Not Bad for a Teenager! Squid's 200+ gallon system
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squidarcher
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Update ! A lot has happened. I bought three new fish that are all in quarantine. Can't really get good photos of them, as that tank has no light. Carpenter's flasher wrasse, a teeny-tiny orange spot rabbitfish, and a black ocellaris clown that has a large white spot on one side. All for $45 each, from fintastic aquariums of Frederick. my favorite fish store in MD. I also got 5 free frags from a friend. ranbow poci, green cap, sunset monti, purple digi, and a Montipora spongodes.
Also, I built a small, crappy, TEMPORARY control board! used grey porch paint bc that's the only color I had, but I'm going to spray paint it white to match.
Still no word from Innovative Marine on my tank, but it's only been 12 weeks.
Also, I built a small, crappy, TEMPORARY control board! used grey porch paint bc that's the only color I had, but I'm going to spray paint it white to match.
Still no word from Innovative Marine on my tank, but it's only been 12 weeks.
death-by-reef
Valuable Member
nice!! following. I actually used to live in the frederick area
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squidarcher
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Oh and one more thing, I've started a successful culture of phytoplakton, dosing a good amount into my tank every day. I see a small uptick in GHA growth and we have yet to see if it affects coral health or visible copepod populations.
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squidarcher
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I made a stupid mistake that very luckily did not screw me up. I'm using vinegar saturated kalkwasser to handle my alk and calcium, so it is very potent stuff. When I mixed up a new batch two days ago, I forgot to turn my ATO off. Basically, my pump dumped about .25 gallons of basically kalk slurry straight into my sump at once. Not good stuff. I see burn on one or two of the montis, but luckily no rtn or stn on the acros. lucky me! In much better news, my tank has landed in the US! Looking forward to getting it in the next 10-ish days.
death-by-reef
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ni ce
Reef Altitude
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If you can set the new one up before taking down the old, we started swapping water (5%) each day to even it partner so there was no acclimation needed. Did it for around a week. Looks like you are saying you might not have space for that but if you can it was much less daunting.
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squidarcher
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That would be the best possible way to do it. However, the new tank is going in exactly the same spot my current DT is in, and it doesn't seem to make sense to just move the DT while keeping it running before the transfer.
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squidarcher
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Just bought 2 buckets of salt for super cheap from petsmart! Aside from them being 50% off, by selecting auto-purchase, I got another 35% off… and then I just cancelled the auto-order! Inspired by @Troylee
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squidarcher
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Also, I celebrated my 18th birthday on saturday! Officially an adult, although it doesn't feel that at all. spent the weekend with my friends playing paintball and stuffs. Pretty cool! However, in this busy-ness, I kinda neglected my tanks. I forgot to start a new phyto bottle, and lost the culture 
Everything else is fine, although the red coris wrasse managed to pull all of the new monti frags out of the rack, which is kind of a regular thing. Reason #1 for her going out of my reef tank.
Everything else is fine, although the red coris wrasse managed to pull all of the new monti frags out of the rack, which is kind of a regular thing. Reason #1 for her going out of my reef tank.
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squidarcher
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To continue on my stupid rampage of buying new sps before my new tank even comes, I bought 5 no-name imported acro frags from my club today! We have an annual event where the club imports colonies, lets them sit in member's QT tanks for 2-3 months, and then they are fragged for sale. All frags were 20 bucks, and I won a giveaway for some sticks as well! I got 5 acros, a rainbow-esque pectinia, and 2 mushrooms. For the acros, I tried to get more unique species. I got 1 millipora, 2 tenuis (?), 1 A. humilis (?), and one acro that looks like a tenuis, except the corallites are at a lower angle. Will get pictures after school today.
Also, my $50 amazon rodi finally kicked the bucket after 3 years. That thing has been outside on my deck pumping through rain and snow, summer and winter, in direct sunlight the whole time. While it wasn't always producing 0 tds, it was working well. However, it dying gave me the opportunity to upgrade. For my 18th birthday gift, my parents are installing a sink in my little area. Im going to install a second outlet under it for an rodi unit, and I decided to go with the fancy schmancy BRS 100 gpd 5-stage PREMIUM filter. Premium just means it comes with a pressure gauge and in-line tds meter, lol. My tank had a lil bit of issues with lack of alk and high salinity, but nothing major happened with the corals. Anyway, this new filter is a beast!!!
In comparison to the old one (it’s also like 5x heavier):
My tank has apparently arrived at my local shipping terminal, and according to IM, they should call me to schedule a delivery. However, it's been like 5 days and still no call. A little bit worried here.
Also, my $50 amazon rodi finally kicked the bucket after 3 years. That thing has been outside on my deck pumping through rain and snow, summer and winter, in direct sunlight the whole time. While it wasn't always producing 0 tds, it was working well. However, it dying gave me the opportunity to upgrade. For my 18th birthday gift, my parents are installing a sink in my little area. Im going to install a second outlet under it for an rodi unit, and I decided to go with the fancy schmancy BRS 100 gpd 5-stage PREMIUM filter. Premium just means it comes with a pressure gauge and in-line tds meter, lol. My tank had a lil bit of issues with lack of alk and high salinity, but nothing major happened with the corals. Anyway, this new filter is a beast!!!
In comparison to the old one (it’s also like 5x heavier):
My tank has apparently arrived at my local shipping terminal, and according to IM, they should call me to schedule a delivery. However, it's been like 5 days and still no call. A little bit worried here.
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squidarcher
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Welp apparently as I was typing that last part the freight company was attempting to deliver my tank, but the truck lift wasn't working and they were unable to get the tank out without damaging it. I owe my parents one for trying to deal with that headache LOL! My mom told them to CALL next time, lets see if they do. Apparently the pallet is 4 x 6!
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squidarcher
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It’s here!!!
That was a headache, but it’s currently sitting in my garage We need to remove the doors from our basement entrance in order to get the pallet in, so that’ll be a little while. Its so beautiful! I also realized that in order to fit my salt mixing bin where I want it, I need to pull out my stand holding all of the saltwater tanks about a foot. That means draining out the 29 qt before anything else. Hopefully it works out. Also, I caught the red coris wrasse grabbing an acropora frag, pulling it out of the rocks, just to get at what was under the plug! She’s so smart, but such a jerk 
That was a headache, but it’s currently sitting in my garage
We need to remove the doors from our basement entrance in order to get the pallet in, so that’ll be a little while. Its so beautiful! I also realized that in order to fit my salt mixing bin where I want it, I need to pull out my stand holding all of the saltwater tanks about a foot. That means draining out the 29 qt before anything else. Hopefully it works out. Also, I caught the red coris wrasse grabbing an acropora frag, pulling it out of the rocks, just to get at what was under the plug! She’s so smart, but such a jerk
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Gumbies R Us
Another Fish in the Sea
Nice new tank! Excited to see what it looks like once it is put up!It’s here!!!
That was a headache, but it’s currently sitting in my garage
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squidarcher
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Thank you! I think its beautiful
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squidarcher
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I just lost the last chromis in the display. Over the course of three days it went from being healthy and fine, to swimming slowly at the top corner of the tank, to disappearing. Found it last night This is how all 4 of my chromis went after one year of them being completely fine. Did not see any aggression, and they were all eating. Seems like a neurological issue. Possibly due to malpractice during their collection? Hoping the one I have in qt will be fine, but I'm off chromis now. Will try anthias.
This is how all 4 of my chromis went after one year of them being completely fine. Did not see any aggression, and they were all eating. Seems like a neurological issue. Possibly due to malpractice during their collection? Hoping the one I have in qt will be fine, but I'm off chromis now. Will try anthias.
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squidarcher
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To add to that- I feed very heavily. What i have read is that chromis eat a lot, and regularly, and feeding large quantities often reduces the risk of them fighting. This is what I saw. I rarely, if ever, saw the chromis fighting. The presence of larger fish may have also helped.
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