Tank Journal Archive

[Grug]

Synodontis.. im not to worried about overtemp in the tank at the moment.. the heater finally had a break at about 9pm last night.. reached 26 on the little thermometer and was still there this morning..

Skimmer went mental last night.. filled up the cup with water and i think its due to back pressure on those short drop hoses that stop the cascade back into the sump.. so holes to drill tonight to release the pressure and also use some of my left over perspex to make a twin step shelf to stand the skimmer on and hold the pump up during power out so the damn thing doesnt fall over when it drains out.

i have successfully stopped that drip from the return hose ... top points for spotting that one ken.

my right knee is completly screwed today.. constant pain and unable to bend it.. i came to work today just coz i knew if i stayed at home and took pain killers the pain would have subsided enough for me to spend more time tinkering on my knees (Sump Yoga) and doing more damage.. ill just have to wait untill 4:30 this arvo to do that.. :)

All in all.. everything was happy and alive this morning.. (all be it in the dark) and stuff did start comming out last night .. so i is a very happy Grug.

 

[Grug]

All going well tonight.. came home.. and made a stand for my skimmer.. will see if it works.. skimmers not doing much at the moment.. but if you think about the fact that 2/3rds of the water is now brand new.. this is really no suprise.. more tinkering and tuning..

did ammonia and salinity tests tonight.. salts in check even though i lost a good amount of water over the last 24 hrs to a skimmer mishap and evaporation.. (god i hope its evaporation.. i cant see any puddles anywhere so... ) no ammonia spike to detect.. WOOT!

Managed to hook up the ATO tonight.. and was quite suprised to see the 10L jerry can fit in the space that was there.. Almost like the sump was built for it.. may have to look at getting a 15 or 20L container ..

Changed one of the 6 point power boards over to one that had 3 wide sockets and 3 normal sockets.. which is great.. i actually gained 3 sockets doing that.. i now have 2 spare sockets.. one of which will be taken by sump light soon.. (will get analogue narrow timer for this socket so i dont lose both my spare sockets)

tomorrow i will drop a bit of glue onto the timers to glue them to the power board as they are too heavy and try to fall out.. and Arlec are now cheap chinese power boards that dont grip plugs properly.. nothing dramatic.. just a drop that i can cut away if i ever have to replace a timer.

Then i think it will be time to start really tidying up cables and making the sump final equipment wise.

yes my knee is still buggered.. and im pretty sure that its going to be worse again tomorrow... but theres a new tank to be played with.. :)

 

[Grug]

Okies.. day 2.. (i think) had my ammonia spike tonight.. somewhere in between .25 and .5?? ish .. according to api useless colour tests..

Did 20L of water change which was a whole new set of logistics to think about.. found a pump.. changed water from sump and managed to work out that as much as i always struggled to start a syphon.. they can start really easily if you just leave the hose on the floor below the sump base and walk away.. only about 2 L or so.. but lets call that my first flood..

numbers not changing much after a 20L WC.. so will do the same tomorrow and see what happens..

Did some aquascaping tonight when i got home from work .. stirred up some crap so that could have set off the ammonia spike too..

Skimmer still not skimming.. but getting there..

Moved a power head after the aquascaping.. meh.. im gonna need a power supply to run my 3rd head that currently is in the tank but not running.

Lost squishy.. (small red star).. looked like something was chewing on him yesterday.. but today he was half missing.. he had the worse move out of all of the tank mates.. so not really suprised.. Mrs Grug is sad she lost her squishy.. :(

REALLY need to advertise old tank on classifieds !!!! Aqua one 620T with stand and overhead filter and upgraded lights. (4 x 600m T5 HO)

ATO unit float switch will prob need replacing as after my water change i plugged it in and it decided to drain the 5L left in the ATO res.. float switch has been cleaned .. hope for the best.

i should have known that the move went tooooo easily.. :(

Night all.

 

[VaultBoy]

just teething probs grug... it will be sweet soon.

Sorry to hear about "squishy" are you sure you dont have a mantis or pistol shrimp in the tank? I hae heard that they can do some horrible things to stars!

 

[Grug]

VaultBoy.... anything is possible i guess.. but i have only added new crushed shell to this tank as a bed..no new LR so im sure i would have seen evidence of that in the last tank.. peppermint shrimp is still there and doing ok.. but he has been in there for a while with the star.. so its hard to blame him..

and yeah.. Teething problems are ok.. but when physics throws you a curve ball with random magic syphons. thats just annoying :)

 

[MagicJ]

Okies.. day 2.. (i think) had my ammonia spike tonight.. somewhere in between .25 and .5?? ish .. according to api useless colour tests..

Did 20L of water change which was a whole new set of logistics to think about.. found a pump.. changed water from sump and managed to work out that as much as i always struggled to start a syphon.. they can start really easily if you just leave the hose on the floor below the sump base and walk away.. only about 2 L or so.. but lets call that my first flood..

numbers not changing much after a 20L WC.. so will do the same tomorrow and see what happens..



Lost squishy.. (small red star).. looked like something was chewing on him yesterday.. but today he was half missing.. he had the worse move out of all of the tank mates.. so not really suprised.. Mrs Grug is sad she lost her squishy.. :(

Grug sea stars need a very slow acclimimation period when being moved, something which you are not always able to provide when you are flat out trying to change over a tank. I suspect that this is what has caused its demise rather than being eaten.

Also, don't be in such a rush to do a water change when you have ammonia during the cycle. You really want ammonia in the water to feed the bugs which convert the ammonia to nitrite - if you reduce the ammonia they won'y multiply to the required levels.

 

[Grug]

orright.. yeah.. i kinda figured it would have been something other than a munched squishy.. with a new sand bed i couldnt really think of what could have eaten them..

ammonia last night was at .50 ish.. tonight.. skimmer still not performing.. Gonnie and Duncan corals still not out.. torch coral thinking about it. toadstool leather happy as.. (prob happy to have the extra space.. )

i had Seca trying to sell me stock !!! and some bag to reduce the ammonia.. but was reluctant to sell the ammonia eating bag untill i had issues for a while.. (i didn't buy either.. :) )

More water testing after i "test" the steak thats waiting for me in the fridge.. .. :)

 

[Synodontis]

Hi Grug,

Sorry to hear about Squishy! :( That's a real shame after every thing went so well on the day. Hopefully everyone else will settle in soon. Always going to be a small cycle but it shouldn't last long with the amount of "old" water we used. Keep us up to date.

 

[Grug]

Mrs Grugs opinion of the test today in sunlight says that ammonia is down v close to zero if not zero.. (apparently the fairer sex can match the colours better)

Squishy had a tough run.. so all is good... not touching it tonight.. giving the knees and spine a break.. going to leave skimmer tuned to where i hope is right overnight and hope to high heaven that it doesnt kick in tooooo dramaticaly while im asleep and then again at work tomorrow.

 

[Grug]

Crappy iPhone Photo time! :) the current aquascape.. i think im half way there.

 

[VaultBoy]

Looking good grug!

 

[Grug]

Not much news tonight.. feeding.. looking.. skimmer working.. it kicked in nicely overnight and didn't go mental.. so happy with that..

got a 9LED clamp lamp from k-mart.. prob not the best light for my sump.. but it will do for the time being.. its flexible so good for working in there.. hopefully it produces the right light for the DSB and stuff.. (one rock in there with hair algae on it .. its been my algae magnet rock since day one.. so im happy with that.)

 

[jashay]

looking good bro! :D

mate, could you enlighten me into what coral that big one in the left hand side of the last pic is, pink body with the green tips?

 

[Synodontis]

It's a leather jashay :) dunno what kind tho, lol

The tank IS looking good Grug

 

[jashay]

It's a leather jashay :) dunno what kind tho, lol

The tank IS looking good Grug

cheers matey :D its a cool looking leather, like the green on it! cool as :D

 

[VaultBoy]

I really like the leather corals are they hard to keep happy?

 

[Synodontis]

I dont think so, they can be moody tho, close up for a few day's, but come back just that little bit bigger. :)

 

[jashay]

I really like the leather corals are they hard to keep happy?

from what I know of them they are pretty easy. have also heard and read that they frag fairly easy too. otherwise from what I know they can handle water parameters that arent perfect but do require a reasonably good level of quality. pretty sure they grow quick too.

 

[Grug]

Yeah.. its a toadstool leather i think.. and yeah.. easy to frag.. cut off a finger and stick it somewhere with some string.. new coral.. does close up (i hate to say it) for about 3 days too a week once a month and sheds its skin and this can be a bit nasty to the tank.. carbon pads/bags sort that out though.. in my old tank he caused the other corals to be grumpy during his little moments..

we call him bubblegum coz thats what mrs grug rekons he looks like.. when its stuck to the bottom of your shoe..

Blindingly obvious 0 ammonia reading tonight.. HOORAY! :)
Happy Bubblegum tonight.. and gonnie to the lower right trying really hard to come out.

V close up with a macro extension tube in my last tank.. lighting messed with post processing and due to flash.

 

[Grug]

Bugger it!! Came home from work today and checked the tank for losses.. (optimistic i know) and found Bubba, my peppermint shrimp, dead.. no damage and no decay.. so happened today i can assume.. still not happy .. lost my little aptasia warrior.. :( Coral beauty and Hermit still going ok.. leather coral and Horn coral (maybe?) still happy.. ric is doing ok.. morphs are half half.. and my torch coral is half half.. duncan still hasnt made a good appearance..

time for a full set of testing tonight.. test ALL the things!