IDOC's First Reef Tank Build - 75g

[Pickleowl]

Thanks for this thread Idoc,, I'm slowly getting back into the hobby and reviving my 90g and everything you have done and went thru has taught me alot as well as your research and experiences on equipment.. also, the QT setup and medication was particularly helpful as I'm setting mine up now and parasites/disease scare the stuffing out of me..

Hope to hear an update soon and see some pics of the DT, and thanks again for the thread..

 

[Idoc]

Thanks for this thread Idoc,, I'm slowly getting back into the hobby and reviving my 90g and everything you have done and went thru has taught me alot as well as your research and experiences on equipment.. also, the QT setup and medication was particularly helpful as I'm setting mine up now and parasites/disease scare the stuffing out of me..

Hope to hear an update soon and see some pics of the DT, and thanks again for the thread..

Thank you! I'm so glad it has helped you with your new project. Hopefully you won't run into too many bumps in the road with your new setup! I have so much to update on my build thread... just not enough time to get it all written down, lol. I've definitely had some ups and downs in this project, but mostly "ups" so far! I'll make a note to get off my butt and get some updates posted, lol.

 

[samnaz]

How’s the tank coming along?

 

[Idoc]

How’s the tank coming along?

The tank is moving along nicely! I lost a couple diamond gobies to jumping while they were in quarantine, but finally was able to get one to stay in the tank long enough to finish the process. I need to find the time to sit down and update my build thread. What I went through and how I fixed the problem with keeping the final goby in the tank may help someone else someday! I'm still progressing very slowly...4 fish total. But, it's been enjoyable getting to see each of their personalities come out. Researching my next fish now!

 

[jsker]

Just over here seeing what @samnaz was posting about

How do you like the GHL controller?

 

[Idoc]

Just over here seeing what @samnaz was posting about

How do you like the GHL controller?

I really like the Profilux 4 controller. It's my only attempt with a controller, so i can't really give a good comparison, though. But, it is very easy to use... and seems very adaptable. I need to setup a few more things... can't connect to MyGHL app but that's because my internet connection in the basement is faulty. I'm going to add a wifi extender and see how that improves.

 

[mta_morrow]

Excellent read and documenting!

You have done a lot and have much to be proud of!

Following along!

 

[Idoc]

Excellent read and documenting!

You have done a lot and have much to be proud of!

Following along!

Thanks! It doesn't feel like I've accomplished very much, though. I'm moving along at a snail's pace... which is good for this hobby, I guess. Hopefully this weekend i can find some time to update.

 

[mta_morrow]

Thanks! It doesn't feel like I've accomplished very much, though. I'm moving along at a snail's pace... which is good for this hobby, I guess. Hopefully this weekend i can find some time to update.

Your doing it the right way! Which is why you will succeed!
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Which branch did you retire from?

 

[Idoc]

Your doing it the right way! Which is why you will succeed!
Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Which branch did you retire from?

Army...3 years ago! Living the dream now, lol.

 

[jsker]

I really like the Profilux 4 controller. It's my only attempt with a controller, so i can't really give a good comparison, though. But, it is very easy to use... and seems very adaptable. I need to setup a few more things... can't connect to MyGHL app but that's because my internet connection in the basement is faulty. I'm going to add a wifi extender and see how that improves.

Thank you

 

[Bleigh]

The stand is amazing! Do you have any current pics?

 

[Idoc]

The stand is amazing! Do you have any current pics?

Thanks! I definitely need to update my build thread! Lol. I'll have to look for some updated pics!

 

[samnaz]

Would love to hear/see updates!

 

[count krunk]

Need some 2019 pictures!

 

[Bleigh]

Glad we're all in agreement!

 

[Idoc]

Would love to hear/see updates!

Need some 2019 pictures!

Glad we're all in agreement!

Well, I've been battling a terrible outbreak of Amphidinium dinos and Ostreopsis dinos! So, the tank hasn't looked all that great. I only have a few corals in the tank...i didn't want to add any spheal ones until I could get the dinos controlled. I've finally made some good headway in the fight, though. Now, I'm having an ugly green cyano outbreak... but I'll take that over dinos any day!

I've been meaning to sit down and write a detailed description of my dino battle, though. I do have a lot of pictures of those evil little buggers!!

I've also added a few different fish as well that are doing great. I have 2 leopard wrasses that have been going through quarantine for about 2 months now. I may lose one if them... keeping my fingers crossed that she pulls out of her steady decline. They are tough to get thru quarantine, so I've been very careful so far. They are probably still about 6 weeks away from seeing the DT.

 

[Bleigh]

That's hard. Luckily the only fish I've had to QT are my two clowns. Has to be terrible when they don't make it through QT. Looking for a goby now. My QT has been running for a while, so hopefully when I find one I like, it will be happy.

 

[Idoc]

12 weeks of quarantine and the Leopard Wrasse is finally acclimating to the big tank. I started the process with 2 leopards but sadly lost one during the quarantine process. I purposely went very slowly with the quarantine process.

Empty acclination box in tank:

Tank mates checking out their new tank mate:

Leopard Quarantine Process:

1. Purchased 2 leopards from LFS on 3/18/2019 after ensuring they were healthy for 1 week at the store. Their diet was live brine at the store.

2. Pre-dosed the QT to 1ppm copper (CopperSafe). I purposely did yhis to help suppress any external parasites during the expected, lengthy conversion from live to frozen foods.

3. Devoted the first 3 weeks to observation and converting to frozen foods. Initially fed live brine shrimp and then slowly mixed in frozen brine with the live brine. This worked very well. Once solely on frozen brine, i would repeat this process with other types of frozen foods always including some of the previous food they were already used to eating. Finally, I converted them to frozen mysis which I was surprised they could fit in their tiny mouths...but, this wasn't actually introduced until the last few weeks of quarantine.

The "dead leopard" was never really accepting of much food ever, but she did convert to frozen...just barely ever ate anything! Im pretty sure she eventually died due to an internal parasite/worm, but couldn't get her to ever eat enough to medicate!

4. Attempted to feed medicated frozen foods (General Cure + Focus) but stopped after a day due to odd swimming behavior from my "healthy leopard" immediately after feeding. My concern was that maybe she couldn't handle the 1ppm copper plus new medicated food. Feeding with unmedicated foods did not illicit this odd swimming behavior. I believe if I were able to continue this medicated food, my "dead leopard" may have pulled through!

5. Slowly dosed up the copper over 1 week to a therapeutic level. I maintained between 1.61-1.86ppm copper for 18 days.

6. I then transferred both leopards to a new sterile quarantine tank and started to treat the water column with General Cure on 4/30/19. After 6 days, I performed a 30% water change and dosed a 2nd round of General Cure. During this time period, the "dead leopard" had totally stopped feeding and was slowly starving herself to razor thinness. As a last ditch effort, I attempted to force feed her medicated brine shrimp with a pipette...but the pipette was still too big to be able to inject the brine directly into her stomach, so i could only inject it into her mouth... which she would promptly spit out. After 2-3 weeks of agonizingly watching her starve to death while laying on the bottom, she finally passed. After the completion of the 2nd GC dose, I performed a 35% water change.

7. During the GC water treatment, I started to feed medicated foods again (GC+Focus). The "healthy leopard" didn't show as large of an appetite, but did consume the foods without showing the earlier odd swimming behaviors... which convinced me yhe medicated food plus copper treatment was too much for her to initially handle. I fed medicated foods 1x-3x per day for 18 days. The 1x to 3x per day were based upon how many times i could feed with my work schedule and the fish's "sleep/burying schedule" in the sand.

8. Performed a 50% water change following completion of all treatments. Performed an additional and final 3 weeks of observation with no signs of disease or distress.

9. Transferred the leopard to the acclimation box today (6/10/2019) in the morning after really fattening her up with a huge morning breakfast...expecting her to stress and not eat for a couple days while in the main tank acclimation box.

The process might not have been perfect, but it appeared to be a successful protocol so far with the healthy leopard. I believe the "dead leopard" was a weak specimen from the beginning. The only thing I would possibly do differently was start medicated feeding immediately without pre-dosing copper to the water... maybe that would have worked to save the other leopard!

If I see no aggression with the other fish, I may release her into the main tank after 2 days acclimation just before lights out (tomorrow).

Any signs of aggression from my "****** clown fish" (aka Krusty) will result in that clown being removed from the tank! Im tired of her biting me constantly while I work on the tank anyhow!

 

[pelphrey]

Solid qt strategy!!!

I had to remove clowns from my tank due to the bigger one being aggressive. So much so the bigger clown fish would start in on any new fish. Once that started the smaller clown would follow along and they would both kill any new additions.

I hated trading them in since they’d been with me for many years. But it had to be done!