my 240
- Thread starter hobogato
- Start date
hobogato
New member
this just isnt a good month for my tank.....
yesterday, a large (12"+) anemone was sucked into one of my seios and killed almost all of my fish. the only fish that are still alive this morning are the eel, marine beta and radiant wrasse. all of the sps were covered with anemone bits, so i dont think any of them will make it - i have already pulled out 6 small colonies. all other corals are stressed, but will probably make it.
hard to single out any fish that will be missed more than others since they have almost all been with us for 5 years or more. however, the 12"+ vlamingi tang, who was full of personality, will likely be the one that stings the longest.
yesterday, a large (12"+) anemone was sucked into one of my seios and killed almost all of my fish. the only fish that are still alive this morning are the eel, marine beta and radiant wrasse. all of the sps were covered with anemone bits, so i dont think any of them will make it - i have already pulled out 6 small colonies. all other corals are stressed, but will probably make it.
hard to single out any fish that will be missed more than others since they have almost all been with us for 5 years or more. however, the 12"+ vlamingi tang, who was full of personality, will likely be the one that stings the longest.
hobogato
New member
well, lost about 40 corals in all.
looks like most of my new fish list will be in by the end of this week.
since my long term goals for the tank include a couple of anemones, i made these covers for the seios
on the inside
here are a few of the new fish that are already in the tank - most of those damaged corals in the background have been pulled because they didnt make it
as far as the lighting goes, the amount of light coming in now is far less than it was in august. i will probably change out some of my supplimental T5 actinics for higher par bulbs when i can afford it.
looks like most of my new fish list will be in by the end of this week.
since my long term goals for the tank include a couple of anemones, i made these covers for the seios
on the inside
here are a few of the new fish that are already in the tank - most of those damaged corals in the background have been pulled because they didnt make it
as far as the lighting goes, the amount of light coming in now is far less than it was in august. i will probably change out some of my supplimental T5 actinics for higher par bulbs when i can afford it.
hobogato
New member
ok, here is an update. after battling black ich with my new fish and losing almost all of them, i was ready to make this tank into a cichlid tank. i decided to try one more thing first....
i got rid of all sps to make sure to get rid of the AEFW - was planning on getting a few pieces again down the line.
i got rid of all complicated equipment including calcium reactor, kalk reactor, chiller, two of the four seio pumps and half of the t5 lighting. i also got rid of the clam tank (this is why i was able to get rid of the chiller)
i took the tank to more a a truly mixed reef including lots of lps, and softies.
a friend of mine decided to sell some of his sps, so i have added a few, and probably will not add many more sps if any.
once i am sure the remaining fish are healthy, i will begin the hunt for fish again.
here are some pics of the tank right now.
this is what the tank looks like to my eyes right now (9pm when i took all of these pics) with just actinics and no sunlight coming in:
the rest of these are with the camera correcting the white balance. i think it does a pretty good job (glad i finally figured out that function )
as far as the lighting, since we are past the winter solstice, intensity seems to be increasing already a bit in the middle of the day. it is nice to be excited about the tank again
i got rid of all sps to make sure to get rid of the AEFW - was planning on getting a few pieces again down the line.
i got rid of all complicated equipment including calcium reactor, kalk reactor, chiller, two of the four seio pumps and half of the t5 lighting. i also got rid of the clam tank (this is why i was able to get rid of the chiller)
i took the tank to more a a truly mixed reef including lots of lps, and softies.
a friend of mine decided to sell some of his sps, so i have added a few, and probably will not add many more sps if any.
once i am sure the remaining fish are healthy, i will begin the hunt for fish again.
here are some pics of the tank right now.
this is what the tank looks like to my eyes right now (9pm when i took all of these pics) with just actinics and no sunlight coming in:
the rest of these are with the camera correcting the white balance. i think it does a pretty good job (glad i finally figured out that function )
as far as the lighting, since we are past the winter solstice, intensity seems to be increasing already a bit in the middle of the day. it is nice to be excited about the tank again
hobogato
New member
mark, i had almost none in the tank for a while, so i just took out the few that were left (rock bases and all) and cut frags. i threw away the colonies and dipped the frags in tripple my normal dipping strength of fluke tabs. so far, no evidence of AEFW
decided to take the tank in an even more natural direction. cut the return flow down to one mag18 and the in tank flow down to two seio 2600s on a controller. the lps seem to be much happier. i also removed the skimmer and will fill that section of the sump with more macro algae. this means i will be running with no mechanical filtration - just the liverock in the tank, the 150 lbs of rubble in the first section of my sump and a 48" x 15" refugium (half barebottom with macroalgae and half 8" dsb with a red and black mangrove forrest).
current fish list (besides the three clowns that will go back to mike's tank):
purple tang
chocolate tang
yellow eye kole tang
striped dogface puffer
zebra eel
marine beta
flame hawk
two spot candy hogfish
cleaner wrasse
yellow coris wrasse
clown fairy wrasse
radiant wrasse
blue pencil wrasse
took a few new fishy pics tonight
decided to take the tank in an even more natural direction. cut the return flow down to one mag18 and the in tank flow down to two seio 2600s on a controller. the lps seem to be much happier. i also removed the skimmer and will fill that section of the sump with more macro algae. this means i will be running with no mechanical filtration - just the liverock in the tank, the 150 lbs of rubble in the first section of my sump and a 48" x 15" refugium (half barebottom with macroalgae and half 8" dsb with a red and black mangrove forrest).
current fish list (besides the three clowns that will go back to mike's tank):
purple tang
chocolate tang
yellow eye kole tang
striped dogface puffer
zebra eel
marine beta
flame hawk
two spot candy hogfish
cleaner wrasse
yellow coris wrasse
clown fairy wrasse
radiant wrasse
blue pencil wrasse
took a few new fishy pics tonight
hobogato
New member
for grins, i decided to figure out a comparison on power consumption of my tank at its most complicated vs now.
then:
total volume 400 gallons - 240 gal display, 50 gal clam tank, rest in sump/fuge
1400 watts of MH (1250 main tank, 150 clam tank)
800 watts of t5 (580 main tank, 220 clam tank)
325 watts of return pump (mag12 and mag18 main tank, mag7 clam tank
300 watts of circulation pumps (4 seio 2600s in main tank, two powerheads in clam tank)
45 watts calcium reactor mixing pump
12 watts kalk reactor mixing pump
125 watts skimmer pump
300 watts chiller
48 watts refugium light
in the RC calculator, at $.08 /KWh, it said $993 a month - this is totally wrong since my highest monthly electricity bill was right at $600.
now:
350 gallons - 240 display and the rest in the sump/fuge
220 watts if t5 actinics
145 watts return pump (mag18)
110 watts circulation pumps (2 seio 2600s)
96 watts refugium light
in the RC calculator, it said $23 a month
then:
total volume 400 gallons - 240 gal display, 50 gal clam tank, rest in sump/fuge
1400 watts of MH (1250 main tank, 150 clam tank)
800 watts of t5 (580 main tank, 220 clam tank)
325 watts of return pump (mag12 and mag18 main tank, mag7 clam tank
300 watts of circulation pumps (4 seio 2600s in main tank, two powerheads in clam tank)
45 watts calcium reactor mixing pump
12 watts kalk reactor mixing pump
125 watts skimmer pump
300 watts chiller
48 watts refugium light
in the RC calculator, at $.08 /KWh, it said $993 a month - this is totally wrong since my highest monthly electricity bill was right at $600.
now:
350 gallons - 240 display and the rest in the sump/fuge
220 watts if t5 actinics
145 watts return pump (mag18)
110 watts circulation pumps (2 seio 2600s)
96 watts refugium light
in the RC calculator, it said $23 a month
hobogato
New member
the sps i had were not thriving, but everything else was. instead of changing things to suit them, i found new homes for the sps colonies.
yesterday, icky (the eel) decided i needed to tweak the rockwork a little, so he knocked down the center island and tried to knock down the small island on the left end. here it is all redone - i like it much better now! thanks for the nudge icky (that is not exactly what i was saying to the eel yesterday)
also, the long tentacle and sebae anemones decided to travel to the center of the tank (from their prospective ends) - i think they were preparing to have war! i moved them each back to their own end of the tank and added the carbon reactor to the sump to try to keep the toxins in the water to a minimum.
here is the tank now
left island
center island
right side (from last week - have added a couple of things since then)
fts - front
back (also from last week)
yesterday, icky (the eel) decided i needed to tweak the rockwork a little, so he knocked down the center island and tried to knock down the small island on the left end. here it is all redone - i like it much better now! thanks for the nudge icky (that is not exactly what i was saying to the eel yesterday)
also, the long tentacle and sebae anemones decided to travel to the center of the tank (from their prospective ends) - i think they were preparing to have war! i moved them each back to their own end of the tank and added the carbon reactor to the sump to try to keep the toxins in the water to a minimum.
here is the tank now
left island
center island
right side (from last week - have added a couple of things since then)
fts - front
back (also from last week)
great to see you posting again ace. i've been quietly following your build since the beginning. i'm sorry to hear about the troubles you've had but i dig the direction you're headed. i'm on a similar path with mine so i'll continue to be a very interested observer.
grats on the power bill. that's really encouraging..
grats on the power bill. that's really encouraging..
hobogato
New member
well, i have had a couple of frags of sps in the tank now for a few weeks and they have kept their color and actually grown a little. i will add 5 or six more specific types to fill specific places to try to keep it as natural looking as possible.
took a few pics saturday now that the sun is getting brighter in the tank.
first, a comparison of the guts
this is what it used to look like (this is with the first calc reactor and skimmer, not the newer skimmer and monster reactor i ran for a while):
and now:
took a few pics saturday now that the sun is getting brighter in the tank.
first, a comparison of the guts
this is what it used to look like (this is with the first calc reactor and skimmer, not the newer skimmer and monster reactor i ran for a while):
and now:
Last edited:
hobogato
New member
i also decided to remove the seio 2600s and replace them with a tunze wavebox - wish i had done that a long time ago!!
just wanted to show the mods i did on the tank to make the wave action silent and not overflow the tank. i put a piece of acrylic at the end, just in case the wave tried to crest over the end of the tank. i also made inserts for the overflows out of egg crate (two layers staggered to make the holes tiny) so the fish couldnt get washed in. i made the durso pipes longer so the water level was just over the top of the overflow - no water crashing into the overflow when the wave crests.
here is a really bad video - not much light coming in yet this morning, so the camera had a hard time focusing.
a couple from the top
just wanted to show the mods i did on the tank to make the wave action silent and not overflow the tank. i put a piece of acrylic at the end, just in case the wave tried to crest over the end of the tank. i also made inserts for the overflows out of egg crate (two layers staggered to make the holes tiny) so the fish couldnt get washed in. i made the durso pipes longer so the water level was just over the top of the overflow - no water crashing into the overflow when the wave crests.
here is a really bad video - not much light coming in yet this morning, so the camera had a hard time focusing.
a couple from the top
