Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]

Wow, Very nice and informative build! I have gotten so many ideas for my tank build just by reading this. Hope all is well in your little kingdom there. ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13490771#post13490771 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Quit killing stuff. :)

I know right....

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13491521#post13491521 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Clownen
Wow, Very nice and informative build! I have gotten so many ideas for my tank build just by reading this. Hope all is well in your little kingdom there. ;)

Thank you for the kind words. If you ever have any questions feel free to ask.

Everything seems to be calming down. I have a Midas Blenny in QT that should be ready to go in the main tank soon. He has been in the QT tank for just over 3 weeks and is showing no signs of any problems. He is eating well, both frozen and pellets.

I'll try to snap a couple pictures of him soon.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13491586#post13491586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Screename_116
What kind of lighting do you have?

I have 2 Lumen Max 3 reflectors with 250w DE phoenix 14k bulbs powered by 2 aqua medic ocean light ballasts. Some day I plan to upgrade the ballasts to something a bit nicer.
 
My New Midas Blenny trying to look all big and mean for the camera in my dirty QT tank. He has been in QT for around 25 days now and seems to be doing great. He eats frozen mysis, and dry food now and is out swimming around. No signs of any infections or parasites. I'm thinking about introducing him into the Main tank soon.

midas1.jpg
 
I finally caught a crab that I suspect has been picking off snails. I don't know for sure he is killing them or scavenging but I have seen shells in his hole. I tried a trap for a few nights but only managed to catch several hermets LOL. He ended up moving from a lower rock to a rock on the top of my aquascaping and I was able to pull the whole rock out and get him off the rock in a bucket.

He is pretty big. I put him in my frag tank in a glad container. I'm not big on killing these critters even though he probably cost me a several snails. Not sure what I'll end up doing with him, maybe a life in my sump although I would like to be able to keep an eye on him and it would be rough in a 100g tub with live rock in it. Guess I'll decide later for now he's in a safe spot.

Anyways heres a picture.

crab1.jpg
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13527671#post13527671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Yep, he's not reef-safe. You should name him Ahnold. ;)

Yeah, didn't figure he looked safe. Definitely looks like a bruiser.


I introduced my Midas Blenny to the Main Tank last night. He is already out swimming around and fighting for food with the other fish.

Here are a couple pictures. He/She is a very beautiful fish

midas2.jpg


midas3.jpg
 
Some news about my clowns.

This all started a few months ago. First the male started hosting in my RBTA then the female decided she wanted in so she kicked him out and hosted by herself. Eventually she decided to share with him and I assumed they had "paired" up.

Over the last week or so I noticed one of my clowns was looking extra fat. Today I looked in under the RBTA and saw a fresh batch of eggs. They were both tending to them and were not real happy about me getting so close;)

I was thinking about trying to actually attempt to raise some clowns but I don't think I want want to set up all the tanks needed to produce food and grow them out. Too bad the males don't keep them alive in there mouths like my cardinals.

Oh and on that note I do have 3 young cardinals that survived from when my cardinals were breeding that are just about big enough to go in the main tank.

I snapped a few pictures tonight with the flash of the clowns and the eggs.

clowns1.jpg



clowns2.jpg



clowneggs1.jpg



clowneggs2.jpg


Took a few pictures with my Sony's gimmicky Night-shot, this one turned out ok.
irclown.jpg
 
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Figure I'll post first here, if no one answers ill try elsewhere.

I have an algae growing in my sand bed, it really only shows when the light have been off or if I stir up the sand bed when the lights are on. Any ideas what it might be or a decent way to get rid of it.

Other then that the tank is going well, i picked up a OM 4 way used from a local reefer but have not been able to get it up and running due to a leaky threaded connection that I just can't seem to fix. I tried Teflon and thread putty to no avail. It looks like the threads might have been manufactured wrong so I will just have to get another one.

Thanks for any advice on the algae.
 
I will try to snap a picture tonight or in the morning when its visible.

It's like a thin layer just below the surface or the sand bed, when I stir the sand some of it sticks together. I don't see any on the LR. I could probably use a sand cleaner syphon and get most of it out because it floats away freely when I stir the sand but I don't want to disturb the sand bed too much.

On a good note my clowns are popping out eggs every couple weeks so they seem to be happy. I toy with the idea of trying to raise some but don't know if I have time to put into setting up tanks to raise food for them.
 
Well some frustrating news about the tank.

After everything seemed to have calmed down and was looking back to normal, today I was looking close to one of the acros that seemed hit hardest by the remodel and I saw what looks to be red acro bugs. I don't know where they would have come from, I have not added any coral to the tank in forever and the last thing I added was the Blenny who was QTed for like 4 weeks. Maybe they were there before and I just did not notice them till now. Maybe they we the cause of my acro problems and not the construction. Who knows, all I know is it's very frustrating to feel like everything is going well then out of the blue a parasite infection that takes invasive treatment to cure hits:(

I really don't want to go down the interceptor route but I don't know if I have any other options other then let my acros die or hope they survive an infestation. If I decide to dose, fishing out all my crabs and shrimp will be a huge pain in the *** but I don't want to kill them off to save the acros. I don't know I guess I just needed to vent a bit.

Does anyone know if red bugs effect just acros or will they prey on montis as well? I did not really see either way in my quick search for info on red bugs.

Anyways here is a picture of the bugs, I could use a positive ID but it does not look good....hope for the best expect the worst i guess.

Click to see it bigger
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14027394#post14027394 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Definitely red bugs.

Figured...

I might pull the infected acro out and treat it and hope for the best. As far as I can tell there are not any other bugs on the other sps in my tank. I may pull out all my other acros but leave the montis to be more safe.

I guess if I pull out the one they are living on the remaining bugs will migrate to another host. I'm really hoping to not have to treat the whole tank but we will see.:rolleyes:
 
I have a page on my site about how to treat a single coral or how to treat the entire reef. It really isn't a hard sell to me, just treat the entire tank and be rid of them once and for all.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14030984#post14030984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
I have a page on my site about how to treat a single coral or how to treat the entire reef. It really isn't a hard sell to me, just treat the entire tank and be rid of them once and for all.

When you treated your tank did you notice if any of the remaining crab/shrimp survived the treatment?

My hesitance to treat the whole tank is due to not wanting to kill my invertebrates most of whom have been in the tank since I set it up. I can probably get all the hermits and cleaner shrimp easy enough but I know I will have a hard time catching my porcelain crabs and scarlet shrimp since they spend 90% of the time in my LR hidden.
 
I've had them twice, and I agree w/ Marc. Just treat the entire tank, its rediculously easy, and wont nuke your pod poulation. Its not an instant death sentance for your crabs/shrimp either. I had a blood shrimp that didnt cooperate with me and spent 5 hours in the tank with interceptor. It recovered easily in a QT tank, within hours.

AEFW's are the really nasty ones.

Nick
 
I captured all my shrimp and crabs before treating, and keep them in a quarantine tank for three weeks since I treated once every seven days. After the tank was completely safe again, then I put my inverts back in.

Since there is no rush on when you need to medicate, you can take your time capturing the animals. I got lucky -- my cleaner shrimp jumped into the net after I'd pretty much written him off. It's like he knew it was do that or die. :D
 
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