Tank Journal Archive

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
Well I'm very happy with the Marine Sources SDP-750 skimmer. It's producing good stinky skimmate, it's not overly fussy about water level as long as it's sitting in roughly 9-11 inches of water and it's very quiet. Easy to get the cup off for cleaning and it comes with a cup outlet and matching hose. That will be good for next time I'm away from home.

Considering I paid around $200 for it new, I'm very happy with bang for bucks. This model comes with the Red Devil pump which seems to have a good reputation and parts seem readily available at this stage.

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Donna's tank is going into stasis for a while so I've moved the corals over to my tank. The single lemon peel angel will follow as soon as I can catch my domino damsel and put it in the isolation pod while I introduce the new fish. The domino is such an agro bugger.

So my current stock list will look like this:
  • 1x Domino Damsel named Agro
  • 1x unidentified black Blenny (possibly black comb toothed) that was sold to me as a 'Vampire Blenny' (sic) at Mentone. I think those guys make it up as they go along.
  • 1x Lemon Peel Damsel
  • 2x green Folded brains rescued from Mentone's bargain bin, both flourishing. 1 toxic green even under white light (where it counts) % 1 pale green.
  • 1x Walking Dendro with symbiot worm.
  • 1 lge Duncan
  • 1 tan Hammer
  • 1x red tree sponge - going well after being rescued from a bargain bin. All black tissue gone and all healthy tissue now.
  • 3x feather duster / coco? worms.
  • 1x toadstool leather
  • 1x green goni - also rescued from the bin. After a fair bit of recession, it has stabilised now and showing good polyp extension.
  • Various zoos
  • 6x red mushies
  • Various frags
  • 1x tan & gold torch.
  • 1x unknown tan coral (maybe fluffy morph)
  • 3x boxer shrimp
  • 2x peppermint shrimp,
  • 1x lge sea cucumber
Micro fauna includes, lge brittle stars, micro brittle stars, mysis shrimp, turbo snails, periwinkles, nassarius snails, bistleworms, stomatella, amphipods & isopods, warious rock dwelling worms & rock dwelling anemone.
I've also changed my scape just slightly to improve water flow.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
A couple of weeks in and I'm very happy with the Marine Sources SDP-750 skimmer. It's producing about 250ml of very dark skimmate each week and is still very quiet. The best part is that it's easily adjusted and doesn't go out of whack when the water level varies a bit. Some are so touchy it's ridiculous.

Here it is in situ.

MS SDP750 Skimmer (1).JPG
MS SDP750 Skimmer (2).JPG
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
I had a major brain fade - more than normal anyway.

I was going to modify my sump and turned off the return pump, then forgot about it. Four days later....:eek

I only noticed something wrong on the 4th morning when suddenly my goni and zoos weren't opening fully. My only heater is in the sump as my 2nd heater from my weir was moved to another tank when its heater failed. Temp got down to 22 - lesson learnt. But there's more.

Despite having a bach. of applied science, I struggle with the whole pH / Alk / Temp/ Co2 blah blah equation. Might be the brain cancer but I just can't hold it in my head any more. I understand it when I read up on it but an hour later it's gone so...some help please?

During the 4 days my water parameters have gone nuts. My normal tank parameters are as follows & generally stable. Those that have suddenly and radically changed are in red. I don't believe oxygen or CO2 levels are an issue as my water free falls into weir*, one part of the bean animal setup is Durso free falling to sump* & the skimmer goes 24 hours* plus water then free flows over a baffle from the skimmer area of the sump*.. Also the windows in my house are generally open during the day & I only run reverse cycle air for heating. (*gas exchange occurs).

Kits used are:
Temp:Quality thermometer & electronic probe.
PH: API
Alk (dKH): API
Salinity: Refractometer
Calcium: Salifert (API back up)
Phosphate: API
Ammonia: API
Nitrates: API

Before
Temp: 27
PH: 8.2
Alk (dKH): 8
Salinity: 1.027
Calcium: 420
Phosphate: 0.25
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 0

After
Temp:22
PH: 8.8
Alk (dKH): 8
Salinity: 1.027 (NSW)
Calcium: 500+ (off the scale on both API & Salifert test kits)
Phosphate: 0.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 20

Today - 2 days later with daily 10% water changes
Temp: 26
PH: 8.8 (after dosing 10ml vinegar each day)
Alk (dKH): 8
Salinity: 1.027 (NSW)
Calcium: 500+ (off the scale on both API & Salifert test kits)
Phosphate: 0.5
Ammonia: -
Nitrates: 20

I don't yet test magnesium but will soon and I'm slowly upgrading my test kits & equipment. Any thoughts on those or recommendations would be appreciated in this thread please.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
A quick note:

I tried the "Bolt" glue from Oceanarium. it's a good glue BUT in my opinion, totally unsuited to fragging. My experience:

  • It is really runny.
  • Does not cure well in water.
  • Clogs the nozzle constantly. In fact the wholesaler sells spare nozzles by the 6 pack. That says it all to me.
I'll stick with Loctite superglue Gel in the accuracy dispenser.
download.jpg
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
A quick note:

I tried the "Bolt" glue from Oceanarium. it's a good glue BUT in my opinion, totally unsuited to fragging. My experience:

  • It is really runny.
  • Does not cure well in water.
  • Clogs the nozzle constantly. In fact the wholesaler sells spare nozzles by the 6 pack. That says it all to me.
I'll stick with Loctite superglue Gel in the accuracy dispenser.

View attachment 16028
Interestingly I used the Bolt glue last night for zoa fragging. Yes it is runny, but it cures much more quickly than the BSI Gel I have and I find secures the zoas to the frag plug more securely as a result of being runny. The BSI Gel sets as a lump making the zoas easier to break off, whereas the Bolt maximises surface contact between the frag and the plug.

I think it would be too hard to use for anything hard though like SPS, where you need to gel to form a 'nest' around the frag. So having dismissed it initially as unsuitable, I think I will use both kinds for different fragging purposes.

Haven't tried the Loctite gel though, will have to get my hands on some.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
Gee I couldn't get it to stick anything, although I didn't try zoos. I couldn't get a chalice to stick to a moulded reef putty base. I also couldn't get it to stick two flat frag plugs, one on top of the other (I was trying to stick a small frag plug to a big one), it was just so thin that it ran between the grooves in the frag plug "texture".

Was yours the medium (I would hate to see thin)? I believe hobby stores sell a thicker one but the clogging is too much of a hassle for me.
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
Yeah medium and had to develop the art of creating a little puddle for the zoas. I guess as long as you know that generally you are trading curing time for thickness you end up with what suits.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
I recently ordered some T5 globes from Age of Aquariums. I got them a few days ago but only got round to unwrapping it today.

Firstly the parcel was packaged brilliantly. My globes were of course in their original boxes, the were bundled neatly together then bubble wrapped for extra safety. Then the lot was packed inside a hard pvc tube with the ends perfectly sealed, then that lot was wrapped in bubble wrap again and clearly addressed. It was amazingly good packaging and I'm incredibly impressed.

I ordered a mix of globes to experiments with colours, life, growth, etc. I ordered 4 new globes for my 6 globe unit as I don't want to be replacing all 6 at once down the track. My globes are numbered from outside to outside:

  1. Fluval 6700k, a very bright white very close to the light of the midday sun (temperature/spectrum).
  2. Sylvania Aquastar, produces light at 850nm, A pink tinged globe that helps pop reds in fish & colours, it does neutralise blue light a little. We'll see how it goes as to if I like the colour long term.
  3. Geisemann Aquablue+, an actinic globe with a little more of a blue tinge than the purple you get with pure actinic.
  4. Geisemann Powerchrome Actinic+, this is a very intense and bright blue. At this early stage it's likely to become a permanent part of my T5 array.
  5. Old 6500k globe.
  6. Old 6500k globe.
When I replace the older two globes, I'll probably add another Actinic+ or try the KZ Fiji Purple if I can find one.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
I've introduced a few new fish & coral in recent weeks.

I bought a good sized Foxface Rabbitfish from Fish World in Keysborough (vic). I rarely introduce more than one or two fish in any 4 week period but some of you will know that I've never been able to get Ocellaris Clowns to take up residence in an anemone. I had just bought the foxface when in one of their bottom tanks, I spied 50+ young wild caught clowns & about 20 green BTA's (buuble tip anemone). Many of the clowns were showing a lot of interest in the nems!

Fortunately I was waiting for the doors to open and I was the only one there. The young bloke serving was very patient about catching particular clowns (nemos) that I had identified as interested in nems. I also bought one of the nems. I also bought a bright pink Sun Coral while I was there. SUCCESS - after acclimatising the critters and placing them in the tank, I got lucky. The BTA stayed where I put it and the clowns moved in within a few hours.......at last!!!! The clowns and their host remain as happy as Larry and the nem is already growing noticeably. I feed it a piece of prawn or squid once a week.

The foxface is a little more worrying. So far he only ocassionally takes food, be it flake, pellets, live brine, frozen foods. If I put some macro in there it devours it quickly and spends a lot of time picking around the rocks for algae. What worries me is that he spends a lot of time apparantly swallowing the 1-2mm substrate.to get the diatoms I constantly struggle with. He then gets a bulging belly, goes really pale and looks ready to die. Then he'll literally sit on a rock and shit out substrate, then he's fine until the next bellyfull of sand. I've had a few foxfaces and never seen these behaviours before.

The Sun Coral is doing well. So far I'm feeding it twice a week on newly hatched brine injected into a coke bottle with the bottom cut out. I haven't actually witnessed a feeding response yet so I'll watch it closely.

I got some new Reefroids and Kent Zooplex today from the Reef Shop. So the new coral feeding program will be:
  • Sunday - a mix off reefroids soaked in 100% Reefsafe amino acids. Target fed to all corals including zoos, mushies, lps,etc with return pump off.
  • Tuesday - 10ml of Zooplex dropped in front of a powerhead to distribute freely with return pump off.
  • Friday - newly hatched brine shrimp put straight into the tank with return pump left running to ensure distribution through the sump.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
I also bought some stuff from a guy in Sth Yarra who was closing down his nano. A pleasant Sunday drive to Melb and I came home with:
  • A very nice specimin of Duncans', about 10 heads. That's gone into the experiment/grow out tank (100ltr) for possible later fragging.
  • 4 different zoo colonies.
  • 1 blue/purple morph (very small) - gone into the 100 litre for rapid grow out and fragging.
  • 6 green morphs.
  • A tiny yellow goby (abt 2cm long).
I've also acquired a small colony of cerith snails and one of young trochus snails. I'm going to try breeding snails in my sump, as soon as I order and receive my new one. I'm upgrading from a 54 litre 3 cell sump to a custom made 4 cell 120 litre sump. Skimmer > DSB > Refugium > Return. Later on I'll be installing a stand alone 10 litre DSB and running two refugiums for different critters.
The DSB will be a DIY project that I'll log as I go in this TJ.
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
Another visit to Brendan's @Miller last night to pick up a really nice blasto colony at a good price. His new tank is awsome and worth a TJ (hint hint). I did a 30% water change today and rearranged the scape a little to improve flow and light penetration.

The Foxface continues to eat substrate and act weird at times but there are no marks on him and the water params are all fine although mag is slightly high but not to any level of note. I would have done pics of this tonight but I've been testing & cleaning tanks all day (we have a few) and this tank has too many microbubbles at the moment due to the sump restart. I'll try to get pics tomorrow.

Target fed all the corals in all tanks with reefroids soaked for 2 hours in amino powder. Great feeding response from everything. I had to feed the sun cral after dark when it's active so I put the cut out bottle over it and squirted the feed in. One of the mad clowns spent a half hour trying to wriggle into the neck of the bottle so I put the cap on it.:confused:
 

Ian G

Member
Sep 11, 2012
808
393
Nowhere
Foiled Mr Foxface temporarily. I have heaps of different substrate lying around including some 2mm coral sand I bleached then rinsed a dozen times about a year ago (more experimenting). Anyway I only had a thin-ish layer of substrate in this tank so I laid a couple of cm of bright white clean substrate over the top. Without the brown algae/diatoms, the foxy has lost interest in nibbling substrate. Nows he's cruising around actively & all coloured up instead of pale or that agro camouflage they get.

Until the next diatom war that it. I'm constantly battling that crap.
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
Sounds like you are having fun with this tank! That foxface sounds insane ... glad you have fooled him for now at least.

Probably need some updated pics soon ;)
 

Miller

Member
Dec 4, 2012
425
216
traralgon
Another visit to Brendan's @Miller last night to pick up a really nice blasto colony at a good price. His new tank is awsome and worth a TJ (hint hint). I did a 30% water change today and rearranged the scape a little to improve flow and light penetration.

The Foxface continues to eat substrate and act weird at times but there are no marks on him and the water params are all fine although mag is slightly high but not to any level of note. I would have done pics of this tonight but I've been testing & cleaning tanks all day (we have a few) and this tank has too many microbubbles at the moment due to the sump restart. I'll try to get pics tomorrow.

Target fed all the corals in all tanks with reefroids soaked for 2 hours in amino powder. Great feeding response from everything. I had to feed the sun cral after dark when it's active so I put the cut out bottle over it and squirted the feed in. One of the mad clowns spent a half hour trying to wriggle into the neck of the bottle so I put the cap on it.:confused:
deff need a photo update of the tank I think ian
I made a tj have a look I need to take some real photos with the dslr at some stage
http://www.thereefuge.com.au/threads/millers-4lx2-1-2w-x-2h-zeo-tank.7376/
 

grimnir

Member
Aug 12, 2013
197
98
Parkinson
as a newbie to this forum and marine keeping in general I have thoroughly enjoyed this write up.
It has certainly given me ideas and a path to follow in the coming weeks for setting up my new 4' marine tank.