Tank Journal Archive

[Wrangy]

The tank is a little bit of a softie mess at the moment as I don't really have any room to organise the frags and sort them out properly lol. Once I have my schmexy new sump under the tank I can sort it all out, change the scape up a little and get ready to stuff the amazing tank full of candy coloured goodness :D

Annd some pics:





I did my first water change on the tank yesterday and the first series of tests too and things turned out pretty nicely :) Alk is way low but that's because I'm not dosing at the moment as I'm lazy lol but everything else was way better than I was expecting!
Alk: 4.5dKh
pH: 8
Nitrates: 0-5ppm, test was too hard to determine so it's somewhere in there lol
Phos: 0.009ppm, test with the Hanna low range Phosphorous kit.

The phos reading surprised me a little as I get glass growth fairly soon so it may be a little higher but then again I only just recently added some captivphos to sort out any silicates that might be coming out of the rocks :) No signs of hair algae or anything just some great diatoms and glass growth :) lol

All the corals are doing well and growing so I'm really happy with that front of the tank but there is some bad news at the same rate. Some really bad news :( I've had some fish loses. It seems that my beautiful bellus and kole never really quite settled into the tank and each other. They were constantly squabbling and going after each other and it seems that that had taken it's toll in the end... both of them fell ill and have sadly died :( massively upset about the loss of these guys and especially my bellus. It seems that it's purely down to their interactions with each other as both my wrasse's (earmuff and possum) are completely healthy with no signs of sickness what-so-ever.

It means I've also been giving my stocklist a really long hard think over the last couple of days and what I want from the tank. It seems like I'm heading in a bit more of a wrasse direction and smaller fish with just a couple of 'big' fish. It's going to be a pretty (read expensive) tank lol:
- A pair of captive bred royal grammas
- Lennardi wrasse
- A pair of flasher wrasse, haven't decided on species yet.
- Anything liopropoma that comes through Dave! Anything lol
- A new pair of genicanthus :(
- Tinkers butterfly (still lol)

It's a bit of a sad update but the tank is still progressing as I'd hoped which I guess is the silver lining in all this.

 

[MagicJ]

Sad news about the fish - did they die whilst you were away?

 

[Wrangy]

Sad news about the fish - did they die whilst you were away?

Fortunately and unfortunately they both died shortly after I got back so I got to see both of them at least.

 

[Sam Parker]

The exotic fish hunter will track you something down, gotta be the best in Aus that bloke!

 

[Wrangy]

The exotic fish hunter will track you something down, gotta be the best in Aus that bloke!

I've already been told that I'll be getting "some nice fish" lol I cannot wait to see what the man pulls out of his Styrofoam box hat :D :rofl

 

[RobbieMVFC]

Sad to hear about your losses .
Was that your sump I seen at Deer park last week?

 

[Wrangy]

Sad to hear about your losses .
Was that your sump I seen at Deer park last week?

It very well could have been lol look good?

 

[Mattres]

The stony shallows mate?...
Haha jk :p

Sorry about your lost fish mate, I know u really loved that bellus. It sucks loosing friends!

Excited to see all your corals in their new home and this tank cranking!

 

[Wrangy]

The stony shallows mate?...
Haha jk :p

Sorry about your lost fish mate, I know u really loved that bellus. It sucks loosing friends!

Excited to see all your corals in their new home and this tank cranking!

Not you as well :P hahaha I know, I know!

Yeah sucks massively :( But it's a sad fact of life that I've had to face, it has re-enthused my fish passion though on a positive note.

Me too!! :)

 

[Sean81]

The phos reading surprised me a little as I get glass growth fairly soon so it may be a little higher but then again I only just recently added some captivphos to sort out any silicates that might be coming out of the rocks :) No signs of hair algae or anything just some great diatoms and glass growth :) lol
.

Hi, Im looking to use captivphos to try and solve some brown algae in my tank and am wondering if you use the Fe or W? Im thinking W due cleaner. Thanks

 

[Wrangy]

Hi, Im looking to use captivphos to try and solve some brown algae in my tank and am wondering if you use the Fe or W? Im thinking W due cleaner. Thanks

I'm currently using W for it's ability to also process silicates in the water that leach from the type of rock I'm using. Some of the corals aren't loving the aluminium from it but it's the lesser of two evils lol so they can just put up with it!

 

[Sean81]

I'm currently using W for it's ability to also process silicates in the water that leach from the type of rock I'm using. Some of the corals aren't loving the aluminium from it but it's the lesser of two evils lol so they can just put up with it!

Yeah I can't find much about the W online. I just want to run a small amount for possible silicates in my tank. Thanks.

 

[Wrangy]

Yeah I can't find much about the W online. I just want to run a small amount for possible silicates in my tank. Thanks.

It's an aluminium oxide based phos remover and with that mix it also means it absorbs silicates too so it's win-win in my book lol. Should work fine for you too :)

 

[ReeferRob]

The iron based stuff will take out silicates too. Silicates usually come for a very short time when you set up a tank due to the intense biological activity on the surface of the rock. After that, it's make up water contamination that can cause a diatom bloom. I've moved away from the aluminum based stuff due to my LPS being intolerant to the Al they release.

 

[Wrangy]

The iron based stuff will take out silicates too. Silicates usually come for a very short time when you set up a tank due to the intense biological activity on the surface of the rock. After that, it's make up water contamination that can cause a diatom bloom. I've moved away from the aluminum based stuff due to my LPS being intolerant to the Al they release.

Everyone in the tank seems to be fine with the current levels of Al being leached lol I've only got the one tub and once it's finished that's the end of phos remover in the tank lol

 

[Sean81]

Everyone in the tank seems to be fine with the current levels of Al being leached lol I've only got the one tub and once it's finished that's the end of phos remover in the tank lol

I might of missed a post but what's your plan for phos control post captivphos?

 

[Wrangy]

I might of missed a post but what's your plan for phos control post captivphos?

Skimmer and shitloads of bacteria processing! Lol 10L of seachem matrix media, not the carbon. Will be equivalent to having a huge amount of lice rock :)

 

[Sean81]

I'm guessing you will be carbon dossing to support the bacteria for phos reduction? I currently control my nitrates with just media but phos is another story. You prefer matrix over the siporax that people here like a lot? Sorry bout the question.

 

[Wrangy]

I'm guessing you will be carbon dossing to support the bacteria for phos reduction? I currently control my nitrates with just media but phos is another story. You prefer matrix over the siporax that people here like a lot? Sorry bout the question.

Nah no carbon dosing, I may try some of the aquaforest products for nutrient management but I may just keep in simple lol
Matrix is just easier to get that's all lol I'd go siporax if it were easier though.
Ask whatever you'd like :)

 

[Sean81]

I run a lot of marine pure small blocks and want to move towards matrix or siporax to hang in a bag to make my small sump more manageable and easier to clean and give room for a small frag area.