New Tank Build Thread Roger from Tunze

BZOFIQ · Aug 22, 2019

Subscribed to see this build.

Roger, I hope you get good deal on Tunze stuff for you build.

LOL

Dana Riddle · Aug 22, 2019

Looks great Roger. Our on again/off again trip to Austin seems to be percolating - hope we can get together. I can't make it to MACNA this year, so....

rvitko · Aug 22, 2019

Dana, I would love to see you, maybe when you get here, I will have water in it and maybe even life. I work on it a little every day, but since school started for my kids, I generally only get about an hour on weekdays. I am sorry to hear you won't be at MACNA.

rvitko · Sep 4, 2019

Making more progress, rock is in, Marcorock, and the sand is in, and I have started filling it and the turtle grass is moved.

rvitko · Sep 5, 2019

BTW, I forgot to explain something that is kind of eccentric. Why is the rock stacked so high? So, I have this idea that I can make a reef "Riccia rock" with blue hypnea and some Ogo or some other red algae. However, this can only work if the tangs have limited access. With the height I can keep it so they can only graze what grows over the edge and I can hopefully keep a farm/feeding station of algae going.

rvitko · Sep 13, 2019

I moved all my animals last Saturday. The corals are just sitting there and still need to be positioned and attached. Everyone survived the move and thankfully, almost a week in, no sign of ammonia. I did lose my blue squamosa on Wednesday. I have a hunch that my extreme caution on one hand was neglect on another. My main fear was that if I placed it in a cooler with the corals or even in one of the coolers the fish were in, a hard impact could break the shell. The move is about 25 miles, but with traffic and never knowing what sort of evasive maneuvers one may have to make, that drive can take over an hour and by treacherous. The drive mostly went smooth but the clam traveled alone in a fairly low quality soft sided cooler, the kind you might use for frozen groceries but it was a cheap give away one and not a higher quality one. I fear the limited volume of water and low insulation resulted in excessive temperature fluctuation. It was the only animal whose water was noticably warm when I arrived, despite the longest acclimation of any of the animals I lost him a few days later. 1/3rd of the water was old water, and besides that, I made sure that almost every parameter I could test for was an exact match, temperature is the only plausible variable.

joseserrano · Sep 13, 2019

That’s pretty good. Professionally moving tanks for years, I rarely get that low of a mortality rate.

MrWheelock · Sep 13, 2019

Sorry for the loss of the clam

tanks lookong good though!

rvitko · Oct 16, 2019

Generally when people get silent nothing good has happened and that is the case here. I am sharing this because I was blind sided by something and lost all my fish and maybe I can help somebody else. A few days after moving my semilarvatus butterfly bloated up, he acted relatively normal, more like some one who ate too much and was uncomfortable and not terminally ill. I was actually "successful" in treating the bloat, I prepared a mix of half tank water and half epsom salt water mixed to the same sg as the tank water, to a gallon of this mix I added a cipro tablet and did a one hour bath, this resolved it pretty quickly and I followed up with one more bath the next day and then mixed up some American Reef HPD with a small amount of cipro to continue the course of antibiotics. He returned to eating and was back to being the tank puppy dog, begging for food and following me around when I was near the tank. I then noticed he was slimy looking, I dismissed this as netting/dipping stress. Then I noticed the potters flicking and looking dull, I could not see anything otherwise and he ate so I assumed some sort of dislodged scale, maybe a very fast cycle and some ammonia irritation though no ammonia was ever found and I was testing daily. This went on for a week, then one morning the semilarvatus had bloody streaks and was looking like he was on deaths door. Strangely, so far, the tangs which most of use would presume would be the first to succomb held strong. He was dead within hours, the anthias also developed bloody streaks and died quickly. I read everything I could find and I have to especially thank Humblefish, his posts here were a wealth of knowledge. I unfortunately though took the blood streaking and species I had lost and the fact that these were all fish that had been in my old tank from 2.5-.5 years and assumed I was up against uronema (since it could be a gut inhabitant and could explain the bloating and the first victims were uronema sensitive) or some sort of toxic dinoflagellate. I tried acriflavin (Rally) and metronidazole (tip from snorvich on RC) as both baths and in tank treatments and metro was used in tank and in food. I did this for a full course to no avail, every fish died.
The last fish in was the semilarvatus butterfly, I however bought him from a very high end online retailer with a proven reputation and he had been through a full quarantine protocol and actually was in there facility a considerable time (months). Since before I added him I essentially had managed ich and had the tangs which were bullies, I redid my tank and every fish went into quarantine for 3 weeks and I did the full usual treatment of prazi, copper, nitro. I tried to sanitize the tank using oxidizers such as a dilute bleach spray and concentrated hydrogen peroxide baths while I reset the rock work, corals were largely left alone. Everything went really well overall. This was kind of an experiment, I was needing to break the tangs aggression, I was wanting to get a handle on rock slides by redoing rock work and I had a hope I maybe able to eliminate the ich I had formerly managed. Fast forward 6 months and we moved houses, no new fish were added and the move was probably as stressless as a move could be since a new tank was ready for them. Here is where I went wrong and what I misdiagnosed and did not know. It turns out that oodinium (velvet) can be managed just like crypto(ich). I run a UV, I use Ozone on a timer and I had about 300 gallons of fairly new water the disease had to spread through. Since this was not a textbook case of a very rapid death, I was clutching at straws and dismissing the dull/slimy appearance as just being slimed up due to "something else". I have to tip my hat to Elliot Lim of Marine Collectors. You see, the tangs had been living in the sump, I had ordered a couple pyramids and some cardinal fish and Elliot was quarantining them for me. I had to make an unpleasant call and was prepared to forfeit my payment for the fish as it would seem very unethical to sentence more fish to death. Elliot was such a class act that he instead walked me through what was wrong and what happened and likely how and that I had likely been managing this all along and the stress of the move and loss of the balance of the tank triggered this unset, he gave me some next steps and assured me he would take care of me after a fallow period when we regroup next year. I also have to say how impressed I was with AquaTek Tropical Fish, my local fish store. In fairness I started this store and I used to own it. Bruce, the current owner, texted me after seeing my post and informed me that they use a vet in the shop who can definitively diagnose the fish and prescribe anything I could need. He gave me a referral. Unfortunately, timing sucked and he was at a convention, but I have two preserved specimens and he will do a post mortem soon so we can know 100% what happened.
I would say the take away is that you should take nothing for granted and it is likely worth looking for knowledgeable people who can be counsel as well as a source and build real working relationships in this hobby. Be willing to pay more for that and quality. This was a devistating loss, many of these fish were real pets to me. I will regroup and keep going but anytime we fail, we need to learn why and not repeat those mistakes and hopefully help prevent someone else from going through the same. I now have other issues as this has sort of snowballed, with no fish, no nutrients in, I am now at near zero NO3 and PO4 and I am now basically feeding ghost fish and dosing aminos and feeding the surving corals and inverts heavily to try to reverse a dino outbreak and some bleaching events.

C. Eymann · Oct 16, 2019

Sorry to hear about the losses Rodger, hope you get everything back to normal soon!
Will be watching this build from here on out!

BZOFIQ · Oct 16, 2019

Sorry to hear Roger. Hope all smooth sailing going forward.

rvitko · Aug 18, 2020

So, I am sorry I kind of let this die off. The good news is after a very long road to recovery, I have my tank stabilized and better than ever. I intended to do a 90 day fallow, that would place restocking around mid January. Given the winter weather and business rush and incoming shipments in winter I kept putting off restocking and finally around March got some fish on order with Elliot Lim at Marine Collectors as I wanted to restock everything prequarantined. Covid hit, shipping became a nightmare, and quickly shut down. Elliot had the idea to start with an Achilles tang, I wanted to add one, but not first, but he made the logical statement that why not start with the disease magnet and find out now rather than later if any pests persist. So, I had one Achilles and was basically locked down. I made some somewhat foolish decisions in lockdown, now I had to worry that the Achilles would dominate the entire tank and I would struggle to add anything as the timeline was slipping away. I found some fish from other quarantined sources, I got a beautiful pair of Semilarvatus from TSM Aquatics and a couple of Potters who unfortunately both were male so one killed the other. I also bought some captive bred fish. Long story short, I had a second Velvet outbreak. This time though I knew what I was dealing with and took action and saved most of my fish. I also learned that even with a spouse who would disapprove of a full blown QT set up (she also disapproves of watching fish die and setting money on fire) where there is a will there is a way. I can highly recommend a large icechest as a make shift QT. Anyway, I am back in the saddle, corals are doing well, fish are doing well and I won't say I mastered QT but from a lot of reading and guidance (thank you Humblefish) I did come out wiser for this experience and now have a way to QT fish myself. As a side note, I went through a brief period of just being despondant, feeling hopeless, and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at my diseases issues. I tried some insanely stupid things when I first saw the second velvet outbreak. If you were curious, 50ppm H2O2 dosed to a reef is not a good idea. I came out ahead for trying, I nuked the pesky brown flatworms out of my tank, but I also nearly lost many corals, a very few I did lose. What I am fascinated by though is a couple came back brighter and stronger than ever and how many spent a day or two looking like a beach shop white curio and slowly came back. My theory was that the H2O2 would degrade at a rapid pace and not remain long enough to do harm, that was untrue, my ritteri looked like a basket of spagghetti for a couple days from messenterial filaments and my few shrimp died. Lesson learned, just step back, take a deep breath, do things right. In the interim since I last posted, I did update my lighting to 4 Kessil AP9X and I love them, mostly because I can easily get in my tank without the T-5s in the way and so far the corals have responded favorably.

Txdragonslayer · Oct 12, 2020

rvitko said:
Jose, I will move over my existing chiller and UV, UV is a 50W Pentair, chiller is a Penguin 1/2 hp. Penguin it seems no longer makes aquarium chillers, but when I got it I was intrigued because it was made in the US, it is basically a converted window unit and has been reliable and it was cheap. I have 2 new 300W Eheim heaters, an Iwaki 20RLXT that will pair with my existing 20RLXT for my return, each return will have its own pump. I like Iwaki because they are virtually bulletproof and while they tend to be power hogs the small ones aren't so bad. Sump is being made by MRC and it will be possible to fully close it and it will have a 9430 skimmer and 3172 Calcium Reactor. I will use the Carbon Doser for CO2. MRC is building in a media reactor and 2 7" socks and probe/ dosing line mounts. Lighting will be 6 Kessil 360X in 2 3ft Aquatic Life hybrid fixtures with 2 XHO Reefbrite blues as well. I am not a blue light fan, likely because when I started reefing, the gospel was Sanjay's Iwasaki 6500K and VHO Actinics and other than that Ushio 10K and that is still my preference so I am hoping between all of those to find a combo that is 10-12K but still has the pop of actinic lighting. Flow I am still thinking, I had the tank built with the water line 2" below the top edge, it is a rimless, braceless tank, I am leaning toward 2 6150's and a Wavebox 6214. I have a lot of existing rock that is Real Reef Shelf and I have a couple hundred pounds of Marco rock shelf and mortar. I will probably mostly use the new rock, but my old rock is covered in micro duster clusters and I will definitely take some to seed the new tank. The main things I am still shopping are dosing and controlling. I would like to use the 7000 Smart Controller, but the new update likely won't be ready yet, I may just limp by with my older one, I am not a huge controller geek so I just need something to run the lights, pumps and CO2. My only other consideration is dosing, I am a big believer in carbon dosing and I make my own concoction of vinegar and denatured alcohol and vitamin c. I also am a big believer in Acropower and I dose hW Trace Tip 1 and 2. I am leaning toward a GHL doser and for that reason, I am thinking of a full GHL control set up vs getting the stand alone doser. I'll also probably DIY a larger kalkwasser reactor. Still, I have made it all this time just manually dosing everything and I generally prefer a hands on approach, automation often it seems can be more trouble than it is worth.

If i am not mistaken i feel they still make chillers. https://www.penguinchillers.com/

Are you still using this chiller? I am considering this brand for my build too, so i was wondering what your experience has been.

Thank you for any feedback.

rvitko · Oct 13, 2020

For a while it seemed they quit making aquarium chillers. I have the older 1/2hp and it was substantially cheaper 4 years ago, I believe I paid $599. I think it is a neat concept, it is essentially a window AC unit that they mod by replacing the evaporator coil and the front panel. Mine still works, the price is fair, and I appreciate that it is made in the USA. I have to say that other chillers I have owned generally only lasted 4-6 years, so I am in that critical zone where we will see how good it is. In my set up it rarely runs, it kicks on just a few times a day for a half hour or so and I keep my tank at 78. My hope was that by not reinventing the wheel and using a ready made window unit and by not being made in China of the cheapest materials available, I would get something that was reliable and so far, so good.

Txdragonslayer · Oct 13, 2020

rvitko said:
For a while it seemed they quit making aquarium chillers. I have the older 1/2hp and it was substantially cheaper 4 years ago, I believe I paid $599. I think it is a neat concept, it is essentially a window AC unit that they mod by replacing the evaporator coil and the front panel. Mine still works, the price is fair, and I appreciate that it is made in the USA. I have to say that other chillers I have owned generally only lasted 4-6 years, so I am in that critical zone where we will see how good it is. In my set up it rarely runs, it kicks on just a few times a day for a half hour or so and I keep my tank at 78. My hope was that by not reinventing the wheel and using a ready made window unit and by not being made in China of the cheapest materials available, I would get something that was reliable and so far, so good.

I appreciate the response, and i see what you mean, i am hoping this lasts a long time too. Thank you again!