RollaJase's Trip Off the Deep End - Custom Rimless 55G

[RollaJase]

Tank is looking great! I love brains, and the zoa island is looking full! Best of luck!

Thanks for stopping by, glad you like the tank .

[Felicia]

Thanks Felicia. I definitely think that next time I'll let the LFS hang onto the leopard for a week or so before I go to collect. I did see this one eat while I was at the LFS so I thought it would be fine but apparently not.

Well eating is always a good sign, but leopards are just such touchy fish. I had one for a long time that did well and then after MACNA I got home super late at night with corals that needed to be added to the tank. I flipped the tank lights on so that I could see and apparently that spooked the sleeping wrasse. She came flying out of the sand and then dive bombed back in. Turns out she damaged her mouth and then she wasted away after that. I tried several others to replace that one with no luck. They would all pass away within a few days. Then I finally got a healthy blue star leopard that I had for several months. Then I went out of town and didn't feed my lionfish for a few days, so my big fu manchu lionfish ate the wrasse Well I assume he ate her since I never found any signs at all of a body.

[RollaJase]

Well eating is always a good sign, but leopards are just such touchy fish. I had one for a long time that did well and then after MACNA I got home super late at night with corals that needed to be added to the tank. I flipped the tank lights on so that I could see and apparently that spooked the sleeping wrasse. She came flying out of the sand and then dive bombed back in. Turns out she damaged her mouth and then she wasted away after that. I tried several others to replace that one with no luck. They would all pass away within a few days. Then I finally got a healthy blue star leopard that I had for several months. Then I went out of town and didn't feed my lionfish for a few days, so my big fu manchu lionfish ate the wrasse Well I assume he ate her since I never found any signs at all of a body.

That's a real bummer . They are a touchy fish, I was well aware of what I was getting myself into. I'm just a bit bummed I guess, I have wanted one of these fish for so long and when I finally got one it only lasted 3 days . When I ordered I had the choice of the meleagris or a bluestar and in a way I'm glad I went with the meleagris. The bluestar would have been a much more expensive mistake. I'm sorry about your losses also . Sometimes we try to do the right thing in this hobby and things just don't pan out how we intended.

 

Oh well, nothing I can do so no point being bummed about it. Not a whole lot I could do about the situation but maybe next time I'll approach things a bit differently and set up a full QT tank for the Leopard and keep a close eye on it to make sure all is well.

[Felicia]

Don't beat yourself up about it! Definitely not your fault since these fish are just so touchy. Yeah you'll just have to try again and hope you get a nice healthy one. If you're going to do QT, I'd suggest having a full sandbed since I think not having sand just really adds to their stress and issues. I'm not sure I'd do QT honestly, since their health issues don't seem to be diseases you could treat but general stress and just being delicate fish. That and the mouth issues. I almost wonder if QT would stress them more. Maybe ask Chris! He's had quite a few and had success with getting them settled in.

[RollaJase]

The QT would definitely be full sand bed but I totally get what you are saying about stressing out the fish in QT. When the time comes for me to order another one I might touch base with Chris and get some pointers, he does have a few really nice specimens co-existing in his tank.

[metrokat]

I'm sorry about the little leopard. I've always wanted one, especially that cutie in Zias tank was adorable, but not with my 6 line right now and then what Felicia is saying, Benny and Chris also have said, leopards are just the luck of the draw. You can get the healthiest fish but can get spooked and not eat or hurt themselves or jump.

The scape inspiration pictures were awesome. Some of those are just unbelievable.

[RollaJase]

I'm sorry about the little leopard. I've always wanted one, especially that cutie in Zias tank was adorable, but not with my 6 line right now and then what Felicia is saying, Benny and Chris also have said, leopards are just the luck of the draw. You can get the healthiest fish but can get spooked and not eat or hurt themselves or jump.

The scape inspiration pictures were awesome. Some of those are just unbelievable.

Thanks Kat . Yeah the Leopard was always going to be a gamble but I am determined to try again, just got to try and not startle the next one as soon as it goes into the tank . I agree, some of those tanks are spectacular, I keep an album of awesome FTS pictures on my PC for inspiration that I look at from time to time.

[niQo]

My hopes were short lived, found her floating upside down at the bottom of the tank this morning when I woke up for work, stiff as a board. I believe she may have starved but there were no signs of sunken stomach and no signs of external parasites. I would really like to get another one but may wait for the tank to mature more before trying again.

 

 

In other news, after full lights out I spotted one of my hermit crabs spawning! She was releasing all of the larvae into the water column and it was really cool to watch. I doubt that many if any will survive, most would have either gotten filtered out or ended up coral food but if the wrasse doesn't get the remainders I may find 1 or 2 little guys crawling around in a few weeks or so. For those who don't know, the female hermits store the eggs within their shell scrolled into their 'tail' I guess you would call it. Looks basically like this.

http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/hermit_crab_femaleweggs1.jpg

I have never experienced this before within the aquarium and I think it was just pure luck that out of the 3 new hermits I purchased, the two remainders were a male and female. Hopefully I see some more of this, if the wrasse doesn't pick these other two hermits off.

 

I did manage to get a few low light shots of the spawning, they looked pretty average on the camera so I'll see if any are worth posting up.

 

 

That's really cool about the hermits. I've seen my pom pom crab do this twice and its incredible behavior to watch!

[RollaJase]

 

That's really cool about the hermits. I've seen my pom pom crab do this twice and its incredible behavior to watch!

Yeah I was really surprised, was very cool to watch. I hope I get to see it more often . Thanks for stopping by .

[niQo]

Yeah I was really surprised, was very cool to watch. I hope I get to see it more often . Thanks for stopping by .

 

 

I still need to catch up on your thread... I'm suspecting I'll find some good ideas for a future build!

[Sk8n Reefer]

Catching up.....sorry about the wrasse - I really thought she was coming back?. I've never really looked or noticed that with my hermits- I'll have to watch closer ?.

[RollaJase]

Catching up.....sorry about the wrasse - I really thought she was coming back. I've never really looked or noticed that with my hermits- I'll have to watch closer .

Thanks buddy, so did I. Was a real shame but I am keen to try another one in the future. I'm sure my hermits may have done it at some point over the last 3 years, I may just have missed it. I don't usually look into the tank after lights out, I only noticed it because when I walked past I saw a lot of floating stuff in the water and it freaked me out lol. Blessing or curse of having low iron viewing panes haha.

[markalot]

Sorry about the wrasse, it happens.

[RollaJase]

Sorry about the wrasse, it happens.

Thanks Mark, yeah, these things happen.

[RollaJase]

Well, my clean up crew has been seriously lacking as most snails died prior to my tank upgrade and some of the remainders went with coral that I sold. Just placed an order for some serious clean up crew to join my pair of Trochus snails, pair of Turbo's, nano conch and pair of nano hermits. Didn't want to spend any more money on the tank leading into my upcoming holiday but I figure this really is a must. Ordered the following, will arrive Wednesday after shipping Tuesday.

 

2 x Crimson Janitor Hermits (will have 4 hermits in total)

1 x Trochus Snail (will have 3 in total)

10 x Turbo Snails (will have 12 in total)

6 x Cerith Snails

6 x Nerite Snails

4 x Nassarius Snails

 

Probably a little lacking still for a tank this size but I have never really had an issue with snails breeding in my tank so I expect the population to increase over time.

[teenyreef]

Nice! That crew is going to do some serious work

[RollaJase]

Nice! That crew is going to do some serious work

I hope so, I'm getting diatoms popping up on the sand and the dry rock is starting to get some initial algae growth on it. Not to mention the wrasse is leaving turds all over the place and I have nothing to remove them! haha,

[Zia]

Flipping amazing upgrade buddy!! The plumbing is SO GOOD! Nothing good happens fast. Now I can see why you took your time with this build. So clean so well thought out. Really appreciating that scape too. With the z/p island being my favorite.

 

But. Wait! Is that your original blue(ish)-green plate?! Always admired that piece as you know.

 

Cheers to your new tank bro

[Felicia]

^ Look Jase, a rare Eddie sighting!

[RollaJase]

Flipping amazing upgrade buddy!! The plumbing is SO GOOD! Nothing good happens fast. Now I can see why you took your time with this build. So clean so well thought out. Really appreciating that scape too. With the z/p island being my favorite.

 

But. Wait! Is that your original blue(ish)-green plate?! Always admired that piece as you know.

 

Cheers to your new tank bro

Thanks buddy , and thanks for stopping by. The tank is definitely a huge upgrade for me, still having some teething issues but the time I spent planning has really made the whole process a little smoother. Since that last FTS I have added a few more fuzzy sticks since the last update and the scape is starting to look even better now that it is filling out with some corals. The Z/P island is also one of my favorite parts of the tank. I'm thinking of adding a second tier for more zoa space as well as room for a clam on the top tier.

 

And of course that is the original baby blue and green plate , would never get rid of that piece, one of my favorites. The receding flesh is now 90% fully recovered so I hope it starts to grow a little larger when it is fully recovered.

 

Thanks for stopping by , I look forward to seeing what you come up with next .

 

^ Look Jase, a rare Eddie sighting!

Might need to call the police and recall that missing person's report haha .

[ninjamyst]

Just caught up. Sorry to read about the wrasse. Now I am hesitant to add one to my tank.

 

That's a lot of turbo snails =P. How big are they? The LFS here sells some the size of a golf ball.

[RollaJase]

Just caught up. Sorry to read about the wrasse. Now I am hesitant to add one to my tank.

 

That's a lot of turbo snails =P. How big are they? The LFS here sells some the size of a golf ball.

Thanks mate. I think it was just bad luck, as Felicia said they can be really hit or miss. I mentioned to the LFS that it died within 3 days of me owning it and they said had I let them know sooner they would just have told their supplier that it died in their holding tank and could have either gotten me a credit or a new fish. Oh well, at least I know for next time.

 

The Turbo's we get here are fairly small. The largest ones I have seen grow to about the size of a quarter in diameter, these will probably be between penny and quarter sized. It's not uncommon for us to get Trochus snails golf ball size but I have never seen Turbo's that big before. I hope they ship the order, we have had weird over night temps lately and if they decide to hold the order I'll have to request the shipment be held until I get back from my holiday.

[ninjamyst]

Thanks mate. I think it was just bad luck, as Felicia said they can be really hit or miss. I mentioned to the LFS that it died within 3 days of me owning it and they said had I let them know sooner they would just have told their supplier that it died in their holding tank and could have either gotten me a credit or a new fish. Oh well, at least I know for next time.

 

The Turbo's we get here are fairly small. The largest ones I have seen grow to about the size of a quarter in diameter, these will probably between penny and quarter sized. It's not uncommon for us to get Trochus snails golf ball size but I have never seen Turbo's that big before. I hope they ship the order, we have had weird over night temps lately and if they decide to hold the order I'll have to request the shipment be held until I get back from my holiday.

Oh wow, that's the opposite here with snail sizes. Mexican turbos are huge but trochus are relatively small. I wonder where they are harvesting the smaller turbos.

 

I will keep a look out for a leopard wrasse. I really want a female blue star. Problem is they are hard to find and usually sell fast. I rather buy a fish after it has been through some kind of QT at the LFS.

[RollaJase]

Oh wow, that's the opposite here with snail sizes. Mexican turbos are huge but trochus are relatively small. I wonder where they are harvesting the smaller turbos.

 

I will keep a look out for a leopard wrasse. I really want a female blue star. Problem is they are hard to find and usually sell fast. I rather buy a fish after it has been through some kind of QT at the LFS.

Yeah that's weird lol. I guess these must be an Australia variety then. The turbos were initially wild caught off of the coast of Perth in Western Australia and multiply like crazy in the frag tanks where I ordered them from. Due to this they sell them super cheap, at $1.30 per snail I can't complain. They are also covered in corraline which is a big bonus.

 

I really like the blue star leopard also, they aren't native to Australia though so fetch a high price. Another cool leopard that I saw over the weekend was a Black Leopard wrasse. My LFS had 2 small ones when I visited on Sunday (about 1-2" in length) and I found the colouration and pattern really cool. Not as pretty as the blue star but different to what you usually see, I like different and it's sometimes hard to be different in this hobby. They go from black and white to almost a deep blue and cream as they mature.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1378+300&pcatid=300

[RollaJase]

So I have discovered some water and no, it's not in the tank or sump but in the stand. Sunday night when I was doing my water testing I noticed some water in the base of the stand, a fair bit of water actually. I believe it must have been sitting there for a while due to there being some mold spots on the water proofing material and the fact that the water was saltier than eating a teaspoon of raw salt (yes I taste tested to see if it was tank water or water from the ATO). It had actually made it through the water proofing at the front right hand corner of the stand and some of the MDF that the sump sits on has started to swell slightly and the water has penetrated the front lip of the stand slightly also.

 

I pulled everything out of the stand (that I could) and proceeded to soak up the surface moisture with a towel before using a hair dryer to dry off as much of the waterproofing that I could. I left a towel in the front of the stand all day Monday and when I returned home from work there was no visible moisture but the fresh towel was slightly damp. That's when I noticed a very very slight leak that I hadn't noticed before. Back peddling a little, I noticed that all of my threaded barbs and fittings developed a very slight leak after being exposed to water for a prolonged period of time. My solution to this was to seal all the threaded fittings with silicon to prevent any leaks. This really only effected the plumbing to my reactors and was something I had fixed as soon as I noticed it (well, I thought I had anyway). The leak I noticed was from one of the threaded barbs feeding my carbon reactor, the leak was dripping directly behind the sump. After disconnecting the reactors I fixed the leak and proceeded to put additional silicon on all the other fittings I had fixed. Thinking I had fixed the issue I backed the stand back up and called it a night.

 

This morning I noticed some fresh moisture and realised that it is being pushed out from under the piece of rubber I have in the base of the stand that the sump sits on. I am 90% certain that the moisture I am seeing is water that was sucked from the rear of the stand to the front of the stand by the pressure of the sump sitting on the rubber mat, that and the stand has a very slight lean towards the front so gravity will help this along. The water could also very well be left over from when I overflowed the sump fixing the plumbing, I did clean all that up at the time though and I doubt it would have taken 2-3 weeks for the moisture to present itself. The only thing that has changed since fixing the plumbing was putting the reactors online so I am fairly certain that the cause of the water is in relation to this. Its either this or a potential crack in the sump or something else I'm not seeing. I'm going to keep monitoring this moisture and if it hasn't cleared up by the end of the week I think I may have to pull the sump over the weekend and see what's really going on. It wont be a process that will take a huge amount of time but I would probably be throwing away an afternoon over the weekend to do so.

 

Fingers crossed it isn't anything major .