My fishy aquarium.

[Mark Novack]

8 April... still 8 April. Been in the aquarium most of the day. Lots of heavy detritus, algae and snail pellets have gathered in the middle. I have a rotating current as nothing here needs turbulent flow. I was thinking about siphoning but instead I'll see what the copopods do tonight. I love watching the micro life during the night.

 

[Mark Novack]

10 April. Changed 140 liters yesterday. Nitrates by Redsea test read 40 to 60. That makes about 660 liters changed in a week.

Running the osmose now for another 420 liter change. I know that there is some settling in after the deep clean.

Overall appearance of health of all specimens is excellent. The big sarco lower left is the size of a dinner plate.

Some photos. Regular daylight setting. I need a better camera for blue lighting.

Big sarco.

There's a naughty little phallic Lobo.

Some wild ricordea and rhodactis with a little Entacmea and Stichodactyla on the left.

I like these. They are interestingly colored under blue lighting and they shrink and swell and capture lots of food.

 

[harthag12]

Gorgeous tank, glad I found this thread, keep up your log.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Tank looks great! I think we need another full tank shot now with it all cleaned up and water looking clear again

 

[Mark Novack]

Tank looks great! I think we need another full tank shot now with it all cleaned up and water looking clear again

Yes mamm, with pleasure. I'll get a better one later. There were too many reflections but it shows the mood of the corals. All 12 anemones had their mashed fish and shrimp during the night so they are either swollen or expelling.

 

[MattJS]

Really beautiful tank. I’ve never seen one like it.

 

[Mark Novack]

A bit of light humor now. After all, I'm a 53 year old child!

Whenever I set up a new aquarium I take a couple of silly shots.

The shark is obvious but the second is a standard 220v toaster. I show these pictures to my fish if they misbehave.

Speaking of misbehaving, I must closely watch the Clown trigger as he is closely watching the smaller species. I'll show him the shark.

 

[Mark Novack]

One more older photo. The basic aqua scape before I decided I couldn't live without the moray eels which required more hiding places and a cache for the Zebra's pvc tube house.

That's the original lamp, ATI 8x54w T5 and 3 banks LED. It fell into the aquarium while we were out. 5 hours no electricity. Result? Complete loss of fish save a common puffer and the cleaner wrasse.

 

[Mark Novack]

Two last photos today. I wanted to shoot in the evening to avoid reflections so I manually adjusted the light (sm

artphone adjustment is soooo cool) but some fish are installed for the night already. And I cut my paragraph in two with the photos. I'm learning

Anyway, clean but nitrate laden, everyone is healthy. I wanted to share a close up of the brown lobophytum with its white polyps extended. Sometimes its minor polyps extend enough to give it a 40 grit sandpaper look.

Have a night day, night and thank you all for having a look.

Mark Novack

 

[Mark Novack]

Off subject but nice. My in laws have a 60 liter guppy tank. We visit often enough that I have taken over the maintenance of a water change and filter scrubbing. Population is ~100 fancy guppies (lots of young)

and 12 snails and has been stable for years. Filtration is a single Ferplast internal filter, the largest volume filter I could find in its class. They really enjoy watching their fish and I really enjoy keeping it in good shape.

 

[Mark Novack]

The two Clarkiis are roughly the same size and keep their own anemones. I'm hoping for an eventual bond. There have been moments of mating ritual. Rock cleaning and body vibration. Here's one.

 

[Mark Novack]

Xanthometopon has taken a long time to relax enough to stay for a photo. Since the Imperator entered the Xantho is more social.

 

[Mark Novack]

I'll need a much faster camera for this fish. It moves fast always and darts away from everything but crustaceans and food. Thalassoma Lucasanum Cortez Wrasse. I could well see a very large tank specializing in Labridae.

 

[Mark Novack]

And a night photo

.

There is a Clarkii tucked up vertically in the fold of the Stichodactyla

 

[Mark Novack]

13 April. One current pump, Tunze Stream 3 quit working 3 days ago. I replaced it with a Tunze 6105 yesterday using the large divergent flow nozzle. Placed the power on low. This morning, a 1/4 of the sand was blow from right to left. Oops. I must raise the pump a bit. Then I found the rear bearing for the Stream 3 in the overflow box and it works just fine. Oops again, 220 dollars needlessly spent.

Now I have the Stream 3, two 6105s, and the return from the sump. I will try using the return and one 6105 for steady circular flow and the Stream 3 and a 6105 for a standing wave. Maybe the 220 spent will be useful. Standing waves really clean out the crevices and help keep detritus flowing to the filter instead of sinking into the sand. Plus, the bouncing movment of the corals is beauuuutiful.

Did a nitrite test with the Redsea Nitrite/Nitrate kit after seeing the sand as it is. Nitrite is detectable this morning around 0.5 PPM. I raised the temp by 1C for the nitrifying bacteria to 27 degrees. I have 300 liters of change water but only if continues to rise will I change.

 

[JMM744]

Just goes to show you don’t need those hard to keep expensive sticks of coral to have a beautiful thriving tank. Love the eels. I need one in my fowlr.
Jim

 

[Mark Novack]

Just goes to show you don’t need those hard to keep expensive sticks of coral to have a beautiful thriving tank. Love the eels. I need one in my fowlr.
Jim

Both the Nebulosa and the Zebra are vey comptible with everything. I used to have 6 beautiful shrimp that they never touched. The Thallasomas ate the shrimp in a few minutes after getting an offer to be cleaned. Come, I will clean you...gulp.

 

[Mark Novack]

I wonder if cleaning the glass back after 6 months may have caused a bit of ammonia/nitrite. That is a lot of surface area in a high flow area. I have always heard that what one plans to keep clean like sand, cannister, or entire back glass, needs to be cleaned regularly or in steps if it gets to long between cleanings. Anyway, nitrite has already diminished to 0.05 so if there has been a mini cycle its completing now.

 

[Mark Novack]

I wonder if cleaning the glass back after 6 months may have caused a bit of ammonia/nitrite. That is a lot of surface area in a high flow area. I have always heard that what one plans to keep clean like sand, cannister, or entire back glass, needs to be cleaned regularly or in steps if it gets to long between cleanings. Anyway, nitrite has already diminished to 0.05 so if there has been a mini cycle its completing now.

 

[Mark Novack]

14 April. 1130hrs. Tank was looking cloudy. Adjusted Purigen bags, inspected roller filter and cut off the dirty uptake, cleaned big sponge that serves as final pass through in sump, nothing remarkable for the cloudiness. 1238hrs. Cleaned my glasses. Tank was never cloudy. I can be a real Homer. Fish are laughing at me.