Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[jason2459]

Wife got me a nice little birthday present. This nice looking plate coral.

Green with purple strips pretty awesome looking



Also found my pinkish/orange tube anemone moved from the far end of my tank to the other side. I wish I could have seen it happen.

[jason2459]

Seems like everything is settling in nicely now. I ended up killing my bubble coral moving it to another spot and accidentally tearing the flesh. That was a few weeks ago and it completely wasted away. The hair algae is slowly but surely melting away. Its to the point where I like it now but if the past repeats itself it will be all gone in the next 6 months or so. All the other corals are doing great and fish look super healthy which they should since I'm still feeding up to six times a day.

I did just add a new fish I've had in a special QT for a long while now. I've been making sure of two things. One I'm done adding leopards and that they are all eating mostly the pellets and prepared foods which they all are. The second criteria before adding to the main tank is that the fish is accepting pellets and other prepared foods. I got myself a male mandarin! Probably got him a good six months ago with this plan in mind to try and be as successful as possible with a mandarin and other pod eaters in the same tank even though I have a bigger tank its still probably not the best idea. So, I have been providing tons if live pods daily from my main tank by swapping sponges between the two since I got him. Even though I got him eating other foods he still grazes. I'm glad I can stop doing that. He's not an ORA but did make sure to get a really small one to start with. He was probably only about an inch. I'm talking tiny. He's about two inches now. I got him to eat most simple meaty foods I add to my main tank daily. Which includes cyclopeeze, baby brine, hikari krill, small pieces of mysis, and every so often he will take a NLS pellet. So, we'll see how he does now in the long run. Hopefully well since the leopards are primarily eating prepared foods and supplementing with pods. And the mandarin is primarily grazing for pods but can supplement with the added foods. He's hiding in some rocks right now and will try and get some pics later.

[jason2459]

Can't seem to get a good picture of the mandarin. He's so small and always up in the rocks. I'll need to update my live stock list as well since I've added a few additions since the last update.

Best pictures I've gotten so far





Love my Potter's. Always looks like he's in a Tron outfit with electric blue glow









Kuiteri


My Red Velvet. Very pretty fish. It's interesting how the back half changes color based on his mood. Going from a yellowish/orangish color to a bright white. I attempting to adjust the white balance in Gimp but made it look bleached.

[jason2459]

Oh boy. Son, wife, petstore, quarter, Dori is all I'll say for now....

[jason2459]

Well, poop. Looks like most all my image links are broken. Will have to find out what happen.

[jason2459]

All the pictures are there but for some reason the main link changed. But on the plus side I got a photo bucket account and it's awesome. For one it's unlimited picture and video uploads unlike picasa. And I found the editing on there and it's great. Love the auto adjust and it totally fixes my white balance issues. I also like the layout with the share links right on each page and under the pictures in thumbnail view. I'll to go back and find some of my favorite pictures and add them back here again through photobucket.

A couple new additions:

A flasher wrasse I think is a P. cyaneus or blue flasher.


Also got this. Some kind of Open brain, T. geoffroyi?

[jason2459]

Playing around with different settings and setting up albums. Images fixed.

Originally Posted by jason2459

All the pictures are there but for some reason the main link changed. But on the plus side I got a photo bucket account and it's awesome. For one it's unlimited picture and video uploads unlike picasa. And I found the editing on there and it's great. Love the auto adjust and it totally fixes my white balance issues. I also like the layout with the share links right on each page and under the pictures in thumbnail view. I'll to go back and find some of my favorite pictures and add them back here again through photobucket.

A couple new additions:

A flasher wrasse I think is a P. cyaneus or blue flasher.




Also got this. Some kind of Open brain, T. geoffroyi?

[Seahorse NJRC]

Your brain is very pretty!

[jason2459]

lol, thanks Gemmy. I really like my brain too. It gets really big during the day now but then shrinks up a lot late in the evening until the next morning when the lights go back on. Have no idea if this is normal or not.

I'm still working on getting all my pictures transferred into photobucket. I really like that site and the organize section makes it really easy to move things around and get a good overall view of things. It really has come a long way from when I first checked out photobucket years ago. I have the app on my phone now and it automatically uploads my pictures and videos into a drop bucket album I setup. Then I can auto correct photo's and move them into a shared album. Love it. I should start posting some here soon.

[jason2459]

Wow, 5 months since my last update. Life has been super busy. I've added quite a few fishes, to many, to the tank. Haven't really been able to maintain it like I'd like to. Maybe a water change every few weeks and changing out and cleaning the skimmer once a week. Top up the ATO/Kalk once a month and that's about all I've gotten to. I do make a point to sit and relax at least 30 minutes every night while I feed the fish to at least enjoy everything in there. Stock list is nuts I've had to tell the wife and son no more.

Have had a few mishaps. My Potter's Leopard does NOT want any other leopards in the tank. Usually people have had success with multple species but my Potter's is just very aggressive towards other leopards of any kind. I moved out the remaining Bipart and Kuiters back to a LFS. He doesn't bother anyone else what so ever which is good.

Not sure what happen to a couple of my corals that were on the sandbed in one area but what ever it was wiped out my bubble coral, tube anemone, and by the time I noticed something was happening half my pink hammer. I moved it away from the area and off the sandbed. My plate and open brain are fine though on the other side of the tank.

I also lost my shark nose goby somewhere. Not sure what happen to it which sucks as I had him for a long time and he was getting HUGE for a tiny goby that is.

I have added in as I alluded to a while ago a Blue tang much against my protest as it was a gift to my son from the wife while visiting a LFS. It was tiny smaller then a quarter and I didn't know if he would make it as they are pretty delicate at that size. She made it through QT and is in my DT now at least twice as big and getting bigger which is what I'm scared of.

I then ran into this most beautiful bright yellow chocolate mimic tang and just couldn't pass him up as I was looking at those before. He's got a lot of personality.

My mandarin which I was very nervous about adding with my plan of many wrasses is doing very well and I'm thinking of getting him a mate. He's gotten a little longer and much wider and starting to show off a lot in front of the glass when the lights start turning off. I think he eats the cyclopeze I add in my mix.

I've also added a few fairy and flasher wrasses but my favorite is still my Red Velvet fairy and just love it when he flashes and shows off. Getting the light purple racing stripes down his head and flares his velvet/purple fins. I'm just happy all my wrasses are getting along. They to flash each other periodically which is cool but no massive chasing or nipping.

A couple favorite non-fish related additions were two clams. A squamosa and a maxima. The squamosa is already a pretty good size with some basic patterns like tiger stripes. The maxima is a beautiful gold tear drop with a TON of tiny tear drops.

So, I'll update my stock list and * new additions from last list update

Current Stock list:
Fish:
Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus) paired up with a Tiger Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus bellulus)
False Percula (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Pair Kaudern's Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni)
Magnificent Foxface (Siganus magnificus)
Trio Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
Potter's Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon geoffroyi)
Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis)
* Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)
* McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
* Blue Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus cyaneus)
* Pyles Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus pylei)
* Hawaiian Flame Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus jordani)
* Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus)
* Copperband Butterfly (Chelmon rostratus)
* Chocolate/Lemon Peel Mimic Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus)
* Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

Inverts:
Pair Bloodred/fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
Pair Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
Quad Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)
Crocea Clam (Tridacna crocea)
* Squamosa Clam (Tridacna squamosa)
* Gold Tear drop Maxima Clam (Tridacna maxima)
Duncan Coral (Duncanopsammia axifuga)
Grape Coral (Euphyllia Cristata)
Frogspawn Coral (Euphyllia Divisa)
Pink Hammer Coral (Euphylia Ancora)
Torch Coral (Euphylia Glabrescens)
Trumpet Coral (Caulastrea curvata)
Candy cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata)
Encrusting Montipora (Montipora nodosa)
* Red Candy Cap Montipora (Montipora capricornis)
* Plate Coral (Fungia repanda)
* Galaxea/Tooth Coral (Galaxea spp)
* Brain Coral Lobo (Lobophyllia hemprichii)
* Brain Coral Trach (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi)
* Brain Acan (Acanthastrea echinata)

[jason2459]

Little video I took last night. Still have a bit of algae on the right side with the new pukani dry rock but not bad with super minimal maintenance, no GFO, and vinegar dosing. I like the amount that's there and don't mind it at all. Looks more natural to me. I have no idea what that really dark stuff is in front of the open brain. It's really hard so I'm assume coraline.



You can switch all the way up to 1080p HD. No, doesn't make my tank look better. Yes, that's how quite my tank is.

[jason2459]

Finally got everything over to photobucket. Time to post up some pictures.

Just like this pic of my mag. foxface. He doesn't like it when I get my camera out.

[jason2459]

Don't know if some of these were posted before or not but going to post up some of pics I liked. So some of these are older and some recent.

Magnificent Foxface in camo again. Not the best shot but you can see more of the body.

[jason2459]

So, long time no see RC. Time to recover another dead tank. Due to some construction in the basement where my sump is and some solvents majority of all my inverts died along with a few fish. I was able to rescue several fish and with many water changes, carbon, and polyfilters some small stars and snails survived.

Otherwise nothing has changed over the past few years besides corals and fish got bigger. But no more corals right now and I lost some of my favorite fish like that fox face pictured above. I'll have to go over that list and up date it again as I build it back up. I think I deserve a new skimmer as well. I'll have to see what's out now a days.

[Ms Tanky Panky]

Oh, so sorry Jason, I know that hurt. Try to see it as a new opportunity to restock.
Perhaps with things that didn't quite fit in with the old setup but you would have liked to have had.

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by jason2459

So, long time no see RC. Time to recover another dead tank. Due to some construction in the basement where my sump is and some solvents majority of all my inverts died along with a few fish. I was able to rescue several fish and with many water changes, carbon, and polyfilters some small stars and snails survived.

Otherwise nothing has changed over the past few years besides corals and fish got bigger. But no more corals right now and I lost some of my favorite fish like that fox face pictured above. I'll have to go over that list and up date it again as I build it back up. I think I deserve a new skimmer as well. I'll have to see what's out now a days.

Sorry to hear of thE mishaps but nice to have you back

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by Ms Tanky Panky

Oh, so sorry Jason, I know that hurt. Try to see it as a new opportunity to restock.
Perhaps with things that didn't quite fit in with the old setup but you would have liked to have had.

Not very happy at all about it. Pretty much has been on cruise control the past couple years with no issues. I'm thinking about what I want to do with the tank like you said may do something completely different.

Originally Posted by Aquarist007

Sorry to hear of thE mishaps but nice to have you back

Thanks and great to see you still around too Captn.


I'm thinking of doing some anemones and some fish I couldn't do with some of the things I had before.

[jason2459]

So this was my last update back in 2012 and really nothing else was added but a sand star and a Matted Filefish which the fish survived.

I'll edit the list below with what was lost.

Originally Posted by jason2459

....

So, I'll update my stock list and * new additions from last list update

Current Stock list:
Fish:
Yellow Watchman Goby (Cryptocentrus cinctus) paired up Tiger Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus bellulus) (shrimp is dead)
False Percula (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Pair Kaudern's Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni) (only the male survived)
Magnificent Foxface (Siganus magnificus) (dead)
Trio Lyretail Anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) (all gone)
Potter's Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon geoffroyi)
Red Velvet Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis)
* Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)(dead)
* McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri) (dead)
* Blue Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus cyaneus) (dead)
* Pyles Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus pylei) (dead)
* Hawaiian Flame Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus jordani) (dead)
* Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) (dead)
* Copperband Butterfly (Chelmon rostratus)(dead)
* Chocolate/Lemon Peel Mimic Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus)
* Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

Inverts : (all dead except a few snails and small stars)
Pair Bloodred/fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius)
Pair Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
Quad Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni)
Crocea Clam (Tridacna crocea)
* Squamosa Clam (Tridacna squamosa)
* Gold Tear drop Maxima Clam (Tridacna maxima)
Duncan Coral (Duncanopsammia axifuga)
Grape Coral (Euphyllia Cristata)
Frogspawn Coral (Euphyllia Divisa)
Pink Hammer Coral (Euphylia Ancora)
Torch Coral (Euphylia Glabrescens)
Trumpet Coral (Caulastrea curvata)
Candy cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata)
Encrusting Montipora (Montipora nodosa)
* Red Candy Cap Montipora (Montipora capricornis)
* Plate Coral (Fungia repanda)
* Galaxea/Tooth Coral (Galaxea spp)
* Brain Coral Lobo (Lobophyllia hemprichii)
* Brain Coral Trach (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi)
* Brain Acan (Acanthastrea echinata)

[jason2459]

A few quick pictures I took last night. Its been about 4 weeks since the incident and the tank looks terrible which is expected with all the death. All my fish are back in the tank and seem to be doing fine now. My mimic lemon peal tang still looks a little stressed but looking more normal.

So happy I still have my red velvet.


That tiny smaller then a quarter yellow belly is getting bigger

[Aquarist007]

Are you carbon dosing and or running gfo

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by Aquarist007

Are you carbon dosing and or running gfo

I don't remember the last time I used gfo. I'm sure its logged in here somewhere but its been several years. I don't normally use carbon either but just took the reactor I was running carbon in back offline and back in storage in case I ever need it again.

I do carbon dosing with vinegar but I don't remember how much it does a day any more. Its been dosing the same amount every day via a reefkeeper lite and a BRS dosing pump. I'm thinking around 100ml/day. I'd have to look back in this log or figure out the reef keeper again. lol

I seriously have been letting the tank run itself the past couple years with very basic maintenance. Water change once a month. Clean out the skimmer cup once a week. Replace the vinegar jug when it gets low. And fill up the ato res when needed thats also controlled by the reef keeper. Swipe the glass periodically with the mag float. Its not tank of the month material but the family and I love it and seems to impress anyone that comes in and sees it. Everything was colorful, growing, and looked healthy. No cyano, algae, diatoms, etc issues. Well, up until now. I've pretty much have shown all the ups and downs and pretty much all the downs just took patience and slow tweaks it all worked out.

And I seriously believe the biggest impact to the success of the tank is the paulb inspired dolomite rugf. I haven't even touched it in forever. I think I'm supposed to clean it out once every 40 years.

Edit: and add kalk to the ato periodically as well. I was also using a small amount(1/4 cup) of kent tech-m when doing water changes with regular IO.

[Paul B]

And I seriously believe the biggest impact to the success of the tank is the paulb inspired dolomite rugf.

This is a secret so we don't want anyone to see it. If word gets out, everyone's tank will last forever and thats the last thing we want. What would happen to all the problem threads if that got out?

[jason2459]

Originally Posted by Paul B

This is a secret so we don't want anyone to see it. If word gets out, everyone's tank will last forever and thats the last thing we want. What would happen to all the problem threads if that got out?

Not a very good secret when you tell someone and they don't believe you anyway.

[Paul B]

I hope no one believes it, It is all done with smoke and mirrors

[jason2459]