Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)
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fishypets
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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8538745#post8538745 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alien9168
this is really sad
It was at first but now it is time to move on to bigger and better things. I am upgrading my tank to a custom brick tank with starfire glass and Mike is setting up a huge tank at the office.
We both agree that our losses were not in vain if others can recognize the AEFW and stop the cycle before the corals are introduced into you show tanks. The biggest lesson I learned is dip every coral every time no matter whom they came from.
For everyone who was kind enough to offer up frags Mike and I can't thank you enough. Just know that down the road if you need our help with anything all you need to do is ask.
:rollface:
Dudester
Premium Member
alien9168 - Thanks for your condolences, and I hope you'll keep following along as there will certainly be good news in the future.
Ditto to everything Clint said. We're definitely "down but not out," and we'll both rebound from our losses in a favorable manner. We're probably down to a handful of corals between the two of us, and neither of us are willing to place any of them into our tanks before a 10 week quarantine period since we couldn't possibly risk reintroducing AEFW into our systems. At the current rate of loss, we both fully expect to have no survivors, and we've finally come to accept this as a likely reality. At this point, if anything lives it will be a true bonus to our mentalities. Acceptance is, afterall, the 5th stage of the grieving process, so I guess we're both there.
Ditto to everything Clint said. We're definitely "down but not out," and we'll both rebound from our losses in a favorable manner. We're probably down to a handful of corals between the two of us, and neither of us are willing to place any of them into our tanks before a 10 week quarantine period since we couldn't possibly risk reintroducing AEFW into our systems. At the current rate of loss, we both fully expect to have no survivors, and we've finally come to accept this as a likely reality. At this point, if anything lives it will be a true bonus to our mentalities. Acceptance is, afterall, the 5th stage of the grieving process, so I guess we're both there.
stoneroller
New member
AEFW?
I shouldn't have skipped to the last post. I was on page 5 and enjoying the thread, jump to the present and AEFW?
I shouldn't have skipped to the last post. I was on page 5 and enjoying the thread, jump to the present and AEFW?
KingfishJohn
New member
I'd like to welcome Clint and Mike both to the club.... the DELTEC CLUB!!
stoneroller
New member
Freshwater biology, strictly, rivers and streams, stonerollers and stoneflies. Sure, I know what a flatworm is but I am not a reef tank expert (I am reefsitting a tank for a friend and trying my best to learn the ropes AQAP). Just discovered the Acronym page, but AEFW wasn't there. Still don't have it all!! hint hint
Not yet, I'm on my way. Thanks.
Not yet, I'm on my way. Thanks.
Stoney Mahony
New member
Melev dropped me a link
Im not dissapointed with you guys at all, just sorry that the treatment didn't work. Sorry to see ALL those corals in the can. Thats more coral than I have ever owned in my life so it's really crazy to see, I can't imagine how hard it is to have to trash it all. Definately didn't deserve this, I don't think anybody does. No problemo w/ the frags. :bum:
Dudester
Premium Member
gkarshens and Stoney Mahony - Thanks, guys :thumbsup:
I had a little cyano outbreak, not much but enough to bother me. So I did a Chemi-Clean treatment and pretty much wiped it out in one fell swoop. I've begun adding carbon at a much lower quantity (about 1 cup) and I change it weekly, instead of my previous regimen.
Okay, how about some good news for a change? As John alluded to, I've joined Club Deltec. I went ahead and got the Deltec MCE 300 HOB skimmer after seeing the nasty skimmate that Deltecs put out. I've been happy with my Remora, and I've never had any measurable nitrate or phosphate despite having 4 fish, lots of corals (prior to being ravaged by AEFW), and fairly hefty daily feeding. But when I saw the crap that Deltec skimmers were pulling out, I just had to have one. A few modifications were necessary for it to fit onto my sump. First off, this unit is a few centimeters wider than the Remora, and if it were 2 mm more in width, it wouldn't have fit within the constraints of my sump's skimmer compartment. The next problem was that the return tubing from the skimmer to the sump was too long, as it was running into the shelf inside my cabinet. Here's the skimmer, without the drain pipe connected.
In this close-up you can see what I mean about the pipe running into the cabinet shelf.
The next hurdle was that the drain pipe extended out into the refugium compartment. Both of these horizontal tubes had to be shortened, and this was safe to do according to Doug at Deltec. The return tube was easy to remove and cut, but the horizontal drain tube was mistakenly glued into place by the manufacturer, and I broke it trying to get it out (it's supposed to be a slip fitting). Fortunately John and Brian at Kingfish Aquarium gave me a new one from their shop, and Deltec will send them a new replacement. This new tube was cut to proper length, then installed.
When I installed the skimmer, I then realized that the strainer of the drain pipe was still above the water level. I fixed this by heating up a segment of 3/4" vinyl tubing which was slipped over the strainer and the riser tube. Sorry the orientation is reversed in this next photo, but you're a smart audience and you can compensate for my inadequacies as a presenter.
I didn't feel the need to clamp this connection, since I don't want to accidentally do it too tightly and risk cracking the material. Also, it's fairly low pressure and a tight fit at that, so it should be sound.
The skimmer began producing foam almost immediately (it had help, as I had recently treated some cyano with Chemi-Clean). After the first 48 hr of operation, here's the skimmate that was produced.
And here's the tissue I used to clean the riser tube inside the skimmer body itself.
So much for a 2-day "break-in" period, hu? I'm going to have to cut off the lowest 6" or so from my light rack in order to facilitate removing the collection cup. As it is currently, I have to loosen the skimmer's attachment clamp and slide the skimmer back to remove the cup, which isn't very convenient. But I am happy with this skimmer. It's extremely quiet, much quieter than the Remora. The skimmate appears richer, although I have to say that the Remora was much easier to clean than this one is. I'll reserve additional comparisons until I've had more time to work with this new one.
I had a little cyano outbreak, not much but enough to bother me. So I did a Chemi-Clean treatment and pretty much wiped it out in one fell swoop. I've begun adding carbon at a much lower quantity (about 1 cup) and I change it weekly, instead of my previous regimen.
Okay, how about some good news for a change? As John alluded to, I've joined Club Deltec. I went ahead and got the Deltec MCE 300 HOB skimmer after seeing the nasty skimmate that Deltecs put out. I've been happy with my Remora, and I've never had any measurable nitrate or phosphate despite having 4 fish, lots of corals (prior to being ravaged by AEFW), and fairly hefty daily feeding. But when I saw the crap that Deltec skimmers were pulling out, I just had to have one. A few modifications were necessary for it to fit onto my sump. First off, this unit is a few centimeters wider than the Remora, and if it were 2 mm more in width, it wouldn't have fit within the constraints of my sump's skimmer compartment. The next problem was that the return tubing from the skimmer to the sump was too long, as it was running into the shelf inside my cabinet. Here's the skimmer, without the drain pipe connected.
In this close-up you can see what I mean about the pipe running into the cabinet shelf.
The next hurdle was that the drain pipe extended out into the refugium compartment. Both of these horizontal tubes had to be shortened, and this was safe to do according to Doug at Deltec. The return tube was easy to remove and cut, but the horizontal drain tube was mistakenly glued into place by the manufacturer, and I broke it trying to get it out (it's supposed to be a slip fitting). Fortunately John and Brian at Kingfish Aquarium gave me a new one from their shop, and Deltec will send them a new replacement. This new tube was cut to proper length, then installed.
When I installed the skimmer, I then realized that the strainer of the drain pipe was still above the water level. I fixed this by heating up a segment of 3/4" vinyl tubing which was slipped over the strainer and the riser tube. Sorry the orientation is reversed in this next photo, but you're a smart audience and you can compensate for my inadequacies as a presenter.
I didn't feel the need to clamp this connection, since I don't want to accidentally do it too tightly and risk cracking the material. Also, it's fairly low pressure and a tight fit at that, so it should be sound.
The skimmer began producing foam almost immediately (it had help, as I had recently treated some cyano with Chemi-Clean). After the first 48 hr of operation, here's the skimmate that was produced.
And here's the tissue I used to clean the riser tube inside the skimmer body itself.
So much for a 2-day "break-in" period, hu? I'm going to have to cut off the lowest 6" or so from my light rack in order to facilitate removing the collection cup. As it is currently, I have to loosen the skimmer's attachment clamp and slide the skimmer back to remove the cup, which isn't very convenient. But I am happy with this skimmer. It's extremely quiet, much quieter than the Remora. The skimmate appears richer, although I have to say that the Remora was much easier to clean than this one is. I'll reserve additional comparisons until I've had more time to work with this new one.
KingfishJohn
New member
Don't worry Mike I ordered a big glass box that can hold plenty of acros today 
.
MCE looks good and should break in with time, the guys who have been using them for 2 weeks now have said that the skimmer is working better and better.
That montipora isn't a danae as the structure under the polyps doesn't match. Clint's superman isn't a danae either, it's whatever montipora yours is. I'm thinking it's a montipora mollis but it could possibly be a nodosa. Check out pictures of all these corals here for differences http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/0/0/liste_Stony Corals SPS.htm
John
.MCE looks good and should break in with time, the guys who have been using them for 2 weeks now have said that the skimmer is working better and better.
That montipora isn't a danae as the structure under the polyps doesn't match. Clint's superman isn't a danae either, it's whatever montipora yours is. I'm thinking it's a montipora mollis but it could possibly be a nodosa. Check out pictures of all these corals here for differences http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/95/0/0/liste_Stony Corals SPS.htm
John
KingfishJohn
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AP902
Yes
Yes
Stoney Mahony
New member
Tank still looks really good for no acros Nice new skimmer there, can't wait to see what it's pulling in a month!
Nice gator in that avatar fishy, I see suckers that big all the time around here. The little 2-6 footers arent very scary but when one of those suckers comes swimming up to your conoe, no fun. I saw one last year swimming just under the surface of the water with a deer in it's jaws, it looked pretty crazy.
Nice new skimmer there, can't wait to see what it's pulling in a month! Nice gator in that avatar fishy, I see suckers that big all the time around here. The little 2-6 footers arent very scary but when one of those suckers comes swimming up to your conoe, no fun. I saw one last year swimming just under the surface of the water with a deer in it's jaws, it looked pretty crazy.
Dudester
Premium Member
Thanks, Mike
.Stoney - Thanks for the good cheer. Today will be the 2nd 48hr interval with the new skimmer, and looking at the cup this morning, I can already tell that the skimmate will surpass the initial 48hr aliquot in both quality and quantity. (It's not often that I get to use the word "aliquot" in a sentence.) I definitely have high hopes for this skimmer.
I only now noticed you're in Orlando. I spent 6 yrs in Gainesville (go Gators!), and during that time I spent many months in Orlando as well. I've seen the alligators that you speak of, but never with a deer in the mouth :eek2: . How cool is that? My golf ball did land about 10 feet from a 7 footer once - I took a stroke.
Dudester
Premium Member
It's been a while since I gave an update, so here's the 411. I've been in a bit of a funk with the absence of SPS. Clint and I are down to about 2 colonies and 2 frags. Along with my funk has come about some laziness in husbandry and maintenance, and as a result I've suffered another loss. About 3 weeks ago, I was due for a water change. The tank water was at 1.027, so I thought I'd add a slightly dilute water mix to get the S.G. down to 1.026. Well, I didn't do any measurements and I added some ultra-dilute water to the tank. After the water change I took a measurement and the S.G. was down to 1.023. The only rebellion came from my blastomussa welsii colony, which shriveled up in disgust at the sudden drop in salinity. Two days later my topoff reservoir became empty. Instead of filling it with RO/DI immediately, I just unplugged the Tunze Osmolator and figured I'd top off when I got home from work. That night, I filled the reservoir and allowed the system to fill back up ... with kalkwasser. The pH jumped from 8.29 to 8.62 in a matter of 10 minutes. Look, I know this was stupid, but like I said, I was in a funk. Let the beatings begin. Anyway, long story short, over the next few days the tissue on the blasto colony began to peel away, and I'm now left with a calcareous skeleton. There are about 3 tiny polyps that survived, so I'm leaving it in the tank with the hopes that they'll rebound. I feel like an idiot and it was ridiculous of me to allow this to happen. Very irresponsible, indeed. I'm actually lucky that this was my only loss. Tomorrow I'm doing a water change, and I'll test all the parameters afterwards. Everything else looks healthy, so I'm expecting good results.
My new Deltec skimmer is doing a good job, I guess, as I haven't noticed any difference in the tank's appearance. The skimmate is definitely more fowl than what the Remora produced, although the volume is fairly equivalent. The new montipora sp. coral that I got is already noticably growing. I've got another 3 or 4 weeks to wait to ensure that no AEFWs or their eggs could have possibly survived in my tank, then I'll be ready to add some new acros. Frankly, I can't wait.
I hope Santa is good to me this year. I've put together a nice wish list for some upgrades. Sure, in case you were wondering, I've been good this year.
My new Deltec skimmer is doing a good job, I guess, as I haven't noticed any difference in the tank's appearance. The skimmate is definitely more fowl than what the Remora produced, although the volume is fairly equivalent. The new montipora sp. coral that I got is already noticably growing. I've got another 3 or 4 weeks to wait to ensure that no AEFWs or their eggs could have possibly survived in my tank, then I'll be ready to add some new acros. Frankly, I can't wait.
I hope Santa is good to me this year. I've put together a nice wish list for some upgrades. Sure, in case you were wondering, I've been good this year.
gary faulkner
New member
Dudester
Hey, we all make mistakes and thats how we get better at whatever we do.
Cheer up, Santee will make it all better : )
Hey, we all make mistakes and thats how we get better at whatever we do.
Cheer up, Santee will make it all better : )
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