Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

Myka · Sep 2, 2015

My Anthias did not touch the LFS tanks. I took them straight home and into my QT.

I fed some Cyclopeeze tonight and one female ate ravenously. She had a red sore on her earlier today amd still does, but it has actually improved quite a lot. Maybe she'll make it. The other remaining female is having a clove oil bath right now (RIP), amd the two remaining males are disinterested in food and generally listless. Physically they don't have any ulcers and don't look bad. With any hope they might perk up by morning and eat.

Myka · Sep 5, 2015

EDIT: Wow, just because I type at 72 wpm doesn't mean I should write a dang novel! Sorry guys!

Today it's cold and raining outside. I wanted to get the stand panels cut, but hubby doesn't want to move his old truck out in the rain to make room to do the woodworking. So I decided to tackle the right side rock structure that's been driving me nuts. I spent an hour messing with it and I'm still not content. I think the tallest point of it is too tall and that the right structure looks too much like the left structure. Ugh...

While I was doing that I epoxied 5 frags/mini colonies to the rocks (Hawkins "Echinata", A desalwii, A sarmentosa, A lokani, A insignis) and now I don't think I'll sleep tonight as I worry about Epoxy Tank Brown Freak Out (herein referred to as ETBFO) Episode 2.

I bought a couple of 5' pieces of 1/2" aluminum tube and a tube bender to make a couple light brackets. I bent the first one and it went smooth. I bent the second one and it broke. So I drove halfway across the city to go get another length cut. I bent that one, and broke it too! :headwalls: They are closed now until Tuesday, so no light hanger this weekend.

The tank is really starting to color up now, though a few pieces are still struggling. There is noticeable weekly growth too. I started taking photos of every piece on the 1st (or close to) of each month. So I will have some pretty cool growth sequence photos in a year.

I picked up a Hanna ULR Phosphorus checker, and my tank reads 0 ppb.

I've been feeding the fish 3x a day, and lots too. I added a Cleaner Shrimp to help clean up the mess I'm making. I've been allowing my filter pads to sit in the sump for 2 weeks without cleaning. I've been dosing a homemade Sodium nitrate solution to supplement NO3 and the tank has been going through about 0.25 ppm per week. Is the tank "using" the nitrate or is it "processing" the nitrate? I don't know.

The sand bed is driving me nuts. It is Caribsea Seaflor Special Grade, and it's so uniform that it looks fake to me. I have a small bag of Caribsea Super Reef sitting on the table beside the tank right now, and I'm humming and hawing about adding it. What to do? What do you guys think?

The other thing that's driving me nuts is the salt mix I'm using - H2Ocean. As the years roll by it seems the alkalinity slowly gets higher and higher. I tested today's new bucket:

Cal 415 ppm (Salifert)
Alk 9.6 dKH (Salifert)
Mg 1230 ppm (Salifert)

Unfortunately, only Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, and H2Ocean are available locally. We had Tropic Marin Pro Reef for one batch, but my LFS didn't bring it back in. I tried to convince him to order a pallet of Reefer's Best when it was on sale this summer, but I couldn't pre-sell enough to convince him. So I bought a bottle of Muriatic Acid, and I'm going to lower the H2Ocean's alkalinity. I like to do 50-75% water changes 3-4 times per year, and I can't do that with 9.6 dKH when my tank is 7.0 dKH and full of SPS.

Cool new screen! I have a buddy that has a 3D printer and I got him to print me up some custom round screen frame corners to fit into my one-piece eurobrace. I notched a hole in the two back corners to accept the wires for the powerheads. The corners are sweet! These are V1.0, and he's working on improving the design a bit. If anyone else wants some made, send me a PM!

Joshky · Sep 5, 2015

Curious about the screen, pmed.

Your tank is looking really great, and I absolutely love your clowns. Are they wild caught?

Myka · Sep 5, 2015

Joshky said:
Your tank is looking really great, and I absolutely love your clowns. Are they wild caught?

Thank you. The Clowns are Sustainable Aquatics Onyx. When I shut down my breeding business they are the pair I decided to keep. It was a tough call between them and the wild caught Darwins. Since the tank background is black, I decided on the Onyx.

Tahoe61 · Sep 5, 2015

The tank looks excellent, a nice minimal balance.

You're not a perfectionist by any chance lol, the sand bed looks fine.

Anemone is in the perfect spot.

Myka · Sep 6, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
The tank looks excellent, a nice minimal balance. You're not a perfectionist by any chance lol, the sand bed looks fine. Anemone is in the perfect spot.

Uhm, no?

Thanks for the comments. I'll probably still have to mess with the rocks on the right though...

shred5 · Sep 6, 2015

How are the anthias doing?

Myka · Sep 6, 2015

shred5 said:
How are the anthias doing?

They aren't.

The bacterial infection was a total wipe out. The Furan 2 didn't seem to have any affect.

shred5 · Sep 6, 2015

Myka said:
They aren't. The bacterial infection was a total wipe out. The Furan 2 didn't seem to have any affect.

Really sorry ...

Myka · Sep 7, 2015

Thanks Dave. Total loss is always disappointing. Thank God I use a QT and the bacterial infection wasn't introduced to my display.

On the brighter side, I got the panels for the stand cut, glued, and trimmed up. I just need to fill and sand, and then I can paint them next weekend. It was cold and wet all weekend here, and next weekend is supposed to be nicer - will be warm enough for painting.

I'm attaching all the panels to the stand with magnets. Hubby wasn't keen on the walnut beer ledge, so for now it will just be gloss dark gray to match the kitchen cabinet bottoms.

Joshky · Sep 7, 2015

Myka said:
Thank you. The Clowns are Sustainable Aquatics Onyx. When I shut down my breeding business they are the pair I decided to keep. It was a tough call between them and the wild caught Darwins. Since the tank background is black, I decided on the Onyx.

They are really stunning.

I can't decide which clowns that I want, I am between Bali Picasso's and wild caught onyx. I have considered one of each as it will be easier to find a single Picasso that has the least amount of deformities than a pair, and I don't have to decide between the two.

Great work on the stand so far, I should be doing finishing details on mine tomorrow myself.

Myka · Sep 8, 2015

Thanks Joshky. Since I raised various Clownfish for some time, I kind of got over the designer Clowns. They are still the most fun to raise because new pairs always produce something cool, but for my own tank I still prefer a wild-type. I highly recommend that you find a captive bred Onyx. There is no reason to be stealing Clownfish from the ocean unless you're a breeder looking to clean up your bloodlines.

I'll check out your build!

Joshky · Sep 8, 2015

Myka said:
Thanks Joshky. Since I raised various Clownfish for some time, I kind of got over the designer Clowns. They are still the most fun to raise because new pairs always produce something cool, but for my own tank I still prefer a wild-type. I highly recommend that you find a captive bred Onyx. There is no reason to be stealing Clownfish from the ocean unless you're a breeder looking to clean up your bloodlines.

I'll check out your build!

But.... Picasso's are found in the wild.

I understand and used to share your same opinion, but with the clowns I've seen lately (including my old platinums), I guess I've turned into a clown snob. I care more about body structure than the pattern itself. I can't really cherry pick locally as my LFS's just don't have a high enough turnover to order a decent batch, so it's either online or wild. Do you know any good breeders for Onyx I can buy from directly that offer video footage etc.? I have a web site for Bali's, but even then it could take a while to find what I'm looking for. It seems like designer clowns are more about patterns these days and nothing else matters.

Hopefully you don't find my views on the current state of captive bred clowns offensive, I know there are good breeders out there still, it's just not as easy to source these days it seems.

Myka · Sep 8, 2015

Sure, Picassos are found in the wild as are many other types of misbars, but that was not my point. My point was that I prefer Clowns with standard stripes these days. I'm Clown snob too, but not for the same reasons as you. Show me a pair of "perfect" captive bred Darwins or Onyx and that makes me smile. Of all the misbars though, I find the Snowflake pattern the most attractive.

I don't find your comments offensive at all, I'm in the same boat as you. I had very high standards when it came time to cull. Conformation always came first - I didn't care what color the fish was. A lot of the conformation issues come from water quality though, not genetics, so saving some poorly shaped, great colored ones for bloodlines isn't always a problem. Sustainable Aquatics has been my go to for captive bred fish - they have high standards too. Send them an email and they will let you know the closest LFS to you that has their fish. In my experience, the Bali fish do not have good conformation - especially the really fancy/expensive ones. Also keep in mind that the Bali fish are kept in natural seawater and often develop Brooklynella or Velvet in the first few weeks.

Joshky · Sep 8, 2015

Myka said:
Sure, Picassos are found in the wild as are many other types of misbars, but that was not my point. My point was that I prefer Clowns with standard stripes these days. I'm Clown snob too, but not for the same reasons as you. Show me a pair of "perfect" captive bred Darwins or Onyx and that makes me smile. Of all the misbars though, I find the Snowflake pattern the most attractive.

I don't find your comments offensive at all, I'm in the same boat as you. I had very high standards when it came time to cull. Conformation always came first - I didn't care what color the fish was. A lot of the conformation issues come from water quality though, not genetics, so saving some poorly shaped, great colored ones for bloodlines isn't always a problem. Sustainable Aquatics has been my go to for captive bred fish - they have high standards too. Send them an email and they will let you know the closest LFS to you that has their fish. In my experience, the Bali fish do not have good conformation - especially the really fancy/expensive ones. Also keep in mind that the Bali fish are kept in natural seawater and often develop Brooklynella or Velvet in the first few weeks.

Yeah I know, it's been said that Bali Aquarich gives the US his "should be culled" clowns since we're so easy to please, but I don't know how true this statement is. When I read it, it didn't surprise me at all. I've been keeping an eye on them and some of them are close to being okay, so I feel like if I were to hold out long enough I might find one I like.

I'll give SA a try again and have my LFS order me a pair when the time comes, but that's where my last clowns came from and I was less than pleased. Perhaps I just got unlucky, or certain patterns have a higher chance for deformities? These were platinums, they were both longer than they should've been, they both had a lower bite, and the females dorsal fin was really small. I think I'll go with onyx and stay away from the designers, you really can't beat the beauty of a nice onyx.

Thanks for talking with me about this.

Myka · Sep 11, 2015

Send Matt Carberry (the owner) an email with your concerns and I'm sure he will be able to please you. From what I know, he's been very reasonable to deal with and talk to.

Myka · Sep 14, 2015

Look who showed up to the party! I heard some clicking, but thought it was one of the Tunzes that needs a new bushing/disc (after about 8 or 9 years I think I can deal with changing a $3 part on it). I didn't normally hear the Tunze clicking unless it was on the controller and it wasn't on the controller. Since adding the sand to the tank I haven't seen any digging in it, so I was sure Mr Clicks was a goner. I looked in the back compartment, but didn't see him (or anything really it's so dark back there). So a couple days ago the clicking was driving me bonkers so I was staring at the Tunze and the "click" sounded and the Tunze didn't do it. So I turn off the return, get my flashlight out, and low and behold there is Mr Clicks! It took me a good 30 minutes to catch him out of the back, but he's now happily digging away in the tank.

I got some work done on the stand panels. I got distracted doing some painting in the house, and decided I hated the grey color that the designer picked out. So it took me a few days and a few tries, and then I ended up going with the first grey anyway.

I got 4 coats of paint rolled onto the panels. My work space wasn't big enough to get the corners done too, so that is annoying. The panels should be cured enough by the weekend that I can use a power sander to buff the paint out and then spray a clear coat on it for a nice smooth finish.