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Peter's petite pair of picos


castiel

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Good to hear the move went well. When i moved it was only blocks away but i had nightmares weeks before it actually happened. I cant wait to see the peninsula tank.

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I am a ####ing idiot. A stupid idiotic ######## (I know those words will get censored, but I need to say them anyway).

 

After the move, everything in the tanks look okay ... but on Monday night before going to bed I noticed that things were closed that normally would be open. Then I realised that we were just using the crappy Dymax LEDs, having not mounted the T5s as had been the case in our old house. So Tuesday morning I tried to figure out how to mount the T5s ... grabbed a couple of pieces of wood and rested them on the tanks, with the lights on top. Maybe 2" above the water. Happily left for work thinking that they would now do great, having decent light again. My only concern was the lights being lower and potentially being too intense ... but figured I would deal with that in the evening if it were the case. Didn't even cross my mind what actually happ

 

Ang got home before me to find the tank temperatures "at the top of the thermometer", ie well into the 90s. The T5s had almost literally boiled the tanks during the day. She put a fan on the tanks to try and cool, and when I got home I immediately did a large water change, followed by another a couple of hours later.

 

But it was too little too late .. Ang's tank water went cloudy with ammonia shortly after both water changes, her rock is so 'live' there was huge die off. Woke up this morning to find the YCG dead, peppermint shrimp dead, and pretty much all of her corals dead (she moved her clove polyps into my tank in the hope of saving something at least.

 

My tank fared a bit better, but the blasto looks dead (including the 8+ 'babies' that had grown to 1/2" in size), the candy cane look very 'skinny'and my SPS is bleached and dying I think. YCG is still kicking though which is something (or at least it was this morning).

 

I am absolutely gutted that I killed so much with a stupid, stupid error. Even more so that Ang's tank suffered more than mine (she cried this morning when she found 'Cheeks' dead and floating around the tank.

 

=0(

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chippwalters

Awww Pete. I'm so sorry for your loss. Damn, we newbies do make costly mistakes as we move forward in this hobby.

 

I feel your pain..

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Peter i'm sorry man I almost killed my bowl this winter twice forgetting to plug it all back in after water change it could happen to anyone

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I misread the dosage on a new bottle of PH booster once. x10 my dosage for a 2g pico. My sand started bubbling. Instant 2x 75% water changes.

 

Lost a goby, emerald crab, banded trochus snail, 3 other misc snails, 1 mushroom and 1 birds nest. Of course the Zoas survived ...

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Thanks, all.

 

My tank seems to be just about ticking along ... think I have lost the Favia, 2x SPS, Blastos ... and the candy canes do not look good at all, but the rest I hope will recover. My YCG ate this morning which I hope is a good sign. Also transferred the GSP, Clove polyps and zoas from Ang's tank to mine in the hope they will survive, along with a hermit and snail.

 

This weekend when I get proper time I will be properly assessing what has a chance and what is a goner ... restarting Ang's tank (I am going to run the rock in a bucket for a while to see if it cycles again, and hopefully some of hte cool stuff like sponges survive).

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These picos are such delicate things. I'm glad now that my nps corals are in 5.5g rather than the 2.5g they started out it. I think below 3G is so hard.

 

Keep us posted, Peter.

 

L

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To be honest, it could have been a 10G tank and I think I still would have ####ed them up! So used to LEDs I didn't realise I guess how hot T5s can get.

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To be honest, it could have been a 10G tank and I think I still would have ####ed them up! So used to LEDs I didn't realise I guess how hot T5s can get.

 

Ah, I see, I've used all the major types of lighting, so I'm aware of the heat output for all of them. That's 23 years in the hobby for you. My MH is hot in my 36g, but it's a deep tank, so the reef temp is stable.

 

I'm still so sorry. Our tanks sort of grew up together, so I feel the loss as well, if you can understand what I mean. Wish I could send you frags. :(

 

L

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I'm just hoping my tank, and my YCG, hold on until tomorrow when I will have time to deal with it properly, buy some more water (I am totally out), remove all dead corals, etc. Ang's tank is a complete mess, needs a full restart ... but mine might salvage 30% of the corals if I am lucky.

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So, we begin again.

 

Survivors of the T5 massacre - My tank: YCG (tough little ####er named Squirt), Red People Eater Palys, Unidentified People Eater Palys, Ricordea ... few snails and hermits. Plus Zoa rock from Ang's tank, and maybe a few Green Clove Polyps.

 

I took the opportunity to rescape a little ... removed some chunks of rock and moved the main rock piece further back and twisted it a little, to allow more visible room for coral on the rock, and on the sand in front. Bad blurry photo, sorry!

IMG_20120325_193113.jpg

Here's the bad ass YCG

IMG_20120325_193120.jpg

 

And now for Ang's tank ...

IMG_20120325_193129.jpg

 

We took one large piece of live rock from her tank and it is currently cycling away in a tub, but the rest is in the trash. Amazingly a couple of snails survived the ammonia bath they had for almost a week! Will be heading to get new live rock for this tank at the weekend and starting the cycle again.

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Put Ang's large piece of rock back in the tank along with a big bag of carbon (put one in my tank too), so will start testing through this week and see how the (re)cycle is going.

 

Forgot to take a pic, but the 'scape' in Ang's tank now looks great, with one large vertical piece of rock. She also decided to try going bare bottom having seen some of those tanks on here! Need to work out whether putty will be enough to secure the rock from falling over, or whether we'll need to commit some super glue to the task too.

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My BoostLEDs just arrived! Need to find suitable fixtures now.

 

Also tested the tanks and the ammonia and nitrite levels are undetectable, there is a bit of nitrate in both but nothing to worry about. So might have to start buying corals this weekend and rebuilding.

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My BoostLEDs just arrived! Need to find suitable fixtures now.

 

Also tested the tanks and the ammonia and nitrite levels are undetectable, there is a bit of nitrate in both but nothing to worry about. So might have to start buying corals this weekend and rebuilding.

 

That is good, GOOD news!!

 

Any corals you want to try?

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these tanks are going to really kick some a$$ this time around. you learned so much and now you really get to put your knowledge to the test and with some sweet lights as well. cant wait to see what you turn these tanks into this time.

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Thanks, both.

 

I think I am going to start with more zoas, palys, rics, morphs. Then go from there. Tempted to try and find a maxi-mini anemone when the tanks have matured more (though very rare to see them for sale down here!), also try my hand at some SPS again once I get the levels right through dosing. Very open minded really, might depend on what I see at the LFS!

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Cheese-Lover
Tempted to try and find a maxi-mini anemone when the tanks have matured more (though very rare to see them for sale down here!

 

I read this. And then I went hunting.

 

The only place I see that has had any recently is reefsecrets.

But he only gets them very rarely....

 

 

Good luck with that search.

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I have seen one or two at local LFSs in the past, but before my tanks were anywhere near ready for one. Hopefully I'll spot one again at some appropriate point.

 

Set one BoostLED up using the lamp I had for the PAR38, but it only positions the light about 5" above the tank, which I think is too close ... so will be on the hunt for a new fixture this weekend.

 

The light is very blue, more than I am used to! I bought the 2 Royal Blue, 1 Blue, 1 Cool White, 1 Neutral White combo. But very bright, can't wait to start using it to good effect.

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That will be blue, but I got used to the blue after a bit. Makes my 14k in my old 8g look almost yellowy and I know it isn't.

 

L

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