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Viking's 20 Long -- Small crash and recovery


Viking

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FTS: 7/20/2014

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Now that my experiment has gently given up, I am going to restart with more conventional hardware. I still think the BioBubble has some possibilities, it just needs to be done within a narrow range of livestock and equipment it was designed around. It does BADLY need a way to direct the output flow from the filter, it spent most of its energy blowing into the substrate.

RIP....

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On to the new stuff...

Since replacing the pump on the Bubble was going to require a full teardown as the pump was removed from underneath, I went ahead and purchased what I was originally intending to start with... a 20 Long. :)

If it weren't for living in 2nd floor apartment, I would have gone for a 40 Breeder, but this will fill up space nicely.

 

I moved my small selection of livestock over (tank god for taking things slow) and they are all still alive so far. I am monitoring daily to watch for another cycle, and think that I will be ok to finally purchase a fish in about 2 weeks if nothing changes. Please let me know if I am off on this.

I don't have much in the way of "direction" for this tank, other than things that I like and will be able to co-exist. As I have a lot more room now, my ideas are starting to open up a bit, bu will still have to go slow as the potential costs are MUCH higher now. I am planing on exploring more coral and anemone options, and plan to be working on lighting in that direction.

Just after getting everthing moved over..

 

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The lights are off now, so a current FTS will have to wait until tomorrow, but here is the new rock I put together for it...

 

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I have some picture of my new wet rocks :D

http://imgur.com/SQGaJFw'>SQGaJFw.jpg

http://imgur.com/lW5UMeK'>lW5UMeK.jpg

 

I think I need to start thinking about lighting, the small 50/50 cfl I have in a desk lamp it's going to do it. I would like to eventually move into a nice, controllable LED setup, but don't have the budget for that now. I think I will likely have to see about building my own and maybe look into the arduino setups.

I think for now, maybe a 30" dual tube T5 with a 10k and an actinic, maybe adding a Stunner strip for some extra blue that can be controlled separately.

 

So far, my equipment is:

 

Tank: 20 Long

Filter: Fluval/AC50

Lighting: HAHAHAHA!

 

Approx 15 lbs of live rock and 17lbs of Crushed Coral.

 

Oh, Current FTS...

http://imgur.com/gnlt34P'>gnlt34P.jpg

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My local Petco had just received a Batfish yesterday...

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I don't think I've seen one of these in any of the other local LFS around here. I thought it was kinda funny, as I had been browsing live aquaria's site earlier in the week and my daughter walked by while I was looking at their Batfish and thought it was comlpetely awesome looking.

OH! when I was at Petco earlier this week licking up this tank, the manager told me the $1/Gallon sale starts at the end of this month, so next few days. Of course, my needs didn't coincide with that (sigh).

 

I am about to go check on some t5/t8 lighting solutions, including the cost of maybe making a rig myself. I know I can get the fixture from hardware stores, but I don't really want something janky-looking hanging over the aquarium in the living room. That would likely push Mrs.Viking's patience with this past the limit.

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After going over the options, I think I will be putting a Coralife HO T5 30" fixture over my tank. I could build something that would work, but wouldn't really save any money. Might have been a different story if I actually had some of the materials on hand, but I don't so that done with.

Parameters are still pretty much inline with where they were on the Bubble, 7.8ph, prtty much 0 ammonia (yellow color has the tiniest green tinge) 0 Nitrite. The only difference is I am starting to see some Nitrate, tested at 20ppm. Yesterday it was somewhere between 10ppm and 20ppm, so something is going on. I'm guessing I need to start watching for an algae bloom since it eats Nitrate?

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I have a HitchHiker on the Rock I got last week, seems to be a Mollusk of some sort. It's tucked deep in a hole near the top on the side facing the front, lucky on that one !

http://imgur.com/TP9n3TS'>TP9n3TS.jpg

 

All of my corals are still with me. I'm a little concerned about the Nitrate levels, still hovering around 20ppm as they have for the last 3 or 4 days. I'm actually prepping a 4 or so gallon water change to if that will help any.

http://imgur.com/31xrXEm'>31xrXEm.jpg

 

http://imgur.com/cgC9FqK'>cgC9FqK.jpg

 

http://imgur.com/9MJEJ1C'>9MJEJ1C.jpg

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My trip to the LFS for a restock of Freshwater lead to an addition purchase.. Bangaii Cardinals.

 

Chillaxing....

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They should be a mated pair, but that isn't really something I'm worried about, was more concerned about them playing nice. They seemed to be fine and hanging out together last night , but have been on opposite ends of the tank today. They are both already eating though, and I've heard that can take a few days with these fish sometimes. I'm pretty sure their current behavior had some thing to do with out oldest cat deciding to cliff diving through the glass canopy that used to be over the tank at 3am this morning... After 2 years of ignoring my daughter's fish. <sigh>

Devil Cat...

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I am going to run lidless for a bit as I haven't been able to find anyone that has reported an issue with these jumping.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been working on getting my Nitrates down as the 20+ppm seems to be the norm now since I added the fish, and think I need some advice. I have narrowed down a few areas of concern hat I think may need to be addressed.

The 1st issue may be my substrate: I went with crushed coral because I was concerned sand would just blow all over in the Bio-Bubble, and it was a bit small for any decent sand sifting critters. Now, I think that it is a bit to "open" to allow the right bacteria to form, and think maybe adding some normal sand under it may help.

I also do not run a Skimmer, and think that may be something to look into. That or doing the 'Fuge mod to my AC50, since I evidently don't need to run most of the stock filtration in there anyways. I am currently running a Cut bonded pad (instead of the Sponge), Purigen and the bag of ceramics. The carbon has been out for 2 days now.

I have cut back on feeding to every other day, where I had been feeding everyday for the 1st 4 or 5 day with the fish. I have also been doing daily 1 gallon changes, but after a week, I don't really see that doing anything to drop the nitrates. It also seems to make athe water a bit cloudy after each change despite trying to add it back slowly to avoid stirring things too much.

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I know you're well intended and we all make mistakes but you should return the batfish as soon as possible. The MINIMUM tank size recommended for them is 180 gallons. They grow to be 22 inches long. Keep the Bangaii - way more appropriate for a 20L :)

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LOL, sorry for the misunderstanding... there is NO way I would put something in my tank without at least basic research. I posted the pic of the Batfish due to the coincidence of just having seen them on a website and my daughter thinking they looked neat , and then all of a sudden seeing them in Local stores. I have now seen them in 4 other stores in the last 2 weeks. I'm thinking a Distributor was running an amazing sale or something :D

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lol...no I'm sorry, I must have misread your post (still early here on the West Coast - not enough coffee yet lol) I thought you'd bought it lol. Anyhow, great build and I'm following along :D

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skimlessinseattle

I think the crushed coral will be fine, and it is the easiest substrate to vacuum. I would recommend you do with each water change, as it will help control nitrate levels. I wouldnt be concerned with nitrates at 20ppm though, that isnt going to hurt anything. Just keep up the weekly maintenance. You could convert your AC50 to a macro fuge as well, that would further help with nutrient export.

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I'm concerned about the Nitrates as I keep hearing that anything over 5 to 10 is bad for corals. I only have a few simple ones so far (Zoa, GSP, Mushrooms) but I would like to add more. Just not willing to do so until it's safe, and would feel better with a bit more control.

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I added a little more live rock to get a bit closer to 20 lbs- I think I may still be 1 or 2 lbs shy...

Found a piece I like that helps make another cave structure, I have set like this now...

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and Full tank..

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I may take the overhang piece I made that's all the way on the right, turn it 180 and set it against the new piece. It would make a pair of bridges that way.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Reef A Palooza was awesome!! Somehow I stayed responsible and bought only what I went for... a skimmer.

Ended up with a Hydor SlimSkim, It was close between it and the eshopps nano. But I liked the looks and feel of the Hydor a little more.

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Looks pretty sleek in the tank, and had some decent reviews.

 

Also added a small friend this week, though the Hermits needed a big buddy.

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Calling it Garlic Butter for now to taunt a friend that keeps threatening to "eat my seafood". Told him he's welcome to sample a Zoa....

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This one was $95 from Dirk's. They had the larger one for around $135 I think. They also had the eshoppes nano for $116.

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I also added another 50/50 bulb until I can get the T5 fixture in, thinking about going with the aquaticlife one like this since it is modular, I can upgrade without having to replace...

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13822+23753&pcatid=23753

 

MOAR LIGHT!!!!

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I also found out that the skin under your fingernails doesn't seem to have many nerves (at least not pain receptors) when I sliced through it trying to cut down a plug base for a zoa colony I was trying to re-glue and relocate. Gerber blades are AWESOME!!

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You'll enjoy the rock flower. I just give mine a piece of mysis on it's tentacle every couple days and they're happy. They'll roll it up to their mouth. They're easy to take care of and they're hardy. They're the one thing that didn't have any effect when my tank was going through a little crash.

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Thank you for the encouragement :)

I had heard they are sturdy, but I was hesitant to add anything else until I had my skimmer settled in and new lights.After seeing all the glowy colors on everything at the show yesterday, I decided to get 1 thing. It was a toss up between the nem and a ricordia. They ony had 1 nem, but get Rics all the time. Was an easy choice after that :D .

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And nems grow to 6" and more beautiful as they grow. You're getting more for your buck. And nems don't like bright light all the time. They're content w/ medium to med/hi.

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Cool, kinda hoping it'll climb down the front of my rock. Think I should just put it on the crushed coral I have on the bottom and let it chose where it goes?

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If I placed it on the rock, it has stayed on the rock most of the time, some others I put on the sand, ones I want to move into my future breeding tank. They can even hang vertically. I'd say put it on the rock and leave room on your floor for other things. I have better view of the ones on my rock facing me. If it doesn't like where it is, it may move a couple to few inches. One of mine was bothered by something when it was in the sand, and it completely ducked underneath. I thought I lost it- few hours later it pops up again. It's one of my smaller ones. And I have one that's half on rock, half on sand. They like both.

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Mine seems to prefer moving around and placing itself where it's going to end up on some of my other corals. Especially seems to like where I have my mushrooms. I hope we can come to a mutually agreeable spot soon

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