thre3leven Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 Thanks! I had to move the tank to a new home in July. It was mostly successful. Completely different rockscape, and lost most of the birdsnest and the blue tang though. Everything else has recovered nicely. Here is a camera phone shot. Will upload better shots soon. Link to comment
thre3leven Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 A bajillion new pics of the tank as of today. Hope you enjoy. Link to comment
markalot Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Looks good! Still using T5? You need some SPS. Link to comment
thre3leven Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Forgot about that update... Figured the corals weren't stressed enough from the move, so I decided to remove the substrate and change lighting all in about a week. Fortunately the tank put up with my antics. Running a single kessil tuna blue pendant with no canopy. Sps would be nice, but i like the look of a lot of movement in the tank. Sps doesn't move much. Wife wants a mandarin and a clam, go figure. Ive put it off for over a year so far... Link to comment
thre3leven Posted September 26, 2014 Author Share Posted September 26, 2014 I have three different plugs of gsp on them, some for over a year, and not a single one has spread. Any ideas? No GFO, no refugium, 15 to 20 gallon water changes every two weeks, and I feed oyster feast and phyto feast 10 drops each every three days Link to comment
thre3leven Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 Wife stumbled upon the tank thread and saw I had been putting off getting the clam. Long story short, the tank has a few new additions: Green Acro Teal Mushroom x2 Serpent Starfish Blue Squamosa Armor of God zoas x5 Yuma (purple/green/orange) x2 Link to comment
thre3leven Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 Mushrooms are still pissed and the serpent starfish "waldo" is in hiding, but other than that, everything else seems to be acclimating well. Link to comment
thre3leven Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 So the wife went on a shopping spree... here is what ended up in the tank: Dendrophyllia x3 Fire and Ice Zoanthids x10 Pink Gobstopper Zoanthids x5 Orange Fanta Australlian Acanthastrea Lordhowensis x2 Yellow Face Zoanthids Coral x10 Orange Sun Coral (Tubastrea aurea) x5 Psychafriggin’ Zoanthids x10 Passion fruit Zoanthids x10 Blue Zoo Zoanthids x10 Hurricane Zoanthids x10 Pea Pie Palythoa Coral x10 Cats Eyes Palythoa Coral x10 Icy hot Zoanthids x10 Baby Pink Zoanthids x10 Long Hair Green Eyed Girls Zoanthids x10 Alien eyes Zoanthids x10 After two and a half hours of placing everything in the tank things are starting to open. Will add pictures in a couple days once everything is acclimated. Link to comment
thre3leven Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 I would like to preface this post with the following disclaimer: I am an idiot. So I have never been able to dial in my skimmer. It was either overflowing with water, or not bubbling up enough. Fast forward a year, I figured I just suck at dialing it in, or have a bum skimmer. Then one day I'm staring at the sump trying to figure out how to straighten it up and it hits me. I don't have any baffles in the sump, therefore I have no stable water level, therefore the skimmer can never operate correctly. Idiot. So my sunday project consisted of: draining the sump getting glass cut (discovering my local hardware store doesn't know how to measure) deciding im not driving back to get the glass recut and just installing the slightly oversized glass at an angle discovering I really suck at siliconing baffles in waiting for it to cure crossing fingers it functions/drinking my sorrow away if i doesn't profiting Long story short, I now have a functioning protein skimmer and organised sump. You never stop learning... Right? Here are some pictures from last night: Link to comment
thre3leven Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Bouncing around the idea of transferring everything into a 40 breeder. I can use the same stand/sump. Would eliminate all the unused volume at the top of the tank, and make more use of the lighting. Thoughts? Link to comment
thre3leven Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 Where to start... About 3 weeks ago I was ready to take the tank down. I had been fighting a losing battle with algae for over a year. I tried a lot of things: 3 and 5 day blackouts, less food (already only fed once every 4 days), new cuc, new filter socks, no filter socks, equipment teardown/cleaning, new ro/di filters (x2), different/more carbon, different/more phosban, different light (kessil to t5ho and back), shorter light schedules, additional powerheads, new plumbing, manual removal, skimmer adjustments, sump teardown/rebuild, dosing magnesium temp adjustments Nothing made a dent. I felt defeated. My coral (what was still alive) had taken a beating but I just couldn't make myself tear it down. I decided to give it one last fight... Over the last 3 weeks I changed over 80 gallons, added 3 sea hares, 8 astrea snails, and lots of manual removal... but I think I have finally tipped the scales... Link to comment
Simulated Fish Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Where to start... About 3 weeks ago I was ready to take the tank down. I had been fighting a losing battle with algae for over a year. I tried a lot of things: 3 and 5 day blackouts, less food (already only fed once every 4 days), new cuc, new filter socks, no filter socks, equipment teardown/cleaning, new ro/di filters (x2), different/more carbon, different/more phosban, different light (kessil to t5ho and back), shorter light schedules, additional powerheads, new plumbing, manual removal, skimmer adjustments, sump teardown/rebuild, dosing magnesium temp adjustments Nothing made a dent. I felt defeated. My coral (what was still alive) had taken a beating but I just couldn't make myself tear it down. I decided to give it one last fight... Over the last 3 weeks I changed over 80 gallons, added 3 sea hares, 8 astrea snails, and lots of manual removal... but I think I have finally tipped the scales... Sorry to hear you lost so much but keep at it! you've made a ton of progress!!! Looks Like you can still save the tank yet! Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Wow that looks a lot better! Keep on keeping on! Link to comment
markalot Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Looks like a nutrient and flow problem. Without knowing much about the tank let me take a stab at some suggestions. Don't feed less but instead up the export. Make sure the skimmer is running well, try some light carbon dosing (maybe 20ml of vinegar daily) and more flow, lots more flow. These taller tanks (looks like a tall 65 or is it 18" front to back?) can have flow issues, you'll want at least 2 pumps on one of the tank walls to make sure flow is even. Even though the rock is attractive I might consider swapping it out one rock at a time over a month or so. I bet it's loaded with phosphate, maybe due to past neglect before you got the tank. If that is a standard 65 gallon I would not think twice about putting a small yellow tang in there. Just be prepared to give him back after a year or so. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Wow. Seriously impressive restart. Link to comment
SunWyrm Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Looks like a nutrient and flow problem. Without knowing much about the tank let me take a stab at some suggestions. Don't feed less but instead up the export. Make sure the skimmer is running well, try some light carbon dosing (maybe 20ml of vinegar daily) and more flow, lots more flow. These taller tanks (looks like a tall 65 or is it 18" front to back?) can have flow issues, you'll want at least 2 pumps on one of the tank walls to make sure flow is even. Even though the rock is attractive I might consider swapping it out one rock at a time over a month or so. I bet it's loaded with phosphate, maybe due to past neglect before you got the tank. If that is a standard 65 gallon I would not think twice about putting a small yellow tang in there. Just be prepared to give him back after a year or so. I agree with Mark, especially on that last point. There's several fish that would keep it under control on the rocks, then you just worry about exporting the rest. A baby foxface/rabbitfish would do wonders at keeping it off your rockwork. Do you have any macro algae in your sump to help as well? What kind of food are you feeding? I had a big improvement when I switched over to better quality frozen foods rather than pellets/flakes. Lookin' good though! Is that the same rock you had when you started the tank? Just noticed a big difference in the scape from the previous page and when you moved. Link to comment
markalot Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Heh, I just had time to read the thread. I commented a year ago, no wait, 2 years ago. So it got neglected and you were able to pull it back, excellent. You added baffles to the sump, skimmer is still the RO 110? I would consider slowly changing out the rocks, that algae is the type that shows up when the tank is neglected. Life happens. Still running T5s? Switched to ATI bulbs yet? And maybe now, try some SPS? Link to comment
thre3leven Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Looks like a nutrient and flow problem. Without knowing much about the tank let me take a stab at some suggestions. Don't feed less but instead up the export. Make sure the skimmer is running well, try some light carbon dosing (maybe 20ml of vinegar daily) and more flow, lots more flow. These taller tanks (looks like a tall 65 or is it 18" front to back?) can have flow issues, you'll want at least 2 pumps on one of the tank walls to make sure flow is even. Even though the rock is attractive I might consider swapping it out one rock at a time over a month or so. I bet it's loaded with phosphate, maybe due to past neglect before you got the tank. If that is a standard 65 gallon I would not think twice about putting a small yellow tang in there. Just be prepared to give him back after a year or so. It is a 65. You cant tell in the pic but there are 2 powerheads plus the return. There is a lot if water movement. The rock was dry when I started tge tank so and nutrients would be from me. Cleaned and tuned skimmer and running carbon via reactor. I do appreciate the suggestions. I may look in to the tang once I return 2 of the sea hares. Im going to keep up 25 -30g weekly wc. Its not hurting anything. I agree with Mark, especially on that last point. There's several fish that would keep it under control on the rocks, then you just worry about exporting the rest. A baby foxface/rabbitfish would do wonders at keeping it off your rockwork. Do you have any macro algae in your sump to help as well? What kind of food are you feeding? I had a big improvement when I switched over to better quality frozen foods rather than pellets/flakes. Lookin' good though! Is that the same rock you had when you started the tank? Just noticed a big difference in the scape from the previous page and when you moved. I feed one pinch of pellets (spectrum I think) every four days. I was also doing about 20 drops of oyster feast but stopped that awhile back and coral seem happier. I might switch that up. Same rocks as initial build just couldnt get scape right after move. Heh, I just had time to read the thread. I commented a year ago, no wait, 2 years ago. So it got neglected and you were able to pull it back, excellent. You added baffles to the sump, skimmer is still the RO 110? I would consider slowly changing out the rocks, that algae is the type that shows up when the tank is neglected. Life happens. Still running T5s? Switched to ATI bulbs yet? And maybe now, try some SPS? Same skimmer, new baffles, running single kessil since move. Switched back to t5s for a month to see if it would make any difference. It didn't. I think it was the move stirring up stuff, not moving the dsb (taking away an exporter), and wc amount. I did weekly changes, I just dont think enough (15g). I have the worst luck with macro. Chaeto always disintegrated and ended up in the display. Oh and coral from florida with tons of unwanted hitchhikers didn't help. Link to comment
markalot Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 It is a 65. You cant tell in the pic but there are 2 powerheads plus the return. There is a lot if water movement. The rock was dry when I started tge tank so and nutrients would be from me. Cleaned and tuned skimmer and running carbon via reactor. I do appreciate the suggestions. I may look in to the tang once I return 2 of the sea hares. Im going to keep up 25 -30g weekly wc. Its not hurting anything. I feed one pinch of pellets (spectrum I think) every four days. I was also doing about 20 drops of oyster feast but stopped that awhile back and coral seem happier. I might switch that up. Same rocks as initial build just couldnt get scape right after move. Same skimmer, new baffles, running single kessil since move. Switched back to t5s for a month to see if it would make any difference. It didn't. I think it was the move stirring up stuff, not moving the dsb (taking away an exporter), and wc amount. I did weekly changes, I just dont think enough (15g). I have the worst luck with macro. Chaeto always disintegrated and ended up in the display. Oh and coral from florida with tons of unwanted hitchhikers didn't help. Yea, I just had to do a massive rock replacement due to polyps taking over the display. You might consider carbon dosing (which is what I mean by carbon). start out adding 5ml of vinegar daily and slowly up it to 10 or 15ml. This provides food for bacteria which will build up and eat nitrates and some phosphate. The skimmer takes it back out and you'll notice the smimmate gets dark and really smelly. I find this works better for me than algae does. Link to comment
SunWyrm Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Yup those same spectrum pellets (most likely) caused a lot of issues for me. I still feed them once a month or so when I'm feeling lazy and my fish are begging, but I try to feed a good quality frozen food most nights (and I'm not talking those hinky cubes either that you have to rinse). Look into the LRS formulas, but there are several others as well. It's like the difference between fast food vs a healthy, home cooked meal. They put a lot of good stuff in those formulas to make sure your fish are getting the most out of their food and isn't going to add a bunch of extra junk to your tank. Chaeto always did the same for me as well, I switched to C. serrulata which has done amazing in my tanks. It grows in more of a short mat and the roots are easy to pull up if it gets on any rocks, plus it's attractive. Link to comment
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