BTLDReef's 155G Update - Page 10

If your clown is 5 yrs old, you might have a serious problem getting it to accept another clown. You might be better off trading that one in and getting two smaller ones together.

Do you know what type of clown it is?

Anyone who is trying to breed and lost their female would want that.

 

I would try a smaller one, but if it doesn't accept it and you want two, you'd have to get rid of her and get two new ones

Some new additions (pics later, husband took the camera to work with him tonight).

 

We took out the sand sifting starfish, they're in the refugium for the time being. Since they've been trained to eat, the LFS offered me a pretty penny for them, so they may go back.

We have a crazy Asterina starfish issue in our tank. When the lights go out, our rocks are literally COVERED in these little starfish, and I believe that some may be the bad kind as I can not seem to keep zoanthids alive in this tank. It's not the water or lighting, because they grow well in the refugium.

Anyways, we bought a pair of Harlequin Shrimp from someone that had them eating nothing but Asterina's, no Chocolate Chip starfish. Dumped them in the tank, and they immediately went to work. The Asterina's are now climbing the walls of the tank seeking refuge on the glass as opposed to our rocks. They've already ate 2 that I know of. So while these guys are in there doing their work, my Sand Sifters had to be moved, haven't decided whether I'm getting rid of them or not. I'll have to decide soon, they can't stay in a 20G refugium for that long.

 

Also got a Copperbanded Butterfly. He's in the refugium until I know he doesn't eat coral. While in QT, he didn't touch anything, but I'm still not ready to dump him straight into the 155 reef, but probably next week.

Well it is eating. Shyest fish I think I've ever dealt with. I just don't want it to eat my corals, but I NEED to get rid of this darn aiptasia. It's growing in places I just can't get to.

 So the Fridmani Pseudochromis and SixLine Wrasse ended up in this tank (from the 14G) since I got the filefish and did not want them to be with it.

 

Somehow, even with quarantining all fish and then dipping them before they go in the 155, I still have ich in my tank

 

There is just absolutely no way for me to quarantine all of my fish in this system at once, so here is my plan:

 

I have a 180G waiting to be set up whenever my house is finally finished (it better be soon, patience is long gone!).

The plan is to move the rock, some sand and all corals, inverts, anemones and the refugium to the 180G (not the first time I've moved and setup tanks, I can do this). Anyways, make the 155G my QT tank. I'm going to throw in a whole punch of PVC tubes, since there is a lot of fish and they're used to lots of hiding places in my rock work. The cardinals, one dwarf angel, The clowns, and maybe something else will go in a 40G QT tank, the rest will stay in this tank.

I will hypo the 155G and the 40G, both tanks will run through the same central plumbing (sump) system. If need be, I will copper the fish, but I would like to avoid that. My feeling is that I need the time for the rocks in the 180 to loose the parasite, and during that 6-8 weeks, hypo should rid my fish of ich.

Sound good?

 

For the mean time, I added my cleaner wrasse from my QT tank. (I know how some people think they don't survive in captivity, this guy eats frozen as well and I've had him for over a year). I've upped the temperature to 81, added the wrasse and two more skunk cleaner shrimp. I've added vitamins to the food daily instead of every other day and added more garlic. Hopefully this will keep the fish healthy enough to keep the parasite from taking over until I can QT them all. My fish are very healthy, so that's a plus in my corner. I know the wrasse and shrimp aren't going to rid the tank, but they can at least help until a proper remedy can be reached. Sound good?

 

I'm also going to post this in the disease forum for some thoughts since I know not everyone reads the tank threads.

We have a new addition.

Yellow Belly Hippo Tang - No, I didn't QT him, my tank has ich anyway, screw it, they're all getting hypo'd soon anyways. $45 and I wasn't letting it go by:

 

Here's the Copperband, fast little guy hard to catch a good shot:

 

Purple tang:

 

Our pistol shrimp came out for a swim. I can't believe how big he's gotten in the past 18 months (he lives in the refugium):

Yes, I have three Harlequin Shrimp,1 mated pair and 1 single male that desperately needs a mate. They do a good job. My first male died, I think at the doing of my Mystery Wrasse. We just added two more males yesterday. The female was by herself for a while and got smart: she eats all but 1 leg off the starfish and then drops it so it doesn't die and it guarantees her food. I don't think she has any idea just how big the tank is and how many asterinas I have. I'm hoping the two new males (and hopefully I'll find another female) are not so smart and kill the darn things, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!!
Just a note, I would never do two males in a smaller tank, because they'll fight. My one male already paired up with the female and the odds are good if I get a female for the other male.
You can't do harlequins if you have other starfish, brittles and serpents are safe, or some types of urchins though.


Move should be soon. Inspector came Tuesday, waiting to hear results, but looks like everything is going smoothly and we should be in first week of May. Going to start the 180 in a few days.

Lol. I couldn't turn down this guy for $45, there was no way. I actually went in to buy salt and saw him. Left and went back an hour later after thinking about it and he was still there (this store moves fish REALLY fast) so I snatched him up. I can't get a regular hippo for $45, let alone a yellow belly.
My tank was missing that "something blue" element. The cleaner wrasse just isn't a "wow" fish so it was this guy or a powder blue, and he was way healthier. I think the contrast between colors on the Blonde Naso, Purple Tang, Yellow Belly Hippo Tang and the Copperband Butterfly are going to add a real nice splash of colors.

The hippo may ultimately end up in a FOWLR, but for now, he's in the reef.

We know over ten people with the same tank size that have have the kits we're doing. I also know the guy who owns Acan Lighting and he's helped many people in the local reef club do DIY with these kits. Since he probably makes the best LED fixtures on the market right now, I'm going to take his word over threads on RC. Also followed along to see that many people who did more LED's ended up bleaching their corals out because the direct light that LED's offer is too much, it doesn't spread out the way MH do. We'll also be supplementing with T5's to get better colors out of the corals that just don't pop from the LEDs.

 

The link that you posted is talking about a 210 which is deeper than a 180, therefore they need more lights. We only plan on having SPS up top and keeping the tank predominantly LPS mid and softies lower. I do not want corals in the sand at all. I like a clean sand bed on the bottom of the tank that isn't cluttered with corals, that's what a frag tank is for.

 

 

**Edit: If you read his thread, he's got a deeper tank than mine and is doing 68 whites and 68 blues TOTAL with 60 and 65 degree optics. He also plans to load it with SPS colonies since he wasn't able to do so in his last tank.