novahobbies
Well-Known Member
Going to be a slow build, but it was past time to do a reset on this tank. Let me give you some particulars:
This tank has been for the longest time a seahorse tank for H. erectus horses. When it was time to move past the horses, we kept this tank with a pair of clowns and a few other fish. Recently a Velvet infestation swept through the tank and killed EVERYTHING off in a matter of days. I kept the tank fallow for a month, all the while battling a nasty rust red algae/bacteria outbreak that I just could not get ahead of, despite the tank being fish free and not fed. After the tank was fallow, I added a single fish to the system to see how it would do.......and it died in 3 days.
So.........to heck with it. Time for a 100% reset. New sand, new rocks, 100% water change and complete teardown and cleaning. I started with this....
See all that orange crap? At first I thought my GFO went haywire. Then I realized it was some kind of algae bloom. Horrific stuff. I personally suspect dinoflagellates.
I pulled everything out and completely drained it. The few living snails went through a short QT, a scrubbing, and will be rehomed in my main tank. My old rock was thrown out, as was the sand. I kept a couple pieces of really shapely rock, but not sure if it's going back in here or not.
Refilling time. Just fresh tap water for now....
Water and a lot of vinegar has been added. That should make the coraline easy to remove. Once this is done, I'll drain the system, wash it, and restart it. I'm going to use Bahamas Gold for the sand bed, and I'm making a Bonsai style rock bommie for the corals. Filtration will be a Cascade HOB filter, a Tunze nano skimmer (all stuff from the previous incarnation) and a Chinese full spectrum LED.
As for fish, we're up in the air. I know for certain there will be a pair of clowns (hopefully some Extreme Snow Onyx clowns, since those are the Wife's favorite) and a Potter's leopard wrasse. After that, I don't know. I will probably keep a squaretail bristletooth or Kole tang. Yes, the rockwork will be open to allow a tang to circle the column. Although it's not my choice, we may decide to raise juvenile angels in here as well. Wife loves the look of baby annularis and semicircularis angels, and I'm willing to put one in as long as she understands that the fish has to be swapped out once it's "grown out" to 3 inches or so. Other than that, I don't know. Depending on the choice of corals, I may do a couple clown gobies, but that's about it. Any fish list suggestions would be welcome!
This tank has been for the longest time a seahorse tank for H. erectus horses. When it was time to move past the horses, we kept this tank with a pair of clowns and a few other fish. Recently a Velvet infestation swept through the tank and killed EVERYTHING off in a matter of days. I kept the tank fallow for a month, all the while battling a nasty rust red algae/bacteria outbreak that I just could not get ahead of, despite the tank being fish free and not fed. After the tank was fallow, I added a single fish to the system to see how it would do.......and it died in 3 days.
So.........to heck with it. Time for a 100% reset. New sand, new rocks, 100% water change and complete teardown and cleaning. I started with this....
See all that orange crap? At first I thought my GFO went haywire. Then I realized it was some kind of algae bloom. Horrific stuff. I personally suspect dinoflagellates.
I pulled everything out and completely drained it. The few living snails went through a short QT, a scrubbing, and will be rehomed in my main tank. My old rock was thrown out, as was the sand. I kept a couple pieces of really shapely rock, but not sure if it's going back in here or not.
Refilling time. Just fresh tap water for now....
Water and a lot of vinegar has been added. That should make the coraline easy to remove. Once this is done, I'll drain the system, wash it, and restart it. I'm going to use Bahamas Gold for the sand bed, and I'm making a Bonsai style rock bommie for the corals. Filtration will be a Cascade HOB filter, a Tunze nano skimmer (all stuff from the previous incarnation) and a Chinese full spectrum LED.
As for fish, we're up in the air. I know for certain there will be a pair of clowns (hopefully some Extreme Snow Onyx clowns, since those are the Wife's favorite) and a Potter's leopard wrasse. After that, I don't know. I will probably keep a squaretail bristletooth or Kole tang. Yes, the rockwork will be open to allow a tang to circle the column. Although it's not my choice, we may decide to raise juvenile angels in here as well. Wife loves the look of baby annularis and semicircularis angels, and I'm willing to put one in as long as she understands that the fish has to be swapped out once it's "grown out" to 3 inches or so. Other than that, I don't know. Depending on the choice of corals, I may do a couple clown gobies, but that's about it. Any fish list suggestions would be welcome!
