Saltgator's 240 Build

[TJ's Reef]

Your Reef has rebounded quite well Brad, looking for additional fish is always fun just wish that I had the room for more. If you were only 4000 miles closer would donate my Blochii Tang to your 240g he is at about 7" and definitely has outgrown my lil 60" long 125g. I've tried to stay with mostly Hawaiian fish and he is my favorite for being the first fish I ever collected but would love to see him with some swimming room. Another interesting Acanthurus sp Tang you might consider is an Orange Shoulder and for an Anthias school Dispar's as they are relatively peaceful, inexpensive and are a shallow water species adept to bright lighting.

Orange Shoulder pair and a 15-16" adult Blochii off Poipu Beach on Kauai

Or maybe a school of Indo-Pacific Sergeant Major's like these, also off Poipu Beach

Cheers, Todd

 

[Saltgator]

Wow Todd! I had a orange shoulder juvenile previously but lost it to ich years ago. A pair would be awesome! Wish I was closer for your blochii. Todd, have you ever seen a adult Palani tang? Very little info on them and a lfs has had one for a bit. He says they kinda resemble a duss just dulled down a bit. Any thoughts? As always Todd, I appreciate your time and hopefully your system is gonna rebound for ya (also want to see pics of your fuge).

 

[TJ's Reef]

Hey Brad, if had the room I would certainly keep the Blochii plus get a Orange Shoulder and a Sailfin to add to my Hawaiian Tang collection. The 'Palani' is the A. dussumieri as it is the Hawaiian name for them and very similar to the A. blochii just with a white scalpel instead of black and a bit of yellow on caudal base.
I'm just about to redo my whole system with a tank upgrade, found a nice 3/4" acrylic 212 ish 60x24x34 that I intend to cut down to 28-30" so end up in the 175-185 range but still have some needed extra height for fish and coral. I will also more than likely build a new sump/fuge to take better advantage of allotted space. I was looking for a decent pic of the current one to show you but not any actually showing much, and it is still recovering from having 25 gallons dumped into it on the rescue. Disrupted a 3 years untouched anaerobic sand bed... P U..... lol

Here it is during the water test in 2011 and more recent from this August

Cheers, Todd

 

[Saltgator]

Great pics Todd. I really appreciate it. Knowing your history from your build and thru what others have stated, you'll be back better than before. If you need anything I might have to help with the build (fuge stuff, corals or etc), please ask and I'll send it your way.

 

[Saltgator]

50g remote fuge up and running. Did I mention I extremely dislike bulkheads! Had to get the channel locks out just to get them from slowly leaking. I know it ain't best but I kept checking and 1/8th turns. Now I need more fuge matter and some amphipods.

 

[Saltgator]

Got home tonight to find my regal has Popeye or so I think. Pretty sure it's from him harassing my mag fox. Sorry for the pic quality.

 

[Saltgator]

Sorry for the sideways pic. Try again

 

[Fishmania21]

Man, I wonder how long it takes for me newbie to reach to this level.....amazing

 

[Saltgator]

Man, I wonder how long it takes for me newbie to reach to this level.....amazing

We all were newbies at some point. Heck, I'm still learning all the time. Just take it slow if I had to give advice. Somethings I messed up are mainly things I rushed.

 

[schooleyosis]

Keep feeding the fish high quality foods and it should be ok.
You are correct, nothing good happens quickly in this hobby.

 

[Saltgator]

Thanks Ryan. The regal is pretty aggressive with the Foxface. We'll see when/if he recovers.

 

[Saltgator]

Just for my records of stuff incase I have to ask myself why I did or didn't do (I highly suggest doing this if you've got a buzy life and can't always remember what you did when things went good or bad in the reef).

Finally:
Pulled the 5g fuge from the sump, raised the skimmer 2 inches (now sits in 8 inches of water vs 10 without stand), replaced a leaky bulkhead.

No longer needed te 5g fuge in the sump as it served no purpose after the 50g fuge was tied in. Raised the skimmer for a experiment. Read throughout the Web on lph and skimmer pumps. Having a skimmer run in less water allows greater (or intended flow) as long as it's within manufacturer suggested water depth. I guess head loss of going thru 2 more inches of water, we'll see. A 1 inch bulkhead of mine has been leaking slowly for some time. Used a cup and zip tie for some time to assist till I had time. << I know, REDNECK!! LOL.

 

[schooleyosis]

Great place to have an active journal. I often have to refer back to here to remember my own name. LOL

 

[Saltgator]

Great place to have an active journal. I often have to refer back to here to remember my own name. LOL

Ha ha. Another screen name of mine (DIESEL) on Xbox, is something my friends call me, never my name,lol. I could forget easily since we only use last names at work too!

Back to reefs, lol, I've had times where the reef has been great and I do something (add, remove something like equipment, fish, corals,etc) and down the rocky road we go. This saves me the trouble to look back on what I did or didn't do when things were good. I strongly agree that a tank thread is a great journal.

 

[schooleyosis]

Completely understand what you mean. Consistency is key in this hobby.

 

[Saltgator]

Well came home and almost 24 hrs later, the new bulkhead isn't leaking and the skimmer filled it's cup plus a 1g overflow jug I had. Skim was a little darker than a grass green.

 

[Saltgator]

Just a update on my log but feel free to chime in if needed.

Purchased a bullet goby 2 weeks ago to help with cyano. Great worker but cloudy is a understatement on how the tank looks. Added a sock to help.
Got my tang from Reefbids.com that I've been after. He's currently residing in my 50g fuge until he grows a bit. While in a acclimation box, my white tail bristletooth tang had daily issues with him. Luckily it was only thru a acrylic box so no actual contact. Will try again in a few months after some growth. Oh... it's a fowleri tang, great colors and about 3ish inches.
Still battling a algae issue. Gave up on test atm. The algae is a texture growing algae, short and wavy like HA but never gets any longer than 1/4 inch. Brownish green color and grows on every surface. Snails and tangs don't make much of a dent in it.
Skimmer has been producing good skim. A tad wet but super green wet. Cleaning the neck helps greatly.

 

[prsnlty]

Does your algae look something like this one?

 

[Saltgator]

Some of my sand bed does, but mostly the dark cyano. I'll get pics as soon as the lights come on. This stuff doesn't mind flow. Almost a mat like gsp except it's algae. It kinda looks like the patch on your rocks but I can't tell.

 

[prsnlty]

Yeah, i have tons of flow and it doesn't phase it. I've been having a low iron issue and this happened right around the same time. I can't seem to keep the iron where it needs to be even with dosing Fe. Weird. I have thick dark cyano also but only in my sump.