Reality check 10 - deaths continue, the stand is wet again, and a slowed roll (Mar - present (Jul/Aug) 2019)
After dealing with so many issues with the fish, testing problems, corals, etc., I really decided that it was high time to substantially slow the roll of things. I lost out on a hefty chunk of extra money that I'd been earning, and my main job is a bit up in the air regarding how much longer it can last. Because of this, the last few months have seen very few things happening to the tank, but I did still try a handful of things. I still tried to increase my livestock (the wrasse and firefish were doing great), but things were still dying, and didn't really do anything for corals. In addition, I tried to get a phytoplankton reactor/culture system up and running so I could eventually grow pods as well, prepping for a Mandarin. I'll put that in my next update post.
First things first though. I was having some issues with my overflow - it was WAY overfilling, and it ended up draining my ATO reservoir pretty much daily. Thankfully, I only have a ~2 L container, so it didn't affect salinity too much. I saw that the main overflow drain was getting clogged with algae, food particulate matter, and some other gunk. It was a pain to remove, but I finally managed to dislodge the pipe, clean it all off, and even added a laminated black sheet to cover the overflow from light to stop the algae growth. A few days later, I noticed the bulkhead was leaking.
Thankfully, the leak was not intense, but enough that I had to put a container underneath while I figured out what to do. LFS had a good selection of bulkheads, so I drained the overflow again, (eventually) got the old one off (I'd WAY overtightened it), and made sure the area was clear of particulates, then put on the new head. It worked OK, but... that stupid barb fitting that I'd gotten with the initial build was seriously bugging me, and the new bulkhead itself was barbed, so it didn't fit correctly. I finally realized I could use a PVC coupler and a smooth bulkhead to finally have a glued drain. Hooray! drained, replaced, and DONE! The main pipe is also MUCH easier to remove now, as I'd previously lightly pounded it in with a mallet. Because smart. But not.
Thankfully, the leaky bulkhead was the biggest MAJOR issue that I had during these months. In June, a straw came that broke this camel's back: I got a couple new corals and fish (a pair of queen anthias). The anthia both died within about a week.... still. I got an acclimation box and an Elibi angel. The angel stayed in the box for a few days, then released into the tank.
All the fishie!
Angel being a fishie
New corals hanging on the rack.
All was going well, but the firefish died a couple days after releasing the angel. I figured it was due to stress from the bigger new fish, but it was still very frustrating, and I felt awful. Then, the angel got lethargic and was dying, as well, about 3 weeks later.
Managed to get the angel in the acclimation box before it died. No signs of illness... just.... dying.
I followed up that day with a yellow goby. It didn't even last 3 days (all in acclimation box). I couldn't figure it out and felt awful. Not only did I lose a fish that was doing great (firefish), but I'd lost still more beyond that, again. I posted a
thread here on the forums, and got some wonderful advice and encouragement. In the end, the consensus was that the store's hyposalinity was causing too big of a shift to my tank's salinity, hence the random timing and 'no sign' deaths. I'm working on getting my QT set back up and keeping it at a hyposalinity, then gradually increasing the level to match my DT. Here's hoping it all works. I put the QT's ceramic bioballs in my DT sump around mid July so they can gain bacteria, and will have the QT running soon.
And that pretty much brings us to now for all the stuff I've done. Hooray
