Rod's Gyre flow, Natural light, SPS dominated Reef

[mr9iron]

Rod, your tank is by far one of the best I have ever seen. Kudos to you for your innovation with the solar tubes, plumbing and overall design. Have you considered putting a web cam on the tank so folks can see it on demand?

[Rod the Reefer]

Thanks Vince.

No I hadn't thought of that, but it sounds like a great idea.

Rod.

[mr9iron]

Can I get the first peak at it once the cam is live?

[Rod the Reefer]

Ok, I've had a huge challenge, a massive Cryptocaryon out break

I've always quarantined all my new fish. My latest addition was a powder blue which was no exception. All I can think of is I've picked it up off a new coral or a frag or something. I have added a fair few corals/frags recently from various sources.

I must admit that my knowledge in this area was a bit limited. After much reading I knew I couldn't just do nothing.

I was thinking of hypo salinity as my treatment, but after researching I decided to use quinine.

The thought of catching 16 fish out of my reef was rather daunting. Until I came up with the idea of getting all the fish up the right hand end of the tank (which is where I feed them, so that shouldn't be too hard) and then sliding a sheet of clear acrylic down between the main rock work and stag island.

So, I set up the hospital tank and made the trap door. My wife started to call vets to get a script, but they weren't very helpful. I found my Mandarin dead.

I caught up with a friend of mine who just happens to be a doctor and his wife keeps fresh water fish. He understood and wrote me a script. I found my black & White Occi and a Coral Goby dead.

I sprang into action, enticed all the fish up the end, but a few didn't go. I sprung the trap anyway and caught 8 fish. Later that night I caught two more. At 1am I came out with a torch and found the clown pair asleep at the right hand end and got them! Only one to go.

Today my wife trapped the last remaining fish and picked up the Quinine. When I got home I found my Powder Blue and Singapore Angel dead.

All the remaining fish are now in QT and the tank is fishless for the next 72 days.

The deaths are devastating, needless to say from now on I'll be quarantining EVERYTHING.

Rod.

[crazzy]

Bummer!

[SunnyX]

That stinks! Well, at least you caught the fish. Good luck with the treatment.

[NexDog]

Daaaaaaaaamn I'm super careful too. What kind of QT did the powder blue go through?

[Rod the Reefer]

Thanks guys.

I quarantined the powder blue as I have always done in the past, 6 weeks in an isolation tank. Bare bottom, couple of PVC pipes, no medication.

After the 6 weeks, if there's no signs of pest or disease and they are eating well, into the DT they go.

That's what I have done for the past 7 years, but from now on I will be treating with quinine as if they are infected.

I was talking with a fish importer here in Aus who said he has seen fish that were carriers of white spot and he treats every fish now with quinine.

I will also be dipping all new corals in Melafix and then Qting them for 3 months, in case there are any eggs on them.

I never want to go through this again!

Rod.

[NexDog]

So no hypo even? So it's safe to say that your fish might have had ich from day dot and then something happened to stress the tank out and boom, the explosion. Many people say that medication/hypo is not needed and that all you have to do is provide a stress-free environment and your fish will be fine and that is very true. Until something happens that inserts stress into the tank (chemical changes, temp changes, fish aggro etc). And then you have to deal what you're dealing with.

[crazzy]

Originally posted by NexDog
So no hypo even? So it's safe to say that your fish might have had ich from day dot and then something happened to stress the tank out and boom, the explosion. Many people say that medication/hypo is not needed and that all you have to do is provide a stress-free environment and your fish will be fine and that is very true. Until something happens that inserts stress into the tank (chemical changes, temp changes, fish aggro etc). And then you have to deal what you're dealing with.

Are you trying to say that had he used hypo in Q.T. on arrival, he would not have been able to have Ich at some point { years } later??
Or am I miss reading your post?

[NexDog]

It cuts down the chance significantly. Ich can of course be carried into an aquarium via Live Rock or Coral but it is unlikely. LR gathered from the ocean and then sent has a ridiculously low chance of carrying Crypto tomonts. Coral that has been house with other unmedicated fish in captivity would have a higher chance but it is still low considering the tomont can only attach to the coral base plug.

If you eradicate the parasite from your system then it can't magically appear.

[Rod the Reefer]

I agree entirely Laurence. I was one of those people who believed all I had to do was provide a stress free environment, make sure the fish was eating and healthy and their immune system would cope. Isolate and observe them and then after 6 weeks, if there was no signs of problems, that was good enough.

I now realize I was playing Russian roulette!!

Talking around with other reefers, it's amazing how many don't QT at all!!

Rod.

[crazzy]

Damn, I might get educated yet!
Thanx

[chingchai]

Great thread!
What a beautiful tank.
Thanks for sharing. Rod.

[jefathome]

Originally posted by Rod the Reefer

Another problem was that the Solatube tubes only come in 16" and 24" lengths that you stick together with tape, which I thought was going to look pretty ordinary inside the room.
The way I got around that was to give them a twin skin of HIP – high impact polystyrene.


Here's a pic of my old tank when I first installed the skylight and Solatubes.



On my new tank the tubes have been shortened by about 2'.

Rod.

Can you tell me more about the HIP (high impact polystyrene)?
I'm looking into doing a 14in tube over a 4ft tank (or two 10in's).

We also have a cathedral ceiling, but I'm perpendicular to the slope (90 degrees from what you have). Still, there are going to have to be some tubes coming down from the ceiling and there is NO WAY my wife will be cool with some raw metal. I'll either have to do what you did, or make a drywall "box" around it. Again, I'm lucky in that the tank is along the short wall, not the tall one so it only has to hang down about 2ft.

[Rod the Reefer]

Thanks Guys.

Originally posted by jefathome
Can you tell me more about the HIP (high impact polystyrene)?

Yep, the HIP (High Impact Polystyrene) came from a plastics store here in Adelaide.

It's available in White or black in sheets that are 6' x 2'6" in either .75mm or 1mm. (Although the black isn't available in .75mm) I had to use the 1mm, which I think was a bit harder to work with than the .75mm. The good news is that it's only about $10-AUD a sheet. It's light and strong and won't corrode.

I simply rolled the tubes in the HIP and stuck the join together with silicone and duct tape. (You can tell I'm a roofer) I put the join to the back.

Rod.

[mgers21]

well thought out, nice work!

[Rod the Reefer]

Ok, 6 weeks into QT period.

Thought I'd share a couple of pics;

Fish QT



Coral QT



I've taken the opportunity to sell my tomato clowns (who were causing a bit of agro in the tank) and my blue assessor (who you couldn't see against the black background) I am also selling my purple tang for the same reason.

I have made a couple of choices for replacement fish (and a couple of purchases )

All these shots are in QT obviously and don't do these guys any justice;

Mystery Wrasse (purchased) - Pseudocheilinus ocellatus



3 x Dispar Anthias (1 x M, 2 x F) (purchased) - Pseudanthias dispar

4 x Purple Anthias (1 x M, 3 x F) (purchased) - Pseudanthias tuka



Watanabe Angels (1 x M, 1 x F) (purchased male, awaiting female) - Genicnathus watanabei



2 x Redline cleaner shrimp (purchased) Lysmata amboinensis

7 x Threadfin Cardinalfish (awaiting) - Apogon leptacanthus



Rod.

[crooks]

Nice fish I really want to go solar tube on my next upgrade. Do you not run any actinics?

[Rod the Reefer]

Thanks Crooks.

Sure do;

ATI Blue Plus, ATI Pro Color, KZ Fiji Purple and ATI Actinic



Rod.

[crooks]

Sorry for some reason I was looking at the old tank pic above. Can we see a resent FTS?

[Rod the Reefer]

Yep, this is with the hood up showing the Sola Tubes and Mh's;



Ths is inside the hood;



And a recent FTS;



Rod.

[TRITON1]

I take it you quaratine all your fish?

Have you ever had a problem with ich in your display tank or does the quarantine period eliminate it? For some reason I can imagine it creeping back in.

In quarantine do you prophylactively medicate or do you just observe and see what happens?

[Western_reefer]

WOW!! AMAZING tank!!! How many hours of natural sunlight do you get over your tank?

[chasekwe]

Wanted to compare your earlier FTS where you weren't happy with the colors to now...




Guess you got it worked out! Stunning tank Rod, not that it wasn't before.