Rebuilding from the Great Crash of 2009 (Pics and Videos!)

[nmbeg]

Hello all,

First, and introduction. I started this craze--i mean hobby--almost 2 years ago. Built myself a 125 gallon in-wall system with a 55 gallon sump. All was going well for the first year-and-a-half or so, until.....

I went away for the weekend and Murphy decided to visit. She (I think Murphy is a she... but we won't get into that here) tripped my circuit, and the tank went dark and cold and hypoxic for the next two days.....

Needless to say, all the fish died (yellow tang, blue hippo, purple firefish, diamond goby, royal gramma, plus many more than I can't even remember now). All the SPS died (didn't have that many, but it still hurts). Only had one LPS (pagoda) which barely survived. Inverts mostly died, except for half the hermits and all the astrea and a green bubble tip anemonee that went from 6 inches down to 2 inches. Prized 4-inch clam died. Softies survived, God bless their souls.

So the decision was to either give up in frustration or to keep marching on, so here I am. I let the tank just sit and cycle for about 2 months, with a few water changes. The I started restocking. Bought some fish and a big frag-pack.

Fish for now:
Sailfin Tang
Coral Beauty
Maroon Clown
Pink Square Anthia (2)
Purpleback Pseudochromis
Golden Head Sleeper Goby
Pearly Jawfish
Sixline Wrasse
Scooter Blenny
Purple Firefish Goby (2, but one missing)

Corals: (mostly just little frags except for the sofites)
Green Star Polyp
Kenya Tree
Pipe Organ
Pagoda
Multiple Zoas
Mushrooms
Pink Birdsnest
Neon Green Vermiculata Acropora
Acropora Turaki
Blue Tort Acropora
Orange Plating Montipora
ORA German Blue Montipora Digitata
Candy Cane
Purple Rimmed Green Plating Montipora
Blue Tip Staghorn Acropora
Mint Green Hydnophora

Seems like a long list, but tank looks really empty, mostly because they are just frags.

I just wanted to share my comeback with everyone.

So let's start with a full tank shot:

 

[mullinsd2]

Beautiful looking tank.... you should post some pre-disaster shots if you have any... I look forward to seeing your tank recover

 

[nmbeg]

Some frags: These were put into the tank about one hour before the pictures, so they are still in shock and the color/polyp extension are poor. Not to mention my photography sucks.

 

[nmbeg]

Softies/Zoas:

 

[nmbeg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15497901#post15497901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mullinsd2
. you should post some pre-disaster shots if you have any...

Here is an example:

Mushrooms pre-Great Crash of 2009

And now:

 

[nmbeg]

Other pre-Great Crash of 2009 inhabitants that will be missed: (unfortunately I don't have a good full-tank shot)

 

[nmbeg]

My Fish Room:

 

[nmbeg]

Here are some low-quality videos just for fun: (the tank was running just on actinics for all these pics... the MH's had gone to sleep for the night.)

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The sailfin and the coral beauty are actually good friends (they were in the tank alone for a while before all the other new guys started coming in):

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I trimmed my GSP down a lot today... it was starting to take over a whole rock pile, and I sequestered it to one rock island (polyps are hiding right now):

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I actually had two pagoda's. One died and the other is left with 2 polyps:

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Another full tank shot:

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Thanks for watching!

 

[scapes]

sorry for the crash the wall looks beautiful though.

but you have peeked my curiousity.....who is murphy?

 

[NexDog]

Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

I think your Anthias are Lyretails and not Pink Squarebacks. Glad to hear of your comeback. Not sure I'd be able to.

 

[scapes]

Ah, I see. Thanks!

 

[nmbeg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15498266#post15498266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NexDog
I think your Anthias are Lyretails and not Pink Squarebacks.

I was thinking the same thing when looking at their tails yesterday. But isn't it only the male that develops the square? I don't think either of them is male yet.

 

[ScarletReef]

nmbeg,

Sorry to hear about the crash, but I must say that your tank is looking beautiful again already. I really love the wall you chose to put your tank in, the arches are lovely. It will be fun to see your tank mature!

A few quick questions; how is your Coral Beauty with softies/lps? I have been considering getting one, but I am afraid it would pick at my corals. Also, where did you get your frag pack from? I am always interested to note where fellow reefers get their corals.

 

[das75]

great job on the in-wall

 

[nmbeg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15499057#post15499057 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ScarletReef
A few quick questions; how is your Coral Beauty with softies/lps? I have been considering getting one, but I am afraid it would pick at my corals. Also, where did you get your frag pack from? I am always interested to note where fellow reefers get their corals.

My pre-Crash Coral Beauty never caused a problem. This guy is pretty new, as are the SPS, so we'll see what happens. They are supposed to be hit-or-miss.

As for the frag pack, I posted a note in my local forum here on Reef Central as well as on my local forum Wisconsin Reef Society. I got a response from Jim's Reef. So far, I am happy with what I got.

 

[nmbeg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15499081#post15499081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by das75
great job on the in-wall

Thanks! Hopefully the mature tank will also be beautiful on the inside.

 

[garrettm85]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15499525#post15499525 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nmbeg
My pre-Crash Coral Beauty never caused a problem. This guy is pretty new, as are the SPS, so we'll see what happens. They are supposed to be hit-or-miss.

As for the frag pack, I posted a note in my local forum here on Reef Central as well as on my local forum Wisconsin Reef Society. I got a response from Jim's Reef. So far, I am happy with what I got.

First off. Very nice tank! I am glad you decided not to give up. I know how hard it is to come home to a graveyard tank. I went to Europe a few winters back and came home to a power outage that had been going on for 4 days. Needless to say, I lost alot!

As per the coral beauty. I have had 3 of them and all 3 have been model citezens. SPS is my thing, so I was very hesitant to introducemy first one into my tanks, but after some frag tank experimenting and quarantine I was pretty confident that she would be ok in the display.

They are pretty cool fish. Mine were always on the move picking at the rocks, and swiming in and out of them in search of food. They will pick at coral slime a bit but mine never messed with polyps.

Garrett

 

[meatball87]

nmbeg what kind of lights r u running i also had my tank crash around christmas and just starting to rebuild it sucks but but it happens i guess but u r well on ur way to makeing an even better display

 

[nmbeg]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15500224#post15500224 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by meatball87
nmbeg what kind of lights r u running

3x250W MH, one is 14K the other 2 are 10K.
4x39W T5 420
4x39W T5 460

but all bulbs are due for a replacement

 

[Gwynhidwy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15498726#post15498726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nmbeg
I was thinking the same thing when looking at their tails yesterday. But isn't it only the male that develops the square? I don't think either of them is male yet.

I'm pretty sure they are square spots, Pseudanthias pleurotaenia, because they have the lighter colored (yellowish) horizontal stripes down their sides/bellies and don't appear to have any purple around their eyes and running in a stripe from the eye to the pectoral fin as female lyretails do. You are right, only the male square spots develop the pink body color and bright purple/pink square on the side.

Bummer that your tank crashed, but it looks like it is well on its way to looking great again.