Kodski's 80gal office lagoon

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Kodski

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Added three new additions yesterday. Sadly no pictures as everyone is still settling in.

pink spot watchman goby
Melanurus Wrasse
Green Clown Goby

I also added a mix of about 35 snails and hermits.

Im hoping the pink spot will pair up with my pistol shrimp from my 20 gal when I decide to finish moving everything over to this tank. I’ve read that they will pair up with a shrimp so that would be cool.
 
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Small update since last post.
The next day after my last post the Pinkspot Watchman passed away for unknown reasons. No clue how the Green Clown Goby is doing as I haven't seen him since the first day. I figured that would happen, it was my Fiancé who wanted to put him in anyways. As for the Melanurus Wrasse, for some reason I never knew that it would be a risk to my inverts. I had read a ton on how they were a better alternative to a six line for utility and peacefulness, but no one ever mentioned that they like to munch on inverts. I was lucky and caught him. He is living in my sump now until I can find a new home for him. I'm pretty bummed as Melanurus' have such beautiful coloring.


To add the that bad luck, my fiancé and I are home sick with Covid since Thursday. Hopefully everything will go fast and well for us. I'm a little higher risk as I have asthma, so far it hasn't been great, but not terrible either. To help keep my mind off things I've been trying to spend a bit of time here and there on the tank. Energy levels are high enough to get a few big ticket items done as long as I pace myself. I had transferred a few test pieces of SPS a few weeks ago and have since seen growth so I decided to make the move. Luckily I finished transferring all the SPS from the 20 gal tank earlier in the week. I did loose one SPS frag so far but otherwise everything is doing ok. I still need to mount the lights from the 20 gal over the 80gal. I had meant to do so but started feeling ill instead. I think I'm going to try to get that done this evening yet. I'm quite sick of laying on the couch at this point. Pre Covid I would always work through any cold or illness and wouldn't really let it bother me so I've never been great at laying on the couch for long periods of time. Other than that, yesterday I was able to get my two peppermint shrimp and tiger pistol shrimp moved out of the 20 gal. Its still "running" as of now, I had planned on taking it down entirely yesterday, but I just ran out of energy. Its probably a little wishful but I'd like to get that torn down this evening yet too.
 
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can anyone guess what I’ve got here?? The colors are very pale currently but can’t wait to see in a few days! Been searching for one for months now! acclimation is almost done and into the tank it goes! Along with a few other new friends. :cool:

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looks like a Scribbled angel?
It’s actually a venustus or purple masked angel.

It’s been a rough couple hours for the new additions. I love the spot breast swallowtail that’s in there now and I thought it would be awesome to have a pair. Unfortunately males are incredibly difficult to find. I’ve read many counts of two females doing just fine and where one will change to male. So I picked up a second smaller spot breast swallow tail along with the venustus angel. I added them to the tank and while I expected some aggression, I wasn’t prepared for the wrath the coral beauty would bring to the venustus and the other swallowtail to the new comer. Immediate and relentless chasing. I watched for an hour and the swallowtails had gotten to a point where the established one would do a short chase and then swim away. So some improvement there. The coral beauty though was still chasing the venustus quite a bit. Not just out of her territory either, all around the tank. She would pause once and a while though, so maybe some improvement as well. I decided I needed to walk away from the tank for a bit. So I shut all the lights in that area of the house off to make it as dark as possible and ran a few errands. When I got back the coral beauty and established swallowtail were in their perspective sleeping holes and the two new angels were in a corner of the tank doing alright. I turned off Any lights again and decided to eat dinner and checked again after dinner. Same status, doing ok, with the other fish leaving them be for the time being. I may try taping some mirrors on the glass to help with when the lights go on in the morning like with tangs.

I’m hoping with all my might, everything will work out and everyone will become buddies. Or at least minor aggression periodically. My backup plan is to start pulling fish and putting them in a waiting holding tank to possibly try adding them all into the tank at once to re-establish territory. Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it.
 
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Morning update, they were still going at it pretty bad this morning. So I took my large specimen cup and drilled a few 1” holes in it. Gonna try this, not sure for how long but possibly a week or so. I may go buy a second cup as one is a bit small for two fish. The two established fish as still trying to get through the cup but at least the new comers can rest now while the other two get their aggression out.

Plan B if I keep seeing the established angels showing aggression is to remove the other two angels for a few days and try to reintroduce all at once.

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Well I Finally have an update. Sadly the angels didn’t work out. I moved the two angels into a larger acclimation box for a few days to give them so more room. The Venustus started developing slight bruising on its belly. So I made the decision to move them to my QT tank. They were fine and eating for a few days when suddenly one day they were both dead. I was really bummed about this loss. I love angels and really wanted this to work out.

I’ve done a lot of reflection on this
and have come to several conclusions.

One, I don’t have as many hiding places for larger fish as I had thought. Suddenly I don’t like the aquascape as much. Couple that with the amount of bubble algae I’m currently battling and I’m considering completely redoing the rock work. BUT. I’m not sold that that’s the right solution.

Two, this tank just isn’t big enough for more than two or three angels. I think I will still try adding a Lamarks angel in the future but we will see. I think I’ve reserved the idea of many angels in a tank for when I get a larger tank. Next tank will be 180gals or bigger for sure.

Going back to the bubble algae issue, I did add a Biota Gold Line Rabbit fish to the tank a while back in hopes of him taking care of the algae on the rocks and the bubble algae. No such luck. I must feed to heavily because Cuzco (that’s his name) is just a big lazy puppy dog that constantly dances and begs for you to feed him. Occasionally he does he pick at algae but never enough to make much of a difference.
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So then about a week ago I decided to add a Medium sized one spot fox face because they are known for eating tons of algae as well as a good reputation for eating bubble algae. I was worried about aggression between Cuzco and the fox face as there isn’t a whole lot of information and experiences between these two fish in particular. After several days of Cuzco chasing the fox face out of his territory periodically, Cuzco has resigned to being buddies with the fox face. They happily beg for food together and do little dances to get my attention instead of eating the vast amounts of bubble algae readily available for them. I will note, the more comfortable the fox face gets with the tank the more I do see him pick at the algae, bubble algae included. But not enough to make much of a dent. But hey, maybe I’m being too hard on him, he has only been in there for a week.
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The tank itself is doing fine. I haven’t done a water change in quite some time and am paying the price for it. Increased nitrate and phosphate levels, 20ppm and 0.5ppm respectively. I’m seeing algae on the sandbed now and some algae on the rocks… lazy rabbit fish.. I’ll be doing a water change today and probably over the next week one or two more to get those levels back down.

In some more exciting news, since I’ve temporarily given up on the angel lagoon, I’ve decided to add tangs into the mix. My last experience with a tang was not… ideal. But after talking with my LFS guru I came to the realization that it was my own fault. I made multiple mistakes that lead to my previous tang having a single child, snot nosed, entitled brat, attitude. So I’ve decided to have another go with tangs, Three to be exact. I know that sounds like a lot but I found the three perfect sized tangs which are exactly what I wanted. A very small sail fin, a very small purple tang, and a small White Cheek/gold rim tang. All qt’d by my LFS and have been with him for no shorter than 3 months. I think that small purple tang has Been in the store for more like 6-8months honestly. I’ll be picking those three up today and adding them all the to the tank at once to help avoid aggression.


I’ll probably post a filtration update soon as lots has changed with that. I’ll also post a general update with more tank pictures.
 
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The three musketeers.
So small! Drip acclimating now. Another 15 minutes and I’ll be adding them to the tank. The gold rim is only about 3-3.5 inches.
 
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Well tangs are added and are getting to know their new tank mates while establishing territories with the lights off for now. These guys looked pretty small in the store, but for some reason they look even smaller in the tank. lol

I see them already starting to pick at the sand and rocks, so no one appears too stressed out which is a good sign. Some picking/chasing from the fox face and Cuzco the rabbit fish but nothing more than saying hey, I'm bigger than you and this is my territory. Cuzco is the largest fish in the tank and as such, is displaying the most aggression of anyone, but again, nothing to worry about yet.
 
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Happy to report all new additions are doing great! So far minimal aggression between the three tangs as well as the other fish. Everyone is eating like a pig and currently trying to get my attention by begging for food just off to my right as I type this. They act like they don't get fed twice a day plus all day access to all the algae they could eat.

black and white please GIF



Despite those two facts, I decided it would probably be best to supplement with some nori. So I ordered some Two Little Fishes, sea veg - purple seaweed to try out. I saw some really good reviews so I'm excited to see what the fish think of it. I've only ever tried the bog standard Omega One Super Veggie Nori. I also ordered some Kent Marine Garlic Extreme to help supplement. I already soak some pellet food in Selcon two to three times a week but I figured this can't hurt either. I will keep everyone posted with how the fish like this stuff.
 
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Well I never actually saw any fish pick at the purple seaweed but it was completely gone by mid morning. None of it ended up down my overflow and in my filter pad so clearly the fish ate it. I put a few drops of selcon and garlic extreme on it it and let it soak in for about 15 minutes before I put it in the tank. I’ll keep feeding it and keep reporting back on it.

Got a few more dish pictures at feeding time tonight.
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My spotbreast swallow tail’s streamers are not over 1 1/2” long. She is absolutely stunning. Personally my favorite fish in the tank. She sure is fat and sassy.
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the tribal blenny is odd to say the least. Sometimes he’s completely black, and then randomly he’ll flash his blue lines at you.
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Here is an update on my filtration system.

A little over a month ago I had a conversation about rising nitrate and phosphate with my LFS guru. He was saying some pretty fascinating stuff about like rock and where the old saying of 1lb of live rock per gallon of display came from. Basically he was saying a really good rock has X amount of surface area. Most available rocks in the hobby don’t have that same amount of surface area. So for the hobbiests with NSA tanks, he explained that they often run into nitrate issues due to lack of surface area for the bacteria to grow on. He personally recommends a drip tower style sump setup filled with live rock rubble. He explained that this is way more efficient at removing ammonia and nitrates from the water than having a refugium or rubble/bio bricks just sitting in the sump. His explanation for this was due to the swell time of the ammonia in the water. He said the longer the ammonia goes without being processed the greater likelihood of the ammonia binding into some other form that is much more difficult for the bacteria to remove and process. Now, I do his explanation no justice and am just paraphrasing him. But it’s a very interesting conversation topic.

So since my rock work contains very few rocks, I decided that I definitely don’t have enough surface area to grow bacteria on. So I rigged up a temporary contraption for my sump. I took a Rubbermaid trash can and fin a piece of egg crate to sit off the bottom of the can. Then cut a small hole in the bottom to let water out. I took the lid and drilled a bunch of small holes to create a drip plate. I filled the can with rubble and some biospheres, I’d say 30lbs worth, then placed the drip plate on top. I use filter pad for mechanical filtration to keep the sump and rubble clean. I then drilled two large emergency overflow holes in the side of the can in the event the filter pad gets super clogged or something. I haven’t had my nitrates or phosphates significantly drop yet, but They have stopped rising even with the new fish additions. The rock was dry so I’m sure it’s barely cycled even by this point

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I know it’s not the prettiest, but hey it works. I will be making a new drip tower that looks much better, but I haven’t decided what I’ll make it out of yet.

I also wanted to add a UV sterilizer to the tank due to the fact that I practice ich management as opposed to eradication. But I wasn’t too keen on spending $600 on a name brand one. So I purchased a cheap 55w one from my LFS for $180. I installed that a week before I got my tangs just for peace of mind. I’m very glad I decided to do that. No ich issues with the tangs yet but I have had one or two issues with ich, but the fish were able to fight it off.
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Cool tank fallowing. Watch the nitrates with a new tank. My tank had bad algea. Seem to fix with biopellets and purigen media.
 
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Cool tank fallowing. Watch the nitrates with a new tank. My tank had bad algea. Seem to fix with biopellets and purigen media.
Thank you!

I mean, its been running long enough were its fairly stable. I also started with 50% live rock from an established tank. So that really helps the "age" of the tank if you will. I've got bubble algae, but I have had that since early on. Otherwise, I've just had brown sand for the last two months due to elevated phosphates but nothing besides that and the bubble algae. Which I'm happy to report I see the sailfin and foxface munching on that from time to time. It seems a little bit more disappears each day. I know lots of people are but I'm not a huge fan of non-natural methods of nutrient export like biopellets, purigen, gfo, ect. I more so believe that with properly set up filtration and a large skimmer, you should be able to control nutrient levels. I haven't done a water change since I've added the additional rock, but from what I'm seeing, the additional surface area for the bacteria was just what I needed to help with my issues. I will probably pick up some more biospheres to added yet, but otherwise I feel I've got what I need to run stable nutrients.
 
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Well with the Midwest seeing Highs in the single digits and lows in the negatives, I’ve been keeping an eye on the tank temp. One awesome feature of the Sicce return pumps is the built in temp probe. I’ve noticed over the last 48hrs a steady temp drop to about 77.5 degrees. My usual temp is around 78.8-80 so this is a touch cold for my taste. I was brainstorming today on ways to help with this and came up with a plan. Last night I was doing my best to seal any drafts in the house and noticed the basement windows are quite drafty. Being that the house was built in 1900, it’s to be expected.
So part one was to address this, as I’m betting the windows are the reason for the basement being so cold in the first place. As a quick fix, I used some 3” insulation foam board and expanding foam to insulate the windows.
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Next, I was thinking of ways to make sure the tank stays warm aside from wrapping the tank itself in insulation. That’s when I realized that my plumbing was basically acting like a coolant line. The water running through the pipes has a small thermal mass which means it will cool a lot faster and easier. So being exposed to the cold basement air, I’m sure this is largely my issue. Also this means that 77.5 degree reading at the pump probably meant that the tank was cooler yet.

So the second part of my plan was to insulate the exposed pipes to help reduce the cooling effect as the water goes to the tank and back. To do this I made a quick run to the Hardware store and got a bunch of 1” pipe insulation. I just simply cut it to size with a razor blade, and popped it over the pipes. I used a few zip ties to keep everything secure. I insulted the return line, main drain line, and secondary drain line. I left the emergency drain alone as no water goes down that pipe anyways.

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a few hours later, with dropping outside temps, the tank has slowly warmed a bit. Not much, but enough to let me know it’s working in some way. Hopefully the unseen affect will be that the temp in the sump and the temp in the display will be closer together as well. I’ll check again in the morning to see if it’s continuing to climb and see if I may need another heater. I’ve already got 550watts of heater in there so I’d like to avoid more wattage if I can.

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So a little update. The insulation on the piping definitely helped eke the tank warmer. Tank temp was much closer to the sump temp. The sump temp was reading back up to 79 degrees after 24hrs. I may still need to add another heater just to help keep the temp steady though.

Yesterday I picked up a few goodies

possum wrasse playing dead as I was acclimating him. So far I’ve seen him a few times today, I was worried being so small
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I also picked up a few new pieces of SPS.

a nice sized Teal Stag

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A green stag (next to the Bali) which I promise is a different color than the teal stag in person. This one is more of a deeper greener color

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Here is a picture of the Bali slimer when I first got it October 12th. I’m pretty happy with that growth


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I also picked up this Stag. I forget what it’s called, but he said it was a Acropora Spathulata. it should have blue tips with the blue extending a good ways down that develops into a green color. You can see some green coloration coming out already.
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My ASD garf bonsi is growing quite well too.

oct 12th:
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Today:
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I had just about all lost my nice sized mini colony of California Tort from RTN. This was a super sad experience because it was my first sps coral that I had grown from a single 3/4” frag. I was extremely proud of the colony. I fraged two tiny sub 1/4” pieces of it and glued them to a single plug.. I didn’t take a picture of them starting because they were pathetic and I honestly thought they would die. 6 months later here they are. I love watching this coral grown as it grows like a weed.

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And here are some other random coral pics

NY Nicks

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Indo Gold:
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bright pink montipora:
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One of my multi-colored Gonioporas:

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