McPuff's new 300 (transfer from 120)

[McPuff]

Did you say how big that acclimation box is? I must have missed it. And did you notice any stress due to being in the box?

It's almost the size of a 10 gal tank. Off the top of my head I think it's 18" x 9" x 12"... something like that. Again, I would have made it bigger but I already had the acrylic and felt that it would be big enough. For you, I'd suggest going bigger... maybe something like 24x12x12. The other thing I hadn't considered was to notch the top edges just like an overflow. This allows you to place the box at the very top of the tank AND get surface flow to remove waste and provide higher oxygenation. I noticed a huge difference once I moved the box a bit lower to allow the top edges to sit about 1/4" below the water surface.

Have not found the box to be stressful to the angel at all. I have been working in iterations to try and make the transition as smooth as possible. It has taken, and will take, a while to get the blueface into the display but it should be worth the wait. But he seems to eat really well and quickly after I throw in the food. And it's eating whatever I throw in there. Only gets a little spooked when I'm cleaning the box but that subsides pretty quickly.

-Blueface added to box with 2 pieces of PVC (earlier pic shows this). Allowed him to hide as much as he wanted.

-1 piece of PVC removed to provide more open space and urge the blueface to be out in the open a bit more. Reduce shyness and hope to provide more visibility to the other fish (both ways).

-Removed second piece of PVC and replaced with 3 small pieces of live rock. This forms a little "cave" though it's mostly open. Also fully cleaned the bottom of the box so the blueface is visible to the other fish at all times. THIS WAS AN IMPORTANT STEP! Last night I noticed the annularis really checking out the blueface and even trying to get to him. VERY glad that I decided to add this portion of the acclimation... seems the other fish were not paying much attention to the blueface when he still had the PVC to hide in. Three more weeks in this configuration and I hope the aggression will be minimized from the annularis. I will say though, the annularis is MUCH bigger than the annularis. Can't say it enough just how fast that guy has grown. It is now about 6" in length, getting very fat, and almost totally adult pattern. When I got him the day before Thanksgiving he was 1.5" long. That's only about 6.5 months ago! :fun4: By comparison, the blueface does not have the same growth rate (which I knew) but he's still growing at a pretty decent clip.

 

[nightOwl]

McPuff what bubble counter are you using on the new calcium reactor?

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Very cool, Thanks for the clarification. Please keep us up to date on that process, I've acclimated like that before but never with that type of patience. In the long run, it will pay off, i'm sure.

 

[McPuff]

McPuff what bubble counter are you using on the new calcium reactor?

It came with a small Knopp reactor that I'm now using as an effluent blow-off. Seems to work well though and the liquid does not evaporate. The bubbles are big so I don't need to have a constant stream of tiny bubbles.

 

[nightOwl]

Thanks...

 

[McPuff]

Ok, it's been just over a month since my last update. The nutrients are getting back to low levels (maybe ultra low?) so the film algae is really slowing down a lot. I can always tell the relative nutrient amount by looking in the lagoon. There was some hair algae forming a few weeks ago... I added GFO back to the system and now I see the algae retreating. Film algae growth is also slowing a bit too. So the combo of chaeto reactor and GFO reactor is working pretty well.

Just last week I found 2 majanos(!) in my display. This was a shock. No idea when or how they arrived. I haven't put any rocks or corals in the tank in ages. Could have been off a snail I guess though I haven't added a snail in two years. Found another majano just yesterday as well (3 total). Luckily I have a wand so I zapped the sh*t out of them. I'll have to be vigilant to make sure I got them fully... and in case any of them spread. They were in a crevice that is hardly visible so I'm hoping that is the extent of their expansion.

As for fish, the annularis is huge still, no shock. :0) The blueface is still in the acclimation box and it's now been over two months. I'm going to try the mirror trick to see if I can divert the annularis' attention. Hopefully that will happen this week.

Yesterday I bought a royal gramma and my first humu trigger since 2004. I'm beyond excited to have a rhinecanthus trigger again! It's a pretty small guy, about 1.5" so I'll get to watch it grow for a long time. And the grammas are always so cool in my opinion. It's really hard to beat their color. Anyway, they are hanging out in TTM and both appear to have eaten some mysis last night. They'll go through the full 12 days of TTM and then spend another month in QT (prazipro and metronidazole treatments). After that the gramma will go into DT and the trigger into the lagoon (after all, it IS a lagoon trigger!).

Will post pics soon!

 

[vikinglord13]

So many triggers in one tank!

 

[McPuff]

So many triggers in one tank!

I will only have 1 trigger, but it will not go into display. Right now, it's in the QT for about 4 more weeks. It's doing really well and the colors are SO much brighter than when I got the fish a couple weeks ago. As expected he eats like a little pig. :0)



It's been fun to try and document the growth and pattern change of the annularis. Here is the most recent shot of the big guy. He's about 6" now and overall quite large and piggy. Once December hits, I'll try to create a post showing the entire progression for the year.



The tangs are all doing really well and super fat. They get along pretty well after some initial hiccups in the first few months with the chocolate. That fish in particular is simply beautiful.



The tank itself is doing pretty well. The algae growth has decreased substantially due to the chaeto reactor and GFO reactor. The trick is to simply stay on top of maintenance! :0)



And because I like to view the tank from the side at times, I wanted to include this shot. Different perspective is incredible sometimes... like looking into a different tank.



Still need to finish the canopy but that's a winter activity. Same for the stand "shell."

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Your fish and corals look very happy!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

And because I like to view the tank from the side at times, I wanted to include this shot. Different perspective is incredible sometimes... like looking into a different tank.

I love the side view of my tank, I'm glad that I had the foresight to create the rock work in a way to allow a clear view of the tank from the side. That 8' depth really makes for a great view!!!

 

[McPuff]

I love the side view of my tank, I'm glad that I had the foresight to create the rock work in a way to allow a clear view of the tank from the side. That 8' depth really makes for a great view!!!

Yeah, I wish I had the 8' depth as well. That would be my idea tank actually. 8x3' footprint and about 30" tall. I think that's somewhere just above 400 gal. But that's not happening for a long while. I can't fit a tank that big down my stairs so I'd have to build a plywood tank in place. That would likely take some big modifications. Heck, even now I should have a humidity fan/vent. Instead, I rely on a mobile dehumidified though that may work better anyway, especially in the summer. Besides that, I'd need to get approval from my wife and that would be the hardest task of all. :0)

Forgot to mention that on day 10 of TTM I lost the gramma. Not sure how it happened or why. One moment it looked fine and then about two hours later it was dead and the trigger had eaten its tail. I'm sure the trigger didn't kill it but took advantage of an easy meal. No signs of illness or distress. It was strange. Bummer too as I thought it was doing quite well, eating well, didn't seem stressed. To my knowledge the trigger left it alone. Would still like to get one but will have to wait a while now until the trigger is out of QT. Perhaps I can take the opportunity to also get a blenny or two.

 

[locito277]

Tanks looking great! Love the angel fish!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[McPuff]

Tanks looking great! Love the angel fish!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! And welcome back.

After 3 months, I finally removed the acclimation box... but I had to make another one of sorts. Still just too nervous to let the blueface into the display. Hoping he'll eat well and then I can let him loose next week.



This pic doesn't show the colors very well but he's transitioning nicely to adult pattern. Lots of yellow coming through.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Pretty clever... I just lost a lot of fish in QT and i'm really frustrated.. I can understand that a crown jewel like that needs extra precaution.

 

[McPuff]

Pretty clever... I just lost a lot of fish in QT and i'm really frustrated.. I can understand that a crown jewel like that needs extra precaution.

Argh, that must be frustrating. You certainly understand my fear of putting him into the display with no barriers. I've been babying this fish for about 5+ months. I thought the new enclosure would do two things, 1) allow the blueface to be more out in the open and get used to being in a large space, 2) allow the other fish to see him even better and determine what aggression might be forthcoming. Well, it looks like the annularis still wants to play tag. I'll see what happens over the week and determine what to do from there. Still hoping to release the blueface this coming weekend. At that point, I may have to consider catching the annularis for a time. That would be another challenge altogether.

 

[locito277]

Good to be back my buddy got a blue face and he looks amazing. I really want one. Enjoy watching his colors change


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[McPuff]

Good to be back my buddy got a blue face and he looks amazing. I really want one. Enjoy watching his colors change


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I fully agree, it has been fun to watch this fish. I think it's my 3rd one and the second that will transition from juvenile to adult.

Last night I got a bit of confidence when the annularis was trying to intimidate the blueface. The blueface stood his ground (so to speak) and was actually attempting to tail swat the annularis! I'm hoping he'll be a little scrapper once I let him loose. Definitely happy with my decision to create this larger acclimation "pen" to bring out some of this behavior!

 

[McPuff]

Brief update:

I did some basic cleaning on the reef... maybe it's a semi annual to quartery-type cleaning.

-The Tunze 6105s were filthy and now they are terrific again.

-Siphoned detritus out of the sump (this is about monthly). Only ended up as a 20 gal water change but I pulled the nastiest water which makes a huge difference obviously. I'll likely do another water change in a week and vacuum some of the sand in the DT.

-Rinsed out the 2 marine pure blocks - long overdue! They were pretty dirty.

-Rinsed out the basket of rubble rock - also very dirty!!! Long overdue

-Replaced GFO

-Harvested just over 2 gallons of chaeto from my reactor! This thing really works well and it's amazing how dense this stuff grows. I have much more success with the reactor than I ever did in a refugium setting. I highly recommend a chaeto reactor to anyone considering it. And all I use is a large media reactor wrapped with LEDs ($23). So if you have an extra reactor give it a try!!

All in all, it was a productive hour spent cleaning. Always amazing how much better the system functions with just a little time spent targeting specific areas. In the end, I find these types of activities are so effective toward keeping a clean and healthy system.

 

[McPuff]

Well, I'm not sure yet if this is completely crazy but I went ahead and did it anyway. I bought 3 more AI Sol blue fixtures. Yesterday I added those to my DT and removed a single Onyx fixture. The result is 9 fixtures in 3 rows of 3. Thankfully, they fit quite nicely and only required minimal "refurbishment" of my original lighting strategy. Good news is that each light is now fixed in place to the canopy frame itself and they are a bit higher off the water. This should allow me to reach a bit more to the back of the tank but also means no more hanging frame.

I set the AI Sols to "coral acclimation" mode for the next 7 days as a precaution. There should really be NO shadowing after this (I noticed it was becoming a small problem on my large green slimer colony). Anyway, this shows how they are hung. Despite the number of power supplies and cords required, it actually is pretty clean and should work out well.



Next step is to FINALLY create a set of doors for the canopy. Like I keep saying, it's a winter project. :0)

Also bought a few extra fish that I've wanted to add for a while now. Royal gramma, tail spot blenny, and arc eye hawkfish. They are in TTM for another 10 days and will then spend another 30 in QT. Those will be good additions.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Like I keep saying, it's a winter project. :0)

Funny how perspective changes meaning. You're winter projects are my summer projects.