metrokat Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Such a flare for drama. You should be a writer. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 His wrasse got handed to him 1 Link to comment
icedearth15324 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Just finished reading the thread, this has been an amazing build. I know my brother would be very jealous if I shows him it. 2 Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 It's been quite the ride so far. I'm a little discouraged at the moment from the loss of some of my SPS, but nothing that can't be replaced with another benjamin.. I'm assuming it's shock from slacking off on the frag tank and moving corals from dirtier water with low params to a cleaner system. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 15, 2013 Author Share Posted January 15, 2013 Starting to see some polyp bailout on my caulastrea.. somethins up.. headin to the LFS tonight to get all my params checked. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 16, 2013 Author Share Posted January 16, 2013 Well, found my problem. Nitrates have spiked up around 50ppm. I bought the salifert NO3 test and threw my Aquarium Pharmishiiticals (API) test, which still shows yellow as ever, in the garbage. And because I was getting a 0 reading with the API kit, I was feeding every day to try and get my nitrates up so I could start to grow some chaeto which had previously been dying off. Well I succeeded. Also my phosphates have jumped to .5 from .08 due to the additional feedings. Lessoned learned, dont be a cheap ass and buy cheap test supplies. Link to comment
Veng Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Well, found my problem. Nitrates have spiked up around 50ppm. I bought the salifert NO3 test and threw my Aquarium Pharmishiiticals (API) test, which still shows yellow as ever, in the garbage. And because I was getting a 0 reading with the API kit, I was feeding every day to try and get my nitrates up so I could start to grow some chaeto which had previously been dying off. Well I succeeded. Also my phosphates have jumped to .5 from .08 due to the additional feedings. Lessoned learned, dont be a cheap ass and buy cheap test supplies. Ouch. Yeah API is junk, I'm fond of the new red sea kits they've put out lately. Also, awesome job on this tank man, you have way more patients than I ever would with a tank sitting in the corner of the house, Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Don't confuse patience with procrastination. Picked up a 100g storage tank for freshwater reservior. Now to build my mixing station. Anything I can do to eliminate time off the maintenance tasks here and there really adds up. I've been able to reduce the time it takes to do my water changes down to under 30 minutes from an hour just by getting decent equipment. I'll be further improving the time with a larger diameter hose and some checkvalves down the road. This is important as it reduces the amount of time coral spends out of the water. Link to comment
Veng Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I completely understand the reducing maintenance time part. Equipment that helps there is invaluable. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Such an awesome day. Field trip with the reef club to Global Oceanic Life. Got a demo on how Rogger makes his reef food. Stopped over at Reef Gardeners among a few other stores. Saw a Hawaiian Flame Wrasse pair at one of them that I could just not pass up. Omg are they gorgeous. Was kind of forced into having to skip buying any corals this time around though. Fish don't care about higher nitrates but the corals definitely do. Link to comment
Julian_blnc Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Such an awesome day. Field trip with the reef club to Global Oceanic Life. Got a demo on how Rogger makes his reef food. Stopped over at Reef Gardeners among a few other stores. Saw a Hawaiian Flame Wrasse pair at one of them that I could just not pass up. Omg are they gorgeous. Was kind of forced into having to skip buying any corals this time around though. Fish don't care about higher nitrates but the corals definitely do. Pictures of the wrasse please Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Pics will have to wait until tomorrow. They went in with lights off and are hiding under the egg crate in the frag tank, probably stressed enough. I made a cover out of screen by gluing the edges every couple inches all the way around the plastic rim. These guys will not be jumping out. Link to comment
Neatfish Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hey pretty nice tank. What was that orange thing you were holding in your hand? That thing is freaking weird looking. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Fish are still skittish. Both are eating frozen mysis.. yess!!! You can see his mate peeking in the background. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 So I look over and thought I saw the male flashing against something.. turns out he's just thwackin the pods off the glass a few at a time just decimating my pod population. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'll be keeping an eye on one of the pectoral fins too. Link to comment
Julian_blnc Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 They look beautiful Mike, good luck, Whats your qt policy before you put them in the DT Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 Right now I'm using my frag tank for observation until I get it sold. Watching for any white spots, fin erosion, lethargy, bloating, and monitoring appetite. If the need arises I can start up a quarantine. If all is well in observation after 2+ weeks then I'll move them over. They are a little more comfortable and were out quite a big more today. Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 New fish are pretty. Can't wait to see them in the big tank. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Starting a treatment with API general cure. Wrasses have a bit of mucus on the pectoral fins, shaking their head, and flashing. Thankful for quarantine. They're still eating so I'm going to start treatment now before it gets worse. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 New fish are pretty. Can't wait to see them in the big tank. Hopefully they make it there. First dose is in. I'll add the 2nd dose in 48 hours. It can also be used as a food soak so I went ahead and soaked some mysis in about 1/2 tsp for 10 mins. Must've been tasty because they've eaten more this time than they have in prior days feedings. I've got someone that can come and do a water change while I'm gone. Hopefully this will take care of the problem as it was about $7/dose, but I may just run another round the following week. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 So glad to be coming home. Michigan showed no mercy on this Florida boy.. cold, snow, and a brutal work week. Can't wait to check on the tank, but not looking forward to the tank maintenance. Exhausted. Hopefully I'll have enough energy this weekend to set up the sulfur denitrator. Little bit of research required on how to get it running, but I'm too fried to do much of anything but look at perty FTS's and coral porn. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 So.. good news and bad news.. mostly good though. My flame wrasses appear to be reacting to the treatment quite well. Picked up another round of the general cure just to be sure. Coralline of all colors is exploding, a lot of red, pink and purple. Rocks are going to look sweet in a few more months. Corals all look good for the most part, a few still unhappy from the higher nitrates. As for the bad news, my yellow tangs look like they may have paravortex (black ich).. wth.. not happy about this. Link to comment
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