Walt's Official A. thiellei Page

I actually thought of something that may help your cause when staring at my tank last night. What if you allowed the sides of the tank to cover up with algae or taped some aquatic scene on the sides (not one of those tacky Finding Nemo type horrific scenes, but something from a real image)?

I know you made the single-species tanks, but did you keep one of the cubes that had the rockscape that completely covered all side but the front? I thought that was your build thread but maybe not. This would at least keep the clowns a bit more secure only worrying about what comes near them at the front glass. I do this on my QT 10gal and it seems to work ok for calming the clowns in such a confined space.

Just a thought....
 
What I plan to do is what a lot of breeders do... paint the back, sides and bottom. I havent decided yet whether I will do black, blue or a faux corraline (I have done that before and it looked great.) I have been only wiping the green and slime algaes off and allowing the corraline algae to grow on the bottom and the side that has the plumbing.
The cubes are all sold. I'm just gonna pick up a couple 30 breeders.
 
IMG00872-20110612-0924.jpg

I relocated my A. thiellei pair over the weekend and paired up the solo A. thiellei and A. sandaracinos (current scenario pictured.)
I'm calling the previous system a failure and decided to go to a sterile-type breeding system as opposed to setting up a larger reef. I've been cleaning out all my corals, LR, etc. for the last month and... over the weekend cleaned the sump and equipment with HCl.
The next step is to move the breeder rack over to where the sump is, buy new tanks, drill them and assemble the system. I have room to put four 30/40 breeders on the rack. Alternately, I may opt to put two 30 breeders and eight 10 gallons on the rack. The ten gallons would be for rotifers, fry, and adult fish quarrantine.
I'm brainstorming configuration and filtration options.
 
Yesterday I installed a 3' long, 14" diameter PVC pipe in the sump, redirected the skimmer output into the pipe and filled it about 2/3 full of branch rock and a little rubbel rock I had stored away. I'm thinking this will make a decent biofilter while allowing me to have easy access to the sump floor for cleaning.
IMG00896-20110622-1739.jpg

IMG00895-20110622-1739.jpg
 
Hey Walt,

I know it's a little late, but I would suggest using some eggcrate lwith PVC risers to lift the rubble of the floor in that pipe. I was amazed at how little detritus would accumulate once I put a raised eggcrate floor in the half of my sump that has a heavy dose of LR that is from eggcrate to water surface. Their is around 2500gph flowing through the sump, but it still collected detritus. The detritus drove me nuts and a few months back I put in the false floor (think server rooms, except eggcrate instead of solid flooring). I now once every 1-2weeks, blast the floor right at lights out to create marine snow. The detritus is gone in the morning and not accumulating my my BB SPS DT, so maybe I'm only transferring it to my lagoon. Either way, it's reduced my vacuuming efforts and I don't stay up all night dreaming of detritus before I finally get up at 3am to vac out the sump.

I wish that was a lie, but it has happened on a couple occassions the night before I traveled on biz..... LMAO
 
That's a good idea. If I'm gonna do it again I might cut legs into the pipe and install a strainer above the legs. The skimmer can go on top of the pipe. In addition I will raise the whole sump about 18-24 inches so it can just be syphoned. I still haven't hooked any fish into this system.... Didn't want to do anything before I left for NC.
 
The thiellei pair have been cooperatively doing burnouts lately as though they're trying to clear out sand (there is none.)

The thiellei / sandaracinos pair have been getting along better lately. Less posturing... more itchy twitchy dance.
 
I tried a clay pot. They had no interest.

I'm gonna paint the sides and back soon. I'm thinking that will make them feel more secure....

or I may shut it down to install a divider and add the other pair before painting and adding bulkheads....

or I may just buy new free standing tanks for both pairs.
 
Just add cardboard to the unpainted sides. Raise the temp and feed cyclopez heavy for 7 days straight....also try placing a mirror on one side for a few hours to see how the female acts and then remove it.
 
You've inadvertantly touched on one of my issues. My chiller draws from the sump and pumps into the main tank. I haven't checked the temp in the display but I think it's a few degrees cooler than the sump. I think I need to have a recirculating pump go through the chiller from and back to the sump. Once I plumb in the other tanks, I think it's more plausible for me to hook up my reeflow dart and have that supply the stock tanks.

I'm considering a number of options right now because I'm working on finishing my basement. That means the tank will have to be moved at some point. One concern is that if I'm refinishing the basement to be a usable space (which I am), I may be best off to make the tanks be less of an eye sore. That means moving the fish around... again. One option that's starting to become appealing is to buy two used 30 breeder tank/stand setups and put them in the finished side of the basement and relocate the sump to the other side of the wall in the utility room.... or even possibly move one upstairs to the living room or dining room.

I'm hoping to be moving in a year or so as well....
 
WDLV said:
Ease of maintenance.
Click to expand...

He he....he asked about sand.....he he.

Clowns + Sand + SPS = COMPLETE ANNOYANCE IMO.

I went BB except for the Lagoon sometime ago and haven't looked back. Best move ever, as the GSM pair doesn't cause nearly the sandstorms as my B!&#$ Tomato....
 
I agree with this. Sometimes I think it might be worth it but in this instance, I'm trying to keep a simple breeding setup AND given that they've been doing burnouts on the bare glass, I'd hate to see the sand storm they'd be creatin if I had added sand to this system.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against sand. It has its place... depending on what you're going for.
 
I have long wanted to do a display tank with no sand or liverock; just corals attached to the glass be they SPS, LPS or soft. Fish would be an afterthought.
 
Interesting clown

Interesting clown

A couple of pics of an interesting clown I had awhile back.

dave
 

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