I hope I remember how to do this

cmaxwell39 · May 2, 2020

Got some fish for the QT this week.

3 Azure and 3 Talbots damsels as well as a trio of zebra barred dartfish. Lost two of the Talbots within 24 hrs, but everything else seems to be eating and doing well.

Crustaceon · May 2, 2020

I have a pair of azures and they crack me up. So much spunk. Thankfully they haven’t been mean like the four bar and behn’s I used to own.

cmaxwell39 · May 2, 2020

I am hoping they do well and make great active colorful filler fish. From the research I have done the Chrysiptera genus are much more peaceful than other damsels.

Thanks for jumping on board.

cmaxwell39 · May 3, 2020

Started ramping up copper on the QT yesterday. Will ramp up slowly (probably take 4 days instead of 2).

My previous setup my QT procedure did not include prophylactic copper, but it seems like this go around the fish coming in are more disease prone, so I think I am going to add 30 days of copper to the QT protocol. Plus two rounds of prazi for sure.

Gablami · May 3, 2020

Two thoughts: 1) I wish that when my two boys are older I’ll have a home improvement project that they can help and learn from. They’re too young right now. 2) I would be heartbroken to get my tank and then realize there was something wrong. I’m glad that your LFS made things right. But it’s still taking forever!

cmaxwell39 · May 3, 2020

Gablami said:
Two thoughts: 1) I wish that when my two boys are older I’ll have a home improvement project that they can help and learn from. They’re too young right now. 2) I would be heartbroken to get my tank and then realize there was something wrong. I’m glad that your LFS made things right. But it’s still taking forever!

Hey thanks for the kind words. Sometimes my boys love helping dad and learning how to do things, sometimes they would much rather sit in front of a screen. I just hope that everything I can teach them now will help them as they get older.

Yes, it has been a frustrating ordeal trying to get everything right on this build, but good news on that front. I asked for an update from the LFS owner yesterday and he responded today that he heard back from CA and they have started shipping tanks again. My stand SHOULD ship in the next week or two. Hopefully water is in sight. It has been almost 6 months since I paid for the tank and stand.

Thanks for popping over here. I really enjoyed reading through your build thread as well. Looks like you are experiencing some of the "delay" frustrations as well. I keep telling myself that this is just good training for the patience it will take to make the system a success.

Gablami · May 4, 2020

cmaxwell39 said:
Hey thanks for the kind words. Sometimes my boys love helping dad and learning how to do things, sometimes they would much rather sit in front of a screen. I just hope that everything I can teach them now will help them as they get older.

Yes, it has been a frustrating ordeal trying to get everything right on this build, but good news on that front. I asked for an update from the LFS owner yesterday and he responded today that he heard back from CA and they have started shipping tanks again. My stand SHOULD ship in the next week or two. Hopefully water is in sight. It has been almost 6 months since I paid for the tank and stand.

Thanks for popping over here. I really enjoyed reading through your build thread as well. Looks like you are experiencing some of the "delay" frustrations as well. I keep telling myself that this is just good training for the patience it will take to make the system a success.

My delays are nothing like your delays. But it brings up an interesting point about trusting your LFS as the middle man. I could have ordered through my LFS, but I chose to go direct. I asked my LFS point blank why I should go through him. He said he will make sure it’s done right, will do autoCAD the tank, and if there’s a warranty issue, he is local and can inspect the problem (as opposed to waiting for the tank manufacturer to travel). All good points. Plus, probably good to support your local LFS.

The flip side, is having to deal with a middle man, and potentially have it be a more expensive quote.

In retrospect, I don’t think I saved that much money going direct. Every time I made a small change in the request, it was like dealing with a contractor and a change order. (They’ve already got you, and want to milk more money from the build). But I still am glad I did, because I’ve made a good amount small changes since placing my order. Probably harder to do if I went through my LFS. But I’ve been really clear about communication and have it all in writing.

Anyways. Both of us have been biding our time getting things ready for the tanks to arrive. Soon the fun will begin!

cmaxwell39 · May 5, 2020

Gablami said:
My delays are nothing like your delays. But it brings up an interesting point about trusting your LFS as the middle man. I could have ordered through my LFS, but I chose to go direct. I asked my LFS point blank why I should go through him. He said he will make sure it’s done right, will do autoCAD the tank, and if there’s a warranty issue, he is local and can inspect the problem (as opposed to waiting for the tank manufacturer to travel). All good points. Plus, probably good to support your local LFS.

The flip side, is having to deal with a middle man, and potentially have it be a more expensive quote.

In retrospect, I don’t think I saved that much money going direct. Every time I made a small change in the request, it was like dealing with a contractor and a change order. (They’ve already got you, and want to milk more money from the build). But I still am glad I did, because I’ve made a good amount small changes since placing my order. Probably harder to do if I went through my LFS. But I’ve been really clear about communication and have it all in writing.

Anyways. Both of us have been biding our time getting things ready for the tanks to arrive. Soon the fun will begin!

Sorry, been a busy couple of days so I missed your response. It didn't cost me anymore to go through the LFS, and being in a new area I wanted to develop a relationship with a place I can trust going forward. I could have gone direct, and maybe avoided the fiasco on the color of the stand, but I hope the relationship that I am developing will pay dividends over time. Yes there has been some frustration with the mix-up, but overall the guy has been very good to work with.

Plus, like you said, I like to support the local guy when possible.

cmaxwell39 · May 7, 2020

Today’s reading from QT.

Tuesday tested at .44 so am starting 30 day clock from then.

So far all inhabitants are tolerating copper well. Still eating and swimming around fine. No fast breathing, scratching or any other suspicious behavior has been noted.

Victoria M · May 10, 2020

Fantastic read. I saw your kind comments on my thread and began reading your thread right away. It was a lovely read while sipping tea and chilling out this morning.
it is a crazy time we are in. It seems you and your family are doing well with this fun project to keep your hands and minds occupied. When they decide to help, right? all boys? It makes it so much more fun when they are involved and excited.
the stand...An exercise in patience for sure. It will be gorgeous when it is set up.
I love my basement fish room. It keeps my fishy mess out of the dining room...mostly ;Shy
Is your QT going to be atleast 8-10 feed from your sump? There is some evidence that aerosolized droplets can spread CI and velvet. Kinda like keeping 6 ft from other folks, right?
I made a trip to Summit City Corals a couple years ago and it was a really nice LFS day trip for me. Where are you located?

cmaxwell39 · May 10, 2020

Victoria M said:
Fantastic read. I saw your kind comments on my thread and began reading your thread right away. It was a lovely read while sipping tea and chilling out this morning.
it is a crazy time we are in. It seems you and your family are doing well with this fun project to keep your hands and minds occupied. When they decide to help, right? all boys? It makes it so much more fun when they are involved and excited.
the stand...An exercise in patience for sure. It will be gorgeous when it is set up.
I love my basement fish room. It keeps my fishy mess out of the dining room...mostly ;Shy
Is your QT going to be atleast 8-10 feed from your sump? There is some evidence that aerosolized droplets can spread CI and velvet. Kinda like keeping 6 ft from other folks, right?
I made a trip to Summit City Corals a couple years ago and it was a really nice LFS day trip for me. Where are you located?

Thanks for stopping by my thread. It has been a fun build. It is taking longer than expected, and there have been some challenges along the way, but overall I have been enjoying the process.

Yes, we have 3 boys, and it is fun when they decide to "help" They are good kids, and do help quite a bit, but sometimes their motivation is not the same as dad's is. I think they are enjoying the build process as well, I just think they are ready for all the projects to be done.

I am about an hour east of Fort Wayne. A little town about 15 minutes north of Warsaw. Cool that you have been to SCC before. It is a neat little shop, and the owner seems passionate about keeping reef tanks.

Happy Mother's Day to you and thanks again for stopping by.

EDIT: My Qt tanks are approximately 8' from the sump. They are on opposite sides of the 10'x10' room. I know a lot of folks recommend keeping that distance between QT tanks as well, but I don't have the space for that, so they are closer together, but I do have a decent amount of space between the QT's and the sump.

Victoria M · May 10, 2020

cmaxwell39 said:
Thanks for stopping by my thread. It has been a fun build. It is taking longer than expected, and there have been some challenges along the way, but overall I have been enjoying the process.

Yes, we have 3 boys, and it is fun when they decide to "help" They are good kids, and do help quite a bit, but sometimes their motivation is not the same as dad's is. I think they are enjoying the build process as well, I just think they are ready for all the projects to be done.

I am about an hour east of Fort Wayne. A little town about 15 minutes north of Warsaw. Cool that you have been to SCC before. It is a neat little shop, and the owner seems passionate about keeping reef tanks.

Happy Mother's Day to you and thanks again for stopping by.

EDIT: My Qt tanks are approximately 8' from the sump. They are on opposite sides of the 10'x10' room. I know a lot of folks recommend keeping that distance between QT tanks as well, but I don't have the space for that, so they are closer together, but I do have a decent amount of space between the QT's and the sump.

I have three boys too.
I think 8 feet is pretty good. There are many other things more challenging when it comes to QT. Right?

My closest QT is about 9’ if I remember right.

cmaxwell39 · May 10, 2020

Victoria M said:
I have three boys too.
I think 8 feet is pretty good. There are many other things more challenging when it comes to QT. Right?
My closest QT is about 9’ if I remember right.

Yes many other things to worry about when it comes to QT. I enjoyed reading the QT discussion in your build thread and will be following along to see where you land on your own QT practices. I have been following Brews thread as well, and I know he is trying to decide how to proceed with QT as well.

In my last system, my QT protocol was pretty simple, 6 weeks minimum with at least 2 rounds of prazi. I did not treat with copper unless something showed up that required it. I always had it on hand just in case, but only was used if necessary, and it was only necessary a few times. Never had an issue doing it that way.

So far early on with this system it seems that I am having far more losses in QT, and I keep reading that disease on new incoming fishes is more prevalent than ever which has me at least trying out dosing copper as part of a regiment. Time will tell if I stick with that protocol.

Victoria M · May 10, 2020

Yeah, QT is a contact sport for sure.

cmaxwell39 · May 17, 2020

One of the Azure damsels in QT is being picked on by another. Not a good sign for them getting along in the display, although there will be a lot more cover for them in the display.

Tuesday will be day 14 of therapeutic copper levels in QT. I am thinking I am going to pull all the fish from QT and combine them with the two clowns and 1 chromis in the holding tank. I have also already done two rounds of Prazi while they were in copper. Would love some thoughts on this course of action.

Gablami · May 17, 2020

Damsels will be damsels. I TTM instead of copper, so not a lot of experience there. I thought therapeutic copper treatment was supposed to be longer than 14 days? Will you be continuing copper in the holding tank?

cmaxwell39 · May 17, 2020

My understanding is that if you remove the fish from the tank, 14 days is enough, if you leave them in the same tank, you need to go 30 days of therapeutic copper.

Gablami · May 17, 2020

Yup you’re correct. Just looked up humblefish’s recs. With two QT tanks, you can go to no copper in second tank after 2 weeks of full copper and continue to observe. With a single tank, it’s longer.

dcmartinpc · May 19, 2020

Looking good Calvin! How are the fish holding up in QT?

Don

cmaxwell39 · May 22, 2020

dcmartinpc said:
Looking good Calvin! How are the fish holding up in QT?

Don

Hey Don. Thanks for stopping in.

Sorry, it has been a busy week. Moved the fish out of the QT on Tuesday. They went into the temporary holding tank with the two clowns and the single chromis. Other than losing two of the Talbots right away, all the other fish survived QT this time.

There was a little aggression directed towards the smallest Azure towards the end of the QT process, but that seems to have calmed down now that there are other fish to distract the attention and a few pieces of live rock for a more natural cover than pvc fittings.

How are things coming on your MONSTER build?