Maroun 150g Build Thread
- Thread starter maroun.c
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xxxbadfishxxx
Active member
SWEET SHOT.
maroun.c
New member
Thanks Raen.
I'm still using an old Nikon D70s. most of the time with a Nikon 50mm 1.4 or a 17-50 2.8 Tamron. Most shots are with tripod and with SB800 flash pointing up with a Diffusor.
I really need to get me a macro lens (105 VR) and maybe a new D300 later on for the much better high Iso low noise performance to get much better fish pictures but aquarium expenses have been killing me the last 3-4 months and these will have to wait a bit more.
Thanks for your kind words.
maroun.c
New member
Ok time to catch up a bit on this thread.
Things have been very busy for me for the last two weeks and while I expected only 3-4 more travels till the end of the year my schedule just got modified to add 5 1 week trips to Turkey... so my plan to work a lot on the aquarium over the next two month has just been put on hold.
I'll start by catching up on the new additions to the tank as I use this thread as a diary of the aquarium and then will tackle the new issues I'm facing.
On 29 Jul i added these two twinspot wrasses. I never knew their final size and that they would disturb things that much. So far they haven't caused any damage but are constantly picking on rocks and sand and eating whatever critters they find they do eat very actively. and have not bothered my yellow cories wrass. don't know if I'll remove them later on as I don't want them to decimate my critters population. Main reason for adding them was to help deal with some red flatworms that had appeared on my mushrooms but they never touched them neither did my yellow cories wrass. one good thing is that they are turning the sand bed a bit in areas where I have some cyano appearing most probably due to lower flow onthose areas and maybe some phophate in the tank that I can't read on testing.
Things have been very busy for me for the last two weeks and while I expected only 3-4 more travels till the end of the year my schedule just got modified to add 5 1 week trips to Turkey... so my plan to work a lot on the aquarium over the next two month has just been put on hold.
I'll start by catching up on the new additions to the tank as I use this thread as a diary of the aquarium and then will tackle the new issues I'm facing.
On 29 Jul i added these two twinspot wrasses. I never knew their final size and that they would disturb things that much. So far they haven't caused any damage but are constantly picking on rocks and sand and eating whatever critters they find they do eat very actively. and have not bothered my yellow cories wrass. don't know if I'll remove them later on as I don't want them to decimate my critters population. Main reason for adding them was to help deal with some red flatworms that had appeared on my mushrooms but they never touched them neither did my yellow cories wrass. one good thing is that they are turning the sand bed a bit in areas where I have some cyano appearing most probably due to lower flow onthose areas and maybe some phophate in the tank that I can't read on testing.
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maroun.c
New member
My mushrooms that had bleached earlier continue to regain colours. I still don't know wxactly what caused them (and my RBTA, Torch...) to bleach it could be related to intense lighting in this tank or maybe for it being lacking par as discussed fw pages earlier or could be even related to a very high alkalinity level I have been facing lately 20DKH for fresh mixed water and tank running at around 14 lately. I'm waiting for it to drop. still all this could endup being a bad kit measurment and unfortunately I ahve to wait to get decent kits. I will try to send some tank water for testing in a medical lab this way I can have something to check my results against to avoid not adding Ca and Alk if the tank is actually low on those as I have not added any since a long while now and can't bleieve my calcium and alk is not dropping. will go over this again when I finish all updates on the tank.
so here's old and new pics of mushrooms.
so here's old and new pics of mushrooms.
maroun.c
New member
I also tried introducing a male for my female maroon clown starting october and I failed on 3 trials. 1st time was a direct inroduction which ended in torn fins immediately and the male jumped in the net when I tried ot take him out. coupleof weeks in a separator did not help either and the female was attacking it continuously, needless to say that the introduction afterwards also failed. it jumped twice in my pumps partition trying to escape the female which was acting very agressive and had a very angry look on its face all the time the male was in the tank.
maroun.c
New member
also my RBTA that I introduced 4-5 months ago and which severly bleached for no apparent reason and lost lots of its mass also recovering (yet slowly)
Very weirdly the anemone I added 2 months ago
Pic few days later before I traveled showed a tiny bit color loss:
which I didn't really notice at first.
Traveled for 5 days came backe for 2 days and then another 5 and here's the preogression:
Now this anemone did not stop opening or eating and also did not loose mass like the first one did and it looks it stopped loosing colour a lot earlier than the first one which got really close to transparent. Also this one did not show any problem with the mouth appearance like the other one did. so I'm presuming it will make a faster come back but it's really wierd why this is happening. previously i thought that my anemone problems were due to the tank cycling after the move and new sandbed or maybe the lighitng however now the tank has rematured, parameters Ammonia nitrites nitrates phosphates are all ok. I am struggling with high alk levels and high calcium with lower Mag
13-14 alk 500-550 ca and Mag around 1000
don't really think these will affect an anemone while another one is recovering and another carpet is looking really good?
Previsouly Marc ad mentioned the lighting issue and suggested I change my halides to 10 Ks already found 1 bulb and waiting for the second. also last month I addd two 54 W T5 actinic.
So so far I have:
1 250 W MH 22K Gieseman (above the anemones with anemones on the lower part- mid part of the tank and able to retrieve in the rocks if light was too much)
2 150 W MH 14K Arcadia on Lt and right
1 80 W T5 14K Arcaddia
2 54 W y5 Actinic Arcadia
2 T8 Actinics T8 Fluorescnts
all bulbs and fluorescnets are less than 6 months old with some very new so it's not an old lights issue.
I already found 1 150 10K and on the lookout for another and afterwards might add those to the existing lights or just swab the 150 W on the sides and if my actinics still manage to give some blue to the overall colour might even change the 250 W in the middle to 10K but still even with my 22K and 14 K I find it weird ana nemone will loose colour this much in less htan 5-6 weeks?
Any suggestions on other things to check will be greatly appreciated.
Very weirdly the anemone I added 2 months ago
Pic few days later before I traveled showed a tiny bit color loss:
which I didn't really notice at first.
Traveled for 5 days came backe for 2 days and then another 5 and here's the preogression:
Now this anemone did not stop opening or eating and also did not loose mass like the first one did and it looks it stopped loosing colour a lot earlier than the first one which got really close to transparent. Also this one did not show any problem with the mouth appearance like the other one did. so I'm presuming it will make a faster come back but it's really wierd why this is happening. previously i thought that my anemone problems were due to the tank cycling after the move and new sandbed or maybe the lighitng however now the tank has rematured, parameters Ammonia nitrites nitrates phosphates are all ok. I am struggling with high alk levels and high calcium with lower Mag
13-14 alk 500-550 ca and Mag around 1000
don't really think these will affect an anemone while another one is recovering and another carpet is looking really good?
Previsouly Marc ad mentioned the lighting issue and suggested I change my halides to 10 Ks already found 1 bulb and waiting for the second. also last month I addd two 54 W T5 actinic.
So so far I have:
1 250 W MH 22K Gieseman (above the anemones with anemones on the lower part- mid part of the tank and able to retrieve in the rocks if light was too much)
2 150 W MH 14K Arcadia on Lt and right
1 80 W T5 14K Arcaddia
2 54 W y5 Actinic Arcadia
2 T8 Actinics T8 Fluorescnts
all bulbs and fluorescnets are less than 6 months old with some very new so it's not an old lights issue.
I already found 1 150 10K and on the lookout for another and afterwards might add those to the existing lights or just swab the 150 W on the sides and if my actinics still manage to give some blue to the overall colour might even change the 250 W in the middle to 10K but still even with my 22K and 14 K I find it weird ana nemone will loose colour this much in less htan 5-6 weeks?
Any suggestions on other things to check will be greatly appreciated.
maroun.c
New member
One last note this anemone came from a tank with 3 250 W 20K Arcadia.
with the same bulb company I assume the 250W 20 K to be very close in intensity to a 150 W 14K so basically we're not very far in light intensity. it was a clone from an anemone and seemed to be wandering a bit whereas in my tank it stayed where I put it with mionor move to hide it's foot better.
with the same bulb company I assume the 250W 20 K to be very close in intensity to a 150 W 14K so basically we're not very far in light intensity. it was a clone from an anemone and seemed to be wandering a bit whereas in my tank it stayed where I put it with mionor move to hide it's foot better.
Its very weird how little help you are getting on your thread despite the great documentation you are doing. this is one of the few threads on this site that deals with many aspects of starting a new tank and maintaining it with very serious and difficult issues, documented as I said before very clearly yet getting very little support especially lately. Really wonder why!!!
I would really submit this thread for thread of the month as its one of the few threads on RC where one gathers so much info without having to scroll through 10 thread splits mostly with non-reef related stuff.
Sorry can't provide any help as I only lurk on the forum gathering info but find myself reading your thread a lot as its only focused on tank stories with very little deviations.
It's really hard luck with those anemone as they are really nice and I can only imagine how bad you must feel to see them bleaching.
Hopefully the more experienced guys will help you out.
Great photography work, that picture of the clown is just wonderful. would it be to much to ask for a high res picture of it to print it or at least have it on my desktop. I Understand if you don't like to share your pictures seing your watermark?
I would really submit this thread for thread of the month as its one of the few threads on RC where one gathers so much info without having to scroll through 10 thread splits mostly with non-reef related stuff.
Sorry can't provide any help as I only lurk on the forum gathering info but find myself reading your thread a lot as its only focused on tank stories with very little deviations.
It's really hard luck with those anemone as they are really nice and I can only imagine how bad you must feel to see them bleaching.
Hopefully the more experienced guys will help you out.
Great photography work, that picture of the clown is just wonderful. would it be to much to ask for a high res picture of it to print it or at least have it on my desktop. I Understand if you don't like to share your pictures seing your watermark?
maroun.c
New member
Thanks for your comments Joeee,
Still I beleive I received pretty good help so far. I agree that this is not the most active thread on RC however as I saidearlier I also use it as a log of my tank to be able to check back what changes I made and when. Totally agree that I really need help on the anemone issue as well as on my very weird alkalinity and Calcium readings....
Thread of the month would be very early for this thread if ever, at least it should not be before answers are found to my questions and changes are made with successful results....
It is very hard indeed to lose those anemones. well I'm not actually losing them and I'm sure the pleasure of having them recover would beat the feeling 1000 times but still I don't know if anyone was able to nurse an RBTA exactly back to what it was with so much difference. I nursed back my old RBTA on few occasios exactly to what it was butit was rather pinkish to start with and not that dark red. Also the speed with which the bleaching is occuring tells me that something has to be fixed in my tank before they start recovering. the good part is that the 2nd one sisn't shrink as much as the first did and seems to ahve already stopped losing more colour and is recovering, itis actively eating where the 1st one stopped eating on its own and I had to push the food in it's mouth for few weeks before it started to eat again.
No problem for the picture you need just send me an email address by PM if you prefer and I'll email you the original. I don't have any problem sharing my pics, and have done so many times, however I like to know who is using it and for what. I had an unpleasant experience lately with stolen pics and thats why I'm watermarking my pics. at least I know that if anyone is using my pics after seeing/removing the watermark that they have a bad intention and not only "innocently" just copied it because they liked it. Still i don't try to put a watermaek accross the pics as that takes away from it.
Still I beleive I received pretty good help so far. I agree that this is not the most active thread on RC however as I saidearlier I also use it as a log of my tank to be able to check back what changes I made and when. Totally agree that I really need help on the anemone issue as well as on my very weird alkalinity and Calcium readings....
Thread of the month would be very early for this thread if ever, at least it should not be before answers are found to my questions and changes are made with successful results....
It is very hard indeed to lose those anemones. well I'm not actually losing them and I'm sure the pleasure of having them recover would beat the feeling 1000 times but still I don't know if anyone was able to nurse an RBTA exactly back to what it was with so much difference. I nursed back my old RBTA on few occasios exactly to what it was butit was rather pinkish to start with and not that dark red. Also the speed with which the bleaching is occuring tells me that something has to be fixed in my tank before they start recovering. the good part is that the 2nd one sisn't shrink as much as the first did and seems to ahve already stopped losing more colour and is recovering, itis actively eating where the 1st one stopped eating on its own and I had to push the food in it's mouth for few weeks before it started to eat again.
No problem for the picture you need just send me an email address by PM if you prefer and I'll email you the original. I don't have any problem sharing my pics, and have done so many times, however I like to know who is using it and for what. I had an unpleasant experience lately with stolen pics and thats why I'm watermarking my pics. at least I know that if anyone is using my pics after seeing/removing the watermark that they have a bad intention and not only "innocently" just copied it because they liked it. Still i don't try to put a watermaek accross the pics as that takes away from it.
maroun.c
New member
Some more updates,
found this hitchhicker on the sand while I was rearragning some corals. it was not open and did not open for the rest of the day so can't tell if it's alive or not. weirdly next day it was not where I found it and I could not relocate it yet. I was thinking clam but when it just disappeared Im wondering if it's some type of snail???Still it does look like a clam.
found this hitchhicker on the sand while I was rearragning some corals. it was not open and did not open for the rest of the day so can't tell if it's alive or not. weirdly next day it was not where I found it and I could not relocate it yet. I was thinking clam but when it just disappeared Im wondering if it's some type of snail???Still it does look like a clam.
maroun.c
New member
As we're talking about clams here's my first clam addition to this tank. got it around 2 months ago. they got 3 at the LFS where one was already sold when I got there and the second was crushed in transport and looked really bad. so for 40 usd i couldn't skip on this one even if the shell edges were a bit damages as it was shipped with another clam in the same bag.
my twin spot wrasses like usual checking out all new additions or anything that I move or touch. they never picked on it though
did open just a bit later on
then it improved further the follwoing days
last time i saw it it was even opening a bit more than the last pic I have but still not full blown open. it showed a bitmore mantle extension over the shell.
One last thing it was shipped with the rock it was on so no risk of it being cut from the rocks or risk of damage to it's attachment.
Questions:
Is this a Deresa Clam?
So far I have kept it on the sand ove the rock it came on. Didn't want to take it higher as I suspected t was not opening up more becuase it was getting too much light? do you htink I should get it higher?
Is it true that some clams do not open to their maximum as I would prefer the wide open look of a clam.
My coral beauty was also not interested in it it does pick sometimes on the outer shell for some alga so does the Kole tang but it's only on the shell. this does cause the clam to close a bit and then reoppen. this could happen 1-2 times a day so not really frequesnt. It also closes when fish cross over it or when I move in front or above it so I guess that should be good?
Thanks for any info.
my twin spot wrasses like usual checking out all new additions or anything that I move or touch. they never picked on it though
did open just a bit later on
then it improved further the follwoing days
last time i saw it it was even opening a bit more than the last pic I have but still not full blown open. it showed a bitmore mantle extension over the shell.
One last thing it was shipped with the rock it was on so no risk of it being cut from the rocks or risk of damage to it's attachment.
Questions:
Is this a Deresa Clam?
So far I have kept it on the sand ove the rock it came on. Didn't want to take it higher as I suspected t was not opening up more becuase it was getting too much light? do you htink I should get it higher?
Is it true that some clams do not open to their maximum as I would prefer the wide open look of a clam.
My coral beauty was also not interested in it it does pick sometimes on the outer shell for some alga so does the Kole tang but it's only on the shell. this does cause the clam to close a bit and then reoppen. this could happen 1-2 times a day so not really frequesnt. It also closes when fish cross over it or when I move in front or above it so I guess that should be good?
Thanks for any info.
melev
Well-known member
That clam looks like a T. maxima to me. As it settles in, it should open up wider as it gets used to its new tank mates.
Regarding the bleached anemones, the first thing that sprang to mind is that your lights didn't turn off for several days in a row. This happens if someone comes over to feed & check on the tank, and forgets to shut them off unfortunately. Any chance this is happening with your tank?
Until you get those water parameters locked down...
- questionable alkalinity level
- magnesium is too low
- calcium too high
- water temperature swings perhaps?
It'll be tough to keep your animals happy. It actually drives me a little nuts that we can't seem to nail down the odd problems you've encountered by now so your tank can really take off.
Regarding the bleached anemones, the first thing that sprang to mind is that your lights didn't turn off for several days in a row. This happens if someone comes over to feed & check on the tank, and forgets to shut them off unfortunately. Any chance this is happening with your tank?
Until you get those water parameters locked down...
- questionable alkalinity level
- magnesium is too low
- calcium too high
- water temperature swings perhaps?
It'll be tough to keep your animals happy. It actually drives me a little nuts that we can't seem to nail down the odd problems you've encountered by now so your tank can really take off.
maroun.c
New member
Thats good news I thought they only came in blue colour.
so you think I shold starrt to raise it higher in the rocks or should I just keep it where it is?
My lights are on individual timers that have so far worked perfectly, whoever is feeding my tank does not touch the electricals they just check the GFCIs and circuit breakers to make sure all is on. they usually call me when there to tell me whats happening and so that I check things in the tank with them on the phone, so far lights have never been an issue. will let my wife check more frequently on them though just to be on the safe side. Anyway now that my sons school started my family is at home all week long when I'm on travel so she would notice if lights stay on or off.
I'm pretty sure this will be a kit bad measurment as I'm reading 20DKH for new mixed water with Reefcrystals. I got a new box of Crystal see marine mix and it also read 20DKH.
My tank has been reading 13-14 DKH
I left my tank with no addition of CAbalance for two weeks cam back to get the same reading. I don't have many Alk consuming corals but Im sure a tank with softies and LPs would consume some. Now I'm afraid that my alk could actually be low and I'm making it worse by not adding to it so for the last two weeks I was adding 1/2 the recmommended dose of 2 parts CA balance 1 time a week jsut to acoid levels dropping down too much.
got a 1.5 KG tropic marin Bio Magnesium and I was adding 10 spoons every day. dose around half of it with levels only rising from 980 to 1000. I also got some pharmaceutical grade Mg chloride hexahydarate and Calcium chloride and Epsom salt to correct my levels and then dose as epr Randys 2 part solution.
Also very weird it's not dropping.
temp was changing between 82-83 so not more than 1 degree difference between day and night. now summer days are ending and it's getting a bit cooler so temp has dropped to 80-81. will be hooking my heaters by next week if it starts dropping less than 79-80 will set the heaters to 79 this way if temp rises 1-2 degrees when halides go on (Doubt it will rise that much from halides whne it gets cold here)
I also ordered Ca Mg Alk Salifert test kits from Aquacave which my sister received for me while on a trip in new york. she should be back to paris in 2 weeks and I should pick them up while connecting in paris for any of my trips 1-2 weeks later on so that should confirm my readings. While waiting to have those on hand I will send a sample of my tank water and a sample of new mixed water to a medical lab to have it professionally tested for:
TDS
PH
Ca
MG
ALK
Phosphates
Any other test you would suggest to clear things further?
Believe me I wake up at night thinking of things that could be causing this stuff in my tank. I spend hours reviewing pics and makring down events and lately before adding that last anemone I remembered that the 8 yrs old RBTA that I lolst was the first thing I put in this tank as it had to come with the base rock it was on and was shortly ollowed by the first dark rad RBTA that I bought with the rock it was on as it wason a big rock and I didnt' want to detach it so it had to be there before most other corals so that led me to thin that the tank could have ran into a cycle after the move but to have it happen again only two weeks after the last RBTA was added makes me rethink.
One last thing worth mentioning is that I was losing 4-5 gallons a day and maybe I was adding something with my RO water which was accumulating fast due to the high top off rate during summer. this is why I'm professionally testing my RO water for TDS. RO filters have only been there for 4-5 months.
melev
Well-known member
The problem could also be your salt mix. It seems like I read about another beautiful reef being hurt by a brand of salt (perhaps a bad mix or run of that particular batch, and not the entire brand, of course), and he switched to another brand.
If you can grab a water sample from the LFS, test it with your same kit. See if you still get a high reading. Or buy a smaller amount of another brand like Instant Ocean, mix it up and test it.
The tank is running a tad warm, especially if it isn't getting enough oxygenation. The warmer the water, the lower the O2 level unless you are adding more. If the surface is really rippling, that helps. If it is relatively calm, an airstone might be a good idea during the summer months. For the winter, I'd suggest you allow the system to run between 78 and 80F, and observe your livestock's reaction. I keep my tank between 79 and 81 year round.
Double check the salinity measurement too, since you top off so much. If you have a false reading, that can be a factor too.
If you can grab a water sample from the LFS, test it with your same kit. See if you still get a high reading. Or buy a smaller amount of another brand like Instant Ocean, mix it up and test it.
The tank is running a tad warm, especially if it isn't getting enough oxygenation. The warmer the water, the lower the O2 level unless you are adding more. If the surface is really rippling, that helps. If it is relatively calm, an airstone might be a good idea during the summer months. For the winter, I'd suggest you allow the system to run between 78 and 80F, and observe your livestock's reaction. I keep my tank between 79 and 81 year round.
Double check the salinity measurement too, since you top off so much. If you have a false reading, that can be a factor too.
