Tank Journal Archive
..... MagicJ.. not looking good.. stuffs dieing!!! thats not looking good at all.. hehehehehe.. did all the tests and i cant see any major problems.. just gonna have to cross the ol fingers and toes.. installed a carbon pad into the overflow tonight. see if that helps a bit.. im actually starting to think that my upgraded lighting and bigger fans might be causing the corals some issues.. have tuned down the 3000-48000lph as much as i can... i might re locate them tomorrow and see if i can deflect some flow off rocks etc.. (i did have too many rocks.. now i dont have enough.. damn big tank.)
Yeah.. ive always wondered about the leather.. soooo many of them out there that its hard to tell the difference.
Yeah.. ive always wondered about the leather.. soooo many of them out there that its hard to tell the difference.
Orright.. time for a sad update.. its not working!!!! 
Water testing (ammonia nitrite nitrate and ph) are not giving me any answers.. all zeros except for nitrate which is in the 2 ish range.. and of course PH 8.4
Salinity is ok.. 1.025 at the moment.. although this has been thrown around.. my ATO magnet stuck and caused a drop to 1.022 and i have brought this back up to 1.026 ish and now sitting at 1.025.. Temp has also screwed me over.. Tank was sitting pretty at 26 and on sunday morning i came down stairs to find the heater had freaked out (prob due to v close lightening) and sent the tank to about 30.. i let this slowly come back down to 26's.
so .. to be honest.. im not suprised that inhabitants are unhappy.. i lost my peppermint shrimp on friday upon returning home from work.. (unknown reasons) and the only coral that has been truely happy over the whole transition is my brand new Ric. (the doner will be happy to hear this.. i forget his name.. one of the guest fraggers at the last meeting.. )
Duncan has tried to come out.. but keeps ducking back in as far as i have ever seen him go.. Torch is more pissed than happy.. Gonnie the same.. Morphs are weird.. but hard to tell..
did a 25L water change tonight.. i know thats really not much in a 350 L system.. but im warming another 25 as i speak and im also a bit scared to rock the boat that much in such a new system.. ( yes i know that PWC's are generally a good thing.. but im starting to doubt everything at the moment)
its been a rough week.. and i know im expecting more that i should.. but it still scares me..
Water testing (ammonia nitrite nitrate and ph) are not giving me any answers.. all zeros except for nitrate which is in the 2 ish range.. and of course PH 8.4
Salinity is ok.. 1.025 at the moment.. although this has been thrown around.. my ATO magnet stuck and caused a drop to 1.022 and i have brought this back up to 1.026 ish and now sitting at 1.025.. Temp has also screwed me over.. Tank was sitting pretty at 26 and on sunday morning i came down stairs to find the heater had freaked out (prob due to v close lightening) and sent the tank to about 30.. i let this slowly come back down to 26's.
so .. to be honest.. im not suprised that inhabitants are unhappy.. i lost my peppermint shrimp on friday upon returning home from work.. (unknown reasons) and the only coral that has been truely happy over the whole transition is my brand new Ric. (the doner will be happy to hear this.. i forget his name.. one of the guest fraggers at the last meeting.. )
Duncan has tried to come out.. but keeps ducking back in as far as i have ever seen him go.. Torch is more pissed than happy.. Gonnie the same.. Morphs are weird.. but hard to tell..
did a 25L water change tonight.. i know thats really not much in a 350 L system.. but im warming another 25 as i speak and im also a bit scared to rock the boat that much in such a new system.. ( yes i know that PWC's are generally a good thing.. but im starting to doubt everything at the moment)
its been a rough week.. and i know im expecting more that i should.. but it still scares me..
So the tests you have done are good when you cycling but you need to increase it to include KH, Calcium and Phosphate.
Your corals consume calcium and carbonate to make their calcium carbonate skeleton, low KH will cause PH swings and generally unhappy corals and low calcium will cause unhappy corals. Fish poop, coral waste, die off and tap water will add phosphate which kills corals.
I doubt your pepermints death was due to any of the over, most likely the low salinity for a bit.
This may not be the answer but id suggest it as a starting point before pointing the finger at anything else
Your corals consume calcium and carbonate to make their calcium carbonate skeleton, low KH will cause PH swings and generally unhappy corals and low calcium will cause unhappy corals. Fish poop, coral waste, die off and tap water will add phosphate which kills corals.
I doubt your pepermints death was due to any of the over, most likely the low salinity for a bit.
This may not be the answer but id suggest it as a starting point before pointing the finger at anything else
Thanks NiCd.... no tap water in this tank at all.. one thing im very careful of.. i have KH and Mg red sea pro test kits.. and i have a Ca Api kit.. not wanting to dose the tank at the moment and with the large ammount of new NSW that went into this tank last week.. (2/3rds) i would have been happy assuming that the Ca and KH would have been quite balanced..
ill do a KH and Ca test after dinner.. and see what im looking at.. needless to say.. Coral Beauty seems happy as larry eating everything i give him and anything else he can find on the glass..
ill do a KH and Ca test after dinner.. and see what im looking at.. needless to say.. Coral Beauty seems happy as larry eating everything i give him and anything else he can find on the glass..
The genus is sarcophyton, the common names are all the names you have mentioned
ok had a full read of you TJ from the start and I must apolgiise I didn't realise the set up was as new as it is.
Were the corals showing signs of stress in the old set up or just since the new change?
Corals take about 4 weeks to adjust to new water parameters, flow or light. All three at once with a bit of ammonia is alot of stress.
If its just been since the change I wouldnt be too concerned just keep your parameters stable.
I know you say you dont want to chase numbers but out of all the tests you have done they are all pretty secondary in reefing to your KH and Phos. Those are the two that you want to keep an eye one once everything settles down.
NiCd .. yeah i was thinking along the same lines.. they were all going great guns in the old tank. as un suitable as it may have been.. ill just sit and stare intently.. and move to the KH and Phos tests now that ive seen the others settle.
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
Well the Leather got all happy as soon as he moved into the tank.. i rekon he was just happy to have the extra space.. he was starting to feel cramped in the 100L setup i had.. but he is having one of his moments now.. prob due to the temprature blow out i had saturday.. or countless other reasons..
not sold on the aquascape.. but it will do while things settle down..
not sold on the aquascape.. but it will do while things settle down..
The scape is ok.. not alot of height in it though.. (useable height that is.. ) and i think the structure in the middle could move further back as theres prob 25 ish cm empty space behind it.. the LHS (viewable from front and side) i think ill leave quite low with just the leather there.. its close.. but not final.. the big round plate rock on the RHS is there to stay.. Mrs Grug said she liked where it ended up so that means dont touch it.. :)
id love to get Zoa's going on the glass or even some softie finger thing going on.. or a mixture of both.. any way to encourage this?
id love to get Zoa's going on the glass or even some softie finger thing going on.. or a mixture of both.. any way to encourage this?
Time for an update... ... ...
Ummmm.. not much to say really... did a 40L water change this week.. still have to work out how to make that easy on myself.. i have a pump on its way.. but seeing as id like to do 60L water changes as a minimum ill need to do some planning..
Met a reefer working at Jaycar electronics.. had a big ol chat about how he is using all sorts of bits and peices to tech his tank support systems up.. i invited him to join us after he chucked in the trade sales discount for me.. came home.. replaced float switch on my ATO.. all working well now and skimmer working better now there is a constant level in the sump..
im thinking my sump water level is too high in its running mode (15cm over low baffles).. i still have heaps of space for power off levels.. but im not seeing any movement on the surface beyond the skimmer section.. and im starting to see a dusty scum with air bubbles lurking around on the surface.. ive posted a thread about water levels in the equipment forum to see what your ideas are..
Gonnie is making regular appearances out and happier.. Ducan is still pretty damn grumpy and im starting to worry that such a hardy coral is not happy.. my torch is not making any progress but not getting any worse.. everything else is moving along quite well i think. my coral beauty is happy as.. and eating without an issue.
today marks 2 weeks from strikeup date.. so im not expecting any miracles.. but if anyone has any spare... :)
Ummmm.. not much to say really... did a 40L water change this week.. still have to work out how to make that easy on myself.. i have a pump on its way.. but seeing as id like to do 60L water changes as a minimum ill need to do some planning..
Met a reefer working at Jaycar electronics.. had a big ol chat about how he is using all sorts of bits and peices to tech his tank support systems up.. i invited him to join us after he chucked in the trade sales discount for me.. came home.. replaced float switch on my ATO.. all working well now and skimmer working better now there is a constant level in the sump..
im thinking my sump water level is too high in its running mode (15cm over low baffles).. i still have heaps of space for power off levels.. but im not seeing any movement on the surface beyond the skimmer section.. and im starting to see a dusty scum with air bubbles lurking around on the surface.. ive posted a thread about water levels in the equipment forum to see what your ideas are..
Gonnie is making regular appearances out and happier.. Ducan is still pretty damn grumpy and im starting to worry that such a hardy coral is not happy.. my torch is not making any progress but not getting any worse.. everything else is moving along quite well i think. my coral beauty is happy as.. and eating without an issue.
today marks 2 weeks from strikeup date.. so im not expecting any miracles.. but if anyone has any spare... :)
Hey Grug, :)
how are thing's going??
how are thing's going??
Whats the "Anchorman" quote?: "Ron Burgundy": IM IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION!!!!!
Well really its not that bad.. but i am getting bored and broke chasing numbers.. as much as i promised myself i wouldn't, it had to be done..
Alk was through the floor according to Red sea pro test kit.. Mg was half of what it should have been .. calcium wasnt tooo bad.. 380's ish.. but ive been slowly bringing up these numbers and seeing improvement.. very slowly ... and i may have been using the alk test kit wrong.. but now i have an API kit as well so im using both and taking an avg but shhhhhh.
i did however lose my first ever coral.. my duncan.. who never really bounced back from the move.. that was sad.. but SECA have some great specimens who may very well become Duncan the second.. so that pissed me off and made me sad.. but not suprised..
my one and only fish (coral beauty) is still going strong.. so thats ok.. and my Ric, Torch, Leather, morphs and other green guy who i can never remember are going on strong..
Skimmer finally dialed in to the new tank a couple of weeks ago.. overflowed and created a cyclic mess for about 12 hours till i caught it .. but no harm there.. now i just have a skimmer that works great.. untill this morning where salt creep had blocked the venturi and there were no bubbles in the skimmer.. didn't overflow.. actually went about its business with no level change at all.. so have cleaned that and am re tuning it now..
i have water changes almost down to a fine art.. although its weird.. i get 2 x 25 L containers of water and pour them into a 60L drum.. and almost as if it were magic i end up passing the 60L mark with only 50 L of water.. one of my containers.. (or all) are lying to me.. i syphon out into the two 25's and pump back into the tank.. not doing it from sump as i dont have 60L of drainable water in the sump. but this isnt too hard..
Phos must be dropping in the tank as my pretty purple macro algae has given up the ghost.. not such a bad thing..
Patience in the keeper is dropping.. i really really really want to start adding things.. but im still too scared.. going to start with a fish or a pair.. (clowns or blennie) as the fish has never shown signs of stress..
On the other side of things.. i worked out that the generator i got to back up the tank was fine for the old tank.. (basic 2 stroke dirty power 900w generator) but now that i have digital temp controller, electronic speed control for flow.. and electronic ballasts for lights.. im not to thrilled about sticking it all into the dirty power generator.. So i have ordered one of the MTM 3.2kw Sinewave inverter generators from ebay.. 420 odd bucks.. i figure if it saves me once .. its prob going to pay for itself.. and the 2nd half of jan and 1st half of feb is when we lose power the most.. so that should arrive before the end of this week.. will put up a review and pics of EVERYTHING once i get it..
Really want to re scape the tank too.. but dont want to mess with anything at the moment.. :(
BUT!.. as sad as i sound.. i keep saying to myself.. it could have been much worse.. :)
Well really its not that bad.. but i am getting bored and broke chasing numbers.. as much as i promised myself i wouldn't, it had to be done..
Alk was through the floor according to Red sea pro test kit.. Mg was half of what it should have been .. calcium wasnt tooo bad.. 380's ish.. but ive been slowly bringing up these numbers and seeing improvement.. very slowly ... and i may have been using the alk test kit wrong.. but now i have an API kit as well so im using both and taking an avg but shhhhhh.
i did however lose my first ever coral.. my duncan.. who never really bounced back from the move.. that was sad.. but SECA have some great specimens who may very well become Duncan the second.. so that pissed me off and made me sad.. but not suprised..
my one and only fish (coral beauty) is still going strong.. so thats ok.. and my Ric, Torch, Leather, morphs and other green guy who i can never remember are going on strong..
Skimmer finally dialed in to the new tank a couple of weeks ago.. overflowed and created a cyclic mess for about 12 hours till i caught it .. but no harm there.. now i just have a skimmer that works great.. untill this morning where salt creep had blocked the venturi and there were no bubbles in the skimmer.. didn't overflow.. actually went about its business with no level change at all.. so have cleaned that and am re tuning it now..
i have water changes almost down to a fine art.. although its weird.. i get 2 x 25 L containers of water and pour them into a 60L drum.. and almost as if it were magic i end up passing the 60L mark with only 50 L of water.. one of my containers.. (or all) are lying to me.. i syphon out into the two 25's and pump back into the tank.. not doing it from sump as i dont have 60L of drainable water in the sump. but this isnt too hard..
Phos must be dropping in the tank as my pretty purple macro algae has given up the ghost.. not such a bad thing..
Patience in the keeper is dropping.. i really really really want to start adding things.. but im still too scared.. going to start with a fish or a pair.. (clowns or blennie) as the fish has never shown signs of stress..
On the other side of things.. i worked out that the generator i got to back up the tank was fine for the old tank.. (basic 2 stroke dirty power 900w generator) but now that i have digital temp controller, electronic speed control for flow.. and electronic ballasts for lights.. im not to thrilled about sticking it all into the dirty power generator.. So i have ordered one of the MTM 3.2kw Sinewave inverter generators from ebay.. 420 odd bucks.. i figure if it saves me once .. its prob going to pay for itself.. and the 2nd half of jan and 1st half of feb is when we lose power the most.. so that should arrive before the end of this week.. will put up a review and pics of EVERYTHING once i get it..
Really want to re scape the tank too.. but dont want to mess with anything at the moment.. :(
BUT!.. as sad as i sound.. i keep saying to myself.. it could have been much worse.. :)
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