Diane's 180 gallon build

dede

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Building the stand.

 
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dede

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After scrubbing and soaking the rock in Clorox, then rodi, then saltwater I added it to the acrylic tank. I also got some live rock to add as well. Here is the tank with current aquascape.
rockwork.jpg
 
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Found this guy crawling around the frag rack after I purchased the Nephthea from a local reefer. Pulled him out to get a closer look as I thought he was a pest. After researching on r2r I realized he was a stomatella snail and a good addition to the tank so I put him back in the q tank.
stomatella.jpg
 

Daniel@R2R

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Found this guy crawling around the frag rack after I purchased the Nephthea from a local reefer. Pulled him out to get a closer look as I thought he was a pest. After researching on r2r I realized he was a stomatella snail and a good addition to the tank so I put him back in the q tank.
stomatella.jpg
Nice addition to the CUC!
 
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dede

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Lost 2 fish in one week. Found the cleaner wrasse on the floor, I do have a mesh on top of tank but had left a 1 inch gap when cleaning tank the day before. Then found my filefish stuck in the sea fan not moving but still alive, I pulled him out and did fresh water dip and put him in CP (ebay) but he died the next day.

Both fish were only in the DD about a month after quarantine. I did ttm on tang and filefish and left wrasse in with a black molly. Filefish had some white raised spots but looked just like the pic on liveaquaria so thought is was normal part of coloring and he never lost any during ttm.
filefishsex_zps05d1bfce[1].jpg


Before I lost the filefish I noticed that the anthias had been flashing and also going to the cleaner shrimp which I never saw him do before. I was thinking flukes as he is yawning a lot too. I also have caught a glimpse of something on bottom of eyelid as well as on the yellow tank that I though could be eye flukes.

Both filefish and tang were treated with prazi in q-tank prior to putting in the dd.

Same day I lost the filefish I had two shipments coming in of coral and live fish. So very stressful day and sick over losing my fish.

I am worried about the other fish. Everyone is eating and I do not see any spots but anthias and sailfin are going to the cleaner shrimp frequently.

I saved the carcass from the filefish in the fridge and just got a couple of used microscopes so going to see if I can do a skin scrape. Not sure it will work given the fish has been dead almost a week but will give it a try.

In any event I think I need to pull the fish and treat with copper, I have avoided the copper treatment as I have had an issue with ammonia every time I quarantine fish and am doing multiple water changes to keep it under control.

So now it is logistics holding me up, how I am going to deal with the larger tanks needed to do this treatment and move the current q-tank stuff to make room.
 
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dede

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Bought a diamond goby and midas blenny last week from LA. Shipment was delayed a day but I followed the advice on here to temp acclimate and match salinity and put them right into my cycled q-tank. This is the first time I have order online and didn't have much hope for the fish after they were delayed a day but so far they are alive one week later and both eating well.

I also have a black molly in this tank as a canary so to speak. He has been alone now for a couple of weeks and is now in love with the blenny. The blenny just pokes his head out of the rockwork, and the Molly is staying close by. On the rare occasion the blenny swims in the open the molly is swimming right by his side.

They came in at 2.015 salinity which was lower then I expected by I had heated RODI water on hand and just adjusted the tank water. If they have ich then the low salinity is probably keeping it at bay. The molly does seem so be a bit sluggish and staying lower in the tank then normal, but like I said it wants to be close to the blenny.

I know I have to do something with prophylactic treatment, thinking copper this time but for some reason I am afraid of the copper. Just distressed over losing the filefish and in limbo on what to do with big tank. I have 5 fish now in there including 3 tangs, what is holding me back is space for all these fish and worried about killing them in copper.
 
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dede

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Finally got my reeflite controller setup with 2 heaters for redundancy. There was a local reefer selling his tank and his heaters malfunctioned killing most of his fish. Been putting it off but that was a good wakeup for me to get on it.

I also hooked my Chinese black boxes to the controller so now they are automated as well, I was turning them on and off by hand so have more consistency with light and heat now. I already had installed an ATO to also help with stabilization.
 
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dede

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Well I broke my refugium and my reefmania skimmer trying to get it out of my sump, so I bought a used RO int 220 elite from a member on the site. Set up the chaeto in a 5 gallon bucket in my sump for the time being. I do not have baffles as my glass cutting skills were not up to par.

Phosphates have continued to be a problem so I purchased some GFO and mixed with some carbon and put them in a used BRS reactor. The carbon was what was left over from previous owner not sure if it is good. Anyway my phosphates when I set up the tank where over 2 and with water changes and tank maturing dropped to .6 but until I added the refugium stayed at .6 for a couple of months.

After adding the refugium the phosphates slowly dropped to about .4 and nitrates to almost undetectable but since breaking the 20 gallon glass aquarium and putting chaeto in a bucket phosphates and nitrates started to rise again. Also, I love feeding my fish so I feed multiple times a day.

Meanwhile I have not lost any coral in the last 6 months but they really have not grown at all. Colors look good just no growth. I probably do not have the light set right and I am using cheap Chinese boxes. Flow is also another issue I will probably change just trying to move slowly and keep the stuff I have alive right now. Also, I love feeding my fish so I feed multiple times a day.

Just bought my first fish in a while, a diamond goby for my sand bed. He is in quarantine right now with my black molly in an established tank with rock and sand. Then will move him once he gets used to me and eats well to ttm and then observation. This is the third attempt I am making at getting a diamond goby through quarantine, first 2 died.
 
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dede

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Getting my first shipment of sps tomorrow from Battlecorals. Got a nice pack of old school classics.
  1. Miss Scarlett
  2. Reef Ready Grape Juice
  3. Dales Purple Unknown
  4. BC Magic Wand
  5. Snipers Blue
  6. Paletta Pink Tip

  1. IMG_0284-Edit_zpsbsjdtvtr.jpg
 
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dede

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Just got an awesome deal on fish from a local reefer that was getting out of the hobby. I scored 10 new fish including a blue hippo tang, foxface, some chromis, pajama cardinal, 6-line wrasse, couple of clownfish, yellow watchman goby and damsel. I will probably set up a permanent small tank for the smaller fish.

Also got a cleaner skunk, snails and some live rock all for $70 bucks.
 

NY_Caveman

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Just got an awesome deal on fish from a local reefer that was getting out of the hobby. I scored 10 new fish including a blue hippo tang, foxface, some chromis, pajama cardinal, 6-line wrasse, couple of clownfish, yellow watchman goby and damsel. I will probably set up a permanent small tank for the smaller fish.

Also got a cleaner skunk, snails and some live rock all for $70 bucks.

Score!
 

Creating a strong bulwark: Did you consider floor support for your reef tank?

  • I put a major focus on floor support.

    Votes: 59 40.1%
  • I put minimal focus on floor support.

    Votes: 33 22.4%
  • I put no focus on floor support.

    Votes: 49 33.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 4.1%
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