oh boy, 40g breeder build

[count krunk]

Jebao slw-20 ordered and should be arriving tomorrow.

Tank will finally have an acceptable amount of flow!

I will do a review/write-up of this jebao on the next post

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Nice! Flow is essential to avoid collection areas for detritus that eventually lead to cyano and other annoyances.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Jebao slw-20 ordered and should be arriving tomorrow.

Tank will finally have an acceptable amount of flow!

I will do a review/write-up of this jebao on the next post

that will get things moving ;) I have two of the ow25's on my breeder and they work great.

 

[count krunk]

I got a tripod for my laser level so I could get clean lines tiling the bath.

Going to take out the camera with the tripod for the next update. I am very impressed with the jebao slw

 

[Johniejumbo]

Good to know. I have an slw ordered for my 40b. I have an ow25 on one side and I got the slw20 for the other side.

 

[count krunk]

I will do a writeup on the slw later i promise!

The tank is a bit of a mess right now, I let it slip some as I was busting my butt everyday getting the house ready for listing. Including a complete demo and remodel of the master bath tub and tile surround. Just didn't have the time or energy.

So the corals are pouting, except the favia which has puffed up and colored up quite nicely since getting it.

I did a 15g water change today and the frogspawn is looking better. Going to test everything tomorrow and see where it's at.

Here is a squad picture, all fishes minus Wallace the YWG who is still doing quite well. From time to time there is a loud snapping like sound coming from the tank, I am guessing a pistol shrimp hitched a ride in on the TBS live rock. I have never seen the shrimp but I'm not sure what else could be making that noise.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I will do a writeup on the slw later i promise!

The tank is a bit of a mess right now, I let it slip some as I was busting my butt everyday getting the house ready for listing. Including a complete demo and remodel of the master bath tub and tile surround. Just didn't have the time or energy.

So the corals are pouting, except the favia which has puffed up and colored up quite nicely since getting it.

I did a 15g water change today and the frogspawn is looking better. Going to test everything tomorrow and see where it's at.

Here is a squad picture, all fishes minus Wallace the YWG who is still doing quite well. From time to time there is a loud snapping like sound coming from the tank, I am guessing a pistol shrimp hitched a ride in on the TBS live rock. I have never seen the shrimp but I'm not sure what else could be making that noise.

Pistol shrimp all the way. Life gets in the way sometimes. Happens to us all. Itll come around if u keep the nutrients in check. Life finds a way...

Can i see some snaps of the remodel?

 

[count krunk]

Here is the most recent pic I have on my phone.

Took it back to the studs. Move to ATL area is coming up, so the tank will start its rebound for good in August whenever we have a new home.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Here is the most recent pic I have on my phone.

Took it back to the studs. Move to ATL area is coming up, so the tank will start its rebound for good in August whenever we have a new home.

Looking forward to it.

Nice work on the tile!

 

[Crabby48]

Nice tile job!

We all run out of time to give the tank.

 

[Dj City]

Just checking in.
A lot has gone on since I was last here.

 

[Crabby48]

Stoped by for updates. Hope you are doing good

 

[RichtheReefer21]

X3 :)

 

[count krunk]

The pressure! Haha I will be doing a 10g waterchange tomorrow and will update then. Between the TBS LR and the LR I got from CL a while back, they grow a vast assortment of macro algae I have never seen in my tanks before.

I am still jobless, and moving to ATL area on 8/13. We are closing on the sell of my FL home and the purchase of my GA home on 8/14, double close!

It appears I may go back to selling roofs, which isn't ideal but pays good money.

Moving tanks isn't as hard as many think. I remove all life and the rocks, place in buckets. Drain the tank down to an inch of water or so. Move tank, get water circulating asap once arrived. Move critters from bucket to temp holding tank/rubbermaid. Let tank run for a few hours/couple of days then add back in the rock and critters.

The FW tank will be done the same way, except only the fish come out and everything else stays in and simply fill up the tank with some more water once you arrive and add the fish back in. The plants hold the sand in place quite well during the move.

The tanks as the last in and first out.


I hope to be employed again so I can start filling this tank with corals! Having one frogspawn, one small softie, and one green mushroom is quite depressing. The dumb crabs from earlier munched down my zoas before I terminated them.

The fish are all healthy, and I chose hardy fish on purpose as this tank matures and to endure the move with little issue. PJ cardinals, clowns, and YWG are pretty bulletproof.

The PJ's have taken to hanging out in the space between the overflow box and the back glass, so you can look at the tank often and just see two clowns.. Well this leaves real estate for more fishes!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Bummer that employment still evades you. Was tough for me after the layoff in 2018. Struggled for a year before i found the new gig.

Best of luck on the new move and hopefully a turn around all together for you sir. Atlanta is full of opportunity. One of the fastest growing cities in the country.

The v2 of crunks 40b will be epic!

 

[count krunk]

Thanks Rich!

There's something in the water... haha but yeah something isn't quite right but I have no tests kits to test and no money to buy them with.

Phosphate is good, salinity is good, and ammonia, trite, trate all good. These are the only tests I have.

Doing W/C's are all I can do right now. I was able to purchase a new 100 GPD RO filter with a $20 off coupon from BRS so that sped up production and enhanced the water quality (water coming from the two RO's has much lower TDS now).

The frogspawn is doing ok, the green nepathia coral is shrinking (after it doubled in size), the green mushroom is doing ok, and the favia is growing. Fish are as healthy as ever.

I ran out of New Life Spectrum and went to the LFS to get some more (fish really seemed to enjoy it) and was told it was linked to cancer?? Has anyone heard of this? I still have the frozen food I made in late April so I have been feeding that as well. I picked up Hikari Extreme Algae and the fish enjoy this as well.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I ran out of New Life Spectrum and went to the LFS to get some more (fish really seemed to enjoy it) and was told it was linked to cancer?? Has anyone heard of this? I still have the frozen food I made in late April so I have been feeding that as well. I picked up Hikari Extreme Algae and the fish enjoy this as well.

From NLS.

A new controversy over ethoxyquin preservative in tropical fish food has been brought to our attention, and we’ve been asked about where New Life Spectrum stands in the matter — both our perspective on the subject and in regards to our product. We thought it would be a good time to let everyone in on some things we’re working on behind the scenes:

This fall, we’re launching our next generation of the Spectrum Nutrition Formula. Our distributors have already been informed and are readying their shelves for September! Along with improvements, including using high-protein squid and ginger to boost resistance to parasites, the new formula will use only Naturox-preserved ingredients. We’ve been working on this with suppliers behind closed doors for a while — and all the needed ingredients are finally available using this natural, alternative antioxidant.

Occasionally, New Life Spectrum® is asked to provide statements stating we’re “ethoxyquin-free”. We never have. We refused to provide a marketing-convenient answer that didn’t match reality. While we don’t add ethoxyquin to our formula, available ingredients have used this common, FDA allowed antioxidant. In the upcoming formula, for clarity and to address any concerns, we will indicate Naturox along with the ingredients.

In this online uproar, we noticed certain revelations have ignited speculation that most tropical fish diets may contain far beyond 150ppm (or even 300ppm) of the controversial preservative. In the interest of transparency, we’ve sent samples of our current formula to accredited labs and will be posting the original reports on our site. We don’t now claim to be “ethoxyquin-free,” but we’re confident the results will be well under these figures. Once our new Naturox preserved New Life Spectrum formulas are released, we will test and release ethoxyquin level reports online for those as well.

With all that said: despite discontinuing ethoxyquin in favor of Naturox, it’s still our position that Ethoxyquin, used in FDA approved amounts of 150ppm (or better yet under 100ppm), has never been shown to cause health problems in pet fish. The fact is, there are no documented cases where ethoxyquin at these levels has been found to cause any long term negative health problems in fish (or even dogs and cats). This concern was sparked by a 1987 study that suggested a carcinogenic potential in rats dosed with 5,000 ppm of ethoxyquin. The FDA has ruled that the additive “may be safely used in animal feeds.” In consideration of lactating dogs who may nurse, dog food companies do voluntarily limit ethoxyquin concentrations to 75ppm.

Our move toward Naturox is based on a desire to respond to the concerns of hobbyists, allowing people to feed highly nutritious New Life Spectrum without worry. Yet we won’t market Spectrum as “ethoxyquin free” despite this. Ingredients we will source are preserved with Naturox, but realistically they’re stored and produced by suppliers that do provide the more standard ethoxyquin-preserved ingredients. Thus, our goal is for the preservative to be zero, but if present to only be in trace amounts of about 5ppm or less. New Life Spectrum® is committed that the promises we make are conservative — and when bold, as with our Spectrum Guarantee (www.nlsfishfood.com/guarantee), 100% supportable. Therefore, we will only claim that we are sourcing ingredients certified as having no ethoxyquin by suppliers we trust. We will also test our raw ingredients when received to ensure our suppliers are meeting this standard.

Sincerely,


Ian Tepoot, President
New Life International, Inc.

 

[count krunk]

Well well, the breeder is now located in Georgia.

I drained down the tank, place fish and liverock in buckets and loaded them onto the truck. The tank sat on a moving truck from Thursday 8am to Friday 6:30pm. By this point the tank smelled like death due to the sandbed. I got the tank filled up with fresh RO/DI water by Saturday afternoon. At this point I added salt until hitting 35 ppt.

The next morning I come down to the basement to see snails buzzing around on the glass. Unbelievable! I added most of the rock back to the tank yesterday and I am monitoring ammonia until its safe to add the fish back in.

The fish n other livestock have been chilling in two 5g buckets with airstones. I am hoping to add everything back to the tank tomorrow.

The rockscape actually looks better than what I had before, and I just randomly put rocks in the tank this go around.

I am hoping what was essentially a 100% water change and baby cycle gets the tank back on track for the corals.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Congrats thus far... Hows everything besides the successful tank move?

 

[count krunk]

I am still waiting to add fish n corals back in, waiting for the Ammonia to come down, around .25 or .5 right now.

The new house and lot is larger and nicer than for FL one costing only $25k more. Go figure! Job prospects are starting to look up and I am increasing my project and technical knowledge.

If the corals don't perk back up I will be getting a carbon reactor going. Will run it 5-7 days per month.