Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]
- Thread starter Sinistard
- Start date
Sinistard
New member
I added a few new pieces. Genetics form RC, a local reefer who is taking down his tank since he is moving, sold me some nice looking colonies at a pretty good deal.
I picked up a blue milli, a blue/rainbow tort and an ORA pearl-berry. If I was not feeling poor I probably would have come home with some more stuff.
I really hate adding new stuff to my tank, it always takes way to long to get everything in place. I moved a couple pieces then stuck the new stuff in. I actually got the new pieces in place pretty quickly but managed to bump soom of the LR in the back and knocked the slimmer loose. It took me forever to get the rock and coral it back in place and secure. I think I used half a tube of epoxy and had a few choice words for my tank.
Anyways here are a couple pictures of the new stuff in my tank. I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. This is about an hour after I got them placed
Oh and a shot of my one eyed bangi
I picked up a blue milli, a blue/rainbow tort and an ORA pearl-berry. If I was not feeling poor I probably would have come home with some more stuff.
I really hate adding new stuff to my tank, it always takes way to long to get everything in place. I moved a couple pieces then stuck the new stuff in. I actually got the new pieces in place pretty quickly but managed to bump soom of the LR in the back and knocked the slimmer loose. It took me forever to get the rock and coral it back in place and secure. I think I used half a tube of epoxy and had a few choice words for my tank.
Anyways here are a couple pictures of the new stuff in my tank. I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. This is about an hour after I got them placed
Oh and a shot of my one eyed bangi
Sinistard
New member
I'm not, why do you ask?
Although I have been thinking about doing it for a few weeks now. I have mostly been thinking about doing it to eliminate nutrients. I have a few patches of algae popping up and I assume its Phosphates causing it since everything else seems in line. I added a GFO reactor and it seemed to help but it has not eliminated the algae. My only hesitation to start dosing vodka at the moment is I don't have any good way to test Phosphates and don't really want to pony up the cash for a low level meter.
I thought about starting low and just seeing what would happen but as of now I figure if it ain't broke don't fix it. If the algae continues to grow I might change my mind.
Sinistard
New member
I talked to genetics briefly about dosing but did not get into it to much. I figure if I go that route it would be best to read his articals and posts.
He sertanly does have some nice coloration in his corals and I hope they will hold ok I'm my tank. I would have liked to pick up a few more pieces but I have a lack of space in my tank and a lack of money.
Maybe I will give the new stuff a month or so in my tank as is and see how well they hold color. If after that time I notice a significant lose of color I will try some vodka to see if they color back up.
He sertanly does have some nice coloration in his corals and I hope they will hold ok I'm my tank. I would have liked to pick up a few more pieces but I have a lack of space in my tank and a lack of money.
Maybe I will give the new stuff a month or so in my tank as is and see how well they hold color. If after that time I notice a significant lose of color I will try some vodka to see if they color back up.
Sinistard
New member
I talked to genetics briefly about dosing but did not get into it to much. I figure if I go that route it would be best to read his articals and posts.
He does have some nice coloration in his corals and I hope they will hold ok I'm my tank. I would have liked to pick up a few more pieces but I have a lack of space in my tank and a lack of money.
Maybe I will give the new stuff a month or so in my tank as is and see how well they hold color. If after that time I notice a significant lose of color I will try some vodka to see if they color back up.
He does have some nice coloration in his corals and I hope they will hold ok I'm my tank. I would have liked to pick up a few more pieces but I have a lack of space in my tank and a lack of money.
Maybe I will give the new stuff a month or so in my tank as is and see how well they hold color. If after that time I notice a significant lose of color I will try some vodka to see if they color back up.
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Sinistard
New member
Well after around a month I would say that some of the corals I got from Genetics have lost a bit of color. It is most noticeable in the big blue tort. It is not a deep blue as it was when I introduced it.
I think I am going to start dosing vodka for a bit to see what happens. I hope it can help with the coloring and knock down the few spots of algae I have growing.
I think I am going to start dosing vodka for a bit to see what happens. I hope it can help with the coloring and knock down the few spots of algae I have growing.
melev
Well-known member
That change in coloration could be simply related to its relocation. What are your current water parameters?
While the torts tend to be placed up higher in tanks, what I have seems to stay darker when lower in my reef. Intense lighting doesn't seem to mesh with this particular coral. YMMV.
While the torts tend to be placed up higher in tanks, what I have seems to stay darker when lower in my reef. Intense lighting doesn't seem to mesh with this particular coral. YMMV.
Sinistard
New member
Well it's been some time since I posted anything here. Sadly my tank does not look nearly as good now as it did in my last posts.
Soon after the last of my post most of my acros started to die off, some slowly and some not so much. No testing I did came back with any reason why it would be happening and over the course of maybe a month all but a few tiny frags of my acros had died off and the monties in the tank started to take a turn for the worse. I lost the green cap and most of the digis started to recede. The softies in the tank never really showed much ill effect from what ever was causing the problems. Frustration set in and thinking about all the time, coral and money I had lost I started to neglect the tank. I did not scrape the sides much and only did the basic maintenance needed to keep it afloat. I was resigned to let only the strong survive in the tank and go from there.
Then one day I was in the basement and noticed some brown marks on the wall of the Rubbermaid sump. After closer inspection it was a rusty residue that was falling off a fan I had suspended above the tank for cooling. There was a metal screw in the fan that was very rusted and condensation was causing it to drip rusty water into my sump. I removed the fan and was wondering if maybe this was my problem all along.
It's been a few months since I removed the fan and now my tank is looking better....the moties that made it are starting to color up and grow again. Unfortunately the only acro frag that made it is a small blue milli but hey its something. I can't be 100% sure the rust in the water was the culprit but removing it was the only real change I made and the tank is doing better so I am going to assume that was the problem and move on.
Over the last couple days I have given the tank a thorough cleaning and am much more excited about the tank verses just hoping something else does not die. I guess the lesson I can learn from this is not to always look for just the obvious, If I noticed the rusty fan earlier maybe I would not have had the losses I did.
Well anyways I guess posting this is part of my rebuilding process and maybe looking back at these picture will inspire me to keep working to ensure I have a happy health tank.
Soon after the last of my post most of my acros started to die off, some slowly and some not so much. No testing I did came back with any reason why it would be happening and over the course of maybe a month all but a few tiny frags of my acros had died off and the monties in the tank started to take a turn for the worse. I lost the green cap and most of the digis started to recede. The softies in the tank never really showed much ill effect from what ever was causing the problems. Frustration set in and thinking about all the time, coral and money I had lost I started to neglect the tank. I did not scrape the sides much and only did the basic maintenance needed to keep it afloat. I was resigned to let only the strong survive in the tank and go from there.
Then one day I was in the basement and noticed some brown marks on the wall of the Rubbermaid sump. After closer inspection it was a rusty residue that was falling off a fan I had suspended above the tank for cooling. There was a metal screw in the fan that was very rusted and condensation was causing it to drip rusty water into my sump. I removed the fan and was wondering if maybe this was my problem all along.
It's been a few months since I removed the fan and now my tank is looking better....the moties that made it are starting to color up and grow again. Unfortunately the only acro frag that made it is a small blue milli but hey its something. I can't be 100% sure the rust in the water was the culprit but removing it was the only real change I made and the tank is doing better so I am going to assume that was the problem and move on.
Over the last couple days I have given the tank a thorough cleaning and am much more excited about the tank verses just hoping something else does not die. I guess the lesson I can learn from this is not to always look for just the obvious, If I noticed the rusty fan earlier maybe I would not have had the losses I did.
Well anyways I guess posting this is part of my rebuilding process and maybe looking back at these picture will inspire me to keep working to ensure I have a happy health tank.
gozermantis
Stomatoholic
any updates?? love this thread
Sinistard
New member
The tank is still chugging along. It has started to recover from the rust or whatever caused the die off a while back.
Currently I am fighting a pretty nasty algae infestation. Most of it is confined to the frag thank but what is there is putting up a good fight. I got an army of hermit and a lawnmower blenny to help fight it and plan to catch back up on water changes(it's probably been 6 month to a year since I did a real one). I used a filter sock and scrape, brushed and picked most of the algae in the frag tank off and hopefully the hermits and the blenny will help keep it in check. I do have a bit that has showed up in my display but I think once I improve the water a bit it should go away, my tang does a pretty good job keeping any algae at bay.
My display was getting over run a bit by coraline algae and it took me a couple hours and 5 or 6 kent scrapper blades to clean it off but now it's looking much better.
If I get a chance I will snap a couple pictures of it tomorrow, it's not nearly as nice as it was at it's peak but it still look pretty good.
Oh and thanks for asking.
Currently I am fighting a pretty nasty algae infestation. Most of it is confined to the frag thank but what is there is putting up a good fight. I got an army of hermit and a lawnmower blenny to help fight it and plan to catch back up on water changes(it's probably been 6 month to a year since I did a real one). I used a filter sock and scrape, brushed and picked most of the algae in the frag tank off and hopefully the hermits and the blenny will help keep it in check. I do have a bit that has showed up in my display but I think once I improve the water a bit it should go away, my tang does a pretty good job keeping any algae at bay.
My display was getting over run a bit by coraline algae and it took me a couple hours and 5 or 6 kent scrapper blades to clean it off but now it's looking much better.
If I get a chance I will snap a couple pictures of it tomorrow, it's not nearly as nice as it was at it's peak but it still look pretty good.
Oh and thanks for asking.
Sinistard
New member
Well it's been almost a year again so I figured I would post an update.
My tank is been going though most of the same ups and downs.
Most recently most of my acan lords decided to die off. I have one left that has made it 3 months longer then the others that has recently started to recede.
For some reason some of my montis are doing bad, both the caps and digi. I had a huge cap right in the middle that over around 3 weeks lost its color and started to loose tissue. I have several "frags" of it in my frag tank that were thriving so I have to assume something in the display is the issue. As you can see my yellow leather has really taken off and my assumption is that it is causing the problems with the montis in the display. I move the large cap to the frag tank and replaced it with a smaller piece to see what happens.
I have stepped up the maintenance in hopes to resolve whatever issues are causing these issues. I still have a bit of algae but is manageable.
Other then that like I said things have been up and down a lot. Here is a picture from today. As you can see my RBTA split so now I have 2 nice sized ones. It actually split probably 6 months ago then a couple days ago it decided to head out on its own. I got a few cool pictures as it moved along the front of the tank. I ended up moving it to the left of the leather and over night it moved to where it is now and dug in so I'm guessing it will stay put. I moved a few things around to accommodate it.
Unfortunately the tank lacks some of the glory or diversity it had in the past but it is still chugging along.
My tank is been going though most of the same ups and downs.
Most recently most of my acan lords decided to die off. I have one left that has made it 3 months longer then the others that has recently started to recede.
For some reason some of my montis are doing bad, both the caps and digi. I had a huge cap right in the middle that over around 3 weeks lost its color and started to loose tissue. I have several "frags" of it in my frag tank that were thriving so I have to assume something in the display is the issue. As you can see my yellow leather has really taken off and my assumption is that it is causing the problems with the montis in the display. I move the large cap to the frag tank and replaced it with a smaller piece to see what happens.
I have stepped up the maintenance in hopes to resolve whatever issues are causing these issues. I still have a bit of algae but is manageable.
Other then that like I said things have been up and down a lot. Here is a picture from today. As you can see my RBTA split so now I have 2 nice sized ones. It actually split probably 6 months ago then a couple days ago it decided to head out on its own. I got a few cool pictures as it moved along the front of the tank. I ended up moving it to the left of the leather and over night it moved to where it is now and dug in so I'm guessing it will stay put. I moved a few things around to accommodate it.
Unfortunately the tank lacks some of the glory or diversity it had in the past but it is still chugging along.
Sinistard
New member
Time Lapse of the RBTA on the move
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Sinistard
New member
In the past I attempted vodka dosing but never really kept up on it. I decided to try to run a bio pellet reactor to eliminate the last of my algae.
I got a Geo 420 media reactor that I had Geo modify for me to run bio media. I decided to plumb in directly in-line with my skimmer. So now the overflow comes from upstairs and spits with one going directly to my refugium, the other splits again with one going to the sump and the other going to the bio pellet reactor followed by the skimmer.
I just got it online today and am pretty happy with the plumbing set up. I seem to be getting plenty of flow though the reactor with the skimmer adjusted to basically max flow though.
I was a bit worried at first due to the pellets sticking together when I first put them in and they all floated/were forced to the top of the reactor. I was afraid I had to much flow for the pellets. After the pellets were wet for some time they did not stick together as much and they started to fluidized.
I picked up some katalyst biopellets from Phishy Business and have around half the can running atm. I put so much to see if it would fluidize, I may remove a bit now that it's not sticking to ease my system into the pellets.
Here are a couple pictures.
I got a Geo 420 media reactor that I had Geo modify for me to run bio media. I decided to plumb in directly in-line with my skimmer. So now the overflow comes from upstairs and spits with one going directly to my refugium, the other splits again with one going to the sump and the other going to the bio pellet reactor followed by the skimmer.
I just got it online today and am pretty happy with the plumbing set up. I seem to be getting plenty of flow though the reactor with the skimmer adjusted to basically max flow though.
I was a bit worried at first due to the pellets sticking together when I first put them in and they all floated/were forced to the top of the reactor. I was afraid I had to much flow for the pellets. After the pellets were wet for some time they did not stick together as much and they started to fluidized.
I picked up some katalyst biopellets from Phishy Business and have around half the can running atm. I put so much to see if it would fluidize, I may remove a bit now that it's not sticking to ease my system into the pellets.
Here are a couple pictures.
