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

[eric b 125]

Does she have a sister?

Hahaha...'fraid not, my friend. I think it's funny, though, how the universe has it's way of balancing everything out. The breakup I went through a few months ago was devastating. Now I look back on it like: "That really wasn't nearly as bad as I made it out to be." Even when I lose, I'm winning...crazy.

 

[ClaptonsGhost]

Yes, I believe Jerry Seinfeld called it "Even Steven Syndrome"

 

[snakeblitz33]

Glad to hear that everything is going smooth. Got sticks yet?

 

[eric b 125]

Yes, I believe Jerry Seinfeld called it "Even Steven Syndrome"

I never watched Seinfeld, but that's exactly what it feels like! LOL

Glad to hear that everything is going smooth. Got sticks yet?

I got a 20pc frag pack but they ended up being killed by the dinos. I'll try again in another month or so, once I let the lights in the DT run on a normal schedule for a while without any problems. I'm going to work on the fish list until then

 

[snakeblitz33]

Wow, you have some patience, my friend.

 

[eric b 125]

Wow, you have some patience, my friend.

I do have patience, but I think this is more of a result of proving to myself time and time again that this is a hobby that I'm interested in...it makes no sense to me to throw in the towel when I know good and well that I'll end up setting up the tank again in no time.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Hah. Taking a jab at my ribs now, huh?

 

[eric b 125]

Hah. Taking a jab at my ribs now, huh?

LOL, no...I didn't realize you were breaking down your tank. Honestly, I was very close to selling this tank or putting it in storage. I think that's what would have happened if the tank wasn't so large. It was just easier to top off the tank than it would have been to get it out of here, haha.

I came home from work tonight and decided to finally do a water change and some maintenance. I also tossed out all of the dead frags and placed the ones that might have a fighting chance in the rockwork. A few of them look okay and there's a couple more that are long-shots. In any event, I'm surprised that any of them survived a few weeks without light. I'm going to go to one of the LFS's and get some stuff: a fish or two, some frags, maybe some shrimp or beef up my CUC. Just something to progress the tank. I'd like to grab a mandarin, flame angel, or PBT. I'll have to see what they have. I don't want to buy a fish just to buy a fish, but I need to keep it movin one way or another.

Honestly, part of me kind of likes having a large tank with only one fish. The other part of me thinks of all the cool stuff I could be putting in there...

 

[reefkeeperZ]

I like the low fish to coral ratio honestly, fewer fish means easier bio-load maintenance related tasks, like nitrate monitoring etc.

 

[eric b 125]

I like the low fish to coral ratio honestly, fewer fish means easier bio-load maintenance related tasks, like nitrate monitoring etc.

I don't want a ton of fish, but it's a 200 gallon tank...it looks pretty stupid with just a purple tang, LOL. I picked up a flame angel, midas blenny, and a firefish today (acclimating to QT right now). The only other fish that I really want at this point is a powder blue tang, mandarin, and a clown goby (to host an SPS colony).

I also picked up a brittle star, 4 sps frags and a zoa frag, and some chaeto since all my macro died when I went lights-out for those weeks. The tank looks much better now that I did some maintenance and took the frag rack out. I'll have to figure out the photobucket thing so I can post pics.

While these fish are in QT I think I'm going to work on getting more inverts: peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, etc..

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'm glad to see you spending some $$ on the tank again. Good luck with photobucket

 

[eric b 125]

I'm glad to see you spending some $$ on the tank again. Good luck with photobucket

Thanks buddy!

When I initially set the tank up I was going to go for higher-end fish and corals, but I realized that I'm just not in it all like that. I don't care about designer corals and I don't have the motivation for harder-to-keep fish. For example, I like anthias, but I just don't care to be around often enough to feed a varied enough diet. At this point I'm happy with what I have going on and if I put a hundo or two towards the tank every paycheck, over the next few months, this thing will be bangin by years end.

 

[eric b 125]

So far the three fish in QT are doing well. The firefish keeps ending up in the back of the Biocube, but that's no big deal. Today when I got home from work the QT was at 1.020, so I took out 5 gallons and replaced it with FW. All the fish are eating, both flake and frozen mysis.

It is so nice to have a renewed interest in this again. The DT is looking good which is a great thing since it's in the main living area of my apartment. I'm still very happy with the Gyre and before I go to bed tonight I'm going to check out the reverse-flow function. I pretty much plugged it in and forgot about it while I temporarily lost interest.

I was half tempted to not QT the new fish, but I've already had enough nuisances with this tank and the QT is probably close to a $1k tank (with the equipment I have on it), so I might as well put it to good use. I'm already putting together an online order for inverts since stuff online is so much cheaper than any of the LFS's I go to.

 

[novahobbies]

Trust me my friend, with a tank this size, you'll be glad you QT. Just make sure you're consistent and QT all your fish as they come in. I know for a fac that QTing my fish has saved my display tank in the past. Yes, I've lost a couple fish to ich in the QT despite treatment....but ya know what?? I'd rather lose one fish in QT than the whole display tank. I've played that game before and it's not fun.

I love my Midas blenny, and I bet you will as well. It's the most recent addition for my tank so it had a few days of hiding from the current residents before it came out. Now it swims all over the place.

Funny thing you mentioned the Anthias. I don't think they're that hard to keep and feed at all. I don't know what species you were thinking of getting, but Evansi, Dispar, or Bartlett's are relatively easy to keep and can be simply fed with a cheap auto fish feeder stocked with pellets, and of course a nightly mysis meal. For a beautiful 200g DD tank, imagine how awesome a school of 6 Evansi's would look!

 

[novahobbies]

So, call me a dummy. I read pg 16 BEFORE page 15, so I missed the whole breakup / killer anthias dieoff. :-/ I'm really sorry about the breakup issues buddy. It just blows, I know. I'm glad you're approaching it with a positive attitude now, but that doesn' make it any easier.

As for your Anthias.....that's wild. I've had that happen with Tiger Queens, but they're notoriously finicky. Where did you order them, and did they possibly get stock with a cold spike during shipping?? I wonder if they were aggressive towards each other in QT because of the quantity. Maybe set up a second temporary QT system and do 3 &3 instead...then add them to the display all at the same time.

 

[snakeblitz33]

With a big tank like that, I would quarantine too. My angelfish has Popeyes right now that won't go away. I have to take my fish back to the store this week.

Good luck with the new additions. Did you fix photobucket yet?

 

[eric b 125]

So, call me a dummy. I read pg 16 BEFORE page 15, so I missed the whole breakup / killer anthias dieoff. :-/ I'm really sorry about the breakup issues buddy. It just blows, I know. I'm glad you're approaching it with a positive attitude now, but that doesn' make it any easier.

As for your Anthias.....that's wild. I've had that happen with Tiger Queens, but they're notoriously finicky. Where did you order them, and did they possibly get stock with a cold spike during shipping?? I wonder if they were aggressive towards each other in QT because of the quantity. Maybe set up a second temporary QT system and do 3 &3 instead...then add them to the display all at the same time.

Thanks man...that was undoubtedly the most wicked feeling I've ever experienced. I can't believe that kind of pain is possible. I'm far enough from it now that I can look back and say: "That wasn't nearly as bad as I made it out to be". I realize now that I'm the one that got away, not her. It still stings from time to time but the things I've gained in the past few months: a new dog, a deeper appreciation and empathy for what some of my patients experience, my new GF and reconnecting with old friends...I've found a lot of gratitude in the situation. Perspective is everything and I'm a far better person for going through that.

As far as the anthias go- the ones that died were a result of my disinterest in the hobby. Something had to give during that time and unfortunately it was the tank(s). That was my second unsuccessful attempt at QT'ing anthias, but I might give it another go.

 

[eric b 125]

With a big tank like that, I would quarantine too. My angelfish has Popeyes right now that won't go away. I have to take my fish back to the store this week.

Good luck with the new additions. Did you fix photobucket yet?

I am going to QT everything. Honestly, I've only successfully QT'd (with hypo) one time and that was with a trio of YT's in my old 125.

I haven't even checked out Photobucket yet. I have tomorrow off of work so I'll see what I can figure out. I definitely want to get some pics posted.

 

[eric b 125]

The QT was at 1.015 this morning so I did another 5 gallon swap. I should hit 1.009 tomorrow.

I'm not entirely impressed with the amount of flow that the Gyre produces in reverse. I have it set at about 70% in normal flow, 100% in reverse, and it switches every 5 minutes. I will say that even after a thorough vacuuming during the water change the other day, there was a lot of stuff kicked-up by the Gyre last night and even into today. This thing produces tremendous flow (in normal operation at least) so I think it's a good thing to give the corals a break.

 

[eric b 125]

Finally getting around to regenerating the Kati/Ani...I can't find my TDS meter, so I'm not sure it even needs it but it's been the better part of a year since I did it last and I used it a lot to get this tank started. I can't say I really look forward to doing it, so I might as well take advantage of my current enthusiasm for the tanks and get it done before the next inevitable slump.