biom's Reef

Janci · Feb 13, 2018

biom said:
Sorry for my late response and thank you for following along. The good news is the tank is still alive . The baths with ReVive and other products based on essential oils did't worked for me. First weeks after the bath Acros were OK but after second treatment they start loosing colors, STN started, and they died. This was long painful period that coincided with busy period for me, as a result the other no acro corals and algae took advantage and overgrown tank. This period ended a month ago when I saw in LFS young Halichoeres leucoxanthus (known as Yellow & Purple Wrasse or White wrasse or Four Spot wrasse or Canarytop wrasse or Whitebelly wrasse or Lemon meringue wrasse - Ooops, I think this fish held the record for many common names ). This small and very active fish solve my AEFW problem in just few days. The last remaining Acros became bright again and showed polyps. The reason I did't did this earlier is I have no sand and my tank is open top. But I find lack of substrate not a problem for this wrasse because all the rocks are lifted 1 inch off the bottom and he is sleeping on there. The only compromise I did is to cover the top of the tank.
Once the flatworms were in control I've started to "clean and cut". During this cleaning process three weeks ago I've got pretty nasty electric shock because of malfunctioning titanium heater (we still dont know what happened exactly), I was thrown clear of the tank by this violent muscular contraction I lost conciseness for short period and my left arm was not really functional for two weeks. But I've survived (again) Off course this did't stop me and two days after I've finished the work (my right arm helped a lot ) now the tank is clean and recovering, me too.
Lessons learnt? Yes, first one: -young yellow wrasses are a must for mature acro tank and the second one - 220 Volt current in the tank is not good idea.
For my coming over 200 gal project there will be no stuff working on more than 12-24 volt for sure.

Stoyan, this is reading like a thriller story. Maybe we can make a movie from all these events.
We are happy you and the tank survived so far.

And thank you for the info because also on my next purchase list... Halichoeres leucoxanthus.

biom · Feb 13, 2018

choss said:
Biom - wow just read the full thread and its a great story so far - glad the tank is recovering, even more glad that you survived the heater incident! Do you have a grounding probe in your tank? I never know if this solves this issue but I thought I'd ask. Looking forward to the recovery of this amazing reef and I just added the first fish to my list - 4 spot wrasse is in my future.

Thank you choss, no I don't have grounding probe and yes I think it could help in combination with GFCI, i found this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/grounding-probe-or-no-grounding-probe.189489/page-2
But to be on the safe side i decided to remove all the sources above 24 volts off the tank, the heating is the main problem, but plan is to heat the tank from outside.

Janci said:
Stoyan, this is reading like a thriller story. Maybe we can make a movie from all these events.
We are happy you and the tank survived so far.

And thank you for the info because also on my next purchase list... Halichoeres leucoxanthus.

Thank you Janci,

This wont be my first movie, I was acting in sort of documentary and to be honest was total crap, despite the fact is was selected in Cannes Film Festival LOL

Halichoeres are very active and attractive fish, they say they will stop eating flatworms once grown up, but will see. It could be another species from genus Halichoeres like Yellow wrasse or
Hoeven's wrasse, they all are known to be interested in flatworms when young, also Leopard wrasse. The other very important member of my tank is Chelmon rostratus who is responsible for keeping nasty Aiptasia's away from my tank.

biom · Jun 4, 2023

Hello guys, I am back after couple of years. I was wondering if I can start new tank build thread or just continue this one...

This 75 gal tank crashed just days after my last post in February 2018. The reason was 12 Volt DiY lights fixature fell into the sump while working. And because it was 12 Volts it just continued working and literally acting like electrolysis device spreading all the heavy metals in the water - almost all corals and invertebrates dyed in 5-10 minutes. I managed to save all fish and to transfer them in the 200 gal tank.

The next project followed immediately - 200 gallon system but it was not successful - I just didn't had enough time and because of some health problems I decided to tear it off and give a break from the hobby. It was not an easy decision for my family. But I am here again and starting slowly this time with a simple nano.