The Build Thread l- Bart's Old 60 Gallon

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Oh, and the three clowns and the yellow watchman goby in the tank WITH the distressed blenny were all fine. Water test results were all in normal ranges.

 

[bknapp]

Oh, the Fluval crapped out on me. Plug it in, nothing happens. I guess 70 gallons was more than it wanted to handle. Guess I need a new filter mechanism.

If you have a decent skimmer and you're not cleaning that canister a few times a week it's probably better not running it anyways.

Sorry about the bad breaks bro.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Thanks, Brandon.

And the blenny died.

 

[bknapp]

Sorry to hear that. Blennies have awesome personalities.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Well, 48 hours after firing up the new protein skimmer, the 60 gallon tank is noticeably clearer. I still think I need some more chemical/mechanical filtration in the system though.

Regarding the bedroom 30, Kate is despondent after the death of Lenny the Blenny. The three clowns and the yellow watchman goby appear fine, along with both nemes. The ChemiClean is in there, and we'l see what that does to the cyano that's trying to bloom.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Hair algae is picking up in the bedroom tank. I'd reused a rock from Bart's old setup- one that had been sat out and dried and everything. Looks like I'm getting another lawnmower blenny on Friday to get the bedroom tank cleaned up.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

ChemiClean worked on the bedroom tank's cyano. Caught it early. Did a 30 percent water change (10 gallons), added a lawnmower blenny from the LFS to the tank in there to deal with the hair algae problem. Hope he brought an appetite.

Been running the metal halide light on the 60 gallon to make the two frags happy. It's also making a thin layer of green algae on the tank walls happy. Also need to figure out what the heck's on this "$10 Coral Rock" I got at the Pet Palace closeout.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

My post regarding the "ten dollar rock"- it might have given me aiptasia:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-discussion/138297-aiptasia.html#post1599587

Emptied the protein skimmer collector, sump is spotless right now.

Still need some advice as to what else I should do for a filter. Only running the skimmer and pump right now.

 

[bknapp]

Well, 48 hours after firing up the new protein skimmer, the 60 gallon tank is noticeably clearer. I still think I need some more chemical/mechanical filtration in the system though.

Get a nice media reactor and run a combo of GFO and carbon and with a good skimmer and husbandry you would be fine.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Thanks, Brandon. Going to need another sump chamber to make that happen. And with a really uncertain career future at the moment, I'm reluctant to make a lot of capital investment in the tank right now. If I can keep the fish alive with what I've got for a month, great.

Now if someone can look at this:

and tell me whether or not that tan thing is aiptasia or not. The other thread is ignoring my question, and I now have another tan thing just like it.

I thought the red stuff might end up being cyano rather than coral (why the hell I trusted a closing pet store, I dunno!), but it's not bubbling or spreading.

 

[bknapp]

Yes, that would be an aiptasia.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

OK, this rock is going out in the messing yard then. I do NOT need that stuff. I already have one growing OFF that rock.

Thanks, bud. Appreciate it.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

OK, removed the aiptasia rock, one rock I think had another aiptasia in a crevice, and removed fifty percent of the coarse black sand.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Everything seems OK on the 60 for the moment. Did some work on the 30 gallon nano. Will post a pic of the revised filter grid I made to spread the waterfall effect so it sounds less like Niagra Falls when I'm trying to sleep.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Sitting here watching the engineer goby keep sticking his head out from between two pieces of rock, puking up more and more "gravel" on every trip. I was wondering how that SOB was moving so much material.

Also, one of the snails grazed all the "foliage" off my coral frag. Not the first time this has happened- last time it was one of the hermit crabs who are now all in the back bedroom tank.

If I'm going to keep putting cheap frags in here, I need to figure out a cleanup crew that won't eat them.

 

[Dowtish]

Your CUC ate what exactly?

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

Chris, I will take a picture of it for an ID- it was an unmarked five dollar frag I bought at the Pet Palace going out of business sale.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

All right, back from a few days in California. Have the place to myself now- as planned, Kate (Maidofdishonor) moved back to San Diego.

Anyway, hair algae and a bit of cyano is perking up in the back bedroom tank. Will deal with that. The lawnmower blenny back here just isn't eating fast enough.

The engineer goby's been busy as hell in the 60 gallon- that black sand has been moved all over the place. I think I need to scoop out a bunch more of it.

Biggest issue is the red bubble-tip neme in the back bedroom tank. He hardly ever bubbles out- spends most of his time pulled in and closed up. Probably dying- I keep catching one of the clowns stealing his food and giving it to the sebae neme it loves. This sucks- at one point we had that neme looking AMAZING- better than it did when Bart sold it to us as part of the package.

Anyone want the RBTA? Free to good home in Clarksville? Might die on you, but if it stays here it's definitely gonna.

 

[WiseguyThreeOne]

All right, it's been a while. I'm back.

I finally started a new job. Nearly three months of unemployment living on ramen and Chef Boyardee didn't leave me much room to improve the tanks.

Yellow watchman goby in the back tank is missing. The last time he went missing I found him in the sump living happily for who knows how long. No sign of him there this time.

Fought a mild bout of cyano in the back tank.

The sebae in the back tank has gotten huge. The RBTA is somewhat nursed back to health and I'll be handing him off as originally planned.

As for the front tank, I have reduced the amount of black gravel further.

I never logged adding the coral beauty angel to the big tank- that was December.

Mama's remaining consort died and vanished over a weekend. I never even found a trace of a body.

Remaining livestock in the big tank are the engineer goby, the coral beauty, Big Mama, and the cardinal.

The coral frag is going well- will post a pic for an ID.

 

[meintn]

Welcome back and congrats on the new angel!