Morbo's 125G

[Morbo]

Thought we'd lost our Shark Nose Goby, haven't seen it in like a week or more. SonX found it yesterday swimming around with the other inhabitants. Was out again today. Still freaks me out when smaller fish disappear for a while.

Our Yellow Coris Wrasse is also a strange one. It seems to be on a different schedule than everyone else. It doesn't come out until the lights are about full on, and then disappears soon after they start to ramp down. Still haven't noticed where in the sand/rocks it goes to hide.

The three Tangs are getting along for the most part. I still put in algae every other day or so, but now I put some on each of the tank now. I figure with the three Tangs and the Foxface two clips and more algae might reduce aggression.

I moved the Aptasia (and Duncan) Eating Filefish back into the DT since the Duncan didn't make it.

All the other fish seem to be doing well.

 

[Morbo]

Crazy two days of tank maintenance/cleaning... glad it's over.

Started prepping for this a couple weeks ago. I was ordering parts and preparing to build this sand bed vacuum cleaner:


It doesn't really help that he doesn't list all the parts, or know their names, but I made it work. Well, I built it. Whether or not it really works is a little questionable.

So I got it done yesterday, I'll post pictures some other time, don't feel like going downstairs to get it all.

First step was to clean the sand bed. The tank has been up since 03/2020 and I haven't done much with cleaning the sand. Figured snails/etc. would take care of most of it. Took a while to get the siphon working right, even with the Sicce 1.0 pump on it.

Holy crap was it dirty! The 50 micron filter clogged in a matter of 10-15 minutes, if that long. So much nastiness floating around the tank.

I gave up on the canister/filter and just hooked it up so that the vacuum went right to the Sicce and I sat that over my filter sock holder. Much better throughput/suction.

Ended up going through 5 (!!!!) filter socks and the skimmer was going nuttty.

Doing all this was in preparation of using Flatworm Exit today before my water change. Cleaning the sand bed and rocks (turkey baster) dislodged and sucked up a lot of them.

Today I sucked out as many as I could see (in larger groups, skipped the onesie/twosies), blew out the rocks again, and then set up the mini-reactor with some carbon.

Ended up dosing about 1/2 the Flatworm Exit bottle. Did two capfuls and then about 45 minutes later a half capful. It started working within minutes of the first capful going in.

After about 20-25 minutes I ended up draining 5-6 gallons of water and replacing it with fresh-mixed saltwater. Figured I'd suck out a bunch of floaters and junk out.

Boy are they ever right about what you see is just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, it wasn't like my water went totally dark or anything... I was just surprised how many it turned into "swimmers" (term in the directions).

I think this whole Flatworm Exit process took just under 2 hours and then I decided to do my water change. Normally I do 20 gallons. Today I did the 5 in the middle of the treatment, and then another 30 (total water volume is about 150G between the DT and the sump).

As far as I can tell I haven't lost any livestock; fish, corals, inverts, nems, etc. are all still accounted for.

Some of the corals are PO'd and the fish aren't swimming out-and-about as they usually do, but I think it's mostly because I've been messing around in their home for 5+ hours today.

I've emptied the skimmer cup 2-3 times already. Will probably have to do it again before I go to bed. I'll let the carbon run until tomorrow and then I'll change it out and probably run it for another day or two.

What I've learned from all this???

1. I need to clean the sand more often.

2. I need to clean the rocks more often.

3. I need to feed less; I feed twice a day. 5ml of my defrosted frozen mix and a little bit of dry pellet mixture. Let it soak for a minute or two and dump it into the tank. Nori in clips every other day.

4. I need to go back to more flow (Jebao Gyres were put back in during the Flatworm Exit treatment); now I have the two Gyres and the two SLW-30s in there. One of each on each side of the tank. Gyre towards the back on one side, and the front on the other side.

5. I need to get better at dipping corals before introducing them to my tank.

6. I really don't like these marathon maintenance days.

 

[Morbo]

Think I posted too soon.

Looks like the Convict Tang may be a casualty of dosing the tank with FWE. Not sure if it was the chemical itself, or maybe it got too much toxin from the dying flatworms.

It may have just been the final straw that broke the Convicts back. It had one cloudy eye before this (I thought it was from the initial acclimation/in-fighting among the Tangs). There were also two horizontal likes down its body (one on each side), from head to tail. I didn't think anything of it as the fish was eating/swimming/etc.

Since my last post it was just basically being blown around by the current; at one point it got stuck on one of the SLW-30 powerhead intake screens.

I was about to scoop it out when it disappeared behind the rocks. Now I have no idea where it went.

I threw some more carbon in the output sock of the skimmer just to see if it pulls out anything else.

Hopefully no more bad news in the morning.

 

[Morbo]

Ended up losing the Convict Tang, a clownfish, and a Longnose Hawkfish.

I did end up getting all three out of the tank.

Other inhabitants seem to be doing okay.

 

[Morbo]

Bought 3 new clowns to keep our sole surviving clown company. They all seem to get along great and love to play in the flow.

We now have two orange/white and two black/white. All their swimming around seems to have brought out the other fish a little more. Nice to see so much activity in the tank.

I added two Sicce XStream SDC pumps to the tank and took out the Jebao Crossflow Gyres. A little smaller than I thought, but everything looks happy. The combination of these two pumps in the back corners and the Jebao SLW-30s in the front I think is just enough.

 

[Morbo]

Not a lot happening with the tank. After the flat-worm issues I guess that's a good thing.

A couple of the corals that I thought were goners seem to be recovering.

Speaking of coral, my son pointed out a Zoa polyp growing/stuck in the sand bed. Not sure where it came from... we scooped it out and I mounted it on a frag rock. Seems to be doing fine.

Got part one of my Secret Santa gift from @MT_is_a_Pisces (thanks again!). Part two is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

The camera is great. And I'm going to frag a zoa this weekend with my new fragging kit.

 

[Morbo]

Received my corals from @Zoanthids WinterFest Live Sale today (was on 12/12/2020).

FedEx was supposed to be here by noon. As of 7:30PM they still weren't here so I gave up.

Well, surprise surprise! FedEx showed up at 8:37PM. Amazing!

Corals were really cold so I tossed the one bag and all the containers into my sump to acclimate/warmup while I setup my "new" dipping station. After my flatworm troubles I'm not taking chances any more.

Once I got setup my son (12) came in to help me.

He was in charge of getting the corals from the sump, opening them for me, and arranging the containers so we could keep track of which was which.

I took each coral from him and went from Bayer -> CoralRX -> Iodine Rinse -> Clean Rinse #1 -> Clean Rinse #2 -> Frag Rank in tank. My son transitioned things from Iodine to the final clean rinse. That way my gloved hands with the chemicals weren't anywhere near the rinse stations.

Corals Include:
- UC Ultimate Darkness Torch
- Klepto Lepto
- Electric Green Fuzzy
- Reverse Space Monster
- Sonic the Hedgehog Galaxia
- Black Bella
- VW Bloodshot
- Goblins Fire
- Oxide
- Murder Hornet
- Daisy Cutter
- Rainbow Troll

 

[Morbo]

Not a lot of changes in the tank.

Moved the Black & White clownfish out of the DT and into the sump for a week. They were bullying my smaller Orange & White clown. This gave the smaller one time to bond with the larger one.

The two bullies went back into the DT last night and the little guy wasn't taking any guff this time. And the bigger O&W one seem to be protecting it a little more. *fingers crossed*

Here's some pics of the corals:

 

[Morbo]

Tried fragging some of my Zoanthids with my new fragging kit from my Secret Santa. One of my rocks with some Pandora Zoas and Purple Hearted was growing a little out of control.

I ended up breaking the rock in a couple places, and then fragging off a number of individual polyps from there.

I need more practice. lol

 

[Morbo]

Black & White clownfish have gone back into the sump. After a few days of being back in the DT they started picking on the small Orange & White clown. So they've been permanently banished. They now live on 'reverse' daylight... I try and keep the sump dark during the day. About 10pm I turn on the cabinet light. Then at 11pm when the sump light comes on I turn off the cabinet light. Their daytime is now 10pm - 8am.

No new fish or coral. The frags I made seem to be doing well (first picture).

Broke up a couple pieces of frag rock for the Tiger Pistol shrimp. I think it really likes having any building material for the den. There's a couple pictures below.

Found the coral in the next picture last week while doing my bi-weekly water change/tank cleaning. It was just sitting in the sand near the Pistol Shrimp den. It was on a tiny piece of rock/frag plug; the polyps we all closed up. It was so small I almost missed it. I pulled it out and glued it to a bigger piece of rubble. It's waking up now and looks awesome. Glad I found it!

Couple more random shots:

 

[Morbo]

Since I've been in the hobby (around 2013) I've always been interested in trying to get a pair of breeding Banggai Cardinals.

Fast forward to this most recent tank...

We have three Banggai in the tank. For quite a while now it's been obvious that two of them have paired up. They chase the odd-Banggai-out once in a while, but for the most part everthing is good.

About a week ago I noticed that the male/female pairing have been hanging out really close together. The female (only about 2/3rds the size of the male) has been right by his side. I've seen her do a little "shivering dance" next to him.

For the last 2-3 days the male hasn't eaten. He moves towards food as it passes him as if to say "man, I wish I could eat that".

I've tried to look closely to see if I see any eggs in his mouth, but haven't had any luck yet.

 

[Morbo]

Made an epoxy/ziptie urchin tonight. Will let it harden for a couple days and then find a spot for it in the tank.

If any Banggai babies make it hopefully they'll hide in this.

Might make a second one (or have my son make one).

 

[Morbo]

Well, looks like the male Banggai needs more practice/patience at holding eggs. After about two weeks of him not eating he gave up and starting chasing white worms around when I feed the tank.

Time to fatten him back up and let them try again.

 

[Morbo]

Tank is chugging along.

Didn't think I had enough flow so I purchased a couple Jebao SINE Cross-flow Pumps (SCP-150M) to put in. There are the WiFi version, but the Jebao Aqua app is crap and won't control them correctly. The pumps work find with just the hard-wired controllers. Maybe I'll try the app again later after an update (or when I have time to mess around with it more).

Only addition to the tank besides the pumps is an Orange-spotted Blenny. It took a 3-4 days but it's out and about now; chasing food and starting to explore.

It likes to perch on top of one of the Jebao SCPs. For the last couple days it was hiding inside a Jebao SLW-30 powerhead (it was unplugged and not in use) like it was a little cave. I took that out of the tank Sunday during my bi-weekly water change.

 

[Morbo]

I won one of the January Supporter raffles and went with the Octo Aquatics "Shu" acclimation box.

I contacted Matt and asked if I could upgrade from "The O'Reilly" to the larger size ("The Schillinger") and make some changes (of course paying for the cost difference). He responded very quickly and said that wouldn't be a problem. After a couple emails back and forth where he helped by answering my questions, I placed the order.

I expected to have to wait a while (based on the notice he has on the site), but it was surprisingly quick. I made my upgrade payment on February 16th and I received the "The Schillinger" Shu Acclimation box today.

The options I went with were:

- The Schillinger (14" x 6" x 6")
- Tank thickness up to 3/4"
- Bottom: Clear
- Two dividers
- Slots in the front
- Euro-braced tank (hinges get put on opposite side)

The acclimation box came wrapped in bubble-wrap and included some instructions, a business card, and an Octo Aquatics sticker.

Thanks to Matt @ Octo Aquatics (@cromag27), @Daniel@R2R, and Reef2Reef!

 

[Morbo]

OMG Amazon/Inkbird... how hard is it to ship me the controller I ordered?!?!

A I posted a couple days ago my Inkbird controller (came with the tank) crapped the bed during the crazy windstorm and subsequent power outage. The buttons to control the settings (up/down) don't work.

I figured this was a perfect excuse to order the ITC-306A WiFi that a couple other members (@afboundguy to name one) have posted about.

Amazon. Prime. Easy peasy. Ordered. Would be here this past Wednesday.

It arrives, I open it up to install it. I start to unwind the wires and I'm like what the heck is this?!? There's a plastic box at the end of the sensor cable. It's a humidity probe.

I look at the box; it says right on the side "Humidity". But there's a sticker (probably put there by Amazon) that says ITC-306A.

Alright, stuff happens, boxes get labeled with the wrong sticker.

I log on and start the return/replacement. No big deal except for the fact that now I have to wait another 2 days to get the replacement.

Meanwhile my tank is running a couple degrees warmer than normal for the last few days. Was even higher for a couple days until I unplugged one heater and dialed in the other a little better.

Replacement just showed up... IT'S THE WRONG ONE AGAIN!!!!!

But it's a little closer this time. It's actually a temperature probe this time; but it's got the METAL probe and not the two aquarium probes. This is the ITC-306T-WIFI. (Basically the newer WIFi version of the dead one I have.)

Same issue as the other box; the side says "temperature probe w/5' cord" but the label (stuck over another label) says ITC-306A.

After telling me they couldn't replace it and mumbling something about maybe I could get it fixed I was about to blow my top.

I restated what happened again, and the call center rep went to talk to his supervisor.

He finally came back and told me they'd refund my money and send me a prepaid label to send this one back. Then I could order it again.

Yeah, sure... I'll drive to the UPS store again because of screw ups on your side. No thanks.

He put me on hold again, came back, and told me to dispose of the "broken" replacement. (What?!?!?) He said they were refunding my payment and I could keep/dispose the one they sent today. Again, he said something about trying to get it fixed.

When I asked him if I'd get the right one if I tried ordering again he told me try another seller. The only seller was Inkbird. I told him I'd contact them and ask what was going on. His response was that they'd just tell me to contact Amazon.

First world problems I know, but very frustrating.

I contacted Inkbird and they are going to reach out to Amazon about the issue, and they are sending me the right unit. That's customer service!

Other than that did my every other week water change. Tested salinity with my BRS refractometer and double-checked it with my Milwaukee Digital Refractometer -- 1.026.

 

[Morbo]

Tank is just chugging along; dealing with some uglies... I think I overfeed. I could do testing, but... meh.

Banggai Cardinal appears to be holding eggs again. Hasn't eaten in a few days and the female is sticking pretty close by (except when she eats).

Carpenter's Wrasse and the Foxface like to play. They kinda follow each other around like they are playing tag. If the chaser quits the chased turns around and starts following them.

One of the new additions to the tank is a Green-spotted Mandarin. We got this one 2-3 weeks ago and it appears to be doing great. I built a @Paul B spot feeder which it took to almost immediately. I hatch baby brine using the hatchery bowl and feed from there over 2-3 days. I'm also feeding ArctiPods which the Mandarin seems to eat as well.

Also bought some more clean-up crew including a variety of snails and a Florida Fighting Conch.

Lastly, bought some Berghia Nudibranchs. Of course FedEx had to delay the package. Got lucky and only 1 of the 14 didn't make it. Now hopefully they colonize and help with the aptasia problem. :mad:

Tested salinity with my BRS refractometer and double-checked it with my Milwaukee Digital Refractometer -- 1.025.

 

[Morbo]

Not a lot going on with the tank. Going through some uglies... could test and try to figure out the issue, but I'm lazy.

Can't tell if the Berghia are doing anything. Keeping an eye on an aptasia that was close to where I put them in. It's still there.

Salinity still stable at 1.025 with my BRS refractometer and double-checked it with my Milwaukee Digital Refractometer (1.026).

 

[Morbo]

Nothing much new going on with the tank. No livestock changes.

Got some new corals coming in from @Zoanthids 17th Anniversary Sale on the 28th. Can't wait to get the into the DT.

 

[TheChemist]

I think your build thread is great. I have a 120 (60x18x26) that I hope to get up and running in the next few months. I noticed you've changed your flow setup a few times. I'm looking to do softies and some LPS so I want some programmable dc pumps. I saw that you were using Jebao SLW-30s (at one point?) and I was thinking of a pair of these to start because they are pretty cheap and it seems like they would be a good place to start. I plan to take my time and stock up very slowly. I'm in no rush. Any thought or suggestions?