Building Big Bertha: 800G - Page 24

LNell · #**576** 08/31/2007, 05:43 PM

Looks awesome. Hopefully they'll all group together into one group. Best of luck!

TRITON1 · #**577** 09/01/2007, 08:16 AM

In my experience, the little spots on the fins on tangs (possibly ich) clear up fast if they are getting fed alot. I like to feed new arrivals alot when they first get put into the tank to plump them up. It seems to help them defend disease the best. Not to mention it would be a major PIA to try to take one of the out now!

TRITON1 · #**578** 09/01/2007, 08:17 AM

PS - Soak their nori in garlic - that helps too.

bbrantley · #**579** 09/01/2007, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TRITON1
In my experience, the little spots on the fins on tangs (possibly ich) clear up fast if they are getting fed alot. I like to feed new arrivals alot when they first get put into the tank to plump them up. It seems to help them defend disease the best. Not to mention it would be a major PIA to try to take one of the out now!

Yeah, the little spots were cleared up by the next morning, actually! I was kind of surprised. Everyone seems crazy about swimming in the flow now, except Tabitha, who just goes back and forth and tries to annoy each tang. I think she will run out of energy for that soon!

Ben

pardalis · #**580** 09/02/2007, 12:56 AM

Awsome, tagging along.

nick540 · #**581** 09/03/2007, 06:45 PM

Nice fish. Just wondering if any corals are going in soon? I had a bit of an algae outbreak and i bought a sea hair and it went away fast, that was almost 2 months ago and he is still doing well. I may end up trading him or getting store credit just so i do not have to keep feeding him. They do work wonders an algae though, something to think about. They also may do better in a bigger tank like yours.

asnatlas · #**582** 09/03/2007, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pardalis
Awsome, tagging along.

erics3000 · #**583** 09/03/2007, 11:12 PM

Sweet>let get some updated pics of everything

jnarowe · #**584** 09/03/2007, 11:31 PM

You crack me up Shawn.

bbrantley · #**585** 09/04/2007, 10:27 PM

Howdy folks,

I'm back from my wedding jaunt this weekend. The fish seem to be doing well! I only had a short time today to observe them when it was light, but I think that Tabitha is still challenging the fish... but in general they seem to be "spread out" in the tank more, yet still coming together to swim around from time to time. Interestingly, I am not able to get any of them to eat nori off the clip... I don't know if they just haven't found it yet, or if I need to wean them back onto it. I will do some Selcon-soaking and see if that kicks it up a notch.

Alas, my calendar says I will be home only 5 out of the first 25 days of September... so the updates are going to be spaced out based on my limited free time. I will take some snapshots tomorrow and see if I can get all seven tangs in one frame.

See ya!

Ben

jnarowe · #**586** 09/04/2007, 11:02 PM

often fish will go crazy for nori if you rubberband it onto a small rock. That usually gets them going, as well as a little garlc soak.

Then you could switch to this:

This is shredded nori that I soak and then slowly feed into my tank. The fish suck it up like sphaghetti and you don't end up with pieces floating around, getting into your overflow, or wedged under a rock. It really does help keep the non-fish processed PO4 down.

normanfine · #**587** 09/05/2007, 11:50 AM

very cool looking setup

ruby1sam · #**588** 09/11/2007, 07:18 PM

Awesome!

bbrantley · #**589** 09/28/2007, 05:43 PM

Time to resurrect the old Bertha thread, even though I have a rather embarrassingly boring update.

I've been on the road almost all of September, so I've been doubly glad that everything continues to seem very stable and predictable in the tank. No leaks, explosions, burned out pumps, or sketchy looking parameters captured in the AQ's history logs. I think I'm getting lucky.

The other thing that's going very predictably is the on-going growth of the lovely hair algae. I am not in a position to make big water changes yet, and I don't have a phosphate reactor to try taking that out, but I'm hoping I can do all of those within a couple weeks. Perhaps they will help chew down this algae. Interestingly, the tangs don't seem to really put much of a dent in it. I see them poking at the rocks all day long, but it never really seems like it gets mowed down. I'll probably add a lawnmower blenny soon (I like that fish anyway) and maybe it's time to think about some clean-up crew. Anybody have any thoughts on those? Crabs or no crabs?

When I was back for a half-day a few weeks ago, one of the yellow tangs was showing some seriously nipped/ripped up fins. Fortunately, everything seems to have settled down now... no constantly battling, and for the most part everyone seems to hang out together. Let's All Be Friends. They're really quite pretty in there even just by themselves. It's fun to watch 'em.

I did a bunch of algae purging and scraping this afternoon, so the tank is all silted up, but I'll be able to get some "group shots" tomorrow now that they hang together well. I'll be working hard-core on the tank in the next few weeks, so buckle in and get ready for some more RC thread-reading fun.

Ben

"Umm, fish?" · #**590** 09/28/2007, 07:54 PM

I'm not a fan of hermit crabs any more (they eat lots of things like snail eggs). That's a mighty big tank. Have you thought about trying to get a pair (or more) of lawnmower blennies?

tangers · #**591** 09/28/2007, 08:11 PM

Mexican turbos are real good along with red leg hermits, not blue leg. Blue leg are far too aggressive, the red leg will not, or I should say are a lot less likely to, kill your snails. Lawnmower blennies will not take care of that hair algae, but will help maintain it.

jnarowe · #**592** 09/28/2007, 08:16 PM

tangers: encouraging a fellow reef keeper to put Mexican Turbos in their tank is like handing someone a handgranade with the pin pulled and telling them it will fix a fuel leak in their car. They are NOT captive reef appropriate by any stretch of the imagination.

bbrantley · #**593** 09/28/2007, 08:45 PM

So... what kind of snails should I get, and how many, do you think? I just want something to do a little sand-moving in the long run. (I'll kick the hair algae eventually just through better water chemistry.)

Also, can anyone recommend a specific fluidized bed reactor? I need to order several and I'd like a set that places emphasis on ease of cleaning/replacing the media within. They seem like such straightforward things, but Deltec is the only one I've found so far that's not designed for small tanks.

Ben

tangers · #**594** 09/28/2007, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
tangers: encouraging a fellow reef keeper to put Mexican Turbos in their tank is like handing someone a handgranade with the pin pulled and telling them it will fix a fuel leak in their car. They are NOT captive reef appropriate by any stretch of the imagination.

????? News to me. Everyone I know, including myself, has them in their tanks. I worked at a very respected store, both locally and nationally, and they swear by them. This is news to me please fill me in.

jnarowe · #**595** 09/28/2007, 09:25 PM

You can check out Project DIBS for lots of info. on captive reef appropriate inverts. I am sure that store sells "re-fresh" packs too. What a load.

I can't recommend any particular reactor as I make my own. They are so easy to make, and based on what I have seen of your build, I have no doubt you could make your own, and it would be better than anything you can buy commercially.

Untamed12 · #**596** 09/29/2007, 12:05 AM

I just strung together a few of those Phosban 150's. I find they are very easy to maintain. Nothing fancy.

IPT · #**597** 09/29/2007, 03:03 AM

Just stumbled onto this thread. Your tank all the remodelling are insane (in a good way). Inspiring to look at, way cool. Looking forward to seeing the progression.

bbrantley · #**598** 09/29/2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
You can check out Project DIBS for lots of info. on captive reef appropriate inverts.

Thanks Jonathan. I tried going to the DIBS forum, but it's a bit overwhelming. I skimmed a few of the forums, but I can't find the one for dummies that just need basic guidance.

I also tried the search, but the NoSpam captcha is too smart for me... I tried it about five times, and it always told me I had it wrong. Hmm.

Ben

jnarowe · #**599** 09/29/2007, 08:08 PM

Ben,

go ahead and PM me and we can discuss your tank and various inverts that would work for your reef keeping philosophy.

Me No Nemo · #**600** 09/30/2007, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bbrantley
one of the purples has some tiny white spots evenly spaced around the outer edges of his top and bottom fins. I'll be watching closely to see how those heal up (cross fingers). All the purples are already grazing on the hair algae (they also all ate nori off the clip immediately in the holding tank... unlike Tabitha!).

Until next time,

Ben

Do keep an eye on those white spots as those could be flukes. They often line up on the edges of fins like that. A freshwater dip will have them lifting off and falling to the bottom of the dip container if the spots progress or don't disappear soon. They look like tiny white potato chips, are fairly common on tangs and angels and are often thought to be lymph or ich. Gorgeous tank and fish! Good luck to you!