Paneubert's 40G Breeder - Round 2

[paneubert]

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Full tank shot as of 8/20/18

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Full tank shot as of 9/15/18

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Tank(s):

Display: 40G Breeder

Sump: 20G Long, divided into three chambers

 

Lighting:

4 bulb, 36 inch, T-5 fixture.  Back to front bulbs are....

ATI Blue Plus

ATI Aquablue Special

ATI True Actinic

ATI Purple Plus

 

Rock:

About 60 pounds total.  About 30 of "Natures Ocean" and about 30 of really old BRS rock

 

Sand:

30 pounds total.  20 pounds of Carib Sea Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand, and 10 pounds of Nature's Ocean No.0 Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Live Sand

 

Flow:

Hydor Koralia 1 (400 GPH)

Hydor Koralia 2 (600 GPH)

Mag 7 return pump from sump.  Probably in the 400 GPH range due to height it is pumping

 

"Filtration":

I think it was already a knock-off of a knock off, but I have what at the time of purchase (years ago) was called an SC-65 protein skimmer.  Now it seems to have been re-branded as SCA-301? It is a clone of a Bubble Magus BM-NAC3.5

Two BRS reactors.  One with some carbon in it, the other with Bio-Pellets

Felt filter sock on drain from display

Some Chaeto in sump

 

Corals:

A lot of frags from AquaSD.....

Hammer with a few heads

Couple single head duncans

A couple acan frags

A couple zoa frags

A crap ton of favia frags

Goniopora

Alvepora

Echinata

 

Fish:

Pair of Maroon Clowns.  Larger clown has a slight lightning bolt pattern and a white "halo" band on her head.  Smaller one has a white dot on its tail and classic banding.

Six Line Wrasse

Group of Talbot's Damsels

Group of "Three Stripe" Damsels

Royal Gramma

Lawnmower Blenny

 

Anemones:
2 Rock Flower that are about dime size from Aqua SD

1 Rock Flower that is about silver dollar size from my LFS

About a dozen or maybe more Maxi-Mini from AquaSD.  Mostly variations of green with purple mouth, but a few that are mostly purple or mixed patterns

 

Inverts:

A  "40 gallon quick crew" from Reef Cleaners, which if you know them usually doesn't usually match the numbers they claim, but is more like "a handful of this and a handful of that".  But hypothetically....

42 Dwarf Ceriths 
14 Nassarius
17 Florida Ceriths
12 Nerites

10 Assorted Hermits (3 or 4 were dead on arrival)

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[paneubert]

Hello.  I took some time off from reef keeping (6 years), but I am back!  Figured I would start a new build thread/journal for the "new" tank.  Same actual tank as last time, with pretty much all the same equipment since I just put it all in storage for 6 years.  Old build thread is in my signature if you want to check that out as well.

 

Plan for today is to silicone the sump baffles.  Bought a 20 Long from Petco at the dollar per gallon sale, and then bought a "kit" from Ebay for the baffles and sock holder.  I am really impressed by the quality of the baffles.  They are really thick and obviously precision cut.  Sharp lines.  My tentative plan is to have the sump BEHIND my tank and stand.  Still on the floor, but not in the stand.  This sort of makes sense in my brain due to the location of the tank, but the concept might crash and burn when I actually place things if access to the sump is really hard to accomplish or something.  So.....stay tuned.  I'm not sure how I would get a 20 long into my stand if I do in fact need to get it in there....haha.  Would take some surgery of my stand I think.  Which I COULD do at this point since the main display is empty.  We will see.....

 

 

I think the most pleasantly surprising part was that they included some of the pieces from the little flow cutouts so that I could glue them back in if I wanted the middle refugium section to have a higher "solid" wall.  For a deeper sand bed or for whatever I might need more vertical space for.

 

 

I don't know if they included them on purpose since they did not send all of the cutouts, but.....I am happy either way.  I might glue back in one layer of them with a couple dots of super glue so that my middle section is a little higher walled.

 

The filter sock holder is also pretty nice.  It was a tight squeeze to get it in there since it sort of fits both over and under the rim.  Simply tipping the sock holder was not enough clearance to get it in place, so I had to both tip and push a little bit.  But on the plus side it is secure and probably won't need any glue to hold it together, or to hold it in place.

 

 

A few hours later....

 

In keeping with my crappy silicone skills, I present you.....this....haha.  Not sure what my obsession with white silicone is since it is quite possibly the most visible color I could use.

 

Dimensions of chambers are roughly 14 inches for the filter sock and skimmer chamber on the left, 9 inches for the center refugium chamber, 1 inch between the bubble trap baffles, and 6 inches in the return pump chamber/right side.

 

Plan right now is to also put my heater(s) in the sock/skimmer chamber.  Not quite sure what my plans are for the center chamber, but will most likely put a basket of rubble in there.  Maybe some macro algae with a thin sand bed.  Not sure.....

 

Also will be plumbing my reactors in here.  When I had a sump on my old 40B, I am pretty sure I had the reactors plumbed to draw from the return chamber and dispense in the skimmer chamber, basically running water back thru the sump multiple times before it made it back to the display.  Will most likely do that again.

 

 

[paneubert]

If I calculated things properly, the return chamber plus the 1 inch baffle area are the only places I need to be concerned about if the siphon on my overflow from the display breaks.  Assuming my other chambers remain watertight of course.  If the overflow breaks on my display and the sump is not being fed water, thus causing the return chamber to  pump dry, it should be a little over 2 gallons that it sends up to the display.  That amount in my main display tank should equate to a little less than an inch of water.  So as long as I have an inch to spare in the display tank.....I should not be able to flood it.  

 

I need to confirm, but I think I have 4 inches of spare vertical space in the sump.  So that is about 6.25 gallons of room before the sump would flood.  So if the return pump stops working and I need to account for how much water flows down from the display....  Seems I can handle 2.2 inches flowing down from the display.  So.....as long as I calculated correctly and as long as I make sure the water level is not more than 2.2 inches above the lowest point of the teeth in my overflow box, I have a floodless system.  

[paneubert]

So in another surprise development, my wife actually thinks the sump looks good BEHIND the tank.  I am not 100% sold on how far from the wall it puts the display, but it is growing on me.  It will make sump maintenance easier and if I ever need to remove it, it should be as simple as draining it and lifting it from behind the display/stand.  I can get to it from both ends of the tank, and to a certain amount, from reaching in thru the front doors of the stand.  Also means I can use the interior of the stand for an auto top of reservoir, power management, etc....  I plan to lay down a couple layers of some plastic sheeting, then a couple old bath towels under the sump so it will hopefully keep any drips from messing with our floor, and the towels will hopefully dampen any vibrations or rattling.  Sorry for the crappy photos and mess of a living room, but I like to put at least one photo in each post if I can.

 

 

[paneubert]

 

 

Got some rock and 10 gallons of water in the tank, just to start the cycle while I get my RO/DI system set back up.  Filled it just enough to have a heater laying horizontally and a small powerhead blowing across it.  About 4 inches of water.  I just realized these photos were before the water was added.

 

It is sort of hard to see with the clear bottom and back, but there is a nice "windey" tunnel under the highest rock.  There is also a tunnel between the two rocks on the far right.  Since this tank will be easily viewed from three sides, I made sure to leave lots of room all around for glass cleaning, and also to have a nice slope for coral facing the left side glass.  The rock on the far right has a pretty extreme/vertical slope, but I can still put something fun there.

 

Rock is a mix of really old dry from BRS (sitting in my garage for 6 years, not even sure what kind it is), and some new dry from Amazon (way more dense and way more "rock" like than the old BRS).  The three rocks on the left are the BRS and the two on the right are the Amazon.  The BRS rocks each are clearly one large colony of one type of coral, which is neat.  The Amazon rock is just a chunk of rock with some holes in it.  Haha.  I think I saw one indication of a pretty large calcified tube worm sticking out.  But other than that I could not tell you it was old reef rock.  Ohh well!

 

[zohar78]

good luck. 40 breeders are solid tanks...  in lot of ways, not too big nor too small. just lighting is a little pain.  being three feet just outside of 1 light and cost about the same as a 4ft tank (75g or 90g).  though being shallow, 2 ai primes rock the tank nicely.

[paneubert]

8 minutes ago, zohar78 said:

good luck. 40 breeders are solid tanks...  in lot of ways, not too big nor too small. just lighting is a little pain.  being three feet just outside of 1 light and cost about the same as a 4ft tank (75g or 90g).  though being shallow, 2 ai primes rock the tank nicely.

Thanks.  This is a reincarnation of my old 40B, so should hopefully work out well.  For now I ordered new bulbs for my 36 inch T-5 fixture.  But not going to worry about lighting this tank for a few weeks while it cycles.  I figure the less light for algae, the better.  I was thinking of going with LEDs from day 1 on this build, but ended up sticking with T-5 for now.  I have heard a lot of people say to just go with 2 AI Primes.  So maybe I will work on getting one or two of those for Christmas.  My birthday is in January as well....so there is that.

[paneubert]

Posted this in another thread about my old RO/Di system, but wanted to stick it here as well for reference in the future.

 

My batteries came in for my TDS meters.  TDS from the tap is 25.  TDS from the water dispenser on the fridge is 20.  TDS in the 342 reference solution is only 316......and it is refusing to calibrate to match the reference solution.  Ohh well.  It does read zero on my jug of distilled water.  So the low end seems accurate, the higher end, no so much.  I am going to buy a new meter and see if I can get back on track.

 

As for the RO/DI system and its in-line TDS meter, got batteries in that as well.  And much to my surprise, running water thru the 6 year old filters and membrane is bouncing between 1 and 3 TDS.  Post DI phase is strong zero.  Go figure!  Handheld is confirming these numbers, if it is to be trusted.  Even though it was reading as if all was working perfectly, I decided to switch out the sediment and carbon filters.  Went with a little bit of a weird micron size order.  My sediment is a 1.0 micron, the first carbon jumps up to a 5.0 micron, then the second carbon goes way back down and hits 1/2 micron.  I figure why not try to capture as much in the sediment filter so the carbons will last longer.  Pressure is showing 60 PSI, so I am happy with what is going on.  Making some water for the new tank as we speak.  Woot.

[Christopher Marks]

Great to see your system coming back to life @paneubert! That’s an interesting idea to keep the sump behind the tank, it does create a cool floating tank effect! Do you think there’s any added risks of contamination having it more exposed? Any kid toys that might go for a dive? 😆

[paneubert]

56 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Great to see your system coming back to life @paneubert! That’s an interesting idea to keep the sump behind the tank, it does create a cool floating tank effect! Do you think there’s any added risks of contamination having it more exposed? Any kid toys that might go for a dive? 😆

With the amount of toys I can see currently within 2 feet of the tank, something is sure to end up in the sump. Hopefully the kids learn their lesson when a bristle worm comes out of their My Little Pony.

 

I am planning to somewhat enclose the sump area with at least some short black walls to match the stand.  Most likely easily removable for maintenance and the same height as the stand.  So that should help a little with keeping things out.  The wife likes the sump where it is, but has started to comment that she can "see it" more than she thought she would.

[paneubert]

 

Long post.

 

Water is in and plumbing is done.  Electrical is.....a mess.  But everything is plugged in for the cycle.  I will reroute and do some cable management and cord labeling when things are getting closer to being ready for livestock.  Most of this post is meant to just be some info for me to look back on, so sorry if it is boring.  Haha.

 

Full tank shot.

 

Right side shot.

 

Left side shot.

 

Messy under stand shot.  Left side has two power strips that have individual switches for each outlet.  1 outlet on each of them is already permanently broken/in the on position.....which is better than if they were in the permanently off position I guess.  Right side is my 5 gallon ATO bucket with a Maxijet 1200 in it.  Output is up on the rim of my tank taped alongside my return J tube.  Flow is slow enough that I am not worried about it flooding anything.  It is the exact same way I had it set up last time this tank existed, so should work....  I have dual float sensors in the return section of my sump.  FInally, you can sort of see both of my BRS reactors in there.  I have one on the far vertical center support, and one on the front/door center support.  The are powered by a Maxijet 1200 in the return section of my sump that has a T output, one to each reactor.  I have ball valves on both the input and output of both reactors, so I have fine control of the flow to each.  All my tubing after the ball valves is silicone, so it does not rattle against the sump, and bends easily.  Could also be theoretically removed and boiled if I ever wanted to sanitize the lines.  Technically they are homebrewing/beer making  tubes.  Well.....that's where I bought them from at least.

 

Sump shot.  Two filter sock slots, but I have the drain only going into one for now.  Tried a splitter, but it made the tubes kink, even though I was using silicone.  Just slightly too much of a bend needed to make it work.  Skimmer is in that first chamber.  I also have two Eheim heaters in there.  A 150W and a 200W.  I have them both set to 79 degrees, and then I have them both plugged into a Inkbird temp controller also set to 79 degrees.  I figure having two heaters, both in the same chamber, and both with redundant temp control should theoretically assist with avoiding any cooked or frozen tanks.....  MIddle chamber has about a quarter to a half inch of fine sand, and a basket of rock rubble that I can remove to rinse if it becomes a nitrate factory.  As you can see, I have a little LED strip light on there.  Set to blue in the photo, but the other setting is very white, as there are way more white LEDs than blue.  Last chamber is the Mag 7 return pump, and the Maxijet 1200 that is split to the reactors.  Forgot to mention that both reactors are plumbed to return into the first chamber with the skimmer.  Mag 7 has a ball valve for control of the return speed, but I have found that leaving it 100% open is working fine for the flow rate.

 

This is the combo I went with for the RO side for now.  Did not change the DI resin or the membrane since I am seeing TDS in the 2-5 range after the membrane, and still zero after the DI stage.  Image wont let me rotate it, so in case you cant figure it out, that is a 1 micron sediment filter, a 5 micron carbon block, and then a 1/2 micron second carbon stage. After about 24 hours, I am seeing what looks like rust spots on the first carbon, which is......odd.

 

 

 

 

[paneubert]

Another note about my plan for the cycle.  When I was making my water, I was doing it 5 gallons at a time.  So I dosed some Dr. Tim's ammonia at the same time that I added the salt to each bucket.  Enough to  bring it to 2 ppm ammonia.  So 1.5 pounds of salt into 5 gallons of water, ammonia, and then a powerhead into the bucket until the water ran clear.  DId not heat or let is sit any longer than needed to dissolve the salt.  Then a pump with some tubing to pump it up into the tank.  Took about 5 minutes to pump the 5 gallons each time.  From tracking the temperature after each 5 gallon addition, it only dropped the tank temp by about 2 degrees.  

 

I have also been dosing 10 mL of MicroBacter7 each morning.  My test kits from 6 years ago are obviously super suspect, so I have not even been trying to test anything yet.  Just trusting that the 4 drops of ammonia per gallon got me to the correct level, and any die off from the live sand or anything leaching from my dry rocks would only serve to bump that up a bit.  Have a new test kit on order and plan to test occasionally just to see how things are doing.  But probably not daily.  

 

After reading lots of opinions on both sides of the argument, I also started up my BioPellet reactor with 1 cup of pellets today.  But I am not running my skimmer yet.  My logic is that I don't want to skim out the bacteria or anything else quite yet....but I would like to get the pellets populated and running for the longer term.  The common claim is that when using pellets you should let them go for at least a month or two before you try to adjust anything.  So why not have some of that time be during the cycle?  Worst case scenario is they somehow magically lower my contaminants in the tank to a level where the cycle drags out.  But I don't see that happening.  If all levels are looking good in a few weeks and I can add another dose of ammonia and see it back to zero after 24 hours, I don't care if that reduction was due to the bacteria in the rock and sand, or the bacteria in the pellets.  Either way the tank will be handling some bio load and will be ready for a clean up crew and eventual fish.  

 

 

[paneubert]

Lights are up.  I managed to find the wire hanging harness, bolts, and other accessories.  This went up and into the ceiling for mounting super easy.  Way easier than I thought it would be.  

 

[paneubert]

What's new.....initial cycle is mostly done it seems, which is not THAT surprising since I am still dosing 2 caps of MicroBacter7 each day.  Couple days ago ammonia tested at zero to .25 (had dosed the initial tank water to get it to 2.0), nitrites about 10, nitrates about 20-30.  Dosed the tank with more ammonia to get it back up to about 1.5 ppm.  24 hours later it is back down to zero to .25 .  May just be the cheap test kit reading a tiny bit high.  I have read MicroBacter7 may contain a bit of ammonia, so that might also account for the consistent low ammonia reading.  I should probably test the tank prior to adding the MicroBacter7 instead of after to see if I get a zero reading.

 

I ran the skimmer overnight just for fun, and woke up to about a quarter cup of really wet skimmate.  Classic color of tea and strongish salty smell.  Not super earthy smelling, but I am not surprised since I don't have any livestock or other "dirty" sources of contaminants in there yet.  May add a cleanup crew soon.  Turning the skimmer back off now that I know it still works after being in storage for so long.  

 

I won one of the Pod Your Reef giveaways, so I have a bag of pods and a bag of phyto arriving tonight (along with some stickers and other cool stuff).  I suppose the pods will be my first livestock addition.  Haha.  I did some reading and it seems that they should be fairly resistant to the ammonia, and the nitrate and nitrite are of very little concern to them.  So I am not worried about instant death or anything like that.  Glad I won the phyto since I can dose some of that to keep the pods happy and feeding.  It will also help to bolster the bio filter in the tank I suppose.  Going to also attempt to start a culture of the phyto so I can have a consistent supply when I do eventually get some corals and other filter feeders.  No loss if the culture dies out since this was free to me to begin with!

 

Since I only turned on my lights once since hanging them, still no sight of any algae outbreaks.  No diatoms, no film, etc..  Which is both good and bad in my mind.  I am glad I don't have to deal with an "ugly" tank, but I also sort of wish I did get an outbreak so I know my tank is "officially" towards the end of the cycle.  Then again, I am in the camp that fully believes you don't NEED to have an outbreak as part of cycling a tank.  I mean, if you never have phosphates, your nitrate never skyrockets, and you don't light your tank during the cycle, why would you expect algae?

[paneubert]

"Pod Your Reef" prize pack came in the mail.  The only thing that did not warn against human consumption was the little swedish fish.  Daughter ate it right away.  Decided to try culturing some of the phyto to see if it works.  Put about 40 mL into my display tank with the pods and the rest split between two gallon jugs in the garage.  Did not have any rigid airline tubing, so I zip tied some flexible tubing to some bamboo skewers.  Haha.  Trying it with airstones that put out a really fine bubble.  If the stones cause me problems, I will just go with a slow bubble from the tubing without an airstone.

 

 

[paneubert]

Another "expensive sounding feature at a cheap price" addition to the setup.  I was thinking about how I wanted to control my lighting and I remembered that last Christmas I bought a Wi-Fi enabled outdoor timer for our Christmas lights than had a fairly useable phone app as well.  Set schedules, turn on and off manually, on/off based on zip code located astronomical sunrise and sunset, random timing, etc..  I remembered it seemed pretty cheap when I bought it, and it worked pretty well.  So I went back to look at my Amazon orders.  Not only was that outdoor timer only around $25, the indoor versions are only $15. So I picked up a few of the indoor versions and have set them up on my lights.  Not going to have my lights on until I add fish or corals, but I set up a test cycle for tonight to make sure the timers and the schedule I set on my phone actually functions.  And come Christmas time I will have control of the Christmas lights in the same app as the tank lights.  

[paneubert]

Well that was a crazy trip to Petco....

 

I wanted to grab a 10 gallon for a quarantine tank and get it running now so it had a good bio filter when I added fish.  Ended up leaving with all my quarantine supplies......and a bonded pair of Maroon Clowns.  Haha.  Yikes......  Before you flame me, let me explain.

 

I have wanted to stock this 40B with a mated pair of Maroons at some point.  I had a pair last time around.  Now that the crazy variants (lightning, gold nugget, etc...) are easier and cheaper to find, I thought to myself it might be neat to get one of the pair as a variant.  Been looking around at the online suppliers, talking to my (not Petco) LFS about special ordering me a pair (or two small separate) Maroons when I was ready for them, etc...  No matter what route I was looking at, it would not be cheap.  And most methods would risk shipping stress.  Plus there were very few bonded or mated pairs for sale, and when they were..... $$$$.

 

So I am at Petco.  I see one little Marron who looks like a very slight lightning bolt pattern.  It has the normal bands, but the bands are speckled with lightning bolts/fractures in the band.  And looking straight on from the front/face, it sure looked like a little circle with a dark dot in the middle was present in the band.  I commented to the Petco person who was cleaning the tanks that it looked like they had a slightly "lightningish" Maroon for sale.  Only $20.  Said if she called it a lightning, it would normally go for (in my area) 40-70 bucks.   She tells me she is mad that she was shipped that fish from her supplier, and that she hates the variants.  Called them the cocker-poo (mix of cocker spaniel and poodle) of the fish world.  Said the pure blood is going to disappear.  She seemed pretty feisty about it.  Haha.  Then she says, "did you not see the other slightly smaller one in there?"  I look and see a smaller maroon who is a mis-band.  She says she is pissed about that one as well.  I say....well.....I will take them.  Haha.  I had to!  So now I am aerating and heating a ton of water and about to dump a full dose of Microbacter7 and Seachem Stability into the seeded filter media I am pulling from the display tank.  Going to keep a close eye on the ammonia and do some large percentage changes if needed.  Can't be much worse than the Petco conditions......

 

By the time I am done quarantining them, the display will be more than ready for fish.  I am going to let them settle in the QT for maybe a week, then dose some "General Cure", then hit them with some Cupramine in another week or so.  Let them simmer in QT for probably another few weeks.  I am not going to mess with just blindly adding Petco fish to my tank.  No offense to the Petco employees out there...... 😉

 

Smaller (hopefully staying male) misbar.

 

Larger (hopefully female or will become female)....I am going to call a "Lightning Light" pattern.  Really crappy photo and impossible to see the crackle in her bands.  You can see her circle on her head though.

 

Together for a size comparison.  Once again, crappy angle and photo.

 

 

[paneubert]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand carbon fines all up in my QT tank.  Awesome......  Apparently rinsing clean in the garage utility sink does not mean that it will still be clean when you drop it in the QT tank.....  Running some filter floss in an old/crusty hang on filter to see if I can clear it up a bit.

[paneubert]

QT starting to look less "carbony".  Changed the now grey floss for some new white floss.  Been squirting 20 mL of QT tank water into floating bag with fish every 10 minutes to slowly raise salinity and temperature.  After about an hour the salinity has only gone up in the bag .001.  Haha.  So now I am dumping about a quarter cup into the bag every 10 minutes.  Need to get it from 1.021 to 1.024.

[paneubert]

Still not the best photos, but the QT is up and running.  Maroons are eating already...chase the pellets as soon as I drop them in.  Sponge/foam filter unit (one of those ones powered by an air pump) is supposed to deliver tonight.  So will switch out the HOB unit for the foam unit for better bio filter establishment.  That bucket of rubble has been in my sump since day 1, and there is a foam block wedged behind it that was also seeded.  Bag of carbon on top of the foam block.  10 gallons of "fresh" saltwater already mixed and ready in case I need to do a 100% water change.  Still planning to also dose Microbacter7 and Seachem Stability each day as well.

 

 

[paneubert]

What is new today.....  clowns are active and like to feed, but seem to spit out whatever I give them.  I am sure they wont starve themselves.  

 

On another note, trying to remember if my lights used to shock me last time I had this tank set up.  Because they sure do now!  And I think they might have last time around?  If I am touching the wire hanging harness that I have mounted in the ceiling at the same time I touch the tank water, I get zapped.  Multimeter black probe in the grounding hole of an extension cord with red probe in tank shows around 25V.  Which seems to be "Acceptable" voltage according to the threads I can find online.  Seems 50V is when to start worrying.  Haha.  Welll....I would prefer not to have stray voltage, so I will be working that puzzle out.

 

Update:  Just thought to test the voltage between the tank water and the wire hanging harness since that is what was shocking me.  33V.  So that is a separate issue from the 25V already in my tank?  Seems so.....  

 

I think the 25V in the tank is just induced voltage from the pumps and the 33V from the lights is something else?  Although the lights are plugged into timers that were off at the time.  So shouldn't that have meant there was no power in the lights to shock me?  Will have to do some investigation...

[paneubert]

News from today.  Had a separate multi-page thread about the electrica issues.  Looking at the voltages I reported here last night versus the voltages I reported in that thread, the readings are all over the place, even for the same exact places and power statuses.  I'm going to just give it a break for a while and make sure I don't touch the tank at the same time I touch my lights.  Should be easy to avoid since the lights are hanging from the ceiling.  I mean....I was reading 24V with everything on, and then only down to 14V with everything unplugged.  How is that even possible?  I give up for now.

 

Phyto culture is looking good after approx 4 days of growth.  The air stones already crapped out on me, so I just have the tubes bubbling.  I did add a bit more fertilizer yesterday.

 

Never one to stick to the timeline I claim I will stick to, I decided to do a 50% water change on the QT tank with the clowns and start medicating.  I was getting a small ammonia reading, so wanted to do a water change and suck out any old food anyway.  So they have now been dosed with API "General Cure", which is 250 mg Metronidazole, and 75 mg Praziquantel.  As I have experienced with my quail (another hobby), Praziquantel is not very water soluble.  I am dumb and am using the powder.  Probably should have used the liquid.  Wonder if I could have just used the gel I have for my quail that I add to their watering can when I want to worm them.....  Both clowns look good still.  No super obvious visual infections or distress.  The little one does tend to hang close to the surface, but he is not gasping for air.  The bigger one tend to hang at the bottom.  I get to let them simmer for 48 hours and then redose once more.  Hoping he bacteria I add each day help to keep the ammonia down so that I don't need to do any water changes during the treatment.  No big deal if I do.  I have enough meds to treat the water change water if I need to.  Then after they are done with the "General Cure", I claim that I will let them recover for a week or so before treating with Cupramine.  We will see if I stick to my timeline.  Technically it seems some people just dose it all at once, but I don't really want to mix meds......especially since Cupramine can  be a little hard on the fish.

 

[paneubert]

Guess I will try for daily posting.  Today was uneventful other than the air pump powered sponge filter finally coming in the mail.  2 days late.  I had bought some larger sponges off Amazon in the hopes they would fit, but their center hole diameter is way larger than the air pump apparatus.  So the big sponges will continue to float in the flow of the tank and the sponges that came with the thing will stay on there.

 

Ammonia is climbing a little higher than I would like (meaning it is not zero), but my second dose of Metronidazole and Praziquantel isn't due until this time tomorrow.  Dumped another cap of Seachem Stability in there to hopefully boost the bacteria, even if it is just free floating and temporary.  I think I will most likely do a 50% water change in the morning and then  double dose the meds.  Since I am removing half of the meds already in the water with the water change, only really overdosing by 1/2 and not double.  Maybe I will do one dose right after the water change and then one after work to spread it out a little more.  Reading studies online about these drugs tell me that they dissipate almost completely from the water (technically are cleared by the bio filter) within 24-48 hours.  So I don't imagine there will be a large buildup in the system.  After another 48 hours I will do some big water changes and add the carbon back in.  Wait until everybody seems happy again and then hit them with the Cupramine for about 2 weeks.

 

Photo below shows the HOB filter running with some floss, the air pump filter in the background (shooting aerated water towards the HOB filter), the two big black sponges free floating, and a coarser weave sponge (the tan one) that was seeded from my display tank.  Little clown still hangs close to the surface...which makes me worry a tiny bit.  But bigger clown hangs down low, which makes me feel slightly better about the oxygen levels and ammonia.

 

[paneubert]

50% water change and re-dose of meds complete. Big clown ate a ton of pellets. Little did not seem hungry.....

 

Plan another med dose tonight. 

[paneubert]

Little clown freaked me out a bit....  I came home from work and did another dose of the Metronidazole and Praziquantel around 4:30.  It is now 6:30ish and he was sort of starting to turn on his side on the surface and break the surface a bit.  I don't know if it is from the meds, or from him not eating much, or maybe a bit of ammonia getting to him.  So I did a quick 50% water change.  Never ending buckets of water being created and used.  Haha.  Since this entire medicating cycle is meant to avoid parasites and I am not treating a known infection.....I might just cut the treatment a little bit short by adding my carbon back into the system after work tomorrow  (about 24 hours) instead of in 48 hours.  I don't want little clown to die or anything.  Then going to focus on getting him to eat before I think about Cupramine or anything else.