Monster House...

[ShadowViper]

Yea the filter system was a rainbow lifeguard system. Don't really think its real good for a SW tank. Also did any of ya notice there was a nasa tang in the tank. Personally I was real disappointed and offended with the short time setup. Its going to give alot of people that have never had a SW fish tank the wrong impression that a tank can be set up in one day. But thats just MHO.

[Jamesurq]

Bah!

I stayed up until midnight for that crap??!??

Nice house - nice location - but definitely half @ssed for monster house. That balcony was nice - but a real waste of time if you ask me...

In wall tanks all around with sharks..... 1 BIG pipe leading off-shore 1 mile - boom, you're done. No water changes, filters, skimmers, Nothing....

[rleechb]

nope, 6 tangs in a 250 ain't bad! i'd have 980982306231 if i had a 250.

[55Reef]

Here is a post from the homeowner on Monster house's discussion Board.

http://discovery.infopop.net/1/OpenT...6&m=8671969486

Someone should tell them about RC

Brian

[niko5]

I elect 55Reef to tell her about RC

[Freed]

Oh gee, there was something on instead of what was scheduled. I had the VCR set for the correct time and everything. Even checked the on TV guide. Have comcast cable guide. They do that all the time in my zone. Says something will be on but instead something completely different is on instead. Really torques me off to no end when I really want to watch something that they say and even advertise will be on but isn't. Anyone else ever have the same thing happen to them? Freed

[MarkS]

Originally posted by 55Reef
Here is a post from the homeowner on Monster house's discussion Board.

http://discovery.infopop.net/1/OpenT...6&m=8671969486

Someone should tell them about RC

Brian

I DID!! I DID!! I was first!!!

Of course, to be fair, I linked to two other sites... Put RC first though...

[niko5]

She doesent like us

"I could not find any relevant threads at reefcentral"

[MarkS]

I think she was talking about this thread... I sent her a PM.

[MalibuPam]

Thank you, Mark.

Yes, the corals were all fake! The fish are doing great. I will give more details soon (I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and MalibuChris and all the little children are hungry). In the meantime, anything specific I can answer when I get back?

[MalibuPam]

Thank you, Mark.

Yes, the corals were all fake! The fish are doing great. I will give more details soon (I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and MalibuChris and all the little children are hungry). In the meantime, anything specific I can answer when I get back?

[niko5]

Glad you found your way here... Ied do the welcome thing if I knew how... Im sure someone will or has already.

My only question (and I know its been asked many other times) when or where can we see some updated pictures of the fish tank Ied love to see more than just a corner or glimps of it (as monster house showed)

[MalibuPam]

Yes, I have a picture. Sorry for posting twice--I got a message website not responding each time I tried to send. Lucky I stopped at two times!

[lllosingit]

MalibuPam


To Reef Central
Sweet looking tank!
I haven't seen the show yet I'm hoping it will be on again?

[niko5]

Thats an awsome tank. Even though all the plastic stuff was colorful I think you made the right choice taking it out looks much better natural . I forget.. is the rock live rock?

[TheBimbo]

Welcome to Reef Central !!! I have to agree that they didn't show the tank enough, but hey your here now and that's what counts. Everyone here is great. You and your husband will get alot of help and information whenever you need it. Sounds like you are already way ahead of some of us... Good Luck, and post a picture of you and your family sometime in front of that "Monster Tank"

[MalibuPam]

The tank has live Fiji rock, and according to the fish guy's website, live Fiji sand as well. I have not quizzed him on the sand. I thought that live sand had smaller grains and was deeper than what I have. I'll ask when he comes back.

Now that the dishes are done, I will tell you more about the set up. For the show, it was chock full of rubber stuff. Hundreds upon hundreds of dollars worth. It was colorful, but clearly rubber and not the look I was after!

We were also over stocked at the outset. The fish guy and I had a chat the day after the show ended. That was when I was freaking out, because I was a total newby, with a huge tank and was suddenly getting told that if I did not have a weekly $75 visit from a fish service, the entire tank of fish would die off. $300 a month?? OMG! We are not movie stars here. The first thing I told him was that we needed to find a way to make this thing lower maintenance. That is another reason why we took out the rubber stuff--one less thing to scrub. We also took out the biggest, messiest, rarest, and most delicate fish (the Naso Tang, Emporer Angel, Racoon (angel? butterfly?), and another guy with blue teeth I can't name but the fish guy was very excited about.) This also lowered the bioload and the frozen food bill. Later we removed a porcupine puffer who was stressed by the other fish.

The question of cycling has come up on other boards. Here is what the fish guy did, to the best of my newby knowledge. First, live rock and sand, and fresh seawater. He also filled the sump up with way more pumps and filters than normally necessary. He seeded it with bioballs from another client's tank, and big rolled up sheets of stuff that were also previously in another client's sump growing whatever good things were in there. He put a few bags of charcoal in, and also used a bottle of Cycle. Also, there is a large protein skimmer. On his website he also mentions a UV sterilizer, though in my ignorance I don't know which thing under there that is. I've been told there is $5000 in equipment under the tank. For the first two weeks, he came every couple days to check on everything, and he did several water changes. I never had an explosive algae bloom as I was told to expect. I do get some brown algae, but it is no big deal. I have no significant green or red algae either. The tank has been up since September 20.

As for fish losses, my lyretail wrasse dropped dead suddenly, about two weeks in. The fish guy came that day and saw no sign of disease, and the water was fine. We have no idea what happened.

The only other problem is the little blue guys--Damsels? There is another kind of little blue guy; I'm not sure which I have and I feel like a bobo now that I can't say. But anyway, we started with 25, and have 7 now. The mystery is that I have only seen 3 bodies, and for a while they were going one by one, every few days. We blamed the wrasse at first, but they continued to disappear after he died. We stabilized at 8 for several weeks, and then last night I saw a body, mostly eaten, up against the filter. Tonight, I see one of the little guys with a bite out of his back. I have read about hitchhiking crabs in live rock that you will never see, that could be responsible. Is that farfetched? I should mention that I also have a clown trigger--but I have never seen him go after any of the other fish. He is now about 4". And yet, as of yesterday suddely someone is also nibbling on the foam ring that I drop food into.

Here is the inventory:
7 blue guys
5 yellow tangs
1 purple tang
2 clowns
1 red hawkfish
1 panther grouper 5" (mouth not big enough for a damsel yet)
1 clown trigger 4"
1 flame angel
1 long nose butterfly

The tangs, by the way, spend most of their time schooling together. They spar on occaison, but mostly stick with each other as they move around the tank.

All in all, the fish guy tells me he is very pleased with the progress of the tank. The live rock is developing excellent color, and I have picked up enough skill to have him come only twice a month now instead of weekly. I am changing my own filter bags, filter floss, topping off, and algae cleaning.

So there you have it. Did I miss anything?

[MrSandman]

Wow, for someone claiming to be a newbie you sure sound like you know your stuff! This is a great site to do research on and you can easily spend hours just reading and looking at pictures.

I gotta say, the tank looks much better now than it did before.

Also, if you ever need help from locals or are interested in joining a local club, check out the SCMAS or MASLAC forums on here. You can find the SCMAS on here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...php?forumid=50

You can meet nice people, go on tank tours around the LA area, and participate in coral frag swaps and giveaways.

[Adam101]

Pam I responded on the other fish board In PM asking for a PIC But I see a PIC here now and Congrats on being a new fish owner, did you even want a tank? LOL and that famous balcony what do you use it for? Intimate parties and social events (LOL IM kidding) as to the rest of the people whom said the final result wasn't as "dramatic" as other monster houses we have to remember other monster houses were made in isolated rooms Not a Vast vaulted space So Its harder to do things in open spaces and make it look as "dramatic" Pam you shoulda Just went up to the producers and said "What 250 gallons???? I thought this was monster house???? where's the 1,000 gallon????? I will say good day to you Steve Watson" No but seriously welcome

[bermudadiver]

Hi Pam, welcome to the board.

We only got a few seconds to look, but I'd put my money on your "blue guys" being blue chromis.

Have a look at this link. Do they look like this;

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=21&pCatId=113

I doubt they would be damsels. Any professional that would put 25 damsels in a tank should have his head examined

Anyhow, welcome to the best saltwater forum on the internet. You will get all the help you could ever want here (and then some!!)

BermudaDiver

[MalibuPam]

Originally posted by Adam101
Pam you shoulda Just went up to the producers and said "What 250 gallons???? I thought this was monster house???? where's the 1,000 gallon?????

ROFL--that is honestly what I was thinking!!!!!!! I saw all that steel and concrete going into the house, and the huge tanker of salt water, and I was thinking, they are building a structure to support something MONSTER! The irony is that even though I was really psyched for an aquarium, and I was hoping for a huge one during the week, I had no idea the cost of upkeep or the volume of water change necessary. As soon as I found that out, I freaked at 250! I was told later that they tried to get an archway tank for us (I saw a used 1200 gal arch on sale online for $25,000), but the logistics didn't work out.

ps--sorry about not answering the PM. I'm not savvy to those yet. Unless it waves in my face, I will miss it.

[MalibuPam]

Bermudadiver--I checked the link and they are definately not chromis. My 10 year old son now swears the fish guy told him they are Fiji Blue Devil Damsels, although they are not a perfect match by the photo. Ours are much more blue all over, and have a false eye (black spot) near the tail.

[DJ88©]

Pam,

Even tho it has been said already I'll give you the "Official" welcome. Not that the others aren't great too!

[welcome]

Feel free to participate fully in RC. You will surely enjoy the visit.

And from your description the fish are blue devils. They get thier name aptly. As you might learn in the future.

I welcome you to join in the main reefkeeping area. You will probably get a ton of info. Not just from the denizens that hang out here in the lounge.

[DashHD]

Pam awesome set-up you have ! I watched the show like mnay others did and thought they did a great job ! That poor woman had alot of welding to do I felt sorry for her ! From what I saw in the show I thought they were blue damsels but my eyes might have been playing tricks on me ! Here is a link to the blue damsel is this what they look like ?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=21&pCatId=111

[TheUPSguy]

Why don't you take a look at DJ88's design. He seems to be having quite the success on his design

Calcium Reactor