Jackie and Glenns 180g Reef Build

[ReefChef19]

Tonight I have to babysit my dad because my stepmom is going to be at some sort of Elvis thing for a few hours and she never gets out. He doesn't know I'm babysitting so I'm going to be working on his bathroom. I have to seal the shower grout and put a second coat on his trim and door. Once that is done I am out of their house. It's really been a long time coming!

Tomorrow I will be working on the 180 all day. I'm going to start with cleaning up the sump as much as possible. Remove a bunch of LR and add the difference in saltwater back to the tank. Then I will start more water for a water change.

I've been thinking... I still have my 20 long system which is not currently running. I might fill it with salt water and put all of that live rock in that tank. So when I get the nudibranches I might add some to that tank and let them take care of that rock so it's not a total loss. Then again I'm not so sure I trust that the aptasia will not come back. I did have a few return in the 45. But it took nearly a year! So far none have returned to the 29g. Thoughts?

I just came across your thread as im pretty new here, I'm starting to scan through it now. You seem like a very busy woman, I wish you the best with your tank and extra duties. Im sorry guys, but no one multi task better then a mom or grandma!!! hope to see your tank back up and running soon.

 

[prsnlty]

I just came across your thread as im pretty new here, I'm starting to scan through it now. You seem like a very busy woman, I wish you the best with your tank and extra duties. Im sorry guys, but no one multi task better then a mom or grandma!!! hope to see your tank back up and running soon.

Thank you!!! Welcome to R2R also [emoji3]

Haha, so true, I have my granddaughter who is two every single weekend because my daughter is with two jobs and going to college for Dentistry. So I babysit her the entire weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. At her age it makes things a little tough to do the things I want to do as well but I do find a way [emoji6]

My husband and I have been remodeling (making it livable because their tenants destroyed it) my dad's downsize home for eight months which was unexpected and everyone else that was supposed to help us bailed out. Meanwhile we started the work on my house 3 weeks ago beginning with our roof. We basically do everything ourselves and only hire laborers to do the heavy stuff because we're getting up there in age. The reason we are doing everything with our house now is because we don't want to be in the position that my dad and stepmom are in when we get to their age. But it is a lot on us I'm not going to lie. My tank was definitely on the back burner for way too long. So now that we are working on our own home I can begin to do the work.

Thank you for your kind comments and for visiting my thread [emoji4]

 

[hybridazn]

Welcome back! Glad to see the tank is still up and running, and that really stinks about the naso. This past dec I lost my powder blue so I know how you are feeling.

We both need to reboot our tanks haha

 

[prsnlty]

Welcome back! Glad to see the tank is still up and running, and that really stinks about the naso. This past dec I lost my powder blue so I know how you are feeling.

We both need to reboot our tanks haha

Thank you George [emoji4] I agree but I don't have any place to put my fish in the meantime. So therefore I'm going to have to be doing it the hard way unfortunately. I'm also sorry about your powder blue [emoji20] Mine is still hanging in there surprisingly because he's the one that's always sick before anybody else LOL My naso seemed to go overnight with no previous signs of illness at all.

 

[GoVols]

Dang Jackie,
Sorry... ;Sorry about your Naso, and Blue for George.

Those were special fish and your avi's.

Jackie it's great to see you back and it made my day...

You've been missed more than you know, but fully understand the business in your lives.

 

[prsnlty]

Dang Jackie,
Sorry... ;Sorry about your Naso, and Blue for George.

Those were special fish and your avi's.

Jackie it's great to see you back and it made my day...

You've been missed more than you know, but fully understand the business in your lives.

Awe, thank you Freddie [emoji847] I am happy to be back, I have missed all my friends here very much! Although I'm not back in full swing I will be as soon as I'm done with some of these projects. I will keep everybody updated as much as I can on the tanks progress. Next week I won't be quite as busy as this week and weekend so I plan to try to check in with some of y'all's threads also. I'm looking forward to see how things have been going with everyone and your systems. I am SOOOOO BEHIND!

 

[joekool]

That's some serious slacking. Time for apex and redundancies.

 

[SeaDweller]

@GoVols @Janci @hybridazn @justingraham and everyone else


Hi guys, sorry I have been WAY off the grid for awhile now. I had 8 months of remodeling my dads house and am now working doing the same with my own. I haven't had time for my tank or anything else for that matter. Boy does my tank look bad! I have just added a ton of cuc to it but there is so, so much aptasia.... I will be yanking much of my rock from the tank in an attempt to catch my wrasses and place them in the 29g. (I sold the 45-just too much to deal with). Then I will contact Ryan for berghia. The 180 is in real dyer straights for sure, I have NEVER had a tank this bad off but it is mostly my fault becuase of being too busy and deeply depressed over losing all my coral, I didn't even care to go near it. It's amazing most of my fish are still alive to be honest. It took the death of my naso to push me into doing something.

Honestly I don't know if I am going to comepletely bounce back but I am trying, it's just going to be slowly at least until the aptasia are gone and I can then begin making rock once the exterior work on my house is completed. It's getting a full makeover complete with new windows, roof and rear porch. My kitchen and master bath are too but those are inside jobs and will be done once rainy season starts. The aptasia should be history by then and I can work on the tank at the same time.

Hope you are all doing well and that your tanks are as well

You know, your story resonates with me and I hope it won’t happen again to me. I had a crash, busy with my daughter, and tank fell off. Coincidentally my naso died this am, but for about 2 years my tank was an eye sore after the crash.

Fish thrived. Nems thrived. Junk zoas and palys thrived. Aiptasia took over by the thousands. I chipped away tasks, one at a time. Aiptasia eventually became zero after a copperband and three berghia that I assumed multiplied in the tank. I don’t see them anymore but I have none left. It was really horrid, literally. Mind you, berghia can take MONTHS to decimate the aiptasia so don’t expect them to work immediately. You know this hobby, nothing good ever happens quickly.

What really kick started it for me was the Netflix documentary Blue Planet II or whatever. I then went into overdrive getting my tank back on track, a 240. My NO3 and PO4 were thru the roof (200+ and 3+, respectively) as it became fish only for 2 years. I killed all the GSP and got rid of 90% of the junk palys and zoas. Did over 450 gallon water changes in about 2 weeks, and now I’m back to square one when it was really thriving. 100% all acros again.

You’ll get there again, don’t give up. You’ll get that lovin’ feelin’ again when it’s lookin good! If I can bounce back, you can too!

 

[Janci]

It is great to hear from you Jackie.
Glad you are ok and just busy. Everyone is at some point.
Good luck with the houses!

 

[prsnlty]

Hi everyone! I know I've been terrible at being here but The Weeknd following my last post I had a heart attack. No surgery or anything scheduled at this point they are just watching me and have me on a bunch of medication. so as you can imagine I really haven't done anything with the tank and believe me it shows Also since then a lot of work has been getting done on my house such as a new roof and a facelift. That is also going slow. my tank is definitely going to need a total breakdown and rebuild. I have had been no other losses since the Naso but the tank is in really really bad shape. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know how things are going. I hope everyone is doing well as well as I hope your tanks are doing well.

 

[najer]

Sorry to read this, hope you are on the mend.

 

[prsnlty]

Sorry to read this, hope you are on the mend.

Thank you Yes I am doing better. I tire more quickly than I used to. It is really frustrating because I have so many things to do and so many things I want to do and it seems to take me forever to get anything accomplished.

Barring no emergencies with the tank I plan to rebuild it after the holidays. Right now it seems to be aiptasia heaven. I could truly start a berghia nudibranch farm in this tank... ugh.

 

[prsnlty]

A miracle is happening and I am back! Seriously, I still have been ignoring my tank other than feeding my fish and making sure they were healthy but my tank has been in the worst shape that I think it's ever been in ever!

Where to start... It has multiple allergies, bubble turf and it looks like hair algae is returning plus there's cyanobacteria. I'm pretty good at all of this except for I've never dealt with bubble algae before. Back the most I know about it is be careful not to burst the bubbles. So if anybody has any suggestions feel free to say. yes this tank is in extremely bad shape. this is what I have done so far...
I changed out my Rodi unit media and membranes.
thoroughly cleaned and disinfected all of my water and salt water cans and buckets. updated the Apex last night... Boy was it behind
Did a thorough cleaning of all my filter socks.
Scraping glass right now.
Next;
tomorrow is a cooking day but I will be pulling all of the rock that I can pull out that is infested with aiptasia. Then adding fresh saltwater can make up the volume difference. If I have any more time tomorrow I will be cleaning the sump. Friday I plan to pull the standpipes from my overflows and replace them because they are pretty clogged on top. bad enough that I had to put my return down to half speed. I'm going to be continually doing water changes while doing all of the cleaning. My overflows are full of all kinds of junk and I have a lot of work there to do. I have the media reactors soaking in vinegar right now as well as the power heads and skimmer. One of those are all nice and fresh they will return to the tank. I'm going to work on cleaning up a little bit of the surface of the sand bed as I go along. I need to work on my AI LEDs and hopefully I'll get them running again. I've already ordered all new T5 bulbs that will be here Tuesday.

yes I know I said that I wasn't going to do it till after the holidays but something came up and a friend needed a place to put all of his Coral, livestock and live rock and he gave it all to me for nothing. but I only have at best two weeks to get this tank stable. When he gets his life back together I will be giving him all the frags he wants. Matter of fact he got the majority of his corals from me LOL

Wish me luck

 

[najer]

Good luck.

 

[prsnlty]

Just dropping in for a moment to say Hi!

Things haven't been great since I last posted. About to put the fish in a temporary brute can home and break the tank down. It is in pretty bad shape and it's the only way to save what I have. Ugh. Doing construction on our house and property since January became priority in order to complete it before rainy season starts. Behind 1 month on that also.

Hope you're all doing well as well as your friends and families.

Jackie

 

[vlangel]

Just dropping in for a moment to say Hi!

Things haven't been great since I last posted. About to put the fish in a temporary brute can home and break the tank down. It is in pretty bad shape and it's the only way to save what I have. Ugh. Doing construction on our house and property since January became priority in order to complete it before rainy season starts. Behind 1 month on that also.

Hope you're all doing well as well as your friends and families.

Jackie

Hey Jackie, it's good to hear from. Sorry about the tank issues but we all go through it some time or another. Actually breaking down a tank and resetting it can be a good choice.

My tank is humming along. I am down to just 1 seahorse now and he was suppose to be rehomed after my matriarch Eve passed at over 6 years old. Unfortunately the person who was going to take Samson backed out after I had already broke down the seahorse tank. So now Samson resides in the fuge of the reef tank. Its not ideal but he is doing better than I expected.

I am guessing that you do not have seahorses anymore? They are such a big commitment. I have enjoyed having them but for me that season will pass when Samson does.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Just dropping in for a moment to say Hi!

Things haven't been great since I last posted. About to put the fish in a temporary brute can home and break the tank down. It is in pretty bad shape and it's the only way to save what I have. Ugh. Doing construction on our house and property since January became priority in order to complete it before rainy season starts. Behind 1 month on that also.

Hope you're all doing well as well as your friends and families.

Jackie

Just seeing this. Hoping all is well and things are looking up for you, Jackie. I miss seeing your updates, but I definitely understand. Hoping the best for you!

 

[revhtree]

Just dropping in for a moment to say Hi!

Things haven't been great since I last posted. About to put the fish in a temporary brute can home and break the tank down. It is in pretty bad shape and it's the only way to save what I have. Ugh. Doing construction on our house and property since January became priority in order to complete it before rainy season starts. Behind 1 month on that also.

Hope you're all doing well as well as your friends and families.

Jackie

Jackie sorry to hear about your difficulties. Are you going to break the tank down and clean it or down for good?

 

[prsnlty]

Jackie sorry to hear about your difficulties. Are you going to break the tank down and clean it or down for good?

Hi David Thank you. I'm not sure if I mentioned it above but my dad passed away July 20th. He was to be 84 the following day. Nope no covid He's in a better place now. I miss him but an also happy for him to be suffering no more.

About the tank...
I have decided to revive it if I can. I'm working on a 75g wc just as soon as I get the sump clean tonight and alk up a little. It's way too low - 5.1 yikes! I know, I really should be ashamed of myself I haven't done anything but change filter socks, add ato and feed the fish in a really looooong time (i did change the t5 bulbs a month ago though). No wc, no fresh rox or gfo, nothing. The glass had a heavy sheet of coraline all over it. I scraped the glass, changed out media and pulled the skimmer for a good vinegar bath. Hope it still runs! Then after I wipe the sump down I will do the big wc and go from there. I put some berghia nudis in to clear the forest of aiptasia and will be dosing Vibrant to combat a massive amount of bubble algae in the overflows and random locations. I will also be pulling kenya and leather from the tank.... this stuff is like weeds! No more for me.

Funny, after I cleaned the glass I noticed red monticap, sunset montipora trying to make a comeback. There is even a few peacock paly heads... i have only my original 3 tangs, pair of clowns and one pj cardinal for fish left. Lots of enormous nassarious and stometella snails plus a few trochus. That's it. Got my work cut out for sure!

 

[prsnlty]

Just seeing this. Hoping all is well and things are looking up for you, Jackie. I miss seeing your updates, but I definitely understand. Hoping the best for you!

Thank you Daniel I am slowly coming back! Read my reply to Rev above. I'll post some (*****) pics shortly