210g acrylic dream

[DeniseAndy]

I began a scrub on the tank yesterday. I am running a canister filter lined with 1micron sheets and uv. I am hoping to get some of my diatoms under control.

I was also stupid enough to bring a coral over from my 40g tank, so I started my fallow period over. Now fish can be moved back in on January 16th.

However, due to my issues, all fish will go through a complete medicated qt. I had only done medication when needed in past and I think the harboring of the parasites and such came out with the stress of the moves to new tank and ended up causing all my losses. I am going to try to eliminate that from now on.

While I do think natural immunity is a good thing and was working great in my tanks for years, the move stress caused a huge outbreak of something and I cannot go through that again.

Currently all my fish are in qts and being treated with CP starting today. They will remain in there until all fallow periods are finished. My 40g/20g system also was showing signs, so I moved them to treat. No deaths, but definitely ich. So no fish in the 40/20g system until Jan 20th. UUGGGG! I tis going to be a long few months.

At least I have time to plan out. I am hoping to make the tanks as close as possible to captive bred fish only. Lots of research to find those fish when I need them.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, still in the waiting stage. The diatom canister filter did not really do much. Maybe it did but at a microscopic level. The sheets had some discoloration with one quite brown, so I figure it trapped something. Not much in the tank to trap except microscopic things.

Anyway. Fish are doing great in QT. Almost through the 30days of CP. Then I will do a Prazipro treatment before settling them to wait out till Jan 16th.

Corals are doing great and so is the nems. Growing nicely.

I am changing over from my Algae Rx to my tried and true DIY UAS. Just not seeing the results with the Algae Rx.

Had to replace another energy bar on my Apex. They have been running over 11 years, so I guess that is okay.

Pods galore, so hoping for a mandarin pair to add when tank is ready too.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Been a while, but not much happening. Still fishless till mid January. Fish in QT doing great (although I think even they are bored). Ordering a few new fishies to add to QT (new tank needed) so they can go through all the meds and be ready for the tank soon after the others.

My first Haddoni carpet is still doing great. Still will take walks every now and then, but is big and beautiful. All corals are doing great.

I did decide to try some new flow in the tank. Been running 6105 Tunze for 12 years. I figured since my darn energy bar finally died up on the main tank (already had one die on the sump area) it was a good time to look into pumps too. My hubby was not liking the noise the other pumps made (actually it was the water moving sound, not the pumps - except one loud one - they are over 10 years old after all).

So in comes the Tunze Turbella Stream 3. This thing looks weird, but has some major power to move water. Been on tank for a few days and it is silent and pushing tons of water. Had to play with position and type of head I wanted, but it is doing well. It is not hooked up to my Apex. It has a separate controller. This is not a bad thing as now I can hook up my other Tunzes as wanted. I did add one of my old 6105 to tank for added flow.
The Stream 3 is great, but for a 7ft long tank one is not enough. I am considering another instead of my 6105, but we will give it a lot more time to see how it does first. Since I have the 6105s still handy.

This tank will be a bit lower flow with more LPS and softies rather than all the gorgs. Still some, but not as many.

Only current problem is when I set up my new energy bar, I lost contact with my sump energy bar. AAHHHGGG. So, sump is on a regular power strip. This happened day before Christmas eve, so I was worried Apex would not be easy to reach. As soon as I sent a message, they were working on it. We have a call today as they have not found issue on own. I can really mess things up.

Luckily it is winter and I do not have to worry about the chiller. Heaters on a heater controller and all else is just pumps on (except sump light that is on timer now). So, not a big deal right now.

 

[revhtree]

Getting closer to bringing the fish back!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, my 4months of fallow is over. It got a bit extended from me catching the flu. Oh well.

I just ordered some captive bred fish and have my current qt guys ready to go in as soon as I can function long enough to get them in. Super excited.

My order is from Liveaquaria (Diver's Den) as they had what I wanted at the time. Really wanted to use PEA, but they just did not have the ones I wanted this time. I will be doing another order and that will definitely be from PEA.

I will write when the order comes in to let everyone know my experience. It has been sooo long since I have done much online ordering for fish for my large tank.

Gotta say, I sometimes hate BTAs (not really). I had two giant ones (peach and green) in my 210g since set up (and before). They are on the left side of the tank pretty high up. Well, I added a pretty rose one to the right side of the tank to spread out the color and BTAs. Yep, you guessed it. Two days later the rose is right between the green/peach ones. So now I have a huge pile of btas.
I added another Green/peach from my 20g today to the right side again. It was fully attached to a rock, so lets see if it walks too. My carpet hangs on the left too. Darn things. The right is the same lighting, but maybe flow is that much different. Crazy.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Okay, my 4 clowns (one pair Onyx, one pair Snowflake) are in the 210g. I specifically released them right on an anemone on opposite sides of the tank. Walked away, came back a few minutes later and all four are together in the back no where near any anemone. They are asserting dominance and wiggling like crazy. I know the Onyx are mated, the snowflakes are bonded as they are younger. We will see how long till I remove a pair.
Silly clowns.
I also released my electric indigo dottyback and my yellow watchman goby.
Cannot wait for my fish later this week.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Did not take long. I hated the whole dominance issue since my littlest guy (a beautiful snowflake) was actually starting fights with the largest Onyx female. Crazy fish. The Onyx are back in their own tank, my 40g, being hosted by my overflow. As usual.
The snowflake pair are happy in the 210g with a group of anemones. I may try a small harem of pink skunks for my carpet anemone. We will see how everyone else settles.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Order came in today. Super excited. The Kamohara blennies (trio) are adorable, and active. They glitter in the light. Really neat. The splendid dottyback is very colorful and very inquisitive so far. The azure damsels had two DOA. They are just over a half inch. So tiny and already all over. The yellow damsels (trio)are hudling in a corner - well two of them are. Cannot find the third.

All these guys are captive bred and the blennies and yellow damsels were on divers den.

I am still acclimating all the inverts. Just two Atlantic cucumbers (bright yellow), cerith, nassarius, trochus and peppermint shrimp. All so far look good.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, so far the fish are beginning to come out and get more comfortable. Unfortunately, I lost three more of the azure damsels. I cannot find the bodies as they were only about 1/2" and died overnight (so cuc got them), so no refund. Sucks, but such is life. The two remaining seem to be doing well. The Komahara blennies are fun. Swim out and about all the time.

 

[DeniseAndy]

New fish coming in today. Because they are more captive bred babies, I will be holding them in a 10g tank until they grow a little bit. My others are still doing great. The tiny last two azure damsels are holding their own.

 

[DeniseAndy]

So, my five bangai cardinals are doing great. They were actually bigger than I thought they would be compared to the azures. The two clowns are tiny, but absolutely adorable. I got the special black saddle backs that will have the yellow face and pectoral fin. So far so good. All eating in my 10g qt.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Finally some pictures. These are with my phone, so not great.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Yesp, I have some red slime, some diatoms, some bubble algae. I just added clean up crew for that and have been working on getting rid of it. My toadstool in front is actually white with white polyps. It is from this beast taht was lost in the move (had to frag it up).

 

[DeniseAndy]

Also, I added my clam last night. It was in my 40g, but time to come front center again.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I could not get a good picture of the green carpet anemone. It is on the side of the rock nem picture. I have some baby saddlebacks waiting to join my carpets soon.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Oh, yes, that is the purple/blue plating sponge popping up everywhere. I had a large colony and during move, it decided to invade every rock surface.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, I added three more saddlebacks to the babies I had in the 210g. Just done today. However, when I got the babies, they were small, the mediums I ordered are huge! Two of the large saddlebacks went right to each carpet. Really cool. One of the babies was in a carpet already. Dummy (second baby) was still hanging around the top of the tank. The large and small were together for a while, but now baby is kicked out.

I am really curious to see how that goes. I assume I will have to remove one or two and I have other spaces for them (no problem). The snowflakes are cracking me up. They jump in and out of the btas, but do not want to get close to the carpets. So, maybe I will actually get two different species to stay in the tank.

Time will tell.

I also added some sexy shrimp, a white spot cleaner, urchin, emerald crabs. Loving the variety of life in the tank. Every thing is so young. It will be great to watch grow up.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, my tank is a bit of a soap opera. The clowns are interesting. My two snowflakes are tolerating the saddlebacks to some extent. The male will stay away. The female, will chase them away from all her BTAs. However, she does not go near the carpets.

The saddlebacks have all now settled into the two carpets except one fish. It is kind of the outcast. So I have two large and two small trading between the two carpets. So, I added another today. Hoping the other little guy will grab it and have a happier place. They go round and round, but no major issues with aggression.

I just also got a beautiful two spot tang and foxface lo today. So excited since they are about 2" and I get to see them grow. I had my Kole tang for over 10 years and was about full grown when purchased. They are in QT and will be for a minimum of 45 days. I will treat with CP and metro.
I also got a little tiny (3/4") pygmy hawkfish in there too.

I have a large tank, but tons of little guys. It is really fun to find them all. I am going for more shrimp and crabs that have a symbiotic relationship this round. I have 4 sexy shrimp on my rock nems, a white spot on my carpet. Plan to get another nem crab.

OHH!!! I had my first rock nem baby! Found it the other day. Super tiny. So excited.

 

[DeniseAndy]

So, clowns are still content with one another. Staying in own areas. I wonder how long it will truly last.

Still waiting on my foxface to complete qt. Excited to get him in. He is maybe 3".

 

[DeniseAndy]

Okay, saddlebacks won and the snowflakes are now in the 40g. I have also moved my coral around a bit today. I was just tired of looking at all the BTAs with no clowns. My saddlebacks are in the three carpets. Still have four and momma is huge.

So, the 40g is now full of BTAs and gorgs and my 210g has my leathers, LPS and carpets. We will see how it all goes. Pictures when it settles a bit. Currently running slime remover, so waiting the 48 hrs to do water change and get all other equipment running. Should then be happier.

Also just moved all the corals from the 40g to the 210g and vice versa.