My 500G Osama Reef-2

As some may recall I lost several fish that I did not quarantine and most likely introduced ich into the DT. I was able to remove four fish into a QT. One fish,a wrasse, totally did not like the QT and committed suicide. The other three have been cleaned up and were introduced to the tank water at 50% in the QT for three weeks then were placed in the frag tank on the same water system as the display tank for two weeks. ALL are clear of any signs of ich and all are eating well . I have started moving those fish into the DT starting with a yellow tang shown below. Hopefully he will not catch ich as I was unable to remove a cardinal fish and a blue tang from the main system. On Sat the other three fish who have been in the same water as the DT water will be moved into the DT. Hoping all goes well... The DT has only had two fish for about three months with no visible indications of ich.
i'm not sure i followed that correctly but it sounds like you removed four fish (one of which didn't make it) that were symptomatic of what you diagnosed to be marine ich into quarantine (separate system) for three weeks then moved into a frag tank off the same DT system for two weeks leaving two fish in the DT system the whole time. is that correct?

if so, i don't understand your goal. were you assuming there was an outbreak due to stress between the inhabitants not getting along or picking on each other and you were trying to reintroduce them in an order to allow the skittish an option to get their territory prior to the more aggressive added later on?

from what i gathered in your reply i didn't see any mention of treatment used so the ich is certainly still being carried by all the fish. but certainly more so because the DT was never left fallow to allow the parasite to die without a host for at least 8-12 weeks. with such few fish and at a critical juncture at your build, it'd be a great time to develop and begin a proper quarantine protocol with research through the great threads on here and with the hopefully insightful help of your friend/shop-owner. in this way you ensure the healthiest specimens make it to your tank and can work through a fish list diligently adding the appropriate species at a time.

if you have decided against quarantine or prophylactic treatment sorry if i missed that post and this is a bit of a rant but wanted to make sure you were not confused with the likely outcome of your actions and hard work.
 
My Fish Cleaning station

My Fish Cleaning station

I bought four cleaner shrimps and had two hiding or ? and moved the four fish I had quarantined back into the DT. Look at how fish know where the shrimp are and that they do a cleaning job on the fish parasites I thought it quite interesting. Hope you enjoy it too.

 
Osama, first off I would like to congratulate you on an incredible build! Your tank is beautiful and I hope you can enjoy it for yrs to come.

Second, I would like to comment/help with your protein skimmer. Your skimmer is made by Bill Wann up in Wisconsin. You can read about his massive setup here....

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/265-Aquarium-Engineering

I would recommend you calling him directly to help you get your skimmer dialed in correctly. I know his contact info is in the link I posted, you will just have to find it. Not sure how far he is from Palatine, but you may be able to go see him directly. He sounds like a standup guy so hopefully he can help.
 
Scott that is most wonderful information and greatly appreciated... Tank is coming along extremely well and Matt - ShoTank is my system designer installer is working extremely hard to make my system a real show piece. Few hurdles to overcome which is expected with a project of this magnitude. Skimmer is a bit frustrating at times. Other times it skims like unbelievably well.. I just need it dialed so it does not have to be adjusted frequently and I am sure I will get there with Matt and now Bill Wann... Thanks a lot for the info again.
 
Wayne the bubble situation is work in progress. Matt is trying different possibilities but he has not won the battle yet and when someone is trying as hard as he is I can only be thankful for the effort... Will report in a few weeks about the outcome on the bubbles as it does distract from what has so far turned out for me & wife Marion to be a very enjoyable setting...
 
Hi ALL Yesterday I visited Matt in his shop in Mundelein and got some more (eight more ) beautiful corals and three small clown fish. I really liked the selection and prices. He has a great selection... I am hoping he gets a new shipment soon as I liked what I saw... Need to learn to take better pictures of corals and post pictures of what I am putting in My DT. It is getting full with corals and I need to get more fish and few more select corals
 
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Osama, I would like to comment/help with your protein skimmer. Your skimmer is made by Bill Wann up in Wisconsin. You can read about his massive setup here....

Scott I have not called on Bill Wann (BW) but I looked at the skimmer in Matt's shop yesterday and it is skimming beautifully with a large foam head, I am turning mine down a notch meaning closing slightly the drain to see if in a couple of days it will make such a large foam head. BW video from 2012 showed a beautiful head of foam so I should be able to achieve such good skimming and maybe if unsuccessful I will check with BH maybe even visit him if he would accept visitors to witness his humongous new & previous build Thanks for your help..
 
Hi Steve. There is no rating or any material with this skimmer. At their site Aquariumeng.com they state it is a twelve inch series skimmer no other info. It is a big skiimmer for a hobbyist and I am OK with the size if I can get it to work efficiently & consistently . On top of my thread on pg 21 you can see it skimming nicely then just dumping water.....
 
Skimmer just dumped 30 plus gallons while I was not around and caused APEX to shuyt off one of the two main tank pumps. I am now refilling. This skimmer works great skims great SOMETIMES and other times just acts up like. Not sure of what is going on. Glad Matt will be here tomorrow. He will advise and we go from there.
Here is a picture of it skimming like crazy..

I see the air hose has a kink in it. On the right side, the pipe with the red top. Is that the problem or am I seeing it wrong?
 
Good Morning Wayne. The air hose comes down from above the skimmer on the left side and connects to the grey pipe on the left at just below the clear acrylic.Looping on that same side is an air relief tubing with valve. On the right side is a half inch hose that is just laying there that I use to drain the DT to the sump in the basement via the little green hose bib on the bottom right side
 
Attaching a carnation coral

Attaching a carnation coral

Tried to reattach using toothpick but I need something that will keep the carnation in place. Is it OK to place the carnation between two rocks and tighten in place with a rubber band. Please give me your thoughts and thanks
 
OK reeftanknewbie and Dave as always thanks for your thoughts. I am going to try the rubber band but keep it a bit loose. I used the rubber band on a softie a few weeks ago and ended up with four smaller one that are now all OK instead of one big one. so rubber band it is unless get other ideas. I remember something like keeping the coral in place by covering it with some-kind of a mesh but am not sure how that works.
 
The "mesh" reference was to use bridal veil material in a small "bubble" to allow water to circulate around the cutting but not blow it off the rock until the cutting has had a chance to attach itself. Once attachd you can remove the mesh.

Sure, you have plenty of scraps of bridal veil material laying about the house, don't you, Osama? ;)

You can do the same thing with scraps of plastic window screen material available from any hardware store.

Dave.M
 
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