BowieReefer84

I have millions of cerith snails now. The mini ones. They are reproducing like crazy. Of course I have bubble algae and some aptasia now. I added some emerald crabs and peppermint shrimp today hoping they will take care of that. The one fish that made it through (my tang) is still kicking just fine. I never pulled the fish to QT it, and I am very hesitant to add any new fish at this time. I really should pull the tang into QT for 12 weeks or whatever before adding more fish, but I have very little desire to go through all that effort right now.

For Temp, I use a thermapen one. They include a NIST calibration certificate. https://www.thermoworks.com/thermapen-one/?utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=organic&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwwr6wBhBcEiwAfMEQs0pgtBK1zltsR21Gaqh_ipOTKAtmC__DZ8s6G0n_BgVw-Qh76BaEcBoCet0QAvD_BwE

I checked stray voltage. It was 19.5 a the max and usually around 6. I read on google 20-30 is ok, and won't hurt anything. With this in mind I am assuming it was something super fast acting like Velvet, and somehow there were no symptoms. Most of the fish died overnight. I did notice one night one fish breathing heavy on the bottom of the tank, but again no spots or anything out of the ordinary to see on the fish even with a flashlight. It acted to fast for me to really do anything at all. I do have a QT tank and meds and a copper checker. My snails are now breeding in the tank. They are dwaf ceriths and there must be millions of them. My plan is to not add anything else other than new fish once this tank goes fishless for at least 6 weeks. Maybe once I do the fishless period and know my tank is clean I can start selling off some of these dwarf ceriths. The start out the size of a pentip and max out around 1/2" In the meantime the corals are looking wonderful, so at least I got that going.

Yea. Not a single dead fish had a single sign of velvet. I just tested for stray voltage and highest rating with everything running was 19.5 which Google tells me is fine.

I didn't QT clean up crew, which was a couple orders. The snails in one order the urchins in another. And corals were just dipped, not QT. Who knows. I am sending water for ICP. I saw zero symptons on fish, so whatever it was acted fast. The tang is still alive and eating fine. Picking glass algae, eating all foods. Swimming fine. I do plan to catch and QT tang and leave tank empty of fish for 6+ weeks. I am NOT adding anymore corals or cleaners. Funny thing is, corals doing well. Urchins are fine. All the "sensitive" things are ok. I even have UV, albeit a 25w. Based on some research it may be slightly undersized, but should be helping.

All fish died except my tang. Zero symptoms. Overnight deaths. 3 one week overnight. Then 4 overnight a couple days ago. Crappy update to make. Assuming velvet that acted so fast there were no outward displays like spots or fuzz or anything. Water parameters are all literally perfect. Sending water for an icp to confirm.

JF superman stylo Reeftech starburst monti Bubblegum digi Oregon tort TSA appleberry monti TSA kaboom monti Sunset monti Mystic sunset monti Jedi mind trick monti you can see I like montipora...

new corals: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

With my photo being a classic Bill Murray image it sounds fitting. Haha

Good feedback. I do keep telling myself 2-3 years. Just after 6 months feels like it will be way longer.

These are tooooo small to cut. I did get a foxface as a way to keep my hands out of the tank. haha I just want to let them grow and grow. I guess the fact they aren't dying is always a positive.

These three corals growth is shown when I got frags in late July 2023, and current photos are today. They are growing, and color is good. This was a newly establish tank, and now parameters are very stable. From this point forward, what is a reasonable amount of time for these to actually turn into colonies assuming stable parameters (alk 8, nitrate 6, phos 0.06, ph 8.2). I am dosing acropower, and all for reef (via a dosing pump) at this time Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

That’s freaking amazing.

My Ph was only capping at about 8.0 during the day on this tank. I ran the skimmer line outside, and that resulted in about 8.2. I hooked up the outside airline through a C02 scrubber and I am now achieving a high Ph of 8.4 and low is only around 8.2/8.3. Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Hoping the corals really take off now. I have another order of monitpora coming from Top Shelf in early January. Here is my fav coral and one of my fav fish: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr I also was fighting nitrates at 0.0 on hannah checker despite phosphate reading 0.04 on hannah checker. I have started slowly dosing neonitro and also dosing aminos like acropower. I have them around 5 now which is good for me. I have added a foxface as well as a royal gramma. Very happy with how the tank is doing. Corraline algae is really taking off now.

Nice plans. Building it in wall I would recommend not painting sides of tank black. It will make aquascaping and working in the tank doing anything at all very hard. Also, with water you’ll get 100% mirror reflection off the sides not being able to see through the sides from the viewing room at all. I did my recent build in wall and even with the sides clear I was walking back and forth a lot. Look at the avast auto feeder. It makes it nice not to walk back and forth to feed all the time. It’s a great product. consider putting your sump on its own stand for ease of maintenance. I wish I would have done this. You can also avoid needing as large a return pump bc you won’t have the head pressure. look forward to progress.

I have never tracked Ph, but am going to do so on my new tank. I now have a Milwaukee MC122 controller. My plan is to pull outside air through a c02 scrubber into my skimmer air intake. I want to set the controller plug on the MC122 with my skimmer to "Off above 8.4" so that skimmer will run and pull the c02 media through the air intake when Ph is below 8.4, but if Ph gets higher than 8.4 it will shut the skimmer off. I imagine my skimmer will still run 75% of the time most likely. Right now I am pulling outside air into the skimmer and with lights on the Ph is 8.2. I am going to track during different periods of the day. Has anyone done something like this? Any critiques are welcome.

Yes, get a tank. Not too many HOCO members! I am tired of driving to Virginia.

TSA Bali Blue Slimer progress: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

As the title says, what is the best Ph tester or monitor you like to use? Is there a specific model Milwaukee or Hannah you recommend?

Growth is starting to come as well: Untitled by mteske1, on Flickr

I find nano tanks are a pita. You can’t get fish to help with algae bc the fish that eat algae are too big. Also maintaining parameters is a pain. If I got busy I would simply go fish only in a larger tank, and focus on algae eating fish. I could never keep my hands out of the nanos I’ve had in the past. I find it easier to keep my hands out of larger tanks. Either way, best of luck. It’s just been my experience smaller isn’t always less time consuming.

Right now I have 3 anthias, 2 small clowns, 1 orange back wrasse, and 1 bristletooth tang. I just ordered a royal gramma and foxface lo that I’m going to put through QT. I’ll be at 9 fish after this latest addition. I also have snails and 3 small ORA tuxedo urchins. I want more fish but not sure what will get along. Also, with fish prices right now the cheaper the better. Anyone have thoughts on 1 vs multiple with blue green chromis or bangai cardinals? Other things to consider? I like the sailfin algae blennies. My main goal is not messing up the peaceful tank and keeping everyone healthy. Wondering what I can ultimately end up regarding total number of fish.

It’s ok. We’ll let it slide. Haha

Nice build. An Eheim 600 is really quiet for an AC pump. Sounds like the sicce 6.0 is coming though. I put my sump on some thin foam and put my return pump on a silicone pad and have the first 8” of the return silicone hose before switching to PVC. It helps greatly with stopping vibration/noise. the braided hose you used is much stiffer than silicone. Not sure it gives the same effect. stand is very nice looking. good call redoing the bean animal. that rimless tank looks really nice. Is this a newer tank brand? I don’t remember seeing these before.

The brightwells razor did an amazing job. I finally just got around to plumbing the UV sterilizer. Having the inwall setup makes it nice because I can put things where they are convenient with plenty of space. I am not sure the Eheim 600 will be enough of a return pump now with the added angles and UV. I will see how it goes. Hoping it's enough flow. I picked up a 1.1ml BRS pump and will use that for the all for reef. IMG_6478 by mteske1, on Flickr IMG_6479 by mteske1, on Flickr IMG_6477 by mteske1, on Flickr