Greybeard's Wide, Shallow Peninsula
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Traded my Algae Barn credit for a new Biota aiptasia eating filefish. The last one I bought, from Salty Bottom, wasn't the right sort of filefish. Neat fish, hasn't picked on any of my corals, but I'm guessing he's going to be HUGE. I'm likely going to have to rehome him at some point.
Anyway, I got a Biota aiptasia eating filefish, and a Biota squamosa clam. Ordered today, with the discount from the peppermint shrimp snack I bought from them last week.
Both said size on the page, the filefish, 0.5 to 1 inch, the clam, 2". If they're actually that size, I'll be fine.
I'd long missed having a clam. Love 'em, but with a bare bottom, it didn't seem practical. Since I added sand a year or so back, well, bring on the clams
. I'd have ordered a hippopus as well, had they not been out of stock. I'm not much on the maximas, never had any luck with them, but Squamosa, hippopus, gigus, even deresa, I've done well with in the past. Just cool animals.
Anyway, I got a Biota aiptasia eating filefish, and a Biota squamosa clam. Ordered today, with the discount from the peppermint shrimp snack I bought from them last week.
Both said size on the page, the filefish, 0.5 to 1 inch, the clam, 2". If they're actually that size, I'll be fine.
I'd long missed having a clam. Love 'em, but with a bare bottom, it didn't seem practical. Since I added sand a year or so back, well, bring on the clams
. I'd have ordered a hippopus as well, had they not been out of stock. I'm not much on the maximas, never had any luck with them, but Squamosa, hippopus, gigus, even deresa, I've done well with in the past. Just cool animals.
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Yesterday afternoon, I noted that my algae reactor light didn't come on as expected. I only clean the thing once every 3 months, hasn't been touched in a month and a half. Healthy growth of chaeto in it, so it was working until very recently.
Anyway, I take the thing apart, and find that the bottom of the glass LED cylinder is broken off. Cleanly, about an inch up the LED strip, with whatever metals, exposed to water. So far, I've not noted a change in the tank. Here's hoping there's no major problem from this.
Skimz MBR157, purchased from BRS 10/2020. BRS web site says they're warrantying Skimz products purchased from them, product should have a 1 year warranty... so I wrote BRS an email. Long shot, I suppose... how am I going to prove I didn't mis-handle the glass tube? I can't. We'll see if BRS does anything.
Anyway, I put my old Zetlight E200s macro light (same thing as the new Neptune GRO light) back into service, put the chaeto from the reactor into a (now) empty section of the sump. Should be fine.
Anyway, I take the thing apart, and find that the bottom of the glass LED cylinder is broken off. Cleanly, about an inch up the LED strip, with whatever metals, exposed to water. So far, I've not noted a change in the tank. Here's hoping there's no major problem from this.
Skimz MBR157, purchased from BRS 10/2020. BRS web site says they're warrantying Skimz products purchased from them, product should have a 1 year warranty... so I wrote BRS an email. Long shot, I suppose... how am I going to prove I didn't mis-handle the glass tube? I can't. We'll see if BRS does anything.
Anyway, I put my old Zetlight E200s macro light (same thing as the new Neptune GRO light) back into service, put the chaeto from the reactor into a (now) empty section of the sump. Should be fine.
OP
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
11 days... that's how long it took Algaebarn to ship my new clam and filefish.
They said it was drop shipped from Biota, which is possible, I suppose. Whatever... it took 11 days.
When they arrived, it was a foam box in a cardboard box, with a cool pack. Outer bag was half full of water, and the clam was in a bag that obviously leaked... just enough water to keep him wet.
Acclimated, perhaps a little faster than I would usually have done, trying to reduce the stress on my new clam.
Filefish seems to be fine, about 1.5" long, seems healthy. I believe he is actually the right kind of filefish this time, at least
Clam was closed up tight, in maybe a half cup of water in the leaking bag. A bit over 2" long. Here's hopping he makes it.
They said it was drop shipped from Biota, which is possible, I suppose. Whatever... it took 11 days.
When they arrived, it was a foam box in a cardboard box, with a cool pack. Outer bag was half full of water, and the clam was in a bag that obviously leaked... just enough water to keep him wet.
Acclimated, perhaps a little faster than I would usually have done, trying to reduce the stress on my new clam.
Filefish seems to be fine, about 1.5" long, seems healthy. I believe he is actually the right kind of filefish this time, at least
Clam was closed up tight, in maybe a half cup of water in the leaking bag. A bit over 2" long. Here's hopping he makes it.
minus9
5000 Club Member
To give you some hope, clams are usually shipped dry when they are transfered from aquacultured facilities in Palau. They may wrap them in wet towels, but probably not. In certain regions clams are completely exposed to air in low tide, so it should recover, as long as it wasn't exposed to high temps?11 days... that's how long it took Algaebarn to ship my new clam and filefish.
They said it was drop shipped from Biota, which is possible, I suppose. Whatever... it took 11 days.
When they arrived, it was a foam box in a cardboard box, with a cool pack. Outer bag was half full of water, and the clam was in a bag that obviously leaked... just enough water to keep him wet.
Acclimated, perhaps a little faster than I would usually have done, trying to reduce the stress on my new clam.
Filefish seems to be fine, about 1.5" long, seems healthy. I believe he is actually the right kind of filefish this time, at least
Clam was closed up tight, in maybe a half cup of water in the leaking bag. A bit over 2" long. Here's hopping he makes it.
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OP
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Greybeard
2500 Club Member
'Bout a month... quick update.
Aiptasia eating filefish from Algae Barn has consumed all of the small Aiptasia in the tank. Large specimens remain. Thinking I'll take a tube of F Aip to them, now that there's something in there that'll help with the offspring.
Little squamosa clam is doing fine.
Upon reading the thread a while back about skimmers, and realizing that my old Vertex skimmer hadn't produced _any_ skimmate in months, I pulled the skimmer, gave it a thorough cleaning, and put it away dry. That was a couple of weeks ago. Fairly close monitoring has shown, so far, no changes that I can detect... so... I'm skimmerless. I may well convert the skimmer compartment to additional macro algae space, if more time without a skimmer doesn't reveal any issues.
Dr. Tim's Waste a way. Some time back, I added sand to my formerly bare bottom tank. A couple of months later, cyano bloom. I tried Dr. Tim's Waste a way, since he'd given me a bottle during a trade show, and it had show some results in other people's tanks. 1/4 dose for 2 weeks, 1/2 dose for 2 weeks, and cyano was just gone. I kept up the 1/2 dose for a month or so, and stopped. That was like six months back now. No cyano. I don't believe in miracle cures, but this stuff did a good job for me.
Fishes growing, corals growing, nem's have completely taken over one bommie in the tank. Hopefully, they'll not decide to move
Thanks for all the interest!
Aiptasia eating filefish from Algae Barn has consumed all of the small Aiptasia in the tank. Large specimens remain. Thinking I'll take a tube of F Aip to them, now that there's something in there that'll help with the offspring.
Little squamosa clam is doing fine.
Upon reading the thread a while back about skimmers, and realizing that my old Vertex skimmer hadn't produced _any_ skimmate in months, I pulled the skimmer, gave it a thorough cleaning, and put it away dry. That was a couple of weeks ago. Fairly close monitoring has shown, so far, no changes that I can detect... so... I'm skimmerless. I may well convert the skimmer compartment to additional macro algae space, if more time without a skimmer doesn't reveal any issues.
Dr. Tim's Waste a way. Some time back, I added sand to my formerly bare bottom tank. A couple of months later, cyano bloom. I tried Dr. Tim's Waste a way, since he'd given me a bottle during a trade show, and it had show some results in other people's tanks. 1/4 dose for 2 weeks, 1/2 dose for 2 weeks, and cyano was just gone. I kept up the 1/2 dose for a month or so, and stopped. That was like six months back now. No cyano. I don't believe in miracle cures, but this stuff did a good job for me.
Fishes growing, corals growing, nem's have completely taken over one bommie in the tank. Hopefully, they'll not decide to move
Thanks for all the interest!
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OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Aug 19, 21 to April 12, 22. Been a while
Tank has been running well. Buddy of mine that keeps a reef has his shut down temporarily, I find that without the input and excitement of a reefing friend, excitement in the tank wanes. With spring blowing in, I find myself much more interested in my trike than my tank.
I've backed off on water changes, one 15% every month. So far, everything seems happy with the reduced schedule.
I've quit dosing 2pt entirely. Why? Eh. Kalk reactor does a fine job maintaining even levels, if a bit lower than ideal. Calc 410, Alk 8.5, Mag 1050. Rock solid at those levels. All the critters seem happy here. Maintenance consists of adding a spoonful of kalk powder to the Avast reactor once a month, cleaning out the reactor twice a year. Cheap, easy, and for my purposes, very effective.
The event that caused me to come back and post?
Heater controller failure. Stuck 'ON'... kind of a worst case scenario. Happily, my Apex detected the issue, alarmed, and shut off the heater at 80f... all is well, except for the controller failure.
I had a Bayite heater controller. Loved the darned thing. Nice big current temp and set point temp LED's, nice tight min/max, never varied more than 0.2f. Quiet, reasonably inexpensive ($26 on Amazon). I much prefer the form factor over the Inkbird.
Comes with a 1 year warranty. I bought this one in March of 21. 13 months. Never got much more than that out of any heater controller I've owned.
Hm. Well, with the Apex protecting the tank from actually overheating, I just ordered another Bayite. Same model. Be here Thursday.
Tank has been running well. Buddy of mine that keeps a reef has his shut down temporarily, I find that without the input and excitement of a reefing friend, excitement in the tank wanes. With spring blowing in, I find myself much more interested in my trike than my tank.
I've backed off on water changes, one 15% every month. So far, everything seems happy with the reduced schedule.
I've quit dosing 2pt entirely. Why? Eh. Kalk reactor does a fine job maintaining even levels, if a bit lower than ideal. Calc 410, Alk 8.5, Mag 1050. Rock solid at those levels. All the critters seem happy here. Maintenance consists of adding a spoonful of kalk powder to the Avast reactor once a month, cleaning out the reactor twice a year. Cheap, easy, and for my purposes, very effective.
The event that caused me to come back and post?
Heater controller failure. Stuck 'ON'... kind of a worst case scenario. Happily, my Apex detected the issue, alarmed, and shut off the heater at 80f... all is well, except for the controller failure.
I had a Bayite heater controller. Loved the darned thing. Nice big current temp and set point temp LED's, nice tight min/max, never varied more than 0.2f. Quiet, reasonably inexpensive ($26 on Amazon). I much prefer the form factor over the Inkbird.
Comes with a 1 year warranty. I bought this one in March of 21. 13 months. Never got much more than that out of any heater controller I've owned.
Hm. Well, with the Apex protecting the tank from actually overheating, I just ordered another Bayite. Same model. Be here Thursday.
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Aug 19, 21 to April 12, 22. Been a while
Tank has been running well. Buddy of mine that keeps a reef has his shut down temporarily, I find that without the input and excitement of a reefing friend, excitement in the tank wanes. With spring blowing in, I find myself much more interested in my trike than my tank.
I've backed off on water changes, one 15% every month. So far, everything seems happy with the reduced schedule.
I've quit dosing 2pt entirely. Why? Eh. Kalk reactor does a fine job maintaining even levels, if a bit lower than ideal. Calc 410, Alk 8.5, Mag 1050. Rock solid at those levels. All the critters seem happy here. Maintenance consists of adding a spoonful of kalk powder to the Avast reactor once a month, cleaning out the reactor twice a year. Cheap, easy, and for my purposes, very effective.
The event that caused me to come back and post?
Heater controller failure. Stuck 'ON'... kind of a worst case scenario. Happily, my Apex detected the issue, alarmed, and shut off the heater at 80f... all is well, except for the controller failure.
I had a Bayite heater controller. Loved the darned thing. Nice big current temp and set point temp LED's, nice tight min/max, never varied more than 0.2f. Quiet, reasonably inexpensive ($26 on Amazon). I much prefer the form factor over the Inkbird.
Comes with a 1 year warranty. I bought this one in March of 21. 13 months. Never got much more than that out of any heater controller I've owned.
Hm. Well, with the Apex protecting the tank from actually overheating, I just ordered another Bayite. Same model. Be here Thursday.
Nice to hear from you! I also find tank enthusiasm lessens during this time of year and of course if you ride then this is prime riding time! HA! I had a heater get stuck on not long after I came into the hobby, before affordable controllers, and it wiped my tank. Glad to hear that you caught it!
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
And... April of 22 to March of 23. Again, been a while.
Tank is pretty much a BTA garden... One small rainbow BTA decided he liked the place, and split... into 25 or thirty. Oh well. I'm OK with it. Fish don't seem to mind.
Again, equipment failure brings me to post.
My DIY ATO system failed, but happily, it failed safe. Woke this morning to bubbles in my return line. Hm? Shouldn't happen. A quick look 'round shows that my electric ball valve, which should be open, wasn't letting water through. A bit more troubleshooting found the 12vDC power block that runs it came unplugged... probably when I was messing with my lights the other day.
Oh well. Took the opportunity to solder and heat shrink the electrical connection to the ball valve, since I had it out anyway. Plugged the power block back in, all is well.
Lights... I've got an AquaticLife Hybrid 48 and a pair of Kessel AP700's. Haven't run the T5's for a year or so. Nem's don't need that much light, they're quite happy under the kessels. So, I yanked the fixture the other day, and re-hung just the kessels. Looks better that way, to my eye. Needed to get 'em down and clean the dust out of them anyway.
Tank is pretty much a BTA garden... One small rainbow BTA decided he liked the place, and split... into 25 or thirty. Oh well. I'm OK with it. Fish don't seem to mind.
Again, equipment failure brings me to post.
My DIY ATO system failed, but happily, it failed safe. Woke this morning to bubbles in my return line. Hm? Shouldn't happen. A quick look 'round shows that my electric ball valve, which should be open, wasn't letting water through. A bit more troubleshooting found the 12vDC power block that runs it came unplugged... probably when I was messing with my lights the other day.
Oh well. Took the opportunity to solder and heat shrink the electrical connection to the ball valve, since I had it out anyway. Plugged the power block back in, all is well.
Lights... I've got an AquaticLife Hybrid 48 and a pair of Kessel AP700's. Haven't run the T5's for a year or so. Nem's don't need that much light, they're quite happy under the kessels. So, I yanked the fixture the other day, and re-hung just the kessels. Looks better that way, to my eye. Needed to get 'em down and clean the dust out of them anyway.
Sixdinnersquid
Community Member
Greybeard, this is a bit of a nonsequiter from the bare bottom, but the great photo revealed a part of your tank that I'm curious about: why do your return lines turn upward and into an inverted "U" before turning horizontal again at the nozzle? I can't imagine that it can be part of a siphon break feature - is it?Getting sort of tired of having to restrict the animals I can house due to the bare bottom thing. Wife and I had a talk about it, she doesn't like the bare bottom either. I was hopeful that by now, the bottom would be fairly coral encrusted... not the case. Coraline, maybe 70%, but I've not had any luck growing corals on this plastic substrate.
So... made a minor change on Sunday.
Horrible photo, but you get the idea...
Spent two rather pleasant hours sitting on the back patio, moving a hose around in a 10g bucket, rinsing 80lbs of sand. Repeatedly, until the water was running clear. This was well water... not up to reef standards, but at least it's not full of chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, etc. Once that was done, I drained as much fresh water as I could, did a 20g water change, and re-rinsed the sand in the water change water.
Photo above was taken an hour after putting the sand in the tank... what little cloudiness I had was all cleared up by then. About as trouble free as it could have been, I think.
Now... let this sand 'dirty up' a bit, and I can get that pair of fighting conchs I'd been missing, some nassarius snails, maybe one of the sand sifting gobies... Hey, I miss my bi-color goatfish, maybe one of those.
Anyway, I'm no longer going bare bottom. It was a worthwhile experiment, but ultimately, just too limiting for me.
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Yes, indeed. There's a small hole drilled just above water level for siphon break.
The returns are 'Siphon Stoppers' from Custom Aquariums.com
Fish Tank Siphon Stopper® Aquarium Output Nozzle - Custom Aquariums
Our fish tank Siphon Stopper minimizes the risk of a back siphon into your sump, giving flexibility to manipulate water flow of your aquarium.
www.customaquariums.com
I don't recommend them. From the maker, they needed modification, or they introduced bubbles into the return stream. I had to re-design them in order to get the siphon break I wanted, and not introduce unwanted bubbles to the tank. A bit of PVC and some loc-line is all you really need.
I think they're designed more for freshwater. They'd be fine for that... where people like bubbles
I also bought their H2Overflows. Eh. Used 'em for quite a while, but these days, I'm using a DIY solution with some hardware store PVC fittings.
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Seems the only time I post these days is when something goes wrong. Tank is stable as it can be at this point, it's just old equipment failing.
My ATO system is DIY. Float valves at 3 use points, directly connected to an RODI source, with a high level sensor at each use point. High level sensor is normally high and dry, if it trips, I get an alarm, and an electric ball valve shuts off incoming RODI water line.
Works great. Been in operation for several years, never a problem.
Float valve in my sump failed last night. I got a high level alert, and the ball valve shut, just as it's supposed to. Maybe an extra gallon or so in the system. Didn't affect salinity, that I can tell.
So... backup worked, failed in a safe manner, and alerted me to the issue.
I shut off the manual valve on the sump ATO line, so that the Kalk reactor reservoir wouldn't go empty, and let it evaporate back to normal level (probably by morning). I'll have to manually open the sump valve once or twice in the next couple of days, no big deal.
Just ordered 3 new Kerick valves, same ones I used last time, from Amazon. Yeah, I like BRS, but you gotta watch 'em on stuff like this. Their price $17.49, Amazon was $11.89. Nearly $20 cheaper, over three valves. Be here Saturday. I'm probably going to swap all three use point float valves... they're all the same age. According to Amazon, I ordered the last ones Spring of 2019. Four years on a mechanical float valve with a rubber seal? I can live with that.
My ATO system is DIY. Float valves at 3 use points, directly connected to an RODI source, with a high level sensor at each use point. High level sensor is normally high and dry, if it trips, I get an alarm, and an electric ball valve shuts off incoming RODI water line.
Works great. Been in operation for several years, never a problem.
Float valve in my sump failed last night. I got a high level alert, and the ball valve shut, just as it's supposed to. Maybe an extra gallon or so in the system. Didn't affect salinity, that I can tell.
So... backup worked, failed in a safe manner, and alerted me to the issue.
I shut off the manual valve on the sump ATO line, so that the Kalk reactor reservoir wouldn't go empty, and let it evaporate back to normal level (probably by morning). I'll have to manually open the sump valve once or twice in the next couple of days, no big deal.
Just ordered 3 new Kerick valves, same ones I used last time, from Amazon. Yeah, I like BRS, but you gotta watch 'em on stuff like this. Their price $17.49, Amazon was $11.89. Nearly $20 cheaper, over three valves. Be here Saturday. I'm probably going to swap all three use point float valves... they're all the same age. According to Amazon, I ordered the last ones Spring of 2019. Four years on a mechanical float valve with a rubber seal? I can live with that.
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Float valves replaced.
I decided, while working on the tank this weekend, that I want to lower my tank water level by a bit... maybe 3/4 of an inch. I'm getting splashing from excited fishes feeding, and cleaning the waterline with my magnet cleaner is a pain. Salt creep on my screen top... Just not enough clearance.
Overflows are 1.5" PVC Elbows... originally, was using H2Overflows, but never really liked them... switched to Lifeguard's low profile overflow strainers... BRS's got 'em. Used for years, but they seriously restrict flow... my normal water level is a good half inch above the tops of these strainers. Worse, if I don't clean 'em regularly.
As I said, I want to lower the water level a bit. So... I made myself some overflow strainers. Printing 'em now. (Prusa Mini, PETG) These fit _over_ the 1.5" fitting, not inside of it, so you get a bit more flow. Holes are small enough (.4") to keep most critters out, and big enough not to restrict flow as much as the Lifeguard strainers do.
We'll see how it goes.
I decided, while working on the tank this weekend, that I want to lower my tank water level by a bit... maybe 3/4 of an inch. I'm getting splashing from excited fishes feeding, and cleaning the waterline with my magnet cleaner is a pain. Salt creep on my screen top... Just not enough clearance.
Overflows are 1.5" PVC Elbows... originally, was using H2Overflows, but never really liked them... switched to Lifeguard's low profile overflow strainers... BRS's got 'em. Used for years, but they seriously restrict flow... my normal water level is a good half inch above the tops of these strainers. Worse, if I don't clean 'em regularly.
As I said, I want to lower the water level a bit. So... I made myself some overflow strainers. Printing 'em now. (Prusa Mini, PETG) These fit _over_ the 1.5" fitting, not inside of it, so you get a bit more flow. Holes are small enough (.4") to keep most critters out, and big enough not to restrict flow as much as the Lifeguard strainers do.
We'll see how it goes.
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
And, an image of them in situ...
Quite happy with them, look OK, nice and quiet, fit very well, water level about 3/4" lower than original, which is exactly what I wanted.
Now I gotta clean my screen top and get rid of all that salt creep
Quite happy with them, look OK, nice and quiet, fit very well, water level about 3/4" lower than original, which is exactly what I wanted.
Now I gotta clean my screen top and get rid of all that salt creep
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Started a long response to the yellow tank thread, decided it was more appropriate over here.
I'm maxed out on fishes... eventually, I'll need to cull the herd. Tangs? Purple, Tomini, and Scopus. Add a Foxface, female LaMark's Angel, and a male Spotbreast Angel, that's a full half dozen that, from an aquarium standpoint, would be considered 'large' fishes. In a 140g tank, 60" x 30" x 18".
Too much for the tank, IMHO, when they're all grown up.
The Purple and the Foxface both belonged to a friend who's tank broke. Eventually, I'll be giving them back, when he's once again got a tank large enough and stable enough to house them. The Foxface is 6" long, fat, and happy. The purple a bit more than 5" across, and absolutely gorgeous. I'll miss that one.
The Scopus was purchased when he was maybe 1.5" across... he's now probably 5", and growing like a weed. I'll probably let him grow for a few more years, and then re-home him. A good sized, healthy fish? Bass Pro's aquarium would surely take him, if I can't find a private tank owner that wants him.
That'll leave me with the Tomini, which is a more reasonable adult size, and the pair of Genacanthis Angels. The Spotbreast will probably top out at 8" or so, the Lamark's maybe a bit bigger.
Add in an adult pair of pajama cardinals, both nearly 4" long, a big, breeding pair of clowns... the female is a Tomato, male is a Cinnamon. They don't seem to mind, been laying eggs regularly for years. Oh, and a blue streak wrasse... tanks pretty well stocked.
I'm maxed out on fishes... eventually, I'll need to cull the herd. Tangs? Purple, Tomini, and Scopus. Add a Foxface, female LaMark's Angel, and a male Spotbreast Angel, that's a full half dozen that, from an aquarium standpoint, would be considered 'large' fishes. In a 140g tank, 60" x 30" x 18".
Too much for the tank, IMHO, when they're all grown up.
The Purple and the Foxface both belonged to a friend who's tank broke. Eventually, I'll be giving them back, when he's once again got a tank large enough and stable enough to house them. The Foxface is 6" long, fat, and happy. The purple a bit more than 5" across, and absolutely gorgeous. I'll miss that one.
The Scopus was purchased when he was maybe 1.5" across... he's now probably 5", and growing like a weed. I'll probably let him grow for a few more years, and then re-home him. A good sized, healthy fish? Bass Pro's aquarium would surely take him, if I can't find a private tank owner that wants him.
That'll leave me with the Tomini, which is a more reasonable adult size, and the pair of Genacanthis Angels. The Spotbreast will probably top out at 8" or so, the Lamark's maybe a bit bigger.
Add in an adult pair of pajama cardinals, both nearly 4" long, a big, breeding pair of clowns... the female is a Tomato, male is a Cinnamon. They don't seem to mind, been laying eggs regularly for years. Oh, and a blue streak wrasse... tanks pretty well stocked.
OP
OP
Greybeard
2500 Club Member
Hi All...
Big changes pending.
Current photo:
As you can see, I'm basically running a Rainbow BTA cloning facility. There's like 20 of them in there, killed off virtually all of my corals, excepting a cabbage leather, a gorgonian, and a few mushrooms. Started with one, I've given away a dozen or so, catching 'em when they migrate across the sand. Obviously, that's not enough. They seem to _really_ like my tank. I'm done with them.
Just made a deal with a local shop, he's going to trade me some new 'Real Reef' rock, which is what my reef is made of, for nem covered rock. He's ordered a couple of boxes of real reef, I'm going to bring it home, get it in my sump, maybe some into the main tank, and let it age a month or so. Once there, I'll pull all of the nem covered rock and trade it back to him. Even trade. Yeah, the nem covered aged live rock is worth more... but not to me
So, I'll soon be running an old, established tank, full of fish, quite stable, good lighting, established fish population... with virtually no corals.
Time for one of them coral frag packs from WWC? Maybe a day trip to St. Loo? Hit a few shops, load up a cooler? How 'bout a trip to Orlando, June 2024, Refapalooza? Hmmm... how many coral frags can I get in the trunk of my trike
Anyway, just an idea of what's coming.
Oh, anyone ever changed out virtually _all_ of your live rock before? How'd that work out for you? Believe it or not, I've done it once before, many years ago. Had a 240, 6" deep sand bed, halide lighting.... yeah, it's been a few decades back. Anyway, some grape caulurpa went sexual on me. I used 200lbs of very expensive, wet shipped Florida live rock, totally covered with caulurpa, to fill a hole in my back yard. Replaced it all with dry mined stuff, something like Marko's rocks would have today. Didn't try and age the new rock... just yanked the old stuff and put in new, same day. Never noticed an issue... but it was lightly populated with fish, and a 6" deep sand bed is one heck of a bio filter.
Going to try to be a little more gentle this time. Probably pull half of the rock at a time, aging the new stuff for a month in the sump first.
Big changes pending.
Current photo:
As you can see, I'm basically running a Rainbow BTA cloning facility. There's like 20 of them in there, killed off virtually all of my corals, excepting a cabbage leather, a gorgonian, and a few mushrooms. Started with one, I've given away a dozen or so, catching 'em when they migrate across the sand. Obviously, that's not enough. They seem to _really_ like my tank. I'm done with them.
Just made a deal with a local shop, he's going to trade me some new 'Real Reef' rock, which is what my reef is made of, for nem covered rock. He's ordered a couple of boxes of real reef, I'm going to bring it home, get it in my sump, maybe some into the main tank, and let it age a month or so. Once there, I'll pull all of the nem covered rock and trade it back to him. Even trade. Yeah, the nem covered aged live rock is worth more... but not to me
So, I'll soon be running an old, established tank, full of fish, quite stable, good lighting, established fish population... with virtually no corals.
Time for one of them coral frag packs from WWC? Maybe a day trip to St. Loo? Hit a few shops, load up a cooler? How 'bout a trip to Orlando, June 2024, Refapalooza? Hmmm... how many coral frags can I get in the trunk of my trike
Anyway, just an idea of what's coming.
Oh, anyone ever changed out virtually _all_ of your live rock before? How'd that work out for you? Believe it or not, I've done it once before, many years ago. Had a 240, 6" deep sand bed, halide lighting.... yeah, it's been a few decades back
. Anyway, some grape caulurpa went sexual on me. I used 200lbs of very expensive, wet shipped Florida live rock, totally covered with caulurpa, to fill a hole in my back yard. Replaced it all with dry mined stuff, something like Marko's rocks would have today. Didn't try and age the new rock... just yanked the old stuff and put in new, same day. Never noticed an issue... but it was lightly populated with fish, and a 6" deep sand bed is one heck of a bio filter.Going to try to be a little more gentle this time. Probably pull half of the rock at a time, aging the new stuff for a month in the sump first.
I had that same problem many years ago j kinda cringe when someone wants to add a BTA. Then I had the monster carpet anemone that wanted to eat all my very expensive fish, back in the early 90s. Good luck hope it goes well.
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