my IM nuvo 20 downsize-upgrade....take 2 (.5)! 05/18 Legendary Corals order (and semi-disappointment..)

[Lizz]

so i think i've decided on the fish i'd like to stock the tank with this time.

 

pink streaked wrasse

 

either an

elegant firefish or

helfrichi firefish

 

neon goby

 

wyoming white clown paired with

 

a standard ocellaris.

 

i debated on getting another clown goby, but i feel like the one i had previously was such a good one (no issues with feeding, had tons of personality) that i might end up disappointed with another.

 

as for the tank itself...its just doing its thing. i haven't really tested anything yet. just phantom feeding occasionally and dosing microbacter7 daily. i might test for ammonia and nitrate at some point today.

[gena]

Nice choices! I was considering the helfrichi myself, to replace the orange FF I just lost.

[Lizz]

we visited a LFS for the first time in our new city tonight! i couldn't find my ammonia test kit so i figured i'd just buy a new one. i also took a water sample just in case they did testing....which they did and all my levels look good and the water quality was excellent (he said he could tell we have our own RO/DI setup haha).

 

they had the most adorable baby wyoming whites and standard ocellaris clows available and it was SO SO SO hard to not bring home a pair tonight. SO HARD. but like i said, i'm not in a rush and i just want to give it a few more days (microbacter7 says it will cycle the tank in two weeks and it looks like its lived up to that promise), do a water change....and see about getting a second AI prime ordered and set up so everything equipment-wise is settled before adding any livestock.

 

ugh, did i mention how adorable the clowns were? i forgot how cute they are when they are tiny!!

 

maybe i'll order a small clean-up crew from reefcleaners tonight to tide me over.

 

[Lizz]

another boring/tiny update (because it really is useful to have a record of when you did everything to look back on)!!

 

-ordered the second light (AI prime HD to go alongside the current prime), it will be here on saturday!

 

-got the skimmer going, oh its my old nemesis, microbubble hell....... w/e there's nothing in the tank so who cares. i'm going to let it run and re-build some slime before setting it back to my old overnight-only timer.

 

i felt like the aquascape was missing something, so i dug through my extra rocks and found one i'd tried to work in before but couldn't but suddenly this time it fit like a perfect puzzle piece on the right hand side. i think it looks much more balanced and complete now!

 

 

here was the before for reference:

 

 

sorry they're so blue....just using the phone for now. once there's stuff in there, i'll bust out the "real"camera.

[Lizz]

i got stuff!

 

not much stuff, but hey...there's something to look at in there now!

 

went to a frag swap in the general area yesterday, and got all of this for around $50 total.

 

i need to work on getting crisp shots through glass/water :/

 

this one is more pink IRL

 

pictures don't do this one justice! it's my fav so far.

 

 

and i got a little frag of rasta zoas that hasnt fully opened up yet, so no pic obviously!

 

oh and the second AI prime is up and running. probably why the pics seem kind of dark...i have it on acclimation mode for the next 3 weeks or so.

[ninjamyst]

Where in Chicago are you now??? Which LFS have you visited so far?? Let me know if you need recommendations or anything! Or if you want frags of gsp or blue xenia or green birdsnest, let me know too!

Did you go to harvest swap?? I missed it

[Lizz]

Where in Chicago are you now??? Which LFS have you visited so far?? Let me know if you need recommendations or anything! Or if you want frags of gsp or blue xenia or green birdsnest, let me know too!

Did you go to harvest swap?? I missed it

 

hi! we live in the city on the north side! we've been to tank it easy, old town aquarium, and beyond the reef out in schaumberg. we've liked tank it easy the best so far....we might try and swing by tonight, even! its also the closest to our apartment which helps.

 

i went to a swap in northern indiana....i'd love to go to more in the area, for sure.

 

thanks for the frag offers! i might take you up on that! i for sure want to add some birdsnests....

[ninjamyst]

Only 3 LFS so far...you have about 7 more you should visit. I never been to tank it easy. I need to check them out. I am by Harlem on 90, right before O'Hare. Hope you are enjoying the city before snow comes...hahah

[Lizz]

oh what are the other stores you recommend??

[ninjamyst]

oh what are the other stores you recommend??

If you are ready for lots of driving, here's a map of a loop around Chicagoland Area.

 

1. Tank It Easy
2. New Fish (Chicago) - small but their display tank in the back is worth the trip. Does quarantine.
3. Reefwise (Lisle) - exotic fish and beautiful corals, a little pricey. Does quarantine.
4. Aquapros (Glen Ellyn) - don't let the exterior / interior fool you, great prices and great owners. can bargain a little. Does quarantine some fish.
5. Beyond the Reef (Schaumburg) - you already been but good for colonies, pricey though.
6. Seven Seas Aquatic Life (Mt. Prospect) - great prices on fish, possibly cheapest in Chicagoland. No quarantine at all, but their fish looks healthy. Sometimes have really good sales on acro frags for $10. Cheap CUC too.
7. Reef Geeks of Chicago (Northbrook) - meh, but 15 mins away from Seven Seas and close to highway. It's in a warehouse type building.
8. Xzotic Aquatic World (Niles) - used to be my fav store, claims to do quarantine but had an ich outbreak 2 weeks ago and still have ich in their display tanks.
9. Wojtek's Reef (Chicago) - appt only. basement setup but he has more LPS than any other store out there and for a great price too. Must see. He's also like 5 mins from me so if you want to stop by and say hi, you are welcome to =P.

if you want less driving, just do the opposite loop heading north first and stop by Wojtek's, Xzotic Aquatic, and Seven Seas.

[Lizz]

awesome! thanks so much.

 

tank it easy does a minimum two week quarantine on fish. aka why it might be awhile for me to bring home a firefish from them. haha

[Lizz]

we came home from the LFS last night with a pair of clowns.

 

one wyoming white and one standard ocellaris.

[Lizz]

we came home from the LFS last night with a pair of clowns.

 

one wyoming white and one standard ocellaris.

 

whoops, almost forgot pics!

 

 

 

[gena]

Adorable!!! I love the wyoming white .

[vlangel]

Lizz, I love the tweak to your aquscape, a definite improvement. And it looked pretty good before.

 

Cute clowns. Now the real fun begins!

[Lizz]

Not much going on over here. I managed to mess up my rockscape on the right side and wasn't able to get it back the way it was which I have been obsessively annoyed about for two weeks and I just took my couple of coral frags off the track and placed things in the tank where i hope they will grow out. It looks very boring and empty right now but slow and steady wins the race i guess...

 

I'm being more picky about the corals I want to add this time around so its probably going to take forever to collect everything and grow it all out.

[Lizz]

my white clownfish died sometime between last night and this morning.

 

 

no clue what happened and no sign anything was wrong. looked fine last night, has been eating normally, got along fine with the orange one.

 

looked over a couple minutes ago, and only saw the orange one.....got up to look closer and the white one was on the sand, very clearly gone.

 

bummed out.

[debbeach13]

Sorry for your loss. Some times it just happens.

[Lizz]

i've been avoiding the forum because my tank is going so terribly that it bums me out.

 

i really don't know what to do. my tank has been up for nearly 5 months and its been taken over by a gross algae for probably 4 of those months and i don't know what it is or how to get rid of it. i've had success with my tanks in the past so i don't understand what is going on. its super disheartening.

 

the only thing i have in the tank is a single clownfish and 2 or 3 zoa frags that are just kind of there. not really dying or thriving.

 

i'm not overfeeding, i make my own RODI, i use good salt, i have good filtration, i have a skimmer....my temp is consistent...i just don't know what else i can do at this point.

 

the algae is brown and sort of a mix between diatoms and maybe lyngbya? i dunno. some of it brushes off easily, but other parts seems stringier and more rooted. its not dino or bryopsis. i dunno. it sucks and i'm bummed.

 

 

[ninjamyst]

sorry to hear about your troubles. I been through this stage with my nanos. Here's what I did that helped:

 

1. Mix some H202 and tank water (50/50 or so).
2. Take rocks out
3. Take toothbrush, dip in H202 solution, brush the rocks
4. Put rocks back

Note the H202 will kill a lot of the bacteria in the tank so I usually dose MB7 or Dr. Tim's Waste Away / EcoBalance afterwards. And I usually do just a portion of the rocks per week. And while your rocks are out of the tank, siphon all the crap underneath it.

 

Have you tested your nitrate / phosphate??

[Lizz]

alright, drastic times have called for drastic measures.  we got a little 5 gallon and a HOB filter and set it up in the bedroom with existing tank water and moved our trooper of a clownfish over to there where it will live while we completely clean out the main tank and start fresh with it. going to soak the rocks in peroxide overnight and give them a good scrub, got new sand, replaced all the ro/di unit cartridges and bought a fresh bucket of salt. also upgraded the heater to a neotherm because...why not? also decided to do away with filter socks and instead got another intank basket for filter floss on one side to pair with the existing media basket we have for the other side.

 

we're really determined for this to work out this time!

 

i also am not minding this process so much because i have a very good excuse to kind of kick back and not touch a lot of the gross stuff or do a lot of heavy lifting...i'm nearly 7 months pregnant. haha

[debbeach13]

Congratulations! Absolutely sit back and tell some one else what needs to be done. Good luck with the reboot.

[J-Ranko]

It only takes a few minutes of peroxide dip to kill off the algae, so I don't know if an overnight soak is necessary.  I had great success bringing back my neglected tank from the brink just doing a couple of dips in peroxide of my live rock.  Scrub it clean and siphon off what you can during water changes, too. Good luck!

[Lizz]

i don't know what this algae is/was, but after soaking in a bucket of rodi/peroxide for several hours, the rocks are still not scrubbing clean easily. however i found a box of leftover unused dry rock and i'm thinking i might just use that and dump the plague rock. haha.

 

the tank and equipment are already fully cleaned out and has gone through several rinses. am going to do one last rinse with rodi water to get rid of tap water residue and then start making saltwater! i'll see if i have enough dry rock to come up with a decent scape and maybe this will be of and running before the end of the evening?

[J-Ranko]

Is it bryopsis? Some algae are more resistant to peroxide dips unfortunately.  I've had mostly GHA and bubble algae, which melt away within a few days after just a quick dip.