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LowersMyBP's Latest Tank (1 Viewer)

I just got back from a week in Florida. Fish went downhill while I was gone. Lost a number of them. Trying to catch up with everything else in my life as well as manage this as well as I can. So far, the Idol is making it through, time will tell if it ultimately does, however. Looks like Ich inflammation brought on by the tank transfer then whammo, let's take a trip. Just bad timing in all of this. It is a hobby, I can't let it run my life...

Might be a good thing. I need some time to figure out how I need to perform maintenance on this new system. Get used to what I have to do, how the system reacts etc. It isn't good that this is how it happened, but oh well. Less fish load for a number of months looks like the way to go.

Had I not been out of town, I may have been able to deal with it all and staved off any losses, but such is life.

Upon return home, nutrient test was <5 nitrates, phosphates tested at .10. Corals came through mostly ok, there are a few issues.

I don't like how the tank looks as it is maturing, I am hoping/believing I just have to wait it out.
 
Sorry to hear, James. We're wrapping up here in Kauai and although I'm getting my fish fix and then some, I'm always nervous returning home from a trip. The low times are an opportunity to make positive changes that you might not otherwise make.
 
It's amazing how long it takes tanks to settle down and develop their own grove. In many ways I think my 180 was "better" than my 450 is so far. Odd stuff, sometimes I think we're all just along for the ride while tanks go from great to crap and back to something different.

It's not surprising, expected really, to have some challenges with all the changes you did. Grind through it and sooner or later the setup will be your best yet. And then your go and screw it all up again. :)
 
What's that saying about the best laid plans of mice and men?

There must be something about transferring a system that causes an adverse affect to the balance of the environment.
I tore down/set-up my tank over two months ago, but I'm still experiencing some negative reactions with some corals. Slowly over time, I've lost a handful more of my long-term corals to STN/RTN even though my parameters have been fairly stable.
I'm leaning towards cleaning my sand bed as the main culprit; as I'm sure the disturbance of that micro-system could trigger larger issues.

That which doesn't kill us, blah,blah,blah...
 
I am moving over to the 300 this weekend and dreading it ;)
 
Few weeks removed from the trip of death. Sent a few fish to a hospital tank because they quit eating and weren't acting normal. Some of them came back. Added some UV, changing more water. Still not out of the woods fully, but things are looking up. Everyone is eating and acting mostly normal. One or two have some complexion issues that I want to clear up.

I don't have the room or the patience to do a full scale QT of everyone and then commit to fully QTing everything(fish/corals/inverts/rock etc) that ever goes in the tank in the future. The biggest improvement to my operation has been the purchase of a booster pump. Had I owned the booster pump from the start, I would have been able to make water fast enough to get the extra water changes I wanted to do before our trip done...hindsight.

With the two tanks, it is about 40 square feet of glass to scrape, it is a bit of a pain...I was warned!

Still fighting my way through tank maturation, but I feel like I am holding my own. I have lost a few SPS corals here and there, but nothing major. Probably would have been much easier if I had re used my rock, but the rocks I had just weren't that great. The tanks are about two months old now...just gotta keep ticking the days off to 9 months....

Crappy Cell phone pics from about an hour after lights on this morning.

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The idol is doing great. Somehow he made it through the trip of death. He's actually a bit of a bully...most of the fish I lost were in his tank, maybe he killed them.(sarcasm)

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Took this pic with the cell phone a week or so ago. I like how the teala monster's color showed up. In the pic you can see that the corals are healthy enough during the maturation process. You can also see that the algae war is being waged in the trenches and on the back wall....

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Looking really good.
 
The other thing that is sort of fun that is going on is that my Yellow Fiji Leather I got from Greg Hiller in November of 2010 is almost split into two whole different corals. There is just a little bit of flesh where they connect at the base. Once they are totally separate, I plan to try to frag one of them up. I have not cut it because I have been told that the yellow Fiji's are sensitive to fragging in ways that the regular green/brown toadstools are not. Find out hopefully this year sometime.

Cell phone picture under blue lights doesn't bring out the yellow so well. Luckily, the idol doesn't chew on this one (so far) like he does the green one...see it in the background?
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Looking great James! Looks like most of your SPS have made the transition nicely and are once again growing quickly.

You have any angels right now? I don't see any in the most recent photos but maybe you have them in the 180?
 
The yellow sarcophyton elegans I got from SWE about 14 months ago has split into 3 stalks. 2 of those are in the process of splitting again. I really like this style so that the crown never gets super huge and makes for very easy fragging. I have fragged off 1 ( only been 2 weeks ago ) and mother colony is mostly healed over by now.
 
James your tanks are looking amazing! I might have to ask the wife for a few hours to swing by and drool.
 
LowersMyBP said:
The other thing that is sort of fun that is going on is that my Yellow Fiji Leather I got from Greg Hiller in November of 2010 is almost split into two whole different corals. There is just a little bit of flesh where they connect at the base. Once they are totally separate, I plan to try to frag one of them up. I have not cut it because I have been told that the yellow Fiji's are sensitive to fragging in ways that the regular green/brown toadstools are not. Find out hopefully this year sometime.

Cell phone picture under blue lights doesn't bring out the yellow so well. Luckily, the idol doesn't chew on this one (so far) like he does the green one...see it in the background?
IMG_20150407_184328_982.jpg

IMG_20150407_184328_982.jpg

Click to expand...


Very nice
 
Saw the tanks in person today. Tons of equipment and corals / fish to look at. Looked awesome James!

Took some pictures as well.

180 Tank (Idol, Angels and Monti Tank)

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300 (Acros, Zoas, Tangs, etc)

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Thanks, Eric!

I have a 50 CFM exhaust fan in the room. The room is probably only about 800 Cubic Feet. If I closed the door, it would probably work better. In the utility room where I run the RODI unit, I have a dehumidifier as backup to make sure the pipes don't sweat (if it gets above 60%, they would sweat). There is also an AC air vent in the room with the tank and a cold air return.

Eric commented, unprompted, today that he did not feel any excess humidity in the room.
 
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