Diver's Paradise: The Sequel (Vacation Pics pg. 48!)

[Felicia]

They are sooo fast LOL.

 

It's about 3pm .

They still spook really easy, and when they do, they sure can dart around quickly. If I move in front of the tank they both vanish. I have to sit still for a while before they will venture back out again. They both ate earlier though, so they seem to be doing well. Hopefully they'll get over being spooked by me moving in front of the tank.

 

So no clowns today I talked to my friend yesterday and they were doing great and then I went over there today and the Darwin suddenly has white spots. Which is crazy because his clown breeding system is treated with copper all the time and all the clown tanks are plumbed together and not another clown in the whole system was showing any signs of any disease. He's got another Darwin in a separate system that he's going to pair up with a small orange one for me and keep an eye on them for a few days to make sure they're both healthy. I'm in no rush to get them, since the clowns can be added last since they're the least shy.

[Felicia]

Are you guys sick of videos yet? I have another one for you Both wrasses eating flakes!

 

[Polarcollision]

Are you guys sick of videos yet? I have another one for you Both wrasses eating flakes!

 

 

Yeah, so the rising play count on all of your videos is me. !!! I just love those little guys! Do not feel guilty in the least for egging you on to get the linespot. :-) The carpenters is a character. Cracked me up the way it slowly peaked out behind the column with eyes searching. Can not get over how they move their eyes to check things out before making a move. All my other fish just swim to see what's going on.

 

 

And both wrasses are out swimming about again! They're just hanging out together on the left side of the tank. Absolutely no signs of aggression, nipping, or chasing! They're just swimming around, hanging out together! So phsyched that this is working out! They're such a colorful duo

 

Yay! So good to see!! I really like the hints of purple on the second flasher.

 

Look who finally came out! And they're not fighting!

 

Please excuse the horrible glare/reflections off the tank. The light on the tank isn't on for the day yet and the sun is beating in my living room window. I found them both out and about when I came out into my living room this morning. Once I started moving around in the living room, the both went back into hiding in the rocks, but this is progress! Good to see they were both right by each other and not fighting. Let's hope they continue on that way! Btw, the sheen on the purple on in person is just amazing. He's shimmery

 

Oh, and I'm picking up the clowns at 3 pm today!

 

Mr McCoskers runs to hide every time we round the corner into the living room. I had thought it's just par for these fish. Ever since our conversation it's becoming clear how much of a community fish the flashers are. It seems logical that they'll be more confident and content with others in the tank. OK. I'm convinced 100% to get one or two more family members for Fruitiger (Tim named him. sigh... LOL) I found a website that claims to have a female mcCoskers. Cross your fingers for me! Also hunting down a filamented similar to the avatar.

 

Hmmm... next thing to look into is the natural habitat these guys come from. Wonder what corals should be in the tank to make them feel more at home?

[FlowerMama]

I was at my friend's house today that's not on NR. They have one of these purpleblue/yellow. I forgot to ask what it was. Is it in the same family as yours? I just thought the color could be beautiful and the shape is similar.

 

[Polarcollision]

I was at my friend's house today that's not on NR. They have one of these purpleblue/yellow. I forgot to ask what it was. Is it in the same family as yours? I just thought the color could be beautiful and the shape is similar.

 

 

Wow. That's a stunning fish--beautiful blue and yellow. I can say for certain that it is not a flasher wrasse, but don't know all the wrasses yet in order to rule it out of the wrasse family all together. How big is it? Looks to be around 3-4 inches from the photo?

[FlowerMama]

Wow. That's a stunning fish--beautiful blue and yellow. I can say for certain that it is not a flasher wrasse, but don't know all the wrasses yet in order to rule it out of the wrasse family all together. How big is it? Looks to be around 3-4 inches from the photo?

 

2"

[gena]

I never get tired of your videos, Felicia . I loved how the one was peeking around the column too LOL.

 

 

 

They make a cute couple . They color coordinate!

[Polarcollision]

2"

 

Check it out - here is it's alter ego! If that's the same fish, then it's a lightning wrasse. Great name! Unfortunately not reef safe.

[FlowerMama]

I think that's it. Yeah, darn, not reef safe.

[Felicia]

Yeah, so the rising play count on all of your videos is me. !!! I just love those little guys! Do not feel guilty in the least for egging you on to get the linespot. :-) The carpenters is a character. Cracked me up the way it slowly peaked out behind the column with eyes searching. Can not get over how they move their eyes to check things out before making a move. All my other fish just swim to see what's going on.

 

 

Yay! So good to see!! I really like the hints of purple on the second flasher.

 

 

Mr McCoskers runs to hide every time we round the corner into the living room. I had thought it's just par for these fish. Ever since our conversation it's becoming clear how much of a community fish the flashers are. It seems logical that they'll be more confident and content with others in the tank. OK. I'm convinced 100% to get one or two more family members for Fruitiger (Tim named him. sigh... LOL) I found a website that claims to have a female mcCoskers. Cross your fingers for me! Also hunting down a filamented similar to the avatar.

 

Hmmm... next thing to look into is the natural habitat these guys come from. Wonder what corals should be in the tank to make them feel more at home?

Glad you're enjoying my videos! I figured I'd about video'd you guys out for the weekend. The wrasses just entertain me immensely at this point and they're impossible to photograph well because they move so fast. I am sooo glad you egged me into going back for that linespot! So far the Carpenter's has more personality. He doesn't like when I'm right in front of the tank, but he still wants food so he peeks around the column like that. Its pretty funny They're eyes move around so much more than other fish. They're eyes are more like the seahorses.

 

The linespot definitely has some really nice coloring and patterning that doesn't show up that well in the videos.

 

I do think they're fish that spook easily, but I'm hoping they may get more used to movement over time. At least they're out and about swimming quite a bit of the time. You should definitely get some buddies for Fruitiger (haha!). I female would be amazing! I hope they actually have one in stock. Otherwise, obviously the male thing actually works.

 

I never get tired of your videos, Felicia . I loved how the one was peeking around the column too LOL.

Good to hear! At least these were all short videos The Carpenter's is quite the character!

 

I think that's it. Yeah, darn, not reef safe.

Pretty wrasse! Love the bright blue and yellow. Its too bad so many of the wrasses aren't reef safe. The puffer is awesome too. A puffer is one of my dream fish. Its too bad they're not reef safe either. I have such a ridiculous list of things I want but can't have:

1) Porcupine puffer

2) Octopus

3) Moray eel

4) All the giant colorful angels

5) Jellyfish

The list goes on and on...

[Felicia]

Since the clowns are on hold for a bit, I think I'm going to go ahead and transfer over the corals and other fish tonight. I'm really sick of having the holding tank in the middle of the kitchen and I don't want to be doing water changes and feeding 3 tanks. Its a pain! 2 tanks is definitely my limit on maintenance before I get frustrated.

 

I plan to test the water in the new tank when I get home to confirm all the parameters are in order. Then I'll probably go ahead and go a water change and then start transferring things over. Most of the corals are easy, but I have some encrusted onto the old rocks that I will have to figure out what to do with. I think I'll just cut decent sized frags of any encrusted zoanthids to transfer into the new set-up and then sell the rocks with the remaining encrusting zoas and palys. The other bit of work I'll have is trying to rid the corals I'm moving into the new tank of the cyano and hair algae that resulted from the crash. I have lots of things in the holding tank coated in algae and cyano, and I don't want that gunk in the new set-up.

 

I realized I was being dumb and one of my clams walked off of the rocks onto the bare bottom holding tank and has now attached its foot. Any suggestions on how I can get it to release without injuring it?

[HVani]

I love your wrasses! I have a McCoskers and he's really neat. He tends to flash at my chromis and small clown. Mine is out most of the time. When I first got him he was really shy but he's gained confidence.

 

I want to eventually get another wrasse for the tank I just can't decide one what kind.

[Felicia]

I love your wrasses! I have a McCoskers and he's really neat. He tends to flash at my chromis and small clown. Mine is out most of the time. When I first got him he was really shy but he's gained confidence.

 

I want to eventually get another wrasse for the tank I just can't decide one what kind.

Thanks! I love them too! They're slowly warming up. They're a bit shy but both of them will come out for food now, so that's good. Both of mine were out and about this morning swimming around in the open. Glad to hear yours is out most of the time now!

 

Well apparently a male flasher wrasse of a different species would do well with your McCoskers. Both the Carpenter's and Linespot are both pretty. If you want a different type of wrasse, I know they get along with yellow coris wrasses. I love mine. He's got a great personality, is always out and about, not shy at all, and is such an awesome pop of yellow.

[FlowerMama]

ice cube?

[gena]

I've read you can use a razor blade but make sure you hold that thing flat to the glass so you don't cut the foot! Should be easier with no sand in the tank! I think I've heard of using an ice cube too .

[dixie reefer]

Beautiful new fish! I used to have a McCosker's wrasse in the 36 but sadly it did not survive the ich outbreak I had. He was definitely my favorite! I can't wait to see this tank with all of your corals in it!

[Felicia]

ice cube?

I've read you can use a razor blade but make sure you hold that thing flat to the glass so you don't cut the foot! Should be easier with no sand in the tank! I think I've heard of using an ice cube too .

Thanks for the input. I used a scalpel and cut up against the glass, so hopefully I didn't harm the clams foot. I sure hope its ok! Its partway back opened up after the transfer, but I don't know if that means its totally fine.

 

Beautiful new fish! I used to have a McCosker's wrasse in the 36 but sadly it did not survive the ich outbreak I had. He was definitely my favorite! I can't wait to see this tank with all of your corals in it!

Thank you! Ich is the worst!

 

Well I finished transferring everything over! I'm too tired now to deal with draining and cleaning up the holding tank right now, so there's still a tank in the middle of my kitchen. However, I'll get that out of there tomorrow, so that will be nice! I can finally have my kitchen floor back! Woohoo!

 

All the corals and all the remaining fish have been moved back into the tank. Everything seems to be doing well after the transfer. It took quite a while because I had to frag a lot of my zoas off the old rocks. For now everything is just thrown in there at random. I'll have to work on placement another day. There are also some corals in there that I don't plan on keeping, but I want to sell them, so they'll be held in the tank until I can get them sold.

[Polarcollision]

I love your wrasses! I have a McCoskers and he's really neat. He tends to flash at my chromis and small clown. Mine is out most of the time. When I first got him he was really shy but he's gained confidence.

 

I want to eventually get another wrasse for the tank I just can't decide one what kind.

 

I am bad, bad, bad: Check out page 4 on my thread for stunning flasher wrasse suggestions! The three sp. we already have are pretty fantastic too.

 

Thanks for the input. I used a scalpel and cut up against the glass, so hopefully I didn't harm the clams foot. I sure hope its ok! Its partway back opened up after the transfer, but I don't know if that means its totally fine.

 

Thank you! Ich is the worst!

 

Well I finished transferring everything over! I'm too tired now to deal with draining and cleaning up the holding tank right now, so there's still a tank in the middle of my kitchen. However, I'll get that out of there tomorrow, so that will be nice! I can finally have my kitchen floor back! Woohoo!

 

All the corals and all the remaining fish have been moved back into the tank. Everything seems to be doing well after the transfer. It took quite a while because I had to frag a lot of my zoas off the old rocks. For now everything is just thrown in there at random. I'll have to work on placement another day. There are also some corals in there that I don't plan on keeping, but I want to sell them, so they'll be held in the tank until I can get them sold.

 

I was about to pester you about not posting another video of the flashers, but I see you've been busy setting up their house. I guess you can take a pass. For today. :-)

[Felicia]

I was about to pester you about not posting another video of the flashers, but I see you've been busy setting up their house. I guess you can take a pass. For today. :-)

Soon! Expect some new photos too since all the corals have been moved over now. The only issue is that I broke a solder on my light fixture when I moved it back, and so now only the blue channel is working. I can't get a decent photo or video with blue lights only to save my life, so I've got to fix the connection on the white channel first. I did that same thing moving the fixture onto the holding tank a few weeks ago. Its because my LEDs are on two separate heatsinks that are wired together and when I move them, they pull at the wires between the two heatsinks and pop connections. Luckily its an easy fix!

 

Ok guys, so I'm thinking some big plans in terms of filtration for this tank. I realized with the two wrasses, I'm going to have a decent bioload in here now and since I no longer have as much live rock or the huge amounts of macroalgae I had before, I've probably got quite a bit less filtration. The BRS media reactors work great on the seahorse tank, so I want to run a reactor on this tank. However, with no sump, that would mean having the reactor pump in the tank...totally ruins the aesthetic...so anyways, I'm thinking...

 

ITS TIME TO SUMP THIS BABY!

 

Ok, don't get too excited yet because I definitely do not have enough space in my stand (its super narrow) for much of a sump. The only standard sized tank that will fit in there is a 5 gallon, so I'm thinking that I'll just use a 5 gallon with no partitions to get some equipment out of the tank and allow me to run a media reactor. With the new scape, the heater is no longer hidden and that's bugging me anyways, so I could move the heater and ATO down into the small sump. I'm thinking I'll also finally get a small skimmer since it would be out of sight down in the sump. My big question is, would it be ok to run this all without and partitions. The 5 gallon is so small that if I start putting baffles in, I doubt everything would fit. I'm just wondering if I'll have a lot of microbubbles from the skimmer, since I read the baffles help reduce microbubbles. What do you all think?

 

My plans is this:

1) Eshopps Nano overflow box (200 gph)

2) Slip to barb fitting connection to the overflow box so that I can use 3/4" vinyl tubing

3) Vinyl tubing empties into a 4" filter sock

4) Open (no baffles) Aqueon glass 5 gallon tank holds the filter sock, a single BRS reactor running carbon and GFO (this has to sit down in the sump since I don't have any other space in the stand, an SCA-301 skimmer, heater, ATO float switch and tubing, and then a Rio (420 gph) return pump.

5) Vinyl tubing will be used for the return and connect to a CPR inflow kit: http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalog/product/view/id/1355/

 

To prevent overflow in case of a power outage, the sump will only have about 6" of water in it. That leaves a little over 2 gallons of space, which should be more than enough for what the overflow box will continue to pull before breaking suction. If the water level is 1" about the teeth of the overflow box during normal operation, the overflow will pull 1.9 gallons before it breaks suction. The CPR inflow kit has a whole drilled just above the waterline to prevent backflow in case of a power outage.

 

Does this sounds like a remotely reasonable plan? I know almost nothing about setting up a sump since I've never looked into it before. I just think I need more filtration equipment and I want to get it all out of the tank. This won't have a refugium or anything, it will just be a place to house some filtration. Feedback please!

[Zia]

OMG Finally a Sump and a skimmer Yes please!

 

Ive never been a fan of non partitioned sumps. Also have never seen or heard of anyone having any long term success with one. I'd imagine you'd have major micro bubble issues at the very least. Also problems with any other detritus that the sock and skimmer don't catch and possibly other filtration media getting sucked into the pump causing issues, with no baffles in place.

 

Dont know the dimensions your working with but did you check out this micro sump

 

Edit: i just took another look at it and it's teenie! Like the size of a piece of paper small. But maybe you could give Mike your actual dims and he could make you a custom one with this same design? His prices always seem very reasonable.

[Felicia]

OMG Finally a Sump and a skimmer Yes please!

 

Ive never been a fan of non partitioned sumps. Also have never seen or heard of anyone having any long term success with one. I'd imagine you'd have major micro bubble issues at the very least. Also problems with any other detritus that the sock and skimmer don't catch and possibly other filtration media getting sucked into the pump causing issues, with no baffles in place.

 

Dont know the dimensions your working with but did you check out this micro sump

Ok, so that sump is even smaller volume wise than a 5 gallon, but its the wrong dimensions. A lot of the stress here is also that with such a small sump I have to be super careful that it isn't going to overflow if the power goes out and the return pump shuts off. This is why I've never seriously considered one before, but I'd like to be able to run a reactor.

 

Would it work to just have two sections in a 5 gallon then? 1 large open section for everything except the return pump and then the return pump in its own chamber to eliminate microbubbles and detritus? I might be able to squeeze in one tiny separate chamber for the return pump. Now the question is, could that just be one baffle, or would it need to be 3 to create the over-under-over path for the water?

 

So, this:

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/SingleBaffle.png.html'>

 

Or this:

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/TripleBaffle.png.html'>

[Zia]

Option #2 is better. That should help tremendously with the micro bubbles and catching anything else you wouldn't want sucked into your pump (assuming you could put a little sponge in between the first and second baffle)

 

My sump only has only two baffles as seen in pik. But the nice thick sponge makes all the difference in stopping all the micro bubbles and other crap. And my sump is crazy high flow (from the skimmer return, powerhead in the sump fuge) and generates alot of bubbles.

 

Also check this out, it might be very helpful here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/sump.html

 

These guys make cheap all in one glass sump kits. They don't have a five gallon listed atm but they could make one to any spec for probably less than 35 bux id imagine. All needed baffles and a nice 4'' sock holder. But your crazy awesome with diy, so i'm sure you can knock one out yourself also.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=201036325132&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

[Felicia]

Option #2 is better. That should help tremendously with the micro bubbles and catching anything else you wouldn't want sucked into your pump (assuming you could put a little sponge in between the first and second baffle)

 

My sump only has only two baffles as seen in pik. But the nice thick sponge makes all the difference in stopping all the micro bubbles and other crap. And my sump is crazy high flow (from the skimmer return, powerhead in the sump fuge) and generates alot of bubbles.

 

Also check this out, it might be very helpful here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/sump.html

 

These guys make cheap all in one glass sump kits. They don't have a five gallon listed atm but they could make one to any spec for probably less than 35 bux id imagine. All needed baffles and a nice 4'' sock holder. But your crazy awesome with diy, so i'm sure you can knock one out yourself also.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=201036325132&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

Thanks, Eddie! You are such a huge help! I changed up the baffle design a tad bit to make it more like yours and added in a sponge. That should hopefully fix it! Trying to cram everything into a 5 gallon is next to impossible! I realized the reactor isn't going to fit down into the sump with everything else. I'm going to have to set the actual canister part down into my 5 gallon ATO reservoir in the stand and then the pump will be in the sump. The 5 gallon sump and 5 gallon ATO reservoir will be right next to each other.

 

Those kits are cool, but I'd rather just make it myself so it can be exactly how I want it Plus, I want to use a glass tank, so my baffles should be glass. Acrylic really doesn't silicone very well to glass and the baffles would fall out of place over time. There's a place to get glass cut around here, so that should be easy enough. Hopefully its not too much more expensive than buying acrylic and having it cut.

 

Here's my latest design. The ATO float switch will be in the right chamber with the return pump.

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/SumpDesign.png.html'>

[Felicia]

I just saw Salt Critters add for their sale and next thing I know I purchased 3 rock flower nems! Oops! I got one red one for $10 (I wanted 2, but they didn't have enough) and 2 of the regular ones for $7 each. With shipping all 3 nems were $63, which isn't too bad. I don't have the money for the expensive ones from VIP reef, but Gena and Annette have got me wanting to give a couple a try!

[FlowerMama]

I just saw Salt Critters add for their sale and next thing I know I purchased 3 rock flower nems! Oops! I got one red one for $10 (I wanted 2, but they didn't have enough) and 2 of the regular ones for $7 each. With shipping all 3 nems were $63, which isn't too bad. I don't have the money for the expensive ones from VIP reef, but Gena and Annette have got me wanting to give a couple a try!

 

HA ha ha. Hey- that's wonderful. My first nem, the white zebra, came from Saltcritters, also for something silly like $7 or $8. She turned out to be the mama I have now!!!