HighEndOfTheLow's Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL

[highendofthelow]

So it's been just under a week since the Helfrichi firefish x2 and the pintail wrasse and figured I'd give an update.

So for the first 24 hours the lineatus wrasse was unrelenting in chasing the pintail around the tank, however thankfully after 48 hours there was mutual respect and after 72 hours everything is fine.

The extra fish have also managed to add that extra bit of movement to the tank it was missing.

Though purely from a maintenance perspective a tang is long overdue as well,

(aware of the bubble algae starting to pop up and some weird very tight fuzz algae patch on one of the rocks)

I'm still waiting on the Ca reactor (annoyingly) but hopefully that won't be long.

All in all things are looking pretty good.

 

[highendofthelow]

Still not C02 for the Calcium reactor grumble grumble however I have been told it "should" be available Monday, unfortunately as I'm on call with work for the next week so I'm largely local bound.

Today I finally got round to razoring the tank, I'm blessed that my tank requires very infrequent cleaning due to the bioload.

We also picked up a porcelain crab which dived straight into the lavender mushrooms; one of Liz's favourites. I maybe brave and add a pom pom crab or two soon (purely weary of the possum wrasse which is pretty dang predatory) even if I rarely see them I love them and have always wanted one.

I also picked up some some salt I figured the tank was long overdue a water change even if it's just to top up any missing trace.

I also made a stupid mistake beginning of the week with..well forgetting I have a protein skimmer, again I have to drain it so infrequently I forget ! To say it was a bit of a mess was an understatement.

Once I've worked out the space I have for the Calcium reactor I'm consider squeezing a protein skimmer reservoir.

Next purchase however is likely to be some form of tang, I'm just having a super difficult time chosing which I want.

 

[revhtree]

Looks great!

You can also add a float switch to the skimmer cup!

 

[highendofthelow]

Looks great!

You can also add a float switch to the skimmer cup!

Yea I'm reasonably handy and done my fair share of Arduino projects and the thoughts crossed my mind to do a flow switch controlled relay

 

[najer]

Looking very nice, I'm picking up a porcelain today.

 

[highendofthelow]

Seems to have settled on well,

On another note we've been given an offer and we're not 100% sure what to do.

My LFS has a large regal tang in their coral table around ~6-7inch in size which is becoming increasingly shy, the LFS has had it for months and it is genuinely one of the cleanest nicest regals ive ever seen, and probably one of the nicest I'll ever see.

Now my LFS has offered it to me free of charge (We go way back) if I take it because he knows it'll be happier in our tank;

Liz and I have debated on it and we're unsure if it'll be too big for the look and feel of the tank and possibly be a substantial increase in bioload (not that I'm struggling).

We'll probably take it on a trial basis and see how we go I guess for a few weeks/months It's nuts because I see the 6ft tank and still feel it's kinda small for some of these tangs, if it was smaller I'd snap the offer but I'm slightly more hesitant, equally knowing I have probably the best home in the local area for it also plays a little.

On other news Calcium reactor is being built in Germany by deltec and should be with us hopefully end of this week/next week, But there's huge headaches involved with Co2 regs and bottles, so my other LFS is exploring other options. I'm painfully aware how close it is til Christmas where we go away for 10 days so I'm starting to consider my backup options.

 

[Brew12]

Seems to have settled on well,

On another note we've been given an offer and we're not 100% sure what to do.

My LFS has a large regal tang in their coral table around ~6-7inch in size which is becoming increasingly shy, the LFS has had it for months and it is genuinely one of the cleanest nicest regals ive ever seen, and probably one of the nicest I'll ever see.

Now my LFS has offered it to me free of charge (We go way back) if I take it because he knows it'll be happier in our tank;

Liz and I have debated on it and we're unsure if it'll be too big for the look and feel of the tank and possibly be a substantial increase in bioload (not that I'm struggling).

We'll probably take it on a trial basis and see how we go I guess for a few weeks/months It's nuts because I see the 6ft tank and still feel it's kinda small for some of these tangs, if it was smaller I'd snap the offer but I'm slightly more hesitant, equally knowing I have probably the best home in the local area for it also plays a little.

On other news Calcium reactor is being built in Germany by deltec and should be with us hopefully end of this week/next week, But there's huge headaches involved with Co2 regs and bottles, so my other LFS is exploring other options. I'm painfully aware how close it is til Christmas where we go away for 10 days so I'm starting to consider my backup options.

Great picture of the crab!

I think the Regal will do just fine in your system. Mine is in the 7" to 8" range and still does ok in my 5' tank. We both have lots of open areas for swimming for the fish to take advantage of. Such a beautiful fish, especially when they get to that size!

 

[Devaji]

beautiful FTS and crab I love those guys too! glad he found a spot you get to enjoy it!


man hard choice on the tang...curiuos to see what you guys do.

 

[highendofthelow]

So I'm *fingers crossed* hoping to collect my Calcium reactor this weekend but waiting for confirmation of the LFS.

We're also going to my local LFS probably and no doubt will discuss the regal tang.

Finally to keep things interesting... So I have a number of hobbies and interests one of which includes things like an interest in fossils; only small generally inexpensive ones to date but I recently came across one I couldn't miss out on...

Yea that's a mantis shrimp... ^^

They're ultimately going to get framed and hung on the wall.

 

[highendofthelow]

So no update from my Ca reactor LFS so it's looking like it's unlikely to be this weekend T_T

But we did go to our Local LFS;

The big blue hippo in the room...

we've agreed to take it on at least on a temp basis,

We also picked up 2 more Ricordia, both nice ones to expand our small collection.

And a cleaner shrimp to bring us up to two, I like keeping a pair round as they generally spawn readily in an aquarium and this in turn becomes free zooplanktonic food.

 

[highendofthelow]

Better shot of the second ric

The whole ric garden.

I'm now on the hunt for more blues/yellows/reds/multicolours.

I also ironically 10 minutes after posting got an update from the Ca reactor LFS .

We FINALLY have the co2 bottles landed (the main hold up) but the Ca reactor is still on the way from Germany (as they're built to order by Deltec) we have an expected delivery of everything this week and pencilled in collection next weekend.

 

[highendofthelow]

Geez I'm getting tired of this now...

So just been informed my Calcium reactor still isn't in the country the parcel we thought was mine to the LFS was a Skimmer :'(

To add insult to injury I've had a small amount of strip on two pieces (ice fire echi frag and my super expensive pink blue plating) to say I'm irritated is an understatement.

Thankfully both seem to settle and it's just down to instability on my part manually dosing/not being able to keep up with demand + having a bad cold for a week or so taking the eye off the tank.

I've also ran out of trace elements last week (with the intention of picking up more tomorrow with the calcium reactor but that's now not going to happen)

Small amount of good news is my 12 year old clowns have started spawning again.

As such I intend to complete a water change this weekend to try and supliment the never ending trace need.

 

[highendofthelow]

So instead of going to the LFS to pick up the calcium reactor, we decided to go to a different local-ish LFS that we have to try and source some trace elements as the tank was starting to suffer after no trace addition for 10 ish days,

We actually picked up some coral essentials A B C again along with...

because we are struggling with greens particularly and I suspect because we have a strong large ish algae bed, a bottle of their Iron Trace,

And my first black bottle, a bottle of Chroma+ which is a general colour enhancer.

We also picked up some cheap frags which looked interesting.

A green with golden eye and blueish growth rim chalice,

And a no Id smooth ish looking skin acro, it has some interesting colours in it so we'll see.

We also went to our Local LFS on the way home and picked up some saltwater

And this thing...

We also recieved some replacement brackets for our lights, basically there was a known issue with paint flaking off which ours exhibited, a painless email to red sea and replacement were sent to us in the post.

Fingers crossed the calcium reactor will come in early this week for a chance of picking it up one evening.

 

[highendofthelow]

So the regal has been in just shy of 1 day, it spent the first 2-3 hours freaking at it's own reflection *rolls eyes* but today has settled down significantly.

It's eating fine but given this is the first regal I've owned I'm genuinely surprised at how gentle it is around food compared to my past experience of tangs, it's mouth structure is also very different to the tangs I'm used to and it's interesting to see how much algae (if any) it'll take.

I also dosed my first lost of Chroma+ last night ... this stuff is awesome it has a crazy glow to it and although I'm the first to call out snake oil, I'm beginning to see patches of florescent pigments I haven't seen In months on a few pieces in really looking forward to see the impact.

Just about to complete a water change on the tank too, but it's nice seeing some of the colour bounce back quickly.

(Ignore the particulate I feed heavy just before a water change)

 

[highendofthelow]

Water change done skimmer cleaned and started cleaning the gyres .. following in from last times attempt I tried to locate a better cleaning vessel then my water change bucket.

And manages to find this storage tub which seems far more effective.

I could actually fit both in at the same time but I'm in no real hurry.

That's 50:50 white vinegar to dirty tank water in hindsight r.o would probably have been better but I had the reasonably clean waste water to hand.

 

[najer]

Nice fish, I will be following on the Chroma +, I winced when I saw the price!

 

[highendofthelow]

Nice fish, I will be following on the Chroma +, I winced when I saw the price!

Being a former Zeo-head I only winced for 5 minutes hah! And even liz has stopped rolling her eyes these days but it does add up.

The price is reasonably comparable but it's a bit more relaxed compared to Zeo,

I'm hoping the calcium reactor will produce/ help fill the majority of the trace element needs to the point I may not need ABC (ICP tests will help clarify any missing gaps)

Chroma+ however is an overall vitality and vibrance improver so this may be a long standing product if the results are as good as people say.

1 bottle should in theory last me 3 months approx, so I'm viewing this as a trial period.

 

[najer]

Keep us updated please, a steady supply of frags to my lfs covers my running costs, if it works I will pay the money!?

 

[Devaji]

great looking regal tang always have love em one of my fav. deff. gonna have one in my 750!

 

[highendofthelow]

great looking regal tang always have love em one of my fav. deff. gonna have one in my 750!

Word of advice try and get one smaller ours seems to like making frags ...

So far my montipora confusa is in approx 8 bits and my setosa has been split in 3.

Nothing I can't live with.

It now had a nice access hole mind to a cave where she sleeps...

Gyres have been cleaned and reinstalled.