Hannah’s tank journal

[Hannahhhh]

I just had the worst ten minutes in my tanks history 😭 Last night I accidentally released a pistol shrimp into the main tank instead of the refugium. I went to get him today by lifting one of my rocks, but no luck, he wasn’t there. Unfortunately neither was my indo torch coral. I spent a few minutes looking for it, only to realize I had knocked it into the intake for the fuge. I turned off the pump, but the damage was already done. It pulled off most of the polyps. Anyone have tips on saving a torch coral?? Is there any chance of it bouncing back? I’m so sad, it was by far my favorite (and most expensive) coral. I also found my emerald crab (dead). After I put everything back into place, the stupid pistol shrimp started snapping at me non stop. I swear he’s mocking me. 

[MrObscura]

6 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

Oh hmm. Well I mostly wanted a refugium for pods. Also my nitrates tend to run high unless I do lots of water changes. 

I really don’t like the set up of the finnex refugium though, it seems like it could easily tip over. 

A mature tank will develope a large pods population with or without a fuge. Unless your plan to keep a number of fish that eat only pods I would think you'd be fine without a fuge as far as pods go. 

 

And what do you consider high nitrates?  In my book unless they're consistently  over 40 no3 isn't an issue. 

[Ratvan]

6 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

Oh hmm. Well I mostly wanted a refugium for pods. Also my nitrates tend to run high unless I do lots of water changes. 

I really don’t like the set up of the finnex refugium though, it seems like it could easily tip over. 

My pico runs pretty stable at 40. My 34 is looking at stabilising at 20 ish but some of the corals (mushrooms) arent looking as good. 

54 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

I just had the worst ten minutes in my tanks history 😭 Last night I accidentally released a pistol shrimp into the main tank instead of the refugium. I went to get him today by lifting one of my rocks, but no luck, he wasn’t there. Unfortunately neither was my indo torch coral. I spent a few minutes looking for it, only to realize I had knocked it into the intake for the fuge. I turned off the pump, but the damage was already done. It pulled off most of the polyps. Anyone have tips on saving a torch coral?? Is there any chance of it bouncing back? I’m so sad, it was by far my favorite (and most expensive) coral. I also found my emerald crab (dead). After I put everything back into place, the stupid pistol shrimp started snapping at me non stop. I swear he’s mocking me. 

That's rough. I moved my hammer down into lower light and lower flow and it seems to be doing better after face planting when I first put it in. I gently removed any brown goo but left the clear in place. I fed mine as well. Dont know if torches would react the same way?

[billygoat]

Sorry to hear about the torch @Hannahhhh! 😥 I don't know much about LPS corals but it sure looks pretty brutalized. Here's hoping it recovers in time.

 

I used to think I needed a 'fuge to keep pods in my tank as well, but after several cycles of setting one up, not liking the extra maintenance, and breaking it down again I have found that as my tank matures I have lots of pods even without one. Maybe just give it some time and you can get by without one? Unless you are having problems with nitrates or phosphates of course; Chaeto will eat those up.

[MrObscura]

2 hours ago, Hannahhhh said:

I just had the worst ten minutes in my tanks history 😭 Last night I accidentally released a pistol shrimp into the main tank instead of the refugium. I went to get him today by lifting one of my rocks, but no luck, he wasn’t there. Unfortunately neither was my indo torch coral. I spent a few minutes looking for it, only to realize I had knocked it into the intake for the fuge. I turned off the pump, but the damage was already done. It pulled off most of the polyps. Anyone have tips on saving a torch coral?? Is there any chance of it bouncing back? I’m so sad, it was by far my favorite (and most expensive) coral. I also found my emerald crab (dead). After I put everything back into place, the stupid pistol shrimp started snapping at me non stop. I swear he’s mocking me. 

There are rough days. Just last Friday I had my worse day as a reefer. A simple weekly water change turned into a 4 hour ordeal when it started with my new jf kamikaze frag snapping in half(and now its RTNing) and went from bad to worse when half my rock scape collapsed. 

[Hannahhhh]

Well it looks a tiny bit better (still pretty awful though). 

[Hannahhhh]

21 hours ago, MrObscura said:

A mature tank will develope a large pods population with or without a fuge. Unless your plan to keep a number of fish that eat only pods I would think you'd be fine without a fuge as far as pods go. 

 

Well my hope was that if I was very successful in sustaining pods that I could look into getting a mandarin. 

[MrObscura]

I've never really looked into keeping a mandarin. But my tank has so many pods without a fuge that I wouldn't be surprised if it could maintain one.

 

I know people do keep them without running one.

[Hannahhhh]

It doesn’t look great, but the torch is definitely not dead (yet). It looks like it’s gonna try to live. 

[Hannahhhh]

Well I figured out where the pistol shrimp is living, he’s made a den right near the front of my tank. Now I have to decide if I want to trap him and move him to my fuge, or if I want to leave him where he is, since he’s in a moderately visible location. At the moment, I think I’ll hold off on trying to catch him, since the fuge is new and not super properly set up (it’s balancing on a stack of books...). I can’t really figure out what I did wrong in the set up, but if I don’t prop it up, it tips backwards. It’s a cheap set up (finnex external refugium) but it can’t possibly be designed so poorly that it just tips backwards... 

Anyway, here are some pictures I took. You can see the fuge setup in one of them. 

 

[Ratvan]

Does the fuge not have a self/auto levelling wheel?

[Hannahhhh]

4 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Does the fuge not have a self/auto levelling wheel?

Ugh no it doesn’t. I think I’m going to have to make a brace or something for it. I’m usually pretty handy, but having a hard time thinking of a way to troubleshoot it.  

[Ratvan]

Eggcrate. Or even a shim

 

Personally I'd cut down some acrylic rods to fit and glue in place.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Ratvan

[Hannahhhh]

Slow but steady improvement in my torch. I honestly can’t believe it looks this good after I butchered it. 

[Hannahhhh]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:02 PM, Ratvan said:

Eggcrate. Or even a shim

 

Personally I'd cut down some acrylic rods to fit and glue in place.

@Ratvan is this sort of what you mean? Basically glue the rod along the inside length of the fuge as something to balance against? Or were you thinking I should glue them to the bottom as columns to stand on? Sorry for the rough drawing. 

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Hannahhhh said:

@Ratvan is this sort of what you mean? Basically glue the rod along the inside length of the fuge as something to balance against? Or were you thinking I should glue them to the bottom as columns to stand on? Sorry for the rough drawing. 

I'd cut it into little feet but you could also do it that way

[Hannahhhh]

7 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'd cut it into little feet but you could also do it that way

Ok thank you!

It seems crazy that finnex is selling such a poorly designed refugium. I expected low quality, but not such a huge, glaring design flaw that makes it almost unusable. It almost makes me wonder if something was wrong with the one I received...

[Ratvan]

14 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Ok thank you!

It seems crazy that finnex is selling such a poorly designed refugium. I expected low quality, but not such a huge, glaring design flaw that makes it almost unusable. It almost makes me wonder if something was wrong with the one I received...

I'm surprised you dont have a levelling pad or wheel of some sort that attaches to the HOB at the base nearest the glass. You get one with a missing part?

 

EDIT. https://www.aquacave.com/finnex-hang-on-back-breeding-box-refugium-large-with-powerhead.html 

[Hannahhhh]

6 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'm surprised you dont have a levelling pad or wheel of some sort that attaches to the HOB at the base nearest the glass. You get one with a missing part?

 

EDIT. https://www.aquacave.com/finnex-hang-on-back-breeding-box-refugium-large-with-powerhead.html 

Yeah I think I’m missing the leveling feet. I got it through amazon, and they gave me the option to return it, but I already have it set up. So I think I’ll just try to use those plastic rods you suggested. 

[Hannahhhh]

Just found a 30 gallon IM long tank for sale on Craigslist, and assuming everything checks out, I’m picking it up tomorrow! I’m so excited!!

[WV Reefer]

8 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Just found a 30 gallon IM long tank for sale on Craigslist, and assuming everything checks out, I’m picking it up tomorrow! I’m so excited!!

Nice!

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

12 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

Just found a 30 gallon IM long tank for sale on Craigslist, and assuming everything checks out, I’m picking it up tomorrow! I’m so excited!!

Nice! Can't wait to see it 🙂

[Hannahhhh]

Just confirmed, I’m getting the IM NUVO 30L. I want to break down my evo and transfer everything into the new tank. Is that as simple as laying a sand bed, moving my fish, corals, and 12 gallons of water over, and then adding the remaining 18 gallons of newly mixed saltwater? Or do I need to fully cycle the new tank?

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, Hannahhhh said:

Just confirmed, I’m getting the IM NUVO 30L. I want to break down my evo and transfer everything into the new tank. Is that as simple as laying a sand bed, moving my fish, corals, and 12 gallons of water over, and then adding the remaining 18 gallons of newly mixed saltwater? Or do I need to fully cycle the new tank?

Congrats! I’ve always really loved that Nuvo 30L... was a top contender for my next tank, but somehow I ended up impulsively ordering a Biocube 32 today instead when I heard Amazon had a really good deal... Can’t wait to see your new tank!!! Super excited for you!!

[NaturallyKait]

@Clown79 had a really good breakdown on her thread of how she transferred her livestock during her upgrade.