abulgin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14950801#post14950801 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jenjen
Woke up this morning to what appeared to be ich, completely covering my Atl Blue Tang in QT. It looked absolutely fine last night. I didn't have time to do anything about it this morning, and came home intending to start hypo this evening. Oddly the fish looks back to totally normal now - it's been maybe 8 hours since I last saw it, and not a spot on him.

I've never seen ich drop off a fish so quickly, so I'm sceptical. Maybe I was imagining things this morning???

I think I'll just observe both fish closely for now, and not 'do' anything. If I see any spots I have lots of water on hand & will start hypo right away.

I have been doing every third day small water changes on the QT, which I think I'll step up to daily for a few days just to make sure the water stays perfect.

On another note, my 'unhappy acan' seems to be responding a tiny bit to it's new location in the tank. It didn't seem to like either of the first two spots I picked, but looks a little better today and actually showed a bit of a response to target feeding which it hasn't done since the tank move. Fingers crossed!

First, your tank looks great. Second, I think you're about maxed out on tangs. Third, ich can come and go pretty quickly, and I have seen tangs with ich lose all the spots in 10 hours. If your tang was covered in salt-sized dots, you likely are dealing with ich.

 

[jenjen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14970116#post14970116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by robot2222
Im sorry it is reefcleaners.org.............. i was going to tell you what cuc i purchased i relized i gave you the wrong websight . i got a little of everything 100ceriths, florida ceriths , nerite snails , 2 fuzzy chitons , 2 pepermint shrimp ,limpets , nassarus, blue legged hermits . if you email them they will customize a cuc for you they usually get back to you within a day or 2 . i took his list and added some things so iwas over 150.00 for free overnight shipping . everything arived alive its been 2 months and all are still living . check out there web sight.

Thanks again, I'll check them out! Living up here in Canada is a bit of a pain for shipping livestock though. Luckily I live pretty close to J&L, and I think they have similar packages.

 

[jenjen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14970501#post14970501 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by abulgin
First, your tank looks great. Second, I think you're about maxed out on tangs. Third, ich can come and go pretty quickly, and I have seen tangs with ich lose all the spots in 10 hours. If your tang was covered in salt-sized dots, you likely are dealing with ich.

Thank you! And yes, I am done with tangs. I actually intended to stop at 3, but fell in love with the Atlantic Blue Tang for some reason. I think we're actually about done with fish altogether other than a sand sifting goby.

 

[jenjen]

Some things I learned today:

* don't use the RO/DI unit prior to the first cup of coffee of the day

* attach the RO/DI alarm to your body - do not leave it on the coffee table and then go to work

* RO/DI water shines up a cement floor really nicely, but it might be more effecient to move all the stuff off the floor before covering it in water

* if you are going to lock your cat in the laundry room then flood the floor with RO/DI water, make sure there's something for the cat to sit on - cats don't like sitting in a puddle of water, even if it is RO/DI

* it turns out I CAN remove everything from the laundry & storage room, mop up a very large spill of water, then put everything back all inside of an hour while on my lunch break

Gotta love this hobby!

 

[robot2222]

how is everything going jen jen , i have added my first fish in the past 2weeks kole tang, tomato clown , red filefish so far so good and from a local reefer i got a pipe organ coral, and some ricordeas . he also had a lawnmowwer blenny . the kole tang is chasing the blenny around non stop. i will post some pics soon i took some today with 35mm .

 

[jenjen]

Please do post pics when you get a chance! My Kole tang is a terror - he chases everyone but doesn't seem to do any real harm.

Things are going well in my tank - I've been out of town on business most of the month, but the tank has fared well. It's actually good when I'm away for a bit, it gives everything a chance to sit 'idle' without me poking at it. My fiance did a great job taking care of things, especially considering I still don't have an ATO system in place yet which means we're still topping off water twice a day.

And I finally got a reliable camera... I'll try to get some current pics up tonight when I get home.

 

[jenjen]

Well, I think it's way past time for a tank update here. I had 2 business trips in May, and am gearing up for the wedding June 20th, so things have been hectic and I haven't been on here as much as I usually am.

The tank is progressing well. Funny thing... the last tank was started with garden hose water :eek1: but I didn't see much of an algae bloom at all. This one was started with all RO/DI water, and lucky me, I've got Cyano. It's SLOWLY going away, but it's annoying.

I'm also blessed with aiptasia, which I'm Joe's Juicing every second day. I think I'm winning, but WOW.

And my brand new Vertex skimmer broke it's impeller already. I got the replacement part on Sunday, so we're back up and skimming. I haven't decided yet whether to replace the pump and just use this one as a spare.

Oh and we've gotten a heat wave (as far as heat goes here in BC). On Monday I got home from work and the tank was at 89 degrees!!! So since then I've had the sump fan cranked and I turned off 2 of the 3 MH's. The temp at the moment is 84 which is much better. I seem to be holding steady at a swing of 79-84 this week. I'll leave the MH's off until the temp drops to something more respectable.

Here's some pics.

FTS:

Crocea clam, happy as... well, a clam:

Acan - the guy who did NOT love the move (finally happier):

Thanks for looking!

 

[H.Veras]

wow looking good...who takes care of your tank when you r gone for b's trip? is your vertex the first generation or second? i got the second and i have not got any issues yet i love them so quiet... about the heat problem that sucks... that's why i got t5; mh is too powerful and it does over heat alot..

 

[jenjen]

My fiance is pretty handy with the tank when I'm away thankfully. He manages the feedings and top-ups anyway.

The vertex is second generation, with a ceramic impeller. It's amazing how it wore down and broke off! I love it when it's working, but it was VERY dissapointing that it broke so quickly. Hopefully it was just a stroke of bad luck and the new impeller will be the end of it.

I love my MH's, and since the temp here is normally fine I don't think it'll be a long term problem - just a bit of a bummer for a week or two here. Hey, we gotta get SOMETHING good from our less-than-stellar weather here on the we(s)t coast!

I'm just crossing my fingers the weather will stay good until the (outdoor) wedding!

 

[jenjen]

Oh, and since we all love parameters, here's mine from tonight:

sg 1.025
ammonia 0
nitrate 5
pH 8.0
dKH ~10
calcium 380

The calc is still low, but that's thanks to the IO salt I think. Can't decide whether to change salt or to start suplementing, but since I got the nem I guess I better do something soon. I'm doing bi-monthly water changes now and param's have stayed pretty stable so far.

 

[jenjen]

I was working in the sump yesterday and found some stray voltage :eek1:

We turned off everything & turned it all back on one at a time, and it seems to be the skimmer pump. I left the skimmer off overnight and am on my way down there now to confirm that it's the culprit.

This pump has been a pain so far, breaking an impeller & electricuting me within it's first few months here! And to think I took my whole sump apart & moved baffles to fit it in there. Frustrating!

 

[H.Veras]

wow sorry jenjen to hear about that, i hope everything will be ok...