Rebecca's Downsized Reef Build

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I have concerns about my little yellow clown goby. He swims all around and acts interested when I put food in the tank (thawed frozen mysis and brine shrimp soaked in VitaChem), but I haven't actually seen him eat anything in the week I've had him. I was hoping that turning the pumps off during feeding time would make it easier for him to eat. I haven't seen the lawnmower blenny eating either, but am hopeful that he's munching on algae. He seems fat and happy for now.
My cardinalfish (still in the 10g holding tank) is a good eater. He had to learn to eat aggressively to beat out the clownfish for his share. So, until I know the goby and blenny in the 29g are eating well, I won't feel good about adding any other fish to the new tank. :(
Any advice on what else I can try to entice the goby to eat?
 
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I guess the goby figured it out on his own. He actively went after the food last night and I saw him eat a good amount. I also saw the blenny picking at the rocks. I'm more hopeful now that they will both do well in the new tank.
The Hydor Smart Wave pump controller seems to have died. We bought it used and my husband had to work on it a bit when we first got it to get it going. I'll have him look at it again, but I'm not overly optimistic about getting it working again. I've got it unplugged for now. The corals are swaying with the water movement made by the oversized HOB filter, so I feel like there's enough flow without the circulation pumps, at least temporarily. I'm going to look at other options for easily turning off the pumps for feeding (other than having to crouch down and unplug them from the power strip - my lower back does not like me doing that on the daily).
 

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I'm going to look at other options for easily turning off the pumps for feeding (other than having to crouch down and unplug them from the power strip - my lower back does not like me doing that on the daily).

You could use those cheap remotely switched outlet adaptors for things like that. We use them for Christmas lights where the alternative is bending down behind the sofa to unplug them every night. You can get grounded (3 prong) ones. Local hardware store will have a few - choose one where the remote unit battery isn't some weird size.

Really sad to hear about your clown, but glad the goby figured it out!

EDIT: here's one:
 
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You could use those cheap remotely switched outlet adaptors for things like that. We use them for Christmas lights where the alternative is bending down behind the sofa to unplug them every night. You can get grounded (3 prong) ones. Local hardware store will have a few - choose one where the remote unit battery isn't some weird size.

Really sad to hear about your clown, but glad the goby figured it out!

EDIT: here's one:


Thank you! I'll look into that link and see if there are any 2 outlet ones available. :)
I've been looking at the surge protector power strips with individual controls. If I can come up with a creative way to hide the cords (I think I have an idea for that) and if my arms are long enough for it to be easily accessible, I may attach the power strip to the board that holds the light brackets. It would be nice to have the surge protector up on the wall instead of under the tank, as long as I can tame / camouflage the cord clutter. I'll run ideas by my husband and he'll either point out all the reasons why it wouldn't be practical or he'll say it will work and will help me set it up. lol
 

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Heh good luck. Mine is "tidy" in the macro sense (can't see any cord clutter in the room) but when you open the door of the unit I have the stand on, all the cables jump out like snakes on the last day of school.

Re: two outlet - you could put a two way adapter on the single outlet remote, as long as you only want to shut off both pumps together.

You have all this on a GFI right? Like, even more so than normal as it's in your bathroom!
 
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Heh good luck. Mine is "tidy" in the macro sense (can't see any cord clutter in the room) but when you open the door of the unit I have the stand on, all the cables jump out like snakes on the last day of school.

Re: two outlet - you could put a two way adapter on the single outlet remote, as long as you only want to shut off both pumps together.

You have all this on a GFI right? Like, even more so than normal as it's in your bathroom!

I got a good visual of you opening your cabinet door. lol I would like to be able to shut off both pumps at feeding time to make it easier for the goby to catch food. Being able to easily shut off pumps, filter and skimmer during water changes would be a bonus. I'm going to plead the fifth on the GFI question. I may have read somewhere that having your tank's life support tied to a GFI outlet is not ideal and that outlet may have been added after final inspection. Maybe. Can't say for sure.... ;Shifty
 

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I may have read somewhere that having your tank's life support tied to a GFI outlet is not ideal and that outlet may have been added after final inspection.

Hehe. Well, it isn't ideal, they do trip on their own sometimes (because witchcraft?) I decided I'd rather chill a fish than fry myself so I use one. Of course as your outlet was added (even though you can't say for sure) I expect you're all safe so this is just for anyone else reading: you don't strictly need to wire in a GFI outlet: you can use a little GFI extension cord (like $30) to which you connect your power strip for the in-tank stuff. Mind you I'm no saint as I don't even have a grounding probe yet (what stops the metal from leaching?!)
 
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I decided I'd rather chill a fish than fry myself so I use one.

For sure! As a side note, the entire addition is on a separate breaker from the rest of the house and the breaker box has an arc fault circuit interrupter. Hopefully that will avoid any frying. ;)
 
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Sunday FTS after a few changes, including a water change. I tried stacking a couple rocks on the right and while it's not quite how I want it yet, it's getting there.
I got the duncan corals glued in place and they're not happy about being handled, but getting over it.
The orbiculate cardinalfish got moved from the 10g holding tank to his new home. He's been checking it out very timidly. Oddly, he looks bigger in the 29 than he did in the 10. Glass and water distortion is so weird!
Sometime last week I hooked the 2 circulation pumps up to a dual outlet light timer and have it set at 15 minute intervals. That seems to be working out pretty well.
I added a second heater to the tank as well. It seemed like the single heater was struggling a bit on it's own.

20200308_162543.jpg
 

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So on the ATO, just throwing out an idea that might be good for you and your husband. Not sure what your light hanger is made of but could it hold a shelf? If so you could go gravity fed ato. They are not fail proof but are very reliable since there is no dependence on pumps and electronic sensors. you could have the container on the shelf ran to a float attached to the tank. Just a thought.
 
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So on the ATO, just throwing out an idea that might be good for you and your husband. Not sure what your light hanger is made of but could it hold a shelf? If so you could go gravity fed ato. They are not fail proof but are very reliable since there is no dependence on pumps and electronic sensors. you could have the container on the shelf ran to a float attached to the tank. Just a thought.

The light hanger is made with forged metal plant hangers and it could hold a shelf, but we have 3 cats. One of them is into EVERYTHING and a shelf over the tank would be a major temptation to him. However, I'm sure we could rig up something he couldn't get into or on top of if we want to do a gravity fed ATO. That's something I can talk to my husband about. It's always good to throw out ideas and see what sticks.
 
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I hate fish deaths, but especially hate unexplained fish deaths. Last night I lost my favorite, the orbiculate cardinal. :( He had eaten well the night before and swam out to say Hi yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work. He seemed happy and healthy, so I was shocked to find him dead yesterday evening.
The yellow clown goby and the lawnmower blenny were out and about swimming around and the corals are flourishing. Other than a little cyanobacteria (and the unexplained death), the tank is chugging right along.
 

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I hate fish deaths, but especially hate unexplained fish deaths. Last night I lost my favorite, the orbiculate cardinal. :( He had eaten well the night before and swam out to say Hi yesterday morning while I was getting ready for work. He seemed happy and healthy, so I was shocked to find him dead yesterday evening.
The yellow clown goby and the lawnmower blenny were out and about swimming around and the corals are flourishing. Other than a little cyanobacteria (and the unexplained death), the tank is chugging right along.
Sorry to hear about your fish death. I lost a Lawnmower Blenny this week, too.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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