BornToHula's 240 Gallon Build

[FarmerTy]

Last time I won the war over dinos, it was a number of things I feel finally won the war. Shorter lighting period, peroxide, outcompeting with algae/cyano, stronger flow, blowing it off the rocks daily, UV... just hit them with everything and you'll hopefully win out soon.

I'm glad the SPS are starting to recover. My initial thought is just bio-acclimation over time... Basically the ones that can tolerate higher nutrients started adapting to it and thriving. The ones that couldn't are already dead.

What I found interesting was I bought out a guy in Houston a couple months back. He had amazing color on his SPS with 0.15 ppm phosphates and no nitrates, but zero growth. Like frags he bought a year ago were almost the same size. So it's interesting to see great color from the lack of nitrates (which usually gives me deeper, bolder colors in the 5-10ppm range, pale near zero) and higher phosphates (which I usually see STN in my corals around 0.18 ppm).

[BornToHula]

My tank is finally emerging from the ashes from the battle with the dinos.  Surprisingly, dosing Vibrant & running my lights at 50% intensity for a few weeks seems to be what was the final push the tank needed to combat them.  Every couple days I still need to blow off the rock at a certain spot where the dinos want to grow back, but they don't seem to be popping up anywhere else (knock on wood).

I've gotten my nutrients back close to where I want them.  Alk 8.5, Ca 460, mg 1440, Nitrate 12-24, PO4 .06.  I would like to lower the Ca and Nitrates a bit.

Final death toll - 8 acro frags (most from world wide corals), 2 large acro colonies, 2 chalices, my two anemones each split, and all living arcos are half dead, but showing signs of recovery.

Zoas, torches & frogspwn all grew really well with the higher nutrients.

I'm going to do a few daily 15% water changes in a row to kind of reset things, then go to a once a week 15% change.  Also need to start loading up on coral again . Need to get some inexpensive stuff to test the waters before I go all crazy on the premium frags again.  One of these days I might actually start liking this tank again!

 

[BornToHula]

I forgot to mention I removed my two Gyres and replaced them with two Vortech mp60s each with a battery backup. 

I found that if I did not keep the gyres extremely clean they would stop running when in pulse mode once they got dirty. I'm sure the dino outbreak wasn't helping things, but it became really annoying. The gyre's battery backup not working when I had a power outage was the final straw and I decided to replace them.   I had reservations of going with Ecotech again after getting burned on the Vectra L1, but I have a mp40 and mp10 that have been working years with no issues at all. Fingers crossed that these are reliable as well.

[Reburn]

I know where to get some frags......:)

[jolt]

8 hours ago, Reburn said:

I know where to get some frags......:)

LOL - I just spewed coffee all over my computer 

[BornToHula]

15 hours ago, Reburn said:

I know where to get some frags......:)

You did see where I said inexpensive stuff, right? 

For real though, if you have hardier/cheaper stuff I'd be interested in putting together a pack.

[Reburn]

Yes sir.  Come on over this weekend.

[FarmerTy]

You did see where I said inexpensive stuff, right? [emoji38]
For real though, if you have hardier/cheaper stuff I'd be interested in putting together a pack.

Come to the meeting this Saturday too. I'll have some cheap stuff. Some I'm giving away, some I'm selling on the cheap.

[BornToHula]

6 hours ago, Reburn said:

Yes sir.  Come on over this weekend.

Cool, I'll send you a text tomorrow or Friday.

4 hours ago, FarmerTy said:

7 hours ago, BornToHula said:

You did see where I said inexpensive stuff, right? 
For real though, if you have hardier/cheaper stuff I'd be interested in putting together a pack.

Come to the meeting this Saturday too. I'll have some cheap stuff. Some I'm giving away, some I'm selling on the cheap.

Good to know, I'm going to try and make it to the meeting if I'm not deer hunting Saturday morning.

[BornToHula]

Some pics...

The frogspawn did really well throughout the dinos.

Torch and zoas did well too.

Still loving the triggers

Have 3 sunburst anthias and a midas blenny in my homemade acclimation box.  They will be leaving the acclimation box on saturday.

[BornToHula]

Got in some 3d printed parts today.  

Probe holders, dosing line holders and a a wall mount for the Milwaukee  refractometer.

Magnets seem a bit weak, but shouldn't be an issue for the 3/8 in glass on my 75g sump.

 

[FarmerTy]

Got in some 3d printed parts today.  

Probe holders, dosing line holders and a a wall mount for the Milwaukee  refractometer.

Magnets seem a bit weak, but shouldn't be an issue for the 3/8 in glass on my 75g sump.

 

Nice! I ordered the Milwaukee refractometer holder too!

 

[BornToHula]

1 hour ago, FarmerTy said:

Nice! I ordered the Milwaukee refractometer holder too!

 

Its pretty nifty, the only thing I wish was the dropper to calibrate fit in the side pocket too. 

 

[BornToHula]

Not great pics, but the flameback angel and the solar fairy wrasse are in the acclimation box.  They will only be spending a couple days in here before going in the tank, I'm leaving town on Monday for the week and want to be able to observe them in the tank for a few days before I leave.

[jolt]

Nice fish.  I absolutely love my solar wrasse

[BornToHula]

 We have ourselves a good old-fashioned reef tank mystery!   Get out your pipe and let me know what you think happened.

I had two rose tip bubble anemones and two Sherman green bubble anemones in my tank.  They were all located on the left side of my tank in the same general area and didn't move around much - if any - since I set the tank up in its current state in March. I've had these anemones since getting into the hobby, they came with the used system I purchased in 2012 or 2013 and they pretty much always stay put.

Then, a couple days ago I came home to this:

 

Notice the chunks of rose tip anemone under the sherman.  Both of the rose tip anemones were gone and there were chunks of them everywhere!

There were about nine larege chunks of nem that I could find and remove from the tank.

(Sorry for all the cyano in these pic - I was out of town for a week over thanksgiving and was too liberal on the auto-feeder)

Then yesterday I find one of the rose tips on the opposite side of the tank way in the back! Unfortunately I can't get a pic of it but it seems healthy and normal.

What is your guess of what happened here?

I kinda figure one got sucked and chopped up by a powerhead - but that doesn't explain why:

1. Why did the rose tips move after being in place for months and not having a history of moving? 

 2. Why did only the rose tips move and not the shermans?

3. Were my clown fish rebelling against me setting up Christmas lights and didn't want to be around any more green AND red?

 

[BornToHula]

Hey guys I've noticed my male Crosshatch Trigger hasn't been eating much, if any, in the last week .  I've fed pellets (new life spectrum and PE Mysis), frozen krill, PE Mysis, Reef Frenzy foods, spirulina brine shrimp.  I *maybe* saw him eat a piece of krill yesterday, but he isn't aggressively going after food like he use to. He also isn't swimming around the tank much in general, and only hanging out in this one area.

All the other fish are acting and looking fine, including the female crosshatch. 

Below is a youtube video of him with food being just added to the tank.

Any advice on how to handle this? 

 

 

[FarmerTy]

Hey guys I've noticed my male Crosshatch Trigger hasn't been eating much, if any, in the last week .  I've fed pellets (new life spectrum and PE Mysis), frozen krill, PE Mysis, Reef Frenzy foods, spirulina brine shrimp.  I *maybe* saw him eat a piece of krill yesterday, but he isn't aggressively going after food like he use to. He also isn't swimming around the tank much in general, and only hanging out in this one area.
All the other fish are acting and looking fine, including the female crosshatch. 
Below is a youtube video of him with food being just added to the tank.
Any advice on how to handle this? 
 
 

He does look a bit thin. Any changes lately? New fish?

[BornToHula]

4 minutes ago, FarmerTy said:

58 minutes ago, BornToHula said:

Hey guys I've noticed my male Crosshatch Trigger hasn't been eating much, if any, in the last week .  I've fed pellets (new life spectrum and PE Mysis), frozen krill, PE Mysis, Reef Frenzy foods, spirulina brine shrimp.  I *maybe* saw him eat a piece of krill yesterday, but he isn't aggressively going after food like he use to. He also isn't swimming around the tank much in general, and only hanging out in this one area.
All the other fish are acting and looking fine, including the female crosshatch. 
Below is a youtube video of him with food being just added to the tank.
Any advice on how to handle this? 
 
 

He does look a bit thin. Any changes lately? New fish?

I added a small Flameback Angel and a Solar Fairy Wrasse before Thanksgiving.  I haven't noticed any aggression toward him, unless its happening when I'm away from the tank.

[BornToHula]

No other changes I can think of besides adding some coral frags before Thanksgiving as well.

 

EDIT: I take that back, I did swap out my two Gyre Pumps for two MP60s recently.

Edited December 8, 2017 by BornToHula

[FarmerTy]

No other changes I can think of besides adding some coral frags before Thanksgiving as well.
 
EDIT: I take that back, I did swap out my two Gyre Pumps for two MP60s recently.

Any white stringy poop?

[BornToHula]

Just now, FarmerTy said:

1 hour ago, BornToHula said:

No other changes I can think of besides adding some coral frags before Thanksgiving as well.
 
EDIT: I take that back, I did swap out my two Gyre Pumps for two MP60s recently.

Any white stringy poop?

No, not that I have observed.  What would white stringy poop be an indicator of?

[FarmerTy]

No, not that I have observed.  What would white stringy poop be an indicator of?

Intestinal worms. I'd almost catch it out and just put it through some proactive treatments since we have no idea what may be the issue. I've heard of fish going through hunger strikes but this fish has been captive for years prior to your tank.

[BornToHula]

Just now, FarmerTy said:

5 minutes ago, BornToHula said:

No, not that I have observed.  What would white stringy poop be an indicator of?

Intestinal worms. I'd almost catch it out and just put it through some proactive treatments since we have no idea what may be the issue. I've heard of fish going through hunger strikes but this fish has been captive for years prior to your tank.

 

Yes, I guess I probably need to try and get him out of the tank and start some treatments. 

I don't know if it shows up well in the video, but he does have a small tear on his dorsal fin and top tip of his tail fin.  I figured it was from him hiding in the rock like he likes to do at night, but thinking about it now make me wonder if it could be a bacterial infection?

Would PraziPro be a good medication to start with?

 

 

[FarmerTy]

 
Yes, I guess I probably need to try and get him out of the tank and start some treatments. 
I don't know if it shows up well in the video, but he does have a small tear on his dorsal fin and top tip of his tail fin.  I figured it was from him hiding in the rock like he likes to do at night, but thinking about it now make me wonder if it could be a bacterial infection?
Would PraziPro be a good medication to start with?
 
 

Prazipro for the intestinal worms and potentially any flukes. Bacterial infections can be treated with Furan 2, Kanaplex, metroplex, etc. Bacterial infections I've seen stop fish from wanting to feed. If it is a bacterial infection, act quick as it kills almost as quickly as marine velvet.