brannock_16
Member
Hello Everyone,
I am glad to say that after much trial and tribulation, my LPS and Acan dominated tank is beginning to make a comeback from near collapse! Since I am leaving for Christmas vacation on Thursday, today I performed a 20% water change, cleaned the glass, cleaned the stand, cleaned the splash guard, turkey basted all of the rocks, vacuumed the sand, and tested the water. Now that I sit back and look at the tank it is beginning to look more like a reef than a mess!
I say it is making a comeback from near collapse because about 3-4 months ago, my five foot long, 125 gallon tank decided to spring a leak and start leaking onto my carpet (in a house that I do not own!) so I was rushed to hastily purchase a brand new four foot long 120 gallon tank to replace it.
During the leak, the tank was drained, the rock, corals, and livestock were put into brute 55 gallon trash cans with heaters and powerheads for oxygenation. They rock, corals, and livestock were in the cans for three days until the silicone in the new sump dried. After the three days, the new tank was delivered, filled, restocked, and all the rock, new sand, and livestock were put into the new tank.
Unfortunately my prized Potters Angel was crushed during the night on the night before the move into the new DT and died. This Potters was simply stunning and I was very depressed in the loss of such a beautiful fish.
Once the new tank was up and running, a mini cycle took place and contributed to an outbreak of cyano, and now an outbreak of hair algae. The hair algae is finally diminishing in number and I am finally winning the battle. During this time, I was plagued with a massive amount of school work at Boise State University, was working 40 plus hours a week, and simply didn't put in the effort required of my tank...I am sad to say that my negligence nearly cost my tanks life!
With a progressive deterioration of my tank, I failed to find an adequate answer. All my params were within acceptable reefing ranges - Calcium, Alkalinity, Nitrates, Nitrites, Magnesium, Strontium, and Ph. As my collection of SPS continued to RTN and STN to death I began to question the quality of my tank. It was not until I realized that the one test I failed to consider, because I was lazy and did not think it could swing so intensely on a mature reef, was Specific Gravity!
Once I came to this realization I tested my SG and came up with a horrific number of 1.036+! Over the course of days I lowered my SG and the tank has been recovering nicely. I have since reduced my SPS craze and instead focused my desires on LPS, more precisely acans!
To get to the point, I thought the tank looked nice enough to finally be able to share again. I look forward to any questions, suggestions, compliments, and constructive criticism. Thanks for taking the time to read this and enjoy.
I am glad to say that after much trial and tribulation, my LPS and Acan dominated tank is beginning to make a comeback from near collapse! Since I am leaving for Christmas vacation on Thursday, today I performed a 20% water change, cleaned the glass, cleaned the stand, cleaned the splash guard, turkey basted all of the rocks, vacuumed the sand, and tested the water. Now that I sit back and look at the tank it is beginning to look more like a reef than a mess!
I say it is making a comeback from near collapse because about 3-4 months ago, my five foot long, 125 gallon tank decided to spring a leak and start leaking onto my carpet (in a house that I do not own!) so I was rushed to hastily purchase a brand new four foot long 120 gallon tank to replace it.
During the leak, the tank was drained, the rock, corals, and livestock were put into brute 55 gallon trash cans with heaters and powerheads for oxygenation. They rock, corals, and livestock were in the cans for three days until the silicone in the new sump dried. After the three days, the new tank was delivered, filled, restocked, and all the rock, new sand, and livestock were put into the new tank.
Unfortunately my prized Potters Angel was crushed during the night on the night before the move into the new DT and died. This Potters was simply stunning and I was very depressed in the loss of such a beautiful fish.
Once the new tank was up and running, a mini cycle took place and contributed to an outbreak of cyano, and now an outbreak of hair algae. The hair algae is finally diminishing in number and I am finally winning the battle. During this time, I was plagued with a massive amount of school work at Boise State University, was working 40 plus hours a week, and simply didn't put in the effort required of my tank...I am sad to say that my negligence nearly cost my tanks life!
With a progressive deterioration of my tank, I failed to find an adequate answer. All my params were within acceptable reefing ranges - Calcium, Alkalinity, Nitrates, Nitrites, Magnesium, Strontium, and Ph. As my collection of SPS continued to RTN and STN to death I began to question the quality of my tank. It was not until I realized that the one test I failed to consider, because I was lazy and did not think it could swing so intensely on a mature reef, was Specific Gravity!
Once I came to this realization I tested my SG and came up with a horrific number of 1.036+! Over the course of days I lowered my SG and the tank has been recovering nicely. I have since reduced my SPS craze and instead focused my desires on LPS, more precisely acans!
To get to the point, I thought the tank looked nice enough to finally be able to share again. I look forward to any questions, suggestions, compliments, and constructive criticism. Thanks for taking the time to read this and enjoy.
