.Chris.
Member
Good luck with the 'coverup' Chris.I think it will look like rock in no time.
Yeah well the hope is to take off the putty at some point.
Well I guess I have an SPS tank...
- Thread starter .Chris.
- Start date
Yeah well the hope is to take off the putty at some point.
.Chris.
Member
So I switched out my bulbs, and I added some new frags.
Old bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Lagoon Blue, Actinic+, Aquablue+, Aquablue+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue):
New bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Actinic+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue, Lagoon Blue, Aquapink, Actinic+):
I'm fairly satisfied with the combination, I'm curious what it would look like with a pure actinic instead of one of the actinic+, but I think I'll leave it alone for at least the six months, see how the corals react.
Here are some shots of the new frags, and a new FTS with the new frags. Pardon the cloudiness, I had just fed when I took them. I'll try to get some overhead shots and underwater shots tomorrow.
New Bonsai frag, a bit different from my other one, so we'll see what happens.
Tricolour Acro frag, curious to see how it turns out considering how different it is from my bigger piece.
This is allegedly a RR ultra pink milli, but we'll see.
Here's a cool picture of Arthur, the Goldrim Tang. Wish it was a little more in focus.
Old bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Lagoon Blue, Actinic+, Aquablue+, Aquablue+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue):
New bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Actinic+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue, Lagoon Blue, Aquapink, Actinic+):
I'm fairly satisfied with the combination, I'm curious what it would look like with a pure actinic instead of one of the actinic+, but I think I'll leave it alone for at least the six months, see how the corals react.
Here are some shots of the new frags, and a new FTS with the new frags. Pardon the cloudiness, I had just fed when I took them. I'll try to get some overhead shots and underwater shots tomorrow.
New Bonsai frag, a bit different from my other one, so we'll see what happens.
Tricolour Acro frag, curious to see how it turns out considering how different it is from my bigger piece.
This is allegedly a RR ultra pink milli, but we'll see.
Here's a cool picture of Arthur, the Goldrim Tang. Wish it was a little more in focus.
.Chris.
Member
Okay, it's been three months. Time for an update.
It all went to ****, basically. A combination of neglect, equipment failure and adding too many fish added up to a minor crash, severe cyano outbreak, massive increase in nutrient levels, and the loss of perhaps 50% of my corals, and maybe up to 75%. We'll see how it ends up.
The longer version is:
I lost my job two weeks after my last post because the LFS for which I worked closed, and while I immediately found a new job with a local aquatics wholesaler, the new schedule threw me for a loop. This meant that when I got home after working a 5am to 2pm shift, I wasn't really up for doing maintenance. Because I wasn't doing maintenance, I wasn't checking things I normally look at daily/weekly. This led to my alkalinity bottoming out, due to my alk solution running dry in my doser. This also led to my 3L Seachem Matrix reactor having a pump failure. At around the same time as those two things, I added a number of new fish. Not an overpopulation by my reckoning, but I increased the feeding to try to reduce stress. So alk goes down, corals stop growing and consuming nutrients, Matrix stops working and consuming nutrients, fish level and feedings go up, increasing nutrients to over 100ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm PO4.
I got a cyano outbreak, but I didn't want to deal with it, and kept putting it off and putting it off, which made it worse and worse. At one point it covered 3/4 of the tank, including all three visible windows on my tank. My skimmer also failed during this time, and rather than fix it, I just unplugged it and continued ignoring the tank, as I couldn't muster up the effort to care about it.
Anyway, all that to say, I made some booboos. To rectify it, I did a 50% waterchange to remove as much cyano as possible, then began a 4 day blackout, while doing two full doses of Ultralife RSR, 48 hours apart. I have done another 35% waterchange today, and plan to do another one on both Saturday and Sunday. Next Wednesday, I will do one last RSR treatment (with no blackout) to hopefully ensure I kick the cyano for good. Meanwhile, I will continue 35% water changes 3 times weekly for the next two weeks. At that point, I will test my water and see the difference my work has made. Hopefully it is significant. If it's to my satisfaction, I will start carbon dosing with vinegar, and continue doing 35% water changes weekly for the next two months. If things seem to be on track, I will reduce water changes to 10% weekly thereafter.
I took some pictures, but I'm only going to post the FTS. Please compare with the last FTS I took.
Total losses include:
Hot pink stylo
Green stylo
Purple stylo (my favourite)
Red millipora
Two fiji mini colonies
One fiji frag
I will probably lose another fiji frag, one of my tricolour acros, my hawkins echinata, and possibly my green slimer (yeah, it was that bad).
We will see. I'll try to keep this more current.
It all went to ****, basically. A combination of neglect, equipment failure and adding too many fish added up to a minor crash, severe cyano outbreak, massive increase in nutrient levels, and the loss of perhaps 50% of my corals, and maybe up to 75%. We'll see how it ends up.
The longer version is:
I lost my job two weeks after my last post because the LFS for which I worked closed, and while I immediately found a new job with a local aquatics wholesaler, the new schedule threw me for a loop. This meant that when I got home after working a 5am to 2pm shift, I wasn't really up for doing maintenance. Because I wasn't doing maintenance, I wasn't checking things I normally look at daily/weekly. This led to my alkalinity bottoming out, due to my alk solution running dry in my doser. This also led to my 3L Seachem Matrix reactor having a pump failure. At around the same time as those two things, I added a number of new fish. Not an overpopulation by my reckoning, but I increased the feeding to try to reduce stress. So alk goes down, corals stop growing and consuming nutrients, Matrix stops working and consuming nutrients, fish level and feedings go up, increasing nutrients to over 100ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm PO4.
I got a cyano outbreak, but I didn't want to deal with it, and kept putting it off and putting it off, which made it worse and worse. At one point it covered 3/4 of the tank, including all three visible windows on my tank. My skimmer also failed during this time, and rather than fix it, I just unplugged it and continued ignoring the tank, as I couldn't muster up the effort to care about it.
Anyway, all that to say, I made some booboos. To rectify it, I did a 50% waterchange to remove as much cyano as possible, then began a 4 day blackout, while doing two full doses of Ultralife RSR, 48 hours apart. I have done another 35% waterchange today, and plan to do another one on both Saturday and Sunday. Next Wednesday, I will do one last RSR treatment (with no blackout) to hopefully ensure I kick the cyano for good. Meanwhile, I will continue 35% water changes 3 times weekly for the next two weeks. At that point, I will test my water and see the difference my work has made. Hopefully it is significant. If it's to my satisfaction, I will start carbon dosing with vinegar, and continue doing 35% water changes weekly for the next two months. If things seem to be on track, I will reduce water changes to 10% weekly thereafter.
I took some pictures, but I'm only going to post the FTS. Please compare with the last FTS I took.
Total losses include:
Hot pink stylo
Green stylo
Purple stylo (my favourite)
Red millipora
Two fiji mini colonies
One fiji frag
I will probably lose another fiji frag, one of my tricolour acros, my hawkins echinata, and possibly my green slimer (yeah, it was that bad).
We will see. I'll try to keep this more current.
.Chris.
Member
I'm sure I can get back to it pretty quickly, with some intense maintenance. And I'm sure you know, I am interested in all frags, at all times. But I think I'm going to give my tank a few weeks to settle in again.
Also most annoying of this whole endeavour, I've not done any maintenance aside from scrape the glass on my smaller soft coral tank in six months, and it's flourishing. Frustrating stupid tank. At least it keeps me motivated.
But I think I'm going to give my tank a few weeks to settle in again.Also most annoying of this whole endeavour, I've not done any maintenance aside from scrape the glass on my smaller soft coral tank in six months, and it's flourishing. Frustrating stupid tank. At least it keeps me motivated.
ComforablyNumb
New member
May I ask you Montreal guys a dumb question? There used to be a reef store, on Papineau I think it was, called Aquarium Octopus. I can't find anything about them now..are they still in business?
Tim/Fredericton
Tim/Fredericton
reefmutt
Active member
Yes. Octopus. John, the owner closed his doors about a year and a half ago. He threw in the towel.
It was sad. His was the store that got me into the hobby in the 90s. He was an institution.
He's retired now and loving it.
There is a very good reef shop way up on papineau north, though, called Raging Reef..
It was sad. His was the store that got me into the hobby in the 90s. He was an institution.
He's retired now and loving it.
There is a very good reef shop way up on papineau north, though, called Raging Reef..
ComforablyNumb
New member
Hi Matt! Jon was the one who got me into the hobby as well in '92! I was living in St.John's NF at the time and he would take my orders out to the airport himself and put them on the plane. When I moved to Ottawa, I bought all my stuff from him and always looked forward to seeing those display tanks of his. Sad to hear he's not in biz anymore, but glad to hear retirement suits him.
Thx for the tip about Raging Reef, I'll check them out next visit to Mtl (along with a visit to Schwartz's too of course...best smoked meat on the planet)
Cheers, Tim
Thx for the tip about Raging Reef, I'll check them out next visit to Mtl (along with a visit to Schwartz's too of course...best smoked meat on the planet)
Cheers, Tim
