The 4th Week
Well I was trying to be patient! :rolleyes
FISH SAGA
As mentioned in a previous post, I moved my remaining few corals over to a BB holding tank at about the 2.5 week mark. Wanted to more easily inspect them for any hitchhiking algae before eventually adding them to my new DT and also wanted to start the process of shutting down the old tank. Then I tried to move across my five fishy friends.
For some inexplicable reason lost my two oldest fish, a pair of ocellaris clownfish.
Started the usual transfer process, after 15min for water temp acclimation I came back to find both clowns floating upside down in their bags.
The other three (two gobies and an assessor) made it safely into their temporary digs. All my fish have been great eaters of pellet, flake and the occasional frozen. However, while the three survivors seemed otherwise happy in the new tank none of them were eating much. In the old tank I would turn off the powerheads, feed a small pinch of crushed flake and some pellets and all 5 fish would immediately come flying over to eat. In the holding tank I turned off the power heads, did the food thing, but none of the three fish were interested. The small yellow goby would eat a few particles of flake that floated by, but I never saw the other two eat much. Pellets all just sank to bottom and sat there untouched until I sucked them out a while later. :(
Though I had intended to go fishless in the DT for 3 months or however long it took to get through the next algae phase of my tank's maturation, I made the executive decision to move the 3 survivors into the DT. I know common wisdom would say, new tank, add fish slowly, one per week, but I couldn't bear the thought of losing another one of my friends, so the usual transfer process and in they went. After a day to explore and hide whenever anyone came near the tank, they all settled in nicely and....started eating again when I fed them! :D Hooray!
FLOW
As detailed in a previous post I had a concern about balancing flow in the tank with getting unwanted particles out of the water column into the weir. That is, I had adjusted my two Jebao WP-40s so that I was really happy with the flow in the tank - good surface agitation, good random current, particles suspended in the water column for the long time and no significant dead spots that collected detritus (tested multiple times by using a turkey blaster in search of detritus build-up).
However, in observing my weir from the back of the tank close up, I noticed that relatively few of the particles in the water column were making it into the weir to be skimmed out in the sump. Continued playing with the the WP-40s, but couldn't seem to improve this aspect.
Ended up moving one of the WP-40s so that both are now on the right hand pane. Seem to have come across a good balance now:
* The WP-40 closest and highest in the pics below is pointed at the surface and provides surface agitation, plus the main current going across the front of the tank right to left and then circling around towards the weir.
* The second WP-40 is lower and closer to the rear of the tank. It is running at 1/2 power via a 12V adaptor, set to wave mode (W1) and is pointing largely through the centre rear LR structure - keeps detritus from settling on or beneath this structure and also disrupts the flow from the above WP-40,
* Return line from sump is coming over the weir and pointing along the right wall.
Still have good surface agitation, good random flow, particles still being kept suspended in water column for a long time and way more particles making it into the weir. For now, success, but will keep a close eye on it.
SCAPE
With the fish now in the tank somewhat prematurely, I decided to finish my scape to hopefully minimise future disruption and "hands in the tank". Fast forward to today, added my two nuked rocks and tried my best to balance the scape. Not sure what others will think, but I am happy with the way it turned out. More hiding places now for fish and critters, looks best from the front and pretty decent from the side. Should have enough room for the corals I am likely to add in the next few months. Lots of swimming room for my eventual fish list.
* Centre front rock has a small cave at rear and is intended to eventually be a nice zoa garden.
* Centre rear structure has the branching type LR for lots of nice little overhangs and niches. Second of my nuked rocks added to the left hand side creating an overhang/cave with a decent sized flat section on top for corals.
* Left structure has a nice large cave system underneath it, accessible for the fish from front and back.
* Right structure has a nice large cave system underneath it, accessible for the fish from front, back and one side.
FTS
From front right towards back left
Side view
From side right towards weir
OTHER
* Clean up crew also got a new addition about 5 days ago - a strombus snail. Been feeding all the snails nori sheets to hopefully keep their bellies full while we wait for more natural algae to appear. Still no visible algae - diatoms, cyano or hair. Will just keep waiting. Also, amazed at how fast the snails can converge from all over the tank when the clip of nori hits the water!
FISH SAGA
As mentioned in a previous post, I moved my remaining few corals over to a BB holding tank at about the 2.5 week mark. Wanted to more easily inspect them for any hitchhiking algae before eventually adding them to my new DT and also wanted to start the process of shutting down the old tank. Then I tried to move across my five fishy friends.
For some inexplicable reason lost my two oldest fish, a pair of ocellaris clownfish.
Started the usual transfer process, after 15min for water temp acclimation I came back to find both clowns floating upside down in their bags.The other three (two gobies and an assessor) made it safely into their temporary digs. All my fish have been great eaters of pellet, flake and the occasional frozen. However, while the three survivors seemed otherwise happy in the new tank none of them were eating much. In the old tank I would turn off the powerheads, feed a small pinch of crushed flake and some pellets and all 5 fish would immediately come flying over to eat. In the holding tank I turned off the power heads, did the food thing, but none of the three fish were interested. The small yellow goby would eat a few particles of flake that floated by, but I never saw the other two eat much. Pellets all just sank to bottom and sat there untouched until I sucked them out a while later. :(
Though I had intended to go fishless in the DT for 3 months or however long it took to get through the next algae phase of my tank's maturation, I made the executive decision to move the 3 survivors into the DT. I know common wisdom would say, new tank, add fish slowly, one per week, but I couldn't bear the thought of losing another one of my friends, so the usual transfer process and in they went. After a day to explore and hide whenever anyone came near the tank, they all settled in nicely and....started eating again when I fed them! :D Hooray!
FLOW
As detailed in a previous post I had a concern about balancing flow in the tank with getting unwanted particles out of the water column into the weir. That is, I had adjusted my two Jebao WP-40s so that I was really happy with the flow in the tank - good surface agitation, good random current, particles suspended in the water column for the long time and no significant dead spots that collected detritus (tested multiple times by using a turkey blaster in search of detritus build-up).
However, in observing my weir from the back of the tank close up, I noticed that relatively few of the particles in the water column were making it into the weir to be skimmed out in the sump. Continued playing with the the WP-40s, but couldn't seem to improve this aspect.
Ended up moving one of the WP-40s so that both are now on the right hand pane. Seem to have come across a good balance now:
* The WP-40 closest and highest in the pics below is pointed at the surface and provides surface agitation, plus the main current going across the front of the tank right to left and then circling around towards the weir.
* The second WP-40 is lower and closer to the rear of the tank. It is running at 1/2 power via a 12V adaptor, set to wave mode (W1) and is pointing largely through the centre rear LR structure - keeps detritus from settling on or beneath this structure and also disrupts the flow from the above WP-40,
* Return line from sump is coming over the weir and pointing along the right wall.
Still have good surface agitation, good random flow, particles still being kept suspended in water column for a long time and way more particles making it into the weir. For now, success, but will keep a close eye on it.
SCAPE
With the fish now in the tank somewhat prematurely, I decided to finish my scape to hopefully minimise future disruption and "hands in the tank". Fast forward to today, added my two nuked rocks and tried my best to balance the scape. Not sure what others will think, but I am happy with the way it turned out. More hiding places now for fish and critters, looks best from the front and pretty decent from the side. Should have enough room for the corals I am likely to add in the next few months. Lots of swimming room for my eventual fish list.
* Centre front rock has a small cave at rear and is intended to eventually be a nice zoa garden.
* Centre rear structure has the branching type LR for lots of nice little overhangs and niches. Second of my nuked rocks added to the left hand side creating an overhang/cave with a decent sized flat section on top for corals.
* Left structure has a nice large cave system underneath it, accessible for the fish from front and back.
* Right structure has a nice large cave system underneath it, accessible for the fish from front, back and one side.
FTS
From front right towards back left
Side view
From side right towards weir
OTHER
* Clean up crew also got a new addition about 5 days ago - a strombus snail. Been feeding all the snails nori sheets to hopefully keep their bellies full while we wait for more natural algae to appear. Still no visible algae - diatoms, cyano or hair. Will just keep waiting. Also, amazed at how fast the snails can converge from all over the tank when the clip of nori hits the water!
