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Turtle's Sushi Tank
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So, it's been a while. Life got busy during the holidays, work got busy at my current job, I'm in the process of hiring on at a new job... lots going on here.
The tank is doing spectacular tho. Corals are growing and I haven't killed my staghorn acro yet. Quite the opposite actually it has been growing very well. I've really struggled with SPS in the past, the only thing I can attribute to my success this time is better stability thru automated control. The GHL P4 and KHD are well worth the money, at least for me. I'd like to eventually add and Ion Director as well.
Alkalinity has been stable, altho I can't get it to raise up from around 7.1dkh. I'm up to 24ml a day of All For Reef.
I was having some issues with some stability, nothing drastic but I was having half a dkh swing over the course of a few days. I figured it was the improperly mixed AFR powder, as I just shook it in a 2l water bottle for a minute or two and dumped it in my dosing container. This time I made up 2l of new solution, weighed out the exact amount of powder, added RODI up to 1000ml mark in a beaker and mixed on a stir plate until it was mostly clear(yellow tint is normal per TM).
Since changing the dosing solution to the one mixed under more precise methods, the tank has really stabilized, altho it seems like as I increase dosing, my consumption goes up equally and just as fast.
The trigger has settled in nicely... altho not without some drama. Mostly in the form of a demon tomini tang. I knew he would not tolerate another tang. I figured since triggers are mostly carnivores, it wouldn't be an issue. Haha, it was a huge issue. Constantly chasing, keeping it confined to the rocks, pinning it in the corner of the tank and physically holding it there.
This was just after being attacked. Trigger still in a sideways submissive position, tang leaving the scene of the crime.
I was target feeding the trigger pieces of LRS chunky because I was afraid it wouldn't get enough to eat and stress out and die from getting bullied. Its appetite never suffered tho, the thing devours LRS off tweezers like me at an all you can eat sushi buffet. I eventually had to remove all of the rock, net the tomini and put him in the acclimation box. The torment was not going to stop.
He spent about 5 days in there. Each day I added a piece of nori and poured a little bit of frozen in while feeding the rest of the fish. During this time the trigger started swimming around more and more. It had spent a week getting chased constantly and took a little while to get confident.
After a while of being in the box, I came to a hard decision. Do I release him and hope he doesn't go homicidal again? Do I trade it in to the LFS? I couldn't leave him in the box indefinitely...
I really didn't want to trade him, because he's pretty much the centerpiece fish in this tank, and I've had him for 4 years. He even has a name, it's Ahi, and means flame in Maori.
I didn't want to get rid of the trigger either... I just got it, and I have always wanted a trigger. They are one of my favorite fish, and the niger is probably my favorite of them. I've always had small tanks, well, too small for a grown trigger. The aquarium guru I've trusted for years, been in the aquarium profession for 30 years, and a guy who I trust will tell me the truth instead of trying to make a sale... assured me that triggers grow really slow, and that it would take a few years for it to out grow my tank.
So, I released the Tomini and observed. To my surprise, Ahi did not mind the trigger at all. He went back to acting like his normal self and the trigger stays out swimming most of the day instead of hiding. Success!
My friend also got her new tank cycled and stable where she was confident taking her trachys back... but not before I got this AWESOME picture. This was the day after catching Ahi and rearranging the rock. I think I had stirred up some nutrients in the sand and the LPS were feasting. My red and blue trachy got so big it was actually touching the ricordea on the left and I had to move it over so nobody would start stinging anyone else.
The tank is doing spectacular tho. Corals are growing and I haven't killed my staghorn acro yet. Quite the opposite actually it has been growing very well. I've really struggled with SPS in the past, the only thing I can attribute to my success this time is better stability thru automated control. The GHL P4 and KHD are well worth the money, at least for me. I'd like to eventually add and Ion Director as well.
Alkalinity has been stable, altho I can't get it to raise up from around 7.1dkh. I'm up to 24ml a day of All For Reef.
I was having some issues with some stability, nothing drastic but I was having half a dkh swing over the course of a few days. I figured it was the improperly mixed AFR powder, as I just shook it in a 2l water bottle for a minute or two and dumped it in my dosing container. This time I made up 2l of new solution, weighed out the exact amount of powder, added RODI up to 1000ml mark in a beaker and mixed on a stir plate until it was mostly clear(yellow tint is normal per TM).
Since changing the dosing solution to the one mixed under more precise methods, the tank has really stabilized, altho it seems like as I increase dosing, my consumption goes up equally and just as fast.
The trigger has settled in nicely... altho not without some drama. Mostly in the form of a demon tomini tang. I knew he would not tolerate another tang. I figured since triggers are mostly carnivores, it wouldn't be an issue. Haha, it was a huge issue. Constantly chasing, keeping it confined to the rocks, pinning it in the corner of the tank and physically holding it there.
This was just after being attacked. Trigger still in a sideways submissive position, tang leaving the scene of the crime.
I was target feeding the trigger pieces of LRS chunky because I was afraid it wouldn't get enough to eat and stress out and die from getting bullied. Its appetite never suffered tho, the thing devours LRS off tweezers like me at an all you can eat sushi buffet. I eventually had to remove all of the rock, net the tomini and put him in the acclimation box. The torment was not going to stop.
He spent about 5 days in there. Each day I added a piece of nori and poured a little bit of frozen in while feeding the rest of the fish. During this time the trigger started swimming around more and more. It had spent a week getting chased constantly and took a little while to get confident.
After a while of being in the box, I came to a hard decision. Do I release him and hope he doesn't go homicidal again? Do I trade it in to the LFS? I couldn't leave him in the box indefinitely...
I really didn't want to trade him, because he's pretty much the centerpiece fish in this tank, and I've had him for 4 years. He even has a name, it's Ahi, and means flame in Maori.
I didn't want to get rid of the trigger either... I just got it, and I have always wanted a trigger. They are one of my favorite fish, and the niger is probably my favorite of them. I've always had small tanks, well, too small for a grown trigger. The aquarium guru I've trusted for years, been in the aquarium profession for 30 years, and a guy who I trust will tell me the truth instead of trying to make a sale... assured me that triggers grow really slow, and that it would take a few years for it to out grow my tank.
So, I released the Tomini and observed. To my surprise, Ahi did not mind the trigger at all. He went back to acting like his normal self and the trigger stays out swimming most of the day instead of hiding. Success!
My friend also got her new tank cycled and stable where she was confident taking her trachys back... but not before I got this AWESOME picture. This was the day after catching Ahi and rearranging the rock. I think I had stirred up some nutrients in the sand and the LPS were feasting. My red and blue trachy got so big it was actually touching the ricordea on the left and I had to move it over so nobody would start stinging anyone else.
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OP
OP
We had an ice storm yesterday. Rare, but it happens more often than snow. Lots of limbs down and we were without power for about 4 hours. At hour two I started to secure a generator for the tank as with the amount of damage throughout the county, it did not look like power was coming back soon. The power company did not have an estimated time survive would be restored because of the amount of damage.
During the outage, my tank cooled to 74°F, salinity dropped just a tad and somehow alkalinity spiked to 9.3dkh. It's back to 7.7 now and seems stable. My LPS look like nothing ever happened. My two SPS look like they are days from total death.
On the bright side, I stopped and got this pretty picture on the train tracks.
During the outage, my tank cooled to 74°F, salinity dropped just a tad and somehow alkalinity spiked to 9.3dkh. It's back to 7.7 now and seems stable. My LPS look like nothing ever happened. My two SPS look like they are days from total death.
On the bright side, I stopped and got this pretty picture on the train tracks.
OP
OP
So.... I did a thing. Well I did two things.
OP
OP
Alright so we're at a stopping point. I got the majestic angel friday. Went in an acclimation box and Saturday morning before the lights came on I release her. Surprisingly, Ahi the tomini paid it no attention and all three of the large fish now swim around together like old friends.
The new tank. I sold off a Harley that I was no longer interested in. Consolidated hobbies... Mrs. Turtle got new living room furniture and I got a Reefer 750 xxl. This thing is... HUGE. The 250 would fit under the stand in place of the sump. I got the stand built, and the sump in place. I'll make a new build thread eventually, but here's some pictures.
Most of the new equipment.
The table on the right isnt staying. It's holding my wifi router for now, and I have to reroute the cable thats under the house... the tank will be centered on that wall.
The new tank. I sold off a Harley that I was no longer interested in. Consolidated hobbies... Mrs. Turtle got new living room furniture and I got a Reefer 750 xxl. This thing is... HUGE. The 250 would fit under the stand in place of the sump. I got the stand built, and the sump in place. I'll make a new build thread eventually, but here's some pictures.
Most of the new equipment.
The table on the right isnt staying. It's holding my wifi router for now, and I have to reroute the cable thats under the house... the tank will be centered on that wall.
OP
OP
Getting down to the final countdown for the Sushi Tank. She's still looking good though. Cleaned up all the glass with my fl!pper handle scraper. It does a better job of getting that tough algae that the magnet scraper won't get.
The majestic angel finally came out of the rocks at feeding time. I've watched it swiming around, eating floating debris, eating nori from the clip, pecking at the rocks... as soon as I turn the pumps off or I walk over with food it swims into cover. Today, after I fed, she came back out to grab some LRS Reef Frenzy. I remember someone was making a frozen food for angels that had sponge in it... I can't remember who it was tho, need to look into that.
With all the mess going on with Tropic Marin salt, and fixing to set up a new tank with all new water... and my bucket of Tropic Marin salt I got a month ago being one of the affected buckets made in Turkey. I've decided that if something works don't try and tweak it. Meaning, Red Sea blue bucket has been good, consistent salt for the last 5 years I've been reefing. Time to just stick to what works and don't experiment. I ordered two large buckets from my LFS.
With that, I've told the KHD to bring alk back up to the 8.0dkh range in preparation for the new salt and switching over to the new tank with its parameters. It's getting there and I seem to be getting closer to figuring out the stability of this tank... only to be tearing it down in a couple weeks. Lol. Hopefully a lot of the tweaking will go smoother on the 750 now that know about how much this tank needs. I'm probably not going to stay with the All For Reef either. With just a few LPS I'm using 24ml a day just to try and keep up, and the KHD adds to it because most of the time alk is lagging behind a little.
I removed the Kessil from the tank and placed one of the Red Sea ReefLEDs up there. I wanted to see how they looked and what color spectrum I liked. My LFS I bought the tank from uses the 23k(100% blue and 10% white), but drops the blues to 80% and white to 9%. I tried that but it just looks to blue and has an almost purple tinge to it. Not very pleasing to me.
So today I adjusted it to the 20k(100% blue and 50% white) color and that looks much better. Looks more like my Kessil light.
Red Sea tries to completely take over the lights by having you pick between 15k, 20k and 23k, then picking a time you want the lights to turn on and it sets up it's own schedule. Luckily, they let you change that because I wanted a longer overall lighting period but with a shorter peak period. I came up with this, I still might tweak it later.
The majestic angel finally came out of the rocks at feeding time. I've watched it swiming around, eating floating debris, eating nori from the clip, pecking at the rocks... as soon as I turn the pumps off or I walk over with food it swims into cover. Today, after I fed, she came back out to grab some LRS Reef Frenzy. I remember someone was making a frozen food for angels that had sponge in it... I can't remember who it was tho, need to look into that.
With all the mess going on with Tropic Marin salt, and fixing to set up a new tank with all new water... and my bucket of Tropic Marin salt I got a month ago being one of the affected buckets made in Turkey. I've decided that if something works don't try and tweak it. Meaning, Red Sea blue bucket has been good, consistent salt for the last 5 years I've been reefing. Time to just stick to what works and don't experiment. I ordered two large buckets from my LFS.
With that, I've told the KHD to bring alk back up to the 8.0dkh range in preparation for the new salt and switching over to the new tank with its parameters. It's getting there and I seem to be getting closer to figuring out the stability of this tank... only to be tearing it down in a couple weeks. Lol. Hopefully a lot of the tweaking will go smoother on the 750 now that know about how much this tank needs. I'm probably not going to stay with the All For Reef either. With just a few LPS I'm using 24ml a day just to try and keep up, and the KHD adds to it because most of the time alk is lagging behind a little.
I removed the Kessil from the tank and placed one of the Red Sea ReefLEDs up there. I wanted to see how they looked and what color spectrum I liked. My LFS I bought the tank from uses the 23k(100% blue and 10% white), but drops the blues to 80% and white to 9%. I tried that but it just looks to blue and has an almost purple tinge to it. Not very pleasing to me.
So today I adjusted it to the 20k(100% blue and 50% white) color and that looks much better. Looks more like my Kessil light.
Red Sea tries to completely take over the lights by having you pick between 15k, 20k and 23k, then picking a time you want the lights to turn on and it sets up it's own schedule. Luckily, they let you change that because I wanted a longer overall lighting period but with a shorter peak period. I came up with this, I still might tweak it later.
Fudsey
Jack of all trades, Master of none ;-)
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Keep an eye on your fleshy corals with the angel. I've heard they could start munching on them. Only reason I have not bought one.
najer
Valuable Member
The one I used to get was Ocean Nutrition angel feast as far as I remember, all my fish loved it.
OP
OP
So I watched a video earlier from MACNA several years ago on keeping angels in reef tanks. Guy speaking said angels eat sponge in the wild because it's available. It isn't necessarily a dietary requirement. The key to getting one that will eat things that aren't sponge is get a young but not too young fish. His recommendation was 3-4" range. Smaller and they don't handle shipping well, larger and they've already decided what food is and will refuse anything but. 3-4" they are still in that phase where they are open to a lot of foods and strong enough shipping won't kill them. It was a REALLY good talk with lots of good info.
I'll look into that Ocean Nutrition, see if I can get it in the states. I like a variety of food, I love pb&j but I get tired of it eventually. I'm sure fish are similar? My dogs love eating the same dry kibble for breakfast and dinner and are always happy to get it... altho, when I splurge and get them the canned food that looks like beef stew I'd put on the stove they do get EXTRA excited.
Anyway... with the power of multiple tabs in Google Chrome... I found the angelfish food. And it's got a big old "Made in the US of A" sticker on it. Now to find someone local who carries it so I don't have to pay shipping on frozen fish food. Oh I learned another trick from that video on feeding angels. Press the food into the inside of a clam shell and place that in the tank. The angel will be more likely to eat from there than out of the water, at least until they realize the stuff in the water is the ssme as the stuff in the clam shell.
OP
OP
I've been watching like a hawk. Did a lot of research and the majestic is the best bet out of the large angels for not eating coral. It's also one of the smaller large angels topping out at 10"... where a queen angel (absolutely beautiful fish btw) could easily reach 18". I saw a queen in a very large public aquarium... actually its the South Carolina Aquarium. It had to be a 15+lb fish. The thing made trophy size largemouth bass look like a fairy wrasse. I've seen a French angel the ssme size at another public aquarium.
So far, the only things I've seen it peck at are rock, random stuff floating in the tank, LRS, the algae clip, algae on the algae clip and sand. Acans, blastos and especially the trachy were extra squishy today and do not look to be stressed from being nipped. If I was keeping it in the 250 long term, while unethical in sure someone had attempted it, I'm sure I'd have problems as it grew and ran out of room. I don't think I'll have many issues in the 750 with space to swim.
OP
OP
I found the video... and yes, he said to not even think about keeping the fleshy LPS I love and zoas are like little skittles and they have to devour the rainbow. 
Hopefully, it stays like it is now and leaves everything alone.
Hopefully, it stays like it is now and leaves everything alone.
OP
OP
So, here we sit with the Reefer 750 xxl... I guess it's about time to start a build thread for it, huh. This tank is HUGE. That wall is almost 8' long, and there's 9⅜" on either side of the tank. It's over 25" front to back and just about 24" tall.
Fudsey
Jack of all trades, Master of none ;-)
Reef Squad
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
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My Tank Thread
Don't forget to link the new build here so we can find it
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