What's going on?

There must be someone doing something with their tank! It's just about "Reef Season" and it's time to get used to posting again!

So, I'll start.

Oops. I just realized I never took pics of Jolene's 54 bowfront which I helped her get set up (with some help...Garret, John and Jason all pitched in a titch but mostly it was us gals). We started to get that up and going and then she bought Coldwave21's 58 gallon RR setup. So, we just last week combined the two tanks. It's a definite upgrade from what she had before and I WILL take some pics soon. I'll post them in that build thread.

The main thing we did with our 75 is finally finished the T5 retro canopy. It looks more like furniture and does give out a lot more light. My critters seem to like it too! I've also paid more attention to maintenance. As I posted before, I cleaned out my sump not so long ago, regularly clean off the powerheads, siphon detritus when I do my weekly water changes and have been more regular about testing. Last weekend, I scraped xenia off my overflow. I'll post up some pics of my stuff soon too. I have a pretty quiet weekend coming up so maybe I can some posted up then. I have some white tendril like growths that I'm not sure are algae or a type of sponge. Maybe I can get a shot with one of those in it. I continue to fight breakouts of blue clove polyps and ended up with a good number of accidental frags. I can't stand throwing corals away so I glue them all to something and have more than I can manage in my already full tank!

Oh and really good news. Out with my piranha clown and in with a mated pair of black clowns. A HUGE improvement!

Garrett - Are you winning the HA battle? When I last saw your tank, I thought it looked like you were beating it!
Randy - Are you winning the aptasia battle?
Curtis - Have you finished your light build?
Andre - How's the tank after deciding to stick with it and are you glad you did?
Tiffany - The 135 doing OK? Any new fish? Let's see those LPS pics!
Orange Bam Bams - Even you haven't been posting! Wavemaker still doing it's thing without splashes?
I can't remember what else has been going on but, let's get some discussion going again! It's too quiet around here!

Blennie! First post I've seen in awhile... Glad thiongs are going good with the tank.

I have taken the KISS method with my tank lately and just letting it all level off a bit. I did lose two bulbs in my TEK 4 bulb fixture so I just decided since it was out I'll just finish the 6 bulb build. I like the 6 bulb MUCH better and after only a week or so I have seen massive coral growth and much better coloration. Also the cyano seems to be going away after swapping the lights...

I will be moving the tank AGAIN in October to the new house so that is going to be a chore for sure. I learned some things last time so I won't make those mistakes again. Hopefully this move will be better. After the move I'd be ready to try that frag you've been holding for me Cammie, if you still have it...

Also I am looking at a potential upgrade in the near future to a 125 probably. The 75 is getting to be too small of a tank to house my Achilles tang as he is starting to get really aggressive. Hopefully things turn out good and I can do that upgrade sooner rather than later. Maybe a super cheap coral frag fund raiser is in order

Hope all is well with everyone.

no not really but i havent really tried yet, havent had the time either. but soon I hope, the grand pa that we have been going to fargo to see past away monday night , so we have been dealing with that.

I'm slacking as well, keeping up the little tank and my nano reef well although that has the occansional breakup of cyano? on the sand that's driving me nuts, it's not even bad, after a week it's clumping my sand together and looking dirty though, done a ton of changes, even tested the tank!, ran carbon, just keeps returning, think maybe old bulb/old ro di filters/not enough flow.

135 gallon, my pinktail trigger is a goner, just couldn't take the foxface harassment, got popeye, started hiding non stop and wouldn't eat anything, again did water changes like mad trying to help him but no go and he finally croaked last week. Couldn't catch him to qt since we wouldn't see him for literally days at a time. Bummer. Haven't added anything new, been saving $$$ as we just got back from vacation, I was ticked because Divers Den listed 4-5 fish I like at the same time about a week before we left, I picked vacation over fish obviously. Hopefully I can get something ordered before it gets too cold. LPS is doing fine in there but all your cloves are dying Cammie, there's your answer, don't want blue cloves put them in Tiffany's tank. Even in my nano they aren't thriving. Those stupid green palys are doing fine naturally. That large chalice of Danielle's we are holding got stung pretty badly by my torch before I noticed so it's looking rough.

I have taken some new pics, just too lazy to upload them. Buying a couple new chalices, tiny overpriced ones so at least I don't have to worry about space issues for awhile. Really need to order new bulbs all around but probably not going to happen until tax season. 4 new halides is $$$$
Cyphestrea frags are growing over the rocks for anyone who was getting that from me, that was quick! That stuff grows like a weed. Randy your blasto frag is growing bigger!

In July I got a deal on my dream tank 90 rr. I have been cycling rock and aragonite for month outside in sunlight. So this past Saturday having everything ready. I began tearing down the 55 with HOB overflow, switched over the 20 gal fuge. I put thin styrofoam 1/4" cushion under the fuge and the 90. Installed the "Dyson" overflow noise reducer. Drilled and rodded rocks, and after a 6 hour marathon I collapsed on the couch to enjoy my labor.

I received my Ecoxotic LED's. I have them attached to the side of my 6-x t-5's as a supplement.

I have increased my PAR and decreased my lighting hours. According to The Reef Aquarium. 8-10 hours per day. (settling on 9) arbitrarily.

New items I have discovered:
*Teflon tape paste, use as you would Teflon tape but can be used on bulk head gaskets (fixed my leaker)
*New 3M double sided heavy duty tape. Interior/Exterior.
*200 micron filter sock. I bought two and split them lengthwise to give me 4 filters. They filter ALL particles. I have to change and clean them every other day. Tank is crystal clear.

Next I need a GFO and or CO2 reactor and exhaust fans under my stand. Anyone have a used CO2 reactor?

Sorry to hear that Randy. Thanks for posting and hopefully, you can conquer those tank buggers soon.

schaver wrote:no not really but i havent really tried yet, havent had the time either. but soon I hope, the grand pa that we have been going to fargo to see past away monday night , so we have been dealing with that.

cdness wrote:Blennie! First post I've seen in awhile... Glad thiongs are going good with the tank.

After the move I'd be ready to try that frag you've been holding for me Cammie, if you still have it...


Hope all is well with everyone.

It's still here waiting for ya!

Nannook wrote:

Next I need a GFO and or CO2 reactor and exhaust fans under my stand. Anyone have a used CO2 reactor?

Hey Nick,

CO2 is for freshwater planted tanks more than reef. did you mean a CA reactor it uses CO2 but not in the way the CO2 setups do for Planted. GFO is easy reactor Jim G. sells em on his site and you can pick up bulk GFO from him too. I recently picked up a Two little fishies Phosban reactor (would have bought from Jim but I had to order bulbs anyhow) that I am gonna start running Warner MArine EcoBak (NP pellets) in.

See ya on the 11th

well, I guess I will have to research more. You were at Frank's 300 right? Back in May meeting I think. Anyway. He does not dose anything. All he does is use a CO2 reactor. Buys a bottle of CO2 every 3 months. And he might Kalk wasser. In fact he was saying he was considering an upgrade and I could buy his old set up. I thought it was a bit unorthodox, but hey, I use kitty litter. I am all about unorthodox.

Nannook wrote:

well, I guess I will have to research more. You were at Frank's 300 right? Back in May meeting I think. Anyway. He does not dose anything. All he does is use a CO2 reactor. Buys a bottle of CO2 every 3 months. And he might Kalk wasser. In fact he was saying he was considering an upgrade and I could buy his old set up. I thought it was a bit unorthodox, but hey, I use kitty litter. I am all about unorthodox.

Hey if kitty litter works for you it's all good. I missed that Meeting unfortunately, I could be wrong it's been known to happen...more than once (just ask my ex...)

99% of the algea is gone and things are starting to look "normal" again. I still dont have the intrest I once had for the hobby I might stop and look at my tank once a week and when I remember I still dose vodka. Maybe things will change this winter when I am in the house more? I am still thinking of getting rid of the 125 and going to the 46 bow but not sure how it would go..lol

I am really at a stand still with my tank and lost most passion if not all for the hobby, kids and wife still love tank and i cant imagine it not being where it is at. Glad it basically runs itself or else i am sure it would look like i don't care about it at all. I showed my daughter how
to feed and she does that now before bed. She knows how serious it is cause i am sure you are all like "oh my god, i would never do that". she knows 6 cubes a day, so it is fun for her.

6 cubes! How big is your tank?

I know what you mean HD, I am at the same point but I want to upgrade so I have more room and get it back to the look I had before. Unfortunately I had some major issues the past year and lost the majority of my corals. It just isn't the same but it is slowly getting better.

220 gallon full of Lps and 17 fish and countless inverts

Ha LOL Im still here Havnt had much to say LOL and school started 4 me so not alot of time to post ! Between tank maintenance,kiddos, school work, and just living life not much left over LOL I do have a huge list of new goodies I am ordering for my Tank !
1) APEX controller and Iphone
2) octopus CONE skimmer 2000
3) gOING BACK TO HALIDES w/ HO actinics fiji purple
4) 2x MP40w ES vortech pumps !
5) Back up return pump
6) Ro/DI unit (tired of going to LFS)
7) dual inline TDS
I think im forgetting something but thats the gist of it ! I will be happier than a kid in a candy store ! I think we all like new toys LOL ! But my tank is looking really good ! w/ good growth on corals and happy fishes. knock on wood !

Randy sorry to hear the bad news !

Mn. reef crzy wrote:220 gallon full of Lps and 17 fish and countless inverts

I thought ur tank was mainly sps w/ some lps ? did u change things up ?

I totally can't relate to losing passion for the hobby and it makes me feel sad for you guys that have.

Figures, I post up a "how's it going" thread and say all is well and now, today I notice a sick looking fish (one of my mated pair), a chalice fell on my favia and the favia lost (it's not totally dead but a good chunk of it is gone) and one of my acans is being attacked by some unknown neighbor. Geesh! I'll take pics maybe tomorrow and hope things look better.

Rough I hate those kinda days hope it goes better 4 u

My red slime is back and im not happy

chemi clean is what i use ! If and when i get it !

chem clean by boyd is what i used for the red slime dan and it worked great.

it is still mainly sps, maybe 30 colonies, but in total there are more lps, maybe like 50 colonies, but some are big.

Nice I love ur tank and setup andre It would be sad if it came down !!! Its kool u are kinda passing down to ur daughter. I have always thought it a cool idea if generations after me my grandkids grandkids could have coral passed down from me. That favia i got from u grows like a weed it is crazy !! LOL

orange bam bams wrote:chemi clean is what i use ! If and when i get it !

I have used this in the pass and i still get it back.

water quality,wrong spectrum lighting stuff like that could play a role in it coming back ! Not saying you do have those factors just throwin them out there! Also new stock maybe could be bringing it in to system ! As it is a bacteria and chemi clean is basically a anti-bacterial substance ! also in or systems it is often hard to completely kill of pests but rather keep under control! I think chemi clean can be dangerous if directions aren't fallowed carefully ! Which im sure you already knew as with any products just wanted to state that 4 anyone fallowing along w/ this topic who might not have experiencing in using it !

I wanna say its my lights i need new bulbs