The Dream Tank 400 Gallon Display - IN THE WORKS - Input appreciated!!!!

Yes, It took a while, but I got it done, lot a no fun...got a head ache from carrying the buckets around.

Got the "bartletts" in the tank,..... seems 5 of the eight were bartletts, and at least 2 are. The flasher wrasse immediatly got right up in the middle of the five that are sticking together. One is hiding under the frogspawn, one in a crevice and the other....not sure... where it went....or if its a bartletts or a dispar. either way they are all beautiful and I hope they all are shoaling together tommorow....kinda worried about the one missing and the two hiding. Lights will only be on for half an hour and theyll be in the dark for the night to rwecover. I am stressing over not being able to quarantine the guys though....keep fingers crossed. I have a mystery wrasse in my 29 QT. also added two cleaners to help out the anthias. Will buy 1 more soon. Now that the finicky fish are in, Im going to give them a month to settle and start adding the 120's fish. Will add some pics when I get the time....

obi
 
9AM
CA - 415
KH - 3.89 Meq/l

PH meter got a bad calibration gotta get more 7.01 solution. Its reading 7.9ish and when i removed the CA reactors probe it was reading around 8.1 - 8.15 ish last night. ALWAYS good to double check....

~obi
 
Oh... lights not on yet but 6 Bartlettes/Dispars (I believe 2 are dispars so far..) are together.... we'll see if the other two appear back with the group once the lights are on for while and i drop some Selcon soaked mysis in.
 
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Lost 1 of the 8 anthias last night aparently ecause I never found him and there was only 7 this morning. One of the seven looked not so great... looked like some physical trauma... getting beat up on. She was on the sand bed in the corner by herself. I was goin to try and seperate her and let her regain health in the refugium but she would move away slow enough for me to follorw her but not slow enough for me to catch her. I fed them mysis soaked in selcon, everyone ate.

NOW.... a few hours later I have 4 anthias swimming out in the open and two cowering in rocks... and 2 no where to be found. I don't think I like this fish decision anymore.... :(
 
Found the missing anthia...... have 7 alive.....

One is not doing so good fins are frayed out and labored breathing. The two others are hiding... but the other four are still out and about.

Cleaning the messy work in progress basement has provided me with way too much time to wtch the fish and get all worked up and nerveous. I just hate losing things under my care, I was prepared to lose 1 or 2 but not half,....

One of the ones out in the open has a small white spot on its tail fin.... hope this isnt a bad sign.... :(
 
Ok, down to 4 alive anthias. Flushed a second dead anthias down the toilet yesterday. Have taken photos of both sides of both of the fish that have been flushed. Niether appeared to have white spots indicitive of ich, but their fiins were frayed and it was hard to really tell. Both were found with either a snail or a few hermits already taking their chance at free food... so the tiny bit of trauma found on them is hard to say whether from the clean up crew, harrassment or from something more sinister.... either way I have 2 anthias yet to be found and 4 that appear healthy. The spot has dissapeared from the tail of the healthy anthia... could be bad or good. The two cleaner shrimps hae moved and shacked up in the anthias sleeping spot....definitly a good sig. All other fish seem good.

The new wrasse, doesnt appear to have any outward signs of disease or parasites yet, he is spending most of his time hiding and it has been hard to feed him due to this. He is feeding a bit but not a lot... changing 1/2 to a gallon of water a day to keep up with the heavy feeding.
 
Are you feeding the anthias often? They really don't do well for my in quarantine, when I tried a few times in the past.
 
I broke the cardinal rule of QT with these guys and didnt, read too many articals and posts here, and on wet webmedia against it for anthiines. That is why I am so worried about that 1 grain o' salt sized spot that has since dissapeared. I guess only time will tell, and I will have to worry until a few weeks pass....keeping fingers crossed. I don't believe I will attempt anthias

As far as feeding them, theyve been fed 2 -3 times daily since introduction. forzen Mysis soaked in selcon or garlic at least 1 time daily and either new life spectrum pellets or a freeze dried mysis the other times.
 
One of the dispar thios morning had a chunk of skin missing next to the dorsal fin about half way back length wise. Not sure if this has been from agression or from physical trauma from hitting a rock...ect. Doesnt look infected ect. Still keeping them on a garlic/selcon regimen morning and night. I think I have decided against this genus from here on out. I don't like seeing things die under my care and second to that is the waste of money...I guess you learn from "mistakes".

the mystery wrasse is doing well, hes eating more and starting to come out and not be so shy. Still doing the 1 gallon water changes every other day now.
The 120 gal fuge is cycling, will probably throw a couple pieces of established rock in to help out.

obi
 
Last saturdays parameters :

Kh 4.11 meq/l
ca 390 ppm
strontium 9 added 2 tsp
mg 1050 added 2 tsp

Todays test results
Kh 4.69 meq/l or 13.1 dkh
ca 410 ppm
PH 8.06 verified with ph probe from calcium Reactor (night time)
77 degrees F
1.024 SG

I have turned the calcium reactor off. Going to try and let KH drop back down to normal levels, not sure what threw it out of whack. I have been adding 1 - 2 tsp of calcium each night to get it up around 420 - 450. I did add a couple caps of vinegar to the water to try and lower the KH a little. I know my RO water comes out at a VERY high ph somewhere around 9 or 10... even after aerating it stays about 8.5. Hopefully ill figure it out.

I would have done a 45 gallon water change tommorow except I was topping off the tub today and left for work forgetting to turn it off. I returned home to a 110 gallon tub that was 1/2 full when I left, but upon returning it was full. SG was down to about 1.015. I immediatly drained the tub to enough water for the fish to swim but as low as I could get it. Then i filled it with the 45 gallons of 1.024 water I had made up. All said and done it ended up being about 1.022. (water was very high SG when i started the top off... hence the reasoning 1.029 or so) All fish seem fine, I am worried about the sea urchin and the two brittle stars that were in the tub. Time will tell.... fingers crossed...I AM an IDIOT.

Obi

Anthias are great no spots on any DT fish, and mystery wrasse is doing great as well, may release from Qt a little early.
 
Alkalinity has been at a stable 4.0 Meq/L since turning the reactor back on and calcium hoering between 400 and 420. Adding calcium each night trying to push it up around 450. PH is getting rough though... I hope its just my bad PH meter that needs calibration. Gonna grab a PH test it today to compare... but its saying around 7.9... :( did a 45 gallon water change last sun.
 
My alk has hiked back up to 4.47 meq/l again, (12dKh) and my PH is down to about 7.8 last couple of nights. I hit it with a dose of kalkwasser last night and tonight and it is hovering about 7.9 - 7.95 now. I am still trouble shooting this one, I am now going after my top off water... been doing a ton of reading on stable alk and Ca levels. Anyone, and in my opinion , everyone should take a look at a few of these articals. As much as I have saturated my brain over the past 2 or 3 years these sources made me look at supplementation differently and maybe have a better outlook/approach to it now.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1179702

http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Think by using the borate based sea chem buffer I may be getting "skewed" readings on the Alk test..... I have used the buffer quite a bit to buffer top off water.

New plan of action is to check the evaporation rate over the coarse of the day. If it is low enough I am going to put a timer on the top off pump that will only allow it to operate after the lights have been out for an hour or so up until about an hour or so before the lights come on. I will dose kalk water only if this will work to help bolster my PH back to where it needs to be and further saturate my Ca levels. If this wont work due to rate of Evaporation... i will be doing the Calfo Slurry method each night or every other night.

as for parameters here is how things look RIGHT NOW:

PH 7.95
Mg 1070ppm
Ca 420ppm
KH 12.5 dKh
SG 1.025
Temp 79.1F
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0

TDS on RO/DI 4ppm

I think I'll be ordering another round of 100 - 150 snails ect. this week as well as a couple purple fire fish to go into QT.

The 120 Fuge is still only half full of SW due to lack of time to get the sump in and plumbed under it. Given the time I have been thinking of not letting it run on the big system just yet. Thoughts have been to place the LR from the "waiting" tub along with the two tangs and a Racoon Butterfly the LFS has that is a trained anemone and coral muncher into it. Let the Butterfly have his way with all the stuff I don't want making the move from the old LR to the new tank (Xenia/daisy polyps, few aiptasias/mojano anemones ect,) get the tangs back into something I can see them in, and get the black cap basslet and zebra goby into the DT. This would also allow me to shut down the tub that is in my way! (One less thing to worry about....)

Ill keep the Updates comming and the occasional picture. Keeping fingers crossed....

NEW BABY SHOULD BE HERE ANY DAY.... I'm sure that will put a hamper on tank progress as well.... but that is fine by me ;)

~Obi
 
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