Jersey's Tale of the Tank..

[jersey]

Current Full tank shot 1/28/13

 

 

 

 

12/30/12

OK, so here's a little back story..

I've been in the money pit hobby for about 20 years now. I started at age 16 tending to my parents Oranda tanks, and koi ponds and learned the tricks of the fresh water trade from there.. After getting my first apartment at 18. I moved into Dwarf Chichlids, and then on to breeding Discus and Angel's.

In 2010 we had an apartment fire due to a neighbor dumping an ash tray into a garbage can, and I lost everything except my turtle's and cats which I ran back into the apartment multiple times ala pee wee herman until all my pets minus fish where safe.



This was my first real break from fish keeping in general. We had to move in with my father and my siblings while we recovered, and waited for the insurance to come through.. Can you believe they tried to fight us?? shock huh??

So, fast forward to December 2011.. Finally have the money to buy a new place! I purchased a 210 gallon tank from Jungle Bob's on long island (used and cheap) and I set it up for my turtles. I know this is a reef forum, but here's a picture anyway.. Done with expanding foam a peat mix, net pots, rocks, driftwood, and lots of complaining by my wife, and cursing by me..

First shot of the water test


Here is a picture taken just now. Tank footprint is 72 x 24


After getting that all up and running I had shopped around for a nice nano cube.. Again.. Used, and Cheap... Notice a trend here?

I came across an ebay ad for a Nano 12 with a rapid LED retrofit, and made the plunge. Drove about 2.5 hours to NY and picked it up.

It came with sand, rock, and the damsel from hell.. This was taken with the addition of my first few frags purchased from a local reef club member.


I learned my first valuable lesson in August 2012.. Cat's hate fish.. Woke up to this at the ass crack of dawn..



I very quickly got a 20 long set up and managed to save 95% of everything in the tank, and went to my reef club forums and managed to purchase a 28 g nano cube LED pro. It's been over a month now, and minus a mini cycle that only lasted a couple of days the tank is up running and everything is healthy.

Here is a current Tank shot as of 10/25/2012


FTS 12/8/12



I'm sure I will have lots of updates in the future.. I guess this is a good start.

[eitallent]

I'm sure I will have lots of updates in the future.. I guess this is a good start.

 

WOW! I am glad you and your loved ones are all ok.

I am NOT surprised the insurance company tried to fight you. I've seen it too often.

I admire your persistence in keeping to what you love.

Keep posting and I'll be reading!

[Bakenn]

That turtle tank looks so nice! I used to have turtles but unfortunately I got the reef bug and I can't have both =(

[Chino]

Very sorry about the apt fire. Are you kidding me about the insurance? Jesus. Glad everyone is ok.

 

I cant imagine how I would react if I saw my 12g NC on the floor busted up like that because of a cat! How did you manage to save 95% of everything if you dont mind me asking? Did you have a QT tank setup or something?

 

The 28 is looking beautiful btw.

[jersey]

Very sorry about the apt fire. Are you kidding me about the insurance? Jesus. Glad everyone is ok.

 

I cant imagine how I would react if I saw my 12g NC on the floor busted up like that because of a cat! How did you manage to save 95% of everything if you dont mind me asking? Did you have a QT tank setup or something?

 

The 28 is looking beautiful btw.

 

Everyone is in shock that I tell... I had a 20 long in the garage and luckily had water per mixed. I tossed the rock and fish in there.. Maybe 5 mins out of water.. Minus a couple of hermits that decided to take a stroll that we found 20 mins later and one in the vacuume too.... All lived..

 

The only deaths we had where a candy cane coral which had 2 heads crushed and a green damsel that died the next day due to a large cut. My lobo has a patch that receded you can see in the pics but is healing well.

 

My pod population took a huge hit.. I have a small pod tank running now that I have been seeding the tank with and I am starting to see lots of life again.. Nowhere near the sight of hundreds of bugs scattering like roaches when I shine the flashlight on a rock.. But, it will get there.

 

Honestly I think we just got lucky.. Very lucky.

 

That turtle tank looks so nice! I used to have turtles but unfortunately I got the reef bug and I can't have both =(

 

Thanks. They are so much fun to watch. I'll post up some more pictures when I get time to sort through them.

 

We also have a 120g but not done up......yet. It has a peninsula cooter and a mississippi map and 2 giant tin foil barbs.. The fish in the main tank where meant as free food... But the turtles don't want to eat them... That gold fish in the shot was a small feeder a year ago and now is about 5 inches.

[jersey]

More Pics!!

Tonight's look..

 

Love this Macro

 

Got these from Kgoldie this afternoon. LOVE them.

 

FEED ME!

 

Random shots.

 

This wacky crab had to pick a shell that he can hardly move in.. It's been over a week and many shells for him to choose from, but he is insistent..

 

Turtle's sleep weird.. (Yes, he is alive.. And well.. just strange.

 

The orange one is the one that I am 99.999% sure did the hit on the 12 gallon..

 

Some pictures of the shipment of grunge from Garf.org. I like the natural look to the sand bed, but not sure how beneficial it actually is.. lots of bugs though.

 

they also sent this rock.. looks like I have a small yellow sponge growing on it that isn't visible in the pic. I'm not sure what that coral is on the front of the rock, but it is alive I can see it extending some sort of short hairs at night.

 

after adding the grunge to the tank.. cleared up in about 3 hours.

 

Cryptic zone!

[jersey]

Some shots of the "Soap Dish" Fuge.

 

Basics for those that aren't sure what it is..

 

I got the medium sized shower caddy from amazon. I took a dremmel and cut extra slots in the side to increase flow (the ones on the front come like that. Then I took off the suction cups and cut a square out so that it fit around the overflow.

 

I used some coral glue and glued it to the back wall.. It's easy enough to remove if needed but sturdy enough that I won't have to worry about it falling off, and sitting on something for hours if I am not there.

 

Now, I know some people have done this and just suction cupped it to the side of the tank, or they turn the back chambers in the nano cubes.. I diidn't want to do the media basket slot because I wanted to keep my chemical filtration and I thought hanging it on the side just didn't fit into what I wanted looks wise.. plus I wanted a larger area.

 

This way it also gets a nice amount of flow into the fuge area as all water entering the filters passes through the macro.

 

Anyway, here are some shots.

 

Full shot to give an idea of how it looks.. really not too noticeable when looking at the tank.. with some time it will be coraline encrusted, and other coral frags may be used to cover it a bit.

 

 

For lighting I have ordered a small waterproof led strip that will fit directly over the fuge area and will not bleed too much light into the display area.

 

Also.. LOOK WHO CAME OUT OF HIDING!!

 

I haven't seen him since the day after I put the stuff in the new tank except for a couple of times his bubble was spotted deep in the rock.. been out all day eating and being happy!

 

After last nights feeding my lobo is showing his appreciation.

[jersey]

AS usual I can never get normal animals.. lol My clowns where hosting a small empty shell.. Well, it was taken by a hermit.. So, what do they do? go to the top of the tank and start "hosting" a baby (about the size of 2 pieces of rice stuck together) snail.. I'll have to find pics.. The nem. sits alone unused, and the domino hosts just about everything else that's long and wavy in the tank.. hmm

[kgoldy]

Got these from Kgoldie this afternoon. LOVE them.

 

 

Glad you like em, dude. The pics I was advertising with were like a month old by the time you got those frags... Guess they got bigger than you expected. BTW- What'd you do to turn the Evil-Green-Skirts to make them orange?

[jersey]

Glad you like em, dude. The pics I was advertising with were like a month old by the time you got those frags... Guess they got bigger than you expected. BTW- What'd you do to turn the Evil-Green-Skirts to make them orange?

ha.. I just realized that the picture shows up as orange.. Strange. However, I did notice that there where 2-3 polyps in the back that actually are orange. They actually come across as more yellow under my lighting though. Still awesome looking though.

 

The freebie you gave me has 2-3 new polyps coming out already. I may need a bigger tank sooner rather then later.. haha

[kgoldy]

ha.. I just realized that the picture shows up as orange.. Strange. However, I did notice that there where 2-3 polyps in the back that actually are orange. They actually come across as more yellow under my lighting though. Still awesome looking though.

 

The freebie you gave me has 2-3 new polyps coming out already. I may need a bigger tank sooner rather then later.. haha

 

Make sure you keep the freebie somewhere that's easy to frag. It grows FAST.

 

The orange ones that came on the green skirt frag are real nice. No idea what they're called though.

[jersey]

Make sure you keep the freebie somewhere that's easy to frag. It grows FAST.

 

The orange ones that came on the green skirt frag are real nice. No idea what they're called though.

 

Yea, I love that green skirt frag. It's doing very well, and I wish I had mounted it to actually show that orange one off.. lol I won't move it though.. It's doing too well to screw with now.

 

The puckers are battling a fungus / algea thing.. It's that brown algae looking stuff. I tried a coral rx dip, and high flow with no luck, then went with iodine dip and a diluted hydrogen peroxide dip. They seem to be responding now. I hope they make it as I love that colony. The brown as receded and peeled off much of it, and the polyps have started to open a little this morning. Only time will tell..

 

I'll be back for more of your giant mutant polyps when you put up more for sale items.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yea.. And that freebie has tripled in polyp count already.. I have them in their own little spot with plenty of room to grow out and get chopped up for friends.

[jersey]

 

Current shot as of today..

 

Some new things.. I made an order with reefs2go.com when they where having their zoa sale.

 

Green Star Polyps -

Yellow Face Zoanthids

Red Head Kid Zoanthids

Purple People Eaters Zoos

Lunar Eclipse Zoos

Lemon Lime Zoanthids

Hairy Mushroom

Green Monsters Zoanthids

Fire and Ice Zoanthids

Death by Purple Zoos

Candy Apple Zoanthids

Barneys Zoanthids

Alien Eye Zoanthids

BamBam Orange

Blue Mushroom

Cherry Bombs Zoanthids

Eagle Eye Zoanthids

 

Some have opened up, some haven't yet. Only been in for about 26 hours. I'm sure they will look awesome in a few days.

 

I picked up the 2 toadstools from wimby when I was out on the island and another loeather which went MIA after it dismounted from the plug and I presume it dead at this point. it was beautiful though.) Awesome lady as well!

 

I picked up a bunch of macro from keydiver. Some is in the display others are in the grow out. The plan is to fill out the tank with macro to give it a natural(ish) look. I'm not looking for a bio tope as I already have samplings from around the globe in fish and corals but I would like a nice balance of plant and animal life.

 

I am sorry, but I forget who I got the dragons breath from, but it has grown about 5 times the size and at this rate I will be selling clippings in about 4 months It is one of the most beautiful algae I have seen.

 

I also set up a small 10 gallon grow out tank for my macro's. It's turned into a aptasia farm as well.. My peppermints love it though

 

I have 8 rics coming from the group buy, and then I should be taking a break on purchases for a while.

 

Unfortunately I was laid off last week. Very upset as I busted my ass to increase sales and productivity over last year and got rewarded with my position being eliminated.. Thinking about going back to school at 36 years of age.. ugh.

 

My wife's grandmother passed due to cancer at the age of 88. We spent the last couple of weeks traveling (and sleeping) to the hospice that she was staying at. We wrapped up the funeral, and all that stuff, and her grandfather came to us with a proposal. He offered us his house (beautiful home and much bigger then we would need) against our inheritance share when he passes..

 

So, we have much to think about over the next few months. My wife pointed out that the full basement and workshop would give me plenty of room to set up a giant sump and run it to multiple tanks on the main floor.. lol

 

So, enough about the sad news.. Things will improve, and I get some time while soul searching to really obsess over my tanks.. lol

[jersey]

Stopped by my buddy Zoanut (check him out on Facebook if you're in the jersey area) and picked up a few items.. I'll post a pic up once they are happy and open.

 

Got a huge frag of blue zoa's couple of 20+ polyp frags of mixed deepwaters. all for $5 each

 

Also picked up my first chalice coral. It's sweet looking.. Still not sure on my placement.. I might move it to a more viewable spot.

 

Got a huge chunk of Goni. One ultra green the other standard color. A 50ish "polyp" frag on alvapora, and Diploastrea Purple Eye which I don't know too much about, but it was too cool to pass up.

 

My Pucker pink colony has a few polyps open after the second hydrogen peroxide bath. Much of the algae stuff has receeded, but still not sure that I will have many of the originals left. Hopefully the survivors will replenish it to it's former glory. Don't know what it was just that colony that got infected.. They where right next to others that are all fine.

 

If anyone has further ideas on what might be an option to save them I'd be all ears.

 

 

I found the missing pulsing singularas (I know that is the wrong spelling and maybe word.. lol) It was stuck in some branch rock I have. Had to dig out the whole rock and then hit it like a katchup bottle to get the thing out. It looks like it is finishing up shedding, and hopefully it will open up and not die. I knew I should have reglued it to the plug when I put it in there.. it was loose from the ride home.

 

Other then that, everything seems healthy, and happy My little 10 gallon macro grow out tank is going well. The feather duster cheato I got from kgoldy has probably double the dusters and some growth as well. I added a freebie tiger pistol shrimp and a orange spotted goby that some guy was losing his #### over because they where stealing his shells and frags.. lol He was begging the store to take them, and I offered to adopt.

 

I'll get some pics up of both tanks soon.

[jersey]

Some new pics..

These are all taken under daylights so not getting the color pop of blues.

 

You know.. for all the pics we post.. I almost never see people post pics of themselves give or take a reflection here or there.. lol

 

Wife and I at our friends Civil Union Ceremony. Sadly they where in a bus accident on their honey moon when taking a trip to the grand canyon from vegas. One of them broke her ancle very badly and the other broke her back. Both are still int he hospital in 2 separate states..

 

My Dragons breath macro.. was just a little 2 inch clipping about a month ago.

 

The mutant's

 

The angry Torch.. It can't be in reach of anything in the tank or it will attack..

 

My cloves.. Tried to show the spreading. They have attached a runner or two on to the live rock from the plug. They are stretching for light, but if they are growing I don't want to move em.

 

My domino guarding his Torch and frogspawn garden.

 

Wheeler's goby poking out of her and the pistlols den.

 

They look so close in this pic, but they are a good 4 inches apart. Mushroom and pally / zoa

 

So, this is what I am dealing with on the pucker pink's I got.. It receded with a HP bath, but has since come back. They are starting to open, so I'm just going to let nature take it's course here.. I'm out of ideas.

 

My matt of Tan star polyps. I tossed it in on the sand bed and it seems happy.. was a freebie from a ref club member. original plans where to let it spread on the back wall, but then I made the fuge.

 

Toadstool can't capture the bright green of the leather against the pink of hte polyps, but it is beautiful and growing fast.

 

MY TORCH! Of course he picked the rarest thing in the damn tank.. thank god the coral doesn't seem to mind.

 

Bubble on 2-3 of my frogspawns from everything I read this is a common sign of a impending head split. They are happy so I'm not worried atm.

 

Random shot of the top shelf

 

See.. they are still green kgoldy.. lol

 

LOVE these.. I believe the name was passion fruit zoa. wife calls them greatful dead's because they look tiedied.. I don't like the word dead near my corals.. Garcia's works for me.

 

Some others in the tank.. perspective of how giant the mutants are.

 

Chalice.. first attempt at these so I got a cheap one for $10

 

Another zoa shot.

 

pink xenia

 

happy clam. sorry for the blurry shot.. hard to get focus because of the way he turned himself.

 

Scoly growing like a kid in a milk commercial.

 

I love you orange torch, I love you orange torch, I love you orange torch...

 

Full tank..

 

Green Chromis wouldn't leave me alone until i took it's picture.

 

Some shots of the growout tank.. The only thing in this is a pink spot goby, and a tiger pistol shrimp.

 

[MeepNand]

I love the goby. Maybe a good livestock selection for my 5g.

Tank is looking better than ever. The cave especially looks very mysterious.

[jersey]

I love the goby. Maybe a good livestock selection for my 5g.

Tank is looking better than ever. The cave especially looks very mysterious.

 

Thanks! The pink spot gets pretty big. I am not sure that the 10g is big enough for him, but he will be moving to a 90 down the road.

 

 

So, here is the formal FU Sandy Post..

 

 

Thankfully we are ok, our home is ok.. Our fish, turtles, and other pets are ok. Here is my past 2 days in a nutshell..

 

 

Power went out at about 8:30pm Sunday night. It was restored last night (Tuesday) When the power went out we immediately started the car and hooked the pumps up in the salt tanks. I We ran my truck the first night, went to refuel that and ran the car the next night. Not ideal, but I did what I had to do to keep my fish and corals safe.

 

I then did scoop and dump on the turtle tanks because we have a bunch of large fish (and a ton of platties) as well. The next day I checked on the phone and ensured we didn't have a boil alert. I hooked up the trusty python, and did 25% water changes every 4 hours around the clock.

 

I'm happy to report not a single fish or turtle loss.

 

Now, the mammals.. Sunday afternoon we noticed our cat was squatting and not really leaving much behind. He has a history of stones, and we had to have surgery. No vets where open until today.. We monitored him, gave him a ton or fluids and he managed to pass the stone last night. Right before I woke up at 4am in screaming pain with a kidney stone of my own.. lol We rushed over the the hospital and we sat there for a few hours waiting for someone to see us, and then I went to the bathroom and passed it myself and went home.

 

The hospital is still without power.

 

Now, on another note, I have met some great local(ish) people on here, and I pray that you are all safe, and that your family is safe. I am thinking of all of my friends "real life" and virtual.

[Weetabix7]

Oh wow.

Sorry for the stress and trauma, glad you are ok.

[jersey]

Oh wow.

Sorry for the stress and trauma, glad you are ok.

 

I'm in a million times better shape the many people in this area. We are going to be heading down to volunteer in a few hours.

[jersey]

So, my little macro grow out tank has gotten much more crowded. A local reefer who has been without power since Sunday, and isn't expected to have power back for a couple of weeks dropped off her fish and corals to try and keep them alive. They where in very bad shape.. water had to be in the lower 70's or lower.

 

Her fairy wrasse didn't make it, but so far so good on everything else. Mostly leathers, zoa's, rics, and mushrooms. (I guess they don't need heat packs afterall.. (someone will get a kick out of that...)

 

I am a little worried about her goby. The only thing I have in that tank is a large pink spot goby and a pistol. She has an orange spot goby, a Cherub angel, a neon goby, a clown and something else that is hiding and I didn't get a chance to ID before the lights went out.

 

I am hoping that the gobys will get along for the time being and my pistol doesn't take a liking to her goby more then mine.. haha.

 

also a sand sifting star, a skunk cleaner and a peppermint all seem to be doing well at the time being. I hope everything makes it as they looked pretty rough from the stress. They are resiliant corals at least. The fish seem to have acclimated well too.

 

I have the offer out on this board and our local reef and craigs list to try and help out anyone I can fresh and salt. I am out of room for storage in my established tanks at this point though. If more need it I will have to set up my 20 or 90 to keep it going. My wife may kill me, but I told her I don't care.. It's something small that we can do to give some people less stress in a horrid situation.

 

 

On another note.. I have been back with power for a day or two now (Honestly time no longer is trackable with everything going on around here) and I have had ZERO loss in any of my tanks from the time my power was out. From my previous post you can tell that I did everything I could to ensure my pets where all safe as I could make them.

 

I'll pop up some pics of my foster corals and my tank some time soon.

 

I also wanted to note that Jenkenson's Aquarium in point pleasant is in need of stuff. Please reach out to them to see what you may be able to do. Thanks.

[MeanGreenEyes]

If you are close to Teaneck...I know of someone in need of help without power to their reef...if you can help please pm me your number so that I can message him with it...

 

Also, if you know of anyone in my area...I've been trying to reach out to people to help...problem is that they're all too far.

 

Thank you for offering to help people!

 

Here's a link to the thread that I'm trying to keep going to reach people...

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...313825&st=0

 

Nice tank...subscribed...it seems you have luck like mine...glad you and your tank made it through the storm

[jersey]

If you are close to Teaneck...I know of someone in need of help without power to their reef...if you can help please pm me your number so that I can message him with it...

 

Also, if you know of anyone in my area...I've been trying to reach out to people to help...problem is that they're all too far.

 

Thank you for offering to help people!

 

Here's a link to the thread that I'm trying to keep going to reach people...

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...313825&st=0

 

Nice tank...subscribed...it seems you have luck like mine...glad you and your tank made it through the storm

 

Thanks bud, I'm in Toms River, which is about an hour and a half from teaneck. I'm happy to help if needed, but that may be a bit of a haul for the person in need just to drop some fish and corals.

[jersey]

couple of shots of my "foster reef"

 

The clown and the black one (I think it's a dotieback of some sort) look like they have a small ich outbrake. treating them for it in hopes that it doesn't get worse.

 

Ugh.. as I typed this the power just flashed.. I hope this it was just a power burp.. lol

 

The zoas are opening and the finger leather seems fine. Not sure about the yellow leather.. it lost it's crown, but I'm hoping it might come back.. I know they are pretty resilient. Some of the other corals are stressed as expected, but I think over the next couple of days they will bounce back. They where without power and VERY cold when they got here for 3-4 days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jersey]

here is the dottyback (Springers?)

[Weetabix7]

That's a rly pretty Dottyback.