Upgrading to a new tank - the adventure begins ;)

fantasic , beautiful tank ,love the clown fish , are they snowflake clowns? would love to do a marine tank but just don't have the time , maybe on retirement .

Hey Rob

I have one premium snowflake clowfish (a bit more white than orange with a bit of black) and one platinum clownfish (almost completely white one)

I got them since they were the size of a peanut, here is a video when they were younger 2 1/2 years ago... time goes by so quickly!



PS how do you like my signature... I was messing around with it and found a way to share my current tank stats live! pretty cool, not sure how useful it would be

Wow they are great fisty little things full of charactor

Looking good

PANIC.........
Why are both your heaters on, your tempture 28.3 degrees, and your ph is 10????
Only joking.



Something else to panic over when you are away, but another great use of technology.

Yeah! I know what you mean Jonathan.

That was the reason why I hated my seneye, giving me the wrong information all the time freaking me out while I was away saying things like, no water, pH too high, temperature too high... a couple of times I rushed back home because seneye was telling me that the aquarium had no water!! only to find out that everything was fine.

But with this new set up I now not only I can see whats wrong but I can act remotely and try to fix it. Like shutdown stuff, turn off/on devices, etc as with Apexfusion you can remotely connect to your Apex and control everything remotely, also, the Apex for example, is programmed to switch off heaters, turn on fans, etc in the event of certain triggers, such as high temperature etc. For instance, if my temperature reaches 29 degrees my lights, skimmer will turn off and all my fans will turn on. I also get email alerts as well as audible alarms (of course I wont be there to hear it!)

Even now my seneye is telling me that my pH is 8.7 and my temperature is 29 degrees... while my Apex is saying 8.11 and 24 degrees. Same as my other thermometers and pH meter.

The par meter of the seneye is pretty good though, apart from that is a panic generator, at least for me!! lol

Jesus last thing ya want to see is "no water"

I'm seriously considering buying a apex.....I never really understood controllers...I always thought "what use is it emailing me if I'm 100 miles away" and anyone using it to turn on and off equipment ws just complicating things

But the more and more I'm looking into the apex monitoring side of it it looks very impressive.......

What does the base unit monitor???is it just ph and orp???does it monitor sality and temperature as aswell or is that an add on??

Hey Chris

Its handy enough, the basic pack comes with the base unit, display, 1 power bar, 1 temperature probe, 1 pH probe.

The base unit has 1 pH port, 1 ORP port, 1 conductivity/ORP port, 4 variable ports, 1 I/O port and a Temperature port. So if you want ORB and Conductivity you will need 2 more probes.

Apex will allow you to monitor your aquarium remotely, which can come handy if you are away in situation such as swithing off lights if your temperature is too high, or switch of the return pump if your water level is too low etc. or you can automate it. You can also have alerts sent to you via email or via an audible alarm. or warnings.

Like I said, it depends on whether or not you want to trust the system to do it for you or you prefer to do it, or a bit of both.

For instance, you can set it up that if the power goes off, when it comes back, you can add a delay to certain devices for instance, the skimmer. So when the power comes back up, the return goes first, and then 5 minutes later the UV and the Skimmer can come on. PReventing the skimmer from overflowing as normally the water level in the sump raises after a power outage. This can also be set up everytime you manually turn the pump off, or you can buy a breakout box and put a water sensor which will stop the return pump when the water reaches certain level. All this remember can be notified to you via email or an audible alarm.

Also very handy in the event of a power outage, you can connect one of the power bars to a UPS, then when the power goes off the power bar will detect that the other power bar has lost connectivity and send you an alarm, this could be handy if for instance, the lights go off at 2 am at night. You might not wake up until lets say 7am and notice that the lights are off and by then it could be too late. This way you can have the apex sound an alarm and wake you up!

lots of stuff you can do with this thing, interestingly enough I just got this today by post

Its the leak detector module. I got 3 sensors that I will place 2 on the back and 1 in the sump and will alert me in the event of a water leak or sump overflow etc. I can set it up for example that in on the off the detectors on the back goes off to switch of the return and notify me and at the same time increase the power of my gyre to generate more surface agitation while I get home and check the leak (I also ordered the icecap module for my gyre so I can program it to change flow pattern, intensity etc at night or at different times during the day).

This is what i call modern fishkeeping ,glad you lads understand this techlodgy you have me completly baffeled. I had to get my son to set up my tank webcam ,and today took a while to get the new 3kdc sump pump set up with the water level sensors . Just getting old i supose . It sounds like a truly amazing system

Hey

Thanks Robert. its really not that hard, you just need to get down to it if you know what I mean How is your tank getting along btw?

Oh and before I forget, tank is doing well, ammonia down to 0,001, nitrates down to around 3. I have to be careful now as I dont want it to go any lower.

Also, dino is under control I think and kH is still 10 and stable (again I am using marino stable to keep it between 9-10).

All fish seem happy, even the anemone which was looking pretty bitten up is doing better (or so I think).

And today this fella arrived to seahorse...lets see who can guess what it is

It will be (although never say never) the most expensive fish going into the tank. Lovely little chap, tiny, the size of a 2 euro coin!

I will be putting it in with my other 2 tangs in about 3-4 weeks. Can't wait, lovely color as well. Once they all acclimate I will add an Achilles tang, I wanted to add them all at the same time but it is proven very hard to find a hardy Achilles (no surprise there)

My 2 heilfrichi firefish should arrive soon as well. Maybe next week.

Well it looks black in the badly taken photo, it's small as you said, so what about a bat fish? Weird guess but have to start somewhere.

We should start a collection of bad photos and we should all try to guess what they are. I have loads of very streaky fish and out of shot photos.

Lol

Yeah sorry about the picture, he has just arrived to SH a few minutes earlier and it is in one of their containers with very little light and difficult access...

I would love to have a bat fish but my tank with a height of only 65 cm is not tall enough.

I guess it would be hard to tell by looking at that picture but it is a black long nose tang... very rare fish!

WOW - I just looked on Live aquaria at the black tang, i dont even wanna know how much you had to pay here in ireland for it.

Very nice fish mate, cant wait to see a pic of it properly.

How long till you get the fish fro SH then, just the 7 day quarantine?

WHat other tangs are you planning on putting into the tank?

Im waiting on them to get a Chocolate tang or i like to use its proper name Mimic Lemon Peel Tang sound so much better. Will be going in with a eibli mimic tang and what looks like it could be either a Orange shoulder tang, which the guys in galway think it is, or a Blue Eyed Kole tang, which myself and the misses thinks it is after a couple of weeks research lol. Also have 2 royal blue tangs in the tank as well.

Holy crap

Just seen in fb the price of that tang.....one hell of a fish.

Hey guys

yes, it is not cheap, but for the last 3 years I have been buying stuff in SH so I have around 7 or 8 loyalty cards ready to cash in! so it wont be as painful.

Also the fish is relatively hardy compared to other tangs (as hardy as a yellow tang) and much more peaceful so it should (fingers crossed) have problems with any of the other 2 tangs, I mean, my hippo is a softie and very very placid, never fights or shows signs of aggression towards anything, and the sailfin although its a bit territorial (specially at the beginning) is pretty good as well, I had 2 clowns, 1 6line wrasse the hippo and the sailfin in a 100 liter tang and never fought, so I am hoping they will take him in without any major problems.

It will be ready in about 1-2 weeks although I might wait a bit longer. My tank is fairly new and I dont want to shock the system, at the moment is doing great, if things keep going this way it might throw them in in 2 weeks (all 3 at the same time). Putting them all at the same time lowers aggression as the enviroment will be new for all of them.

Also, the black tang is tiny, I mean very small, not as small as my hippo was but very small. So in theory the other 2 shoud ignore him.

I dont foresee any issues with this fish, however, my next tang, will be tricky. I am plannign on adding an achilles tang, I love that fish but it is difficult to find a hardy specimen. We will see how things go on with the black tang and if everyone gets on well then I might leave it like that. Tangs have different personalities, and putting the wrong one can literally be devastating. This is one of the reason why I dont mind waiting as there is no better time to put tangs in than now, all together at the same time.

I thought that, as the amount of fish you can put in a tank is limited I might as well go for unusual stuff!

I also like the chocolate tang, beautiful fish. One of my favorites with the sohal, chevron etc.

I love the chocolate, but as always its quite a difficult fish to order in. Waiting nearly a month, there was supposed to be one with the order that the black tangs came in on but it very arrived (or someone else got it lol)

Did you know seahorse in galway have 2 lovely Achilles tangs in stock right now??? I know one is on hold, ie the the really good looking healthy one, and the other still looks good and was in the tank with my orange shoulder/kole tang. Its very peaceful. Just in case you didnt know that they had them here. Also have been in stock for about nearly 2 months now so well settled and eating well. If you want i can take some pics tomorrow of them and send them onto you.

My tangs didnt fight at all, im still waiting on the final one to be added, but it was my coral beauty that went along and was very aggressive to the tangs but settle after 2 days.

Hey Shane

Yes I know about those 2 Achilles. I didnt want them at first because they were a little bit too big for me, I was looking for an Achilles no bigger than 10 cm or 4 inches. They brought one but didnt survive the quarantine, felt horrible about it.

Anyway Keelan said he had another one in reserve in case that one died and said he had 2 in Galway, not sure if they one he has reserved is for me or not. Might as well check with him when he is back from germany as with tangs, you are better off putting them all at the same

Thought about getting an atlantic blue tang, gorgeous fish as well but can be very very aggressive! Whatever I do is likely the tangs will go in this week, I will send pictures as soon as they are in.

Tank is doing well, no problems so far, all levels are fine (ammonia, nitrates etc) dosing calcium as it was quite low and the elegance didnt seem very happy in the tank. He is doing much better now.

Anemone is doing better as well, she moved slightly and it is bubble-ly now compared to the aweful state it was in a few weeks ago when I thought I wasnt gonna make it. Ate a bit yesterday so I have a good feeling about her!

Diatoms (dino) although everywhere as expected has not taken over the tank and is being consumed by snails etc.

Julio is also doing well in his new bungaloo and finally found the second exit I made him

It's very cute the way he has built the outer part putting rocks around it like some sort of a well

I am pretty sure he wont be as happy when the new lads come in so I am happy he has settled and built his burrow before this happened. So far everything is working according to plan.

I will need to find a home for my pistol shrimp though as I fear he would steal Julios bungaloo if he sees it!

looking great

Looks brilliant, love all the little caves and hiding places, fish will be spoilt for choice

Ok guys a few new additions to the tank today.

First I moved all my fish from the old dirty tank into the new tank as well as all the clean up crew (1 tuxedo urchin, few snails and hermits) as well as the pistol shrump. Also went to SH and got the black tang, a foxface and a few more clean up crew including a tuxedo urchin and a pom pom crab (which I am sure I will never see again).

One thing I noticed is how much my old fish care for each other. The hippo was quite stressed and funny enough as soon as I would open the bucket cover (after caching them) the sailfin and the wrasse would cover him to protect him/her. They were adorable. And another thing is that the pistol shrimp was underneath both of them. Good to see good companionship between fish.

Anyway here I present you black lad

He is happy and looks very healthy so far. He is getting along great with the other fish although they have only been together for over 2-3 hours. But no signs of aggression yet. So far they are all swimming together and eating fine.

Here are the two new fish together

and here is a view of the tank

Hope it stays this peaceful. julio is not happy with the new additions but he will have to adapt.

another thing I noticed when I put the old tangs and wrasse in is how the clowns started swimming with them, I could swear they were just happy to see them but maybe I am making things up... my imagination is quite vivid sometimes

That does look like a nice black tang, it's a bit better than your last photo.
I thought something must have gone into the tank as your skimmer seems to have filled up quickly. It's about time you cleaned it out again isn't it!
Why have you put a Blau light onto your sump as well as the kessil? Surely you didn't need more light in the sump!

Anyway glad your hard work and planning is paying off.

Just thought I would look at it one more time to make you up to 6000 views!!
Is this the highest view count of any post? If not it must be getting there. I bet john know the answer to that!

Hey Jon

Thanks, I dont think its the most viewed post though, I am sure they will be many more out there with more views than this one. But 6000 views is not bad at all, they are probably mostly mine though haha

I put the blau light because the kessil was too much light tbh. I need to find a way to decrease the intensity or maybe wait until the tank is settle before attempt to use it again, I was even thinking of using it for only 2-3 hours to just boost growth a bit. For the moment the blau is doing a great job growing macro.

Yes the pictures is a bit better than my last one...

The skimmer is working really well, pulling out some really nasty dark stuff, it was more brown looking before but now the stuff is almost black.It has been running for 6 days now and it is barely 1/4 full. So that's good news, I am sure it will be pulling out much more sh..t now that the tank has more fish in it. Also, the skimmer is rated for 1500 l so it is a bit over kill at the moment.

Still has a few days left but I might take your advice and empty it now

Wow really comming together now ....

Black tang is really nice....how big do they grow???

When I emptied my tank and had several of them in a bucket I noticed all the fish doing something similar. ...didn't think they were trying to protect each other. ..thought even though there not schooling fish they were trying to bunch themselves together to create a bigger mass to make themselves look bigger to try frighten you away...(Just a thought)

Hey Chris

The black tang is essentially a yellow tang so they will get to around the same size.Maybe 10-12 cm?

Yes they showed that behavior when I put them in the tank, the funny thing is that when they were in the little bucket even the pistol shrimp will jump on the sailfin, it was really awkward to watch lol

The fish are all doing great, not a single sign of aggression or anything so far. Little black lad is very happy munching away all my algae, in fact, all of them are so great news!

The skimmer is really pulling out so nasty stuff... never seen it so dark!

And I finally emptied the old tank, so no more tanks in the living room apart from the new one, the wife is very happy. Now I need to tidy up and sell all the old stuff, I feel a yard sale coming

Also took out the two crabs, the black one is pretty big, fully open is about 20 cm. When is contracted is about 12 cm, the other one is maybe 1/3 his size. No fighting between them and they let you catch them etc. They dont seem aggressive at all. Just shy

They look to be from the same family, I believe they are mithrax crabs, they are the same family as the emerald crabs but in different colors. Still I rather have them under control in the sump with the pistol shrimp.

Glad everyone is getting on in the tank, black tang looks great

Crabs look like the same family as greens, so thats all good. Great cleanup crew for sump. DId they come in as hitch hikers into the old tank'?

Hey

Yes both did, the black one came as hitchhiker on my first marine tank, inside my live rock, therefore, he is the first marine animal I have ever had. He survived a major tank crash, several tank moves etc. He has been with my for around 6 years now. Not sure how long this guys live though.

The other one came hidden inside a brain coral (he survived the dip).

Ok so another little present came in the post today.

This is the IceCap module for my Apex to allow me to control my gyre.

I can use all modes and for instance set it up to ramp up in the morning to 80%, then pulse for a few hours (I have to 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off, at 80 %), then ramp down, and then slow down at night to 30% constant flow.

I could also run it in alternating mode if I want to. I will probably add this mode in the morning right after ramping up for a bit.

Really good stuff I have to say, so far I am very please with it.

I am ordering a back up power (UPS) unit for the gyre in case the ligths go off, just for peace of mind. Light rarely go off in my apartment but it could be possible that a fuse or Circuit box could snap so it would be handy to have it. The Apex should send me an alert message if the power is off allwoing me plenty of time to get someone in to check things out!

You have some amount of tech stuff in that tank its amazing

The ice cap looks like a really good bit of kit.....do you need two for the two gyres???or does one module do the two??