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bprinehart

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Posts posted by bprinehart

    Wipeout

    in General Discussion

    That really sucks. I also had a heater stick recently but it was intentionally undersized so the worst that it could do was elevate the temp a few degrees. I have since plugged my heaters into an AC III and have min/max temps set on the AC III as one more layer of safety.

     

    I'm definitely looking into an AC ASAP. Thanks for the commiseration.

    Wipeout

    in General Discussion

    So I get a frantic call from my wife while I'm at work, around 2:15. "Honey your aquarium stinks really bad, the water is cloudy, and all your corals are white!" :(

     

    I rushed home from work, and found every single piece of SPS and LPS either completely bleached or devoid of any flesh at all, and my BTA in an unrecognizable ball of goo. Some of my Zoanthids look like they are going make it. Both my cleaner shrimp...gone. All my snails except for one Astrea, and my big bad turbo who's been with me from the beginning dead. Most of my hermits made it. The GSM and the Coral beauty managed to survive as well.

     

    Judging from the scale of the destruction, I'd say the BTA went belly up, and proceeded to wipe it all out. I noticed that the tank temperature was over 88 degrees, and it normally stays put at 78-80 depending on the temp of the house. I looked in the sump and the heater's light was still on.

     

    I'm really kind of sick about this whole deal. I was getting ready to finish moving everybody out of this tank TONIGHT, and get them in to the 75. When I left for work this morning everything was fine. It's just heartbreaking. I managed to salvage who I could. Took out all the LR and scrubbed it in ASW I had set aside for this weekend's water change, and moved it to the 75.

     

    Looks like the casualties so far include:

     

    Yellow M. Digitata

    Green M. Cap.

    A nice blue tort frag that had really started to flourish in the last 4-5 months

    A. Valida

    E. Quadricolor

    Acan. Lordhowensis

    My beautiful pink lemonade chalice I just picked up at the last meeting

    My pink tipped hammer

    My snowflake Xenia

    GSPs

     

    So just about everyone of my corals, save for the few that had already been moved.

     

    Excuse me while I go cry myself to sleep... :cry: Sorry for the rambling diatribe, and I know I'm not the first to experience this. Just needed to vent it. It really sucks when you invest so much time and research into the care of these beautiful animals and a mechanical failure wipes them out in a matter of a few hours.

    More Invasive Lionfish pub

    in Conservation & Sustainability

    Follow up to our meeting with Andrew. Look for it in newstands now! Would be really cool if they can get a "Dirty Jobs" episode as well.

     

    There was also a recent thread of activity about this very issue on the NOAA Coral-List. I found the timing uncanny given Andrew's presentation at the meeting.

    I think my t5's may be too bright

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by bprinehart

    Anyone experienced this? I currently have over my 37gallon a 3 bulb 36" T5 retro. I've been growing mostly SPS with a few LPS and softies thrown into the mix. In the new 75, I wanted to have a focus on LPS, with a few other specimens, but primarily LPS. For some strange reason, It seems like the 4X54Ws are way to bright for the LPS (as evidenced by my hammers and duncanos). After seeing their reaction, I chose not to move any of my other LPS (Acan, and Echino) into the new tank for a while. I have them shaded, literally under the rockwork, like they were in my 37, where they were all very happy, but they are now staying quite small like they did when I was first learning and had them directly under the halides. They aren't necessarily retracted, just not as "full". About half the water and LR in the new tank is from the old one as well as a good portion of the sand, and they've been in there since Sunday evening. Everything else, Xenias, Zoas, Birdnests, and my BTA are doing wonderfully, very happy with the increased lighting. There are no fish for the time being. Haven't had any spikes in Amonnia, nitrite, or nitrate at all, and wouldn't expect to given the established bacteria I moved into the tank. Temp, PH, Alk, and SG are all spot on with the old tank. For flow I have two Koralia 2's and a 3/4" sea swirl, definitely not a sand storm goin on, and over all much calmer than the 40. The only thing I can point a finger at is the lighting.

     

    They aren't in the direct path of the light, but the 54w certainly do light everything up a little brighter, seems to be much more light distributed throughout the tank, much more than from the 39Ws. Could it just be the increase in wattage is too much? I really like the T5s, I love not having to change them every 6 months, and the cost is much easier on the wallet, but I'm thinking I would almost do better with some MH to provide a greater distinction between light and cryptic areas.

     

    Can anyone with some experience chime in on this?

     

     

    Thanks,

     

    Brian

    Tank With No Fish :(

    in General Discussion

    Josh,

     

    IIRC The free-swimming stage can't live very long without a host. But I believe the buggers (cysts) can lie in the sandbed for quite a while. Check out WetWebMedia.com, consensus over there is 8 weeks is optimum for going fallow, like someone earlier stated I believe.

     

    Sorry for your losses, welcome to the not so fun side of the hobby....growing pains. As Forrest said, now would be an excellent time to do some research and plan your next stocking list.

     

    Take Care,

     

    Brian

     

    Doug,

    Don't worry too much about it. I dont think that we could have done much, They werent looking very good when I contacted you. I am just going to focus on getting my 10 QT tank setup and established.

     

    Thanks for the help everyone and I will be waiting.

    What do you recommend to do to "Test" to see if the ich is in there in a few weeks. Do I just wait my time and then risk with putting the fish I want in there. Or do I get a cheap "Test" fish and see how it does.

    Thanks again everyone

    Josh

    Reinforcing a drilled tank

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by bprinehart

    Carl-

     

    It's actually very easy to do with the right drill bits. What I did was drill a hole in each of the upper corners for the closed loop returns, I also drilled 2 holes on the same plane for the overflow to the sump, one for the return from the sump pump, and then a hole pretty much dead center for the closed loop inlet.

     

    It didn't take very long either, just have to keep the bit cooled and lubricated, and not try to rush it. I think on average it was about 5 mins per hole. I was able to get 6 holes out of a cheap $7.00 Fleabay diamond bit, though I don't know how many more I could coax from it.

     

    If you would like to see some pics, I should be starting a dedicated thread for it soon. Just have to get my camera back from my buddy. I believe there are also several people in your area that have a lot of experience with this as well.

     

    -Brian

    Reinforcing a drilled tank

    in General Discussion

    Yeah I know people do it all the time, drilling that is. I made sure to not drill any hole closer than the holes diameter from any edge, and also no closer than 6" from each other. Thanks for putting my mind at ease.

     

    -Brian

     

    I wouldn't think that you would have to worry about slight chips from the drilling. The bulkheads will cover them up, as long as the bulkheads will go through the holes all should be good. As for feeling the need to reinforce the glass it shouldn't be necessary when the bulkheads are installed unless you drilled the holes too close together.

    Reinforcing a drilled tank

    in General Discussion

    I drilled my 75 this weekend, yep sure did. I put in 6 holes total, 3 for overflow, and 3 for closed loop. Looking at the amount of glass removed from the panel, I'm tempted to reinforce the back panel by siliconing (sp?) some strips of glass cut to the length of the tank to reinforce what was removed. Anyone see any problems with this?

     

    Also, what is the proper way to dress the holes, sand them? No matter how meticulous I was with the drilling there were still some slight chips taken out of the edges. Any advice is appreciated.

     

    -Brian

    Split!!

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by bprinehart

    That's awesome dude! Good for you. In hindsight I wish I'd held off and gotten an RBTA, but both me and my maroon love the GBTA, so in the end it's a wash. Congrats again, awesome!

     

    P.S. It no longer looks like the pathetic bleached out thing it was in my avatar(right after purchase). It's about 9" inches across now and VERY green.

    Clams Direct

    in Vendor Experience

    That is definitely NOT a shining example of good customer service. Sorry about your luck there, Greg. I know who to stay away from when I'm ready to order a clam.

     

    Had a pretty poor experience with Clams direct I ordered a clam on sale from them. They said they would ship it on the following Wednesday. They then e-mailed me back saying that they had a power outage and the clam wasn't looking too healthy. They said they would be getting more clams in after the new year and I could order another then. I said ok no problems but I hope I could still get the sale price if I have to reorder. He responded that he hadn't charged my card yet. I responded that I bought the clam because of the sale and hoped he would honor that sale price. He just sent back "We have sales all the time!"

    The e-mail exchange is provided below

    Begin:::

    Ok, forget the order then. I will be sure to post on Reef Central and the Washington Area Marine Aquarist (WAMAS) web site with feedback about the bait and switch.

     

    Sorry things didn

    Care and feeding - acans and blasto's?

    in General Discussion

    Same here, I feed mine a mix of mysis, cyclopeeze, and some times I will grate up a couple very tiny pieces of a basic seafood mash recipe I found somewhere about 6 months ago. I usually direct feed them once a week, but from observing flow in the tank, I'm sure they eat consistently via leftovers from the fishies. I treat my Duncanos pretty much the same way. I have all of my LPS sitting just outside the 2 square foot "box" of my 250W 20,000K DE MH lights intensity, and in the only really moderate flow area of the tank, a neat little eddy in the front right corner. My Blastos (Merletti), which I got from Steveoutlaw, are growing like crazy. I've gone from 1 to 3 polyps on the "candy cane" Acans, and my Duncanos from BRK have gone from the initial 2 to 6 now, plus a new little baby starting to poke his head out from one of the main stalks, in the space of about 4 months.

     

    I have heard the same things from numerous people though, some people have great luck, and others not so much. I "seem" to have a knack for the LPS though. :why:

     

     

    I've got more experience with blastos than acans. With blastomussa wellsi I keep them in low light and low to moderate flow. I feed them weekly (at least) with a mixture of mysis, cyclopeeze, oyster eggs and selcon. My merlettis, wellsis and acan lords all readily devour the mix. As far as wellsi growth, they do not seem to grow well for me. In similar conditions I've had one small colony grow slowly while the other has slowly lost polyps (started with about 9, down to about 4 over the course of two years or so). I've read that as they are generally collected in deeper water they like lower temps (mid 70's) lower light (I keep mine under an overhang... way under an overhang) and lower flow (enough to keep sediment off of them but not so much as to cause the polyps to close). I've read way too many stories over on RC about blastos fading away. In the future I won't acquire any more wellsi. Just not worth it IMO.

     

    On the other hand, IME acans are quite hardy. They are more tolerable of different lighting and flow. I keep them under both T5s and halides and they seem quite adaptable under either one. Acclimation to higher light should be done slowly though. I feed them at night when the tentacles are out (in fact one of my frags has extended tentacles almost all day long and is definitely the fastest growing of my frags). They get fed at least twice a week if not three or four times.

     

    Garrett.

    Suggestions?

    in General Discussion

    Thanks for the info Dave, and for the input Jason. On my current setup I have a Mag 4 for my return, and I know how much heat that thing puts into the water. It does run rather quiet though. I'm not too concerned with drilling the holes, I suppose it is what it is. I'm just mulling over different options in my mind, I really don't want to end up with Power Heads in this tank. I keep running into a catch 22 situation though, I'd like to keep the flow through the sump at a reasonable level to help with microbubbles, but a slower flow through the sump dictates an additional source of circulation, decisions, decisions.

     

    I like the idea of an external pump, but I'm always a little worried about a leak. I'll keep doing some reading and perhaps in a few years, I'll have made a decison. :rollface:

     

    Hey Brian, you can run pretty much any pump on a closed loop. I have a very quite Barracuda and a not so quiet Barracuda as well. I also have a Dolphin Ampmaster, but that's not on a closed loop (although it is much quieter).

     

    One consideration, regardless of how much you want going through there, is how big do you want to drill the holes in your tank? This will influence what type of pump you go with. For instance, I believe that the Sequence Reeflo pumps are at 1.5" minimum feed for the Barracuda (which is about 4x the flow you want) and the Dart and ____ (can't remember what the smaller pump is) are at 2" minimum feed. The Dolphin pumps are also 1.5" minimum. Other pumps like Eheims are smaller than that. The Iwaki are generally 1" if I am thinking correctly. For all of these pumps, I would suggest splitting the inside of the bulkhead into two inlets to reduce the suction.

     

    There are also Pan World pumps which can be modified (Dan had a thread on how he did this awhile back - search for dandy7200 and look for pump mod I think). Others use submersible pumps like mag drives. There are a ton of choices available to you. Good luck with your closed loop!

    Suggestions?

    in General Discussion

    Well since I got such good feedback and suggestions on the lighting questions, I think I will throw this one out there as well. As stated numerous times, I'm getting ready to upgrade my tank to a 75 gallon. I'm going to drill my own overflows, going with the 1500gph kit from glass-holes.com, however, I'd also like to do a closed loop to provide random flow around my "SPS Island" , and thereby influencing random flow throughout the tank.

     

    I'd like to know what suggestions or practical experience people have with manufacturers and their models. I was looking at using either an Iwaki, or maybe a Reeflo. From the closed loop I'm looking for somewhere around 1000-1200gph, when combined with the overflow I'd like somwhere around 30-35x turnover.

     

    Noise would be my primary consideration, as this will be in the main living area of the house. A close second is heat transfer.

     

    Thanks in advance!

     

    -Brian

    Nassarius snails: friend or foe?

    in General Discussion

    I just found this link, http://www.reefland.com/forum/95938-post17.html

     

    We may be ok getting them from Sea Save as they are collecting these snails from Florida and are most likely Nassarius Vibex as opposed the harmful Ilyanasa Obsoleta

     

    I bought mine at Sea Save, and they do indeed only go after dead/dying things in the tank. I have read several places though that you have to be careful when picking them out as some predacious whelks are inadvertantly sold as Nassarius.

    Near Disaster Please Read and Take Note!!

    in General Discussion

    Wow, Brian. Glad you and your family are safe.

     

     

     

    Was this a single or a dual power center? I don't even know if that makes a difference, but thought I'd ask. How old was the unit?

     

     

     

    I'm concerned as I've got one on my first tank (a 90g setup) right now. I'll be looking for a replacement, I guess. Please stay with this thread and let me know which way you're headed as far as a replacement goes. I'd be very interested in knowing as it may well direct which way I go as well.

     

     

     

    Thanks and, again, glad you're safe.

     

     

     

    Tom

     

    Hey Tom-

     

    It was the dual timer unit. After about a month and half the timer stopped working. So I just plugged my MH into their own separate outlet with timer, only my actinics (PCs ATM) were plugged in. The unit was only about 8 months or so old. Those who have mentioned GFCI/AFCI are absolutely right, my GFCI (Entire room on its own GFCI breaker/circuit) wouldn't have helped in this case, as I suspect after speaking with several other members about the incident, that it probably was an arc fault. I'm curious as to whether maybe the startup voltage of the MH lamps could have melted or somehow arc welded the connection inside. I'd also like to mention that I did have drip loops on all my cords. When I first started doing IT and Telecomm work, I was a cable jockey for a few years, and had it beaten and drilled into my brain to have a drip loop and proper ground on every electrical connection. I've left a VM with ESU customer service but as of yet haven't received a response, which by itself is annoying.

     

    For a replacement I've just installed a new power strip, and am currently using regular timers for my lights. I'm getting ready to upgrade to the 75 soon, and I'm constructing an enclosed power box for my electrical connections.

     

    Thanks again to everyone who expressed concern, I appreciate it, and it just confirms that I'm in the right community of reefers here at WAMAS.

     

    BE SAFE!

     

    Happy New Year Everyone!

    Near Disaster Please Read and Take Note!!

    in General Discussion

    A GFCI will not protect against an arcing wire. I should know, it did nothing to prevent the light burning up in my daughter's room last year. They sell Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters now, but supposedly they are not meant to work in tandem with a GFCI. I beg to differ, as I have both installed and the GFCI works, the breaker itself works, but I haven't had an opportunity to test out the arc fault yet. :biggrin:

     

    And I certainly hope you don't have to.

    Near Disaster Please Read and Take Note!!

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by bprinehart

    Well, I'm still shaking. My wife and I were sitting here in the living room watching TV, all of a sudden there was a loud pop that came from the area of our aquarium, the actinic lights, and pumps all shut off. I walked to the aquarium, and found that the Coralife Power Center was smoking and a blue flame was arcing over the entire surface. I immediately pulled the power cord from the wall, and threw the unit in the kitchen sink. I want to make it very clear that there was no leakage from the tank, or overflow plumbing and no evidence of salt creep on any of the plugs or outlets on the unit.

     

    I purchased the unit at TFP when I first started my tank up, and only recently became aware of the dangers associated with this unit while planning to upgrade it when I move everything to the 75.

     

    Google Search

     

    There's also a thread on RC about a fellow aquarist's house that suffered a fire and the inspector fingered the unit in question:

     

    RC Thread

     

    I also had read that coralife had addressed these issues previously, but I wanted to go in another direction anyway. I am so THANKFUL that this occured while we were both home and awake. Had this happened while we were sleeping, or God forbid at work the outcome could have been much, much, much different.

     

    I firmly believe these units are dangerous, and represent a serious fire hazard, and I urge everyone who may happen to be using one at the moment to reconsider and replace it immediately. I am going to be spending the rest of my night performing inspections on every piece of electrical equipment associated with my aquarium, and this may be a good time for others to do the same. I'm terribly upset by this whole incident, and had to share it.

     

    Thank you for taking the time to read this.

     

    -Brian

    coffee anyone?

    in General Discussion

    well, he is rubbing his left side now which I believe means he has ich even though I see no spots when looking at him through a magnifying glass

     

    So what should I do first before the spots start showing and he gets really sick?

     

    I had quite a bit of success after I added a pair of cleaner shrimp to my tank. Haven't had a reocurrence since then.

    Copperband butterflyfish

    in General Discussion

    I have to agree with the last two posts. I had quite a few aptasia in my old 180gal and I luckily came across a really good deal at a LFS on peppermint shrimps. I got 6 peppermints for $24 and they ate every last aptasia in less than a week. Kept them gone for good too. When I sold all that rock from that tank, I never caught the slightest glimpse of any aptasia.

     

    Yes, I'm sure there are peppermints that wont eat aptasia, and there are some that will. If you only get one or two, you might not get any that will eat the bad stuff. If you get 5-6 of them, you're bound to get a few that will eat aptasia. Even if you spend $40 on shrimp, its a quick and safe way to get rid of the aptasia.

     

    Just my opinion based on my experience.

    James,

     

    I'm with you on this one, with one small exception, make sure the shrimp are big enough to eat the aptaisa! There were two aptaisa that I had to juice because they were too big for the shrimp to mess with, but my pair of peppermints singlehandedly wiped them all out on my rocks very early on in my tank.

     

    I've added a few pieces of rock here and there since I started and usually try to check for and scrub any aptaisa off that may sneak its way in. But once in a while I'll miss one, and as soon as the rock is in place the peppermints go on a search and destroy mission are all over it and it will literally be tag teamed into oblivion in a matter of seconds.

     

    Besides that, they're cool! Mine spawn all the time and are quite fun to watch.

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