WVNeds's Tanks

[WVNed]

I put another bicolor angel in. It's like a baby in with monsters. It is smaller than my green chromis.
The monsters pay no attention to him. At first they came over and nudged him a bit. Reminds me of dogs.

He is eating sponges where the big fish cant get to and seems to be doing great. Lot's of worry for nothing.

The tiny plecostamus is growing too. Not tiny anymore

 

[ReefGrammie]

Looks great ;Joyful

 

[WVNed]

When you are young
What do you do when you fall in love
Now
What do you do when you cant walk from the truck into the grocery
Tanks got away from me and became a mess.
Grrr
Is it the disease (poor thing)?
Or something else?

The new pills the neurologist put me on are the same as the old ones with an additional ingredient to make them last longer so you dont have to eat them like M&Ms all day.
So my COMT ( Catechol-O-methyltransferase) got fully inhibited. I did fine for a while, many months. Then I got stiff, stiffer and stiffest.
The stiff kneed toy soldier walk is kind of fun now that Christmas is approaching. Steps though are scary.
When you can't reach your own rear to wipe is exciting too. But is it the disease which has no name (It's going to be named for me, I am pretty sure. Either that or I have met the most incompetent doctors in all of America and there is still the appointment with the cancer center thing coming up).

So I went back on the old ones a few days ago.
I can walk again though weak from not moving much for months because I couldn't.

and the tanks got fixed Sunday.

Bear helped

It's nice being able to see the fish again.

 

[WVNed]

I added 7 more fish this morning. 3 bicolor chromis, 3 green chromis and a second bicolor angel.
The tank is back to the stocking level before I had the electrical disaster. I put a second tuxedo urchin in too.

 

[WVNed]

Jill's mother has reached the point with Alzheimer disease where she has forgotten how to swallow solids or liquids.

 

[WVNed]

And they survive another Chemiclean treatment. I put it in Thursday and took it out yesterday. No lionfish were killed.
I have been messing with my water parameters because well, I can now. Cyano started high on the rocks right in the center of the 240 and started to spread downward. It started when I reduced my Nopox dose from 40ml to 16.
16 would be the directed dose for my nitrate levels now. I increased that to 32ml and the cyano got worse.
I managed to break my GFO reactor so I got the large one from BRS that looks like a RODI cannister and put Rowaphos in it. So I went from 3 cups of GRO to 600ml of Rowaphos.
It seems like the last 2 times I got cyano in the 240 was when I reduced the Nopox dose. After it starts nothing seems to get rid of it.
Nitrates and phosphates were 2 and .003 when I started the Chemiclean.

I didn't have any in the 75 though. None. So it is the light level and the flow that is making a difference.
I removed the Tunze pumps from the 240 and am using the 2 MP 60s alone. I also cranked the lights almost the way up
to the ceiling.

Trial and error.

I lost my kole tang to some horrible disease. I basically started near the tail and dissolved him. I could not catch him until it ate through his spine and he couldn't swim well. At that point I euthanized him. It didnt look like any of the stuff on the disease forum. None of the other fish have caught it. It had to have been something bacterial.

I have decided not to place any more tangs in the tank because I may move the two spot from the 75 into the 240.
A 240 seems like a big tank until you put fish into it and they grow. The koran angel is now the size of a salad plate and several of the others are close behind.
My urchin ate my blastomusa. Pretty one day and gone the next. The urchin is doing well.

My 60th birthday will be here in a few days. It is fun to think about what I would do different next time but I don't think there will be a next time unless something catastrophic happens.

It's Sunday so time to do the water testing and clean the glass.

 

[ReefGrammie]

I lost my kole tang to some horrible disease.

My 60th birthday will be here in a few days.

I'm so sorry about the tang!

Happy birthday in a few days! 60 isn't so bad...not that I would know about such things.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I hit 60 this year as well. Outside of the politics and Covid-19 mess it could be an OK year!
;Blackeye ;Facepalm

 

[najer]

You old farts, I hit 58 in September!

 

[cmaxwell39]

Sorry to hear about your recent losses Ned, but I love the way you matter-of-factly move on and go about enjoying the tank and the hobby.

Happy birthday. Not sure what day it is/was, but whenever it is I hope you have a great day.

 

[ReefGrammie]

As @najer so eloquently expressed it, seems we have a lot of "old farts" around here....except I'm not one of them.... ;Joyful

 

[WVNed]

Happy New Year
I decided to start the new year with clean tanks so I worked a bit on them yesterday. They were a real mess. They cleaned up nice. I used to multitask really well. Now I single task with lots of rest periods.
All my little sea friends seem to be doing well.

I need to clean my water change stock tank. It is full of goo. That is going to be a real project. I hope to get it done while Jeanna is here to help.
I have replaced the optical sensors with float switches on the Autoaqua. I need to make a hanger for it and get it back in. No water changes for a month. Honestly I cant tell the difference yet. The logic runs the 3 pumps correctly in a bucket. I need to mount the safeties and finish the mount. I am placing the floats in a 3 inch PVC pipe so the crab cant get to them.
It is kind of sad that you cant buy something like this and have to make it yourself.

I just use stuff you can buy and stick it together. It is like Lego blocks.
2 floats will run the Autoaqua ATO/AWC as high and low water levels. 2 floats will run the AutoTopoff unit that has had one of the floats flopped to change it's logic. They will act as high and low safeties. I just plug one into the other where you would normally run an ATO pump. This is how it was working with the optical sensors be for the crab removed one.

 

[WVNed]

Something like this

In other news. We had some snow but is melted.

and the grandkids are doing great and we miss them a lot.

Rudy is fine but still wearing the cone. His stitches come out Monday.

We are waiting on the biopsy report.

 

[WVNed]

I wake up and look at the clock. I see 5:40. I get up and take my shower and get dressed. I go down to the kitchen and make coffee. I find my glasses, wash them in the sink and put them on.
The clock says 3:14.
So I have been up and dressed since 3. No wonder I get so much done.

The ATO/AWC is working fine with the float switches. Ask me about the finer points of replacing a 3 wire device with a 2 wire device someday.
I need to measure the AWC change volume. I can no longer adjust the amount and it overflowed a 5 gallon bucket yesterday I placed to catch the water pumped out. I suspect 1 time a day will be fine. 2% would be 8 gallons on my system.
In spite of a month of neglect due to end of life, a funeral and the holiday with visitors everyone looks great.
So far today they have had worms and nori. Soon I will have more worms than I know what to do with. I got worms figured out.

 

[WVNed]

Being able to see things like this in my basement is why I do this.
It never get's old for me.

 

[count krunk]

I hope to have a system like this someday!

 

[ReefGrammie]

Ned, you deal with what is "real," whether fish or coral or dog or cat or cute grandkids! I can relate...except for cats...I do have grandcats, though. ;Joyful

 

[cmaxwell39]

Happy New Year to you Ned. Hope the year brings lots of greats for both you and the tanks.

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Your authenticity in sharing the journey with its ups and downs is refreshing.

 

[WVNed]

Ned, you deal with what is "real," whether fish or coral or dog or cat or cute grandkids! I can relate...except for cats...I do have grandcats, though. ;Joyful

Happy New Year to you Ned. Hope the year brings lots of greats for both you and the tanks.

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. Your authenticity in sharing the journey with its ups and downs is refreshing.

This is my life. I thank you for your kind words.

Jill's dad came to stay with us. He went first to the middle sons house for a week and them came here for a few days. He was in a hurry to get home so he could pay his bills.
He retired about 25 years ago and was married to Jean 69 years. He is a skilled carpenter, welder and mechanic.
He has done nothing in the last 25 years. I always listen to his stories but he never made any new ones.
Ain't me baby.

I hope to have a system like this someday!

I fully intend to have more to look forward to in my future than paying my bills. No one can do it for you. You have to do it yourself. Learn enough and work hard enough to get what you want. Then go get it.

Life has ups and downs. When you are up look to the horizon to see where you want to go and when you are down remember what direction you wanted to head for.

Bold words for an old fat guy that sits in a basement looking at fish while holding a cat. The fish are really pretty though. So is the cat.

 

[WVNed]

Sump crab molt. It's bigger now. I am glad I armored the sensors.