It was this big... Now its this big...

[Stang67]

... ;) :face-blowing-a-kiss:

They say dogs are a great judge of character. Not to brag but she liked me ;)

 

[Mrs.F i s h y]

Happy Anniversary @F i s h y here is to many many more xoxoxo

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Get a room you two! Mr. @ Mrs. Fishy....honestly what goes on here? Oh and congratulations on another year!

 

[fishguy242]

Congrats you guys ... :)

"BRA"vo...;):face-blowing-a-kiss:

 

[fishguy242]

A turtle ?... :thinking-face: ;)

 

[F i s h y]

Quick reefing update.
my reef almost died on my anniversary...

My mertens nem which now measures about 30 inches across decided to cuddle the gyre while we were out spending some midday time together. It was stuck to it for about 2 hours maybe 3. During that time it sent so many stinging cells into the tank that every fish was effected. by the time that i got to it, all of the fish were either laying on the bottom or gasping for air at the surface. my assumption is from their gills being burned by breathing in the nems stinging cells. If i hadnt caught it when i did, the fish would have started dying one by one causing a chain reaction. I immediately changed out my carbon and increased the flow to my reactors. I also installed an air stone under my return pump and under one of my gyres to heavily increase the O2 level in the tank. As we have a 400 gallon system roughly, and i can only do about 70 gallons of water at a time, a water change could have been done but would have been ineffective in my opinion. it took 4 hours of heavy aeration and carbon to finally get everyone calmed down. We lost 2 anthias, a wrasse, and my 8 inch powder blue tang. All of the tangs had or still have cloudy eyes, are shedding mucous, and are still not all of the way back to normal. I dont think there will be any additional losses though.

Had i been at work for one or both of my jobs, i believe it would be a total tank crash. Giving some heavy consideration to hanging it up for a while.

I have taken down all of my phyto and rotifer cultures and am no longer trying to raise clowns. I'll keep all of the equipment and when life settles down i will go at it again.

My doser seemed to be working well. My test kits however were not. My not expired reagents for several tests seem to be bad. I have replaced those and also purchased secondary tests to verify them. At one point i went from 11 alk to 5.6 alk back up to 13.1 alk in about 3 weeks. suffice to say things were not happy. Salinity was also off, as well as my calcium test.

I would consider a cheaper icp test that only does maybe salinity, alk, ca, mg, po4, no3, that way i can cross reference my testers and kits are working as they should be. Id even be open to a monthly subscription for that... Million dollar idea anyone?

thats about it for Fishys Fraggy Wonderland for now

 

[Stang67]

Jesus brother. I would be more then willing to chip in and get you a couple icp tests if that helps. I'm so sorry but so glad at the same time. Please don't give up. We all need you.

 

[F i s h y]

Jesus brother. I would be more then willing to chip in and get you a couple icp tests if that helps. I'm so sorry but so glad at the same time. Please don't give up. We all need you.

No worries. Going to give it another month really try to get a better schedule down, get doser set back up and see how it goes. Even if I did ice tests really it's coming down to available time. Which is a premium at the moment.

 

[MERKEY]

So sorry to hear all of this has happened, especially on the happiest of days. We have all had our downs, you are not alone!

Congrats to you guys and also condolences for the tank.

Things will turn around and will be thriving in no time!

 

[MrsBugmaster]

Quick reefing update.
my reef almost died on my anniversary...

My mertens nem which now measures about 30 inches across decided to cuddle the gyre while we were out spending some midday time together. It was stuck to it for about 2 hours maybe 3. During that time it sent so many stinging cells into the tank that every fish was effected. by the time that i got to it, all of the fish were either laying on the bottom or gasping for air at the surface. my assumption is from their gills being burned by breathing in the nems stinging cells. If i hadnt caught it when i did, the fish would have started dying one by one causing a chain reaction. I immediately changed out my carbon and increased the flow to my reactors. I also installed an air stone under my return pump and under one of my gyres to heavily increase the O2 level in the tank. As we have a 400 gallon system roughly, and i can only do about 70 gallons of water at a time, a water change could have been done but would have been ineffective in my opinion. it took 4 hours of heavy aeration and carbon to finally get everyone calmed down. We lost 2 anthias, a wrasse, and my 8 inch powder blue tang. All of the tangs had or still have cloudy eyes, are shedding mucous, and are still not all of the way back to normal. I dont think there will be any additional losses though.

Had i been at work for one or both of my jobs, i believe it would be a total tank crash. Giving some heavy consideration to hanging it up for a while.

I have taken down all of my phyto and rotifer cultures and am no longer trying to raise clowns. I'll keep all of the equipment and when life settles down i will go at it again.

My doser seemed to be working well. My test kits however were not. My not expired reagents for several tests seem to be bad. I have replaced those and also purchased secondary tests to verify them. At one point i went from 11 alk to 5.6 alk back up to 13.1 alk in about 3 weeks. suffice to say things were not happy. Salinity was also off, as well as my calcium test.

I would consider a cheaper icp test that only does maybe salinity, alk, ca, mg, po4, no3, that way i can cross reference my testers and kits are working as they should be. Id even be open to a monthly subscription for that... Million dollar idea anyone?

thats about it for Fishys Fraggy Wonderland for now

Wow, so sorry for your losses but glad it wasn’t worse! The ups and downs of reefing… many times I think I will get out but I never do cause I do love the hobby. Hang in there and let me know if I can help in any way. I’m not that far from you

 

[F i s h y]

Measurable losses but even with the instability of the last few months things don't look terrible.



And it tested out pretty good.

 

[F i s h y]

Still alive. :)
Did a partial sump clean out. Looking to replace my Cheato with something the tangs will enjoy eating better. Probably go with Caulerpa. wouldn't mind some red macro as well.
Got rid of a bunch of coral last night to a local guy. I've been cutting stuff down and removing stuff.

Mini tank reset coming. going to vacuum sand really good, redo some stuff in the sump, clean off the scape (corals), move it around, remove some of my coral from the tank all together, replace coral back on scape, and see what i think. Taking some time off work soon to relax and do this.

Quit the second job.

Will probably set up the phyto and rotifers again.
Will probably try raising clowns again.
Have been having some luck with the Bangaii cardinals.
Currently have 5 ready to go @Stang67 and will have another 4 when warm weather comes @danieyella deal with a fresh batch every 38 days or so, so lots of opportunity with these guys.

Wanting to get more fish. I don't like the tank since the deaths recently, doesn't feel Reefy enough.
Looking for a variety of smaller community type fish to liven up the reef. Anyone have suggestions. Some bottom dwellers and free swimmers. currently I have 4 lyretails and 2 Springeri that I would consider fitting this type.

 

[BryanM]

so many fish, and look at those gonis!!

 

[F i s h y]

so many fish, and look at those gonis!!

The Gonis are my favorite!

 

[BryanM]

The Gonis are my favorite!

I have a couple, but they are not nearly that big! My wife would love those!!

 

[Stang67]

I have a couple, but they are not nearly that big! My wife would love those!!

:smiling-face-with-halo:

 

[Mschmidt]

How small of fish are you thinking? I want a heard of masked movies for myself. They'd probably stay close to the rocks, but could be cool with 40-50 in your tank.

 

[F i s h y]

How small of fish are you thinking? I want a heard of masked movies for myself. They'd probably stay close to the rocks, but could be cool with 40-50 in your tank.

I think that was supposed to say masked gobies. They might be a little small for my tank, my Vlamingi is very large and might consider those a passing snack unfortunately. probably 2 to 4 or 5 inch range. somewhere between the springeri and the anthias, unless its like a cleaner goby or something, the tangs might leave those alone. It would be cool to have an entire harem of those gobies though. i like large groups of similar fish.

 

[Mschmidt]

I think that was supposed to say masked gobies.

Yep gobies.

They might be a little small for my tank, my Vlamingi is very large and might consider those a passing snack unfortunately.

That would be a pricey snack indeed.

probably 2 to 4 or 5 inch range. somewhere between the springeri and the anthias, unless its like a cleaner goby or something, the tangs might leave those alone. It would be cool to have an entire harem of those gobies though. i like large groups of similar fish.

A heard of fire fish? Idk.

 

[F i s h y]

Yep gobies.

That would be a pricey snack indeed.

A heard of fire fish? Idk.

I like the fire fish idea.