20xL mixed rimless - SELLING?

[d9hp]

So i pulled the trigger & bought the D_D H2ocean salt.

 

Sweeet man! You definitely won't regret it. Just make sure you slowly make the transition between salts (as you do with all salt switches).

 

Go for 1-2g of the stuff for a few changes before you start stepping it up.

 

There's a lot more going on with the salt than we test for and I think the new salt was one of the factors in my losing a shrimp when I did.

 

Your tank's looking awesome, Dustin!

 

Have you ever tried feeding them phyto only? I'm surprised the fish seem to respond to it really well. I've been feeding my tank oyster feast and cyclop-eeze, too, but I haven't tried phyto feast yet.

 

Thanks J!

 

I haven't ever done the phyto only. I had just been using the oyster feast for a while when a guy at a not very local LFS sold me the phyto 6oz bottle for $12 and asked me to let him know what I thought.

 

I'm not sure if it was partially my tank just coming of age or what but within a few weeks of using it my tank seems fuller and livelier. Strange, but there's definitely something going.

 

I'm not sure if I'm dosing too much or not but I don't really have anymore cyano.

[Deano]

As always your tank amazes me but I have some news to share.

 

"Screw cables to hang your hood."

 

I am going to revolutionize the way we mount hoods over our tanks. My method will utilize off the shelf stuff and if you are a thrifty ebay shopper, $17.00 for the parts shipping included.

 

You will be able to swivel, twist, tilt or raise you hood up or down.

 

You will be amazed you didn't think of this yourself.

 

Tune into my 20 Long build tread parts are on order.

[d9hp]

Thanks Deano.

 

Just an update for the sake of this being a journal of sorts:

 

Solid 4g change today. I realize my method isn't one that many people with use because I waste some fresh water but it certainly minimizes the effects on the fish. I add a gallon (while all the pumps are running, etc) and then remove a gallon a few minutes later. I use this amount because it's most I feel I can safely add before I have to worry about splashing water on the floor and whatnot.

 

Also removed the carbon from my phosban reactor and added new media all around. I'm planning on leaving the phosban for at least 3-4 months before removing it this time. It sure is a pain to change.

 

I'm going to Burlington to the 'cheap' LFS for a cleaner shrimp and hopefully a blood shrimp if they have them in stock. Maybe another zoa morph if they have one. Honestly, I don't have any room for anything else.

[Rehype]

Also removed the carbon from my phosban reactor and added new media all around. I'm planning on leaving the phosban for at least 3-4 months before removing it this time. It sure is a pain to change.

 

 

I just replaced my carbon and rowaphos yesterday. I went back to floating it in a bag instead of the reactor...like you said its way too much work replace.

[the_gats]

Sounds to me like you are going to need to upgrade soon!

[phi delt reefer]

Thanks Deano.

 

Just an update for the sake of this being a journal of sorts:

 

Solid 4g change today. I realize my method isn't one that many people with use because I waste some fresh water but it certainly minimizes the effects on the fish. I add a gallon (while all the pumps are running, etc) and then remove a gallon a few minutes later. I use this amount because it's most I feel I can safely add before I have to worry about splashing water on the floor and whatnot.

 

Also removed the carbon from my phosban reactor and added new media all around. I'm planning on leaving the phosban for at least 3-4 months before removing it this time. It sure is a pain to change.

 

I'm going to Burlington to the 'cheap' LFS for a cleaner shrimp and hopefully a blood shrimp if they have them in stock. Maybe another zoa morph if they have one. Honestly, I don't have any room for anything else.

 

 

grab a maxijet 1200s and some airline hose that fits snugly over the ouput nozzle. throw the pump in the display tank the end of the airline hose into your waste bucket and plug the pump in to pump out the dirty water. Then take the mj1200 and throw it in your new water and turn it on so it pumps the clean water into your tank. No mess

[J-Ranko]

[...]

Also removed the carbon from my phosban reactor and added new media all around. I'm planning on leaving the phosban for at least 3-4 months before removing it this time. It sure is a pain to change.

[...]

 

 

I just replaced my carbon and rowaphos yesterday. I went back to floating it in a bag instead of the reactor...like you said its way too much work replace.

 

I just replaced the carbon in my phosban reactor this morning and man it's almost as tedious and messy as a water change. I still replace it every 2 to 3 weeks anyway.

 

The only thing that's way more convenient is carbon that's already in the bag, like the ones made for the HOB aquaclear filters. Just rinse and put it in the sump. But I feed heavy and my skimmer is weak, so I don't know if I'd ever give up the reactor.

[partyinyourhonor]

just checking in, looking great... you have to get your hands on that macro again.

[d9hp]

I just replaced my carbon and rowaphos yesterday. I went back to floating it in a bag instead of the reactor...like you said its way too much work replace.

 

I'm going to get another reactor just for carbon whenever I place another dry goods order with marine depot but for now the carbon is just in a bag in the HOB. Too much work changing them both when the phosban apparently keeps for like 6 months.

 

Sounds to me like you are going to need to upgrade soon!

 

Haha no upgrades for me anytime soon. My next tank won't be a reef anyway

 

Although this tank is relatively small it's large enough for me to keep all the different corals I would ever really want to and I can't imagine keeping up with/affording all that comes with maintaining such exotic animals in a larger body of water.

 

My next tank is going to be a long ~150g custom rimless FOWLR with an emphasis on triggers but that's at least a year away from realization. I finish school forever in December and then I have no idea what's in store for me. This tank will definitely be coming down then as well so I'll probably wait until this one is stable before diving into a new one.

 

 

grab a maxijet 1200s and some airline hose that fits snugly over the ouput nozzle. throw the pump in the display tank the end of the airline hose into your waste bucket and plug the pump in to pump out the dirty water. Then take the mj1200 and throw it in your new water and turn it on so it pumps the clean water into your tank. No mess

 

I used to do things that way but since my tank is so narrow and long I felt like I was getting 'pockets' of water after losing two cleaner shrimp right after water changes.

 

I like leaving my tank relatively undisturbed and leaving all the pumps and filters on during the changes makes me a little more confident that the water I'm adding is being evenly dispersed through the total tank's volume really quickly, thus minimizing the swing experienced by the inhabitants.

[J-Ranko]

[...]

 

Thanks J!

 

I haven't ever done the phyto only. I had just been using the oyster feast for a while when a guy at a not very local LFS sold me the phyto 6oz bottle for $12 and asked me to let him know what I thought.

 

I'm not sure if it was partially my tank just coming of age or what but within a few weeks of using it my tank seems fuller and livelier. Strange, but there's definitely something going.

 

I'm not sure if I'm dosing too much or not but I don't really have anymore cyano.

 

I think I might try some phyto feast, too. My corals have definitely responded well to the increased feeding.

[TheNordCelt]

Hey do you go to reefkeepers in Garner? Its a great shop. Fish are a little more expensive, but he quarantines them for two weeks before they are ever put up for sale. Haven't had a single fish death. Reason i ask is he's the one that turned me on to the phyto and oyster feast. That stuff is awesome.

[d9hp]

just checking in, looking great... you have to get your hands on that macro again.

 

Haha I'd love to get that lens again but I doubt I'll have it anytime soon. My buddy lives a pretty solid ways away...

 

I think I might try some phyto feast, too. My corals have definitely responded well to the increased feeding.

 

I love it so far.

 

Hey do you go to reefkeepers in Garner? Its a great shop. Fish are a little more expensive, but he quarantines them for two weeks before they are ever put up for sale. Haven't had a single fish death. Reason i ask is he's the one that turned me on to the phyto and oyster feast. That stuff is awesome.

 

It's a great shop but there are a few reasons I will never go there again, ever:

Everything is wild caught...don't let him tell you otherwise

His two week q-tine time is totally BS...seen him unpack and sell animals before

Bill (the owner) is pushy, super opinionated and always high. I don't have a problem with away from work but I don't want to be doing business with someone that's baked out of their mind constantly. He completely walks all over people that don't know what they're doing and he's yelled at some children of a good friend of mine for 'getting too close' because they were pointing at the water's surface. 3,000 gallon system and you're worried about a 10 year old touching the water? Please. He's a complete #######.

 

He also told me that nothing would live under LEDs. He keeps the Alk in his tanks at 15 and believes his recipe is the only one that will keep tanks healthy but if most beginners did that their corals would burn overnight. Be careful when you're getting corals from him most of them have pests because they're straight out of the wild. He does have some really exotic stuff and it's reflected in all of his prices. He wanted $17 for some green chromis because he said they were 'Super XL' and they weren't any bigger than the ones you get at Down Under for $5. He sold B and C grade acans for $200 that didn't even have 10 heads. I just don't think it's worth the time or the money and places like that make it hard to support local businesses.

 

Sorry for the rant I just hate seeing people get walked all over. If you have the money and don't mind supporting wild collection on that sort of a scale then I'd say it's a great place to find some really choice corals.

 

 

On the other hand I'm glad he turned you onto Reef Nutrition because they do make great products. Just remember that there are other places to get them. If you are up for a drive one day go to Dubey's in Burlington. It's not quite as glamorous but there's far more value. He has tons of frags <$10 and some really choice corals all within reason. I'm going Friday!

[d9hp]

Came home and the float switch had gotten stuck most likely from a snail.

 

Salinity dropped from 1.025 to 1.024 probably over a few hours.

 

Can't find the chromis anywhere in the tank or anywhere on the floor or in the filters. He didn't come out to feed. Everything else looks fine...but it sucks losing the first fish that was in the tank. He was awesome.

 

Added code to keep that from happening so it shouldn't be an issue again.

 

Snail guard won't be necessary this way. Going to the LFS this weekend I guess. Hopefully they'll have something otherwise I'm ordering 3 orange lined cards from LA.com

[d9hp]

Ahh call me boring but I got two more green chromis at the LFS. Hopefully they don't kill one another.

 

They had a really pretty cherub pygmy angelfish but I don't really think I can risk the coral nipping.

 

I really like the chromis though I wish I could get 5 total. Too bad they'd slowly dwindle down to one.

[JBM]

Ahh call me boring but I got two more green chromis at the LFS. Hopefully they don't kill one another.

 

They had a really pretty cherub pygmy angelfish but I don't really think I can risk the coral nipping.

 

I really like the chromis though I wish I could get 5 total. Too bad they'd slowly dwindle down to one.

 

i was at a lfs today too. Almost bought flame angel. But realized i have a clam.

[d9hp]

i was at a lfs today too. Almost bought flame angel. But realized i have a clam.

 

Yeah that's a dangerous move. I passed. The new chromis are pretty cool but I'll probably still get an anthias or something else pretty active and colorful sometime in the coming weeks. Although my tank is only 20g I think the footprint lends itself to a reasonable amount of fish. There's just so much oepn real estate that isn't ever touched. The chromis are the only fish that actually swim!

 

Clowns are officially hosting my wellso brain.

 

Can't get a picture of it yet because when I get close to the tank they swim to the surface for food. I just hope the brain gets used to it and doesn't die as it's one of my favorite pieces in the tank.

[Squared]

When my clown started hosting my candy cane, it would stay shrunken more often. But then it used to it. Also, watch out, cause I have seen my clown bite my candy cane. Maybe that's why they call it candy cane? cause it looks nothing like a candy cane.

[the_gats]

A few drops of super glue on that brain would probably keep them their long enough to snap a few pics. But seriously tank is awesome and I wish my clowns would host something other than the corner.

[anemone fan]

Clowns are officially hosting my wellso brain.

Stoopid clowns

[MedRed]

lol... funny about the clowns.

[d9hp]

When my clown started hosting my candy cane, it would stay shrunken more often. But then it used to it. Also, watch out, cause I have seen my clown bite my candy cane. Maybe that's why they call it candy cane? cause it looks nothing like a candy cane.

 

Haha you're right it looks nothing like it.

Hopefully my brain won't mind.

 

 

A few drops of super glue on that brain would probably keep them their long enough to snap a few pics. But seriously tank is awesome and I wish my clowns would host something other than the corner.

 

Good idea! Thanks for the compliments I just hope they don't kill the brain.

 

Stoopid clowns

 

dumb brains.

 

lol... funny about the clowns.

 

Funny about your new additions tomorrow...can't wait to see them.

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

Updates on the tank aren't really so great.

 

I haven't been testing as much as I should and my Alk dropped under 8. It's over 7...under 8. Not good.

 

I'm going to get it back up to 10 or 11 because that's where my SPS showed the best color.

 

I moved a few things around and hopefully I can get everything to perk up a little more.

 

I've been feeding the tank like CRAZY. Like four different things a day sometimes twice a day. I don't know what's going on but my nitrates are still sitting at 0 and my algae isn't really doing annything. I'm not complaining...but it sure seems strange. I think I may have just been feeding waaaay too little before.

 

I'm going to step up my oyster feast dosing as well. Can't hurt! I'm going to double it (two different times a day) and see how terribly the tank reacts. Hopefully I'll have some better news next time. That's all really dependent on getting this Alk back up to an acceptable range.

 

CA is 460 and Mg is 1350 still.

 

Not bad.

[d9hp]

So scratch that previous post I should have updated immediately after. I re-tested my Alk twice and it was at 10. I must not have cleaned out the test vile completely.

 

So you see the bleaching/STN on that purple cap in the sig pic? That's completely covered with growth again and it's starting to really branch out again. Love it. The brain doesn't seem to mind the clowns too much and eats (all it's feeding tentacles come out) when I dump in the oyster feast. The small hammer has been doing poorly since the addition of the closed loop system and I can't move it because it has grown onto the rock in a way that would require killing it essentially. We'll see what happens. The orange digi on the top of mount SPS is really doing well. I had to chop a bit piece of xenia today as it was shading out the greens limer. We'll see if that helps it get some color back.

 

So the big reason I'm posting is that I've been waiting for a while to place an order from Live Aquaria for a cleaner shrimp, a fire shrimp, four or five sexy shrimp, a fromia starfish and fish -> either a small anthias or a pair of purple firefish.

 

Any huge problems with having those three shrimp in the tank? I think it would be worth a shot! If not what about two cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp (I'm getting the smallest available in EVERYTHING I order).

 

Well they don't have ALL of that in stock...but blue zoo aquatics does and I would get free shipping if I spend over $140. So I'm really tempted to place an order with them this week for Friday delivery since I could work a 4-10 schedule this week and take off. Hmmm...tempting, right?!

 

We'll see what I end up doing. I'm going to think about it some!

[Wilioli]

oooohhh purple firefish! The fish that I've always wanted.. I vote for that.. except there's a thread goin around about purple firefish being pu**ies... --- anyways, moving on.

 

Curious about feeding the sexy shrimp: I've looked into getting them (my wife has) and we found out that they only feed on starfish -- but that it takes them a while to 'complete' their meal. That starfish 'frag' then starts polluting the tank? or not?

 

Shame u missed out on the helfrichi sale on liveaquaria.. I think it was 60 bucks a piece?

[d9hp]

oooohhh purple firefish! The fish that I've always wanted.. I vote for that.. except there's a thread goin around about purple firefish being pu**ies... --- anyways, moving on.

 

Curious about feeding the sexy shrimp: I've looked into getting them (my wife has) and we found out that they only feed on starfish -- but that it takes them a while to 'complete' their meal. That starfish 'frag' then starts polluting the tank? or not?

 

Shame u missed out on the helfrichi sale on liveaquaria.. I think it was 60 bucks a piece?

 

Haha I have a tank full of pu**ies already man! It's okay though I like peace on the reef.

 

I thought the sexy shrimp ate flake and pellet food? I think you might be thinking of harlequin and bongo shrimp. They are pretty tough but super cool!

 

Yeah I actually don't like the helfrichi firefish much. I think the purple ones are just as attractive!

 

We'll see what I end up doing. I'm waiting to hear back from blue zoo about them picking the smallest of their small selection for me. If they'll try and do that I'm ordering this week or next!

[Wilioli]

true that -- i thought the sexy and harlequin where the same. .. just did a google on it.. SWEET. I'm definitely NOT telling my wife this.. yet... lol, gonna make it a dramatic event -- nevermind

 

so wait, whats this going to do to the overall total livestock count in this tank!?