Sascha D.

That would be a funny MLS listing work no dining room lol Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

It looks a lot cleaner than my setup and it must be nice having a fish room! I wish the guy who sold me this house had mentioned it at the time. Actually, come to think of it, I wasn't planning on buying another tank at the time. I should have gotten a Betta lol

There's a special anti-curse QT dance I learned a couple years back if you want me to teach you? Go ahead and order a grass skirt, a feather headdress, and about two dozen bead necklaces and I'll come over and show you the ropes if you want. Guaranteed works! Thanks for the offer, but there are some things that you just can't unsee.

WOW! That Blonde Naso and Regal Angel are amazing! I can't seem to keep them myself. I think my QT was cursed, so I got rid of it last week.

That looks really bright in the pictures. Have you tested the PAR yet? I need to work on making my tank a little brighter.

A lot has happened and today looks like a good day to revisit my list from December. Overflow - It seems like a shame to replace the calfo overflow, but I really hate it. First, the manufacturer drilled the holes for the drain lines in the very middle of the tank, which means the ends of the 86" overflow don't drain properly. Detritus and uneaten food accumulate in the overflow box and I have to clean it manually. Second, the canopy and 30" depth of the tank make it very difficult to catch fish out of the overflow box. Even though I only have a few fish, I have to catch them out of the box 2-3 times a week! I've decided to replace the overflow with a smaller horizontal overflow. I'm going to have the box made out of acrylic to save time and because it will be very difficult to silicone it to the back of the aquarium. Aquascape - I plan on completely renovating the live rock in the tank. There is plenty of room to place corals, but it's just not a good use of space. I'll gain 5" of tank once I remove the overflow and I bet I could do a better job aquascaping this thing! Stand - Still pending hinges, exhaust fan, and staining. Equipment - Now is a good time to decide what equipment I'll use with the new set up and replace some of the older stuff. Circulation - Hydor Evolution 1500 x 4 have arrived. 40% off was just too good to pass up! I'll be saving my pennies for Tunze for later. Reactors - The large media reactor has been sold. I'm open to installing a small carbon reactor in the future. Keeping the BP reactor in case I need it later. Dosing - I've decided to sell my calcium reactor since my aquarium controller is unreliable. Livestock - It's time to sell the livestock that doesn't fit into my new stocking plan. Azure Damselfish x 2 LA Australian Purple Plate Coral Green Fungia Plate AAF Mushroom red with blue dots, 1 frag 2-3 heads AAF Mushroom blue/green, 1 head Watermelon Mushrooms, 3 frags, 2-3 heads each Superman Mushrooms, small rock 3-4 heads AAF Ultra Chalice purple with green eyes There's still a lot of work to do! Some of my larger colonies have been trimmed over the last few months to bring them down to a manageable size, but the space is on the low side now. Even though I'm running out of sand bed, I want to make sure everything is healthy before I let it go. I'll try and take some pictures this weekend!

I removed all of the reactors and stopped dosing around November in an effort to take this tank back to base level. I also stopped testing, so today's results are a complete surprise! Using the Reef Alchemy by Randy Holmes-Farley article as my base, all of the parameters except Alkalinity are within normal ranges. This is a good opportunity to increase the Alkalinity to approximately 125 and then begin dosing. Two-part additive and saturated kalk will raise the Alk and Ca in equal parts, so they should stay in approximate range. At the moment my goal will be to dose enough to keep the parameters stable. Eventually I will increase to about 150 Alk 440 Ca. Alk 105 ppm Ca 400 ppm Ammonia approx 0.25 ppm Nitrate <0.25 ppm Mg 1380 ppm And because this is a very boring post, here is a picture that I thought was funny! Not enough? Okay, here is one of my favorite fish! Melanurus Wrasse - Male

I tried to get a video but it came out really dark on my phone. I'm not very good with my new camera yet and the fish are super quick. I'm happy to get those ones!

This post is for those of you that are curious why the before picture has GHA and the after picture is clean. I used a peroxide bath of 1/4 cup peroxide to 2 gallons of water. The rocks were soaked for ten minutes and then brushed lightly. You only need enough water to fully submerge the rocks that are going to be treated. I soaked 1-3 rocks at a time depending on how many I could fit into the bucket. I used a dollar store toothbrush to dislodge the algae from the rocks. It comes off easily and doesn't require very much effort. As you can see from the last picture, the algae just melts off! This is also a good method for removing bristleworms or fireworms, if that's your thing. Here is a good article on How to Remove Algae From a Reef Tank.

It's been a great weekend! I had a little time to aquascape and plan a little more. It's difficult to get a good picture with all of the fish trying to hog the spotlight! Here are some before and after pictures. I tried to get a FTS, but it's difficult on the 8' tank and they all came out blurry. The next step is to plan which corals I'm going to keep, which are going to go, and begin placing the corals within the rock. I'm afraid that I'm not very artistic or imaginative, so it's going to take me awhile to figure the corals out. Left Before and after Right before and after I received a shipment from LiveAquaria on 12/28 and the fish are doing extremely well. I got a small Yellow Eye Kole Tang and Naso Tang. Both are adapting well and eating. They haven't gotten used to Nori yet, but have a good appetite for mysis.

That DI didn't start turning until about November. I've thought about replacing them in stages, but I know that I'll never remember. It's easier to buy the filter pack every Black Friday for $17 and do all at once. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Close up of the pre-filter. It looks nearly brand new from the outside. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I'm changing my filters today. Here is what they look like after one year and roughly 100 gallons of output a month. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

He lives! It's good to hear from you. I'm going to need your expertise with entrusting monti placement. I normally keep them on little islands away from the main structure so that they don't encrust over everything. I'm looking to incorporate them more into the rock work with the new aquascape. Going to work on it today! Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Corals. We have a love/hate relationship, but there is no hobby without them. I've been lucky enough to keep some derivative of a lot of the different species over the years. Some of them turned out great and some not so much. Some things you don't know will be a problem until you're spending half your day researching how to fix them. Other things aren't mentioned in any book and you just have to figure it out for yourself. My brains tells me to fill the tank with everything that looks great, but my experience tells me to keep it simple. Think I'll stick to that plan? Yeah, me neither! Corals that detach and colonize random places of the tank - No leathers, anthelia, mushrooms or palythoa. I may keep a favorite colony or two of zoas. Limit corals that require frequent fragging - No digitata because my fish always break the branches. I will keep my ORA Sour Apple Birdsnest, ORA Green Pocillopora and Valentine Pocillopora. I also want to get another Screaming Green Birdsnest. Corals that require hand feeding - No sea whips, carnation corals or sun corals. Delicate corals - I know that I'm not going to test more than once or twice a week and I'll probably forget a dosing or two. It's best to limit delicate species like acropora. If the tank is doing great in a year then I would like to add Red Planet, PC Rainbow, Ultimate Efflo and one or two others. My favorite kinds of corals are Euphyllia, Staghorn, Cyphastrea and plating/encrusting Montipora. The Emperor Angelfish might take care of all of the LPS for me and the Montipora might take over the tank, but I'm going to give it a shot! Here are some pictures of what I currently have. The next step is to aquascape and start placing corals! ORA Green Pocillopora Atlantis Christmas Chalice Idaho Grape Montipora ORA Sour Apple birdsnest WWC Bizarro Cyphestra Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone AAF Glitter Favia Frogspawn Jedi Mind Trick Montipora Other corals not pictured: Mystic Sunset ORA Green Elkhorn Montipora ORA True Undata - <1" ORA Yellow Lantana (yellow skin, blue polyps) <1" frag Red Cap Montipora Reef Raft Nauti Spiral (red skin, blue polyps) Tyree Setosa - Just a nub survived, probably the smallest nub on the planet! Peaf Yellow Stylophora Purple Stylophora Tyree Rainbow Stylophora AAF Golden Fleece Pavona Australian Ultra Grade Chalice (purple skin red eyes) Unknown Chalice Frogspawn Divisa (green stems, purple tips) Frogspawn (red stems, green tips) ORA Micronesian Torch (purple stem, lavender tips) (Euphyllia glabrescens) AAF Wall hammer - Green (Euphyllia ancora) AAF Branching hammer - orange Purple Australian Short Tentacle Plate Coral Short Tentacle Fungia Plate Coral (green/yellow) Atlantis Meteor Shower Jason Fox Jack-o-Lantern Leptospirosis Painted War Coral (purple and red with green eyes) Superman Mushroom Watermelon Mushroom AAF mushroom (Red with blue dots) AAF mushroom (Blue with green stripes)

Thank you! I have a lot of optimism for this year. We never stop learning in this hobby and that's what I love about it. Just remember, healthy is universal but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Each home reef is unique and different. It took me a long time to realize that just because I don't like something, doesn't mean that it's wrong. Having healthy corals and fish is the most important thing. Everything else is subjective.

When someone walks up to an aquarium, they always notice the fish first. Maybe that's because they don't expect to see live corals. It might also be because they don't know what they're looking at to begin with. To me fish have always been the main attraction and corals are more like living decorations. However, I'm at the point in the hobby where a FOWLR could never make me happy. This is where the trade-off has been the hardest for me. I want to keep cool fish, but I also want to keep my favorite corals. This seems like the best place to start planning livestock. I bought an aquarium this big specifically to keep the fish that got me into the hobby; the Emperor Angelfish. The problem is that it may or may not eat my favorite coral Euphyllia. I hope to keep both, but I may end up choosing one over the other in the end. Reviews have been mixed and there's really no way to find out until the fish starts to change into the adult coloration. That's the time where they are looking for nutrients to help them develop and they start to taste everything. The third must have is my wife's favorite fish. The Naso Tang is the first fish that she was able to recognize and she's been in love ever since. Luckily, most of my current livestock with fit in with these three cornerstones - at least until the angel starts changing. Here's a list of my current fish and when I acquired them. I haven't kept damselfish since I first started in the hobby and I've been running a bit of an experiment to see how they would react in a large aquarium. I researched the different species and chose species that people have reported keeping in groups successfully. The idea is that they will have much less aggression when there is enough space for each one to carve out a territory. For the most part, the different species only pay attention to conspecifics and leave everything else alone. The Springer's sometimes stick together in a pack, but the others only come together when it's feeding time. I plan to keep all of the fish listed below except the Azure Damselfish which will be sold to make room for more Springer's Damselfish. The Pink Smith Damselfish were an interesting addition and haven't caused any problems so I'll keep them. One Spot Foxface (Siganus unimaculatus) 5/16 Melanurus Wrasse - Male (Halichoeres melanurus) 5/16 Pink Smith Damselfish (Pomacentrus smithi) x2 1/17 Dusky Wrasse (Halichoeres annularis) 1/17 Azure Damselfish (Chrysiptera hemicyanea) x2 2/17 (sell) Red-Lined Wrasse (Halichoeres biocellatus) 3/17 Springer's Damselfish (Chrysiptera springeri) x2 4/17 Emperor Angelfish - Africa (Pomacanthus imperator) 8/17 Oscellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris ) x2 11/17 Yellow Tang - Hawaii (Zebrasoma flavescens) 12/17 Naso Tang (Naso lituratus) 12/17 (QT) Yellow Eye Kole Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus) 12/17 (QT) Future fish additions. Oscellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris ) x4 - I think it would make a good display to have 6+ clowns of the same species. Gotta have Nemo! Christmas Wrasse (Halichoeres claudia) Cleaner Wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) - Undecided. I might take a chance or wait until I see one on DD. Convict Tang (Acanthurus triostegus) - I've wanted one since I saw them in Hawaii and it completes my Hawaii tang collection. Maybe I'll think about a Chevron too! Springer's Damselfish (Chrysiptera springeri) x5 Emperor Angelfish - Little baby has already doubled in size. I got him from someone on Facebook and he was no bigger than a quarter four months ago! One Spot Foxface - Biggest fish in my tank at around 6" and almost full grown Red Lined Wrasse - Not a very well known wrasse but I love him. I've never seen one locally. Quite elusive, it took me 10-20 tries to get this shot. I believe it's a female, bout 4" Azure Damselfish - Defends their territory, but not overly aggressive. I have two that will need new homes. You can see my Christmas Lights are still on in January! Yellow Tang - I got him with a little HLLE but he's eating and doing well so far. About 3" Oscellar Clownfish - about 1"

Hit up Roger at Tunze and I'll bet you he'll just give you a new magnet. He's off Braker and I-35. No kidding? I didn't know we had a local distribution center. It looks like a pretty unassuming place in the middle of a neighborhood on Google Maps. I'll have to give them a ring after the holidays and everything gets back to normal. Thanks for the tip!

Tunze is a great brand. I have a Tunze circulation pump that's going on five years and working perfectly. I think it's a 6150? I lost the magnet but I still use it to keep my saltwater mixed in the barrel. I've been keeping 50g of mixed saltwater on hand nearly all of the time and it comes in handy. I do need to find another heater though. It's been so cold the water in the garage is only 50-60 degrees. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Now that the new overflow is installed, it's time to consider the equipment for the new tank. I've decided to keep my return pump and protein skimmer. They've served me well over the last two years. Return Pump: Jebao DCT 12000 Protein Skimmer: Aquamaxx EM-500 rated 700g light and 350 heavy bioload I've had a biopellet reactor installed on this aquarium since day one. The idea was that I would have a high bioload and the reactor takes several weeks to come online. The problem was that my bioload wasn't high enough after the chemical incident and I had a hard time keeping my nitrates above zero. I've had the most success in the hobby while using a refugium and I'm going to convert the second section of the sump to a refugium. It's approximately 19.5 x 23.5 x 10.5 and holds roughly 21 gallons. The 8' stand is long enough that I may install two 100ish gallon sumps below the aquarium: one for the equipment and another for a gigantic refugium. Over the last four years I had been using reactors to replace water changes to some mixed success. It can be difficult to calculate how much GFO is needed to reduce PO4 without reducing it too fast and shocking the corals. I've decided to sell my media reactor and go back to monthly water changes to help control NO3 and PO4 levels. I may run a small amount of activated carbon if I notice the water discolor or develop an odor. BP Reactor: Reef Dynamics Recirculating (remove, but keep on standby) Media Reactor: None Calcium reactors are amazing and I've had great success using my reactor for the past four years. However, I'm not attentive enough or disciplined in my testing. There have been times when the CO2 expires and I may not notice for a week or more depending on the timing of my tests. There have also been times when the effluent has clogged and no dosing was done to the aquarium. I've decided to sell my reactor and go back to saturated top-off water and dose as needed on a weekly basis. Calcium: A.E. Tech ETSS 400 Calcium Reactor (remove and sell) Lastly, the circulation pumps need to be replaced after the Jebao Crossflow debacle. I'm currently using three $15 Ebay pumps. They're working surprisingly well, but the hard start scares the fish and I'm unable to use a feed mode. One of the reasons I've changed the overflow is to move the circulation pumps to the back wall and free up side tank viewing. I'll need four smaller pumps plus the two return nozzles to cover the whole area. I'll need to research some pumps, but I believe I'll go back to Hydor Koralia Evolution 1500's. They're on sale for $27 each at DFS and they're strong enough to provide flow without blowing the sand around. It's not a great rendition, but here is roughly where I'm planning to place the pumps and the direction they will flow in.

Speaking of sumps... The other day I decided to move the sump about 2" to make room for a dosing reservoir later down the line. It was time for a water change anyway, so I drained the sump, went to the end, and pulled! The whole piece that I was hold onto with both hands snapped and I fell right on my keister! This is my first acrylic sump and I was definitely not expecting it to break. The next day I went to Regal Plastics to pick up some cement and a patch. They were really great! If they still have a minimum purchase amount, then no one mentioned it to me. It's my first time doing this kind of work and it turned out just fine. I cemented the cracked piece back into the original place, waited for it to dry, and then cemented the patch on the inside of the sump. I water tested by filling the sump all the way to the top, much higher than the operating level. It's been a few days and everything is still holding. In the future I may replace this sump with a DIY glass sump and external refugium. The person who built this sump didn't know what they were doing and put the baffles in the wrong place.

I'll have to check it out and see how rigid it is. One problem that I may have is keeping it in place. My sump is open on the drain side and doesn't have connectors for the lines. Since it has three lines, it may be possible to connect them together so that all lines drop in the same place. That would also make it easier to use one sock when I need one.

That does help! I was looking for that, but the home improvement stores didn't have 1.5" lines. They have flexible PVC on the HD website for about $60 for a 25' roll, but I really don't need that much. The inside of the corrugated line is smooth right?

Why isn't your money generating any interest? I would stay away from stocks or bond mutual funds, but you could get some safe interest. Six - twelve month US Treasuries and CD's are paying 1.6 - 1.80% coupon rate. It's not a lot, but you're talking about $900 on $50k. It's risk-free, but you'll have to claim the interest on your taxes. It should come on a 1099 INT from where ever you have your account.

Great looking tank! I hope the move went/goes well. You've done a great job with the sps and I think you're making the right decision. Starting over is hard, but you can do it! Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk