Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[jason2459]

Google's adding a "-" in their image links causing them not to work on here with the img tags. Had to relink them through another source.... all fixed now.

 

[jason2459]

best friends

 

[jason2459]

I finally got the white balance corrected for one picture. I have no idea how I did it and probably wont be able to figure it out again. My camera just pics up so much blue from the LEDs. It is bluer but anywhere near is blue as the camera makes it out to be. The body of the foxface is finally white in this picture.

 

[mjhall85]

It's looking great!

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

Wow, Jason a lot of work and planning have been put into this. Sorry to hear about your cut, hope it's doing better now. I tried to check your vid but it says "this video is private". I'd love to see it, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Also, when are you putting a tree in the tank for the kids . I don't blame you for the dragon, and I bet he's a blast when he roars at it.

Still following........

 

[jason2459]

Thanks, thumb is still sore but not bleeding anymore.


Video should be working now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIfECvgLWR0

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fIfECvgLWR0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[jason2459]

Looks like what I was calling a hammer coral is actually a E. cristata.

great site on Euphyllia sp.

http://sdmas.com/corals/146.php

 

[jason2459]

Wow, much more on just about every coral you can think of.

http://sdmas.com/corals/species.php

I will probably waste the next week on browsing all the different species of coral.

 

[jason2459]

Haven't updated in a while. Been super busy. I'm starting to sell off some stuff I'm not using anymore but that's going to go pretty slow as I'll probably do just one at a time to make sure I can get stuff shipped out on time. Already sold my hy2000 skimmer pump. Really wish I could have kept it as a spare but I'm so glad I went with the SRO3000. It's really doing an amazing job. I got to see a SRO2000 at the new LFS and it's amazing how much bigger the SRO3000 skimmer is from the SRO2000.

I believe I killed my frog spawn because of placement in the tank. I moved it up a bit on the rocks to get some more lights. I got back from a trip and all the heads were popped out. I though it might have been the foxface at first that ate the coral but I spotted two of the heads withered away under a rock. I believe it's because of to high of flow. I forgot about my tunze storm cycle and I have it go off every 6 hours. The storm cycle really kicks things up and keeps the detritus up off the rocks and sand but the frogspawn was in a current it certainly didn't like.

On another note I swore my kauderni cardinals grew twice in size in the past couple weeks. Since having two sets of them now I have noticed very similar things like the male seems to eat a lot more and is not picky about what he eats. The females seem to be a lot pickier and will only eat meaty items like misys and spirulina brine but doesn't like the krill I have or any of the algae based foods. In the carnivore blends she finds only the whole pieces she likes. I also can now see on this pair a definite physical difference between the male and female besides not being picky about eating and being slightly bigger the jaw is much more defined and square. I've read about that is one way to tell them apart but never seen it. I still have no idea which one makes the knocking sound or how they do it or maybe both do it. I can hear it but can't see them doing anything at all special to make the sounds.


Here's about the best pictures I could get of the male. The jaw is more squared and hard to explain but the middle juts forward a bit from the front.

I really couldn't get a good picture of the female

Another bad pictures but Left Female and right the male

 

[jason2459]

I couldn't pass it up.... we'll see it in 6 weeks hopefully in the display tank after QT!

 

[jason2459]

I thought the frogspawn was gone but I see heads regrowing. So, I've been playing with the flow of the 6105s and settings for the 7096 controller. I think I have it set now so it doesn't blow it away again I hope. We'll see.

 

[jason2459]

I picked up a galaxia frag today. Probably about 1.5 inches. I'm thinking about getting a elegance but need to research them a bit more and get it from divers den as they are supposed to be collected from a hardier location.

I also finally got around to making a permanent stand for my Skimmer. I found a height it likes to be in. About 6.5 inches of water. Which I think is coralvues recommended height too.

Pretty simple to make. Just some 1" PVC, zip ties, and egg crate

 

[jason2459]

Picked up a nice looking bubble coral today and I hope I can keep it alive and not tear it apart. It seems to delicate. I put in on the bottom of the tank in the middle of the right side rock work I built up with the pukani rock.

Here's the galaxia

 

[mjhall85]

Picked up a nice looking bubble corals and I hope I can keep it alive and not tear it apart. It seems to delicate. I put in on the bottom of the tank in the middle of the right side rock work I built up with the pukani rock.

Here's the galaxia

Looking great! soon enough the tank will be full or great corals!

 

[jason2459]

Thanks. I think it will be a while before its full. Especially since I'm getting little frags. I'm look forward to getting another reefbrite strip in about a month and then add a Maxima clam. I have a spot waiting for one.

 

[mjhall85]

Thanks. I think it will be a while before its full. Especially since I'm getting little frags. I'm look forward to getting another reefbrite strip in about a month and then add a Maxima clam. I have a spot waiting for one.

I bought a couple small frags the other week and its amazing how quick things grow in our tanks with proper lighting and parameters

 

[jason2459]

Can't wait for the bubble coral to get bigger then. I ended up having to move it as the big pass through cave entrance seemed to have to much flow and it shriveled up pretty good. I moved it way over to the other side of the tank almost under a power head but seemed to have the least amount of flow there. Today it really opened up and so cool looking.

 

[jason2459]

On my 20g I was about to do a water change last night and I grabbed this picture. The film on top that builds up between water changes kind of made an interesting surrealistic look with the pulsing xenia.

I actually like the film building up on top as opposed to getting it mixed back in the water by pointing up a powerhead. It allows me to skim it out with the water changes since I don't have a protein skimmer this seems to work out really well. In fact this is my only method of filtration now. I don't run carbon or any pads anymore in the subcurrent though I still have it running for circulation. 1 Gallon water changes once a week seems fine and I wonder if it is because of allowing the film stay on the surface and skimming it out. The xenia and zoas seem to be growing and doing good so if it's not broke I'm not going to try and fix it.

 

[jason2459]

I just love this bubble coral and has quickly become one of my favorites. I never realized just how beautiful they can be. I certainly can't get a picture to really show all the designs and colors and look that I can see.

Giving my blasto some camera time. I have about 5 new heads starting up. More growth then I've ever had with it. They are tiny right now and can't wait for them to fill in.

 

[jason2459]

I think I'm ready for some pod eating fish. I have them crawling everywhere. I really believe it's the RUGF at work. That is a pod breading factory! I'm so glad I decided to keep it setup down in the sump.