FlowerMama Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Geez Louise! I just commented on your other thread and now I see this one. If it helps I can empathize a little. Mon morning, crown came off that was glued back in a month ago after only having been in my mouth 2 years (should last 10-20). Lost 2 days of PTO time over this and got dinged points for Mon where as I had to time to ask for Tues off. Same morning have a lovely dream first of my deceased husband all healthy, then right before I wake up he's deathly sick. Interesting thing is he used to be in the dentistry field, have two teeth on the right side bottom that he made me and they've yet to have problems but this guy can't seem to get his machine calibrated to make a good one. I joked w/ the attendant last time that my reef glue was stronger!!!!! Mon drop off taxes, Tues find out I owe State. Also find out my dog has Discoid lupus erythematosus, which I'm told isn't very serious but how can it not be if it's an autoimmune disorder. It sill impacts their immune system, even if it is localized in their nose. Doing 2-3 x as much work as some people at work and we're all been given a grade of 2, for being a useful employee, on a scale of 3, we were told everyone would basically get a 2 before we even started our self evaluations. Went out last Fri night for dinner, a movie w/ some girls, went to their house for some late pizza and beers. Mom, who was pushing me to go out and be social, gets on my case about it. Then, at 44 yrs old, they suggest I get a roommate. Gained back 16 of the 20lbs I lost Aug-Dec, now started up again on the Whole30 paleo diet to lose that and some more. It will get better I'm sure!!! We both know it will. Hang in there. . You need to do what I did, buy some nems to make yourself feel better. I don't buy shoes or make-up, I buy rock flower nems. (great bumper sticker idea- have to find out where I can get one made). Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 O wow, that really stinks! I am very sorry you are going through all that and then the tank seam failure. Hopefully most of your creatures weather the storm and the tank is back in buisness, beautiful as ever this weekend. Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Thank you all for the hugs. I just needed to vent a little and that helped! The good news so far -- the seam is still holding! I guess I will try to put the tank back together this weekend. Neon goby and Peppermint basslet have been enjoying hanging out in the frag tank with the Melarnus wrasse and they all get along great. But since there is little filtration on the frag tank, I've been anxious about the bioload in there. Jawfish I've only seen twice since he has gone into the Brute container, so I'm not sure how he is doing in there. Putting the tank back together will be a bit of a nail biter though. I need to order an Apex leak detection module methinks! I do have some pictures to share from this disaster. First, here is the popped seam before I scraped out the silicone: And here is where everyone has been living the past two weeks: Last page Spenseriana mentioned that he thought a tank full of Manicina would cheer me up. He was in on a little secret. He is local to me and is setting up a Cardiff tank. He just received a shipment from Gulf Live Rock. He had actually made the arrangements a few weeks ago -- before this tank blew the seam -- but it has been too darn cold for shipping. I went in on the rock order with him and asked for a chunk of live rock with Manicina. Boy, did I ever get a piece. There are 5 different Manicina on it and a whole bunch of Hidden Cup Corals (Phyllangia americana). I had to chisel the corals off the rock to get things to fit in my frag tank for now. The Cup Corals are doing very well and eating. The Manicinas are all fairly beat up, but I'm hopeful that they will pull through. Tonight they are starting to show some tissue inflation. So, I will have some new Florida corals to place in the tank once it gets reestablished. Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I got some of those little cup corals on my rock too. Cute little buggers. Do you know how rapidly they grow? I was hoping to get the manicinas but there were none on my shipment. Going to try again when the weather warms more. Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 I'm not sure how fast they grow. I know they form buds like Sun Corals though. Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I'm glad things are starting to look up for you the new corals are really pretty! Link to comment
Guits Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Keep your head up! Good luck with the repairs. I can't wait to see the new Caribbean corals - I'm a huge fan as you know Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I wouldn't go near that tank with a 10' pole without it being fully resealed. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Glad all the tension is loosening up and getting back to normal. Can't wait to see the rock. The one picture is something else. And, we need a shot of your little tank. It looks so stunning w/ that anemone so big, jumping out at you. Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yeah Ben, I'm nervous. If it wasn't an AIO tank I would have done all the seals without hesitation. Trying to redo the sump seals was daunting. Okay, the fact that three of the sides of the tank are just one piece of glass was daunting too. Anyhoo, I had gotten a free $100 gift certificate to Saltwateraquarium.com when I had bought a $250 gift certificate I used to buy my Gyre. So, I just used the $100 certificate to order an Apex leak detection model and two sensors. Based on my job situation, I'm confident I will be moving this summer. Assuming this tank holds up until then, I will plan on upgrading the tank in conjunction with the move. The new rose and cup corals are settling in nice. Here is a group shot of all the rose corals. Yes, some lost flesh, but they are looking so much better already compared to just 2 nights ago, I'm shocked. Link to comment
owenj Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Those new rose corals are gorgeous! And that popped seal is freaky Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 They really are pretty Mirya. Can't wait to see them flourish. Link to comment
Guits Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yeah Ben, I'm nervous. If it wasn't an AIO tank I would have done all the seals without hesitation. Trying to redo the sump seals was daunting. Okay, the fact that three of the sides of the tank are just one piece of glass was daunting too. Anyhoo, I had gotten a free $100 gift certificate to Saltwateraquarium.com when I had bought a $250 gift certificate I used to buy my Gyre. So, I just used the $100 certificate to order an Apex leak detection model and two sensors. Based on my job situation, I'm confident I will be moving this summer. Assuming this tank holds up until then, I will plan on upgrading the tank in conjunction with the move. The new rose and cup corals are settling in nice. Here is a group shot of all the rose corals. Yes, some lost flesh, but they are looking so much better already compared to just 2 nights ago, I'm shocked. Those are amazing! As you know I love Manicina very much I really like the way the Manicina's colors "pop" out so much. I'm thinking of upgrading my lighting from the cheap eBay lights that I have and am considering Nanobox or Build My LED. Do you find that the Nanobox lights appear "blue" in person? Even though the lights with more blue make colors pop more (at least when I used a LEDtric Par38) I really disliked the blueish tinge and actually rather prefer the daylight look of the cheap eBay lights, at the expense of having brighter colors. I don't want to spend the $$$ on the Nanobox lights and wind up with a light that appears "blue" in person which I personally don't like ... Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yeah, it was an awesome rock! Spenseriana asked for a 5lb rock with Manicina on it along with the rock order for his tank and that is what was sent. I knew you'd love it, Guits! But really, I have you to credit you for the whole idea of ordering rock purposefully for coral hitchhikers. So, thank you! As for NB lights, I am super biased, but think they are fantastic! They don't look blue. Well, I suppose you could set them to look blue if you wanted to, but I don't really like the blue look. I credit the lime in the array for giving them really bright and -- I don't know how to explain this other than to say -- clean looking light. My P. grandis have colored up nicely compared to when they were under a Maxspect, and the colors on my RFAs pop really nice. I recommend them without hesitation, but I understand how tough it is shelling out the money for a LED fixture without getting the chance to see it in person first. Link to comment
Guits Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yeah, it was an awesome rock! Spenseriana asked for a 5lb rock with Manicina on it along with the rock order for his tank and that is what was sent. I knew you'd love it, Guits! But really, I have you to credit you for the whole idea of ordering rock purposefully for coral hitchhikers. So, thank you! As for NB lights, I am super biased, but think they are fantastic! They don't look blue. Well, I suppose you could set them to look blue if you wanted to, but I don't really like the blue look. I credit the lime in the array for giving them really bright and -- I don't know how to explain this other than to say -- clean looking light. My P. grandis have colored up nicely compared to when they were under a Maxspect, and the colors on my RFAs pop really nice. I recommend them without hesitation, but I understand how tough it is shelling out the money for a LED fixture without getting the chance to see it in person first. Thanks for the info! It's ressuring to know you don't find the NB too blue - I find the blue distracting and unnatural. I emailed NB to ask some questions - I think I might splurge! Link to comment
gena Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Those are awesome hitchhikers! My next tank build is going to be a Caribbean build. I'll have to remember to order my rock from the same place you got these . That'll be a few years for me though. Sorry about all the recent stress!!!! Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Hey Guits, I had the pleasure of seeing this great set up in person, and those photos are a good rendering of the colors of Mirya's tank. Very lovely and not too blue. (My tank has a 20k look, and it borders on too blue for me. So we're probably of the same persuasion. ) I'd totally buy similar set up if I hada few more Benjamins floating around (and if my wife wasn't spending my reef money on some darn European vacation. Seriously, where are her priorities? ) But congrats, Mirya, on getting this little undersea wonderland back in business! Such an inspiring tank! Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 OK, I'm sleepy, so I don't feel like taking really good pictures, but I wanted to share my past 48 hours of labor... Yesterday I set the tank and stand back together. Placed my live rock back in the tank and threw in a new 20 lb of sand. I didn't want to start up a new cycle with detritus from my old sand so I just pitched that. Put the livestock that had been in the Brute container (gorgonians and jawfish) in the tank as well. Since I didn't have space to keep all my liverock "live" while the tank was down I lost a few pieces of rock. Which meant rescaping. I like how it turned out, though Peppermint Basslet lost some of his overhang he used to hang out under. We'll see how he feels about it. Anyway, things ran well overnight. Jawfish made himself an awesome little burrow. Tonight I moved over all the livestock that was in the frag tank (P grandis, Ricordeas, St. Thomas mushrooms, Discosoma neglecta, Manicinas, Hidden cup corals, Neon Goby and Peppermint Basslet) back into the tank. Neon Goby just swap into the acclimation box. Peppermint Basslet I had to practically dismantle the frag tank to extricate him. Here is how things look now. All pissy because I just moved them! I look forward to seeing how everyone settles. FTS: Left Side: Right Side: Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I just can't stop looking at this one . It's so beautiful! Wow, we live on a beautiful planet. Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 I knew you were going to have a beautiful tank again. It looks awesome..good job and kudos for hanging in there! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 i like this set up with your rock like this. The gorgs add such a sweet touch. Liking rock flower isle as well, of course, w/o a doubt. Link to comment
TimberC Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Really like the aquascape and the gorgonias are awesome too! I should get some for my rock flower anemone nano. Link to comment
gena Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Oh wow!!!! It turned out absolutely perfect . Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 **knock on wood** Still no leaks! The real test is going to be this upcoming week -- the husband and I will be out of town Wednesday-Friday. I'm interviewing at Iowa State University. Need to double check the Apex Leak Detection unit I bought and do a dry run... or I suppose that would be a wet run. I want it to turn off the main circulation pump, auto top off, and heater in the event of a leak, but leave the Gyre going. And send me an e-mail. The rose corals and cup corals have been settling in great! The roses are working hard at regrowing over their skeletons already where they had tissue recession from the trauma of shipping. Maybe next weekend I can get some pictures. I went to the Western Ohio Reef Club frag swap yesterday. I picked up a pair of orange safety glasses from them, like so: Awesome $5 spent! You look at the tank with the blue LEDs only and the glasses cut out the blue so you just see the florescence. The baby cup corals have some nice red florescence to them. I'll have to see if I can photograph it through the glasses. And lastly, a question... I was unhappy with my Tunze 9002 skimmer. I felt like it never skimmed well and I always had microbubbles. Then I switched to the Tunze 9001. It skims a little bit better, but I still have microbubbles. Argh. Since I reset up the tank I actually haven't had a skimmer running, but I'd like to have one. I'm contemplating going with a Pico Skim 2.0. I have one on my Nuvo 8 and it is super easy to dial in and no microbubbles. On the other hand there is a hang-on-the back Aquamaxx in the Classifieds section right now for $150. People seem to really like them, but I'm really leery about hanging anything on the rim of this tank. I think the only other skimmers that will fit in the back are the IM Ghost skimmers which I have heard far to many people bitch about to purchase. Any thoughts? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.