Degener8's 70gal flat hex
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OP
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Degener8
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Yeah and this eel seems bullet proof..LOL
It's time for a small update just so everyone knows the tank is still alive..LOL
1 Week ago I ordered and installed a TLF reactor with Bio Pellets. I have been battling the algaes mentioned previously and I could not get my nitrates down.. 50% water changes would bring em down to 20-40 but they would shoot back up and PO4 was WAY to high hence the ever present algae issue. I had scrubbed rocks and increased water changes and cut feedings etc etc etc. I was up to 30 gallon a week water changes at one point in time with this issue it was getting ***** expensive to keep doing this...
So prior to bringing the bio pellets online i enlisted the help of my children since I was only 1.5 weeks post neck surgery and we removed all the rock,eel and any cuc that was still surviving from the system. We removed the sand and tossed it all in a spare 10g tank I had. Rinsed the rock and put it all back in. Added back about 40 gallons of water and finished off with 40 gallons of saltwater I had been mixing for a few days.
I was quite surprized that the nitrates were 80+ after all this and all the fresh water added.(i knew they would be a bit high but was really not expecting this)
The only thing in the tank was the eel and rocks that have one lil spot of GSP left on em..and the bubble algae...
I hooked up the reactor and every report says to add the pellets slow, especially with high nitrates. If not you will get a bacterial bloom. Well the bloom wouldn't hurt my eel and I didn't want to take weeks to get to the proper level of pellets since the first 6-8 weeks your not supposed to disturb them. So I added the proper amount to the chamber for a 75ish gallons I have in my system. The bacterial bloom came and went as expected. I have a good skimmer and added a HOB filter to help with some extra surface agitation for extra O2 exchange.
Bloom lasted about 4 days. Today the tank looks clear as it should. The nitrates are down to between 20-40 ppm. HUGE improvement in a short time I would say.
I'll give this a week more and test again. So far I love Bio pellets. They have done a superior job of quickly getting things moving in the right direction. I'll try to keep updated how long it takes to get things to 0 if it hits that and I will document if it can starve out these pesky red bubble algaes.
I had purchased a Sailfin tang and had him in quarantine so once things leveled out in here I could deploy him to take on some algae but he did not make it through QT. I will be looking for a Fox face I think to take his place (or maybe a slightly less average rabbit fish) the only requirement i really have is it has to be large enough not to be a meal for the eel..LOL and thats not always easy to fill..
More to come.. thank for reading.
OP
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Degener8
Active Member
Ok so its update time!
I picked up a Yellow Tang, 6 green Chromis, Spiny Boxfish, and a Green Mandarin that waas eating shrimp roe and cyclopeze at the LFS, and finally a Blue Spot Toby .
All of these fish were in a stand alone system at the store. This is my local store here and I know the guy who runs the fish area pretty well so he seperated them for me a while back.
Picked up a few coraals salt test kit etc.. u know ,,, the basics..lol
Anyways got everything home and acclimated. The chromis and mandarin would be eaten by the eel for sure so they were seperated from the rest.
The eel spent some time checking out the new fish but figured out they were not bite size so back into his rocks he went.
The next day after returning home from work I found everyone doing well but could not find the eel. Until I happened to look behind the tank. Yup Eel jerkey
So its a bitter sweet time right now. Its hard to lose a fish that you spent the last year hand feeding and has been through so many ups and downs with my life and what that meant both good and bad for the tank.
Anyways now all the chromis and mandarin are in the 75 with everyone else. Hopefully the toby and mandarin stop being so shy and come out to eat!
So yeah thats all for now.. I'll grab some pics and things in a few days once everyone settles in better.
I picked up a Yellow Tang, 6 green Chromis, Spiny Boxfish, and a Green Mandarin that waas eating shrimp roe and cyclopeze at the LFS, and finally a Blue Spot Toby .
All of these fish were in a stand alone system at the store. This is my local store here and I know the guy who runs the fish area pretty well so he seperated them for me a while back.
Picked up a few coraals salt test kit etc.. u know ,,, the basics..lol
Anyways got everything home and acclimated. The chromis and mandarin would be eaten by the eel for sure so they were seperated from the rest.
The eel spent some time checking out the new fish but figured out they were not bite size so back into his rocks he went.
The next day after returning home from work I found everyone doing well but could not find the eel. Until I happened to look behind the tank. Yup Eel jerkey
So its a bitter sweet time right now. Its hard to lose a fish that you spent the last year hand feeding and has been through so many ups and downs with my life and what that meant both good and bad for the tank.
Anyways now all the chromis and mandarin are in the 75 with everyone else. Hopefully the toby and mandarin stop being so shy and come out to eat!
So yeah thats all for now.. I'll grab some pics and things in a few days once everyone settles in better.
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
Thanks he was quite photogenic. I had not seen the green mandarin all day but finally spotted him picking at pods so he is doing ok.
just hiding some. Interestings the blue spot Toby is shy also
.sad cuz he is a beautiful fish.
just hiding some. Interestings the blue spot Toby is shy also
.sad cuz he is a beautiful fish.
Steelerfan747
Valuable Member
I am quite sorry about the eel. I had one many years ago that I ended up saving a couple of times as I either found him in my sump or on the floor however the last time, I woke up and thought I saw a snake on my floor until I realized that it was the eel. Unfortunately he was already dead
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
Tonight was a bad tank night. Earlier the Burr fish was making a meal of one of my chromis.so I Vito catch the chromis and knocked a rock down that the net got caught on and crushed the blue spot puffer
He did not make it. I am beginning to think this tank is cursed.
Good idea w the pumps I'll try to get some feeding photos tomorrow
He did not make it. I am beginning to think this tank is cursed.
Good idea w the pumps I'll try to get some feeding photos tomorrow
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
So I really think this tank is cursed now.
or still...
The burr fish killed everything in the tank minus the chromis i saved and a yellow tang which now has a 1/2 or a lttle less of a tail. He is pretty bruised up as well. Burr fish is back at the LFS and the tang now has the tank to himself until he is entirely healed. In a few weeks I'll likely pickup a new addition to the tank and start the QT process with him so it will be ready once the tang is fully recovered. I do have a QT ready to go incase infection sets in so I can catch and treat it if needed.
or still...
The burr fish killed everything in the tank minus the chromis i saved and a yellow tang which now has a 1/2 or a lttle less of a tail. He is pretty bruised up as well. Burr fish is back at the LFS and the tang now has the tank to himself until he is entirely healed. In a few weeks I'll likely pickup a new addition to the tank and start the QT process with him so it will be ready once the tang is fully recovered. I do have a QT ready to go incase infection sets in so I can catch and treat it if needed.
spsboss
unregistered
Hey buddy I am really sorry that you lost the fish, it is hard to pick out good tank mates. I have had run in with bad fish before and I have gotten rid of them. You will bounce back trust me we all go through this.
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
Well tonight the yellow tang is more active than previous.. odd how they change when something is not trying to eat them.
His tail is about 1/4th of its natural self. the small strains that were hanging off his tail seem to have finished coming off and it is looking like a normal tail just really small for his size.
The bruising/redness on each side of the tail seems to be more concentrated today the lighter areas have discipated.
There is no sign of infection at this time. I know he is not out of the woods yet but he is grazing and eating the food I put in the tank. Still got a nice even stomach. Not a huge fatty liek I would like him to be but he seems to have maintained his appetite through all this. So 6 ish more weeks and I think I will be placing an order on live aquaria for another fish or 2 to add to the tank.
In the mean time I will be doing some tank modifications and adding in the overflow and new return pump. Undecided If I am going to switch the sump from the 20 long to the 55 g sump I have or not. I got more thinking and planning to do before I make my final decision.
His tail is about 1/4th of its natural self. the small strains that were hanging off his tail seem to have finished coming off and it is looking like a normal tail just really small for his size.
The bruising/redness on each side of the tail seems to be more concentrated today the lighter areas have discipated.
There is no sign of infection at this time. I know he is not out of the woods yet but he is grazing and eating the food I put in the tank. Still got a nice even stomach. Not a huge fatty liek I would like him to be but he seems to have maintained his appetite through all this. So 6 ish more weeks and I think I will be placing an order on live aquaria for another fish or 2 to add to the tank.
In the mean time I will be doing some tank modifications and adding in the overflow and new return pump. Undecided If I am going to switch the sump from the 20 long to the 55 g sump I have or not. I got more thinking and planning to do before I make my final decision.
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
Little update on the tang. The "bruising" from research is more like an internal hemorage from what research I have done. It is all almost gone now. The hemoraging is a stress induced reaction from what I can tell. The tang is eating well and looking better every day. He is eating the red bubble algae that is in the tank and feeds well on the foods I am feeding. I'll be picking up some nori this week to further vary his diet and hopefully pack some weight on him.
I added an Orbic Cardinal to the tank the other day. Very peaceful fish and a good eater as well. Its a less brilliant cardinal but its always out and gliding around the tank so good addition. I'll probably try to pickup a few more orbics as they like to be in groups ultimately.
As to the overflow and sump I am still a little in the air about what to do with that. I think until I can build a new stand I will stay with the smaller sump since it can't sit under the current stand. I'll probably start a stand build in the next month or so to get the new sump in place and increase the flow in the tank. Right now I really don't want to add any extra flow since ime the tang is still at the recovery phases of healing. I don't want to add any new stresses.
I added an Orbic Cardinal to the tank the other day. Very peaceful fish and a good eater as well. Its a less brilliant cardinal but its always out and gliding around the tank so good addition. I'll probably try to pickup a few more orbics as they like to be in groups ultimately.
As to the overflow and sump I am still a little in the air about what to do with that. I think until I can build a new stand I will stay with the smaller sump since it can't sit under the current stand. I'll probably start a stand build in the next month or so to get the new sump in place and increase the flow in the tank. Right now I really don't want to add any extra flow since ime the tang is still at the recovery phases of healing. I don't want to add any new stresses.
spsboss
unregistered
Well the overflow will not stress out the fish per say, but I think it is the best to wait and build a stand and then add the new overflow to the tank. That way you are better off planning out everything.
I am happy to hear the tank is doing much better
I am happy to hear the tank is doing much better
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Glad to hear the tang is doing well!
OP
OP
Degener8
Active Member
Well nothing really new to report as of now. The Orbic cardinal and tang are getting along fine. The tangs tail is still stubby which I think it will be fore a while but its healed and no infection so I am happy. The bruising he had from the stress is gone now and I am just letting the tank be for now.
Water parameters are:
Nitrates < 10
Po4 < or = .5
Alk =10
Calc =440
Ammonia and nitrite =0
So other than a little excessive po4 atm I am pretty happy with the parameters. The red bubble algae doesn't seem to be spreading so fast anymore so I will likely be getting a reactor and some GFO soon to try and remove more of that. Water change is tomorrow to siphon out more muck from the tank. Its taking a long time to remove all the sand bits that were in the pores of the rocks but I expected that.
Hopefully soon my buddy will get his lights up and running so I cna put some sand in my frag tank and get my racks setup once his stuff I am housing is gone from there.
Thanks all for the kind words and interest.
Garnet
Water parameters are:
Nitrates < 10
Po4 < or = .5
Alk =10
Calc =440
Ammonia and nitrite =0
So other than a little excessive po4 atm I am pretty happy with the parameters. The red bubble algae doesn't seem to be spreading so fast anymore so I will likely be getting a reactor and some GFO soon to try and remove more of that. Water change is tomorrow to siphon out more muck from the tank. Its taking a long time to remove all the sand bits that were in the pores of the rocks but I expected that.
Hopefully soon my buddy will get his lights up and running so I cna put some sand in my frag tank and get my racks setup once his stuff I am housing is gone from there.
Thanks all for the kind words and interest.
Garnet
