Griff's "let's see if I have learned anything" upgrade

[griff500]

I stopped off at AAC (an excellent LFS in the UK) with my girlfriend on the way back from an airport run and as a consequence she has now added to the tank a Yellow Watchman Goby with Pistol Shrimp, Royal Gramma, Spotted Mandarin (plenty of flatworms for him) and a Twistii Wrasse - not one I would have gone for and I didn't think too much of it under the lights in the shop but it's stunning under my tank lights.

So I added four fish and none of them were the ones I'd said I wanted to add...

I had put a divider in the middle of the tank to give the tangs a bit of a timeout for a couple of days. The Achilles wanted to get back with the others for some unknown reason and so I've let them do their thing. He's not looking great but I've had tangs that have been worse and recovered so fingers crossed. He is eating and, although the PBT is making sure that the Achilles cannot entirely relax, it's not too bad at the moment.

Levels are good and coral colours are getting more vibrant.

 

[griff500]

The tank is a lot more relaxed and the Tangs appear to be getting along reasonably well. The Achilles needs to get rid of his spots but he's eating very well.

 

[griff500]

Some coral pictures just before lights out, so there was lots of blue and I had a yellow filter on my iPhone. I've got to get my proper camera out and remember how to use it so I can take some better pictures. These look a bit over-saturated but not that far off what I'm seeing.

The next one had zero colour when I put it into the tank a few weeks ago and it's starting to look like it has some potential.

I think this one is going to be nice - it's starting to grow at the base and showing some nice colours that are beginning to come out.

 

[griff500]

Playing with the iPhone - just cropped with auto-correction and a vignette on a few. I’m feeding a lot of food at the moment to try and help the Achilles, so the glass needs cleaning more than usual but nutrient levels are still ok.

I'm feeding a lot to help the Achilles so the glass needs cleaning every day or two at the moment, but levels are holding steady regardless of the heavy feeding. I'll finish cleaning the back glass once the Achilles is ok - I don't want to do anything to cause more stress at the moment.

 

[Peach02]

Looking great! Is the Achilles on a food strike?

 

[griff500]

Looking great! Is the Achilles on a food strike?

Thanks.

He is eating very well. I just want to make sure he is very well fed because he has spots.

 

[Peach02]

Thanks.

He is eating very well. I just want to make sure he is very well fed because he has spots.

its good he is eating, id recommend using a reef safe treatment to be on the safe side, e.g. polyp lab aqua medic or reef revolution parasite remover

 

[griff500]

its good he is eating, id recommend using a reef safe treatment to be on the safe side, e.g. polyp lab aqua medic or reef revolution parasite remover

I’m already trying Medic to see if it provides any relief.

 

[Peach02]

I’m already trying Medic to see if it provides any relief.

goodluck, hopefully it works

 

[griff500]

goodluck, hopefully it works

Thanks. As we know, it’s not a cure but hopefully it can provide just a little bit of relief. All the time he is eating well he has a chance to develop some immunity and that’s why I’m feeding the tank quite often.

 

[griff500]

It's a thankless job being a Cleaner Wrasse - they come up and ask you to give them a clean and then chase you around the tank when you do too good a job, then a few minutes later they are back! ;Smuggrin

 

[raketemensch]

Great thread, very helpful. I am a big fan of using build threads to track your work (in other hobbies, I'm new to this one), and all of your notes about dosing and balance are very informative. That's a beautiful tank, too. I'm quite jealous of your automation at this point, that is some amazing gear.

 

[griff500]

Great thread, very helpful. I am a big fan of using build threads to track your work (in other hobbies, I'm new to this one), and all of your notes about dosing and balance are very informative. That's a beautiful tank, too. I'm quite jealous of your automation at this point, that is some amazing gear.

Thanks! I've always found these types of threads useful and hopefully there's some stuff learned as I go along that helps others. It's interesting to look back and see various stages as well.

The GHL equipment is all excellent and I'm so glad that I moved from Neptune/Ecotech to all GHL. The lights are particularly good and I'm surprised they are not more popular. I can even sit on the sofa, look at the tank and not get blinded by light spill...

I need to make some effort to finish setting some things up and figure out programming a bit better. It's doing what I need but I'd like to to get it doing more and be a bit more sophisticated and I still need to make the baffle and fit the flow sensors. I was going to have media reactors with flow sensors that automatically maintained the return pump flow rate when taking media offline to change it. The live rock is doing such a good job that I haven't bothered to set up a media reactor (the custom one I had made hasn't even been used)! I could do that with the UV I guess.

I'll hopefully be getting the ION Director when it comes out to further automate.

I'm also considering moving to Triton for dosing as I tried their testing and it was quicker than ATI and they also offer the N-DOC test (ATI were supposed to have Carbon testing at the beginning of this year and they have gone silent on it and are not even responding to questions I have asked about when, or if, this will happen).

Overall, it's going quite well so far!

 

[griff500]

I’m pleased with this frag holder. Much stronger magnets than the other one, which was always threatening to fall off!

 

[Soylent Wrasse]

Beautiful system. Thanks for posting, fun read!

 

[griff500]

Beautiful system. Thanks for posting, fun read!

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying it.

 

[griff500]

Things are calm between the tangs and they are putting up with each other very well. The Achilles still needs to shake his parasites but he is eating well and getting fatter. Colour on the Yellow and PBT is stronger and they are looking good.

Some more Wrasse additions today:

- Yellow Tail Tamarin.
- Black Tail Tamarin.
- Diamond Tail (female, hoping it will transition).
- Pintail.
- Femininus.

I have a trap in there for the Six Line and a mirror behind it...

The Femininus and Diamond Tail are hiding but the others are out.

I’ve got a spare set of rotors and cages for the Gyres... instant typhoon and had to drop the output down by 40%... I must remember to clean them more often. It’s easier to keep on top of maintenance with a spare set.

 

[griff500]

I've stopped all dosing, which was only a bit of C and N, and just let it do it's thing. As I am feeding a lot for the Achilles I had found P creeping up so I was dosing N to try and maintain balance (currently at 5) and C to combat it - stopped all of that and P is dropping (a high of 0.1 but now 0.08). I'll be keeping an eye on this but it does seem to do better when I do less, which is something I find to be quite common.

I've got to measure Calcium and Magnesium in a bit - I have a feeling that they might be a bit low.

All fish except the Black Leopard Wrasse are out and about. The poor Black Leopard gets chased back in the sand by the Six Line the moment he comes out. I'm amazed he's still alive and hopefully I can get the Six Line out sooner rather than later.

Current fish stock:

- Achilles Tang.
- Powder Blue Tang.
- Yellow Tang.
- Femininus Wrasse.
- Diamond Tail Wrasse.
- Pintail Wrasse.
- Cleaner Wrasse.
- Spotted Mandarin.
- Twistii Wrasse.
- Black Leopard Wrasse.
- Lineatus Wrasse.
- Pair of Picasso Clownfish.
- Dusky Wrasse.
- Black Tail Tamarin Wrasse.
- Yellow Tail Tamarin Wrasse.
- Six Line Wrasse.
- Watchman Goby.

I don't think I've forgotten anyone. I lost the Royal Gramma unfortunately.

The tank is reasonably peaceful. The Six Line has to go for obvious reasons (he also doesn't particularly like Tamarin Wrasse but it's really the Black Leopard that he hates). The PBT chases the Lineatus, the Lineatus chases the Pintail and the Pintail chases the Femininus - none of them chase that often though and it's half-hearted.

It will be interesting to see what the current bioload does to nutrient levels.

 

[griff500]

I managed to get a picture of my Pintail Wrasse.

 

[griff500]

A chap at one of the LFS that I use gave me a tip about putting a mirror behind the fish trap to get the Six Line out - I'd forgotten about that and so I set it up and sat back ready to catch him. No, I'm not quite that naive, but as he is quite aggressive I thought this had a reasonable chance of success.

I have had up to five fish in there at the same time, but my favourite so far was all three Tangs (Yellow, Powder Blue and Achilles) at the same time... and it's not that big a fish trap! Guess who is the only fish who seems rather disinterested in this cunning plan...

The Achilles is still covered in parasites but a bit less and is getting fatter and is very active. There are signs of improvement but I know how these things come and go. They are all getting along quite well now and there is hardly any aggression (for now).

The Femininus is feeding well and is simply gorgeous. Unfortunately she goes to bed quite early so I'm probably only going to see her at the weekends and when I work from home. Perhaps she will adapt to the light cycle over time. She is a stunning fish though and hopefully all will continue to go well, although I know how it can be with Anampses. The Yellow and Black Tails seem to like hanging out together and are also eating well.

I'll be looking for a few more to finish the stock off. A replacement Royal Gramma for my girlfriend, a Potters Wrasse if I can find one with the right colour... not sure what else. Suggestions? It doesn't have to be a Wrasse...