The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[Sparkss]

I am ashamed to admit that we don't do any QT, but we do dip everyting with TMPCC. And as I like to say, we dip long and strong. 150% - 200% the recommended dosage for at least 15 minutes, usually closer to 20 minutes, hitting everything pretty good with a turkey baster every 4 - 5 minutes. Any bases, plugs or other non-coral pieces are cut off. We make good use of our diamond wheel and dremel. We typically lose %5 or so of the coral while cutting off the base or plugs, but it is worth it to prevent introducing any eggs or pests into our tank (In our experience the pests don't lay eggs onto live corals, IE: acros, etc, so if it isn't a live surface, it doesn't get added into our tank)
After the cutting, fragging, TMPCC dipping and other carnage, ew do different things for each species. Zoas go through a FW dip. Acros get an Interceptor dip. Monti's, well, we basically stick to frags that don't have any nook, crannies or crevices that any nudis, or their eggs, could hide. If any exist, we frag the monti until they no longer do. That or glue over any nooks or crannies to seal in any eggs/nudis (if fragging is not a realistic option). On the whole we would rather lose a frag (or two) then to infec our tank. We went through just about every pest in our old tank, and lost many prised corals to each one. That is something that we are not at all looking to repeat.


It is by far not a bullet proof solution, but it is as close as we feel we can get without setting up a dedicated QT system to house any new corals for up to a month. What with chiller, heater, skimmer, calcium, lighting and general space needs, that proved to be more than we could manage.

 

[jnarowe]

Very interesting how you treat each coral type differently. Tha makes sense. And I really like that pink pump there in the back!

 

[raddogz]

I noticed that too.

I guess I clean my vortec way too often as it never get pink with coralline like that

Good Job Tom!

 

[jnarowe]

mine are coraline magnets. it's actually quite annoying but I guess with how lazy I have been lately, they blend in with the tank walls! :lol:

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9912678#post9912678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
I forgot to add that so far our experience with LA has been fine. I will let you know once we get the fish adn coral shipment tomorrow. But everything I have heard has been positive. Sanjay gets alot of his fish and coral from them IIRC.

Many of us buy from Kevin @ Live Aquaria. He's a very knowledgable guy and a very nice one at that I'm jealous of his job Who else gets to take company trips to the south Pacific to look for broodstock :lol:

 

[Sparkss]

well, to be blunt, our first experience with LA was not a good one. Out of 4 fish ordered, 3 shipped, of those 3 one was DOA and the other 2 barely made it through acclimation and don't look to be long for this world.

1 male leopard - not shipped
1 female leopard - DOA
2 banded pipe fish - barely holding on

In a nutshell LA didn't pack any heat packs and the bags were literally ice cold when I took them out of the box today. After 15 minutes floating in our sump they still didn't reach 75 degrees (according to our thermometer). I wish i had thought to check the temp when they arrived, butit was so cold that it was actually uncomfortable to holdhte bag in one's hand for too long. We let them float for 30 minutes then started the acclimation in a bucket. They barely moved throughout the entire excercise and when placed into the tank one floated across the tank and started to get pulled into a powerhead. After scrambling to shut off all powerheads, we have been watching them for the last 15 mins or so and they don't look good at all.

I have already called LA about hte leopard, since it was obvious on arrival that it was dead (but we still did the full acclimation procedures anyway, just to be sure). I am about to call them about the pipe fish. I personally am very upset.. a large portion of the reason being that my wife was almost in tears watching the pipe fish trying to swim and floating to the bottom. This was NOT what I paid for. They were supposed to be a happy surprise for my wife, since we had a pair in our old tank that passed after 2 years, and had wanted another pair for the new tank.

They offerred to refund us for the leopard wrasse already, but if both ppe fish die also, then we would have basically paid $40 (shipping) for bags of dead water, due wholly to their packing and shipping (since the last I read they only refund livestock, not shipping). I am venting a little becuase I am frustrated with how this all turned out. I will post here what the outcome of it all is.

 

[raddogz]

Wow, what a bummer Tom.

Sorry to you and and your wife. There is nothing worse to see a fish dying right after you bring it home or in this case shipped.

 

[Sparkss]

Got a little bit of a run around. We will just have to see how it all shakes out. At this point the leopard wrasse was creditted back to our card, adn we need to watch the pipe fish and wait to see if they make it or not. In my experience their odds are very very low, especially knowing what they just went through, but we are doing all that we can to try to help them survive.

We already have another order for fish in with LA, being delivered tomorrow, so they will get one more chance to prove that this was a fluke, and not a pattern.

On a separate note the corals seemed to have arrived in good health. There was a heat pack in that shipping box, although it was already spent by the time it reached us. The blue polyps acro and neon vermiculata are already dipped and sitting on the bottom of the tank mounted on some small rocks.

 

[jnarowe]

Sorry to hear that Tom. They should not have been shipped without heat packs.

 

[Sparkss]

yea.. thanks Eileen and Jonathan. I am pretty upset over it all. We will find out tomorrow (when the second order from them arrives) if someone just goofed and forgot the heat packs or if LiveAquaria has shipping facility issues that they need to address.

At least their coral packing facility is on top of things and they got it all packed right. The polyps are already out on the german blue polyped acro.. and boy are they ever a dark blue . We have been wanting a frag of this coral for some time now, so i am pretty excited about it.

 

[Sparkss]

The comment about our stocking list spurred me to post an updated fish list

Currently

1 purple tang
1 sailfin tang
1 orange shoulder tang
1 magnificent rabitfish
1 golden angel
1 cleaner wrasse
1 ornate wrasse (aka christmas wrasse)
1 yellow wrasse
2 orchid dottybacks
1 indigo dottyback (all dottybacks get along fine)
pair of ocellaris
1 percula (was a pair, but the smaller one disappeared last week , we think it got sucked into a Vortec.. it was a very small percula)
pair of spotted mandarins
pair of banggai cardnial fish
1 geometric hawkfish (see him about once a week, if we are lucky)
pair of tangaroa gobies (but we have not seen them in a couple of weeks now ).
1 engineer goby
2 squamosa clams
3 crocea clams
1 deresa clam
1 cleaner shrimp
5 peppermint shrimp
6 tiger tail cukes (They all stay on the sandbed)


added today

pair of banded pipe fish (will they survive ???? They are looking better and moving around a little, so we will see. Our fingers and toes are all crossed)


Being added tomorrow

1 Tomini tang
pair of blue neon gobies

 

[Sparkss]

Wants

fish
Powder Brown Tang (A. Japonicus)
flame wrasse harem
phomboid wrasse pair
group of potters leopard wrasses
or
chaoti and/or bipartus leopard wrasses
pair of yellow neon gobies
pair of yellow head jaw fish
pair of firefish
pink/red margin fairy wrasse
lineatus wrasse
pair of ruby fin wrasses

corals

a. austera
a. globiceps
royal blue turaki
20,000 Leagues Lokani
just about any nasuta
just about any deepwater (jacquelineae, granulosa, carolinia, etc)


Most of the fish are known jumpers, which is why we haven't tried to find any yet. There is a problem with getting the mesh for our top and as of yet we don't have any ETA, but I may go out this weekend and see if I can find something locally that would work. I have tried to get out this week to check, but my work schedule has prevented that from happening.

Most of the fish are also to replace those that we lost in a tank crash from our old tank. Some of them will also be "one or the other" sort of a selection, especially with the leopard wrasses.. our tank can only comfortably support so many pod eaters, even with the huge pod factory in our fuge .

And yes, we like pairs of things... we finally have space in our tank and most fish tend to show more/better colors when paired up, plus it is always interesting to see their courting dances and behavior

 

[jnarowe]

when you get the rhomboids, make very sure that they are a real pair. This is tough and I got a "pair" which turned out to not be a pair, and one tried to kill the other one post haste. the weak one did a fish stick.

 

[clekchau]

that's a lotsa fish

can't wait to see it fully stocked

 

[Sparkss]

But most of them are smaller fish, to help give more of an impression of size within the aquarium (hopefully). And the "wants" list is just that... a list of watns,not a list of "must haves" or "will gets". Most of them we have already researched, but as with anything else the researching is never done, only advanced a little each day . Plus, depending on which ones come up first, we may only get a few fairy wrasses, to ensure that they have plenty of territory. To be honest we feel that the tank is "full enough" now, with plenty of fish activity, but several of the fish in the wants list are just ones that we always wanted to keep, and now have the opportunity to . And by full I don't mean at capacity, just full enough to give the water column plenty of color and activity

 

[jnarowe]

I have 3 wrasses and they get along fine. Putting in too many I am sure will cause problems though.

 

[Sparkss]

we had several fairy and other wrasses in a much smaller tank then our current one without incident, so I am not too worried about it, but then again we are now looking to get harems and pairs, which could change their behavior and tolerance.. then again it could just as easily change them for the better, I suppose

 

[Sparkss]

Well, one of the pipefish has been nose down in the corner of the tank for hours now, I suspect that it has passed on. I will confirm in the morning (to give it tonight to possibly recover). The second one was swimming around the side of the tank, styaing close to the glass. It appears to be recovering, but it is still too early to tell. It looks like we may end up having paid $56 for a $16 fish... all because LA couldn't pack and ship properly. The more I think about it the more upset I get. We will see what they offer to do for us when I call them again in the morning (with an update on the pipefish survival/death).

 

[jnarowe]

can you grab it and hold it in front of a powerhead? I have seen supposedly dead fish come around with jet therapy.

 

[jermainek]

Hey Tom,

That is an amazing set up I absolutely love the depth - I have a 7' x 2' x 2' and I'm jealous of your depth, I could do so much with your dimensions, I've just read all 24 pages, should of been working but hey - it's Friday... shhh

Regarding your fish list and your attempt to give an impression of the size and depth of your tank, if I could just add my 2cents - smaller fish will definately help as they swim the immense circuit of your tank but what will really enhance and show off how massive your tank is will be 1 or 2 large fish. They will give a sheer comparison. I have a Queen Angelfish and a Sailfin Tang both at around 8", the rest of the tank holds small shoaling fish - chromis & damselfish, clownfish and a few inverts - it gives the right look for me.