fishiee

Ahh well, yet another reason for my tank crash. But that leather was nice... maybe i will get a frogspawn or torch.

Dunno. The side was rotting but the middle seemed OK then. Anyway, the thing is shrinking in size and not doing well now. I will give it 1 more day and will most likely decide to throw it away tomorrow. Its polluting the tank. I will be able to concentrate on building a new tank with that out of the way. How's the reef octo BH 1000? Any reviews/comments on it? Thinking of my 2ftx1ftx1.5ft with that.

Ok. New problem. My leather coral - the middle is going fine, moderate polyp extension, polyps all normal colour. but the sides are rotting away and fouling up my 1 ft cube. 1 part has turned white while the rest are just rotting. 1 rotting portion started to break away from the coral, so i cut it off with a penknife. question is, so I 1: leave it be, the sides will rot and break away, leaving a healthy albiet smaller leather coral 2: cut the sides way and hope the rotting stops there 3: throw the coral away. no hope at all. cos i have no skimmer as of yet and that thing is really fouling the water up and hindering the recovery of the other survivors. the rest of the coral are doing fine. brain completely recovered, zoa opening up a little, but slightly bleached, mushrooms full colour but not opening up due to the strong water flow.

Hmm. like my old boyu. i would have out it in, but its just that i can't find the stupid thing. Would the bubble magus qq be a great improvement over this rio nano? i don't mind spending 80 bucks over 40 bucks if its going to be a lot better.

wah. 200 bucks ex leh. one thing was the price for me lol. i can restart my 2ft tank with that. not saying its a bad skimmer

Ahh. Update. I managed to save 4 corals (leather, brain, mushroom, zoa). They should make a full recovery in time to come if there are no more screw ups. I am thinking of making the 1 foot cube my official marine tank (cos i am just too lazy and disheartened to set up the 2 foot tank again). Any recommendations for a protein skimmer? Was looking at the rio nano, the bubble magus QQ and the reef octo range of nano skimmers. any other recommendations? I don't wish to pay too much, so the aqua c is out for me. i know the rio nano may not be the best out of all, but it does combine a filter and a skimmer in 1 package (less heat) and it takes the skimmer OUT of the tank. Real estate is so expensive.

my orginal tank was a 2 foot (2 by 1 by 1.5) with a 14cm by 11cm by 15 cm sump/fuge. the 1 foot cube was a spare tank that i transfered my dying coral into. anyway, i just dismantled the main setup. bristleworms dying on the sandbed, the usual. cleaned everything up. transfered 1 sps, mushroom, brain, zoa and leather into the 1 ft cube with clean saltwater. my wavemaker is running for high flow and i have a fan blowing to keep the temp down. the leather coral's polyps came out a bit but they are all black and shrivelled, looks like a procupine now. brain and mushroom look like they have a good chance of survival. i think i will transform this 1 ft cube into my new tank. any sugguestions for a skimmer? bubble magnus qq or a reef octo hang on?

Wah. Reborn closed today. Hoped to get my stock of saltwater from there. I came back home and things were quite bad. Bristleworms dying on the sandbed and all. I think i will fill a 1 ft cube with fresh salt water and put what savable corals there are in it. That will be my new reef tank. The plate coral is showing white skeleton, so that one's out. One colony of zoas have shrunken A LOT, so i won't bother saving those. Other than that, i think the leather, the brain coral and one colony of zoas that have not shrunk so much. I will put the 2 sps in just to see if there is anything to save. 1's totally white while the other has a tinge of brown in it.

OR the propeller on te spoilt pump may have gotten stuck, turning the pump into a 18 watt heater before iit fizzed out and spoilt completely. that would have caused a temp spike that my fans would not have been able to deal with. anyway, things are not looking too well. Both SPS bleached, thick net of slime covering both the brain and plate. brain still has some colour left in it. play has shrunk to the smallest it can get, zoa starting to produce slime, but not shrivelled up, leather coral shrinking in size and turning from brown to green with the usal protective coat of slime it has not produced in over 6 months cos of the excellent water quality. should i take the cash and trouble to save the tank and coral, or should i just start anew in a 1 foot cube? can the corals be saved in the first place? i have nursed a bleached brain coral (this one) back to life, am willing to do it for the rest of the lot, but i just don't know if they are dead already (e.g. i cannot save the if they have been poisoned by copper)

ha. my temp usually stays at around 28, 29 at most. i remember that there was a fan failure once with this particular configuration. temp. went all the way up and everything survived, including the SPS that bleached this time round. is it possible the needlewheel pump leaked copper into the tank when it spoilt (damage at its outer casing by who knows what?). still think its something skimmer related. cannot be that so qiao, something has been festering in my tank and just decides to show up when the skimmer goes off. are you sure corals are not affected by electricity?

No. she does not do that and will never. there are more than enough plugs in my room to use and she usually uses the plug outside my room. and the plug which i use is messy and hard to access.

oh well, something must have caused this.. my aquarium runs on fans and my maid said that there was no power outrage. Even if there was, it will have to have been so short that she did not notice it a.k.a the temp. won't have spiked to a dangerous level the tank was doing just fine the day before the skimmer broken down. not a trace of ANYTHING amiss. SPS fully extended, everything thriving. I am running the wavemaker and i put an airstone in my tank and sump and disconnected the sump from the main tank. Will conduct water and carbon changes tomorrow. I have no idea what the underlying problem was. I dose minerals. although i don't actually count the dosage, i dose below the recommended amount for my tank size. overdosing of minerals is not an issue. I don't run a deep sand bed (sand about 1/2 an inch thick). Detritus accumulation, possibly. Looking at everything, the skimmer would have provided a large portion of oxygen to the sump. with it gone, organisms in the sump/###### refridgerum may have died (no oxygen in refuge, all organisms die) and caused pollution, coupled with the loss of the protein skimmer = massive nitrate spike? Is that a possibility? I have live rock and cheato in the fuge, LOTS and LOTS of tiny organisms, small tubeworms, mini sponge growing on the skimmer and tank walls. I cannot see any other underlying problem besides that.

Just came home today and found my protein skimmer dead (reef octopus DNW110, the needlewheel pump). All my corals were also dying as well, 1 out of 2 sps bleached, all the rest of the soft corals (zoas, leather coral) closed up tight and the LPS shrunk as well. There was also a net of slime on the LPS and SPS. My water quality has always been good as i keep no fish (no feeding) and change 15 out of the 130l of water in my tank every week (with the exception of chinese new year week). There is a lot of detritus at the bottom of my sump and some on the sandbed (been there before the tank crashed). My wavemaker is hydor K1 for a 2ft tank. Water quality was so good that amphipods could be seen grazing and all sorts of weird organisms could be seen growing everywhere. My cheato was also turning a little brown (lack of nutrients? cos I dose iron.) There are 3 possible reasons for the tank crash: 1. toxic waste overload from the skimmer failing and the detritus 2. not enough oxygen in the tank, but that's a minor possibility as water flows back into the tank from the top (my sump is above my tank) and it gets aerated there. 3. electric shock (i tried the needlewheel pump on the mains after cleaning it. it did not work, but i felt a constant, slight shock when i touched the device) I am inclined to blame an electric shock for causing the tank to crash. A few questions, 1. What is the mortality rate for corals that have just been zapped by electricity (not a strong ZAP, but you know, a weak zap), how do i save them? Is there a point in saving them? 2. My plan of action: change water (25 l), get a new protein skimmer. looking at a weipro SA2014 paired with an aquabee 2000 (about 186 bucks) any sugguestions on what else i should do or whether i should get a better skimmer (next in line will be the reef octopus NW 150, 240 bucks), but i am inclined to get the weipro as you can change pumps without going back to the reef octopus dealer. OR should i just buy a replacement pump for my skimmer from reef octo (about 80 bucks?)

Any shop selling peppermint shrimp? I think i have an aiptasia problem.

hmm. maybe the noise from the overflow is caused by the new pump you bought? Since it generates more heat compared to your old pump, i can infer that its more powerful as well. More power = more water passing through overflow = more noise. Options include changing the pump, restrict the pump flow using a tap or using something to muffle the sound. Maybe another reefer can share his experience with sound muffling? As for the cabinet hinges, you can replace them (DIY) if they get too rusty. You can protect them in the meantime with Vaseline. Its normal to have your sump in the cabinet. Yes, the dampness can be caused by evaporation. Another thing could be bubbles produced in the sump (overflow, skimmer). You may not notice it, but as bubbles burst at the water's surface, a few tiny drops of water fly off; some of which land outside the tank. Cumulation of this could be the cause of dampness in the interior of the cabinet. Suggest you look into what may be causing it. In the meantime could give the interior of your cabinet a quick wipe. Opening the cabinet or installing a fan will help with letting stale air out of the interior and help with evaporation. Long term dampness will weaken and rot the wood in the cabinet. As for temperature, simple solution. No money for a chiller? Get a fan. Can either buy the already made ones or DIY (computer fans).

The greenish stuff is copper choride; try not to get saltwater on the chiller. Not 'copper rust' as per sae, but your chiller is getting damaged by saltwater in any case.

top up your tank water with DI water. another source of high phosphate levels. i personally use salt water bought from the marine. cheaper overall, accounting for the costs of the salt mix and costs to DI tap water. less troublesome. i am now trying a system where i store 3 week's worth of salt water for changes

the 1ft cube is specially for the mantis only. Maybe i will make it at 10mm. Was debating between 10 or 12mm glass.

the mantis is a juvinile. its happy in there for now. they like to stay in holes anyway, and it likes the PVC a lot. does not venture out much. unless i put a piece of prawn in of course. I am planning to get a new tank for it, but that will be in about 1 year 6 months time. See, i am in NS now and my mother agreed to top up the water of 1 marine tank. She will blow her top if i get another for the mantis. so ya. i will design the tank during my NS and buy it immediately after i get out. Currently, my plans are 1 foot cube, 12 mm thick glass, 5-8 inch think sandbed with multiple PVC pipes embeded in the sand. A boyu WG-08 skimmer i have locked up in the store and a hang on back filter with a few chips of biohome. I will most likely change the water once every 2 weeks. I will either fit the tank with the normal 9W CFC or buy a cheap LED.

as for cooling, i use 2 computer fans. buy them from sim lim, second hand. i don't bother buying the first hand ones as saltwater spoils the fans faster than father time. they are mounted on modified lighting clips that were poached from my hopar T5 lights when i upgraded to solite (T5HO@24Wx4). I dose iron from brightwell aquatics, iodine, marine buffer, reef advantage calcium and magnesium from seachem. and i pass my top up water through my crystal pro (single) DI unit via a gravity siphon till the TDS reaches 0. So ya. There you have it. Oh ya, and i feed my brain, plate and mantis shrimp 1 small piece of market prawn every week. And do a 25 ltre. water change every week when time permits, although i plan to drop it down to 15 ltre.. (my total volume, sump included is an estimated 77 ltre.) Cheers!

Now for the sump and the enitre set up. I use a reef octo skimmer, around 600g of biohome, activated carbon, phosphate remover and cheato to filter my tank water. Don't ask why my sump is on top of my main tank. Its just like that. I built the stands myself, by the way, but the last time i opened the doors, i saw 2 ant like things. i REALLY pray that those were not termites...searched around for more, but i could not find any.

Now for the inhabitants. I currently keep only coral and a lone mantis shrimp. The mantis is locked up in a plastic chinese new year goodies bottle in my sump. Almost all the corals except for the brain and the leather are from golden octopus. the brian coral was with me the longest. It survived 2 tank crashes. It bleached once and i nursed it back to health on my mother's insistence. The green mantis shrimp was from reborn. Its holed up in the PVC pipe, so you can't see it. So ya. Enjoy.

Hi. Time to share my tank. First up, full tank shots: front, side, behind.

Wow. An old topic of mine. Thanks for all the help guys. My algae problems are solved. and my tank is relatively nice now. I am in NS now, but i will try to find time to take pictures of my tank and post. Thanks for all the help!

go for it. patience is a good trait to have in a reefer. also remember to add your livesotck to your tank in stages, begining from the hardiest critter to the most delicate one. you can use these 2 weeks to plan your stocking schedule. what corals you want in your tank and when you will get each piece.