davjbeas

Well, the egg crate is no longer neccisary as the melanarus wrasse was killed. The clark clownfish and the cherub angel won't put up with new fish additions. I believe I can add corals to the tank but I don't want to be responsible for another fishes death. I did not know how aggressive the clark clownfish was when I purchased it. I wanted a fish to host in my anenome. David B.

Well, as of today the tank is got serious problems. 1) Both purple firefish disapeared within 2 weeks of each other. 2) THe pipe fish has gone missing. I am thinking there is some predator that came in with the rock. I have been unable to spot anything. Something Is lurking in the rockwork, There have been no bodies. I am hoping to starve it into coming out. There will be no fishes added. There are still some snails and hermits. I hope they will be fine. Here are some pics of the tank Full tank shot Green frogspawn Purple gorgonia Bubble coral Any advice would be appreciated regarding the possible lurking predator. Thanks, David B.

Since visiting the aquarium company I decided I need some of seans awesome corals. I have made room in the tank but have only added 1 coral fron sean so far. Here are some pics of some corals I am happy with the health of them Spawn of a hammer coral growing on crushed coral substrate Blue/lavender cap from the aquarium company Red digitata - the Clark clown fish broke of one branch Happy Reefing, David

That one is a sarcophyton or "toadstool leather" When the polyps extend they look like this. David B.

Updates-- 1) added melanarus wrasse because every wrasse in the past has jumped I have built a fence. It's not very pretty. I am thinking of painting it black. The fence makes it a lot harder to do work in the tank. I have it so the front panel can be removed for access in to the tank. David B.

The white spots on the fish are gone now. I have added a banded pipefish that is really neat but he wouldn't come out for a pic. I have added a bubble coral as well. The pipe fish is only eating pods right now. I am told that is its preferred food. When the pods level come down I hope to adapt him to frozen foods. Thanks for viewing, David B.

If I had to do it again I would not have gone to roozens for the rock. I went by their website and wanted a Box of just delivered rock(hoping for lots of biodiversity). When I got there the guy said If I wanted that I would have to pick up from the airport. I should have called and asked questions before I drove out there. Well, I got there and the selection was not what I was hoping for. I paid $6.00 per pound. I got the best pieces I could find. And had the tank up and running the same day. My process for aquascape; 2 packages of D&D purple aqua stick epoxy putty 1 tube super glue gel 1 empty tank Fit the pieces together Thoroghly dry the contact points where the pieces touch. I used paper towels. mix enough putty by hand for 1 cotact point. squeez it into a shape that when pressing the rock pieces together the putty wil be forced into crevices. Apply super glue gell to both sides of the epoxy you just mixed put putty between the contact points force the rocks together which will make the putty squeez out a little bit. by hand press in the epoxy around the contact area and smooth it out. Wait 2 hours, add sand. add water. * this type of expoxy cures slowly so it is important that when adding sand and water you do not make the rocks move at all. If they do then water could get between all the contact points and you wont have as strong or stable rockwork. David B.

Theres not too much new. Both firefish are doing well and healthy. The full tanks shot shows the new tank alage condition. I continue to skim with mechanical filtration and carbon I'm not adding anything else till the tank matures more. The purple shroom is still healthy so condintions appear good. Thanks for viewing David B.

Here's the update I added the shrimp, but it was killed within 3 days. Not sure by what. The false percula went carpet surfing. I am waiting to see what happens. The 2 purple firefish are doing fine. I feed mysis and prime reef. The skimmer is producing dry foam. I clean the collection cup every week. I am seeing some algae but not excessive. I have 2 shrooms in the tank. 1 Purple, 1 green. Kind of like the canary in the coal mine. If the shrooms are fine then the water quality has to be ok. I am doing 20-30% water changes every 2 weeks just like I do on my 75 gallon reef. The filter pad I use for bubble reduction has a lot of water passing through And being right under the light I get algae growth throughout the pad. When It gets dark with algae growth I throw it out and put a new one\ kind of like having a tiny refugium. I am considering putting up eggcrate barrier to prevent jumping fish from dying. I feel that eggcrate would be unsightly. So I'm on the fence with this idea. I get a lot of evaporation so I top off every 2-3 days. This is still a sumpless setup. The deltec MCe600 is producing dry foam. The air valve is wide open and collection cup at the lowest position. Producing dry smelly nog. I will be maintaining the tank without any new additions until it matures more. I would like to know what got my shrimp because I planned to keep 2 shrimp in this tank from the planning stages. I did add a whisper 30 filter for more surface agitation. There was a film developing on the water surface. I want the skimmer to skim that out. So the whisper filters output mixes the film on the surface back into the water for the skimmer to remove. It also removes particulate matter. And putting carbon in the filter bag provides chemical filtration as well. I change the filter bag 1x/week. Thanks for Viewing, David B.

I brought home a skunk cleaner shrimp today. I was told the purple firefish might not let the shrimp give service at a cleaning station as would a yellow tang. I tried to get some pics of the 2 white spots. Here is a false percula There is a pair of firefish. Heres the other one Also added a cleaning crew today. 5 margarita snails and 10 hermits. I really love the new store that opened in reston. I've got my eye on a bicolor angel there. David B.

Yes, I went through the same process with the skimmer. It is now producing dry foam. The collection cup is at the lowest height possible and the air valve is full open. The difficult part is over with the skimmer. It looks as if salt water ich or oodinium might have come in with the live rock from roozens. One of my purple firefish has 2 white spots on one side i noticed last night. This is very disappointing. I am going to stop by the new store in reston today and get a skunk cleaner shrimp. I hope that will solve the problem. I won't be adding anything else till this is figured out and solved. David B.

I did remove the media chamber and had the same bubble problems. the force of the water coming out of the skimmer makes all the bubbles. There may be a output mod available that would work. For now the pad is working wonders with no bubbles. David

The rockwork on this tank is by far the best I've done. The last tank I put up which is still running is a 75gallon tank. There is a thead on that tank here as well. I stacked the rocks after the sand, and put one over another. No epoxy. This time I wanted arches, caves, lots of spacing between the rocks. I used the D&D epoxy brand. I am satisfied whith this product. It takes hours to completely harden solid unlike all other epoxies I've used. It is also very sticky. When assembling the rock work I would see how the next piece would fit then drying the contact points with a paper towel. Then placeing a piece of the mixed epoxy at the contact point. Then squeezing the piece of rock in place. and finally using fingers to sculpt the putty into the rocks crevices and smooth it out. I used the purple colored version of the epoxy which you can see the purple contact points in the pics above. Coraline growth will blend in with the epoxy down the road. I plan to add only small creatures that are coral safe as well as shrimp/fish safe. Wish list so far - Skunk cleaner shrimp clean up crew 2-3 more fish I plan to not do more than 1 addition per week. David B.

I started this tank up about 3 weeks ago. Equipment - 30 gallon tank not drilled Deltec MCE600 Hang on back skimmer heater Nova extreme light fixture 4 bulb T5 setup with moonlights. Sand Live rock from Roozens 1 power head First the rockwork was assembled over the aquarium bottom I used D&D epoxy putty to hold the rocks together Sand was added after the rockwork for the rockwork base to be more stable then if it was on the sand Here is the deltec skimmer going to work. Producing moslty clear skimmate. THe skimmer is finally dialed in to produce dense dark skimmate Here it is running- pic is about 2 weeks old Here are all the bubbles in the tank from the deltec outlet Here is my bubble reducing mod Basically filter padding and 2 rubber bands Here are my new fish as of tuesday More to come Thanks for viewing David B.

I have a slate background you are welcome to. Its in this post - free http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...c=21251&hl= I hope it's the right size David B.

I have a koralia 2 and one 3 on my 75gallon tank. I control them with a reefkeeper II. No probelms so far. I would put them on a 20-30 minute cycle. I some times hear a click when one starts up. But have noticed no other problems. David B.

I Don't use kalk or vinegar. I use the b-ionic 2 part every day. Calcium/Alkalinity. 20% water change every week to 2 weeks. Maybe you should run some carbon. The Hang on tank magnum 350 is pretty easy to use. I keep one for emergency. If you run carbon I reccomend kent marine Reef Carbon because it shouldn't release phosphates. David B. If you determine that it is dead or going to be dead soon I would trash it before it destroys the water quality. \\ David B.

I think the spots you are seeing are the polyps begining to come out. here is a pic of my leather fully open here is a pic of my leather closed up. David B.

It will be interesting to see how big the shroom hat will get. I hope to spot the hermit again. David B.

Here are some pics of my hermit with his purple shroom hat. David B.

Just curious, Is it possible you could do a big purchase of 2 gallon size B-ionic 2 part? Sort of like you did with the salt mix instant ocean/ reef crystals. I would be in for maybe 4 units. David B.

I scraped the GSP in my main tank with a wire brush. And joes juiced what came back. If i see more polyps I will joes juice again. I am trying to grow it on the side glass of the aquarium where I can razor scrape away growth getting too close to the live rock. David B.

Never heard of them. THat a lot of light for that price. A 250 watt halide bulb is more that enough for SPS. How deep is your tank? Ive Never seen a price that low for that type of lighting fixture. Just a metal halide bulb 250 watt could cost 68$-110$ Good luck. David B.

I have cheato and feather caulerpa macro algae. If you want some. David

Wow, that is a nice tank! David B.