My 125 to 180 build thread

[Usernam Invalid]

Really like that frag tank once your done with the hypo are you going to plumb it into your system

[FishN00b83]

Originally Posted by Usernam Invalid

Really like that frag tank once your done with the hypo are you going to plumb it into your system

Hey thanks! I'm going to leave it separated to QT everything that goes in. It's not a big deal to keep up with it. I have a ato on it with a lil kalc and I think it will keep up. We'll see

[Usernam Invalid]

How's everything going hope all is well

[FishN00b83]

Well, I lost most of my fish, I only have the Powder Blue left. I left the tank fallow for over 18 weeks and I just put the Powder Blue back in late last week. I have a Yellow, Kole and Lavender Tang going through TTM right now and if everything goes right they should be in the tank April 14th.

My stocking list moving forward is going to be:

PB Tang
Kole Tang
Yellow Tang
Lavender Tang
Lyertail Anthias x3
Fathead Anthias x2
Black Cap Basslet
Orange Stripe Prawn Goby
Clown Fish x2
Mystery Wrasse

I'm getting away from hermit crabs all together and I'm just going to do snails for the CUC. I'll also do 3 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp and Brittle Star Fish.

I'm hoping to have the tank restocked by mid summer. I'll be QTing some coral during all this, but they'll all sit out for at least 72 days just to make sure this kind of thing never happens again. I'm still really mad at myself for putting that hammer in the tank, but at the same time I will never forget it and EVERYTHING will be QTed from now on. I'll keep posting as things happen.

[Usernam Invalid]

Sorry to hear about the problems but sounds like tank is on the mend. Let me know when your ready and can get you set up with some frags
-Jay

[FishN00b83]

For sure man! Its been rough for a while but it's coming along now.


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[FishN00b83]

My nitrates are off the charts, not sure how, but with the Red Sea Nitrate kit they're 64+. The PBT is developing what looks like HLLE so I'm going to do at least one 50g WC, I'm hoping to do two this weekend. On top of that to get the bacteria population up I'm going to start dosing vinegar at 20ml for the first week and double it the next.

The three tangs are doing good in TTM right now. They're all eating and swimming around. I will have them in the 55g QT Tuesday where they'll stay for an other two weeks to see if anything else develops.

[FishN00b83]

I got my nitrates down to around 20 this past weekend by doing two 50g water changes. I plan on doing at least one more friday and keeping up with the vinegar dosing.

The three tangs are done with TTM and they're in the 55g. I'll watch them for two weeks and see if anything else comes up. The Kole has a little HLLE, but he is on the larger side and he was in a 5g bucket for TTM. I expect him to recover kind of quickly now he is in a bigger tank with much better water.

After the water changes the PBTs HLLE has completely gone away, he's back to normal. Things are going good right now. Hopefully things keep going in this direction.

[FishN00b83]

I had an extremely bad bacterial bloom after this last water change. I pulled the powder blue for now. I'm hoping this goes away in the next week.


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[FishN00b83]

It looks like this could be a algae bloom? The water is green and it's so bad you can't see to the other side. I'm not sure how to handle this. I have been doing 50g water changes for the past couple of weeks, some I even did two back to back (which I guess could be making this worse?). Everything I've read says the only way to kill the algae in the water is a UV sterilizer. IDK how I feel about this haha

[Joe0813]

Sorry about your fish. Seems like every time I try and QT fish they never make it. So I just gave up and risk ich. Kind of a crappy way to look at it but I've lost most of my fish to qt than I have to ich.

[FishN00b83]

Originally Posted by Joe0813

Sorry about your fish. Seems like every time I try and QT fish they never make it. So I just gave up and risk ich. Kind of a crappy way to look at it but I've lost most of my fish to qt than I have to ich.

Well my success rate recently is awesome. The 3 new tangs are doing great. The powder blue is still ok but I have to get him back in the big tank. I really need to figure out this algae issue.


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[Joe0813]

The algae issue is probably just because it's a new tank

[FishN00b83]

The tank has been up for a year and a half but I started restocking it recently


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[FishN00b83]

I did a water change on the 55 last night with the 3 tangs in it. They are all eating and looking good.

This green water has been horrible. I decided to turn off my ATS and run GFO/Carbon. IDK if the lights were adding to the problem or not, but I thought it would be best to shut it down until I get this under control.

I ordered a very small Coralife Turbo Twist 3x UV light. It's only rated for 125 gallons, but I found one on amazon for 40 bucks shipped directly from amazon. Apparently the box is damaged but everything is still in its original packaging. I thought it wouldn't hurt to try it being that UV can fix either green water or bacterial blooms. It should come today so I'll hook it up tonight and give it a few days. I don't plan on running it at all after this goes away so I'm hoping it can just kill it and get it over with.

[FishN00b83]

Well the UV is DEFINITELY working. My wife took a picture looking down the length of the tank before I got home from work, and I took one this morning...what a difference!




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[FishN00b83]

Here is a picture from this morning. It's crazy how fast the UV took care of this. The skimmer pulled out a lot of super green nasty crap.

The tang is back in the tank and the other 3 will go in some time next week.

I ordered 2 fathead anthias which are supposed to come in today. Im going to pick up some CUC and two small clowns when I'm there if they have anything worth getting. TTM for the fish and QT for the CUC will start today if everything goes right.


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[FishN00b83]

I went to the LFS Friday, the fatheads died during shipping, they ordered more that should be in this Friday. The didn't have anything worth getting CUC wise so I just picked up two clowns. The first transfer is tonight, they're eating and being typical clownfish at this point.

I decided to put the tangs through two more rounds of Prazi before they go in the DT.
I saw the Kole yawning and thought it would be a good idea to proactively treat for flukes if they're still infected. First dose was Friday night so I'll dose them again Wednesday night and put them in the DT Friday if everything goes well.

After a year and a half I'm finally starting the canopy and stand cover. It's been driving me crazy lately so I'm going to HD to order some 3/4 Walnut plywood. While I'm there I'll pick up a bunch of 1x2 pine and start framing everything while the plywood is on order.

[FishN00b83]

Framing for everything is done. On the left and right side of the bottom I left 3/4 of an inch on the horizontal frame pieces so I can add a U shape pice that wraps around the iron stand. This way the whole wooden structure won't budge when you pull on a door or bump into it. It's going to feel really solid.



You'll notice a big inch and a half gap on the right side of the front frame. That's how out of level my floor is.

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[FishN00b83]

I painted the canopy frame with white waterproof paint this past week. I also got the lights back up until I finish the canopy.

Ill be putting two of the tangs in the tank this weekend (kole and lavender) the yellow needs to eat more. The clowns are still going through TTM and I have four lyretails coming in from live aquaria tomorrow.

I'll be playing with a 2x2 piece of the walnut plywood this weekend to make sure I know how to cut it without any tearing. I'm making a zero clearance insert for my table saw and I got a veneer blade. I'm hoping with both of those I won't tear at all. I also got a few stain samples to see which finish I'll be going with. I still need to order the roll of edgebanding but I'll order that when I'm close to done.

I'll post pictures sometime this weekend.

[Joe0813]

looking good

[FishN00b83]

I apologize for the crappy cell phone pictures, I'll be using my dslr soon.

The tangs are in the tank minus the yellow still. They're getting along just fine surprisingly. The yellow will probably stay in QT until the other fish go in.

I have 4 lyretails in tank transfer and the male just started eating. I had to add a power head and throw the food in it for him to go after it. Now he won't stop eating along with everyone else. I am transferring every 2 days so I'll dose prazi when the get moved tonight.

I have two clowns in tank transfer too but they seem to have brook. I have dipped them twice for a full 50 minutes so far and they're both handling it well. Both are still eating and it looks like they're starting to pair. They're twitching a lot and getting into it sometimes.

All the wood should be here next Friday. I took the day off so I'm going to be very busy next weekend. The wife and I picked out the stain, and finish on a sample piece of walnut and I'm hoping to get everything done within the 3 days.

Definitely excited to finally wrap the tank and get some fish in there after a very long time.





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[FishN00b83]

The two Formalin dips seemed to have worked on the clowns. Both are now swimming around with the dorsal and pec fins out. Today is the last day of the first round of prazi and they'll get transferred tonight. I will make sure they are clear before they go into the long term QT.

The Lyretails all started eating finally. They are in the last day of prazi too, they'll get transferred tonight.

The yellow tang is looking a lot better. It's getting thick and finally eating nori (it was only eating pellets for a while). I'll probably hold it until I drop the Lyretails and clowns in the DT. Hopefully it will cut down on the initial aggression with the other tangs too.

I made an 8' jig and a 5' jig for cutting the veneer plywood along with a zero clearance insert for my table saw just in case I need to rip something. I plan on using the jigs and clamps for most of the cutting.

[FishN00b83]

The jigs weren't working so I did everything on the table saw. All the pieces are cut, most of them are veneered and I started painting the inside and staining the outside. Here is the canopy front stained and the other side it painted white. I'm hoping to have everything stained by this weekend and then clear everything so I can start putting it together.




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[FishN00b83]

The anthias are now with the yellow tang in the long term QT. The clowns started showing signs of brook again so they'll get formalin dips every other day for five treatments. I only did three last time. Hopefully five takes it out.

The canopy will be done by this weekend, I'm hoping sooner. All the pieces are stained I just need to touch up the white paint and clear everything.


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