I received a box of rocks today.

WallyB

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I have been thinking about this since I read it. It is rich with possible analogies and anecdotes. It immediately incorporates into my reefing philosophy. It made me think about approaches to suicide prevention. Certainly one of the chief ways to let the tank meet its demise is neglect. Insensitivity can also contribute. The best way to stop our tanks from dying is spending time with them, getting to know them.
True. Thinking ahead to prevent disasters is key. I actually spend a lot of time planning for any time away from tank like a vacation. In past every time I went away for a week, something would happen, like skimmer getting Stuck, or ATO failing, etc,etc. Now I have a WEB cam so I can watch (and this year, FIRST TIME,.... nothing happened)

I put this thread together that pretty well lists everything bad that has happened my Kitchen Tank over a decade.
Doesn't include the Dishwasher Soap Contamination Story of last two years. But it does have a couple of doozie events.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/90-gallon-mixed-lps-tank-15-year-journey-to-%E2%98%85success%E2%98%85-every-accident-disaster-problem.326397/

May help you think more.
 

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I have been thinking about this since I read it. It is rich with possible analogies and anecdotes. It immediately incorporates into my reefing philosophy. It made me think about approaches to suicide prevention. Certainly one of the chief ways to let the tank meet its demise is neglect. Insensitivity can also contribute. The best way to stop our tanks from dying is spending time with them, getting to know them.


Straight-up beautiful, insightful stuff, right there.

Tank is looking pretty awesome, too!

~Bruce
 

Rakie

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I have been thinking about this since I read it. It is rich with possible analogies and anecdotes. It immediately incorporates into my reefing philosophy. It made me think about approaches to suicide prevention. Certainly one of the chief ways to let the tank meet its demise is neglect. Insensitivity can also contribute. The best way to stop our tanks from dying is spending time with them, getting to know them.


Yep, makes sense to me. Since deciding that the end goal of all tanks is self destruction, it has made me think of tanks in a different way, and augment how I care for them, and how I prioritize what needs to be cared for.

To me, living organisms thriving are not an issue (unless dinos, or a pest which actively kills corals). So to me, if GHA were to take over? no big deal. algae and 'unwanted life' will always ebb and flow in our tanks. It may sound silly to some, but to me, that's a problem that can wait until tomorrow. I've seen too many people cause too many problems trying to force their system to balance out, rather than sitting on their hands for a moment and watching -- because sometimes it goes away on it's own with little to no intervention.

Yet at the same time... Say I calibrate my refractometer as you should check every time you use it -- and I see my salinity got low, from excess wet skimming or something or other.. That's a problem I fix now. Would a salinity of 1.0245 kill everything in hours? nope, but that's the kind of swing that can stress out corals, and with other unknown factors going on, can absolutely be the final straw for one coral or another.
 

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Well if all tanks self destruct, how do you explain @Paul B's 47+YO tank then? I understand where you are coming from but there have to be exceptions.

I said their goal is to self destruct, and it's our job to keep that from happening through knowledge, understanding of the biotope, and dedication.**
 

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I said their goal is to self destruct, and it's our job to keep that from happening through knowledge, understanding of the biotope, and dedication.**

Ahhhh gotcha ;);)
 
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Got a nice picture of the anemone today. It is generally hard to get well focused pictures with my iPhone.
BD4BC099-62D2-419D-AA44-B48633B0412B.jpeg


In other news, stopped by the LFS looking for something specific that I did not think they would have. Well, this picture of my acclimation setup indicates I was wrong.
1A519EAE-818D-4B4E-B0FF-2B7AD05467E1.jpeg


 
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That is one of those filter cups that replace socks. The LFS bag fits well in it and it holds it upright.

So what did I get? A second A. ocellaris. It is a Darwin with a third stripe misbar. A very beautiful specimen I thought that will couple nicely with our current classic ocellaris.

6D16D340-6C31-4083-AD8B-BF940FE316CD.jpeg

68C4DB38-C57C-4772-87DA-DC522A54D7AC.jpeg

F3C9ED94-286C-4C45-A9EF-4D9240495043.jpeg


 
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The Darwin is about 1.25” long and Nemo, our classic, is about 1”. Both pretty small so I assume both male.

I will keep the Darwin in an acclimation box for a couple of days and monitor. The last of the lights had just gone out when I added him to the box. Nemo immediately came to the bag during the float. He looked around for a bit, but was not aggressive. Later he checked out the acclimation box for a while and then resumed wandering around the tank. The others two fish showed zero interest, but they usually head to bed by then.

Here is a short video of him in the box. You can see Nemo swimming around in the background.


 

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Nice. Very nice. I love clown pairs and how they interact.
Great find.

I guess no QT? Straight into the tank Cowboy.
Sometime that works, and sometimes does not.
I used to NOT QT. And still don't QT in my Kitchen tank.
In my SPS tank with many hard worked specimens that all went thru QT. (no QT) is no longer an option for me.

A single clown with VELVET wiped out my whole Tank of fish a few years ago. Including my Powder Blue Tang of 10+ years.

Hoping all goes well, he looks beautiful.
 

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Hello,

I was catching up on your thread and it seems your tank is doing amazing and nice selection of new sps frags. In terms of tanks and suicide prevention, it’s definitely a hard topic. At least with reef tanks most of the time, it’s fairly simple to figure out what we need to do. As with people, it is always harder to figure out. I have seen people go down that painful path and sadly a good portion is due to other people neglecting them and being mean. Others I have seen because they need attention, which still could be neglect but it’s hard to determine. Some have just all kind of reasons why but makes it harder to know how to prevent it.

In terms of tanks, it is much easier to do less than more when figuring something out. A prime example would be i was getting a cyano break out. It was frustrating me and I was turning my lights down, feeding less, etc. I kept thinking I was gonna to for chemi clean but instead went w a ladder goby. He ended up cleaning the tank and the cyano went away because of him. So when our tanks have problems yes it can be do to neglect, but it can also be for other reasons as well.
 

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I always advise everybody to QT... I never tell them that I have never QT'd.

I feed very, very well. I spare** no expense on fish food, and make sure everything is vitamin rich with a myriad of supplements. HUFAs, vitamins, lipids, and all the foods I use are enriched with spirulina, planktons, and phyto.

Doing this keeps my fish healthy. I have taken fish that had some minor illnesses in the past and feeding them a rich varied diet has healed them remarkably quick.
 
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NY_Caveman

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Nice. Very nice. I love clown pairs and how they interact.
Great find.

I guess no QT? Straight into the tank Cowboy.
Sometime that works, and sometimes does not.
I used to NOT QT. And still don't QT in my Kitchen tank.
In my SPS tank with many hard worked specimens that all went thru QT. (no QT) is no longer an option for me.

A single clown with VELVET wiped out my whole Tank of fish a few years ago. Including my Powder Blue Tang of 10+ years.

Hoping all goes well, he looks beautiful.

Well, I have never quarantined in 30 years, but I realize that is Russian Roulette and I am probably due. For this tank I have 4 “cheap” fish. Not that it is about the money, but that is still considered. For this and the previous ocellaris, it is from my most trusted LFS. They are highly selective and quarantine their fish.

Were I ever to set up a large tank, for say Tangs or Angels, I would probably quarantine.



 
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NY_Caveman

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30 years? Wow. Impressive. I guess you have lots of changes in reefing.

Yes things have changed a great deal, but I always try to remember that things also worked well before all of the changes. Some of those changes I embrace, like the simple ATO. A similar device I just set up this very minute.

A5B0A544-E219-48EC-8A2B-753F47370B16.jpeg


I am referring to the two thin jugs at the bottom and the black box above them. Yes, I finally set up my Jebao DP-2 doser. It was simple. Calibration went quickly and the unit tested fine in every way.

185 turns for pump 1, Alkalinity
215 turns for pump 2, Calcium

I am a bit wary of this type of equipment, but the consistency and stability appeal to me (I work long and unusual hours that change frequently). I should mention I am starting slowly and I will obviously be testing Alkalinity throughout.

And now, I have to go because the RO/DI timer just went off.


 
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Very Nice progress! Lost track of the build pretty early on but just caught up. Love the Puppy too!

Theres still hope for your Occy clowns getting in that anemone. Took mine a few months but theyre now litterly insperable. I pulled the anemone rock from the tank last weekend amd the male clown came out with it. I think we have the same anemone but yours is much prettier!

406C15D7-8969-4EB5-98C7-9C855BFCB9B1.jpeg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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