oh dear what have i done????

A few more








Tanks starting to look like it needs a bit of a tidy up but still really wary of pulling all that rock out again but it really does need ti be done...and the new skimmer needs to go in too.

Howye mate glad to hear the star fish are doing well haven't been on in ages due to broke phone but fixed now, the tank is looking very well very impressed Well done

thanks

but really want to rearrange the rock ,going to try an attempt something like how your rock work used to be with 2 large pillars either side and small one in the middle, similar to seahorses big tank,,

I found with the pillars you can't put the corals in two many places the way u r rock is now it looks perfect for lots of corals so keep that in mind sh can get away with it as the tank is a monster

I've baby snails

turns out I've about 20 baby turbo snails,most of witch ended up in the sump some how,so in the processs of trying to savethem from being chewed up from the skimmer or the return pump,and if I put the in the main tank the shrimps will eat them so,,,,i;ve reset up the old tank just with a air pump and heater and some live rock........this is pure guess work on my part and cant find anyone on line who breeds these,to see if this is the right approach.

unable to save one though,,,he's in the skimmer,,,,god knows how he got in there,,,he's still alive at the mo and on the skimmer wall cleaning away

ok ive got a theory as to how they've ended up in the sump,,,,

when the snail breed they release a smoke type substance, this worked its way through the micron sock and then settled in the micromec
when cleaning the micromec last week I disturbed them and they've all come out,it does mean I killed aload of them by cleaning the micromec but it does explain how they made there way through a 100 micron sock and how they haven't been chewed up by the return pump

the only problem I have is transferring them,, ,it takes a few mins for each one,cause there so small its very hard to get hold of them and its even harder to pick them up off the floor of the sump than it is off the walls

I could leave them in the sump but the one that's in the skimmer body has me baffled,so I think its best to transfer them,

I got few pieces of live rock for the old tank for them to grow out in,and up to; now I've been very lucky not to get any with any aptasia on,,,but these pieces are riddled with it , so its a good job these pieces didn't go into the main tank,suppose it might be best actually to make sure rock is fully cured even if it does come from a well established system.

Well just goes to show that a tank that looked clean....after the addisstion of a sleeper goby i've been proved other wise......and basicly the tanks been turned to s....

Haha I told yeh, this will last a good while so get use to it haha
But on the plus side when he gets into every nook and cranny and turns it all over a few times the tank will be in great condition and easier for you to maintain

I know but you were spot on though think you said 3 weeks and its been about that and everythings already looking much better,but he still a lot to do,,,,little fecker though stired up so much stuff I was changing the socks every day(my lecky and water bill are going to be through the roof,with the amount of times they've been through the wash),,he also pulled some zoas off the rock,maybe they were loose anyway but they nearly got buried by him

toadstool has opened up nice again but im probly going to upset him when I move him again,trmpets very well but needs to be moved,and frogs spawn doing really well too,

some of the zoas are doing well and some need to be moved,,hermits just wont leave them alone and keep turning them over

I think theres only one or two baby snails left in the sump now,and i'll get them moved and I can get the new skimmer in the sump then

rest of the snails are growing out well in the other tank,theres a load of aptasia in there,not sure wheater to try berghias or maybe a peppermint shrimp..

done a water change last night and went a bit psyco and sphioned up every one of those little fecky starfish,,,all dead now but they'll probly be back in full force next week,,,probly really should get a harlequin shrimp but knowing my luck i'll leave him in there too long and he'll starve

I bought a new skimmer 4 months ago and had every intenstion of plumbing it in this weekend but got side tracked...
ever since i set up this tank ive always had the idea that maybe using the sand from yhe old tank was a bad idea...kind of thought thats where my phosphates where comming from....so 3 sand sifting starfish,they do there bit but just not enough.....sleeper goby does his bit and moves around alot but not enough either....kind of had the idea of using a stronger return pump but at this time of year things are a bit tight and wasn't sire if it wouldmake a difference.
Swapped out my 3800 lph for 2 3000 lph pumps i had in the cupboard amd 24 hours later....the amount ive skimmed out is unbeliveable....definitly for the new year is a bigger return pump....

ive probly ttansfered 15 of the baby snails into the main tank and still have another 11 to move over...could be more

Just probly added my last fish for this year anyway....a lovely naso tang...love these fish but dory doesnt seem to like her too much

What size naso you get bud disappointed no pics haha

Hows the tank now has the goby got threw the sand yet if not ur sand is probably to deep

What angel is that you got is it coral safe

Hows it going????

The naso's about 3 maybe 3 and half inchs...only thing is shes not eating...well shes eating but not much.spoke to darren in seahorse and he told me if she start eating bring her back in but maybe im expecting too much....she is eating but not much and dory had a hard time excepting her and really gave her a ard time but now there friends

really love the afican pygmy angel the colours on him so bright

the sand is only about one inch deep and the gobys doing a dreat job.....uptill recently i was changing the socks everyday and skimming about half a cup daily but am now changing socks every second sometimes third day and only skimming about a sixth of a cup a day......just goes to show how much stuff a small bit of sand can really hold on to

awhile ago i bought one of the baue scrappers on stick and basicly found it useless for cleaning the back glass..carried out jeffs super mod of a algea scrapper....2.99 stanly blade and same as....... back glass is spottless now with very little effort........did find though if you dont remove the blade afterward it rusts up very quickly...so now hardest part of cleaning the back glass is finding blade..

New skimmer in a bit of tidying up to do but im getting there

Stupid naso tang

little fecker just wouldnt eat enough....spoke to darren in seahorse on saturday who told me to bring her back in.....and by sunday morning she was already on the way out.

she hung in but i fished out this morning and she was dead before i even left the house

Ah no way man gutted for yeh, something about them naso,s I'd the same problem for ages, now it would eat frozen after trying all them time after time but then it use to wreck me head thatvthats all it would eat, must have been a year before it touched flake or pellets, are sh going to sort you out with another one?? If yeah and they have a few if them only take the one that will eat pellets (new era algae pellets) if they don't have one that eats that you may wait for one that does, basically why I'm saying that is cause if it mills the pellets it's being eating everything and that's a healthy one

As your tank matures you will notice the back of the tank won't need as much cleaning can't remember the last time I did mine and it's spotless with the added help from the snails,
But if you rinse the blade under the tap soon as you take it out of tank, wash it under the tap and dry it properly and you'll get a few go's from one blade, or rub vaseline on it before you start
Which chamber have you got the inlet and outlet from the skimmer, I find the inlet in the first chamber works best and outlet second

Whole reason for the new skimmer was because i really wanted to have some more tangs in there...and tangs are messy little bastards.....
When i picked up the naso they feeding the fish at the time..think they feeding copepods or someting...there was 3 or 4 of them and i was sure i had picked the nicest of the bunch....just forgot to even look and see if he was eating
aboit 2 years ago in the heat wave we had i also lost a pacific blue tang...uptill now i just pit it down to the heat wave but after the nasoi was sure i was doing something wrong...but after hearing about your now jeff it putts my mind at rest..and graham had also suggested to make sure there eating before taking them.................havent been into seahorse but im sure darren will sort me out

Seems to be alot of people with live stock up for sale lately so i might keep my out for one there too

skimmer worked perfect for the first 24 hoursin the second chamber..which i didnt expect it to...but now the pumps are up to speed its in overdrive.may still be breaking in and i do intend on changing it around alittle..thought there would be a huge dead spot in the secind chamber.so ive added a small wavemaker to move water round and going to raise up the skimmer so water flows underneath it to..had thought about pumping from the first chamber but decided to pump from the second to be neater but if it works better from the first i'll have to rethink that..

Got to finsh off my electrical aswell...trying toremove my cascade of plug strips and tidy things up bit

They'll all go mad for live food, but that's the problem at the start it's harder to get them to eat falling or floating food, I'm sure Dar will sort yeh out,
I skimmer from the first as i believe it has a better chance of getting more crap quicker, but just make sure it's not going in and out in the same chamber that's why I suggest in one out the other if yeh get me
And yes tangs are shitting machines the messy type, I've nick named my yellow belly scutters
I've been meaning to get graham down to me and sort out my wires and sockets, I've seen a tank that he wired and it was very neat, I must have around a dozen plugs and only know what or where about 4 are

Skimmers working perfectly..the way you suggested..pumping from the first chamber and exiting in the second....pulling out a heap of stuff....

only if i shut off the return for feeding and cleaning.i also have to turn off the feed to the skimmer or it will suck the first chamber dry.

does that sound right????

Yeah that's the only down side, I hooked up the two plugs on the same extension so both go off when needed, on the upside it does do a great job of removing a lot of crap

Hey chris do you use RO water and an auto top off for your evaporation in your tank ?
What are you levels that you keep to ?
Lovely looking tank and fish

Hi ya ceech....i have a tunze ato ...does a good job levels are always 1.024...except for this morning ...was messing around lst night and ive almost trippled the amount of rowaphos inthe reactor....and unplugged the ato...doh....doing a water change tonight so levels will be back to normal tonight...
nitrates seemed to always be testing 2 and phospates were always testing 0.08 but thanks to jeff who double checked my water....
nitates are actually between 2 and 5 and phosphates are 0.16
usally only do a 5%water change doing a 10% tonight so should put a little dent in the nitates and uping the rowaphos should hopefully start bringing the phosphates down

the one thing i didnt expect what jeff tested my water was my kh was totally out of wack.always though my alk was around 9 and turns out to be 5.6.ph must of been going up and down like a yo yo but seriously uped the amount of reef foundation b and hopefully by the end of the week it will be good

Vampire tang is settling in nicly and theres been a few additions since last pic were taken.so going to try get some more photos up tonight

Nice i have the Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 Auto Top Off. I just added my live rock and sand last night with circulation pump and heater as i am waiting onllights and sump to come end of this week start of next.

resized pics but there not uploading?????

Howye chris glad to here the vampire is settling in get any bits yet ha

How's the Kh should be reasonable now, have you been dosing what i said to get it up their, and keeping up with the new daily dose

You may want to consider a 10% water change every week as it will help the tank allot better than just doing a 5% I learned this the hard way with the nitrates, and especially now that you have a big ass fish to feed ha

It was quite funny trying to get the vampire tang into the tank.....i started off aclimatising him in the vag and then moved him and bucket just by tipping the bag slowly and came to transfer him into tank........doh.....i dont have a net big enough to put him in......try'd putting my hand in to lift him out was sure i was going to get bit......but calm as can be,he let me lift him up into the tank...real paranoid he was going end up on floor but all went well......but dont look forward to doing that again...

after i got home from your jeff i started dosing but tested my water and wasnt sure if was something to do with tempeture or something else and i looked at the trumpet and it started to look like trying to feed....only ever done with the lights out before.....but it started doing with the lights on.....got a new kh test kit..got a tropic marcin one...half the price of redsea and kh is now between 10.5 and 11....so im just dosing 2 now and i'll be checking kh now alot more.....the difference in kh has made a huge difference to the frogspawn and the trumpet they've really filled out...trying to up load pics but my phone downloaded new software and i think its something to do with that ...tryd a different resizing site and it said it could resize images cause they weren't jpegs....so dont know whats going on there.

need to get an ro storted think 10%waterchanges might be needed..nitates havent really been a problem up to now but the more and more that goes in to the tank think i might have to start thinking about bio peletts or something

Pmsl, your lucky he didn't slice yeh open, never thought of giving you the big net doh!

That's good the Kh is up now I told yeh everything will be much happier ;)try keep it no lower than 10 now and not more than 11, are you dosing the amount we worked out every day now yeah and is it staying steady for yeh,
Your next step is to dose the calcium daily, do you remember how to work out how much is needed,
When you get these bang on target each week then get the mag bang on in one day and it was will stay their with the water changes, it only needs minor adjustments every few mts


Change of subject here sorry but

For the photos the only way I was (am) able to do it is go to camera settings on ur phone (or camera) where the 'resolution or 'mp is and change it to 1mp most if us set the phones on the highest quality (mp)possible trying to get good pics, hope this makes sense?

Aclimatising a few new addisions


ohhhhhh im going to be in for a late night