Sam's Oceanic 120

8/15/2022
I built and will be using my second screen tank lid from here on out...
I went down to feed the fish in the 120 and found an unexpected visitor in the exile tank...
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I couldn't really believe it so I had to take a few photos. No way in hell I could have caught him out of the DT. was hard enough getting him out of the exile tank.
Talk about threading the needle - there is not much more then a foot between the light and the tank rim; from underwater two feet away.... Do you think the Damsel was taunting him so he decided to go teach it a lesson?

Got some salt! Petsmart super sale... $25/ea. I usually mix them 1:2 IO:RC.
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Stop Sam!!!!! You’re driving me crazy…just kidding🤣

Just kidding. I’ve currently got a 40 but have a used 120 for an upgrade. But, I’m great at starting home/reef projects and terrible at finishing them, especially in the summer. How’s that for someone who makes a living being a project manager😉
 
Stop Sam!!!!! You’re driving me crazy…just kidding🤣

Just kidding. I’ve currently got a 40 but have a used 120 for an upgrade. But, I’m great at starting home/reef projects and terrible at finishing them, especially in the summer. How’s that for someone who makes a living being a project manager😉
Usually the cobbler's son without shoes! It just looks like I'm making a ton of progress; Don't forget its all occurred over 3 years!
 
8/16/2022
Devastated...
Checked on my tank today and didn't see any anthias... Looked a bit longer and found one in the rocks. I grabbed its tail with my grabber and it came loose in rigor. Looked for the others. I eventually found them all dead. Also found one Cleaner shrimp being eaten by Timmy and bits of the other already having been consumed.
I don't know what happened... I thought the male Anthias went on a killing spree because I found all the females first but with him dead I don't know. Over the past week I've slowly changed about 60 gallons of water so I doubt its tank chemistry. The Canary Blenny and Striped Blenny are running scared it looks like; and earlier the canary blenny was acting all terrified. He had his fangs out at one point.
I don't know what's up... I'm down over $300 in livestock in 24hours. Everyone else seems fine if not totally agro. Everyone is scared.
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8/16/2022
akk. striped blenny bought the farm too. :(
its odd. when I'm around the tank all the fish come out to swim around normally; when I go they all hide.
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Could a little 2.5" 6-line wrasse kill all those fish? he's been getting up in everyone's grills lately.
All the chromis are alive... If chemicals, I would suspect some of those would have been ended...


Using a reliable Fluke 77 IV multimeter I have 20V AC when I put the black in a grounded terminal and the red in the tank. I get the same when I removed all wires. I also get 20V when I do the same in a plastic terrarium with saltwater, Phyto and pods and an air bubbler only.
I think the voltage is ok. The Canary Blenny is still super spooked; the larger fish are ok.

If it were a chemical like sunscreen or bug spray, I would think it would kill the things in the exile tank first since that was exposed directly. Also, The coral banded shrimp are fine.

I think I have a killer :( I bet its the six line. :( I see him stepping to all the chromis and the larger fish are antsy when hes near them.
Can six line take out larger fish like anthias?


Found one of the coral banded shrimp (small one) with both arms plucked-off so I relocated him to the baby cardinal tank.
The sailfin is huge now... He is being super agro with the hippos. He also always did have a mean streak in him. Any chance the sailfin would do it?
I think I'm going to call around. See if I can swap him out for another tang. He is at least 5 inches now... My tank is only 4' long. I'll try to get the six-line out too.

I'm still shocked. Don't think it was chemicals; The Anthias jumping from one tank into the other, the canary and striped blennies both acting so scared then the striped blenny ending up dead.
Last I saw of the canary blenny tonight was he was racing around; looked scared. He usually greats me at last feeding to go sit on the seaweed clip for the night.
Guess I can go back to pellets... don't need tank sitter now when I go an vacation. All the other fish except the mandarin and scooter blenny are pellet trained. (I hope they remember.)


I would also think the neon goby and green banded goby would kick before the Anthias and striped goby if it were sunscreen and or bugs spray.


One cleaner shrimp was molting and I bet Timmy found him tasty because I only found a few bits of him. And I saw Timmy going after the other; got all the other's gills.
I've been having coral issues but I believe that's from not running carbon/gfo/water changes since I started the tank.

I have since started all those things and thought I was starting to see a rebound in some corals.

I don't think the fiasco is over. I think the sailfin will kill a hippo tang. And I don't know why the canary is acting so freaked out.


Since I installed my AutoAqua AWC touch (I guess a week.5 ago), I've done almost two and a half 33 gallon brute cans worth of water changes, 1.5 gallons at a time.


Now that I think back on it though; I got home, washed hands past wrists a few times because of baiting hooks for the kids. then I had a toasted buttered croissant; then I went downstairs and my OCD with the Bryopsis in the exile tank got the better of me; that's when I went in for it... It had been over 5 hours or so since I applied; and light at that. I am hoping the slick was just butter.
I have no idea why I am so convinced its aggression instead of my own dumb-wrassery... subconsciously trying to save myself from grief? Why have I convinced myself Timmy is only at fault for the shrimp? I guess if making up a fiction may as well be a good one...
 
Last edited:
8/17/2022
Normal Sailfin:
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Angry Sailfin:
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I'd call him Mel if I weren't planning to rehome/trade him.

RIP little buddy... never did get to bite me.
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8/17/2022
SO I think all the sketched-out fish have been accounted for. The rest seem pretty mellow. It would be just like a sick sadistic wrasse to have a blacklist and post it for all to see before dispatching everyone on the list one by one.
I doubt any more fish will die.


I'm still not sure who killed them all; but I've seen everyone skittish around the 6-line.
He made himself pretty scarce till now. now he swims around like he owns the place.
I knew it was a roll of the dice with him. just wish he didn't take out some of my favorite and most expensive fish!
Really bummed about the Canary Blenny too; I liked his personality; Always greeted me at the glass when I came up to the tank.
 
8/18/2022
2022-08-17 10:52 PMAlkalinity8.5
2022-08-17 10:58 PMCalcium445
2022-08-17 11:01 PMMagnesium1245
Dosed some Mg.
Yay! I think 100ml/hour is enough Kalk to keep Alk stable for now.
Not sure what is happening here... I haven't changed anything with the CO2 scrubber lately. I'll take it.
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The Murders stopped; That's just what they were too; I haven't changed any water since I dipped my buttered croissant hands into the exile tank. Phew...
 
So I walked into my fish closet this morning and was like omg... am I going to catch a break with these fish!?
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Turns out he was just joshing me... was totally fine just passed out that way. Thats why I chose the Canary Blenny over the Midas.... They are way more gregarious.
 
8/19/2022
I'm pretty sure the six line killed the other canary at least; So before I found the Canary dead, I almost had a chance to catch him out of the tank. I saw him kind of stunned swimming in circles obviously hurt; his fangs were out; I think I interrupted a fight between him and the 6-line. I didn't have time to get a net before he came to and swam for cover.
when I look at the 6-line now I think I see fang marks on him. Could be my imagination but I've also considered the sailfin - he's gotten really big and is always picking on the hippo tangs.
 
8/20/2022
Another winner!
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My sump fish are even getting culled... I found him on top of my cheato. :( I guess when I stopped the pumps to feed the corals the other day he swam above the cheato then I turned the pumps on. I blackout my sump so didnt see him stuggling.
 
8/21/2022
2022-08-21 10:15 PMAlkalinity9.7
2022-08-21 10:18 PMCalcium450
2022-08-21 10:21 PMMagnesium1320
90ml/hr thank heavens is treating me right....

I'm kind of stumped why I need to dose Mag every other night... like 20-40ml... Brand new Salifert test; confirmed using old test kit... What could be using it so fast?
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Stoked; ORD Aquatics is willing to hook me up with store credit for the Sailfin that I think is getting too large for the tank. Will hold onto Timmy. I think I want another Sailfin. I really hope the Hippo Tangs will be ok with a new one.

Will need to catch both the Tang and the 6-line. May have to pull out the scape. Will leave the big one but can take out the rest in bits fairly easily. Going to wait till the kids are back in School for that...
 
8/24/2022
I'm procrastinating on catching my Tang...
setup new Tang's QT (an old 29 gallon I've been trying to OfferUp for $20. glad it hasn't sold!):
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It seems the luck continues! I counted the fish in my 10 gallon QT and came up short. Now I know why the others have all been acting sketched-out... Just... What... How'd he get in there?!
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8/24/2022
Operation get Sailfin (and 6-line if I can):
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Added a few more rocks I glued together interestingly when I got it all back in there.
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8/24/2022
Parameter break:
2022-08-24 9:14 PMAlkalinity10.9
2022-08-24 9:19 PMCalcium450
2022-08-24 9:22 PMMagnesium1320
2022-08-24 9:28 PMNitrate5
2022-08-24 9:29 PMPhosphate0.1
I removed a bunch of mung from the tank, a lot of algae was scraped, and a tang was caught. I almost filled the 29 gallon tank so I estimate I changed about 25 gallons of water in the DT.

I really like this AutoAqua AWC Touch. (They re-named product is the AWC Duo when it was realized they came in to the market too inexpensive I think.)

I am hoping my alk jumped because I was moving around the kalk and probably dosed the slurry.
**Edit: I tested my WC water and its alk came in at 12 ~ alk jumped because of my large water change.
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I made so many frags from all the corals I hit with the net...
 
8/26/2022
2022-08-25 9:20 PMAlkalinity10.9
2022-08-25 9:23 PMCalcium450
2022-08-25 9:30 PMMagnesium1365
no fish losses!
only changed like 2-3 gallons of water so alk wasn't affected. I didn't put enough IO in my RC. Mag was trending down and I overcompensated. Not touching it tonight.
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Too bad my PH took a hit when everything was disrupted while I caught the sailfin.
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don't know what happened a few days ago. First time I've seen it. I did mess about in the sump that day though;
 
8/26/2022
Deed is done! Thanks @ORDaquatics @OceanReefDen
I did a 1:1 swap for a 2.5" Blue Eyed Kole tang (two spot bristletooth tang) - (funny because that's what I was looking for before I found the sailfin)
I wanted another sailfin but they didn't have any. I may buy one from a Petco near me if I see one while I QT this tang. 4 Tang in a 120? sure. The largest Tang is the really nice big Hippo Tang but Timmy is still tank boss. I'm actually more worried about the small Hippo Tang's aggression more then the larger one's.
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tank side-view:
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8/27/2022
2022-08-26 9:58 PMAlkalinity11.2
2022-08-26 10:05 PMCalcium460
2022-08-26 10:07 PMMagnesium1350
I've remixed my water. Dropped its alk to 9. guess the disruption the other day has lowered my alk consumption too...
the tang is doing ok in QT; it looks like he's had some of the nori clip. Will check the good Petco near me for a sailfin then begin copper. Will be using Cupramine because I have it... They had one last week so I am hopeful.

I am excited for my new project; automating my ATO and kalk. I got a 30RPM motor to use as my stirrer. I got a 6" diameter PVC drainage pipe to use I plan to 3D print end-caps for. It'll be fun... lots of pics.
 
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