My New Tank!

[FishMel]

Wow guys, my new tank just got delivered!! I am beyond excited! :D The tank, stand, sump, skimmer, and lights (temporary, my halides come in next week) all arrived a few hours ago. Well, I opened everything up and am embarrassed to say I don't know how to hook most of this stuff up. :rolleyes: I guess I need to buy some sort of tubing to connect the sump...? I'm really confused on the skimmer...but what matters is it's here!

[hcs3]

mel,

congrats!!

i'd be more than happy to stop by and put it all together for you, or offer my advice and instruction if you prefer to do it yourself. JLMK.

henry

[FishMel]

JLMK...? :confused:

Woo! I figured out the skimmer. Apparently you just drop it in the sump... :spin2:

[DKKA]

JLMK= Just Let Me Know.

Mel,

Having Henry help you would be a good thing. Depending on what kind of tank/overflows you have there may be some changes he can help you with that will make the plumbing quiet and more reliable.


(and when he's done helping you see if you can send him up my way to do a water change for me..... :D )

Dan

[FishMel]

thanks henry! (and dan for translating) I didn't want to answer before in case you ment joking lots...mel...kansas...or something...

I would be very grateful if you could take a look at it for me. maybe you could help me figure stuff with the flow and powerheads too! :D

[hcs3]

hey mel,

my schedule is tight, but i'd be more than happy to stop by and offer suggestions. i'm sure i could be talked into doing it for you as well. :)

did you have a time frame to work around? certain days or times?

henry

[FishMel]

I'm free after 8pm today, and untill tuesday. wow, I have no life.

[FishMel]

*until are there things I should have? like tubes, tubing, gate valves, pvc glue stuff? (I have no idea what I'm talking about)

[hcs3]

can we plan for saturday or sunday evening? i'm leaving in under an hour for chicago and won't return until just prior to the CIMA meeting saturday. maybe after the CIMA meeting saturday?

if you are unsure of what plumbing parts you'll need, why not hold off on buying anything until i swing over. that way i can send you to lowes or menards with a shopping list :D

henry

[absolut]

Where'd ya get your tank from??

I too am plumbing challenged...I hope I can find someone in my area when I get my new drilled RR tank...hopefully before the first of the year. :smokin:

[hcs3]

airfare down and tickets to a game and i can be talked into it ;)

[FishMel]

Originally posted by hcs3
after the CIMA meeting saturday?

i can send you to lowes or menards with a shopping list


sounds, perfect! I'm excited :rollface:

Originally posted by absolut
Where'd ya get your tank from??

I had a local pet store order it (and the stand) for me. All glass and Oceanic only sell though other stores. Shop around, I'm sure someone near you can order one. (make them deliver it too! :D )

[FishMel]

Originally posted by hcs3
airfare down and tickets to a game and i can be talked into it ;)

hahaha!

[David MC Lee]

Let me know when your ready for some zooanthus frags.

[FishMel]

Thanks! I put salt in the tank yesterday and this weekend I'm getting my live rock...it's all very exciting. Maybe one day I can host a meeting. :rollface:

[FishMel]

Woo! I got my first fish! It's a copperband butterfly, he looks really great and happy. Things are good, but over the holiday I learned that I need a way to auto-top off the water for Chistmas! Good thing I finally have a little money to buy a pump or something...

Sorry I couldn't make the meeting but the pictures are cool :)

[hcs3]

i suspect you must have found aiptasia in your tank, eh? ;)

[FishMel]

found? blah, I didn't need to find it, it's everywhere! heh

[hcs3]

welcome to my world :D

[FishMel]

I think he's eating my little feather worm guys too though...I can't be certain. :(

Any advice on an auto toppoff system? I put that 20 gallon tank in the corner like we talked about, so far I just use it to make fresh saltwater though...

[hcs3]

i would expect the fan and feather worms to be gone long before the aiptasia... :sad:

you have several options for top-off. if you wanna piece together a DIY doser (ie cheap), talk to epon, he'll set you up. you'll get fresh RO topped off on a daily basis, but that is it.

if you wanna do a full-blown top off system (ie expensive) with kalk, talk to me. you'll get fresh RO top off with your calcium/buffer at the same time.

[FishMel]

well, I'm gonna have to go calcium and everything, I need the tank to be as self sustaining as possible. How much are we talking?

[hcs3]

prolly $600. let me check...

$275 for reactor
http://www.myreefcreations.com/main.html
click on "nilsen reactor"

$250 for quiet dosing pump (vario) or $180 for loud dosing pump (reef-filler) both can be found here:
http://www.championlighting.com/e/env/0001sMzNmhdyLGUyQg668s9/Products/products.html?link=/Products/Dosing_Systems/dosing_systems.html

i have the reef-filler, and i think dan does, too. they are excellent pumps, but can be loud.

HTH

[DKKA]

Yep, I have the reeffiller too and it has worked great. I bought the model that can handle two tanks. Best money I've ever spent!
If you don't want to fork out the bucks for a nilsen reactor right now then you could use a garbage can full of premixed kalk to feed the reeffiller. Should work pretty good for you, at least until your tank is heavily stocked with stoneys.

Dan

[saltyseaman]

If you want to go with a reactor that is a wee bit more affordable then check this out

http://www.reeftek.com/Nielsen_Reactor.htm

I know it doesn't have the magnetic stirrer, but it's still a great deal at HALF the price. Just something you might want to consider if you want to save some $.

[FishMel]

Thanks guys! I'm gonna scrape my money together and tell you what I decide. I'm really excited to get my first coral so I want to make sure everything is in good order.

I keep flooding the apartment with the RO/DI unit, I always forget to turn it off! So I'm tinkering with the float valve right now. Ew, and not a moment to soon it still smells kind of moldy from that last spill... :o

[hcs3]

still hve a room mate? :p

[epon]

rotf!

Depending on the float switch and setup , you might need to look into a solenoid to switch off the water pressure or electric to the pump you decide to use to deliver the topoff. Theres a nice thread on a DIY topoff in the DIY forum, might help you work one out.

[FishMel]

Originally posted by hcs3
still hve a room mate? :p

Barely! I've managed to conceal the *actual* number of spills I've had, but there's no covering up the smell. :lol:

[FishMel]

Thanks epon, yeah, I figured out I can't just use the switch for the RO/DI by itself. I guess I'll just have to be careful till I buy a pump...

[FishMel]

Hmm, I'm a little worried about my fish. I saw him eat at the store, but now he won't eat what I give him. He kind of "begs" when he sees me watching him, but he always loses interest when I drop something in for him, almost like he doesn't see it. Is he just full from eating all my worms?

[hcs3]

tough to say. what did it eat at the store? where did you buy it? did you watch it eat, or did they tell you it was eating?

[DKKA]

fwiw, I bought a couple percs last year from Sailfin and they didn't eat for well over a week in my tank. Maybe even closer to two weeks.
John thought it was because I was offering them flake, and he says he never feeds flake in the store. I don't know about that, but they did eventually start eating on their own.

I wouldn't worry about it too much if he's eating off the rocks, and looks healthy.

Dan

[epon]

ran across this link, plug and play with a relay, price isnt too shabby either : float switch (http://www.aquadevices.50megs.com/)

[FishMel]

My copperband cleaned up -all- the aiptasia and now he's happy to eat frozen shrimp. :D Life is good again.

I'm still up in the air about what to do with top offs. I have a feeling how much $$ I manage to scrape together before the holiday break will help me decide.

My calcium readings have been going lower and lower (I haven't been adding anything to my topoff water or water changes) and now it might be my imagination, but my coralline algae looks a little sad. Should I buy some calcium suppliment to add? If so does it matter what kind?

[DKKA]

If you aren't ready to start adding Kalk yet then Kents Turbo Calcium is the way to go. Actually, even if you start doing Kalk it's a good idea to keep some Turbo Calcium (dry calcium chloride) around to bump up levels as needed.
You'll likely also need to start adding marine buffer if not already. I use SeaChems, but they're all about the same.

If you think it's going to be a while before you start adding Kalk then you may want to use one of the two parters like B-Ionic to keep both CA and Alk where they should be.

Dan

[FishMel]

oh no! help! I bought a pair of clowns (I couldn't resist, I've been wanting black clowns for ages) and now one of them (I think she's the girl) is acting funny. She is swimming vertically against one of the overflows. She's been doing it for two days and she's not eating. Her friend is eating fine, he swims around but usually sticks close to her. What can I do for her??

[DKKA]

I wouldn't worry too much. Clowns do weird things all the time. And come to think of it, the clowns I bought last year from Sailfin exhibited similar behavior (not eating, and hanging out vertically by the overflows) I was worried about them too, but they came out of it okay.
The only thing I can think of is to watch your butterfly and make sure he's not picking on them.
Otherwise, there probably isn't much you could do even if he/she was sick.
Henry or someone else may chime in and tell me I'm full of it, but I think your fish is probably gonna be fine.

Dan

[SoKaL ReeFiN]

More pictures!!

[FishMel]

Here's Squeaker!

[FishMel]

I'm clueless with aquascaping...:rolleyes:

[FishMel]

This is Ben and Geri, my roomate named them...:lol:

[FishMel]

Here are some plants that came with the rock, they've really been growing like crazy. I still don't know if they're good or bad yet...

[FishMel]

and a tank shot, it's kind of blurry.

[hcs3]

mel,

how are you acclimating your fish?

i'm assuming you are buying your fish from sailfin...be very careful with them. when you purchase fish from them the fish are coming from a salinity of about 1.016 - 17. yes, absurdly low. i suspect they are doing this to ease parasitic infection, but unfortunately john is still thinking this is 1960 and he has not read any of the research of the 21st century that states a salinity of 1.009 is needed to accomplish this while 1.016 is rather useless. all he accomplishes is adding stress to an already stressful situation.

in addition, the fish are extremely heavily medicated. all fish at saiolfin are treated with four chemicals (including formulin and copper), regardless of their symtoms. so you have a combination of the fish going through something similiar to chemo-therapy AND going from NSW (the ocean) to 1.016 (sailfin) and back to 1.025 (your tank). not good IMHO.

[FishMel]

That's horrible! No wonder they're stressed out! One of my clowns had a bubble around his eye and I found out it was from going to a high salinity in a short amount of time. At the time I read it I thought it was silly because my salinity was fine. *sigh* At least the bubble went away and he looks fine now. The girl is still acting funny but I'm hoping she works it out too. Thanks for the info, I'll have to go even slower when I aclimate in the future...

[hcs3]

btw, dan, you're full of it ;)

[FishMel]

My sick clown has gotten much worse I'm sorry to say. Now she's lying in the sand gasping, she's been that way all day. I don't know what to do for her, she looks the same as always (no spots, slime etc) except for the quick breathing. Should I put her in a hospital tank? I have a few extra tanks (a ten gallon and a 20 gallon), an extra powerhead (295 g/hr) and an extra heater. Do I need anything else?? I haven't moved her because I don't know what to treat her with and I don't want to stress her out any more. :( I posted on the disease forum but haven't learned anything useful yet.

on a related note, i've had her for six days, if she dies after tomorrow i'm out 45 dollars...

[hcs3]

hey mel

how's it doing today? i suspect only worse.

i wouldn't move it unless you can nail down an ailment and treat for it. otherwise the added stress won't help the situation.

if the need arises to replace your clownfish, you may want to visit inland aquatics. they usually have 100's of clownfish on hand, and all have been captive bred by either them or ORA. i suspect you'll find they are disease free and hardier than their wild counterparts.

HTH

[FishMel]

hi henry, my little clown actually looks the same. I'm really frustraited that I can't do anything for her. It's times like these I feel sorry for my tank, they've got me as a mom. Any suggestins on how to find out what's wrong with my clown?

I actually drove to inland two nights ago, I bought some snails and hermet crabs. I wanted a conch but they didn't have any. I really just wanted to check them out, I was so impressed! They did have some neat looking clowns...

I was told my little guys were captive breed. They're balck clowns and I didn't think you found them in the wild that often...?

[hcs3]

mel,

see PM.

[FishMel]

Well, I got back from vacation...looks like I'm in for some turbulent times. One of two turbos dead, one acting -really- strange, one missing clownfish, and lots of crazy algae. Hopefully things will clear up. Any idea where to look for my clown? I'm scared of picking up the rocks, I don't want to crush anything living underneath...

Happy new year guys!

[hcs3]

hey mel,

snails have a short life span in general. i wouldn't be concerned with the loss of them. as the years go by, you'll have to replace them every so often.

that algea is called caulerpa. if memory serves correct, caulerpa prolifera. don't panic, get used to it. harvest it as you can, or look towards purchasing an herbivorous fish. it can become a plague, but most everybody has to deal with caulerpa at one time or another.

the clownfish was present an accounted for the last time i stopped in. check the overflows and the sump. it may have been consumed if it died in the tank and settled near the rocks (worms, etc).

HTH

henry