I hope I remember how to do this

cmaxwell39 · Aug 2, 2020

Few updates from this week.

First I finally lost the longfin fairy wrasse in QT. The Labouti came out of QT and went into a holding/observation tank for the next 2-4 weeks. He was starting to act pretty lethargic in QT as well, but has perked back up in the holding tank. Will try to get some pics of him this week sometime.

Tested water yesterday and results are as follows.

Nitrate 2ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate- 0.07 ppm (Hannah)
Alkalinity — 7.3 (Hannah)
Calcium— 460 (Salifert)
Magnesium— 1410 (Salifert)

Nutrients are just creeping up, but still in a good range. I actually cleaned the glass on the display tank yesterday for the first time. Rockscape was done 4 weeks ago yesterday, and fish were moved to display 3.5 weeks ago. I am starting to get some brown stuff on the rocks too, but the snails in the cleanup crew are keeping in knocked back pretty well.

And finally, this happened:

Got a batch of test acros in to start QTing them. Ordered up a battlebox From @Battlecorals and asked for some of the classics. Got green slimer, palletta pink tip, north stars clathrata, ultimate frags rainbow, atl shades of fall, and upscales microclades.

In the QT.

Will QT them for at least 45 days so hopefully everything is ready for them. They are all long established captive grown corals so there shouldn’t be any problem. I couldn’t be happier with the pack I got and super excited to have corals under my care again.

Will hopefully have more updates soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Gablami · Aug 2, 2020

Nice! Good sized frags from Adam. Parameters look pretty spot on. Sorry to hear about the long fin, but a male labouti is one of my favorites. Hope he gets better and better.

cmaxwell39 · Aug 2, 2020

Gablami said:
Nice! Good sized frags from Adam. Parameters look pretty spot on. Sorry to hear about the long fin, but a male labouti is one of my favorites. Hope he gets better and better.

Very happy with the frags from Adam at Battle corals, but honestly I have come to expect nothing less from him. I have always have very positive transactions with him. He is definitely one the good guys in this hobby.

I like the labouti, but my favorites when it comes to the fairy wrasses go towards the rhomboid, lineatus, and exquisite. Needless to say there will be more fairy wrasses to come.

Gablami · Aug 2, 2020

I’ve had a rhomboid and a lineatus. The problem I have with fancy fairy wrasses is that their life span is relatively short, especially when you drop the coin to purchase them as super males. You have no idea how long they’ve been like that. I’ve had a couple die of old age on me already.

Better to buy female or sub-male. Will eventually turn super male but will have more years in your tank.

cmaxwell39 · Aug 3, 2020

Gablami said:
I’ve had a rhomboid and a lineatus. The problem I have with fancy fairy wrasses is that their life span is relatively short, especially when you drop the coin to purchase them as super males. You have no idea how long they’ve been like that. I’ve had a couple die of old age on me already.

Better to buy female or sub-male. Will eventually turn super male but will have more years in your tank.

Been down that road myself. Definitely agree about getting them younger when possible, and I know about their life spans. My last tank I had all the wrasses listed so far, so you could say that I am slightly addicted to the fish of the genus.

It definitely is not a cheap addiction. But as you said, it hurts the wallet slightly less if you can find females/submales.

Gablami · Aug 16, 2020

I guess no news is good news? Hope things are progressing smoothly.

cmaxwell39 · Aug 22, 2020

Sorry I missed this post. Just letting everything settle in. Going through a little ugly stage in the display.

In some goods news, I moved a fish from QT to the observation holding tank today. Hopefully will be able to get a couple of pics in the next few days.

Overall, things are progressing slowly. Not as fast as I would like, but I knew this stage was coming. Been a long time since I started a tank from scratch, but I have been through it before.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 14, 2020

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been crazy here for the last few weeks. My oldest son ended up testing positive for C19. Long story, but he is doing fine. Never hit him that hard, but we have all been under quarantine here. Trying to work from home spending WAY more time on a computer than I am used to has not left me with much motivation to spend more time on the computer checking the forums in the evening.

Anyway, here is a quick update, and I will try to get some pictures up later. QT has been hard for me. I really don't think the process is overly hard on the fish, just have had some bad luck and gotten a couple of iffy fish. One order with a vendor I had one fish DOA and another found a small gap in the cover in the QT tank about 10 days into the 14 day copper treatment and jumped. The second shipment from the same vendor they all arrived alive, and everyone was eating well, but lost one fish after 8 days and another one after 12 days. They both had some sort of fleshy/open looking spot on one side. They were extremely cryptic, so never was able to get a really good look at them, but did not notice it until they died.

Both shipments I did have one fish make it through QT and into the holding/observation tank. The fish from the first shipment went into the display tank this past weekend when the fish from the second shipment was transferred out of QT and into the holding/observation tank.

QT for corals has been equally as frustrating. Everything was doing well for about 2.5 weeks and then I slowly started losing corals. It took a long while, but I think I have it narrowed down to a faulty heater that is allowing to large of a temperature swing in the tank. Finally figured that out late last week so I have a new heater on order which should be here tomorrow. I slowly lost all of the corals in the shipment from Battle Corals, but I have a couple of pieces from a buddy that are still hanging on. Also have a bunch of inverts that are waiting for their time to make it to the display.

Finally, the display has been going through an ugly stage. Started with a wierd hair type algae so bumped the fuge light up to 12 hrs/day to help combat it. That definitely slowed the growth in the display, but that algae grew rampantly in the fuge. This drove nutrients down to undetectable levels, but it definitely slowed/stopped the growth in the display. With the help of the new fishy addition, hopefully the display will be back to looking good here in a couple of weeks. Pics to come later today.

Gablami · Sep 14, 2020

cmaxwell39 said:
Sorry for the lack of updates. Been crazy here for the last few weeks. My oldest son ended up testing positive for C19. Long story, but he is doing fine. Never hit him that hard, but we have all been under quarantine here. Trying to work from home spending WAY more time on a computer than I am used to has not left me with much motivation to spend more time on the computer checking the forums in the evening.

Anyway, here is a quick update, and I will try to get some pictures up later. QT has been hard for me. I really don't think the process is overly hard on the fish, just have had some bad luck and gotten a couple of iffy fish. One order with a vendor I had one fish DOA and another found a small gap in the cover in the QT tank about 10 days into the 14 day copper treatment and jumped. The second shipment from the same vendor they all arrived alive, and everyone was eating well, but lost one fish after 8 days and another one after 12 days. They both had some sort of fleshy/open looking spot on one side. They were extremely cryptic, so never was able to get a really good look at them, but did not notice it until they died.

Both shipments I did have one fish make it through QT and into the holding/observation tank. The fish from the first shipment went into the display tank this past weekend when the fish from the second shipment was transferred out of QT and into the holding/observation tank.

QT for corals has been equally as frustrating. Everything was doing well for about 2.5 weeks and then I slowly started losing corals. It took a long while, but I think I have it narrowed down to a faulty heater that is allowing to large of a temperature swing in the tank. Finally figured that out late last week so I have a new heater on order which should be here tomorrow. I slowly lost all of the corals in the shipment from Battle Corals, but I have a couple of pieces from a buddy that are still hanging on. Also have a bunch of inverts that are waiting for their time to make it to the display.

Finally, the display has been going through an ugly stage. Started with a wierd hair type algae so bumped the fuge light up to 12 hrs/day to help combat it. That definitely slowed the growth in the display, but that algae grew rampantly in the fuge. This drove nutrients down to undetectable levels, but it definitely slowed/stopped the growth in the display. With the help of the new fishy addition, hopefully the display will be back to looking good here in a couple of weeks. Pics to come later today.

In the past I have tried to quarantine acro frags 76 days, but soon gave up. Unless you setup a completely separate thriving coral QT system, you’ll end up with a bunch of dead coral. Maybe it’s just me, and other people have done it successfully, but would love to see it.

So I’ve rationalized to myself that ich cannot encyst on healthy coral tissue. The research paper that many people quote only shows that ich encysts on dead coral skeleton. Just like how algae can’t grow on healthy coral tissue. So I cut all frags off their plugs, dip and glue all cut ends. I also get all my frags from one source.

anyways, that’s my dirty secret. In the years I ran my previous tank, did not get ich. Got it recently in my upgrade, but that was from fish, not corals. Good luck!

JoshH · Sep 14, 2020

Sorry you're having such a rough time with QT, something I'm struggling with now is how or even if I want to QT atall. Even 30 days for coral can be a real pain as you've discovered. Thought about doing the hybrid TTM with hydrogen peroxide and If I QT that's probably the route I will go. As for coral, 30 days is a loooong time especially if you do multiple orders. Im liking @Gablami's Idea but it won't work for every coral, LPS being the difficult one there.

I hope everyone in your family is doing alright and you're allowed out soon!

I'm actually surprised that the SDC 9.0 is still putting out over 800 GPH given the setup, that's some serious head height for a DC pump. I might have missed it but is that just 13ft of vertical head height? Or does that include elbows and frictional losses as well??

BTW, sorry for all the likes lol, got a lot of reading ahead to catch up

Gablami · Sep 14, 2020

JoshH said:
Sorry you're having such a rough time with QT, something I'm struggling with now is how or even if I want to QT atall. Even 30 days for coral can be a real pain as you've discovered. Thought about doing the hybrid TTM with hydrogen peroxide and If I QT that's probably the route I will go. As for coral, 30 days is a loooong time especially if you do multiple orders. Im liking @Gablami's Idea but it won't work for every coral, LPS being the difficult one there.

I hope everyone in your family is doing alright and you're allowed out soon!

I'm actually surprised that the SDC 9.0 is still putting out over 800 GPH given the setup, that's some serious head height for a DC pump. I might have missed it but is that just 13ft of vertical head height? Or does that include elbows and frictional losses as well??

BTW, sorry for all the likes lol, got a lot of reading ahead to catch up

Yes, does not work on euphyllia and many other LPS, and even many SPS. I've only done it for acropora really, because the cut edges are usually small. Chalices, encrusting sps and other corals where the underside has a large exposed areas are tough.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 14, 2020

Gablami said:
In the past I have tried to quarantine acro frags 76 days, but soon gave up. Unless you setup a completely separate thriving coral QT system, you’ll end up with a bunch of dead coral. Maybe it’s just me, and other people have done it successfully, but would love to see it.

So I’ve rationalized to myself that ich cannot encyst on healthy coral tissue. The research paper that many people quote only shows that ich encysts on dead coral skeleton. Just like how algae can’t grow on healthy coral tissue. So I cut all frags off their plugs, dip and glue all cut ends. I also get all my frags from one source.

anyways, that’s my dirty secret. In the years I ran my previous tank, did not get ich. Got it recently in my upgrade, but that was from fish, not corals. Good luck!

Yeah, I go back and forth on coral QT. I think if I can get a QT system stable enough I should be able to QT for 45 days and have minimal losses. But right now, I think the tank is young, I am QTing inverts and corals at the same time in the same tank which can't be helping, and I think the big thing is that I have a heater that is swinging the temp from 72-79 randomly.

I will probably try to give at least one more batch of corals a shot in QT to see if I can dial it in. I expected some losses with this first batch, but I didn't expect 100% failure.

JoshH said:
Sorry you're having such a rough time with QT, something I'm struggling with now is how or even if I want to QT atall. Even 30 days for coral can be a real pain as you've discovered. Thought about doing the hybrid TTM with hydrogen peroxide and If I QT that's probably the route I will go. As for coral, 30 days is a loooong time especially if you do multiple orders. Im liking @Gablami's Idea but it won't work for every coral, LPS being the difficult one there.

I hope everyone in your family is doing alright and you're allowed out soon!

I'm actually surprised that the SDC 9.0 is still putting out over 800 GPH given the setup, that's some serious head height for a DC pump. I might have missed it but is that just 13ft of vertical head height? Or does that include elbows and frictional losses as well??

BTW, sorry for all the likes lol, got a lot of reading ahead to catch up

I have been through velvet in the past and lost every fish I had. I refuse to not QT, and I really don't have a consistent enough schedule to allow me to do TTM successfully so that leaves me with copper/prazi/metro. I don't feel like the losses that I have had in QT has been necessarily due to an overly aggressvie QT regimen, but I will definitely keep my eye on it.

Family is doing well. It has taken my oldest quite some time to get his energy back, but it was a very mild case and the worst of it was that it just wiped his energy. He had huge improvements last week and has about 70% of his energy back so that is good. We all get to go back to "normal" life on Wednesday. We are all ready for that, but especially my wife. She is used to having the day to herself to work on projects around the house, etc. and instead she has been trying to keep the kids on task for their online class work, stay out of everyone's way, and figure out what she can tackle that she won't be interrupted by someone needing something. We are very grateful that my son's case was mild and that none of the rest of us have caught it.

On the SDC 9.0 it should be 13' with elbows etc. Probably about 9.5 ft vertical lift. Still suprised me that it was able to do as well as it has. I am seriously considering getting a flow meter for the GHL to see what it is actually putting out, but right now I have spent enough money on aquarium stuffs.

Gablami said:
Yes, does not work on euphyllia and many other LPS, and even many SPS. I've only done it for acropora really, because the cut edges are usually small. Chalices, encrusting sps and other corals where the underside has a large exposed areas are tough.

It is still up in the air what all corals will go in this tank. If it were up to me it would probably end up being 100% acro. But I think the family is going to want some other stuff like zoas and LPS, so it is best just to figure out a QT system that works. I will get it, it just is going to take some time.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 14, 2020

Some pics as promised.

Here is the new addition to the display when Friday night when he was introduced. Yes, I have some algae growing and the glass needs cleaned.

A cute little mimic, lemon peel, chocolate, and whatever other common name their is for them. Acanthurus pyroferus. About a 2” juvi right now. It will be fun to watch him change as he grows.

Here is a closeup of him from tonight.

And finally a FTS from last night.

You can see that the little tang is already starting to clean up some of the algae.

These pics were just with my phone. Will need to break out the good camera sometime soon.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 15, 2020

So, a reefing buddy bought a used KH director and slave doser thinking that it was a SA doser. He is heavily invested in the Nepture platform, but he has offered it to me for what he paid for it. I wasn't going to automate KH testing, but for $275 for the 4 head doser and the KH director it is awfully tempting.

QC code on the bottom of the KH director is 07/19 so it is probably around a year old.

What are some thoughts? Should I go for it, or hold off. For those of you that are more familiar with the KH director what are some things I should watch for?

Might be going higher tech than what I planned on with this tank....

Gablami · Sep 15, 2020

I don’t have any experience with KHG but I know many people who seem quite happy with it. Wouldn’t worry about the 2019 date. My main concern would be if you are in the apex ecosystem would make more sense to get a trident, especially if you are going to use 2 part. The autodosing feature is pretty nifty. I know it’s a deal, but you can also find some decent deals on a used trident. In the long run a few hundred bucks is not worth it if you’re missing out on functionality.

On the other hand, if you’re never going to auto dose, and don’t mind going through a different app to get your alk readings, then go for it.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 16, 2020

Gablami said:
I don’t have any experience with KHG but I know many people who seem quite happy with it. Wouldn’t worry about the 2019 date. My main concern would be if you are in the apex ecosystem would make more sense to get a trident, especially if you are going to use 2 part. The autodosing feature is pretty nifty. I know it’s a deal, but you can also find some decent deals on a used trident. In the long run a few hundred bucks is not worth it if you’re missing out on functionality.

On the other hand, if you’re never going to auto dose, and don’t mind going through a different app to get your alk readings, then go for it.

Sorry, I wasn’t very clear in my original post. I have a GHL already. It is my buddy who bought it that is heavily invested in the Apex platform. He was wanting to be able to compare the KH director from GHL to the Trident side by side, and thought this would give him a chance to do so, but the package came with a slave Doser that needs a P4 (which I have) or another Standalone dosed to control it. This is why he is offering it to me.

I wasn’t planning on getting any sort of automatic Alk Monitoring system, but this deal makes it very tempting.

Thanks for your input. How is everything fairing in QT for you?

Gablami · Sep 16, 2020

If you already have GHL, I think it makes a lot of sense. Go for it.

Yeah QT is going well. Fortunately my achilles has started to eat a bit, so I think he'll be ok. Hopefully the treatment was enough, and now I'm just waiting for my tank to finish the fallow time period.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 16, 2020

Gablami said:
If you already have GHL, I think it makes a lot of sense. Go for it.

Yeah QT is going well. Fortunately my achilles has started to eat a bit, so I think he'll be ok. Hopefully the treatment was enough, and now I'm just waiting for my tank to finish the fallow time period.

Glad the Achilles is starting to eat. Have you finished up copper yet?