This is it. My last build thread

[Stang67]

They're trying to beat me down. My tank thread badge is gone again

I'm not giving in. I'm adding it back. We can do this lol. This is the most accurate record I have of the tank. Pitiful I know but I'm poor at keeping track of things and this makes it a little fun.

I couldn't stand looking at that awesome light mount so I dusted off my three Gen 4 xr15s and mounted them. I'm pretty happy with how they look and the way I was able to run the wires in the t slot. I'm not running them much now but turn them on just to look at the rockscape and try to decide if I like it or not.

Still blows me away that they are hinged. Summer project for me for sure. Can't tell you how many times I've hit my head on the lights.

 

[exnisstech]

Still blows me away that they are hinged. Summer project for me for sure. Can't tell you how many times I've hit my head on the lights.

I only hit my once but it was on a sharp corner and I hit it hard enough to draw blood. I now remember the lights are hinged. Pain is a wonderful teaching tool lol.
I am so glad the hinges were recommended. With the big single piece euro brace on this tank I would have to remove the lights to move any rock in or out.

 

[exnisstech]

Learn from my mistakes. Rinse all rock off before placing in the tank, especially if you have cut them. Been cold here so hoses are off for the winter. I figured compressed air would suffice. It did not I'm slowly getting it cleaned up but need to come up with a better vacuum method than just a hose.

My diy scrubber. Driveway marker, credit card, scrubbing pad, and zip ties. Total cost $0. Value priceless. Its long enough to reach the entire bottom without having to stand on a ladder.

I like the look of sand but I can never keep it clean and I scratched the #$&t out of the glass when I've had sand. Its one of the reasons I chose not to go with acrylic. I would destroy it.

I've upped the flow a bit. I pulled two MP40s off the 180 and added two jebao scp 150 gyres. I'm getting pretty good movement and I really think the softies in the 180 look better with the lower flow.

I think I'm going to focus more on fish in this tank. I've always been a fish guy after having freshwater for so many years. I'll be bringing a lot of coral over but have no plans to buy any to add. I have two other tanks running with a decent mix of sps and a few LPS.

I really like my tangs. I have two adult yellows but had to separate them due to aggression from one. I figure more is better so I have 3 biota baby yellows coming Tuesday to grow out and add before bringing the rest of the gang over. I've always wanted a small group of yellows so fingers crossed having more will work better than two.
I would like to add a large Angel but have clams so may have to pass.

 

[exnisstech]

No tank stuff yesterday. We had to make dog food

Cleaning up the mess

I moved a few coral in. These are pieces that I've had for a long time that never thrived. I really don't know why. I've moved them to different systems through the years and they did no better. But until they die I'll keep caring for them. The sinularia is the exception. Its a frag from a large colony that started to die off.

I also added a Talbot damsel. I know I said the powder brown was going to be the first fish in but I've had so much trouble keeping power browns and blues in the past I just had to test the water first so the damsel is my canary. It's been in an acclimation box for several days and finally swam out last night. It's doing well and eating.

I decided since I finally have a tank with a larger foot print it's time to try for a group of yellow tangs I've always wanted. I bought three of the babies from biota.

I'll be keeping them in an acclimation box for a few days then releasing them into the stock tank.

Fish were packed well with one exception @Biota_Marine . They were double bagged but both bags were right side up which leaves the corners that small fish can get trapped in and die. These fish were fine but I lost a fish to a corner once when I was traveling about 8 hrs so I'm funny about it now and try to request the inner bag be upside down so the bottom has no corners. I did not ask biota to do that I'm just mentioning it. Salinity was 1.025 by my refractometer. Happy to see that. The lfs I bought my powder brown from had a sticker stating the tanks were at 1.020. Low but I can deal with it. Tested when I got home and found salinity in the bag was 1.015. I will no longer be buying fish there unless they are in with coral. One of the little tangs was perfect the others have some dorsal fin damage but nothing that should not grow back. Overall I'm happy with the purchase. I love growing out babies.

Tested water Sunday and had NO3 4.0 PO4 0.29 alk 10.7 calcium 450. I'm not sure yet what I'm doing to do with the alkalinity level. Its close to what my salt mixes to but the 180g runs dkh mid 8s. I'm thinking of slowing raising the level in the 180 to match the new tank before I move everything over. I'm not really sure if raising that or lowering the new tank would be best. I know I can raise it with 2part which I have. Figure then once I move everything test a lot and see what my consumption is then decide a course of action. I'm undecided what I want to use. I've been dosing kalk in the 180 but don't want a brute container in the living room. I have another tank that does well on ESV 2part but I started AFR a few weeks ago on another tank and my levels have been more stable than they ever have in the past. My gut tells me to use AFR but I dunno. I'm open to suggestions

 

[bakbay]

Get your priorities straight man -- feed fish (and corals) before dogs!!!

Love the YT gang -- I wish I did that many moons ago when they were $20-22 each! A school of YTs was such an awesome sight while snorkeling in Hawaii...

Parameters: I run a CaRx so the params are pretty consistent. If you ask me, I just care about the two most important parameters: Alk & PO4. Yes, the others are important but if I nail these two, the rest should be fine...

Keep the updates coming.

 

[twentyleagues]

Nice pick ups!
I really like Talbots damsels have had them in the past. Mine seemed to be pretty mild mannered too.

 

[exnisstech]

Get your priorities straight man -- feed fish (and corals) before dogs!!!

Love the YT gang -- I wish I did that many moons ago when they were $20-22 each! A school of YTs was such an awesome sight while snorkeling in Hawaii...

Parameters: I run a CaRx so the params are pretty consistent. If you ask me, I just care about the two most important parameters: Alk & PO4. Yes, the others are important but if I nail these two, the rest should be fine...

Keep the updates coming.

Oh the dogs follow me around the tanks every morning waiting to be fed. One of my Gals favorite sayings is "its all about the fish" she even made a little sign and put it on the canopy

I won this reactor here a while back in a photo bomb contest. It seems kind of expensive to start up and to be honest setting it up sounds pretty intimidating to me. I'm somewhat tech challenged so I've just been looking at it.

Alk is what I keep an eye on the most. I have PO4 pegging the Hanna ulr tester and flashing 0.9 when I test the 180g but everything looks good. I'm cool with 0.29 on the new system. My other systems stay pretty low but I dose bacto balance in those.

 

[bakbay]

Oh the dogs follow me around the tanks every morning waiting to be fed. One of my Gals favorite sayings is "its all about the fish" she even made a little sign and put it on the canopy

I won this reactor here a while back in a photo bomb contest. It seems kind of expensive to start up and to be honest setting it up sounds pretty intimidating to me. I'm somewhat tech challenged so I've just been looking at it.

Alk is what I keep an eye on the most. I have PO4 pegging the Hanna ulr tester and flashing 0.9 when I test the 180g but everything looks good. I'm cool with 0.29 on the new system. My other systems stay pretty low but I dose bacto balance in those.

lol - totally dig the hilarious sign!

If you're talking about a CaRx -- agreed that the initial setup can be daunting (I have struggled as well) but it's easier than you think. Watch YT videos (yes, multiple ways to skin this cat - ha!). It comes out cheaper in the long run if you got a big tank. Best of all, the maintenance is super easy, depending on your consumption rate, of course. Once dialed in, I just need to replace the media & CO2 canister every ~11 months. I will never run a reef tank w/o a CaRx in the future.

Cool beans on Alk & nutrient levels...I use PhosphateRx (Lanthanum Chloride) to reduce PO4 with minimal effort.

 

[exnisstech]

Future residents

 

[exnisstech]

New tangs are eating nori so that's positive.

They are also eating the DK1 pellets I bought. I figured they would since it's what they've been fed. As a bonus the powder brown loves them also. It's the first pellet he has touched. Now if my CBB would take to them I'd be happy but he is snubbing them like any pellet or flake. I'm ok with that tho since a frozen mix is staple and pellets for treats or if I need a quick meal.
They are already playing peek-a-boo

And honing their combat skills. Look close and you can see the powder brown under them. He has been hovering like a shark. I think I'll bring him up to the 330 before I turn the little guys loose in the stock tank.

Alkalinity in the 180 runs mid 8s and the 330 is 10.7 from using mostly fresh saltwater and having no consumption. I'm going to bring 2 brute cans up and start transferring 30 gallons a day between the two my thoughts being they should equalize at some point and I can start moving coral over. That's the plan anyway.

 

[exnisstech]

I turned on Moon lights for the first time in the dining room tank. The CBB is all over picking at rock. I wonder if he (most of my fish are he. It just works for me) has been doing it all along and I just never saw because I didn't run moonlights
Note to self "set up moonlights" I check at night once in a while but not often. When I have I usually just see shrimp hermits and worms.
EDIT: oops forgot pics

 

[Goaway]

I turned on Moon lights for the first time in the dining room tank. The CBB is all over picking at rock. I wonder if he (most of my fish are he. It just works for me) has been doing it all along and I just never saw because I didn't run moonlights
Note to self "set up moonlights" I check at night once in a while but not often. When I have I usually just see shrimp hermits and worms.
EDIT: oops forgot pics

Yes. These cbb are very active at night. I lost my cynarina to midnight munchies.

 

[exnisstech]

I can't believe I've never ran moonlights Almost all of my lights have the ability I just always kept the house dark at night. I know what I'll be doing now when I can't sleep.
Bedroom tank.

Gnite.

 

[X-37B]

Oh the dogs follow me around the tanks every morning waiting to be fed. One of my Gals favorite sayings is "its all about the fish" she even made a little sign and put it on the canopy

I won this reactor here a while back in a photo bomb contest. It seems kind of expensive to start up and to be honest setting it up sounds pretty intimidating to me. I'm somewhat tech challenged so I've just been looking at it.

Alk is what I keep an eye on the most. I have PO4 pegging the Hanna ulr tester and flashing 0.9 when I test the 180g but everything looks good. I'm cool with 0.29 on the new system. My other systems stay pretty low but I dose bacto balance in those.

If your talking carx you can pm me anytime. I run no controller or ph probe. Set the bubbles and let the Kamoer pump do the rest. Its really that easy.
I will be running a geo 818 on my new build.

 

[exnisstech]

Ok I warned you at the beginning there may be some old guy ramblings in this thread
I have read so many post from people that are scared of paly toxin and other nasties in our tanks that I've almost started to get a little concerned for my health. I cut myself last night while cleaning dirty filter socks. I don't know how I got cut, I didn't even know I was cut until I saw blood.

I started thinking about all the possibilities of infection and my Grandfathers advice came to mind.

Dog saliva!

My grandfather always let his dogs lick his wounds and I do the same. Its all natural and even feels good. Best of all, no money goes to big pharma. Win win in my book. I've been doing this for years with great results.

Posts treatment

I think they did a great job. I'll update if I get an infection but I'm feeling pretty positive.

 

[Stang67]

There is a study some where that outlines all the different beneficial stuff in dog spit. Supposedly wounds licked by dogs heal 2x as fast.

 

[exnisstech]

There is a study some where that outlines all the different beneficial stuff in dog spit. Supposedly wounds licked by dogs heal 2x as fast.

Interesting. I didn't know there had been a study. Gramps was a smart guy.

 

[exnisstech]

No infection set in yay.

I almost killed everything in the stock tank the other day when I was moving crap out of the basement and pulled the heat probe out of the water and didn't know it. I'm not sure how hot the water actually got. I was sick to my stomach when I felt the water and saw the reading climbing after I put the probe back in. I couldn't stand to look at the actual temp so I pulled the plug and worked at lowering it. I had 4 gallons of clean salt mix that was 67 degrees so I did a 4 gallon WC then left the basement door open and aimed the power head at the surface. They all seem fine so I dodged a bullet. The temp prob is now zip tied to the filter intake tube so it isn't coming out by accident. Learn from my mistakes its much less stressful than learning from your own

The little guys are doing well. I'm feeding multiple times a day. I like to feed a lot but I especially like to feed babies multiple feedings daily. I feel they benefit from a lot of small feeding vs one or two large ones. I don't have to worry about over feeding. The powder brown grabs everything that makes it through the acclimation box slots.


Fun times are coming soon. I had @Waboss print me up a bunch of psu holders and other stuff.

His prices were fair and packaging was awesome. Each piece was wrapped individually in bubble wrap. I'm still working on a plan for cable management. Its one of the things I always seem to do a poor job at so I'm hoping to step my game up a notch. Not having power bricks laying all over will help tidy things up a bit.

 

[cilyjr]

I started thinking about all the possibilities of infection and my Grandfathers advice came to mind.

Dog saliva!

The only problem is that now they have a taste for human blood!

Sleep with 1 eye open......

 

[exnisstech]

Well the algae scrubber is taking off.

And so far zero algae growing on the rock under the light. Far too early to call it successful but I'm optimistic. Ignore the pouty leather. Me thinks I have an audience I wasn't aware of

Have some sponges and other life growing in the dark sump.

I'm going to get a par readings on the 180g today then bring two of the noopsyches lights over and transfer a few pieces and keep an eye on them.