In-wall/Behind-wall, 180g peninsula, with a basement fish closet

[zbryant91]

I bought some Anemone covers for my MP40s and took the opportunity to clean them off. I had a pretty good maintenance schedule in my old tank, but I haven't put one into place with this one, and it sure is noticeable now. I Need to get in a better routine from now on, but for now, nice clean powerheads.

Curious how long you let yours go. I just did all my pumps at ~8 months because one of my vectras started rattling. Did you add any grease to the mp40s? I didn't but I did notice there was grease that I cleaned off

 

[New&no clue]

Curious how long you let yours go. I just did all my pumps at ~8 months because one of my vectras started rattling. Did you add any grease to the mp40s? I didn't but I did notice there was grease that I cleaned off

Eight months for me as well. I used to do pumps every three months. I did not add any grease, but I didn't notice any either. But I was listening to the true-crime podcast at the time, so I wasn't paying 100% attention.

 

[New&no clue]

It has been four months since adding any new corals to the tank. And in the four months, I did a lot of research into anemone tanks. I decided to switch gears on my tank and start adding some harder to keep anemones. I purchased these two gigantea carpets from a fellow reefer who had already quarantined and treated with Cipro. Upon receiving them, I put them into my QT to observe them for a week before putting them into the DT.

They did well in the QT. Both attached quickly, their mouths were closed, and they were sooooo sticky. After a week of no issues, I moved them to the DT.

After moving them to the DT, they both attached next to each other on the rock. They again seemed happy (for a couple of days). Then I started to notice the first signs of issues. The green anemone's mouth started gaping, and the inflate/deflate cycle started.

I debated what to do now. Should I try to get the green one out and back into the QT for another round of Cipro? I was worried about damaging it, trying to pull it off the rock. I started with a water change and tested all parameters. After another day of no difference, I decided I should begin treatment. As I had already dosed Cipro directly to the DT for the BJD, I thought I could do it again. The problem, though, is the amount typically used in Anemone treatment is much higher than what I previously did. However, in the BJD thread and another one, both have claims that you can double the dosage amount. So... What the Heck!

I dosed every day at lights out, and here is how it's gone so far.

Day 1- still gaping and inflating/deflating multiple times a day, only green one affected.

Day 2- The Green one's gaping seems less and inflating/deflating only a couple of times.

Day 3- Sadly, the Purple starts to inflate/deflate, and mouth is slightly gaping. The Green one stays inflated for longer, and the mouth continues to close.

The reason I decided to dose the tank and not pull them out was two parts. The first is I was concerned about removing the green one without causing more issues and stress. The second reason was I was concerned there were some bacteria in the tank as they had been fine in QT and already been treated by the hobbyist I bought them from. I hoped that treating the tank would not all cure them but also rid the tank of the issue.

 

[New&no clue]

Despite the anemone drama, my not-so-local LFS got in some blue mandarin gobies. I had wanted to get a female to pair with my male for some time. Actually, I had asked this LFS about getting one back in early 2020, but it wasn't until recently that she got some in. She claims to train them to eat Mysis, which they might be, but I've got a pretty robust pod population... just in case. Once in the tank, she found the male almost immediately (or he found her).

While there, my kids fell in love with this starfish as well.

 

[OldRed1]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your journey with us on R2R. I am sorry you are experiencing so many challenges with your tank, but reading through this thread has been so informative. Thank you and all the contributors for sharing so much wisdom!

 

[New&no clue]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing your journey with us on R2R. I am sorry you are experiencing so many challenges with your tank, but reading through this thread has been so informative. Thank you and all the contributors for sharing so much wisdom!

Thank you. When I first started researching on here, the threads I was drawn to were the ones that shared the ups and downs of the tank journey. Because, seriously, reef keeping is hard work, and we should all be in it together.

 

[New&no clue]

Day 4- Green one's mouth is almost fully closed, and I haven't noticed deflating except lights out. Purple one's mouth is still open and deflated once during the day that I saw.

 

[New&no clue]

Day 5- The moment I've been waiting for has come. Both looked much better with their mouths basically closed; they were inflated when I went to work and when I came home. When I got home last night, I had exciting news.



The Green one hosted my clownfish. I was so happy. However, I noticed at night when I went to bed, the Purple one had deflated and closed up a lot. I'm not sure if the clowns are annoying it or not. This morning when I got up, the Purple one was still deflated. I set up a camera to record it today to see what happens.

 

[New&no clue]

Day 6- It was not a good day for the Purple One. I got home from work today, and the purple one was so deflated. It took me a min to even find him. He was so small and covered by the Green One. I watch the time-lapse video I took to see what happened but can't really see anything that would have set him off. Possible he is just too close to the Green One. I have seen many tanks with them next to each other and touching, but maybe this was too close.



I wanted to get it off the rock and move to a different spot in the tank or maybe back into the QT for a higher dose of Cipro and some TLC. I couldn't get it off without fear of damaging it, so I turned the powerheads off on that side of the tank. I thought if it wanted to move, it would be easier to do without two MP40s pointed at you.

Its foot had let go this morning and was face down in the sand. Its mouth was wide open, and its tentacles were very short and deflated. I got the QT set up and put it in there. Its tentacles were still sticky, so I hope that is a good sign. I didn't turn on the powerhead in QT because I didn't think he needed to be blown all over.

I haven't given up on you yet, little buddy, don't give up either.

 

[New&no clue]

Day 7- It was a sad day for the Purple One. When I got home from work, it had let go of the net, but its foot was not holding on to anything. It still did not look good.

I did a 100% water change with fresh water and then dosed the recommended amount of Cipro at full strength at lights out. When I came to check on it in the morning, it had started to disintegrate. I used a feeding tube to nudge it a little to see if its foot was stuck, and it pretty much fell apart.

I am really disappointed and now questioning everything I did. Should I have left them in the QT for longer? Should I have immediately pulled them from the DT for treatment? Should I have not let them settle so close to each other? Should I have left the Purple one in the DT and moved it to a different spot away from the Green one?

Thankfully the Green one is doing well. The clowns are still happy with their new home, and the tank doesn't seem to have any issues from the Cipro treatment. I did add some bottle bacteria back into the tank just in case.

 

[Rmckoy]

Thank you. When I first started researching on here, the threads I was drawn to were the ones that shared the ups and downs of the tank journey. Because, seriously, reef keeping is hard work, and we should all be in it together.

Ups and downs seams to be my luck
Partially blaming it on a busy schedule and putting off frequent maintenance

 

[New&no clue]

Ups and downs seams to be my luck
Partially blaming it on a busy schedule and putting off frequent maintenance

Same, I’m majorly to blame for both the goods and bads. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Rmckoy]

Same, I’m majorly to blame for both the goods and bads. Slow and steady wins the race.

Lazy reefing is my excuse .
I see it gradually decreasing over time and pick up maintenance for a short time . But never fails . Life events get in the way which outs reef activities on hold

 

[New&no clue]

I have answered many threads where people have "lost" fish in their tanks and questioned what to do. My answer is always the same, give the fish time to come out. Don't go pulling rocks or digging through the sand; you can cause more trouble that way. If its a goby, it hasn't gotten stuck and can't dig itself out; it will reappear in a couple of days once it's comfortable. However, this is the second time I've had to pull a fish out of the sump. Finding it by accident, not even realizing it was missing. The first time was my tiny green goby, who disappeared a couple of weeks after going into the tank. I didn't think about it, assuming it was small and hidden amongst the rocks. Nope down in my sump hanging out on the pump.

Then just last night, I found my new YWG. My old goby, paired with my pistol shrimp, had died some months ago. I was waiting for warmer weather and got one from Dr. Reef. I put him in, and he disappeared a couple of weeks later. Again I assumed he had paired with the shrimp, and I hadn't seen them come out. Nope, he's down in the sump stuck in the filter roller section.

Seriously I need to start counting fish daily.

 

[Sean Clark]

I've lost a few this same way; finding them later hanging out by the skimmer. I had a mandarin hang out in the overflow box for a while too.

 

[New&no clue]

I've lost a few this same way; finding them later hanging out by the skimmer. I had a mandarin hang out in the overflow box for a while too.

I thought my mandarin went in the overflow once, too, because I scared him, and he jumped out of the water right next to it. I couldn't see him in the tank. I looked all over went down to the basement to check the sump. When I came up, he was slowly picking away at rocks.

These two, I wasn't even looking for them. I noticed the green one when dealing with sump plumbing problems, and I saw something moving weirdly on the pump. The yellow one jumped me when I shined my light into the filter roller chamber to see if GHA was in there, and he swam right by the glass.

I feel like the mom in Home Alone who didn't even know they were missing

 

[Beau_B]

If you feel like trying to rescue more nems, there are 3 h. magnifica at Petco. I did set up a little clown tank, emphasis on little though, so magnificent are too big for me to play with!

 

[New&no clue]

If you feel like trying to rescue more nems, there are 3 h. magnifica at Petco. I did set up a little clown tank, emphasis on little though, so magnificent are too big for me to play with!

Oh no, why would you tell me that? When I saw this first thing this morning, I thought, "not right now" then, as I was getting ready for work, I thought, "Maybe I'll just drive over at lunch and look." My anemone plan was Gigs on the bottom and a really nice Mag on the top.

However, I debated going to the frag swap this weekend and testing my luck with some hammers and torches again for the two rock branches. I can only deal with one challenge at a time...

 

[Beau_B]

AquaSD has some hammers/torches available... I have a box shipping out tonight for tomorrow morning... probably room left ... or is that too enabling??

I too am debating going to the frag swap. I wandered down to the one in Biddeford and was a little dissapointed unfortunately, but who knows, this could easily be better.

 

[New&no clue]

AquaSD has some hammers/torches available... I have a box shipping out tonight for tomorrow morning... probably room left ... or is that too enabling??

I too am debating going to the frag swap. I wandered down to the one in Biddeford and was a little dissapointed unfortunately, but who knows, this could easily be better.

I love AquaSD; I am kicking myself about some of the hammers and torches they had during their live sale that I didn't grab. Have you seen their pink Haddoni;Drool?

Maybe I'll check on FB and see what people plan to bring this weekend.

ALSO.. when are you going to start a build thread?