PandoraChalk's 14 Gallon Aqueon Tank (Concluded due to tank failure)
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PandorasChalk
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Small Update:
Phosphate is up to 0.05 which is good! Doing tests tonight and will post them. Unfortunately, the dinos are still at full speed and my tiny 'torch' (still not convinced it's a torch) is not doing well.
Phosphate is up to 0.05 which is good! Doing tests tonight and will post them. Unfortunately, the dinos are still at full speed and my tiny 'torch' (still not convinced it's a torch) is not doing well.
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
Was super busy, plan on getting some strong updates out tonight. I have from AlgaeBarn some items coming in today (pods, phyto, coralline in a bottle) that were ordered a few weeks ago and are finally coming.
I ordered a UV a few weeks ago but the Amazon seller reached out and said it was backordered (???) so they refunded me. I received the refund this morning finally, and plan on ordering from BRS today. Going with the 8 Watt Advantage 2000 UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout - Aqua Ultraviolet with a small pump to put in the tank.
I ordered a UV a few weeks ago but the Amazon seller reached out and said it was backordered (???) so they refunded me. I received the refund this morning finally, and plan on ordering from BRS today. Going with the 8 Watt Advantage 2000 UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout - Aqua Ultraviolet with a small pump to put in the tank.
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PandorasChalk
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I'll have some progress updates for it once I receive it! I'm not a fan of dropping a small pump directly in the DT like this but I will do what I need to do. My wife is trying to convince me to slap a sump on this tiny thing since we have several spare 5 gallon and 10 gallon tanks in storage, but I dislike the idea of a HOB Overflow that's not drilled.
afrokobe
Valuable Member
Im kind of running into the same issue with my hob build. I am having a lot of stuff hanging in the tank and debating if i should just slap a hob overflow on it. For right now going to just continuing with my equipment since I dont have any issues, just no way to plumb a uv effectively
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
Exactly, and my biggest concern with this tank I am using already feels 'cheap', I'm nervous hanging more than a UV off of it. Even a non skimmer makes me nervous. I want to get the dino situation solved before I upgrade.
afrokobe
Valuable Member
oh yea for sure. I had apprehension about hanging the refugium and the kessil light mount on my mr aqua 25. I even called BRS for an extra piece of mind lol. I used to have the same aqueon 14 gal tank, so I know how thin the glass is on that one.
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
General Update
Well, the good news is the majority of the dinos are done and gone except for what is in the sand. The UV sterilizer I bought worked very well and in about 3 days I seen a major difference and the last two, with lights running at my normal schedule once again, I have had barely any show up.
The downside is we did lose some coral:
- All of the xenia died, which I suspect was starting when the Phosphate hit 0 and the Nitrates got terribly low.
- One zoa frag passed, although this was knocked off the rock by a snail. I'm not too worried as it was a frag of a colony I already have.
But it gets worse
My torch coral, my pride and joy, was... attacked by my cat. I know that sounds dumb and trust me, I laughed about it and still am, but I'm dying on the inside. During a minor water change last night the water level was low and I left the room, cat came in, and took swipes at it. I caught it in the act. Last night it looked okay, this morning some of the polyps were bailing out, and as of this writing it's out of the tank and in a small container as it's lost 90% of it's flesh and still going. I am considering it done.
It's a big hit to the gut but I tell myself that this is a sign to keep going. I have more knowledge now, and more equipment and tools to keep things stable.
The next big project
The dinos are pretty much gone, the water is stable. My next move? Switch tanks. This tank is nice, but I dislike my aqua scape and I have spare tanks that have stands that can give me more water to work with. When I started this tank I had poor testing equipment and general knowledge and it caught up to me. Now I am better prepared, and I feel it is time for a fresh start. My original goal was to get a big kit tank with all the bells and whistles, but right now I want to keep it simple and slowly step up. I'm no stranger to MTS which is why I have spare tanks in my garage that are clean and empty. Right now I am thinking moving it to my spare 20 gallon I have. It's a bit more room, and with a better stand I can even add a small sump below it if I wanted with a HOB overflow.
So when that happens I will post a new thread for it.
@afrokobe To give you a clear answer on the UV: It worked well but the 8 watt system is bigger than I thought! Excuse the messy glass but this is how I have it hooked up with a sicce 1.0 pump:
Does not come with the tubing, so I had to get some (1/2"). It's worked well, instructions were clear.
Well, the good news is the majority of the dinos are done and gone except for what is in the sand. The UV sterilizer I bought worked very well and in about 3 days I seen a major difference and the last two, with lights running at my normal schedule once again, I have had barely any show up.
The downside is we did lose some coral:
- All of the xenia died, which I suspect was starting when the Phosphate hit 0 and the Nitrates got terribly low.
- One zoa frag passed, although this was knocked off the rock by a snail. I'm not too worried as it was a frag of a colony I already have.
But it gets worse
My torch coral, my pride and joy, was... attacked by my cat. I know that sounds dumb and trust me, I laughed about it and still am, but I'm dying on the inside. During a minor water change last night the water level was low and I left the room, cat came in, and took swipes at it. I caught it in the act. Last night it looked okay, this morning some of the polyps were bailing out, and as of this writing it's out of the tank and in a small container as it's lost 90% of it's flesh and still going. I am considering it done.
It's a big hit to the gut but I tell myself that this is a sign to keep going. I have more knowledge now, and more equipment and tools to keep things stable.
The next big project
The dinos are pretty much gone, the water is stable. My next move? Switch tanks. This tank is nice, but I dislike my aqua scape and I have spare tanks that have stands that can give me more water to work with. When I started this tank I had poor testing equipment and general knowledge and it caught up to me. Now I am better prepared, and I feel it is time for a fresh start. My original goal was to get a big kit tank with all the bells and whistles, but right now I want to keep it simple and slowly step up. I'm no stranger to MTS which is why I have spare tanks in my garage that are clean and empty. Right now I am thinking moving it to my spare 20 gallon I have. It's a bit more room, and with a better stand I can even add a small sump below it if I wanted with a HOB overflow.
So when that happens I will post a new thread for it.
@afrokobe To give you a clear answer on the UV: It worked well but the 8 watt system is bigger than I thought! Excuse the messy glass but this is how I have it hooked up with a sicce 1.0 pump:
Does not come with the tubing, so I had to get some (1/2"). It's worked well, instructions were clear.
afrokobe
Valuable Member
Sorry to hear about the torch. I have to say thats quite the story. My cats aren't nearly as bold and i made sure to not leave an areas where they can reach down into the tank too lol.General Update
Well, the good news is the majority of the dinos are done and gone except for what is in the sand. The UV sterilizer I bought worked very well and in about 3 days I seen a major difference and the last two, with lights running at my normal schedule once again, I have had barely any show up.
The downside is we did lose some coral:
- All of the xenia died, which I suspect was starting when the Phosphate hit 0 and the Nitrates got terribly low.
- One zoa frag passed, although this was knocked off the rock by a snail. I'm not too worried as it was a frag of a colony I already have.
But it gets worse
My torch coral, my pride and joy, was... attacked by my cat. I know that sounds dumb and trust me, I laughed about it and still am, but I'm dying on the inside. During a minor water change last night the water level was low and I left the room, cat came in, and took swipes at it. I caught it in the act. Last night it looked okay, this morning some of the polyps were bailing out, and as of this writing it's out of the tank and in a small container as it's lost 90% of it's flesh and still going. I am considering it done.
It's a big hit to the gut but I tell myself that this is a sign to keep going. I have more knowledge now, and more equipment and tools to keep things stable.
The next big project
The dinos are pretty much gone, the water is stable. My next move? Switch tanks. This tank is nice, but I dislike my aqua scape and I have spare tanks that have stands that can give me more water to work with. When I started this tank I had poor testing equipment and general knowledge and it caught up to me. Now I am better prepared, and I feel it is time for a fresh start. My original goal was to get a big kit tank with all the bells and whistles, but right now I want to keep it simple and slowly step up. I'm no stranger to MTS which is why I have spare tanks in my garage that are clean and empty. Right now I am thinking moving it to my spare 20 gallon I have. It's a bit more room, and with a better stand I can even add a small sump below it if I wanted with a HOB overflow.
So when that happens I will post a new thread for it.
@afrokobe To give you a clear answer on the UV: It worked well but the 8 watt system is bigger than I thought! Excuse the messy glass but this is how I have it hooked up with a sicce 1.0 pump:
Does not come with the tubing, so I had to get some (1/2"). It's worked well, instructions were clear.
The install looks very clean, thanks for the photo! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with on the next iteration
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
No joke he was balancing on the small monitor mount, belly hung in the tank! It was completely absurd, I wish I had a picture.
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
General Updates
I moved the light schedule back to ten hours a day. By hour 9 I see a littttllleee bit of Dino slime on a few rocks, but nothing what we were seeing before I started treatments and UV.
All of my Zoas are starting to open after being closed for two months, which is nice. My GSP is still going strong. My Xenia has yet to bounce back and I doubt it will.
Parameters have been steady and I have started doing small water changes weekly (5%).
I moved the light schedule back to ten hours a day. By hour 9 I see a littttllleee bit of Dino slime on a few rocks, but nothing what we were seeing before I started treatments and UV.
All of my Zoas are starting to open after being closed for two months, which is nice. My GSP is still going strong. My Xenia has yet to bounce back and I doubt it will.
Parameters have been steady and I have started doing small water changes weekly (5%).
John Bolden
Valuable Member
I also have a nano tank keep the algae down as low as you can because once it gets "a foot in the door" so to speak its hard to close the "door". From my experience keep the algae off of the zoanthids or they will close use your fingers and pull it off.
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
Yep! When I was given some orange zoas they had a ton of algae on them. I kept it trimmed low, pulled what I could off, and now they are doing better. Originally it was 1 head out of the six opening but daily it seems like they are bouncing back now that the algae is gone.
John Bolden
Valuable Member
My tank is looking a little fury...
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
General Tank Updates!
Dinos
The dinos started to come back out of the blue, as if for one last hurrah. Even with UV running, the stuff was sticking to rocks and everything. I decided to just power through, and went back to my normal light schedule and maintenance routines. I added a new power head to help get some flow in a dead zone which is also helping. The tank is doing way better, parameters are all stable, and I'm starting to feel confident.
Corals
It's been two weeks roughly since then and now dinos are truly starting to fade. Sand is still brown, but it's less and less every few days. Only thing I am dosing is Microbacter Clean and 7. Corals are all opening, and in the past two weeks I have new polyps growing for Zoas as well as clove and GSP. My what I thought was a baby torch I think is a baby frogspawn, and it's tripled in little tentacles in the past two months.
My plate coral, long known as being white and almost a skeleton, is finally growing orange flesh back. One half of it has some GHA on it (the dead looking side), but the other half has orange running up it and the flesh is starting to pop back up.
The chalice coral I was given started looking real bad during the dino fight, but in the past week bits of the orange are popping through. I suspect the last light constantly changing intensity bleached it bad. Hoping it recovers.
Fish and Inverts
Clowns are doing well, firefish is doing great. They have enjoyed the increased feedings, and I think this has helped drop aggression between the clowns. Firefish no longer hides, and is very active. It has learned when I am in the office, it can stare at me until food happens.
Snails are doing well, lost two trochus snails during the dino outbreak but they were older and have been in the tank almost six months by now, and came to me already larger and older. Going to order a few more snails to help shore up CUC as I am starting to get some algae in places.
Equipment
My generic coral light I bought when I started the tank was starting to really act up on Thursday. Whenever the timer would turn it on, the settings would be random. I took some money from the fish tank fund and purchased an Ai 16 HD with the flex arm, and it looks great. I have it set to acclimation mode for the next 30 days, but I'm already in the five days I've had it already seeing coral looking better.
I may take the UV off middle of May and see how things do. Right now the pump is in the tank, and the tank looks like a mad scientist experiment with the wires everywhere.
Future Tank Plans
My main plan is to have this tank in the office (or one like it), and a big tank downstairs in the family room. I spend plenty of time in both areas of the house, but my wife really wants to see a salt tank downstairs because she really likes salt fish/corals (and to help diversify the living room's axolotl domination). I have been doing some crazy research into the big display, but I think in May this tank this thread is about will be getting an upgrade to this Fiji Cube 22.4 Gallon with External Overflow. The stand I currently have is rated for a 30 gallon cube, and has plenty of room in the bottom for a small 10 gallon sump. I am thinking that tank + a 10 gallon baffle kit and I can make a small sump. It would hide the equipment, and get me used to working with a sump for when I get to the big tank down the line. I already have sand, and I am getting this week rock to start curing in a bucket.
In terms of livestock/coral, the most I plan on adding until the 22 gallon upgrade for this cube is a few soft corals like replacement xenia. Some extra snails, but nothing else. once I get the upgrade I may add a shrimp and more CUC.
I see this tank, now that I know more about saltwater and coral, being primarily a soft coral tank with only a few LPS. Duncans are something I like the look of, and I may try to get an Acan when it's the 22.
Dinos
The dinos started to come back out of the blue, as if for one last hurrah. Even with UV running, the stuff was sticking to rocks and everything. I decided to just power through, and went back to my normal light schedule and maintenance routines. I added a new power head to help get some flow in a dead zone which is also helping. The tank is doing way better, parameters are all stable, and I'm starting to feel confident.
Corals
It's been two weeks roughly since then and now dinos are truly starting to fade. Sand is still brown, but it's less and less every few days. Only thing I am dosing is Microbacter Clean and 7. Corals are all opening, and in the past two weeks I have new polyps growing for Zoas as well as clove and GSP. My what I thought was a baby torch I think is a baby frogspawn, and it's tripled in little tentacles in the past two months.
My plate coral, long known as being white and almost a skeleton, is finally growing orange flesh back. One half of it has some GHA on it (the dead looking side), but the other half has orange running up it and the flesh is starting to pop back up.
The chalice coral I was given started looking real bad during the dino fight, but in the past week bits of the orange are popping through. I suspect the last light constantly changing intensity bleached it bad. Hoping it recovers.
Fish and Inverts
Clowns are doing well, firefish is doing great. They have enjoyed the increased feedings, and I think this has helped drop aggression between the clowns. Firefish no longer hides, and is very active. It has learned when I am in the office, it can stare at me until food happens.
Snails are doing well, lost two trochus snails during the dino outbreak but they were older and have been in the tank almost six months by now, and came to me already larger and older. Going to order a few more snails to help shore up CUC as I am starting to get some algae in places.
Equipment
My generic coral light I bought when I started the tank was starting to really act up on Thursday. Whenever the timer would turn it on, the settings would be random. I took some money from the fish tank fund and purchased an Ai 16 HD with the flex arm, and it looks great. I have it set to acclimation mode for the next 30 days, but I'm already in the five days I've had it already seeing coral looking better.
I may take the UV off middle of May and see how things do. Right now the pump is in the tank, and the tank looks like a mad scientist experiment with the wires everywhere.
Future Tank Plans
My main plan is to have this tank in the office (or one like it), and a big tank downstairs in the family room. I spend plenty of time in both areas of the house, but my wife really wants to see a salt tank downstairs because she really likes salt fish/corals (and to help diversify the living room's axolotl domination). I have been doing some crazy research into the big display, but I think in May this tank this thread is about will be getting an upgrade to this Fiji Cube 22.4 Gallon with External Overflow. The stand I currently have is rated for a 30 gallon cube, and has plenty of room in the bottom for a small 10 gallon sump. I am thinking that tank + a 10 gallon baffle kit and I can make a small sump. It would hide the equipment, and get me used to working with a sump for when I get to the big tank down the line. I already have sand, and I am getting this week rock to start curing in a bucket.
In terms of livestock/coral, the most I plan on adding until the 22 gallon upgrade for this cube is a few soft corals like replacement xenia. Some extra snails, but nothing else. once I get the upgrade I may add a shrimp and more CUC.
I see this tank, now that I know more about saltwater and coral, being primarily a soft coral tank with only a few LPS. Duncans are something I like the look of, and I may try to get an Acan when it's the 22.
Last edited:
John Bolden
Valuable Member
Any pics?
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PandorasChalk
Active Member
Not the greatest pics, need to get better ones after work (phone died mid pictures last night). The dinos are in a few rock spots but before all the coral was coated with them constantly. Now I do zero basting daily which is nice.
John Bolden
Valuable Member
I see the zoanthids reaching I know its in the acclimation cycle but if they are still doing that when you have the ai prime on normally turn it up.
Also smart thinking with the frogspawn on the rock with the gsp. That will keep the gsp at bay when it gets bigger.
Also smart thinking with the frogspawn on the rock with the gsp. That will keep the gsp at bay when it gets bigger.
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