keeperofthefish

Glad to hear you're getting things back on track. I would agree with my illustrious fishkeeping colleagues that a 40 breeder or even a plastic container of about 40 gallons or so would be great for QT. I have successfully used a 20 gallon (long dimension to maximize surface area for air exchange) for fish as large as a pyramid butterfly. The key was lots of water changes. I filled the tank halfway to begin with using water from my main tank. This is great because it gets the fish exposed to what is in your tank already and aged saltwater from a live system is much gentler on fish. A terrific way to do the QT is, once you have your tank up and running, keep a sponge in the sump at all times, or a cartridge filter. Then you're always ready for a new fish, should one catch your eye. The Penguin Biowheel filters are the preferred type for QTs because they maximize aeration and do a good job with colonizing bacteria. Again, among the best aquarists I know, they don't view QT as a cure-all time to medicate the H-E-double hocky sticks out of their fish. They view it as a time to get them strong and healthy enough to add them to their system. With one fish isolated like that, you can make sure they get plenty to eat to build up their immune system. The sad fact is that not all fish are going to make it. The stress of transport is too much for some, and others were injured on collection and holding. This is a great way to see exactly how healthy they are before you add them to your system. A disease outbreak is enough to drive even the most dedicated into despair and out of the hobby. QT is the ONLY way to truly insure against it. By the way, I'm picking up my 120 gallon Oceanic tech this weekend. Going to start a build thread on it.

I could be 100% wrong on the copper issue with a tank, but do make sure you ask others on the board about it. I had heard that before, but perhaps it was in relation to live rock and live sand and not the actual tank... The main reason to QT is to give the fish a rest after the trauma of being transported to your house. The move weakens their immune system, as does their stress of being introduced to a new tank with fish already in it. This causes the outbreak. Many believe that a system does not exist without some amount of ich or other parasites in it. These things are able to take place when the fish are stressed. You want to get them eating and fat before you introduce them to a tank with other fish so that they can fight off all the nasties. With as much as we spend on our setups and livestock, it just makes sense to do this. Also, although Scales QTs, some types of parasites don't even appear for 60 days. I doubt they QT for that long. Also, you need to make sure you're treating for the correct illness. Kick Ich doesn't work, and copper really is shock therapy that will kill all but the hardiest of fish, especially when they've already been suffering from the illness. The best treatment for almost all topical/skin diseases is hyposalinity. When doing this, however, you have to adjust gradually and make sure to buffer and track pH. It is a pain to get a sick fish and much easier to deal with when it's just one fish in QT. To avoid future frustration, this is my honest advice. I'm not trying to be a jerk or a know-it-all. I'm just saying that I've been through this also and learned the hard way.

Brian--Very sorry to hear about your fish. You should have given me a call... As a note of caution, if you used cupramine in the tank you're intending to use for SPS when you used it as a hospital tank, it may no longer be okay to keep coral in. Coral do not respond well to even leftover traces of cupramine or other non-reef safe treatments. Check with others on the board to see what they think. If you're not planning to QT your fish, you at the very least need to run a serious U/V filter on your tank to give fish a fighting chance when you introduce new protozoans, etc. with new livestock. Talk to Johnny at BRK about appropriate wattage for your size tank. I had a bad ich outbreak when I failed to QT a fish some time ago and U/V plus heavy feeding with garlic seemed to do the trick. I would STRONGLY recommend setting up a QT and I can give you details on what you'll need for that. I now QT religiously, which is a pain because it means no impulse purchases and having to setup and breakdown a QT. But it also means healthy fish. I think we can all sympathize with what you went through. This hobby has a very steep learning curve and it occasionally stings everyone no matter what level they are at. Patience is toughest to exercise when you're looking at an empty tank, but nothing feels worse than losing a fish, so you have to learn it. Some people get lucky and most do not.

Looking great, Brian! I'm going to have to check out that angel in person. What a beauty!

What method did you use to drill the tank. I'm getting ready to do this soon... Thanks!

Some things are worth doing DIY and some are not. I bought the bracket and am very happy with it. $30 well spent.

This is kind of a mysterious one to answer... On my 75 I had my Aquactinics T5s about 2" off the water for a while and actually got better growth with them about 5" off the water. I switched to an IceCap-driven retrofit and have them about 4" off the water. I find this is about perfect. The really amazing T5 tanks I've seen online all have them about 3-5" off the surface of the water. Any closer and you probably run a risk of getting them real salty real quick. Another suggestion: remember to keep them fan-cooled, either pushing or pulling cooler air across them. This has been shown to significantly increase the PAR of T5s.

I got a pyramid from that same BRK order and mine appears to be suffering from a similar malady that I cannot quite figure out. I have had it in QT since day 1. The tail and rear of the dorsal fins look a bit ragged (thought this was shipping related--not sure now) and there are some sort of white clumps on the body. These are irregular and almost look like raised sections of scales. There are about 3 of these blotches--about 1 cm each--not symmetrical and definitely too big and too few of them for this to be ich. These appeared at first to be damage related from a fight with another fish, but they appear to be getting worse, not better. Anyone have any idea what this is and how to treat in QT? Hyposalinity doesn't seem like the answer. Formalin dips, maybe?

I will try to upload some images of my tank as soon as I get someone with a decent digital camera to come by. In any case, here is the scoop on my tank, and why I think my limiting factor is lighting and not something else. But please--criticism is welcome! I want to improve! 75 gallon RR AGA, 100lbs.+ Fiji liverock, shallow decorative sand bed (about 1") DIY Canopy with 4x54w IceCap660 T5 lighting on IceCap SLRs (2xGiesemann AquaBlue+, 1xATI SunPro, 1xAquaZ BluePro) and 2x110w IceCap 430 (2x UV Lighting Super Actinic R VHOs). VHOs are on from 10:30 AM-10:30 PM, T5s are on from 11:30 AM-9:30 PM (10 hours). 20 gallon sump with EuroReef ES5-3, return through Eheim 1262 run through a WavySea into the main tank, and a slow feed to a 20 gallon refugium, gravity fed back into main tank. Fuge is lit on a reverse photo-period by 2x24w Sunlight Supply retrofit 10K T5s (this is a GREAT use for T5s and everyone should use these on their fuge!). Fuge also contains a DSB (about 3.5" oolitic aragonite) and grows chaeto. Further flow in the main tank is provided by a Tunze 6000 Stream on a 7100 controller set to oscillate between 20 and 85% of power. My parameters, all tested using Salifert kits all well within expiration date, are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 0 phosophate. Alk=10.6, Ca=370, Mg=1170. My salinity is 1.026--checked with an ATC refractometer and a Pinpoint salinity monitor. Tank pH, constantly monitored through my ReefKeeper II, is between 8.10 (morning) and 8.35 (late afternoon). Alkalinity and kalk are maintained with a Knop-C reactor and a GEOS Kalk reactor with a peristaltic pump that doses in 5 minute increments 3 times over the course of the night to help maintain pH. Auto-top-off is done also by a level sensor and a peristaltic pump. I use Reef Crystals salt and change 10-15 gallons each week (15 gallons at least every two weeks). There is no science behind this varying amount--just happens to be what I mix up in the container I use. I use RO/DI water run through a Typhoon III, TDS=0, let this aerate for 24 hours, then mix in salt and let it settle for 48 hours. It is heated to the temperature of the tank and well aerated.

I appreciate all of the great comments here from ALL camps. The fact of the matter is that I'm stuck with T5s and really should admit that my reef is only about a year old--so perhaps my frustration has more to do with impatience than the capabilities of T5s. That said, I'd like to call on the T5 users for some info. I'm running 4x54w on an IceCap 660 with IceCap SLRs. I am running, from front to back, an Aqua-Z BluePro, a Giesemann AquaBlue Plus, an ATI SunPro (6500), and a Geisemann AquaBlue Plus. I am running 2x110w UV Lighting Super Actinic R bulbs on an IceCap 440. One bulb is in the very front of the tank, another at the very back. Any suggestions on how to improve this? Maybe my results are sub-par for a reason! I'm getting growth, but not at the rate I've seen in MH and some other T5 tanks. I've been thinking about replacing the ATI with a GE 3000K and the Aqua-Z with a pure actinic or another AquaBlue+.

My argument is this: -The only "spectacular" T5-only tanks I have ever seen featured online are all in Europe and Asia--where they are using lighting technology that isn't even available in the US--different reflectors, ballasts, etc. They are all also using prodibio and other additives. They are using top-of-the-line Deltec skimmers and most feed very heavily--techniques of very advanced reefkeepers and out of the price range of most of us -I have seen MANY great MH tanks. It is 100% true that we simply know more about MH and T5 is a relatively new technology that will get better in time as we learn more about how best to apply it. Sanjay Joshi's tests should be especially helpful. Grimreefer on RC has also contributed a lot to the average reefer's understanding of this technology. -As I have said, I have never seen DHoch's tank and hope to soon. It could totally eradicate my current thinking about what is possible with T5. However, DHoch is an expert reefer and has top of the line equipment on his tank. He also has far more T5 bulbs over his tank--partly due to its size--than the average reefer. -My bottom line is that it isn't fair to recommend T5s to beginning reefers. They cannot easily get their hands on info and troubleshooting T5s on a reef tank the way they can with MH. -I recommend that DHoch write an article for the club about his experience with T5, or perhaps a presentation at a meeting. Maybe we could get Sanjay Joshi to come speak to the club and share with us his findings on T5 and MH and we could invite a few lighting companies to come, also. We could video this and put it on the WAMAS site to better contribute to overall discussion ongoing on T5 vs. MH.

You did the right thing. Halides are better than T5. Fact is that you see WAY more great MH tanks than T5 tanks. Mine is T5 and it is a nice tank, but not what it would be with halides. Not the same growth or intense, deep coloration.

The point is that Roozens just DOES NOT CARE about anything aside from making money. They used to have good prices, and they don't even have that any longer--guess they are going with retail and not wholesale. They get great stuff, but Copps has already made the point that BRK can now get stuff just as good or better. Roozens is generally rude, they don't donate to the club, there are no WAMAS discounts and this list goes on. Therefore, there is no reason to spend money at an irresponsible retailer. I understand fully well what function a trans-shipper serves. But there are also very nice facilities that trans-ship, as as in LA, at which they make a real effort to keep fish alive and to treat those that come in sick. Roozens does not invest in equipment and it is only the sheer volume they move through there and their bizarre out-of-the-way location that allows them to skim any profit (low overhead). There are better ways to make money that are more ethical. I think that's the point we're making here. That said, people should do what they want. But I know that I will go through BRK, Scales, and others genuinely interested in the hobby and in WAMAS.

Rik, Very interested in coming for this and seeing your tank! Sam

What you have there is an SPS of some sort. You have it right next to very noxious corals that could take it out in no time, depending on the flow in your tank, total volume, if you're running carbon, etc. If you really want to keep SPS in that tank, keep them far from the green star polyps and whatever mushroom that is. Or get rid of those and keep SPS. Most who seriously keep SPS keep no leather corals or mushrooms in their tank.