16 foot Reef by Elder1945

Elder1945 · Jul 10, 2015

Sorry for the lack of updates and Pic's.. I was battling a Ick/Brook/Velvet/Who knows outbreak. I lost this battle and most of my fish...

I was however able to get to my purple tang in time and I hope my 2 pairs of clown fish. We will see how they do in the QT system. I have had a lot of my fish for years the oldest fish I had was 4 years old (only in the hobby for 6 years) so this is kinda a shock to me. I qt everything that goes in my tank but must have misses something or got lazy in something. I have attempted everything that I could find on the net to remedy this problem, but nothing has worked.

I wish I had better news but I am not so lucky. The only thing that is good about this is that all my inverts and coral are doing great. So now comes damage control, I plan on pulling the rest of my fish out this weekend and trying to save what I can. This will be a hard to pick witch ones I will try to save and witch ones are to far gone. I am not a marine biologist so I am guessing at best. I have called a few stores around me but no one has the room or will chance the fish.

So I will see how all this goes and keep everyone posted.

If I had more knowledge on fish I might have cough it earlier and save more but this is something I am learning. Its funny I built this tank I have for my naso and he was one of the fist to go

.

Well it is what it is and I am dealing with it fallow tank for 6 weeks yay.... I just booked a trip to Las Vegas and I am staying there for 3 weeks so I only have to wait 3 weeks now for new fish

ws6kid · Jul 10, 2015

Beautiful tank. Sorry to hear about the fish trouble. It is amazing how quickly things deteriorate with aquarium life after working so long to keep it happy.

Fin · Jul 10, 2015

Holy cow!!!!!! That is awesome! Definitely following along for this ride!

The loss of fish post was made while I had the reply screen open and I did not see it. Sorry you had problems. Hope you will be back on track soon.

Elder1945 · Jul 10, 2015

ws6kid said:
Beautiful tank. Sorry to hear about the fish trouble. It is amazing how quickly things deteriorate with aquarium life after working so long to keep it happy.

Yes it is quite supersizing to say the least.. It is only 6-8 weeks and back to fish though and this time I start from scratch, I am kinda looking forward to that..

Fin said:
Holy cow!!!!!! That is awesome! Definitely following along for this ride!

The loss of fish post was made while I had the reply screen open and I did not see it. Sorry you had problems. Hope you will be back on track soon.

Thank you yes it is kinda amazing just sitting looking at it even with no fish. I am back on track this weekend.. Start of the fallow period this will also give me time to work on the coral in my tank.

Bbaz123456 · Jul 10, 2015

Wow!! Beautiful tank and great job!!
Sorry to hear about your fish though.
I went through the same thing a few years ago when I built my 1500 to give my fish that were in my 150 some more room. I still have a few of the og's but the majority of them died in the first few months, along with everything that I tried to put in during the first 6 months. The only explanation I could come up with, is that with such a large system it just takes longer to stabilize and build up an "ecosystem - immune system"...if that makes any sense.
Personally I've never bought into the whole "eliminating ick" through fallow tank and quarantine. I'm not saying to not quarantine, since there are many other parasites and diseases that are serious to worry about.
Just give it time and restock slowly.

Elder1945 · Jul 10, 2015

Bbaz123456 said:
Wow!! Beautiful tank and great job!!
Sorry to hear about your fish though.
I went through the same thing a few years ago when I built my 1500 to give my fish that were in my 150 some more room. I still have a few of the og's but the majority of them died in the first few months, along with everything that I tried to put in during the first 6 months. The only explanation I could come up with, is that with such a large system it just takes longer to stabilize and build up an "ecosystem - immune system"...if that makes any sense.
Personally I've never bought into the whole "eliminating ick" through fallow tank and quarantine. I'm not saying to not quarantine, since there are many other parasites and diseases that are serious to worry about.
Just give it time and restock slowly.

Yea I am leaning that way as well... I have my qt system up trying to save a purple tang and my 2 sets of matted clowns.. I have had the clowns for 4 years so they are worth a battle.... The purple tang was the last high price fish I had living left so will give him a try.

Its strange how fast it went but I am relieved I have the fish out and I can re stock.... I hope for the best and will take it extremely slow. I had better luck with fish in my 29 gallon biocube

.

KDawg0623 · Jul 10, 2015

That is a great looking tank! I am sorry to hear about your fish. I am sure starting over will be fun though

007Bond · Jul 10, 2015

You might try some Chloroquine Phosphate,...fish guys recommend it for their quarantining. Its a bit hard to find, but a guy on ebay sells it. Research it a bit. Good luck.

reefish · Jul 10, 2015

wow!!! real nice tank/lap pool. Sorry about the fish, might want to leave the tank fallow a little longer than 6 weeks. I had to do it a year ago and 72 days fallow for ick once all of the fish are out of the tank.

GoGo98102 · Jul 10, 2015

Hi, Elder! Amazing tank and I am sorry for your loss. Do you build acrylic tanks for a living?

Asagi · Jul 10, 2015

That blue squamosa should fill out the corner nicely. The flow must of been difficult with that length. Great inspiration for a basement tank. Thanks for sharing!

Harold Green · Jul 11, 2015

Truly impressive tank. I have to agree with other comments in that I think unless you start a tank with live sand and tons of live rock there's going to be a period where the tank has to reach a balance to be able to support fish. It's one of the reasons I don't use dry rock alone to start tanks although many hobbyists do. After dozens of marine tanks it's always been my experience that a tank takes about a year to reach that balance point and until that point I always keep fish to a minimum, adding them one at a time and waiting weeks or months to add the next one. Usually the first fish or two will point out if there's any issue with the tank. I hope to see many more pictures of your tank once you get it sorted out and running well.

maroun.c · Jul 11, 2015

Wow That's a very Long Tank

Sorry about your fish losses, Unfortunately that is also part of this hobby. Hope things go smooth from now on.

Delder2323 · Jul 12, 2015

Impressive! I applaud your building skills. Though I was sorry to read of the loss of your fish and your battle with ich. Looking forward to following a more positive progression from here forward.

Carlos Gutierrez Jr. · Jul 13, 2015

Nice!

FishDooD65 · Jul 16, 2015

Wow, such a nice aquarium and I am sorry to hear about your troubles with the outbreak. Hopefully you will get it back to being as nice if not nicer than what it was. I am curious as to what filtration the tank has. I saw the big skimmer but can you please explain all of your equipment and show us some pictures of the filtration system. thanks!