JoshH
Tank Status: Wet...ish, growing things....
Another tank!?!? You sir are going all out. I love it! ;Drool;Drool;Drool;Drool
I'll probably end up doing the same in a while lol love the thought of a dedicated coral tank.
Retirement 150g Tank Upgrade
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Another tank!?!? You sir are going all out. I love it! ;Drool;Drool;Drool;Drool
I'll probably end up doing the same in a while lol love the thought of a dedicated coral tank.
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Well ,, the Artfully Acrylic top came in last night ,, I have been waiting on this so that I can start ordering some Wrasses for the tank ,, long story short is that it didn't fit and I will mail it back to them today. I was prepared for it not to fit and was figuring that I would have to send it back ,, so I am not that disappointed ,, with everything I have gone thru lately ,, I don't sweat the small stuff ,, it is what it is ,, its not that Artfully Acrylic would do anything wrong ,, when ever I am involved in measuring something ,, things can go bad ,, quickly lol on the plus side ,,, Fishy Business is out of pretty much all the wrasses I was going to buy on the first round of ordering fish lol
I am at the end of my UPS guys route ,, I didn't get the top till 6:30 pm ,, as I was pulling the top out of the package ,, I knew we had a problem ,, there were cut outs where even I knew there shouldn't be cut outs ,, I called Artfully Acrylic ,, it was 7:30 pm their time ,, I figured there wouldn't be anyone there ,, my plan was to see if I could leave a message for them to call me back today ,, my call went to voice mail ,, I was starting to leave my message when Kerry picked up on the call ,, she was still at work ,, saw it was me and she picked up on the call ,, she really makes ordering these tops easy ,, if you have problems ordering a top ,, she walks you thru the process ,, she is very helpful ,, Kerry was so disappointed the Top Came in wrong ,, so much so ,, I told her it wasn't a big deal ,, you are way more upset than I am over this ,, its nothing but a thing ,, and we can get that fixed ,,
I am running Ecotech LED lights over this tank and am using the Ecotech rail system to hang these lights over the tank,, this means you will need to have a cut out on each side of the top for the arms of this system ,, somehow ,, they put both cutouts for these arms on the back of the top instead of the sides ,, at least its not fitting because of my measurements lol I will say here ,, these Tops are worth the investment ,, these things are nice and well worth the $330.00 I spent for it ,, a quality made product ,, you want one of these for your tank ,,
Ok, for those of you who don't know about these Tops ,, back in the day these Tops were cut out of a solid piece of acrylic ,, no longer ,, they are kind of modular now ,, the corners are cut like a puzzle piece ,, they make the sides & back ,, then snap those into place to these corner pieces ,, pretty neat
this means they can pre make a bunch of corner pieces ,, grab them as they need them ,, pretty nifty ,, I don't want you thinking where the sides and the corner pieces connect is the weak link in the design with these Tops ,, its not ,, this is a snug fit.
What all of this means is ,, they don't have to re cut my whole top ,, they just have to make a new back strip with no cutouts ,, make two new side pieces with the light bar arm cutouts ,, pop out the wrong ones ,, pop in the new ones ,, re screen the Top ,, send it back to me ,, nothing to it ,,
I said this already ,, will say it again You want one of these for your tank
A side note ,, since I can't order any Wrasses for the tank yet ,, ordered a couple more Chalices from Cherry Corals for the Chalice Tank I have been working on mounting all the equipment onto the stand for the Chalice tank ,, almost to the point where I have nothing else to do except wait on the tank
I am at the end of my UPS guys route ,, I didn't get the top till 6:30 pm ,, as I was pulling the top out of the package ,, I knew we had a problem ,, there were cut outs where even I knew there shouldn't be cut outs ,, I called Artfully Acrylic ,, it was 7:30 pm their time ,, I figured there wouldn't be anyone there ,, my plan was to see if I could leave a message for them to call me back today ,, my call went to voice mail ,, I was starting to leave my message when Kerry picked up on the call ,, she was still at work ,, saw it was me and she picked up on the call ,, she really makes ordering these tops easy ,, if you have problems ordering a top ,, she walks you thru the process ,, she is very helpful ,, Kerry was so disappointed the Top Came in wrong ,, so much so ,, I told her it wasn't a big deal ,, you are way more upset than I am over this ,, its nothing but a thing ,, and we can get that fixed ,,
I am running Ecotech LED lights over this tank and am using the Ecotech rail system to hang these lights over the tank,, this means you will need to have a cut out on each side of the top for the arms of this system ,, somehow ,, they put both cutouts for these arms on the back of the top instead of the sides ,, at least its not fitting because of my measurements lol I will say here ,, these Tops are worth the investment ,, these things are nice and well worth the $330.00 I spent for it ,, a quality made product ,, you want one of these for your tank ,,
Ok, for those of you who don't know about these Tops ,, back in the day these Tops were cut out of a solid piece of acrylic ,, no longer ,, they are kind of modular now ,, the corners are cut like a puzzle piece ,, they make the sides & back ,, then snap those into place to these corner pieces ,, pretty neat
this means they can pre make a bunch of corner pieces ,, grab them as they need them ,, pretty nifty ,, I don't want you thinking where the sides and the corner pieces connect is the weak link in the design with these Tops ,, its not ,, this is a snug fit.What all of this means is ,, they don't have to re cut my whole top ,, they just have to make a new back strip with no cutouts ,, make two new side pieces with the light bar arm cutouts ,, pop out the wrong ones ,, pop in the new ones ,, re screen the Top ,, send it back to me ,, nothing to it ,,
I said this already ,, will say it again
You want one of these for your tank A side note ,, since I can't order any Wrasses for the tank yet ,, ordered a couple more Chalices from Cherry Corals for the Chalice Tank
I have been working on mounting all the equipment onto the stand for the Chalice tank ,, almost to the point where I have nothing else to do except wait on the tank
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Artfully Acrylic called yesterday ,, they got my top back and said it will be about two weeks before they get it fixed and sent back to me ,, told them no hurry as I am working on the Chalice tank ,, I have somewhere between 10 to 12 chalice frags for the chalice tank ,,
Had most of them on the frag plugs that they came mounted to ,, some / most are fixing to grow off of their plugs ,, so I mounted pretty much all of them to rock that will be going into the chalice tank ,, I also mounted all the remaining Favia frags that weren't mounted to what I wanted them mounted to long term ,, I have a pretty good amount of Favia frags ,, these will stay in the SPS tank ,,
Made a large coral purchase yesterday ,, from ASD ,, they will ship tomorrow ,, ASD is having a big sale on their site ,, I bought 11 Chalice frags and 5 Favia frags ,, The most high $$ chalice I bought was $32 ,, the rest were in the $9 to $16 range ,, not big frags ,, 2 to 4 eyed frags ,, can't go wrong with the price I paid for them ,, when they grow out a bit I can decide if I want to keep them for the chalice tank or sell them to friends ,,
The Favias ,, I have a growing collection of these ,, just a guess ,, I would say I am in the 15 range on them ,, they seem to grow good for me ,, just have to be mindful where you put them ,, they have a sting to them,, I will have more room for them on my sand bed when the Chalices come out of the SPS tank ,,
Had most of them on the frag plugs that they came mounted to ,, some / most are fixing to grow off of their plugs ,, so I mounted pretty much all of them to rock that will be going into the chalice tank ,, I also mounted all the remaining Favia frags that weren't mounted to what I wanted them mounted to long term ,, I have a pretty good amount of Favia frags ,, these will stay in the SPS tank ,,
Made a large coral purchase yesterday ,, from ASD ,, they will ship tomorrow ,, ASD is having a big sale on their site ,, I bought 11 Chalice frags and 5 Favia frags ,, The most high $$ chalice I bought was $32 ,, the rest were in the $9 to $16 range ,, not big frags ,, 2 to 4 eyed frags ,, can't go wrong with the price I paid for them ,, when they grow out a bit I can decide if I want to keep them for the chalice tank or sell them to friends ,,
The Favias ,, I have a growing collection of these ,, just a guess ,, I would say I am in the 15 range on them ,, they seem to grow good for me ,, just have to be mindful where you put them ,, they have a sting to them,, I will have more room for them on my sand bed when the Chalices come out of the SPS tank ,,
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Figured I would post a update ,,
I have been on a coral buying binge ,, for both the SPS tank and the Chalice only tank ,, I have bought a good amount of Chalices from ASD ,, nothing really special ,, a few nice ones ,, a few chalices from other vendors also ,, I have them all mounted to pieces of the Stax rock I bought ,, I have them placed at the back of the tank behind the Aqua Rocks Scape ,, they will all go into the Chalice tank at some point , I can remove them and remount them to other rock if need be ,,
I have bought a lot of Favias for the SPS tank also ,, I have them mounted like I did the Chalice frags ,, that means between the Chalice Frags and the Favia frags ,, I have a lot of ,, Stax Rock pieces on my sand bed with corals mounted to them,, the Favias are pretty much ,, one piece of rock ,, one Favia ,, Fivias jmo can reach out and bite other corals ,, thats why the one rock ,, one coral ,, sand bed should look nice as the Favias grow into colonies ,, maybe
I bought 3 more SPS corals from Boom Corals and put them into the tank a few days ago ,, Boom Corals sells some nice frags how these do ,, will determine when I have Battle Corals send me my frag pack ,, I would like to think they should do good ,, but lol ,, a SPS frag , I put into the tank about two weeks ago from the LFS ,, its still alive ,, but has browned out in the tank,, not really concerned about this ,, as long as it stays alive ,, would have liked it to not have browned out though ,,
I have been testing the tank ,, thats not so good ,, I can't get a Nitrate or Phosphate number ,, they are both at 0 ,, I am feeding the fish and corals heavy ,, trying to get a number other than 0 ,, all of the corals that have been in the tank look good and growing ,, for the most part ,, I am keeping on with what I have been doing ,, would like to get a number other than a 0 on Nitrates and Phosphates though ,, pretty much stopped water changes ,,
The Artfully Acrylic Top should be back next week ,, I am getting all kinds of advice on my want to buy fish list locally ,, its kinda all over the place ,, I made a post on R2R this morning in the fish section ,, Tang Advice ,, if you want to read it ,, lots of experts in there ,, that should help me out a lot ,,
I got the last PVC part from Lowe's to glue my manifold together for the Chalice Tank ,, they had been out of it ,, could have got it somewhere else,, but I was in no hurry ,, the manifold and return line off the return pump are kinda all in one ,, I can now glue all of that ,, then just tie the return line to the thru hull fittings on the tank when I get the tank ,,
Thats about it for now ,, I will see if I can get some good pictures of the Favias ,, they are across the front of the tank ,, Chalices ,, I won't be able to get pictures of those ,, they are at the back of the tank ,,
I have been on a coral buying binge ,, for both the SPS tank and the Chalice only tank ,, I have bought a good amount of Chalices from ASD ,, nothing really special ,, a few nice ones ,, a few chalices from other vendors also ,, I have them all mounted to pieces of the Stax rock I bought ,, I have them placed at the back of the tank behind the Aqua Rocks Scape ,, they will all go into the Chalice tank at some point , I can remove them and remount them to other rock if need be ,,
I have bought a lot of Favias for the SPS tank also ,, I have them mounted like I did the Chalice frags ,, that means between the Chalice Frags and the Favia frags ,, I have a lot of ,, Stax Rock pieces on my sand bed with corals mounted to them,, the Favias are pretty much ,, one piece of rock ,, one Favia ,, Fivias jmo can reach out and bite other corals ,, thats why the one rock ,, one coral ,, sand bed should look nice as the Favias grow into colonies ,, maybe
I bought 3 more SPS corals from Boom Corals and put them into the tank a few days ago ,, Boom Corals sells some nice frags
how these do ,, will determine when I have Battle Corals send me my frag pack ,, I would like to think they should do good ,, but lol ,, a SPS frag , I put into the tank about two weeks ago from the LFS ,, its still alive ,, but has browned out in the tank,, not really concerned about this ,, as long as it stays alive ,, would have liked it to not have browned out though ,,I have been testing the tank ,, thats not so good ,, I can't get a Nitrate or Phosphate number ,, they are both at 0 ,, I am feeding the fish and corals heavy ,, trying to get a number other than 0 ,, all of the corals that have been in the tank look good and growing ,, for the most part ,, I am keeping on with what I have been doing ,, would like to get a number other than a 0 on Nitrates and Phosphates though ,, pretty much stopped water changes ,,
The Artfully Acrylic Top should be back next week ,, I am getting all kinds of advice on my want to buy fish list locally ,, its kinda all over the place ,, I made a post on R2R this morning in the fish section ,, Tang Advice ,, if you want to read it ,, lots of experts in there ,, that should help me out a lot ,,
I got the last PVC part from Lowe's to glue my manifold together for the Chalice Tank ,, they had been out of it ,, could have got it somewhere else,, but I was in no hurry ,, the manifold and return line off the return pump are kinda all in one ,, I can now glue all of that ,, then just tie the return line to the thru hull fittings on the tank when I get the tank ,,
Thats about it for now ,, I will see if I can get some good pictures of the Favias ,, they are across the front of the tank ,, Chalices ,, I won't be able to get pictures of those ,, they are at the back of the tank ,,
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Small update ,,, I heard from Artfully Acrylic toady ,, looks like they just got to my top ,, and will start with the repairs on it ,, was hoping to get it this week ,, looks like it will be next week ,, not in any real hurry for it ,, butt I would have liked to have had it last week lol I am not pushing them ,, I will get it when I get it ,,
My Battle Corals order is being shipped today this is going to be a big pack ,, I also ordered 4 more SPS frags from a Reefer in the for sale section ,, the main coral he had that I wanted ,, and the reason for the order ,, A nice looking Oregon Tort frag ,, I have always liked this coral ,, So much so,, that I told him not to send the Pearlberry frag he had in the pack ,, he had a second Oregon Tort frag ,, I got that ,, its going into a friends tank ,, just in case I lose mine ,,
More coral news ,, I also have another coral pack coming from the for sale section ,, has a couple of zoa frags in it ,, nothing special ,, but ones I didn't have ,, reason for buying this pack ,, two really nice Chalices
So ,, in a day or two ,, I will have some coral pics for ya'll
My Battle Corals order is being shipped today
this is going to be a big pack ,, I also ordered 4 more SPS frags from a Reefer in the for sale section ,, the main coral he had that I wanted ,, and the reason for the order ,, A nice looking Oregon Tort frag ,, I have always liked this coral ,, So much so,, that I told him not to send the Pearlberry frag he had in the pack ,, he had a second Oregon Tort frag ,, I got that ,, its going into a friends tank ,, just in case I lose mine ,,More coral news ,, I also have another coral pack coming from the for sale section ,, has a couple of zoa frags in it ,, nothing special ,, but ones I didn't have ,, reason for buying this pack ,, two really nice Chalices
So ,, in a day or two ,, I will have some coral pics for ya'll
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Corals came ,, have a few more SPS frags in the scape ,, frag rack not big enough ,,
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A update ,, not all is good ,, first the good ,,
Got the Tank Top in ,, its perfect ,, I would have done some things different on it though ,, I wouldn't have got the over sized feed door ,, don't need that big of a door for feeding only ,, I would have asked about placing the feed door where the cut outs for the Eco Tech arm mounting system are at on the side of the tank ,, instead of having the feed door at the front of the tank ,,
The bad ,, I was losing the really nice Walt Disney colony ,, I fraged several pieces off of it yesterday ,,trying to save something
I made 4 frags ,, I lost one of those last night lights aren't on yet ,, not sure how the others are doing ,, I don't see any other white carcasses though ,, I lost one of the Battle Corals frags ,, a Blue on Blue ,, this was mu favorite piece ,, maybe not the most high $$ frag he sent me ,, but its the one I liked most ,, I like Blue ,,
So ,, why did I lose the frags ,, not really sure ,, I have nothing else to do except water testing ,, I keep my numbers in check ,, I am battling low Nitrates & Phosphates ,, my answer to this ,, the Pax Bellum isn't online ,, no water changes ,, I have the skimmer running ,, but no cup on the skimmer ,, its running to add airation to the system ,, all the other SPS frags look good ,, but so did the Walt Disney ,,, till it wasn't ,,
Favia and Chalice frags are all doing good and growing ,, hoping the new Chalice tank will ship next week ,, but I haven't heard from Mircales ,, I haven't tried contacting them either ,,
Got the Tank Top in ,, its perfect ,, I would have done some things different on it though ,, I wouldn't have got the over sized feed door ,, don't need that big of a door for feeding only ,, I would have asked about placing the feed door where the cut outs for the Eco Tech arm mounting system are at on the side of the tank ,, instead of having the feed door at the front of the tank ,,
The bad ,, I was losing the really nice Walt Disney colony ,, I fraged several pieces off of it yesterday ,,trying to save something
I made 4 frags ,, I lost one of those last night lights aren't on yet ,, not sure how the others are doing ,, I don't see any other white carcasses though ,, I lost one of the Battle Corals frags ,, a Blue on Blue ,, this was mu favorite piece ,, maybe not the most high $$ frag he sent me ,, but its the one I liked most ,, I like Blue ,, So ,, why did I lose the frags ,, not really sure ,, I have nothing else to do except water testing ,, I keep my numbers in check ,, I am battling low Nitrates & Phosphates ,, my answer to this ,, the Pax Bellum isn't online ,, no water changes ,, I have the skimmer running ,, but no cup on the skimmer ,, its running to add airation to the system ,, all the other SPS frags look good ,, but so did the Walt Disney ,,, till it wasn't ,,
Favia and Chalice frags are all doing good and growing ,, hoping the new Chalice tank will ship next week ,, but I haven't heard from Mircales ,, I haven't tried contacting them either ,,
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Just read through your build. You did a stellar job on building the sps tank stand. Also that scape is really unique, it’s going to look so nice with sps colonies. What I’m excited about is the new Chalice tank, the dimensions are perfect, I just love shallow aquariums. Seems like you all ready have quite the collection for it. Have you worked on a stand for it yet and what are your plans for the scape for that tank?
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I have the stand done for the chalice tank ,, a carbon copy of the SPS stand ,, I have all the plumbing done on it ,, as much as I can do without the tank anyway ,,, all the equipment and controls are mounted onto the stand ,,, I still haven't bought the two Radion XR15 lights yet ,, no hurry on those ,, I bought two 40# boxes of Stax rock from Marine Depot for the scape in the Chalice tank ,, I only have one box left ,, I have used one box to mount the chalice frags onto ,, they were growing so I needed to get them onto what I wanted them to grow one ,, I used a bunch of the rock to mount my Favias onto , they will be staying in the SPS Tank ,,
Once I get water into the chalice tank ,, I will put the rest of the Stax Rock into the tank to cycle ,, some will most likely have to come back out when the tank is ready for the Chalices though ,, make room for the rock I have chalices mounted onto from the SPS system ,, I have 5 boxes of Bio Sphears that are cycled in the SPS tank system that will go into the sump for the chalice tank ,, I think I have about 12 boxes of Bio Sphears in the SPS system right now ,, plus some live rock ,,
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Update : Now that I have the new Clearview Top ,, its time to start adding a few fish ,,
My plans for adding fish to the tank have changed the plan was to buy my fish from a LFS ,, not really a LFS to me ,, would have been at least a 1 hour drive, one way for me to get there ,, the upside is all the fish would have been run thru this store's top of the line QT system ,, the decision to buy my fish this way was a good thing ,, but in reality ,, its just not going to work out for me ,, so ,, what was going wrong with my plan ,, its a LFS and like the LFS in my town ,, the owner sends his fish list in each week and his supplier sends what he he has ,, or what he is willing to send the LFS ,,
Over the years when I have wanted a certain fish for my tank ,, I would tell the LFS owner to order one for me ,, my LFS never ,,, ever ,, got one of these fish in ,, now these wouldn't be exotic fish ,, these would be fish that for the most part would be readily available fish ,, more or less ,, they would be fish that my LFS would not normally carry ,, not that they were hard to get fish in the hobby ,, they were just fish that my LFS would rarely get in ,, I am sure they placed these fish on their want to buy list each week ,, but each week ,, the fish would never be sent to the LFS from their supplier ,, all this being said ,, I can go to the online fish suppliers and buy these fish ,, you may have some wait time for the online suppliers getting the fish in ,, but they will get them ,, you just have to watch their sites ,,,
I wasn't expecting the LFS to get all my fish in at one time ,, but I was hoping they would get a few in here and there ,, remember ,, when they did get the fish in ,, we would be talking at least a 1 month or most likely longer stay in the QT System before I could go pick them up ,, I had been talking to the LFS for several months about my plan ,, he had my want to buy fish list ,, the fish could have been bought ,, as he would get them in and started being run thru the QT System ,, by the time I would get the tank top in ,, they would be starting to come out of the QT System ,, so the Top came in and over the time I had to wait for the top ,, it took me 4 months to get this top over my tank ,, the LFS had got none of my want to buy fish list in ,, I had no fish in QT ,, this isn't the LFS fault ,, its just the way it is with a LFS ,, he can only get what his supplier sends ,, my system needs fish now ,, even if the LFS got all my fish in next week ,, I would still be waiting a month or longer to get the fish into my tank ,, I have no confidence that the LFS can get any of my fish list in.
This next part is JMO not sure its true ,, I am thinking I am not far off though
With the way the industry is ,, fish capturing bans ,, not as many fish coming into the markets ,, fish suppliers are supplying their largest buyers ,, most of ,, if not all ,,, of the harder to get fish ,, my LFS supplier just isn't getting those fish in to send to my LFS ,, they are going to the online fish suppliers who sell the most fish ,,
So,, I wanted to get a Tang for my tank and a few Wrasses ,, I changed my mind about the single Tang for my tank ,, my thinking was ,, if I just got the one Tang and down the road I would be wanting to get a second Tang ,, with the Tang I wanted ,, I might have a problem adding the second Tang ,, my want to have Tang is a Purple Tang ,, I have friends that have this fish ,, I have also read in the Forum of people having problems with this fish ,, being out right mean and killing other Tangs added to their systems ,, I won't go into it ,, but I have a friend that is going thru this with his Purple Tang as we speak ,, his Purple Tang has killed other Tangs added to his system ,,
Purple Tangs are kinda hard to get right now ,, at least from the online suppliers that I would buy from ,, do a search of the online suppliers ,, you will see what I am talking about ,, NY Aquatics has them ,, and is who I am buying mine from ,, they have two sizes for sale right now ,, I bought the smaller of the two sizes 3" to 4" fish ,,
The choice for the second Tang was the problem ,, I wanted to add both Tangs to the tank at the same time due to the problems the Purple Tang might cause,, NY Aquatics had only one other Tang in stock that was on my ,,, would buy list ,, a Chocolate Tang ,, the down side ,, they don't have this fish in the smaller size 3" to 4" they only had it in the 4" to 5" size ,, I like to order the smaller fish ,, its just a me thing ,, here is where my friend who is having major problems with his Purple Tang gave me some advice ,, which I took ,, he said buy the larger Chocolate Tang ,, it would help keep the smaller Purple Tang in check ,, so I ordered that fish also ,, both fish were shipped yesterday and will be here this morning ,, first time I have used this supplier ,,, I will let ya'll know how this turns out
The down side ,,, both fish will be added to my tank without going thru a QT System ,, I don't like doing this ,, but I am not willing to set up a QT System ,, on the upside ,, both fish have been in NY Aquatics system for quite some time ,, I am hanging my hat on that fact ,,
Next up will be adding some Wrasses ,, my want to buy list for Wrasses is about 4 or 5 fish ,, I am thinking it will be in the 7 range when its all said and done though ,, I don't want to add to many fish into my system at one time ,, I am not a Pro with this stuff ,, my thinking is ,, build up the Bio Load in the system slowly ,, the Tangs will be the largest fish added to the system and both will be added at the same time ,,, I am hoping it won't be to much on my Bio Load ,,
I was ,, at one point having a heater issue with the tank ,, tank temps were going down to low 70s at night ,, I got that figured out and the heaters dialed in ,, even then it was staying in the 77 range ,, I could live with that though ,, 78 was my target number ,, I am using a $30 digital thermometer I got from the LFS that stays suctioned cupped inside my tank to monitor the tanks temps ,, no Apex here what its showing could be wrong though ,, I have a brand new one for the chalice tank that I will put on the SPS tank today ,, just to see if I get the same readings ,,
I am always looking at the read outs on this thermometer ,, yesterday it went up to 80 ,, I am using two 300w Cobalt Neo Therm heaters ,, these are good heaters ,, BRS did a test of all the heaters they sell ,, these heaters won ,, they have a video about this test on their site ,,
Anyway ,, I looked at the heaters ,, I had one set at 78 in one section of my sump tank ,, the skimmer section ,, the other was in the Bio Sphears section ,, it was set at 80 ,, this kept the display tank at 77 to 78 ,, it would go down at night when the LED lights were off ,, but the Pax Bellum came on when the LED were off it would keep the temps in the 77 range ,,
So ,, when I saw that 80 display tank temp ,, I looked at the heaters ,, both heaters were set wrong ,, I am not sure how this happened ,, unless the heaters are going bad ,, I reset them ,, this morning the thermometer is reading display tank temps at 74.4 I am going to test with the other thermometer this morning ,, if I get that same reading ,, I will order two more heaters ,, have them over nighted ,,
My plans for adding fish to the tank have changed
the plan was to buy my fish from a LFS ,, not really a LFS to me ,, would have been at least a 1 hour drive, one way for me to get there ,, the upside is all the fish would have been run thru this store's top of the line QT system ,, the decision to buy my fish this way was a good thing ,, but in reality ,, its just not going to work out for me ,, so ,, what was going wrong with my plan ,, its a LFS and like the LFS in my town ,, the owner sends his fish list in each week and his supplier sends what he he has ,, or what he is willing to send the LFS ,,Over the years when I have wanted a certain fish for my tank ,, I would tell the LFS owner to order one for me ,, my LFS never ,,, ever ,, got one of these fish in ,, now these wouldn't be exotic fish ,, these would be fish that for the most part would be readily available fish ,, more or less ,, they would be fish that my LFS would not normally carry ,, not that they were hard to get fish in the hobby ,, they were just fish that my LFS would rarely get in ,, I am sure they placed these fish on their want to buy list each week ,, but each week ,, the fish would never be sent to the LFS from their supplier ,, all this being said ,, I can go to the online fish suppliers and buy these fish ,, you may have some wait time for the online suppliers getting the fish in ,, but they will get them ,, you just have to watch their sites ,,,
I wasn't expecting the LFS to get all my fish in at one time ,, but I was hoping they would get a few in here and there ,, remember ,, when they did get the fish in ,, we would be talking at least a 1 month or most likely longer stay in the QT System before I could go pick them up ,, I had been talking to the LFS for several months about my plan ,, he had my want to buy fish list ,, the fish could have been bought ,, as he would get them in and started being run thru the QT System ,, by the time I would get the tank top in ,, they would be starting to come out of the QT System ,, so the Top came in and over the time I had to wait for the top ,, it took me 4 months to get this top over my tank ,, the LFS had got none of my want to buy fish list in ,, I had no fish in QT ,, this isn't the LFS fault ,, its just the way it is with a LFS ,, he can only get what his supplier sends ,, my system needs fish now ,, even if the LFS got all my fish in next week ,, I would still be waiting a month or longer to get the fish into my tank ,, I have no confidence that the LFS can get any of my fish list in.
This next part is JMO not sure its true ,, I am thinking I am not far off though
With the way the industry is ,, fish capturing bans ,, not as many fish coming into the markets ,, fish suppliers are supplying their largest buyers ,, most of ,, if not all ,,, of the harder to get fish ,, my LFS supplier just isn't getting those fish in to send to my LFS ,, they are going to the online fish suppliers who sell the most fish ,,
So,, I wanted to get a Tang for my tank and a few Wrasses ,, I changed my mind about the single Tang for my tank ,, my thinking was ,, if I just got the one Tang and down the road I would be wanting to get a second Tang ,, with the Tang I wanted ,, I might have a problem adding the second Tang ,, my want to have Tang is a Purple Tang ,, I have friends that have this fish ,, I have also read in the Forum of people having problems with this fish ,, being out right mean and killing other Tangs added to their systems ,, I won't go into it ,, but I have a friend that is going thru this with his Purple Tang as we speak ,, his Purple Tang has killed other Tangs added to his system ,,
Purple Tangs are kinda hard to get right now ,, at least from the online suppliers that I would buy from ,, do a search of the online suppliers ,, you will see what I am talking about ,, NY Aquatics has them ,, and is who I am buying mine from ,, they have two sizes for sale right now ,, I bought the smaller of the two sizes 3" to 4" fish ,,
The choice for the second Tang was the problem ,, I wanted to add both Tangs to the tank at the same time due to the problems the Purple Tang might cause,, NY Aquatics had only one other Tang in stock that was on my ,,, would buy list ,, a Chocolate Tang ,, the down side ,, they don't have this fish in the smaller size 3" to 4" they only had it in the 4" to 5" size ,, I like to order the smaller fish ,, its just a me thing ,, here is where my friend who is having major problems with his Purple Tang gave me some advice ,, which I took ,, he said buy the larger Chocolate Tang ,, it would help keep the smaller Purple Tang in check ,, so I ordered that fish also ,, both fish were shipped yesterday and will be here this morning ,, first time I have used this supplier ,,, I will let ya'll know how this turns out
The down side ,,, both fish will be added to my tank without going thru a QT System ,, I don't like doing this ,, but I am not willing to set up a QT System ,, on the upside ,, both fish have been in NY Aquatics system for quite some time ,, I am hanging my hat on that fact ,,
Next up will be adding some Wrasses ,, my want to buy list for Wrasses is about 4 or 5 fish ,, I am thinking it will be in the 7 range when its all said and done though ,, I don't want to add to many fish into my system at one time ,, I am not a Pro with this stuff ,, my thinking is ,, build up the Bio Load in the system slowly ,, the Tangs will be the largest fish added to the system and both will be added at the same time ,,, I am hoping it won't be to much on my Bio Load ,,
I was ,, at one point having a heater issue with the tank ,, tank temps were going down to low 70s at night ,, I got that figured out and the heaters dialed in ,, even then it was staying in the 77 range ,, I could live with that though ,, 78 was my target number ,, I am using a $30 digital thermometer I got from the LFS that stays suctioned cupped inside my tank to monitor the tanks temps ,, no Apex here
what its showing could be wrong though ,, I have a brand new one for the chalice tank that I will put on the SPS tank today ,, just to see if I get the same readings ,,I am always looking at the read outs on this thermometer ,, yesterday it went up to 80 ,, I am using two 300w Cobalt Neo Therm heaters ,, these are good heaters ,, BRS did a test of all the heaters they sell ,, these heaters won ,, they have a video about this test on their site ,,
Anyway ,, I looked at the heaters ,, I had one set at 78 in one section of my sump tank ,, the skimmer section ,, the other was in the Bio Sphears section ,, it was set at 80 ,, this kept the display tank at 77 to 78 ,, it would go down at night when the LED lights were off ,, but the Pax Bellum came on when the LED were off it would keep the temps in the 77 range ,,
So ,, when I saw that 80 display tank temp ,, I looked at the heaters ,, both heaters were set wrong ,, I am not sure how this happened ,, unless the heaters are going bad ,, I reset them ,, this morning the thermometer is reading display tank temps at 74.4 I am going to test with the other thermometer this morning ,, if I get that same reading ,, I will order two more heaters ,, have them over nighted ,,
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Got the fish ,, couldn't be happier I will order more from them ,, changed out that cheap thermometer ,, new one is holding steady at 78.1 I don't put a lot of trust in those cheap thermometers ,, it just something to get a idea of what the tank is doing ,, when I see big changes in the numbers on it ,, I go to looking ,,
I will order more from them ,, changed out that cheap thermometer ,, new one is holding steady at 78.1 I don't put a lot of trust in those cheap thermometers ,, it just something to get a idea of what the tank is doing ,, when I see big changes in the numbers on it ,, I go to looking ,,
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I am seriously thinking of removing the Aqua Rocks scape from the tank ,, have pretty much decided this is going to happen ,, maybe ,, something has to be done ,, I like the Aqua Rocks Scape ,, but if ya'll remember ,, it was to tall for my tank and I had to cut the legs of the structure to make it shorter before it went into the tank ,, I cut as much as I could off of it ,, one side of the scape is fine ,, one side isn't ,, the problem ,, a direct flow issue onto the SPS coral frags mounted on the left side of the tank ,, I have moved the MP40s on the left side as much and more than I want ,, I have lost several frags ,, I have the power heads turned down as much as I can ,, lower than I want or need them to be ,, there is pretty much nothing else I can do ,,
My solution to the problem is to just remove it ,, replace it with a new Aqua Rocks scape or replace it with a Live Rock scape ,, the cost of the new scape would be about the same price as buying rock for the tank ,, this is nothing I can do soon ,, my sand bed is covered with Favia and Chalice frags ,, I have a lot of frags ,, the chalice frags are the problem ,, the Favia frags are on the sand bed across the front and sides of the tank ,, no problem there ,, the chalice frags are placed where the new rock scape would have to go ,, these will be removed when I get the chalice tank and when the tank is be ready for frags ,, that would be several months after I get the tank up and running though ,, the upside ,, I can remove the SPS frags from the current scape and put onto a frag rack ,, none of the frags have encrusted off of the frag plugs ,, ya'll know how this is though ,, pull them off the scape ,, put them somewhere else in the tank ,, take a chance on losing some
I am not sure which direction I am going to go with this ,, I am leaning towards Live Rock answer instead of the new Aqua Rocks scape ,,
I have been buying fish ,,, mostly from NY Aquitics and Aqua Locker ,, both of these vendors have been sending me some nice fish ,, So, whats in the tank ,,
Midas Blenny ,, I will most likely lose this fish ,, chances are he will be dead this morning ,, have to wait for the lights to come on this morning to see ,, he is a old fish ,, I think old age has caught up to him
Marine Beta ,, this fish will be moved into the chalice tank ,, if I ever get that tank ,,, that's another story
1 Dispar Anthias lost 3 down to one ,, Purple Tang ,, Chocolate Tang ,, Exquisite Fairy Wrasse ,, Lineatus Wrasse ,, Malinaruis Wrasse ,,
I have 3 more fish Ordered from Aqua Locker ,, they ship today ,, Orange Back Fairy Wrasse ,, Rosy Scales Fairy Wrasse and a Red Margin Fairy Wrasse ,,, I have several more Wrasses I want ,, I can easily see myself over stocking the tank with Wrasses ,, the upside I can add some to the Chalice Tank when that tank is up and running ,,
So whats up with the Chalice tank I have ordered from Mircales Aquariums ,, the tank is done ,, been done ,, the hold up is the overflow box ,, its back ordered ,, I am guessing this overflow box comes from China ,, everything comes from China maybe this Trade War the US has going on with China might have something to do with it ,, don't really know ,, I don't get upset with things I have no control over ,, life is just to short to be going down that road ,, I wish Mircales would keep me updated a bit better with what is going on ,, I am not pushing them ,, I have only called about the tank one time in the going on 4 months since ordering the tank ,, and that was two weeks ago ,, I am going to give them a call this coming Friday ,, see if they can give me a update ,,
When I know more I will post it ,,
My solution to the problem is to just remove it ,, replace it with a new Aqua Rocks scape or replace it with a Live Rock scape ,, the cost of the new scape would be about the same price as buying rock for the tank ,, this is nothing I can do soon ,, my sand bed is covered with Favia and Chalice frags ,, I have a lot of frags ,, the chalice frags are the problem ,, the Favia frags are on the sand bed across the front and sides of the tank ,, no problem there ,, the chalice frags are placed where the new rock scape would have to go ,, these will be removed when I get the chalice tank and when the tank is be ready for frags ,, that would be several months after I get the tank up and running though ,, the upside ,, I can remove the SPS frags from the current scape and put onto a frag rack ,, none of the frags have encrusted off of the frag plugs ,, ya'll know how this is though ,, pull them off the scape ,, put them somewhere else in the tank ,, take a chance on losing some
I am not sure which direction I am going to go with this ,, I am leaning towards Live Rock answer instead of the new Aqua Rocks scape ,,
I have been buying fish ,,, mostly from NY Aquitics and Aqua Locker ,, both of these vendors have been sending me some nice fish ,, So, whats in the tank ,,
Midas Blenny ,, I will most likely lose this fish ,, chances are he will be dead this morning ,, have to wait for the lights to come on this morning to see ,, he is a old fish ,, I think old age has caught up to him
Marine Beta ,, this fish will be moved into the chalice tank ,, if I ever get that tank ,,, that's another story
1 Dispar Anthias lost 3 down to one ,, Purple Tang ,, Chocolate Tang ,, Exquisite Fairy Wrasse ,, Lineatus Wrasse ,, Malinaruis Wrasse ,,
I have 3 more fish Ordered from Aqua Locker ,, they ship today ,, Orange Back Fairy Wrasse ,, Rosy Scales Fairy Wrasse and a Red Margin Fairy Wrasse ,,, I have several more Wrasses I want ,, I can easily see myself over stocking the tank with Wrasses ,, the upside
I can add some to the Chalice Tank when that tank is up and running ,,So whats up with the Chalice tank I have ordered from Mircales Aquariums ,, the tank is done ,, been done ,, the hold up is the overflow box ,, its back ordered ,, I am guessing this overflow box comes from China ,, everything comes from China
maybe this Trade War the US has going on with China might have something to do with it ,, don't really know ,, I don't get upset with things I have no control over ,, life is just to short to be going down that road ,, I wish Mircales would keep me updated a bit better with what is going on ,, I am not pushing them ,, I have only called about the tank one time in the going on 4 months since ordering the tank ,, and that was two weeks ago ,, I am going to give them a call this coming Friday ,, see if they can give me a update ,, When I know more I will post it ,,
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I am seriously thinking of removing the Aqua Rocks scape from the tank ,, have pretty much decided this is going to happen ,, maybe ,, something has to be done ,, I like the Aqua Rocks Scape ,, but if ya'll remember ,, it was to tall for my tank and I had to cut the legs of the structure to make it shorter before it went into the tank ,, I cut as much as I could off of it ,, one side of the scape is fine ,, one side isn't ,, the problem ,, a direct flow issue onto the SPS coral frags mounted on the left side of the tank ,, I have moved the MP40s on the left side as much and more than I want ,, I have lost several frags ,, I have the power heads turned down as much as I can ,, lower than I want or need them to be ,, there is pretty much nothing else I can do ,,
My solution to the problem is to just remove it ,, replace it with a new Aqua Rocks scape or replace it with a Live Rock scape ,, the cost of the new scape would be about the same price as buying rock for the tank ,, this is nothing I can do soon ,, my sand bed is covered with Favia and Chalice frags ,, I have a lot of frags ,, the chalice frags are the problem ,, the Favia frags are on the sand bed across the front and sides of the tank ,, no problem there ,, the chalice frags are placed where the new rock scape would have to go ,, these will be removed when I get the chalice tank and when the tank is be ready for frags ,, that would be several months after I get the tank up and running though ,, the upside ,, I can remove the SPS frags from the current scape and put onto a frag rack ,, none of the frags have encrusted off of the frag plugs ,, ya'll know how this is though ,, pull them off the scape ,, put them somewhere else in the tank ,, take a chance on losing some
I am not sure which direction I am going to go with this ,, I am leaning towards Live Rock answer instead of the new Aqua Rocks scape ,,
I have been buying fish ,,, mostly from NY Aquitics and Aqua Locker ,, both of these vendors have been sending me some nice fish ,, So, whats in the tank ,,
Midas Blenny ,, I will most likely lose this fish ,, chances are he will be dead this morning ,, have to wait for the lights to come on this morning to see ,, he is a old fish ,, I think old age has caught up to him
Marine Beta ,, this fish will be moved into the chalice tank ,, if I ever get that tank ,,, that's another story
1 Dispar Anthias lost 3 down to one ,, Purple Tang ,, Chocolate Tang ,, Exquisite Fairy Wrasse ,, Lineatus Wrasse ,, Malinaruis Wrasse ,,
I have 3 more fish Ordered from Aqua Locker ,, they ship today ,, Orange Back Fairy Wrasse ,, Rosy Scales Fairy Wrasse and a Red Margin Fairy Wrasse ,,, I have several more Wrasses I want ,, I can easily see myself over stocking the tank with Wrasses ,, the upside
So whats up with the Chalice tank I have ordered from Mircales Aquariums ,, the tank is done ,, been done ,, the hold up is the overflow box ,, its back ordered ,, I am guessing this overflow box comes from China ,, everything comes from China
When I know more I will post it ,,
Man that’s a shame the scape isn’t working out. Flow can be tricky, especially for a sps tank. Sounds like you have pretty much done all you can to solve the problem. When you replace it I’m guessing you will have to cycle the rock or scape in something before you put it in?
Glad you found a good connection for fish. I don’t have anywhere good near me either. I love wrasses as well. With me having a nano and no sand bed I’m really limited. If I ever upgrade I’ll defiantly do sand so I can load up with some. I wanna see some pictures of everything!
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I really don't depend on the Aqua Rocks scape to carry the Bio Load in my system ,, there really isn't much mass to these scapes and they aren't really all that porous to hold a lot of bacteria ,, I am sure they have surface bacteria growing on them ,, but its not like having rock ,, that's the thing about these types of scapes ,, they are nice ,, but you have to put your bacteria carrying media some where else in your system ,, the upside is ,, you can have a really open scape in your tank ,,
I have all those Bio Spears in the sump tank to carry the Bio Load ,, I have a bunch of them ,, every section of the sump tank has them except for the skimmer section ,, I have some Live Rock pieces placed around the skimmer though. I have a big sump tank 60x18x18 If I had to guess ,, I would say I have 11 to 12 boxes of those Bio Spears in the sump tank ,, 4 boxes of them will be going into the chalice tanks sump tank though ,,, I will be buying 4 more boxes to replace the ones I pull out of the SPS tanks system ,, I can't add them to the system now though ,, no room for them
My LFS sells that man made rock ,, I would only go so far ,, as to say its live rock though ,, it comes in dry and he adds it to his rock vats ,, the upside is he has big vats of it ,, the older rock would have more bacteria on it ,, I would guess ,, but you can't really look at the rock and say this piece has been in the system longer and should have more bacteria on it ,, unless its slimier
I could buy dry rock ,, get it cycling in a couple of Bruite cans ,, which is what I should have already done ,, I kept putting it off hoping I could make the Aqua Rocks scape work out for me ,, but I was just kidding myself ,, its just to tall for my tank and I can't make it any shorter than it is right now ,,
I am going to talk with Aqua Rocks about another scape ,, I like that scape ,, just not the one I have now ,,
I have all those Bio Spears in the sump tank to carry the Bio Load ,, I have a bunch of them ,, every section of the sump tank has them except for the skimmer section ,, I have some Live Rock pieces placed around the skimmer though. I have a big sump tank 60x18x18 If I had to guess ,, I would say I have 11 to 12 boxes of those Bio Spears in the sump tank ,, 4 boxes of them will be going into the chalice tanks sump tank though ,,, I will be buying 4 more boxes to replace the ones I pull out of the SPS tanks system ,, I can't add them to the system now though ,, no room for them
My LFS sells that man made rock ,, I would only go so far ,, as to say its live rock though ,, it comes in dry and he adds it to his rock vats ,, the upside is he has big vats of it ,, the older rock would have more bacteria on it ,, I would guess ,, but you can't really look at the rock and say this piece has been in the system longer and should have more bacteria on it ,, unless its slimier
I could buy dry rock ,, get it cycling in a couple of Bruite cans ,, which is what I should have already done ,, I kept putting it off hoping I could make the Aqua Rocks scape work out for me ,, but I was just kidding myself ,, its just to tall for my tank and I can't make it any shorter than it is right now ,,
I am going to talk with Aqua Rocks about another scape ,, I like that scape ,, just not the one I have now ,,
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I have the Flame Wrasse ordered I am using another R2R vendor that I have never used before ,, Tide Pool Aquatics ,, the fish should ship today ,, not for sure on that though ,,
I am using another R2R vendor that I have never used before ,, Tide Pool Aquatics ,, the fish should ship today ,, not for sure on that though ,,
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Ordered two more fish this evening ,, cheap ones for a change ,, a McCoskers & a Carpenters Flasher Wrasse,, these are two fish I wanted to add to the tank first because they are small fish ,, no one has had them for sale though ,, they should come in Tuesday with the Flame Wrasse ,, that puts me up to 9 Wrasses I think ,, should do it for this tank ,,
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