RollaJase Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 So your family is in the wine business? Sorry if I missed this! Dad has been in the industry for about 40 years now. It's not his day job but he does it out of the love for it. We sell mostly under contract to local wineries but my uncle also has a pretty successful local label that we supply certain varieties to. Would I ever take over the vineyeard? Probably not and my brother has no interest either but I love where I live . Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 Walked into my room just after dinner to watch my aquarium light pull from the wall and drop 12" straight onto the glass bracing on my tank. Needless to say I was more worried about my expensive light instead of how I may have had to explain to mum and dad why there was 100 odd liters of water soaking into the carpet. A little bit of back story, over the last 5 days South Australia has had a stint of temperatures rising above 40c (104f), the third longest stint on our records. On Wednesday Adelaide even had the hottest forecasted temperature in the world of 47c (117f), it only made it to 46c though (115f). Prolonged exposure to heat = expanding brick walls & softening masonry plugs = skydiving AI Sol. At the moment I have the light propped up over my tank using some DVD's. Dad is going to help me fill the original holes and raise the entire bracket up an inch or so to clear any weakened brick. Hopefully this won't happen again in the near future. On a side note, last weekend I purchased a new fish and got myself a new coral, mostly funded by taking some frags back to the LFS. The sump work continues, haven't done a thing this week due to the heat but I did a bit of stand work last weekend. I'm aiming to have everything finished as soon as possible but I am in no rush as the tank is looking great right now . Link to comment
Schnecke Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 It's been between 41-44 in Albury-Wodonga this week too (ergh!) I'm thankful that I have 2 types of air conditioning to choose from and it stays nice and cool inside here. SA really does get some hot northerly winds too. It feels hotter than what it actually is. EDIT: I'm very keen to see your sump Jase, I'm about to make one from scratch myself (cube sump with 4 chambers) so waiting patiently to see the outcome of yours :-) Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 That stinks! I'm a cold weather dog myself! If it gets above 70F (21C) i'm not very happy. LOL It can get as cold as it likes though and I don't mind. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 It's been between 41-44 in Albury-Wodonga this week too (ergh!) I'm thankful that I have 2 types of air conditioning to choose from and it stays nice and cool inside here. SA really does get some hot northerly winds too. It feels hotter than what it actually is. EDIT: I'm very keen to see your sump Jase, I'm about to make one from scratch myself (cube sump with 4 chambers) so waiting patiently to see the outcome of yours :-) Yeah some seriously hot weather right across the country the last week or so. Your lucky, we only have air con in the lounge room, every other room has to make do with a pedestal fan haha. My sump is a little unconventional, mainly due to me wanting to retain my less than 12 months old Tunze 9004 skimmer. As it is an in take skimmer it needs a water depth of about 25cm so I have had to make a separate chamber just for it. My sump will have 4 chambers plus an ATO reservoir when it's done. I really should get some progress pictures up. That stinks! I'm a cold weather dog myself! If it gets above 70F (21C) i'm not very happy. LOL It can get as cold as it likes though and I don't mind. I much prefer cooler weather myself, something we have been graced with over this weekend . Well this was supposed to be an update full of corals, fish, lollipops, puppy's and magical unicorns. Instead I bring you an update about death, destruction and anger. I spent all Saturday with dad re-hanging my light above the tank, took all day as dad screwed some holes up and insisted I used dynabolts to fix the bracket to the wall (this bracket could support my weight now if I tried). When we were done I did my weekly water change, mounted some corals and fed the tank. I went out to catch up with some friends and didn't get home until 9.30am Sunday morning. I come home to the wet side of my MP10 sitting on the sand with a dead anemone lodged in it and my new $80 hogfish dead on the sand bed. My firefish is also sitting on the sand bed but will swim around if you get too close (I don't think it will make it), clowns are as happy as larry. Tank temp dropped from 26c to 21c thanks to no water circulation and the water is really cloudy. I have done a 20% water change and another 20% change is mixing now, corals are pissed, SPS are oozing from the polyps as they do. I have added a second heater to the tank, a backup heater. I was fully intending on implementing this when I installed the sump, I should have just thrown it in and been done with it. I really need to get this sump in, the temperature loss could have been avoided by the water circulation of the return pump. The death of the anemone could have been avoided by the foam cover for my MP10. That has been a very costly mistake for me, the tank smells like death. Testing the critical water parameters now, will update soon. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Ammonia = 0.2ppm Nitrate = 20ppm Nitrite = 0.2ppm This is after the first 20% water change. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 damn...that sucks! one thing after another. hope things pick back up for you soon. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 damn...that sucks! one thing after another. hope things pick back up for you soon. Thanks mate, after the 2nd 20% water change everything is looking a lot better. The water has cleared a lot, the firefish is showing more signs of life on the sand bed and the corals are opening up and looking a lot better. The tank is back up to temp as well. Just tested the water again, ammonia has dropped to around 0, nitrate is still high at 10ppm and nitrite is 0. The skimmer is working overtime so I am hoping everything pulls through. I will definitely not be replacing the anemone, I'm done keeping them in a tank this size, I'm sure the clowns will pair with something else in due time (the male has taken a liking to the zoas/palys lately). Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Well looks like everything is going to be ok. I think the firefish got pretty beat up though, looks like the lower half of its body is paralyzed. Such a shame, I hope the poor little guy pulls through . Link to comment
daletu Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Sorry to hear about all these drama happened to your tank. Glad it is getting back on track. Hope the firefish will get through. Good luck! Link to comment
markalot Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Man, sorry about the problems. Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I'm sorry about the issues. Hopefully the firefish will get better. Link to comment
gena Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Oh my gosh. So sorry to hear this. I'm glad you were there to fix the light when it happened! Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry to hear about all these drama happened to your tank. Glad it is getting back on track. Hope the firefish will get through. Good luck! Man, sorry about the problems. I'm sorry about the issues. Hopefully the firefish will get better. Oh my gosh. So sorry to hear this. I'm glad you were there to fix the light when it happened! Thank you all for your kind words . So my luck probably couldn't get any worse. On the day my father went in for elective surgery (nothing serious but you always worry) my grandmother was found unconscious in her home (neighbour had to break a window to get inside after the district nurse got no response). On top of that I got a a txt message from my brother at 2pm telling me one of my clowns had died and I got home to find the firefish dead, stuck to the side of the MP10. Sometimes I wonder why I still put up with this hobby, a simple oversight and a blended nem has cost me close to $250 worth of livestock in 3 days. The money doesn't bother me, it's knowing that I could have done more to spare the now dead fish their suffering in their final hours. I guess losses are something we all have to deal with but I can't seem to catch a break over the last few months. Just tested my water again. Ammonia = 0ppm Nitrate = Between 5 & 10ppm Nitrite = Between 0 & 0.05ppm I'm more inclined to think my clown (the male) died from stress rather than an ammonia spike. As the Nitrates are still a bit high (down from yesterday though) I added 1ml of 80proof vodka to give the skimmer a helping hand. I have done this a few times in the past (with higher doses) and have never had any adverse effects. Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Oh man! Sorry to hear about your grandma...is she ok I hope? I know the feeling...everything seems to go well with out tanks and sometimes it's like dominos. Sorry about the nem and fish. Link to comment
4x5 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry to hear about all the loses and testing times. Hang in there. Link to comment
jack1978 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Damn, just checked in. Sorry for ..... all of it. Hope G-ma is ok, your tank will bounce back. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 Oh man! Sorry to hear about your grandma...is she ok I hope? I know the feeling...everything seems to go well with out tanks and sometimes it's like dominos. Sorry about the nem and fish. Sorry to hear about all the loses and testing times. Hang in there. I hope Grandma is ok!!!!! Damn, just checked in. Sorry for ..... all of it. Hope G-ma is ok, your tank will bounce back. Thank you all. Grandma seems to be doing alright, mum was distraught when I got home from work so had to deal with that as well as dad was still lin hospital. She will be in hospital for the rest of the week. It looks like she has some blockages in the arteries around her heart, I believe they are considering putting a stint in but considering she is 83 this year doctors are pretty reluctant to do anything. The female clown looked like she was struggling this morning when I got up for work. Whether it is the stress of losing her anemone and her mate I dont know but she didn't look right. I took the skimmer off the timer and switched it on a few hours earlier incase it was an oxygen issue. The MP10 gives far less surface agitation than my Tunze did so I think this could be a contributing factor, at night the surface of the water is almost like glass when the pump enters night mode. I'm hoping the skimmer will pump more oxygen into the water if this was the issue. I have considered re-stocking options for the lost fish. Mum is devestated as she loved the firefish and the clowns always came to her when she came to check in on them. There are a few ideas I am toying with a the moment but if I lose the remaning clown I don't think I will get another pair, too cliche for my tastes, I want to try something else. Link to comment
jack1978 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 On a lighter note....how about fish with personalities? Midas? Tail Spot Blenny? Starry Blenny? Certain Hawkfish? Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 On a lighter note....how about fish with personalities? Midas? Tail Spot Blenny? Starry Blenny? Certain Hawkfish? If the female clown survives this ordeal I was considering getting a juvenile black & white clown to make a pair, not sure if this is a wise idea though. I have considered a Midas Blenny, Bicolor blenny, possum wrasse, pygmy wrasse, yellow head jawfish and bangaii cardinals. It all depends on availability/expense for me and I know a lot of the small fish that I like are way out of my price range over here. I'm actually leaning towards the idea of 4 bangaii cardinals (2 male & 2 female) if the female clown doesn't make it or just a single pair if she does. Link to comment
jack1978 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Possum is another favorite of mine. Takes them a month or so to stop hiding...but mines the biggest ham now. Very cool little fish. Cardinals look nice...aren't they nocturnal or lower light though? Link to comment
RollaJase Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I haven't really gotten that far yet, just went looking through live aquaria for fish that took my fancy and got some input from mum (took her mind off things). In the wild the cardinals are found hanging out around nems and at shallow depths so I wouldn't think light levels would phase them much, something I will look into though. Link to comment
jack1978 Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 I haven't really gotten that far yet, just went looking through live aquaria for fish that took my fancy and got some input from mum (took her mind off things). In the wild the cardinals are found hanging out around nems and at shallow depths so I wouldn't hink light levels would phase them much, something I will look into though. Good luck man. Cool that you can share that with her. Link to comment
Gramophone Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Sorry about the recent losses Things can only get better, right? I vote for some cardinals! Link to comment
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