Smaller place, bigger tank...My 200DD build

eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
After having thought long and hard about it, I cannot think of anything I want for this tank other than randomized flow. I have all the equipment I really need and I don't want to make it any more complicated than it already is.
That being said, my end-of-summer shopping list will be limited to QD drivers for my VorTechs and the lighting upgrade for the BC 29. Obviously I have plenty of time until then. I'm going to chill for a while and enjoy the tank as it is. I am going to change salt mixes in the meantime and once I get back from Bermuda I will make another fish order so that I can hypo everything before upgrading the lighting. Once that's done, I'll order another 20pc frag pack.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
pegasus said:
Sounds like you've got it all planned out. It should work out great... when the time comes!
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We'll see...this tank has had so many issues with it so far; problems I never had to deal with in my 125. It's been a wonderful learning experience and a great practice in patience but more than once I thought about getting rid of the big tank and just having the BC29 with top-of-the-line equipment. I'm hoping that the next month will see a little more equilibrium in the tank.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
Did my last hypo-water change today!!! I have 30 gallons of 1.025 mixing right now and I'll start raising the salinity on Thursday. I will have the fish in the DT for a few days before leaving to watch for any aggression.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
I've become a big fan of siphoning the rocks into the sump through a filter sock. It was a great way to remove the dinos and other nastiness from the rocks without having to do a water change that might feed the dinos.

It's been two days without siphoning the rocks and you can see that the dino's are barely coming back...



 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I noticed a couple of acros on the sand, and was thinking it would be a good idea to get them up on the rocks before you went on vaca... lol! The montis should be fine, but you certainly don't want the acros to brown out by the time you get back...
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
They've been on the sand since I got them, LOL.

Guess we can add flukes to the nuisances this hobby has thrown at me in the last few months... treated the QT with Prazipro today. SMH
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
Started raising the salinity today! I'm interested to see if hypo actually works. I definitely had ich in the QT and kept the salinity at hypo levels for a full-course once all the signs of ich had disappeared.

The flame angel and one of the anthias are still showing obvious signs of flukes, so I'm hoping that the Prazipro starts having an effect. I will give the fish a Prazipro bath before putting them in the DT and might even treat the DT prophylactically.

Since I usually spend about 3k on equipment at the end of summer, and that's what I was expecting to put towards the tank, I think I might put that towards a large motor scooter. I was looking at used Suzuki Burgman 650cc's.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
So, I got home from work only to find that there are ich spots on the Naso Tang :mad::mad::mad:. I am absolutely LIVID right now. Five plus weeks of daily water changes for naught.

I'm leaving next weekend for a week in Bermuda. So, here are my two options:

1) I'm going to do a total clean-up of the QT with a nearly 100% water change tomorrow and get it back down to hypo levels. I'm going to program the auto-feeder and put a timer on the light. I will not touch the tank or manually feed the fish and monitor what happens over the course of a week. I will test the parameters, etc. If all goes well, then I'll do another very large water change on the tank the day before I leave and keep my fingers crossed that ammonia levels don't get too high while I'm away. Thing is: if one fish dies, they are all goners with no biological filtration and no CUC.

2) Continue to raise the salinity to normal levels, get a piece of LR that I can throw out after my vacation and have some biological filtration in the tank. The problem with this is: the ich could effect the fish to the point that one dies and with a minimal amount of biological filtration, all the fish would be as good as dead.

Note: as crass as it may sound, I will not be carrying around a cell phone in Bermuda, so having someone check on the tank is pretty pointless bc I won't be able to give them directions. As far as I'm concerned, these are my two options. Any other suggestions are appreciated but I need to make a move soon so I can see how the system handles a week w/o regular water changes.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Not sure why you wouldn't have any biological filtration in your QT especially as long as your tank has been hypo. Id leave it hypo whille you are gone.
My Qt is hypo too. The bio filtration is fine, ammonia and nitrite are at zero. I've only been doing weekly 10% water changes like my DT. Granted I don't have as many fish in mine , only 2 tangs.
Can you have somebody come over and dose Prime every day or two to detoxify any ammonia while you are gone?
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
So, I did a large water change on the QT and got it back down to 1.008. I dosed again with Prazi Pro since one of the anthias still had something going on with it's face (def not ich). The flame angel was the one that first showing signs and it's made a marked improvement.

Rather than automating things, I'm just going to ask my neighbor to stop by and feed the QT twice a day. I live in a small apt building so it's not like he'll have to go far out of his way. I'm also going to leave some buckets of FW and have him add it to the DT every other day rather than setting up a 30 gallon Brute and moving all my ATO stuff around.

I'm pretty upset about the ich reappearing in the QT, but I guess it's better than leaving for vacation and coming home to a DT with ich. I mean, this is what a QT is for anyways. I will not be doing daily water changes any more. Hopefully this week goes smoothly and everything survives my vacation and I can get away with weekly maintenance. I have several trips planned including next week in Bermuda and two kayak camping trips within the next six weeks and shortly after that I'm going to be getting that Burgman 650, so I have a full schedule before my next semester starts.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I am supposed to start bringing mine up soon and am a bit afraid to do it. Both fish look good and no ich for almost a month. My powder brown will break out in no time if it is still there.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
lmforbis said:
I am supposed to start bringing mine up soon and am a bit afraid to do it. Both fish look good and no ich for almost a month. My powder brown will break out in no time if it is still there.
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I'm surprised it didn't show up on the powder blue tang first. This time around I'm going to do 6 weeks of no signs of ich. For some reason I thought it was 4 weeks but I'm pretty sure it's 6.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Beth told me 3 but because I had already tried copper for 3 weeks with no results I should go a month because of resistant strains.
 
eric b 125

eric b 125

Active Member
lmforbis said:
Outside of the vacation part why not copper?
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I got this BC to use as a QT and eventually frag tank. I'm not going to ruin it with copper and I'm not going to set up another QT. I know I could set a copper QT up for cheap, but the whole point of spending $$$ on this BC for a QT was because I don't really have a space for a cluttered looking QT setup. I'm very particular about my living space, LOL.
The flame angel died last night. I can't figure out what was going on with it. I really want one so it'll go on the next fish order, which I'm going to keep small.
 
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