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FarmerTy's 215 build


FarmerTy

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uhhhhhh I've had a reef keeper since 2008 and an Apex since June.

BOOM!

And I've been using a Rube Goldberg device to run my tank for over 15 years.

That's what I'm saying, since June? That's less than a year of Apex living!
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Uh oh, didn't know the bacterial infections could spread over internet forums! Hope they end up OK

I knew I shouldn't have opened your build thread!

No, those two fish got an infection last time too the first go-around in QT so I've been watching them carefully and noticed it happening again.

I've treated them with a medley of Furan 2 and Kanaplex and it already looks better after 24hrs. The emperor started eating again and his mouth is not as red anymore. The hippo is still being a hippo and acting all weird but he looks better as well. They are just odd fish so I see nothing out of the ordinary with him.

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Sorry to hear that Ty, but at least they are in the best local reefers hands. They will make a quick recovery.

Thanks bud. This is the 3rd time the emperor has gotten it in QT and the 2nd time the blue hippo has as well so I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say they are prone to it.

It cleared up in 24hrs when I got them in the good antibiotics. I still treat for a good full 6 days and then put them back in the tub and they never usually get it again unless I restart my QT.

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Glad you are figuring this stuff out so when I get "wrasse-atroplis" up a running you'll be good to QT all my fish. :)

I'm so sick of QT, I'm thinking of going fishless from this point on. I heard CUC is just as fun.
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Back down to one tub again. The emperor and the hippo tang have been declared bacteria infection free!

It's funny, I just realized how much my laziness prevails in this hobby. Here is the evidence I've amassed in the last couple of months:

1) As most know already, my DT can run itself. Down to feedings, no water changes, auto cleaner for my skimmer, CaRX replacing foundation elements, reactors scrubbing nutrients, automated lights, automated flow variations, etc, it's set and forget for the most part. Except when the GFO reactor clogs for the 2nd time in a month! Dang algae!

2) Even when running an extended QT for 76 days, I chose to buy new dry rock and cycle it, as well as add a skimmer into the tub than to do frequent water changes to keep the water quality up. I even picked up some lanthanum chloride and 10 um filter socks to knock down nitrates when they get too high. This over water changes. rofl.gif

3) I removed my QT system from the display tank and plumbed it separately now. I run GFO on the system and use kalk to keep my foundation elements in line. The hope is to never do water changes on that one either but we'll see. I'll start dosing aminos and perhaps nitrate if the nutrients get too low in there.

4) I picked up another Apex just to use on the frag tank because I didn't want to be attached to the hip with that thing. Just notify me if something is wrong! wave.gif

I'm sure there are more but my hunger is overriding my desire to remember all the other ways I've been lazy with my reef tank the past couple of months. snack.gif

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Lol if Ty is lazy I'm dead. You do more work on your systems than anyone I know my friend

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought I just documented more. Surely every on the club spends a good amount of time on their tanks?
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A good amount definitely. I'm not criticizing! I wish I had the space and time to do a lot of these same things. I'm jealois

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Figured it was about time to give the skimmer a good cleaning.

Neck still nice and clean. I can't even remember when the last time I wiped anything down but it has to have been at least 7 months.

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Wow, what a miraculous sculpture of fish poop and uneaten food.

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Also got got my UV sterilizer mounted today. That thing is giant and is eating up a lot of my crawl space behind the tank but it's going to be totally worth it. Went from a large 57-watt UV sterilizer to a ridiculous 110-way UV sterilizer. Its about 3 feet wide... Half the tank!

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I still need to plumb it but it's nice just to have it at least in place for now. It will be fed by a Jaebo DCS12000 return pump placed behind the right rock structure and the return pipe will be fed behind the left rock structure with a perforated PVC pipe to distribute the return flow. The goal is to pull water from the bottom of the tank behind the rocks and returned at the bottom behind the rocks as well. It'll keep both areas less stagnant and if there is any ich at all in the system, the placement will be ideal to draw it into the sterilizer.

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I didn't mention it but the GFO stopped tumbling again. That's the 2nd time in 5 weeks so my phosphate level has risen a bit and I'm back in the algae phase. How annoying! I stopped being so stingy with the flow to the reactor and this shouldn't happen again.

I also saw my TDS jump to 1ppm 2 weeks ago and replaced all my filters and DI resin again. Should be good for another 6-8 months.

Frag tank has finally stabilized and all parameters have been pretty stable. I think I've pulled out a lot of the phosphate from the rocks and hopefully I won't get too much leaching of phosphates any more.

All fish in the tub are happy and healthy without a spot of ich or bacterial infection in sight. I've been mulling over working on my last batch of fish (powder blue tang, pyramid butterfly fish, Evansi anthias, and replacement wrasses), but I'm thinking I am just going to wait until the current stock goes into the tank after the 76 days and then QT the new batch afterwards. Running multiple tanks drove me nuts last time and probably lead to some potential contamination issues that got me ich again after ridding the system of it the first time.

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