Ocean_dreamer89's Red Sea Reefer 250

[Flameback Pair]

@Ocean_dreamer89 Reefer 250 owner here myself. I love my tank I’m sure you will love yours too. Following. Check out my build thread. Two suggestions if you don’t mind. Use PVC cement primer if you already aren’t. There’s clear primer if you don’t want purple showing. It provides for a much better glue job because it acts as a catalyst for the glue and enhances the chemical reaction. Second suggestion. Always put the heater’s probe in the same sump section as the heater. If your return pump fails but your heater stays on, just the sump section with the heater will be heated. The sump section with the probe will settle down to room temperature (say 68* F) and the probe in it will tell the heater to stay “on” until system target temperature (say 78* F) is reached. But all the while the stays heater is on, the water in the heater section won’t mix with the water in the probe section. Now the water in the heater section is HOT but the probe reads from the probe section which is 68* F. The probe won’t let the heater turn off. Let me know if you have any questions. ;-)

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

@Ocean_dreamer89 Reefer 250 owner here myself. I love my tank I’m sure you will love yours too. Following. Check out my build thread. Two suggestions if you don’t mind. Use PVC cement primer if you already aren’t. There’s clear primer if you don’t want purple showing. It provides for a much better glue job because it acts as a catalyst for the glue and enhances the chemical reaction. Second suggestion. Always put the heater’s probe in the same sump section as the heater. If your return pump fails but your heater stays on, just the sump section with the heater will be heated. The sump section with the probe will settle down to room temperature (say 68* F) and the probe in it will tell the heater to stay “on” until system target temperature (say 78* F) is reached. But all the while the stays heater is on, the water in the heater section won’t mix with the water in the probe section. Now the water in the heater section is HOT but the probe reads from the probe section which is 68* F. The probe won’t let the heater turn off. Let me know if you have any questions. ;-)

Awesome! Thank you for the advice!

I did use primer for the PVC and I'm glad that the clear stuff exists. I think I ended up having to buy it on Amazon because Lowes and Home Depot only had the purple. That's a good point with the heaters! I have the probes for the InkBird in the drain section thinking that it would be closest temp to the display. The heater I have also have an internal temperature setting (which I know can be pretty inaccurate). Do you think that the internal temp setting would shut them off if the water got too warm in the situation with the return failing?

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

So I decided to change up the QT plan up a little bit. After watching the new fish for a few days, I believe it has Ich. The white spots that I'm seeing are on its forehead. I noticed them there a day or so after I brought it home and throughout the week, they have disappeared.



I already had Copper Power on order but with all the winter weather, the package got lost. I have Cupramine on hand, but had read that Angel fish can be sensitive to copper treatments and Copper Power seems to be the most gentle (plus Humblefish uses it, so that's a huge plus!). The fish has been eating like a pig and does not exhibit any odd behavior, at least to my untrained eyes, so I decided to wait for the Copper Power. Unfortunately, the package never made so I picked some up at a LFS today.

So this is where the game plan changes. I'm at the week mark and finished with the observation/acclimation period. The next step would have been to start with the Paraguard, but since I have some possible evidence of a disease, I'll treat that first. For Copper Power, 1.5 ppm is therapeutic and can go up to 2.5 ppm, which is where Humblefish uses it at. I really don't feel comfortable getting that close to the boundaries, especially for my first time, so I'm going to shoot for 2.0/2.25 ppm. I will bring it up to that level over the course of 5 days and dosing twice a day. I'll also be using a Hanna Checker to test the Copper levels. Humblefish starts his QT at 1.0 ppm and brings it up from there, so I decided to do a larger dose today and just the one. The other change is that since, I definitely suspect Ich, I will be using Copper for 30 days instead of the planned 14 days. The last two weeks of the Copper treatment is when I will start the Prazipro. At the end of 30 days, I will use Cuprisorb to remove the copper and treat with the Paraguard in the observation period.

On another note, I was feeding my corals in the Biocube the other day and my Scoly had a heck of a feeding response! Thought I'd share this just for fun.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Awesome! Thank you for the advice!

I did use primer for the PVC and I'm glad that the clear stuff exists. I think I ended up having to buy it on Amazon because Lowes and Home Depot only had the purple. That's a good point with the heaters! I have the probes for the InkBird in the drain section thinking that it would be closest temp to the display. The heater I have also have an internal temperature setting (which I know can be pretty inaccurate). Do you think that the internal temp setting would shut them off if the water got too warm in the situation with the return failing?

@Ocean_dreamer89 heater’s internal thermostat is usually accurate enough but you want a lot of redundancy and the heat of the water lost between the drain section and the return section is very negligible. Maybe a fraction of a degree but if you want to make sure you can test the temperature in the display tank and then the temperature in the return section with the same thermometer.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

@Ocean_dreamer89 heater’s internal thermostat is usually accurate enough but you want a lot of redundancy and the heat of the water lost between the drain section and the return section is very negligible. Maybe a fraction of a degree but if you want to make sure you can test the temperature in the display tank and then the temperature in the return section with the same thermometer.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Updated my QT schedule with the changes I talked about in a previous post. Below is what I came up with. I decided to skip additional medications unless I see a particular reason to treat. Two reasons for this. First is from what I gleaned from Humblefish's website, most of the other ones I was considering (Prazi, Metroplex, etc) can be administered through a food soak using Seachem Focus, which makes it reef safe. Second reason is that I'm anticipating this Copper treatment to be stressful on the fish and once the 30 days is up I would rather try to get it out of the QT as quick as reasonable in case there is still trace Copper in it. And let's be real, after this big extension to my original plan, I want to get the fish in my new tank!

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Alright guys. Time for change #3. I'm going to stick with this change for the long haul so that I don't stress the fish too much.

I started the copper treatment as planned. I got to day 3 of the copper buildup and the fish did not appear to be handling it well. I increased the copper level to 0.75 ppm over two and a half days and had planned on getting to the 2.0-2.25 ppm range. However, when I woke up in the morning on day 3, the fish had a decreased appetite and developed an extremely cloudy right eye.

Before After


Up until this point, it had been eating like a pig. So I stopped increasing the copper and left it alone while I seemed out some more advice. I spoke with the guy I bought the fish from at my LFS and he suggested that I stop with the copper treatment and start the tank transfer method. I had also noticed some white stringy poop so he said that I could dose Prazipro during the TTM. I have read about this before but I was unsure how I could execute it, knowing that its equipment and labor intensive. He told me that I could use a five gallon buckets, two heaters, thermometers, and a source of air. When I ask about biological filtration, I was told that it was not really a concern since the fish in only in one tank for a maximum of 72. I just need to keep an eye on ammonia and use prime if need be. I went home and read a little more about it and thought about how I could make it work. For me, freshly made saltwater was going to be my challenge. I only have a few hours in the morning to eat, change, workout, and take care of my three dogs, cat, and tanks before I need to go to work for second shift. For my RODI system, it takes a little over 1 hour and 20 min to make about 4 gallons. Add the time to heat up that water and mix salt and it starts to really add up. So here's the gameplan I have come up with so far.

1 Five gallon bucket, extra screen that I have for up top, heater, thermometer, and air pump with air stone


For the other tank, I usually have a 10 gallon QT tank, but for the sake of saving water used, I picked up a 5.5 gallon tank. This will have it's own heater and thermometer. I bought several air stones and plan on just replacing one each time I move tanks. This is so that I can be sure it'll be completely dry since they are so porous.



Alright, so here's the plan of action. I'll fill up the five gallon bucket and put the heater and thermometer in to bring it up to the same temperature of the water as the tank that the fish is currently in. I'll also ensure that the SG matches. I'll put in some airline tubing with an airstone and a piece of PVC. Once everything is good, the fish gets put into the bucket. Once the fish is in, the timer starts for 72 hours. Twenty four hours before the transfer time, I'll set up the second tank, fill it with water, and start bringing it up to temp. As close to the 72 hour mark, without going over, I'll transfer the fish to the new tank. Once it's transferred over, I'll empty the bucket, rinse it and all other equipment and dry it out. Once it has been completely dry for 24 hours, it is considered sterilized. I'll use new airline tubing and airstone when it comes time to set up the bucket again. This process will continue every 72 hours for 12 days. On the 13th day, the fish gets transferred one last time and should be free of any ich.

It was suggested to me by Humblefish to try a hybrid TTM. This involves dosing H2O2 30 min before the 1st and 3rd transfer. I'll need to read more about this before I make a decision. He is advising me that this could help with the possible eye infection. However, I currently have the fish in the bucket and am 24 hours in and it's eye has already cleared up. So I'm undecided right now but I'll keep y'all posted. Here's the link for the hybrid on nano-reef. https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/407149-hybrid-ttm-to-treat-all-parasites/


Sorry for the terrible picture but here's a look at the bucket setup.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Finished the first tank transfer this morning. The little guy appears much better, but still not eating. I've tried frozen soaked in a couple drops of garlic and flakes, but nothing. Before it stopped eating, it would gobble up this same frozen food. I'm thinking that stress is the issue as all of this started with the copper treatment. Now that it been out of the copper for over 72 hours, I'm hoping that it'll start to eat again.

Everything else is on track. Dosed some Prazipro 24 hours before the transfer. It seemed to handle it OK. For the next transfer, I'm still debating on the H2O2. I think I'll play it by ear a bit and decide closer to the next 72 hour mark. If I go ahead with it, I'll use a small bucket or bowl and give it a H2O2 bath separate from tank. I figure doing it this will at least get it out of the dirtier water faster.

This is the same eye that was cloudy. Much better!!!

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Little update on the QT process. Noticed some algae growth in the tank which I thought was odd. It only had water and a fish in it for 24 hours-ish this morning. I only have the tank light on when I'm trying to feed. I then remove excess food and flip off the light. No windows in the room so I leave the room light on during the day and flip it off at night before I go to bed. If it gets worse I'll knock out a WC. I just hate using more water than I'm already having to with the TTM! Oh well. (OAN: I'm working on a plan to organize my RODI and water mixing better. I'll update when I have a more concrete plan and start on it.)

Anyway, I was at my local reef club meeting yesterday and while I was there I picked up a Toxic Green Hammer and won this sweet little Rhodactis Mushroom. I think it is an Ultra Orange but I'm not totally sure. I was working yesterday so the LFS held it for me until I could pick it up today. While I was out and about I swung by another LFS that I had a gift card that my sweet husband got me for Valentine's day. Saw this Rainbow Trachy and nabbed it! The new corals have been dipped and acclimated to the Biocube for now until the RSR 250 is ready for corals.





The last purchase was one that I had to do some debating about. Yesterday while I was at the meeting, I saw this really cool Melanurus wrasse. When I went back today, it was still there. I really liked this fish and so did my husband (he pointed it out to me before I had even told him about it). I discussed this with the guy at the LFS, who had been helping me out with my Coral Beauty and he said that I should be fine it I just do one more transfer for the quarantine period. At the end of the day, this only adds two more days and one more transfer, so I decided to go for it. When I got home, I added a bit of sand for it to sleep in a small container and acclimated it. So far it seems to be doing well and last I checked was fast asleep in the sand. I'm hoping that maybe a bit of competition will encourage the Coral Beauty to eat tomorrow. I'll keep everyone updated. The plan for the TTM remains the same with the next transfer on Tuesday morning. This is only 40 is hours for the wrasse but will keep the timeline for the Coral Beauty. The quarantine will continue as planned through the 12th and let transfer on the 13th completing a full four transfers for the wrasse.



I know I've said it before, but I feel very comfortable where I'm at the with the new additions. The gift card had an expiration date that I needed to use it by and I'm unable to make most of the reef club meetings due to my work schedule. Where I'm at now will be the total of new additions to the new tank, of course in a controlled manner. My plan for quarantine is what I believe pretty solid at this point and my only real concern is ammonia levels, which is manageable so I'll just keep it an eye on it.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Nice livestock haul!!! That Melanurus is exceptionally beautiful I’ve never seen one so striking.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Nice livestock haul!!! That Melanurus is exceptionally beautiful I’ve never seen one so striking.

Thank you!!!

It is an amazing fish!! I just couldn't let that particular one slip through my fingers. Well worth a small plan adjustment.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Has anyone used those cheap-o brine shrimp hatcheries? The thing is legit! Added some eggs last night to it and just checked on it tonight for the hell of it and saw a TON of them swimming around. Everybody got a good snack tonight



Here's a couple aquarium shots of my Biocube. Sorry about the lightning. A bit lazy tonight.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Quick little update on the little guys in quarantine. This morning was tank transfer #1 for the wrasse and #2 for the coral beauty. I had to go to work earlier than usual this morning, so I got the sanitized bucket and equipment ready last night and added in some water. This morning when I was checking the salinity, I realized I forgot to plug in the heater for the new water! I plugged it in and gathered two extra heaters to get it up to temp faster.

Today was my first attempt at the hybrid TTM, which includes a H2O2 bath on transfers 1 and 3. I grabbed a large bowl and filled it up with 12 cups of water. I had planned on using clean oxygenated water from the bucket, but since I had forgot the heater last night I couldn't do that. I ended up using 4 cups of the clean water and the rest from the tank the fish were currently in. This way it would cut down on any ammonia that was already in their tank water but still keep the temperature. For the bath, it's a concentration of 150 ppm H2O2. Based on Humblefish's site, this would equal out to 1.25 mL of H2O2 per one cup of water. Once the well-oxygenated water is in the bowl, I added the H2O2 by sticking the syringe under the surface of the water. The goal is to have very minimal surface agitation once the hydrogen peroxide is in so that it doesn't convert to just oxygen and water. I then added the fish in for 30 minutes. Towards the end of the bath, I could tell they were starting to breath pretty rapidly. I guessing that this is due to the water being depleted of oxygen. Anyway, once the bath was done, I picked them up by hand and got them into the clean bucket and water.

After I rinsed off all the used equipment and set it up to dry, I went to work. I just got home a little bit ago and the fish seem to be doing great! The Coral Beauty is actually swimming around more than it has ever since it acted funny with the cloudy eye. The bowl I had used for the bath was a light green kitchen bowl so it was difficult to see if anything came off the fish while they were in. So I grabbed a dark red bowl and started to scoop the water out to see if I could find anything. Definitely not my expertise, but I believe I saw 3-4 worms or flukes. A few were reddish/pink in color and one was white and kind of flat. Anyway, I think it was successful and as of right now, I plan on continuing this path with the baths.

I'll try to get some pictures of them later tonight.

 

[Flameback Pair]

Has anyone used those cheap-o brine shrimp hatcheries? The thing is legit! Added some eggs last night to it and just checked on it tonight for the hell of it and saw a TON of them swimming around. Everybody got a good snack tonight



Here's a couple aquarium shots of my Biocube. Sorry about the lightning. A bit lazy tonight.

@Ocean_dreamer89 I’ve seem YouTube video reviews on these brine shrimp hatchers and they seem extremely simple. I’ve thought about getting several of them going at once and stagger them so I can always have a hatch ready for feeding. Would be great for finicky eaters.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

@Ocean_dreamer89 I’ve seem YouTube video reviews on these brine shrimp hatchers and they seem extremely simple. I’ve thought about getting several of them going at once and stagger them so I can always have a hatch ready for feeding. Would be great for finicky eaters.

I'm very impressed with it so far. I added in just one scoop of eggs the day before yesterday and started getting freshly hatched shrimp last night. I gave each tank a scoop of brine last night and still have some hatching today. Probably have gotten 4 good scoops of shrimp so far.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Well I woke up this morning to some bad news. My little Coral Beauty that has been struggling since I started it in copper didn't make it. Since removing it from the copper and starting the TTM instead, I thought it had been making a slow turn around. But, it never started to really eat again after it had gotten the cloudy eye. I'm starting to second guess quarantining fish. From everything I've learned, quarantining fish seems like a best practice to prevent diseases from entering the tank, but I must be doing something wrong. The only two fish that I've had that have died, have both been while in quarantine. It may be that it is just above my skill level. I don't really plan on having very expensive fish so foregoing the quarantine process from here on out might be the best method, for me, to maintain the health of the fish that I keep. Anybody have any thoughts?

Going forward, I will continue to finish out the TTM with my wrasse. It seems to be handling the TTM well and is eating like a little pig. The last transfer will be on the 13th of this month and then it'll be ready to go into the RSR 250. My plan for this is to transfer both my clowns and the wrasse on the same day so they are all introduced to the new tank at the same time.

Super bummed that my actions resulted in the death of this little fish =(

RIP little guy

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

Quick little update on the fish situation. The wrasse finished up the TTM the day before yesterday and is doing really well! It eats like at pig and will eat both frozen and pellets. It's completed four transfers so this morning I decided to make its final transfer to the new tank! The transfer went well and it seems to be settling in nicely to its new home. Very excited that the RSR 250 finally has some life in it!


The next step is to add the clowns from the Biocube. Even though the RSR has been ready for fish for a little over a week now, I've been planning to add all the fish at once to try to eliminate any aggression. However, I'm not really anticipating aggression being a problem given the larger tank size and fairly peaceful fish. Catching the clowns has been tricky so far. I was able to catch the larger one and currently have it acclimating in the new tank, but I can't seem to catch the smaller one!


After the small one looked thoroughly stressed out, I decided to stop and come up with a better plan. However, it's breaking my heart to see them separated! They have been together since the day I brought them home. Anyway, after browsing the internet for some other solutions, I think I'm going to wait until tonight when it's asleep and try to catch it then. I'm leaving the net in the tank right now to try to get it used to it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I don't currently have a fish trap and am wanting to get it moved as soon as I can.

 

[Flameback Pair]

@Ocean_dreamer89 a good way to catch fish with nets is use two nets. Scare the fish with one of the nets into the other net.

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

My new tank finally has some life and movement to it! The "night hunt" was a successful attempt at getting the little clown even though, of course, it didn't go exactly how I had planned. I was hoping that after the lights went out, I would wait an hour or so and let the fish go to sleep. Then, while it was in its sleep trance, move the net near it and catch it between the net and the glass. This, however, did not exactly work. That being said, doing this in the darkness gave me an advantage because I believe the fish could see as well. When I moved the net close to it, the fish got spooked and swam to the other side of the tank. But I was able to catch it fairly easily because it's reactions were slowed way down in compassion to the daylight and it didn't sprint away like it had been doing. It wasn't as seamless and stress free for the fish as I had hoped, but it worked. I'm very glad that the clowns are back together!

Everyone has been in the tank together for about two days now and seem to be getting along just fine. The wrasse is still eating like a pig and follows me around wherever I go. The clowns seem a little more timid about eating and like to stay in the far back left corner. I have a net on top and installed the Neat Aquatics Feeding Portal on the front right corner. Hopefully as time goes on, they'll figure it out and swim up to the feeding portal like the wrasse does. I would like to see them eat a little more than they currently are.






By the way, if you have a net on top of your tank, I highly recommend the neat aquatics feeding portal. It was super easy to install. It comes in two pieces and with plastic screws and nuts. Basically all you do is find a tight spot in the net, most likely in a corner, and place the two pieces both under and atop the net and then screw them together. Once the screws are in fairly tight, take a razor blade and cut the inside circle of netting. It then has a cover that goes over the hole and, boom!, easy feeding portal. If at any point you decide to get a new cover, this can easily be taken off and installed on the new cover. Super easy!

 

[Ocean_dreamer89]

@Ocean_dreamer89 a good way to catch fish with nets is use two nets. Scare the fish with one of the nets into the other net.

Thanks!! Yeah I tried that eventually but the fish was still too quick for me and I could tell it was become very stressed. Had much luck waiting until that night using the darkness to my advantage.