300 litre with sump

[ying yang]

Well 3 days ago seen first sign of these little red/ brownish dots so in 3 days gone from 1- 20 dots plus 1 green dot from the shells of the hermits im guessing as one the hermits his shell got very fuzzy red/ browny on it over last week or so.he chills out all day long usually on top of the highest rock close to the lights so guessing it algae but im preparing myself for the uglys now ^_^
Blennie i added 5 days ago still hiding in rocks and only coming out the back at food time ^_^

 

[Dukereefnz]

Good read - i will enjoy watching as your tank matures.
If you were to do your rock build again, any advise?

 

[ying yang]

Hi duke hope all is well.
So far all in all im relatively happy with my rockwork but do think on one the structures i used far to much mortar but after gluing one finger branching type piece that was bit brittle it just fell apart in my hands,from the weight idk.so felt the need to use extra mortar after glued the now smaller pieces of rock together.but in time wont be as much an eyesore as corals grow and hopefully coraline algae etc.
I have also noticed even though most of the rocks are in the water and not on the sand bed it is little tricky to use gravel vac to siphon sand bed as lots of overhangs so cant physically get it in,but remedy is take plastic tube off and just use the hose itself to siphon sand bed so not that big a deal.
Also one my rock structures,the one on right is to vertical so would of done it more stepped up/ slanted from front of tank to rear .as can see as my corals grow in then corals at top can shade corals underneath easier ( but thinking when get corals to cut complete frag plug away and re- attach to piece of rock rubble then epoxy the rock rubble in a way to get less of this shading if becomes a problem.
Also if get aiptasia or if any rock would need to come out tank to get scrubbed or whatever reason i did think bringing the whole rock structure out in one go would be ok but now thinking maybe would been better to stack the rocks ( but like anything in life we doubt ourselves sometimes right ha ha) but i think having less rocks on the sand beds gives more options for flow and less spaces for detritus to gather.
Maybe an extra cave or 2 for the larger fish as they grow,but i have kept some rocks spare and in sump and outside of tank and can lean some on the rocks to make cave if needed.
But the one thing i would definately do different if had opportunity would be not get a tank so deep and not get a tank with internal overflow in the centre as severley limits the aquascape.

 

[ying yang]

Aw remembered another thing.
I would of cut the base rock flat just for extra piece of mind.
One structure sits flat even though not cut but the bigger structure has got the smallest of wobbles on it so put couple of pieces rock rubble under it.but as want pistol shrimp/ goby pair im scared somehow the pistol shrimp will move some this rock rubble and cause the structure to fall,but i think this bit far fetched thing to happen ( i say squinting my eyes lol)

 

[ying yang]

Got myself silver belly yellow wrasse and pistol shrimp + yellow watchman goby today.the mrs not happy with me at all as wrasse slowly drifted down to sand bed and within 10 seconds dived in the sand bed and shrimp/ goby straight under a rock i put them near where i want entrance their burrow to be.she says great you got blennie other week that hides in rocks for over a week and now 2 more fish and shrimp that hides in sand ^_^
She more of the instant gratification person and i dont mind waiting for the bigger picture so to speak.
Told her we can just get fish that swim around all day or get fish that do a job and eat algae or pests and few other just good to watch like shrimp/ ywg .so hopefully they get settled in soon and come out to play or i be in bad books forever ( actually wait,im always in bad books anyway ha ha )

 

[ying yang]

Sorry here video of shrimp and goby straight away making burrow.got to remember need upload to you tube first if want video to play ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Some better pictures of the wrasse.came out the sand first morning which is great.and he out swimming about no problem.seems very confident.

 

[ying yang]

29 May 2021

youtube.com

Little video of pistol shrimp making his cave/ tunnel system.but choose a rock other side of tank than where i wanted him oroginally.cant remember if put small rocks under big rocks or put big rock onto glass instead just on sand.but im sure they work it out.
And a picture of tank with all the very small rock rubble i put near the opening of where put pistol/goby so can use to reinforce there tunnels and as my grabber just broke it so hard for me to reach the sand bed to move them so they have to do it thereselves

 

[ying yang]

I bought cheapo grabber for £ 1 from market 2 weeks ago and been in tank like 10 times or so.i knew inside would be some kind steel to operate the grabber and salt water would corrode it but didn't expect it last only 2 weeks lol.but as the wire all rusty now im paranoid some the rust fell off into the tank and as inverys dont like heavy metals then i will have problem and im wanting to do 30% water change and siphon sandbed incase wome the rust settled on sandbed but now i got wrasse and pistol shrimp so need kbow where they are so dont crush them lol

 

[ying yang]

Ywg and pistol making burrow for themselves in place i didn't really want them but its there tank so upto them i guess ^_^

 

[ying yang]

And i must say the yellow colouring of this silver belly wrasse is best bright yellow colour i ever seen.i did want the yellow tang for its yellow colour and good algae grazer and just good fish but im happy with this wrasse but just thinking i got yellow wrasse,yellow watchman goby and will be getting yellow foxface so 3 out my 10 fish be yellow.i got the orange in clowns.the gold/ copper colour in the blennie whenever he decides to grace us with his presence ha ha.will get coral beauty so just need 3 more fish.probably another blennie and wrasse then one more but will decide for certain as time goes on

 

[ying yang]

Well well well.
Silver belly yellow wrasse got red mark on right side of body,and like dent in its nose.just above pectoral fin so bacterial, or the dreaded uronema ( hope for love of god it osnt pfffft) but also noticed wrasse and blennie flashing on the rocks,clownfish,goby showing nothing untoward AS of yet.
Wrasse still eating ,acting normal so far.
Noticed few wrasses in lfs i bought the wrasse from last friday was flashing on the sand in the tanks.so didnt buy the wrasse from that system but cross contamination from sharing nets/ hands in tanks can contaminate anyway and as most if not all lfs in my area all get fish from same wholsaler and lfs's take fish back that sold a customer and returned or from tank breakdown and just go in same system as alot fish at lfs then i convinced myself every lfs probably rife with diesesed fish..
So will probably give a rodi dip and see if flukes or not drop off.
And now going back to thinking " IS ALL SALTWATER FISH DIESESED/ GOT PARASITES"

 

[ying yang]

Some pictures from today.that picture above looks like it below where the red mark is today unless phone camera not picking it up in picture above from Sunday ( 2 days ago )
Looks like on both pectoral fins where atrached to body is large fluke.unless thats just part the body/ fin.
With naked eye sometimes i think flukes.sometimes not lol

 

[ying yang]

How to raise white worms for tropical fish food

How to raise white worms to feed to tropical fish

www.w9xt.com

Reminder to look into starting culture.
VERY GOOD FOR OUR FISHY FRIENDS

 

[ying yang]

Well last few weeks been explosion of red/ brown on my rocks/ glass/ sand etc,guessing this the diatoms and some red algae from back my hermits,also some specks of green here and there,the gold streaked blennie loving it and he a eating/pooping machine,literally as he chomping from the rocks he pooping at same time and lots poop on sand bed so hoping the hermits/ pistol shrimp clean this up.im siphoning with airline tubing rubber banded to coral feeder once a week and siphon it out at wc day also.
And my input water tds to my rodi is very low still compared to others i see at 300tds etc.
Depending on time of day it ranges from 40- 80 tds so hopefully filters/ di dont have to work as hard so get more life out them but they cheap enough to replace.
Everything going ok except blennie and wrasse flashing on the rocks,well not seen it today ( yesterday was wc day but if they flashing a wc not going stop it so just not seen it lol

 

[ying yang]

Well found out " sassy the wrassy" goes to sleep between 9.15 pm and 9.30 pm every night for 5 nights now ao thought easy to get video so here sassy the wrassy dive bombing ha ha

 

[ying yang]

4 June 2021

youtube.com

Keep forgetting to share youtube first pfffft

 

[ying yang]

Set up stock skimmer that came with tank.
Aqua one g220 skimmer.got both valves fully open and air line cap open just slightly to try break in.seems to be working ok so far ( 2 days) notice 30 minutes after feeding it starts producing gunk and can see it pulling mucky water out and some floaters,but never owned a skimmer so nothing to compare it to.
Read some say just bin it and buy good one but some also say it does good enough job if tuned in correctly so will see how it goes

 

[ying yang]

Added some crushed coral into 2 old filter boxes from another tank and placed them inbetween the baffles in sump so hopefully some water passes through and buffers the water ph ( what i know of water though it takes path of least resisance but since adding crushed coral and the skimmer my ph gobe from 7.8- 82 so skimmer doing good job at aerating the water and expelling co2 so ph rose to a level that is recommended so im happy camper.

Still got explosion of red/ brown on glass/ sand/rocks ,probably diatoms and possible red slime algae but blennie eating it still anyway.will add some snails shortly to try help with it ,nasarius/ trochus,possible cerith,and couple turbo snails and just add few of each for time being and keep adding cuc as and when needed and nearly time fore to buy another peaceful fish so be a blennie i think.but everything going ok with system so far.

 

[ying yang]

Well lights just went off tank at night. Just used torch to check as i do occaaionally and seen what at first looked like pistol shrimp in distress just inside entrance to one of the tunnels but then im pretty sure seen 3 claws and one of them looked more whiter than usual so im thinking maybe i wake up in morning and find molt of the shrimp.also the ywg usually very protective of the shrimp if i go near glass and ushers shrimp back in out of sight but this time he came out another entrance and ended up in a cave up/ above entrance where shrimp was ( all i can think of is goby knows shrimp needs bit of space to molt and isnt clambering and manhandling him.i got 3 hermits and a juvenile silver belly wrasse about 2 inch maybe so if shrimp haa molted i hope there be something left of the molt for me to inspect as never seen it in person before. But in last week i added crushed coral in sump in high flow section and a skimmer so ph has risen so i guess the calcium/ alk/ magnesium easier to use at a higher ph.