New Tank Diary! 70 Tall (36x18x25) - Page 5

Philby · #**101** 11/27/2007, 07:03 PM

I know - that's what I'm trying to avoid!

Philby · #**102** 12/02/2007, 05:07 PM

I picked up my first tank inhabitants today!

A pair of tank bred False Percs from Adam's.

They're in my QT tank which was completely cycled before I headed to the store today (ammo, trites 0, trates <1) but I'll check parameters again before I go to bed and tomorrow to make sure my ammo doesn't spike too high with the new additions.

One is slightly darker (fins, body, stripe outlines - on the R in the pic) than the other, but is also slightly smaller...so I'm not sure if they're different ages or just have different coloration.

Sorry no names yet...

Philby · #**103** 12/02/2007, 05:15 PM

Now onto my LAST problem prior to filling with SW (I hope anyway...)

One if my drains (the 1" not the 1.5") is draining a lot of air bubbles into my sump and creating a LOT of noise as the bubbles break to the surface.

At first I thought this was related to my dursos, specifically the hole in the top, but not I'm not so sure since it's only happening on 1...and I played around with making it smaller and it didn't change anything (I don't want to make it bigger until I know that's the issue)

does anyone have any ideas??

ZLTFUL · #**104** 12/03/2007, 02:50 AM

Hey Phil...cute pair. I was actually there looking to pick up a mate for my False perc...but instead I was a bad boy and bought the little 6 line wrasse and one of the Royal Grammas he had there...

Sorry...no input on the overflow issue as i don't even have an overflow yet hehe.

dascharisma · #**105** 12/03/2007, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Philby
I picked up my first tank inhabitants today!

A pair of tank bred False Percs from Adam's.

While I can't condone purchasing anything from Adam's, those are some nice looking clowns.

Brad

Philby · #**106** 12/03/2007, 08:47 AM

I really wanted a pair of captive bred clowns - and for just 2 fish it was way cheaper than getting them online and paying $30+ for overnight shipping. Plus I didn't have to take a morning/day off work!

Ryan - are you gonna QT these for longer than you did your coral beauty?? and keep an eye on that wrasse, they're jumpers and can get a little bossy as they grow up so they might stress your other inhabitants...but hopefully you've upgraded by that time and have enough room for everyone.

and I think Sone solved my overflow problem, my return can't keep up with my drain so I need to throw a ball or gate valve on my drain to reduce it to match the flow rate of the return pump. So that's on my list to do tonite!

I want to get some SW in my tank and start aquascaping! My GF and I both have family coming around christmas and I'd like to have my tank full of something besides tap water!

ZLTFUL · #**107** 12/03/2007, 11:57 AM

Yeah...I actually QTed this pair. ;-)
The Wrasse is very inquisitive and it's tiny so I am hoping as it grows up in the tank with the other inhabitants, it will grow accustomed to the other inhabitants and be "nice" to them.
My current hood will make it difficult to jump...unless it can do an S shaped jump. My "reflector" overlaps the lip around the bottom of the hood so while it is open, it is an inch gap and it is staggered ...*knock on noggin*

Normally, I would totally agree with you Brad. But I was impressed the last several times in there with his stock. It still ****ed me off that the Condys were crammed like 10 to a small tank and the tangs are all looking unwell and he has a clown tang shoved into a 20 long....and....well hehe he does have a nice price on a 75 tank I could see in my future...

Philby · #**108** 12/04/2007, 08:50 AM

WOO HOO! My sump noise is completely gone and so now the only sounds my reef makes is from the pumps! (this is important since it's in the living room where we spend 90% of our time when we're home and not sleeping.) The pump noise is not bad at all, and will be further reduced when I build the sides/back onto the stand to hide the plumbing.

So tonite I will be making SW, transferring my LR from my garage to the tank, and hopefully will be able to do some aquascaping (I've still gotta make about 40 gallons of SW so I may not have enough water depth in the tank to start piling rock yet).

It's a good thing that my driveway/alley is already covered in ice, because it makes it easier to figure out what to do when I drain 70 gallons of tap water....

Philby · #**109** 12/05/2007, 10:04 AM

Filling with RO/DI has begun!

last night I drained all the tap water - only spilling a couple gallons on the floor cause I wasn't paying attention...

I also installed my starboard which was much more difficult than expected. It was sized for the 40 breeder I had previously, and my new tank has thicker glass (so smaller interior footprint), a center brace and an internal overflow. So I had to cut a notch for the overflow, trim the sides and back and figure out how to manuver it into place. It's finally in there and it only took 30 minutes and 15 or so cuts...

The sides don't look the best (i was using a jigsaw) but hopefully they won't be as noticable once I get some corraline growth, and that's if people are even looking at the starboard instead of my fish and coral!!

Tonite I should have enough RO/DI in the display to make it SW and add the cycling LR and water that it's in. Then I'll run the CL for circulation and throw a heater in the display temporarily until I can get enough SW made to fill up the sump. Then I just have to wait until my cycle is complete in a couple weeks!

Of course in that timeframe I need to finish wiring my lights and hopefully build the back/sides of my stand to cover the plumbing...but hopefully my clowns will be able to upgrade from QT in 2-3 weeks!

Philby · #**110** 12/05/2007, 10:24 AM

Question about QT - I know some people advocate QT for everything for a couple weeks before it goes into the tank (coral/fish) - but do I need to QT cleaner shrimp?

I know the goal of QT is to ensure the livestock doesn't have any disease and in the case of fish that they are eating - but are there these same concerns for cleaner shrimp?

Can I just add it with my clean up crew?

Philby · #**111** 12/06/2007, 08:11 PM

My LR is in the tank!!

Obviously the display isn't full of water yet, much less the sump - but I'm making water as fast as my RO/DI will pump it out!

luckily I have circulation via my CL and I put a heater in the display for now which is all I really need during the cycle anyway. The tank water is gonna be pretty cloudy/dirty until I get enough SW in the system to be able to turn on my skimmer. Once I get to that point I will also do some actual aquascaping.

I have about 50 lbs of LR which would have been enough for my 40 breeder, but I'll probably need another couple pieces - we'll see after I start playing around with the rock.

Clown update - they're eating both flake and spectrum pellets but seem to prefer flake. One is definitely more shy and rarely strays from his PVC home even to eat. He's getting a little more bold tho as I'll catch him exploring the tank from time to time.

Philby · #**112** 12/09/2007, 07:56 PM

Here are two pics looking at the tank from the front.

Here are the side views.

and finally the view from the couch

annewayne · #**113** 12/09/2007, 08:56 PM

Phil, I think your tank is gonna be sweet, get those lights working already so i can bring over some rare kenya trees J/k .

Philby · #**114** 12/10/2007, 08:43 AM

Thanks wayne - and I think I'll pass on the kenya trees - even though the green one is pretty sweet...

ZLTFUL · #**115** 12/10/2007, 06:48 PM

How about some rare and wonderful Xenia...it would go great with that Kenya tree...

Philby · #**116** 12/11/2007, 10:01 AM

I tested my water last night and got 0 for both Ammo and trites and somewhere between 2-5 for trates.

I only added LR about 2 weeks ago, so I can't believe that my cycle would already be done??

My initial thought when I got 0's on the first 2 tests was that since I wasn't checking salinity daily when the LR was in my garage and wasn't watching temp once I got the LR into the display (probably flucuated between 70-80) that perhaps I hadn't sustained an environment to facilitate a cycle - but then why would there be any trites??

Anyone got any ideas? Did my cycle just happen really fast?

I don't have my lights hooked up yet but I haven't really had any major diatom blooms (either the brown or the green) that everyone talks about.

Philby · #**117** 12/19/2007, 09:51 PM

I finally have fish in my display tank!! What a great early christmas present to myself!

These clowns had been in QT for 2.5 weeks which I know is less time than most people recommend - but since they were captive bred occellaris I wasn't too worried about them having any diseases or not eating which are the main goals of QT.

Also today I wired the rest of my T5's, so now I've got all 4 lights going. Depending on how much money I end up with after christmas I may upgrade my lighting. Sell one of my icecap 430's and get a 660 and another T5 retro (or 2 if they'll both sqeeze into my hood).

Anyway, onto the pics!

They hung out in this corner of the tank for the first hour they were in the tank, but now they've started to explore everywhere.

Here's the first FTS with all the lights and fish! Hopefully my starboard and LR will be covered with coralline before too long and won't cause such a harsh reflection in pictures.

Philby · #**118** 12/26/2007, 07:53 PM

Tomorrow I get my clean up crew (@20 snails and 2 skunk cleaner shrimp) and they'll actually have some algae to clean! I finally got my brown diatom bloom a couple days after I added the clowns.

Just today I also noticed some coralline starting to grow on the LR so hopefully that will continue quickly and encrust my rock in a couple weeks.

I'll post some pics tomorrow after I acclimate.

Philby · #**119** 12/27/2007, 08:06 PM

Well I killed/lost my first livestock

I got 2 cleaner shrimp along with some snails today, and 1 cleaner shrimp was acting strange the second it hit the water, and the other one seemed fine - but has now disappeared (could be hiding in the LR but I'm not too optimistic) My best guess is that the water in the bucket I was drip acclimating them in got too cold...I'll either float acclimate them next time or figure out some way to keep the water warmer. I've already disposed of 1, but the body of the 1 that was acting fine is MIA.

the snails are all doing fine, and started moving and eating algae a couple minutes after introduction to the tank.

slovan · #**120** 12/27/2007, 08:25 PM

Way to go Phil! Just kidding dude, sorry to hear about it. If you guys ordered it from LA, at least they'll refund or replace it for you.

Give it some time, I'm sure it'll come around. My cleaner shrimp will hide for a better part of the day.

Philby · #**121** 12/27/2007, 08:51 PM

We ordered from bluezoo, and they do have a guarantee, but I'm pretty sure I killed by letting the water get so cold, so I'm not gonna worry about having them replace it (already flushed it anyway, sometimes they want it back...) Also I'm using an old PH probe on my aquacontroller, and it's reading 7.7 right now, which is outside of their range to replace livestock...since I haven't replaced the PH probe yet I'm not sure if that's correct. I should probably work on confirming that reading and work on raising the PH if it is that low.

I want to get some fish soon (wanted to this time but they didn't have what I wanted) so I'll just get some more shrimp on that order.

I do hope the other one is hiding - but I don't have a lot of LR, so I would think I would be able to see it - but of course it could be inside one of the pieces in which case it wouldn't be visible

slovan · #**122** 12/27/2007, 09:14 PM

If you don't trust your pH probe right now, try having someone else test it for you. In the meantime, try aerating your tank with fresh air using a small air pump. Also, keeping a light on your fuge would help raise your pH a little.

dascharisma · #**123** 12/28/2007, 06:26 PM

1 of the 5 clowns I got in that order died. I would like to have it replaced if we are going to do another order through them. Does Ryan need to report the loss to them? Let me know what your plans are.

On a side note, I have kept tanks at 7.7 for years. If you acclimated the shrimp, there is no reason that they should have died. I say you report the deaths. If they want to be difficult about it (and demand a body), then let them. You're only out a few bucks and you know never to do business with them again. I have called in anything and everything to liveaquaria, and they have always instantly credited my account with no questions asked.

Brad

Philby · #**124** 12/28/2007, 09:38 PM

I don't care where we do another order from, as it seems there's not anywhere that has the fish I want right now...but bluezoo does have the best price on snails and I know you (and Ryan N?) need more of them.

I guess let Ryan Holl know and he can notify them, if they end up being anything like LA then I don't have a problem doing another order with them. (especially if everyone else is happy with their fish)

Philby · #**125** 01/05/2008, 05:02 PM

Got my first frag!

Wayne was nice enough to give me a piece of a green monti cap that broke off the large colony he got from JJ.

I'm gonna run the lights a little less than normal today, but Wayne has MH and I have T5s, so I'm not too worried about it adjusting.

I'm definitely going to need to watch some mount a frag before I attempt this again. I used super glue and glued the frag to a small piece of rubble easily enough (out of water) but it was quite an undertaking to get the rubble glued to the LR. I think I also need to invest in a box of latex gloves as my fingers were covered with dried super glue when I was done...

here it is!