The WB's 70g Custom Acrylic Supersized AIO

[navada718]

I had to do something with a clean up crew so I went ahead and ordered the 50 gallon package from saltwateraquarium.com. I’ve ordered from reefcleaners.com several times with varying degrees of success, mostly because I’ve always been too cheap to pay for overnight shipping. I’ll take the blame and really I don’t think anything alive should be shipped from in any way other than overnight so in a couple of cases I got what I paid for, dead snail soup. This time I paid for the overnight shipping and I went with saltwateraquarium.com because they touted larger sized livestock. I wanted to try something different. So far I’m very pleased, here’s what I got and what the packaging looked like.

This is far and away the best packaging I’ve ever had for livestock. The bags were very well sealed and full of water and air. No baggies with wet paper towels.

I floated everything to temp acclimate, then drained the bag water and in they all went.

The nassarius snails were particularly large.

The hermit crabs were a little more varied in size.

I’m pretty happy with this order so far. I’d order from saltwateraquarium.com again.

Happy to hear saltwateraquarium, provides quality CUC. Will definitely picked up some Cerith snails.

 

[tharbin]

How's your TBS rock and sand doing?

 

[TheWB]

How's your TBS rock and sand doing?

Both are ok I guess. Weirdness with the tank this week. I actually have detectable ammonia with no clear cut source of the problem. You'd think the TBS sand and rock would be helping with that?

That middle dot is clearly green, although it looks darker in person than it does in this picture, after being yellow since day 1 and I confirmed it with a separate test. And that picture is several hours after I put in some Prime to try and calm it down. I'm prepping a 9 gallon water change right now to see how much that helps.
The only thing I can think of is that maybe I had some die off of snails from the clean up crew. Some of those nassarius were pretty big and of the original 10 I've only seen two today when I dropped in a food wafer to make sure they had something to eat. The hermits took care of that brown hair algae looking stuff in 24 hours so the tank has been looking pretty clean. I don't want any of the clean up crew to starve but maybe some didn't make it. If the water change doesn't get the level down far enough I'll throw in some chemipure elite. Weird problem to be having kind of out of the blue.

I did get some good news today. Eric from eelrivercoral.com got back to me and he's going to custom 3d print a new collar for the klir-7 that fits the sock opening properly so that it can start working automatically. I have been advancing it myself every day or two since the water won't ever get high enough the reach the sensor before it goes over the emergency overflow. Just need to get him the right dims which means taking the klir-7 out of the tank so I can access the opening. I'll probably just wait until this roll of fleece runs out and then replace it with a 7" sock until I get the right part from Eric.

I noticed that Biota has captive bred Royal Grammas in stock the other day. I want a pair so I was excited. But then this ammonia problem cropped up so I waited and now they don't have any available anymore. I'm bummed about this but I'm on the notification list so at least I'll know when they come back in stock. I love pairs and trios of fish so the opportunity to get a pair of grammas is exciting. I think I'm also going to get another small yellow wrasse to complete a pair there too. Gotta fix whatever this ammonia issue is first though.

Getting back to your question, I think adding the TBS rock and sand was a great choice. I do plan to add at least one more order of the nano sized TBS rocks once I'm ready to turn on the lights. The macro algae was holding up pretty good with just ambient room light until the hermits arrived. They are slowly taking it out which is ok. I wanted that rock for the biodiversity of the ocean, not necessarily for the macro to be part of the display. It was nice to have but I never really expected it to survive long term. Probably get some of the base type for the refugium area and a few more of the premium for the display.

I am surprised to find that I'm actually enjoying the tank quite a bit with just the fish and ambient room light. Not really missing corals or the brightly lit look. I will of course eventually turn on the lights and add some coral but I'm not really in any hurry. FTS from just now.

 

[tharbin]

Both are ok I guess. Weirdness with the tank this week. I actually have detectable ammonia with no clear cut source of the problem. You'd think the TBS sand and rock would be helping with that?

That middle dot is clearly green, although it looks darker in person than it does in this picture, after being yellow since day 1 and I confirmed it with a separate test. And that picture is several hours after I put in some Prime to try and calm it down. I prepping a 9 gallon water change right now to see how much that helps.
The only thing I can think of is that maybe I had some die off of snails from the clean up crew. Some of those nassarius were pretty big and of the original 10 I've only seen two today when I dropped in a food wafer to make sure they had something to eat. The hermits took care of that brown hair algae looking stuff in 24 hours so the tank has been looking pretty clean. I don't want any of the clean up crew to starve but maybe some didn't make it. If the water change doesn't get the level down far enough I'll throw in some chemipure elite. Weird problem to be having kind of out of the blue.

I did get some good news today. Eric from eelrivercoral.com got back to me and he's going to custom 3d print a new collar for the klir-7 that fits the sock opening properly so that it can start working automatically. I have been advancing it myself every day or two since the water won't ever get high enough the reach the sensor before it goes over the emergency overflow. Just need to get him the right dims which means taking the klir-7 out of the tank so I can access the opening. I'll probably just wait until this roll of fleece runs out and then replace it with a 7" sock until I get the right part from Eric.

I noticed that Biota has captive bred Royal Grammas in stock the other day. I want a pair so I was excited. But then this ammonia problem cropped up so I waited and now they don't have any available anymore. I'm bummed about this but I'm on the notification list so at least I'll know when they come back in stock. I love pairs and trios of fish so the opportunity to get a pair of grammas is exciting. I think I'm also going to get another small yellow wrasse to complete a pair there too. Gotta fix whatever this ammonia issue is first though.

Getting back to your question, I think adding the TBS rock and sand was a great choice. I do plan to add at least one more order of the nano sized TBS rocks once I'm ready to turn on the lights. The macro algae was holding up pretty good with just ambient room light until the hermits arrived. They are slowly taking it out which is ok. I wanted that rock for the biodiversity of the ocean, not necessarily for the macro to be part of the display. It was nice to have but I never really expected it to survive long term. Probably get some of the base type for the refugium area and a few more of the premium for the display.

I am surprised to find that I'm actually enjoying the tank quite a bit with just the fish and ambient room light. Not really missing corals or the brightly lit look. I will of course eventually turn on the lights and add some coral but I'm not really in any hurry. FTS from just now.

Sorry for the problems but it sure looks good. I've actually thought of going back to a FOWLR. I kind of miss the simplicity and white light.

Maybe something died in one of the rocks.

 

[TheWB]

Sorry for the problems but it sure looks good. I've actually thought of going back to a FOWLR. I kind of miss the simplicity and white light.

Maybe something died in one of the rocks.

Maybe?? None of the fish died so unless it's several snails I'm not sure what could add this much ammonia. Just did the water change and it's only been a few minutes but the alert badge is still green. Might be doing another change tomorrow. I'm going to test my RODI water as well. It's coming out zero tds on the meter but ya never know until you double check. How's your tank doing, haven't seen a post for a while?

 

[tharbin]

Maybe?? None of the fish died so unless it's several snails I'm not sure what could add this much ammonia. Just did the water change and it's only been a few minutes but the alert badge is still green. Might be doing another change tomorrow. I'm going to test my RODI water as well. It's coming out zero tds on the meter but ya never know until you double check. How's your tank doing, haven't seen a post for a while?

A couple of snails doesn't seem like enough to cause a spike but then again a big trochus or two...

My tank is just hanging in there. I haven't been able to devote enough time to get it back on track. The Peppermints do seem to be taking out a lot of the smaller aiptasia and the Pitho is trying but there's just too much bubble for him. When I see it, it is sitting on the sand looking like it just finished a very large Thanksgiving dinner. The Foxface is no help as it just sits under the feed cup all day looking for junk food. I almost shut down the fuge the other day but when I went to pull the Galaxia I realized it had more than doubled in size. I let the Mg get way too low and everything suffered. I pulled the Tubbs and put it in the 15 gallon for now as it is half covered with algae. I did pull one rock and cleaned off 90% of the algae and will pull another one soon. All of the fish are fat, dumb and lazy, I mean happy. I think I'm actually managing to kill the Purple Stylo although it could just be shading. I'll post again as soon as I get around to a set of water tests.

 

[TheWB]

A couple of snails doesn't seem like enough to cause a spike but then again a big trochus or two...

My tank is just hanging in there. I haven't been able to devote enough time to get it back on track. The Peppermints do seem to be taking out a lot of the smaller aiptasia and the Pitho is trying but there's just too much bubble for him. When I see it, it is sitting on the sand looking like it just finished a very large Thanksgiving dinner. The Foxface is no help as it just sits under the feed cup all day looking for junk food. I almost shut down the fuge the other day but when I went to pull the Galaxia I realized it had more than doubled in size. I let the Mg get way too low and everything suffered. I pulled the Tubbs and put it in the 15 gallon for now as it is half covered with algae. I did pull one rock and cleaned off 90% of the algae and will pull another one soon. All of the fish are fat, dumb and lazy, I mean happy. I think I'm actually managing to kill the Purple Stylo although it could just be shading. I'll post again as soon as I get around to a set of water tests.

Sounds like you’ve got a few challenges to deal with yourself.

It’s funny that you mentioned the Foxface. I was at a couple of LFS’s yesterday killing time between work appointments and Saltwater City had three really nice looking One Spots that were about 3” long. That got me thinking about my Tomini Tang which has become quite large and also seems to be a little meaner than it used to be. It’s always trying to intimidate the clownfish which is now the only other fish in the Lagoon 50. I’m thinking about trading it in rather than transferring it to the new tank. If I did that then I could maybe add a Foxface and a Genicanthus Angel like a Japanese Swallowtail (or two, I do love pairs) as centerpieces. Maybe I don’t do the Foxface if I get a pair of Angels. Things might end up being calmer that way. I’ve never considered giving up a fish before but it might be he right thing to do in this case. I like the Tomini though. It’s going to be a tough call. It would open up some options though.

 

[tharbin]

Sounds like you’ve got a few challenges to deal with yourself.

It’s funny that you mentioned the Foxface. I was at a couple of LFS’s yesterday killing time between work appointments and Saltwater City had three really nice looking One Spots that were about 3” long. That got me thinking about my Tomini Tang which has become quite large and also seems to be a little meaner than it used to be. It’s always trying to intimidate the clownfish which is now the only other fish in the Lagoon 50. I’m thinking about trading it in rather than transferring it to the new tank. If I did that then I could maybe add a Foxface and a Genicanthus Angel like a Japanese Swallowtail (or two, I do love pairs) as centerpieces. Maybe I don’t do the Foxface if I get a pair of Angels. Things might end up being calmer that way. I’ve never considered giving up a fish before but it might be he right thing to do in this case. I like the Tomini though. It’s going to be a tough call. It would open up some options though.

I like pairs as well but rarely end up getting them.

The Foxface is our favorite fish. He likes junk food too much but he is totally non-confrontational, except when he bolts full speed for safety and knocks everything out of his way. His only issue is that he is a junk food addict. I have to starve the tank to get him to go eat algae other than as a mid-afternoon snack. That would be fine with the Hector and Bristletooth but the Firefish and Coris aren't happy with it.

I think I will always have a Foxface if my tank is large enough. A really young Tang is usually pretty mellow for a long time. Ours is a bit of a pest because it likes to follow the other fish around like a puppy dog always underfoot.

 

[TheWB]

I like pairs as well but rarely end up getting them.

The Foxface is our favorite fish. He likes junk food too much but he is totally non-confrontational, except when he bolts full speed for safety and knocks everything out of his way. His only issue is that he is a junk food addict. I have to starve the tank to get him to go eat algae other than as a mid-afternoon snack. That would be fine with the Hector and Bristletooth but the Firefish and Coris aren't happy with it.

I think I will always have a Foxface if my tank is large enough. A really young Tang is usually pretty mellow for a long time. Ours is a bit of a pest because it likes to follow the other fish around like a puppy dog always underfoot.

I would be a little worried about adding a Foxface right now just because there isn't much algae growing in the tank which means it would be getting nori sheets. I might end up with the same problem that you have. On the other hand I wouldn't want to wait until after I'm having a problem either.

Ammonia is still at 0.05 this morning. I'm getting ready to prep another water change. I tested newly mixed saltwater yesterday afternoon when I did a water change on the garage tank and it came up zero so I know it's not my source water. I just cannot imagine what is creating this problem in the display.

 

[TheWB]

It turns out I must have misread the color on the ammonia test. After changing 9, then 13.5 and then another 13.5 gallons the ammonia badge was still not showing as safe, it was still green. I tested the newly mixed batch of SW from this morning and sure enough ammonia was present. So I then took the ammonia badge and the test kit downstairs to the garage and checked the RODI water again. I’d done it a couple of days ago and thought I got a result of no ammonia present. That was not the case today. The RODI was still reading 0 TDS and the color on the Cation DI resin was still all purple but I decided to change it out anyway. So I replaced the Cation, Anion and mixed DI resins and started making water again. Took a sample and stuck the ammonia badge in there and it’s in the yellow safe zone. So I think I’m out of the woods as far as finding the source of the problem. Now to do yet another big water change once I’ve got enough water ready and see if I can’t get the display tank down to a safe level.

I’m wondering how long I’ve been adding top off water with ammonia to the tank. Been using the same water for both other tanks too so I’ve got some work to do on those as well. I also am wondering if the fish I lost were due to ammonia burn on their gills rather than a bacteria infection or flukes. I’ll never know but it’s worth considering since they showed no real signs of distress. This has all been very aggravating and I’m really hoping to be done with it by tomorrow as long as this new water is ammonia free.

 

[navada718]

Sounds like you’ve got a few challenges to deal with yourself.

It’s funny that you mentioned the Foxface. I was at a couple of LFS’s yesterday killing time between work appointments and Saltwater City had three really nice looking One Spots that were about 3” long. That got me thinking about my Tomini Tang which has become quite large and also seems to be a little meaner than it used to be. It’s always trying to intimidate the clownfish which is now the only other fish in the Lagoon 50. I’m thinking about trading it in rather than transferring it to the new tank. If I did that then I could maybe add a Foxface and a Genicanthus Angel like a Japanese Swallowtail (or two, I do love pairs) as centerpieces. Maybe I don’t do the Foxface if I get a pair of Angels. Things might end up being calmer that way. I’ve never considered giving up a fish before but it might be he right thing to do in this case. I like the Tomini though. It’s going to be a tough call. It would open up some

It turns out I must have misread the color on the ammonia test. After changing 9, then 13.5 and then another 13.5 gallons the ammonia badge was still not showing as safe, it was still green. I tested the newly mixed batch of SW from this morning and sure enough ammonia was present. So I then took the ammonia badge and the test kit downstairs to the garage and checked the RODI water again. I’d done it a couple of days ago and thought I got a result of no ammonia present. That was not the case today. The RODI was still reading 0 TDS and the color on the Cation DI resin was still all purple but I decided to change it out anyway. So I replaced the Cation, Anion and mixed DI resins and started making water again. Took a sample and stuck the ammonia badge in there and it’s in the yellow safe zone. So I think I’m out of the woods as far as finding the source of the problem. Now to do yet another big water change once I’ve got enough water ready and see if I can’t get the display tank down to a safe level.

I’m wondering how long I’ve been adding top off water with ammonia to the tank. Been using the same water for both other tanks too so I’ve got some work to do on those as well. I also am wondering if the fish I lost were due to ammonia burn on their gills rather than a bacteria infection or flukes. I’ll never know but it’s worth considering since they showed no real signs of distress. This has all been very aggravating and I’m really hoping to be done with it by tomorrow as long as this new water is ammonia free.

I never knew RODI units cartridges, could cause Amonia. I will definitely store that info, if I'm ever in the same situation. Nice update, minus the setback.

 

[TheWB]

I don’t have any idea how the ammonia is getting in the RODI water. All I know for sure is that it was there before I changed out the DI resins and it’s not in the output water now. My sediment filter is pretty filthy but I didn’t do anything about it because I was still getting zero TDS. I’m going to try and find a new one locally tomorrow just in case that’s somehow contributing to the problem.

 

[TheWB]

This freaking ammonia problem is driving me crazy. I have changed out I don't know how many gallons of water at this point, added a whole bottle or Dr Tims One and Only, added some other bacteria, added some chemipure elite and still I cannot get the ammonia badge from the green alert stage to the yellow safe zone. It turns yellow in my newly mixed SW and top off water so I know it works. I also tested with the API ammonia test kit and that comes up zero on the new water now too after I changed out all of the DI resin in my RODI unit. I just can't seem to dilute the main tank enough to get back to the safe zone. It's never gone past the green level into the blue alarm zone. The fish all look and seem fine and inverts are not dying so that's a good thing but I really feel like I've done enough dilution and bacteria addition at this point to have solved the problem. I mean, obviously not because it's still in the alert zone but I'm running out of ideas. I guess I just need to keep changing out water. Very frustrating.

 

[navada718]

This freaking ammonia problem is driving me crazy. I have changed out I don't know how many gallons of water at this point, added a whole bottle or Dr Tims One and Only, added some other bacteria, added some chemipure elite and still I cannot get the ammonia badge from the green alert stage to the yellow safe zone. It turns yellow in my newly mixed SW and top off water so I know it works. I also tested with the API ammonia test kit and that comes up zero on the new water now too after I changed out all of the DI resin in my RODI unit. I just can't seem to dilute the main tank enough to get back to the safe zone. It's never gone past the green level into the blue alarm zone. The fish all look and seem fine and inverts are not dying so that's a good thing but I really feel like I've done enough dilution and bacteria addition at this point to have solved the problem. I mean, obviously not because it's still in the alert zone but I'm running out of ideas. I guess I just need to keep changing out water. Very frustrating.

This sucks, did you try a new ammonia badge?

 

[TheWB]

This sucks, did you try a new ammonia badge?

No, but I’ve moved it to a bucket of fresh mixed SW snd go newly made RODI water and seen it change back to the yellow safe zone. It seems to be working correctly.

 

[navada718]

No, but I’ve moved it to a bucket of fresh mixed SW snd go newly made RODI water and seen it change back to the yellow safe zone. It seems to be working correctly.

Ah, I See. Hopefully you come to a resolution soon. I'm frustrated with you lol

 

[tharbin]

This freaking ammonia problem is driving me crazy. I have changed out I don't know how many gallons of water at this point, added a whole bottle or Dr Tims One and Only, added some other bacteria, added some chemipure elite and still I cannot get the ammonia badge from the green alert stage to the yellow safe zone. It turns yellow in my newly mixed SW and top off water so I know it works. I also tested with the API ammonia test kit and that comes up zero on the new water now too after I changed out all of the DI resin in my RODI unit. I just can't seem to dilute the main tank enough to get back to the safe zone. It's never gone past the green level into the blue alarm zone. The fish all look and seem fine and inverts are not dying so that's a good thing but I really feel like I've done enough dilution and bacteria addition at this point to have solved the problem. I mean, obviously not because it's still in the alert zone but I'm running out of ideas. I guess I just need to keep changing out water. Very frustrating.

Have you tried pulling the live rock to a holding tank to see if maybe something is rotting inside one of them? It would still take a day or two to clear but if it is something in the rock you should see ammonia in the holding and the ammonia going down in the display. I remember once having a large clam die in a live rock that I couldn't even see until I broke the rock open. Just a thought.

 

[TheWB]

Have you tried pulling the live rock to a holding tank to see if maybe something is rotting inside one of them? It would still take a day or two to clear but if it is something in the rock you should see ammonia in the holding and the ammonia going down in the display. I remember once having a large clam die in a live rock that I couldn't even see until I broke the rock open. Just a thought.

I have not tried that. It did not occur to me that here might be something inside one of the rocks causing the problem. They are fairly small, smaller than a baseball. Maybe I'll take them out and put them in the garage tank for a few days.
The fish and inverts seem to still all be fine for now, the fish are actively eating and not flashing or rubbing on the rocks or sand. I added another small bottle of Dr Tims and I also have some Microbacter 7 and Seachem Stability on hand. Just trying to get as much ammonia processing power in. there as I can without going too crazy. I think I'm going to whip up another water change tonight and see how that goes.

 

[navada718]

u

I have not tried that. It did not occur to me that here might be something inside one of the rocks causing the problem. They are fairly small, smaller than a baseball. Maybe I'll take them out and put them in the garage tank for a few days.
The fish and inverts seem to still all be fine for now, the fish are actively eating and not flashing or rubbing on the rocks or sand. I added another small bottle of Dr Tims and I also have some Microbacter 7 and Seachem Stability on hand. Just trying to get as much ammonia processing power in. there as I can without going too crazy. I think I'm going to whip up another water change tonight and see how that goes.

That was a great suggestion. Out of curiosity, do you have a preference for Dr. TIMS over Turbo start, for a particular reason?

 

[TheWB]

That was a great suggestion. Out of curiosity, do you have a preference for Dr. TIMS over Turbo start, for a particular reason?

I don't really have a preference. I actually used Fritz Turbostart to cycle my rock initially when it was cooking for all those months in the garage. I have also added the Dr Tims, Microbacter 7 and Sachem Stability at different times. I like to think I'm adding some diversity by using different brands over time but who knows, it might all be the same. I did just order some of that PNS Substrate Sauce live starter bacteria as well. That seems to be new and different with some positive reviews but again, who knows. Since I'm having trouble figuring out the source of my problem I think having a wide variety of possible solutions is good. Or not and I'm making it worse, lol.