Oceanic 30g Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Tank is looking good. Sorry to hear about the fish. I hate when I lose anything in the tank. We all work too damn hard at this hobby. Chuck Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 Thanks guys. I will post some updated photos today or tomorrow. My diatom problem is looking like its getting under control (knock on wood) after 4 weeks of known pure source water and 20% water changes. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 My snails always seem to get killed by my hermits looking for a new home Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 SNAILS! No... Bad source water and contamination from storage containers had me getting a PPM reading of over 260. Which means said diatoms had a nice bit of gunk to grow and form from. Once I got that straightened out and now that I have replaced 100% of the original system water I am seeing some results. Something is still leaching somewhere and I think it is from the rubble that is in my sump as I can see a layer of it in the return chamber that I will vacuum out this weekend... Either that or one of my rocks is leaching silicates. Also a possibility as I have one of those fancy man made rocks acting as a scaffold for my other rocks and I believe it is made from sandstone... My snails always seem to get killed by my hermits looking for a new home Thats why you need a staghorn hermit. It does the same bottom cleaning as a hermit without the killing for shells. It just needs Ca to make its shell and to make sure it doesn't get stung by something. Get a large one if you decide to get one as the smaller ones tend not to do so well. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 Made you look! Sorry couldn't resist. Though in a sense I have broken or at least bent one of my fundamental tenants. I picked up a fish that I knew would be both hard to care for and was considered marginal for the size tank I have... A Bartlett's Anthias. He's been in QT for the last 10 days and has had all his dips and treatments. So here he is in all his glory. I don't know what it is about these fish but I am just a sucker for them and couldn't beat the price of him. You see my LFS has a 20% off all new items on Sundays and as I was strolling for corals there this guy was. In his little shipping bag just looking at me with those google eyes of his and I couldn't help buying him! He was very shy the first few days in QT and didn't appreciate the formalin and FW dips he got every three days but he has adapted well to my main tank and is exhibiting allot of the same personality traits as dear Boo did. Every time I am in the room he follows me back and forth as I move about and he even has my clowns kind of schooling with him as he does it. Time will tell though. I think I have enough room and flow for him as he did ok in QT and seems to be thriving and staying fat in my main tank. But I am worried with the feedings that I am going to get a return of the diatoms that I only now have finally gotten rid of for the most part! He is also eating very well. He gets fed two to three times a day a small bit of Salifert pellets and I am thinking of setting up an auto feeder... So if anyone has any recommendations for one please let me know. Here is also a shot of my Urchin with his what SDT and I refer to as poo brown but others call "reverse gorilla nipples" zoa colony that has actually grown along with him. Anyone have any thoughts on what 14k MH bulb is best? I am thinking of switching to one because the 10k is just too white and the 20k is too blue with my Actinics... On the coral front... I got a nice light blue acro and green with orange tip's acro from Fantasy Corals that are really nice! Well worth checking SteveOoh's site out! And the piece I picked up from Cypressslayer that looked to be on its last legs has colored up very nicely to a light blue and is actually growing a bit. And I can't forget the coral I call "Phixion's Blue Birdsnest of Death"... I took a piece of birdsnest that was not doing well from him to see if I could save it. I had to frag out allot of necrotic and GHA covered tissue and was left with a few strands that were about 1 1/2" in diameter. Now the bloody thing is almost 3" and *EVERY* piece of SPS I put it even close to *IMMEDIATELY* starts to slime! I have never heard of this happening before nor can I find anything in the literature about it. And literally every time it gets within 5" of another coral it sets that coral off! As you can see from the photo its hanging out on my frag/hospital rack with one of the corals that got burned. My ric's that I got from Morgan at reef gardener are *HUGE*! And the ones I picked up at PTF are also *HUGE*! And nicely colored although my wife thinks they look funny and doesn't like them. Too bad the tank isn't about her! :> Lastly I picked up about 10 new pieces off of ebay for pretty good prices. Five Acans, three Blasto's, and two pieces of Acropora that look like they are not going to make it courtesy of my Abalone and hermits knocking them into my green whatever it is where they got the snot burned out of them. I plan to frag my ice blue blasto's and combine the reds, which are recovering nicely from their fight with the hammer coral, the purple greens, the red greens, and the new red with green stripes onto a single rock that will be my "Blasto Hill" Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 I'll be there tomorrow to pick it up. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 5, 2008 Author Share Posted August 5, 2008 Present Day Tank Stats: 39G Pro Cherrywood stand 30 lbs live rock taken from old tank 10 lbs of new live rock fully cured 30 lbs live coralife sugar fine sand 250w HQI MH Icecap Pendant and Icecap ballast with 14k Phoenix bulb 1/15 hp Chiller from Current Vortech MP40w power head Sump: Custom designed sump with: 3 gallon refugium 5 gallon skimmer and return compartment Tunze 9005 skimmer with sump attachment Mag 7 return pump Fuge light Controller: Reef Keeper Elite Temp probe ORP probe pH probe 3 x power strips Light cycle: Lights on 0900 to 14:30 Lights out 14:30 to 16:30 Lights on 16:30 to 21:00 Fish: 2 x False Perc tank bread clowns 1 male Bartlett's Anthias 1 female Bartlett's Anthias 1 Blue Chromis Inverts: 4 x blue leg hermits from old tank Turbo snail 2 x nas. snails 3 x misc snail hitchhikers Tuxedo Urchin Abalone Staghorn crab Red Brittle Star A whole lot of little brittle star hitchers. Acropora crab Clams: Electric blue Maxima Corals: SPS- Orange/Red monti Electric blue Acro aquacultured Ice blue Acro frag aquacultured Green Acro aquacultured Purple Gomezi aquacultured Pink Mili Green and Peach Mili Pink Cat's Paw LPS- Purple green blasto Red blasto Red green blasto Red with green ring blasto peach blasto ping rim with green center blasto green blasto Green candy cane Burgundy candy cane Rainbow Acan Pink cotton candy Acan Incredible Hulk neon green Acan Green candy cane Acan Red candy cane Acan Purple/red Acan light green Acan Orange/Green Micromussa Softies- Yellow Fiji (now huge!) Red ring open brain (named son of jaba) Blue zoa's (tubs I think) Nuclear green zoa's Red Paly's watermellon zoa's 5 x Orange Ricordia's 3 x green and/or blue Ricordias Blue yuma Cherry yuma Orange yuma Hammer Purple mushrooms A few quick insights: The CAD tank is a very well designed good looking tank too bad it isn't offered in the Pro model stand alone anymore. Ditch the UV sterilizer if you get it from CAD. Its worthless unless you are looking for a source of accidental blindness and heat for your tank. Ditch the sump that comes with the CAD tank. Its ok in a pinch but you can do better. Ditch the skimmer and return as well. Same reason. Ditch the lights and go with a pendant and 250w at least. In the long run it will save you money. Even better try to convince Eddie to sell you the Pro without all the extra crap. And build your own kit. I cannot say enough good things about the Vortech MP40w! I replaced my two Tunze 6045's and two 6025's with this beastie and man what a difference it makes! Spend the money now and again save yourself allot of headache! Once the Tunze breaks in it skims like the daylights! The Staghorn crab is by far the best sand cleaner I have ever encountered! I keep him moving between two low flow areas of the tank in the back under the Tunze's and he keeps the sand pristine! I am planning on getting another one as soon as I can. After researching this guy I found that it is best to get one at least the size of mine as the smaller ones tend to be more fragile and die. On to the tank update... Its been a long time since I posted here and allot has changed. Please see the updated tank stats post on the first page first post for an idea of what. Short update is the diatom problem is finished, I lost fish and corals to a temp spike, and picked up new ones that do fine in my size tank including a Bartlett's pair and a blue Chromis that is thriving and actually outcompeting the Bartlett's for food now. I also exchanged 4 power heads for one Vortech MP40w and highly recommend that others follow suit. I was VERY skeptical of the value add of this power head and am now sold on the damn thing. You do get what you pay for and in the end I should have done this in the first place. Same thing with using the Icecap 250/400w Pendant and ballast. I should have done that in the first place. And... I completely re-aquascaped my tank after turning it into some kind of blade runner meets Hong Kong slums place full of corals and the like. I also added a new clam after loosing all of mine to temp spike and other issues and I am fighting the urge to add more. And I have mostly finished the blasto garden. All thats left is to fully glue it in place. Lastly as you can see from the photos my fiji is getting WAY too big for my tank but has moved from lurking in the back corner to up front and center and is allot more pleased with his new place at the table. Sadly after a botched meeting where someone didn't show up to buy what they committed to buy twice and heat issues at FS7 I lost one SPS coral, have another SPS in critical/not expected to survive condition, and have a third SPS on life support in guarded condition. On the plus side my SPS area looks allot better IMHO and with the new rock work much more stable. How I have it positioned I will be able to better take care of what I have with some possible additions. Also on the plus side a piece of rescue coral from someone else's tank that I thought I had killed because it fell behind rocks I couldn't get my hands into is alive and recovering in guarded condition at the moment. Photos of my blasto garden, my tank from the top down including the new clam and my tuxedo with his blue dot zoa's, my chromis beating the Bartlett's at their own game at feeding time, and from the front with all the acans and the like in just about final position. Link to comment
WindCloudWRX Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 U run any UV or have issues w/ the CAD LIGHT skimmer? Im about to pick one of these tanks up. Any issues w/ micro buble? Thanks. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 U run any UV or have issues w/ the CAD LIGHT skimmer?Im about to pick one of these tanks up. Any issues w/ micro buble? Thanks. I don't use their UV. I use the Coralife 9w. I also don't use their skimmer. Its a perfectly good one but I like the Tunze 9005 much better. So I am afraid i can't really advise you on either. Other than that it is a most awesome tank for the $$. Link to comment
WindCloudWRX Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 You happen to have pictures of the back side of ur tank? I wanna see how the equipment situates itself. The return pump is tee off? Thanks. Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 You happen to have pictures of the back side of ur tank? I wanna see how the equipment situates itself. The return pump is tee off? Thanks. Remember that the Pro tank is MUCH differant than the 39g Signature model, and that the 25g model is no longer made nor is the 34g model made any longer as well. The 39g Pro like UrchinHead here has, is sumped, so the return lines are not like how it is on the 39g Signature model. Link to comment
merfin70 Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Great update Urchinhead, gave me some things to think about for my Cad. I definately like the rescaped look better than the previous iteration. The Anthias and Acros look fantastic in there. I've had my eye on a staghorn at my LFS but thought they might be too delicate. After your review, I think I'll give one a try next time I go there. Also, IMO I think the Fiji needs to go. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 You happen to have pictures of the back side of ur tank? I wanna see how the equipment situates itself. The return pump is tee off? Thanks. Sorry mate. I don't run a Sig series tank so back shots of my tank will be of you looking into my tank from the back. I have the Pro series. UH Great update Urchinhead, gave me some things to think about for my Cad. I definately like the rescaped look better than the previous iteration. The Anthias and Acros look fantastic in there. I've had my eye on a staghorn at my LFS but thought they might be too delicate. After your review, I think I'll give one a try next time I go there. Also, IMO I think the Fiji needs to go. Cheers mate. I am most likely going to frag the Fiji when I get a round to it and get over my fear of killing it. It started out at about 4" and is now about 8". But it also likes its new location. As to the staghorn just watch out that they are bigger than a nickel. Smaller than that and they don't survive well. Plus coral will sting them. My big guy's shell is not looking good because he kept walking past my small hammer coral and getting stung. He seems to be doing ok but I am worried about loosing him due to shell necrosis. Time will tell. I fixed the problem btw by moving the %)#*&%@#$ hammer back to where it should be. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 14, 2008 Author Share Posted August 14, 2008 New news and photos... First... YES! I will bloody well scrape the coraline algae off my glass so I can see the tank better. I have been lazy and plan to get to it tomorrow on my RDO! Bloody hell! My wife is bugging me to death about getting a RBTA. I am just about to give in on that request as it will just make life that much easier. I think the tank is stable enough to support a small one, I have done my reading on the subject and feel comfortable with having one, and I am prepared for the cage match (or in this case tank match) between it and me over where it wants to be. The only thing I worry about is it stinging my staghorn crab as it will (hopefully) be on the same level (sandbed) that he is. An odd thing though about one of my Acro's. Its a blue bonsai and its got a weird brown problem on one stalk. Its not a matter of lighting. I know this because its getting good light on that side and I have even tried sitting it on its side with the brown area facing up directly towards the light with no color up and the rest of the coral going brown. If anyone knows what this is please LMK as I am at the point where I plan to clip the branch that has the problem just in case but would rather not. Sadly the three SPS that were in the hot tub that was Frag Swap 7 frag tank don't look like they are going to make it. The Purple acro is all white and is now sitting in the tank leaching Ca back into the water (yes I know its dead), the superman monti is all but white (pretty sure its dead), and the hunter green acro is now (as you can see in the photo) a light brown (pretty sure its dead). <SIGH> that sucks. Next time I know better. I will give stuff a few more weeks before I pull it though. Fortunately the acro crab survived and moved from the hunter green acro to the smaller blue bonsai. I tried to get a photo of him when I was feeding the acro's but none of them came out all that well. I am really keen on my Blastomussa garden and its coming along nicely. I will be gluing the last pieces/rocks this weekend. My poor staghorn got the snot stung out of him over the weekend as I was out of town from Th to Mo and the hammer coral fell over. The little grunt would march right on by it, get stung, and keep on trucking (I saw him do this) so I hope he will be ok but he's got what looks allot like tissue necrosis on his shell. He ate a little for me yesterday during feeding time but shied away from a second piece after the snails mugged him... Everything else from FS7 made it ok including the bright red paly's that I got and have no name for. Anyone know what they are called? You can see them in the tank shots... And my green as well as blue zoa's are taking off like wildfire. I guess they like the new flow from the Vortech and the fact that I had some nitrate spikes due to over feeding the Anthias. Speaking of which the Anthias seem to be thriving and are just about settled into feeding from my hand, the blue chromis continues to out compete them on feeding which is nice as the male Anthias will chase him occasionally during feeding time. They get fed once per day for sure and sometimes twice per day but still have nice fat bellies and are growing a bit. Thanks Steve for the heads up that they can do ok on 1 feeding a day. Hardware wise that Vortech is really ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS! I can't say enough good things about it. *ALL* my corals are thriving and I only have the one PH in the tank. Well worth the money spent on it! Same goes for the Phoenix 14k bulb! I *LOVE* the crisp ice blue color of the tank! Just enough blue to look nice without looking like I am in some kind of weird disney inspired hallucination or at 120' down on a wreck dive! Photos: Acro problem: New coral shots including a close up of the blue bonsai and red brain feeding. I feed reef chili via turkey baster to the acro's and clam and freeze dried krill to the brain. Acan's get Salifert pellets.: New tank shots: New beasties: Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 Another update... Mrs. Bartlett decided to explore the Undiscovered Country this weekend. I came home to find her on the carpet and tough as leather. I was pretty pissed about this. :'( :: The only thing I can think of was that she got startled by something or Mr. Bartlett was getting to aggressive and she jumped to escape. Before you mention the need to run a covered tank... I know. I don't because when I had the glass cover on the tank I had a problem with gas exchange (I think) that seemed to cause hypoxic zones as well as a heat retention problem. When I find a few hours of free time I plan to make a custom screen for the top of the tank to put an end to this. Hopefully it won't cause too much of a shadow. I also gave in to my wife's request that I get a anemone. She didn't want one because of the clowns, she wanted one because she really liked the the hot pink color. I found a beautiful rose BTA that was a deep dark red (well I should say my LFS guy found one for me) and only about the size of a 50 cent piece but she poo poo'ed it in favor of the guy you see below. The photo I took was of it right after it ingested a 1/4" piece of freeze dried krill and was 2 hours after it went into the tank after an hour of acclimation. It also came with its very own anemone crab as you can see from the photo. Its also about the same size as a 50 cent piece. The crab was an unexpected bonus and had me worried until I had a chance to look it up. Thank goodness its mostly harmless. Oh and not really a 'true' crab which I found interesting. Seems its in the lobster family...? Hopefully I will be able to keep it alive (I am encouraged by the fact that it ate after only 2 hours in a new home) and that it won't go a walking and end up stinging something or getting sucked into something. Its nearest neighbor is a hammer coral so this should be interesting. I am taking the advice of the "Anemone Lady" aka Karen from http://www.karensroseanemones.com/ and planning to feed it two to three times a week so hopefully it will stay put. Plus its in an area of the tank where it gets decent but not high light and flow. For the record I did make this decision after quite a bit of thought and research on the subject (as opposed to my other 'wife' purchases which tend to fall into the " I AM BUYING THE BLOODY THING FOR YOU! EVEN THOUGH I TOLD YOU IT'S GOING TO DIE/NOT BE HAPPY/RUIN MY TANK! PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE BLOODY TANK YOU SOUL DRAINING EVIL HARPY! ITS ONE OF THE FEW PLEASURES I HAVE IN LIFE LEFT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" category. OH MY! Did I say that out loud!?! *PLEASE* don't tell my lovely, patient, and wonderful wife I said that!!! :suicide: :: :ph34r: :'( ) and I am pretty damn scared about keeping this guy. I know how hard they are to keep and how much of a PITA they can be but at the end of the day I do like the look of it and it will keep her from complaining too much about my 'hobby' for at least a little while... I also got a good shot of my Urchin's zoa garden. Its grown from about 6 heads to what you see now. Seems all the moving around is good for them as they get the benefit of anything floating on by plus varying light. Also interesting was that I read that zoa's are actually in the anemone family not the coral family. Other photos of note are my mili's and stylo which seem to be quite a bit more happy since I got rid of the coral equivalent of over crowding in my SPS area. I say happy because I am seeing allot more polyp extension for allot longer (as in most of the day) and a major cut back in slime trails. And you can also see my rainbow acan is pretty happy. I am basing this on being told that if the feeder tentacles are extended it means a happy coral. It could also be I just added a new batch of pod's to my fuge and some of them are making it into the water. But I am seeing the tentacle/polyp extension quite a bit more even when the water is 'clean'. And here are a shot of my superman mushrooms (why they are called this I have no idea) and what I think are AOG paly's...? And low and behold! Another hitch hiker! I have no idea where this clam came from. It literally appeared over night. Nothing new in the tank in terms of rocks and I hadn't seen it there before so I am guessing it grew out to its present size and moved itself. Prior to now I would have been very aggressive in getting it out but now I am leaving it be as I am thinking its a sign of a 'good' and 'mature' tank that stuff like this can thrive. If you look closely you can also see a brittle star leg next to it. Here is a little better shot of the acro crab that made the switch from the hunter green sps to the blue bonsai. Seems to be doing ok thank goodness. And the bonsai is coloring back up again. Now its a deep blue and hopefully will go back to the electric/ice blue it was before. Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Sorry to hear about the loss of Mrs. Bartlett. My 6line has been MIA for 2 days now, no leathery carcass to be found however, so I'm all that it might have succumbed in the rocks somewhere. When I read about SWMBO and the RBTA, my first expression was as I'm sure your's was too, lol! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 Cheers mate. Six line will and do hide for days sometimes so don't give up hope. Yep. I tried to talk her out of it and for a while it worked. Then it came up again because she saw that one of the people at her hospital had one in her Aquapod and she wanted one. Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Mine never wants anything, always my loss... Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 Mine never wants anything, always my loss... You need to get her more involved! Take her to Steve's or better yet FR and let her 'explore'. Ask her opinion on what she thinks will look good in your tank. Etc. I know its being devious but they have all the advantage on us so we have to just to keep the playing field level! In other news... SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE! The %*$@&(*)@(*!$$ RBTA is now wedged completely into a rock cave so I can barely see it and the crab is guarding it! ^*($%)!_!$(%@^! I *KNEW* this thing was going to be a ROYAL PITA! I am hoping the poor guy is just overwhelmed by the lighting and/or flow in the tank and is reacclimatizing itself. Although it came from a 400w 20k MH system with a moderate flow and I am running 250w 14k MH with high flow... I pray it doesn't die on me in there! Or worse it dies in the cave area meaning I will have to pull out all of my rocks to get at it! )%*!^)!@*!_)($&^@)%&*@)(*&%_)(@!&^(!)^!%^%&*@%)(*@%_@)*$%^@*&^%(*&%(*&@_)(@$ anemone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 She's been to PR before and even FR, and when she went to FR, she promptly dropped my off and made a B-line to the nearest mall... I can never have her at a meet any longer than an hour, and then she's bugging me of when we can leave, lol! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 20, 2008 Author Share Posted August 20, 2008 She's been to PR before and even FR, and when she went to FR, she promptly dropped my off and made a B-line to the nearest mall... I can never have her at a meet any longer than an hour, and then she's bugging me of when we can leave, lol! But sir! You missed the key! You need to make her believe you give two $hites about her opinion! Make her think that you rely on her for advice and counsel on what should and should not be in the tank. Ask her opinion on where to put stuff etc. Over time she will warm to the idea. Its a slow game but a worth while one. On a sad note... The anemone is dead. Found it today sucked up into the Vortech. That just sucks! Found the poor 'nem crab sitting next to it on the bottom side of the PH. It was actually touching in a way in that the guy followed his 'nem across the tank and was dutifully standing guard over it. Link to comment
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