BornToHula

Thanks for the condolences everyone. If you are in the mood for some dark humor, I had ordered the clear netting from bulk reef when he first jumped into the overflow a few days ago... it was just delivered a few minutes ago. Talk about timing! I'll still be putting it up either way since I plan on having a few wrasses. Good idea on turning off all the flow for a bit. I have tried turning the return pump on and off a few times but probably didn't give enough time for everything to settle. I'll give it a shot a lunch.

Frustrating night on the reef. The Blenny decided to jump out of the tank when I was cleaning the glass with the magnet cleaner. I noticed he was missing almost immediately, but he just happened to land behind some bracing that made it almost impossible to see him. Since I didn't see him on the ground I figured he was in the overflow again, so I started searching for him in there with a webcam and flashlight. When he wasn't in there I started tearing apart the plumbing thinking he was maybe stuck in the siphon's gate valve. Once he wasn't there I knew he had to be outside somewhere but didn't find him until it was too late. Also since I messed with the gate valve on the siphon drain I cannot get a siphon to form again. I'm not sure what I changed since the plumbing all went back to the same place. I've been playing with the gate valve's position with no luck so far, it seems like its not purging air for some reason.

I also got the bio pellets hooked up this weekend. I went with silicon tubing and like it a lot so far - sooo much easier to work with than that braided tubing you find at Lowes. I should have gone with black instead of white though. I've been using Dr. Tims biopellets with pretty good success on my 75g so I decided to stay with the same brand. The directions call for 3.5 cups of pellets for the tank size, but I just moved over the 1 cup from the 75g and added another 1/2 cup for now. I did have the output tube hooked up to the skimmer intake, but it was shooting water up the air-line. I'll have to settle for the output to just be nearby.

It's not the easiest thing going from 1" return to 3/4" loc line. The hard part was finding a reducer that goes from 1" slip to 3/4" threaded. Once the parts come in the returns will be: 1" PVC Pipe -> 1" Slip x 3/4" FPT Female -> Loc Line 3/4" Male Adapter -> Loc Line Y fitting -> Loc Line Hose -> Loc Line Flair Nozzle

I am having an issue with microbubbles in the display tank. I think it may be the flow from the returns producing the bubbles, the bubbles don't appear to be coming from the skimmer/sump. Any way to eliminate this? Installing Loc-Line flair nozzles maybe?

The Blenny jumped into the overflow . A cover/wall to stop it from jumping over again just went to #1 on the to do list. Now... how to get that bugger out...

So far the two Anthias and Blenny are still looking healthy - doesn't look like they contracted the bacterial infection (assuming it was one) *knock on wood*. The larger Anthias is being aggressive against the smaller one, but I expected that to happen. It is a little surprising its happening when they are in the larger tank instead of the QT though. So far no signs of stress and its still eating, just having to hide a lot. I am hoping it submits and they pair up. I'm out of town this weekend but as soon as I get back bio-pellets are going to go online. Once the Nitrates come down I'll move over some zoas and frogspawn to see how they do. Nitrates are about 10 or 20 ppm now. (The color test is hard to read!) My wife and I have been compiling a list of our what other fish to get. Our selections tend to be more on the agressive side so the more agressive ones probably wont be going in anytime soon. So far on the wish list we have: Bluethroat Trigger Purple Tang Melanurus Wrasse Regal Angel (I'll only get one if its already eating food) Mystery Wrasse Pair of Peppermint Angels Just Kidding . I would like another Lemonpeel or a flame angel.

Thanks for the info. I was mistaking the red sores as bruises from the blenny instead of an infection until it was too late. I bought a book on marine fish diseases because I am definitely not well versed in the subject. Hopefully next time I can react quicker. From what I can tell bacterial infections don't spread like ich or velvet do. I will be keeping a close watch on the fish I put in the 240 to see if any signs of infection appear.

Ah, I'll just post the pics on here. Ammonia was not the culprit, that was my first thought too. I was thinking bacterial infection as well and had dosed melafix yesterday, but it was too late by then.

Well things haven't gone quite as planned. The first things I planned to move to the 240 were the Blenny, Sunburst Anthias and Lemonpeel that were in quarantine. All the fish were looking very healthy, eating frozen foods and getting along. However, when I went to move the fish on Saturday I noticed the Lemonpeel wasn't his normal self. I watched a few minutes and the Blenny was showing some major aggression towards it, which was odd because they had been getting along fine the entire time. I went ahead and moved the Anthias and Blenny to the 240 and left the Lemonpeel in the QT hoping to give it some time to rest before moving him into the big tank. Unfortunately the Lemonpeel never recovered and slowly declined until this morning when he died. I think there is a good chance it wasn't the Blenny's aggression that killed him but more likely a disease. Not good since I have moved the others to the display tank. I feel bad because I did not give proper time to diagnose or medicate the Lemonpeel. Here is a link to the pictures I took after he passed. http://imgur.com/a/QliGI There are several red blotches on his skin and some obvious tail fin rot. He was listless since Saturday, but did not show any signs of heavy breathing or rubbing. Any ideas?

Looks like the tank is completely cycled. My readings yesterday were: Ammonia 0 ppm Nitrite 0 ppm Nitrate 10 ppm I'm still not able to crank up the lights without the diatoms going crazy. I'm currently only running the skimmer for filtration, but it may be time to move the biopellets over from the 75 gallon tank.

Ha! Is that also a little feather duster on the snails back? Yep its a little feather duster on him.

Tuxedo urchin hitching a ride on the turbo snail!

Really like the weekly FTS idea. I'm going to try and copy that for my thread once I get corals and fish in!

Doesn't look like much but I spent quite a bit of time this weekend trying to get the wires under control. Also got the first cleanup crew in. Ended up getting: 10 Nassaruis Snails 5 Large Turbo Snails 2 Smaller Conchs 10 Trochus Snails Tuxedo Urchin I had to turn off the T5's for now to try and slow down the Diatom growth and let the clean up crew catch up. Currently only running the LEDs at a lower setting.

Cool, I'll definitely put them on the list to try out.

Thanks for the input. Do you use anything that turns over the sand? I don't want a conch at this time so Nassarius and Cerith snails were all I could think of. I will be adding a tuxedo urchin, as well as moving my two Emeralds from my 75g. I'll probably add the urchin around the same time I add fish to the tank (in a week or so). I've never had good luck with the big turbo snails, they always died off after a couple months even though almost all my other snails are 1-2+ years old. Maybe with more area for them to graze in the new tank it will help them survive better.

Everything is working great so far! Really impressed with the lights and skimmer. The tank is almost done cycling, on Friday a cleanup crew will be added. I'm going to try to get all the cleanup crew locally. I'm thinking something this for the first batch. Keep in mind that there isn't much in the tank yet, just tiny patches of algae that have popped up. 15 Cerith Snails 20 Nerite Snails 10 Nassaruis Snails Does that sound reasonable?

Ah that was it. The USB cord from the older unit does not work with the new unit. The new unit's USB cord works on both though.

Here's a picture with the Powermodules on. The iPhone isn't very good at taking pictures of blue light. I was able to program the older unit with the ATI light program, but the newer unit ins't being recognized by the USB. Have to troubleshoot that tonight.

I'm glad I upgraded to two new 20 amp circuits. Just the two 500W heaters pull 7 amps ! I haven't plugged in the Powermodules to apex to see how many amps they pull, but I'm guessing around 4 amps each when all the T5s are turned on. Luckily the skimmer and return pumps are pretty efficient, they draw less than 1 amp for both.

That's just the canopy. I didn't have time to install the lights last night, just got them all set up and ready for install tonight.

Managed to get the canopy on last night. Its not too heavy but when you have to lift it 6.5 feet it becomes a chore! I also got all the exhaust fans wired and working as well as new t5 bulbs installed in each light fixture. Went with the following bulb setup to see how they look. If its too blue I may switch out some Coral Pluses for Aquablue Specials, which despite the name apparently don't give off too much blue. Blue Plus Coral Plus Blue Plus Purple Plus ==LED== Coral Plus Blue Plus Coral Plus Blue Plus

Cool, thanks for the suggestion.

We are up and running! Bulkhead and the left return line has been re-plumbed. No leaks so far *knock on wood*. Also got the skimmer running as well as the WAV powerheads running. Really like the setup and controllability of the WAVs. Tomorrow hopefully I can get the gyres up and running and get the canopy/lights on. Also the daunting task of cable management Once everything is cycled I'll be moving rock from my 75 over, so the right side of the tank will eventually have some rock there.