Trautman

I like it!

Looking good Serge!! Just tell me when you want those t-'s!

Nice looking tank!!! I am about to start on the same kinda journey. I am going to combine two tanks into one. (scary) I am a bit nervous!!

It was really stressful to switch tanks I must say. Then you have a timeline, and it gets pretty crazy. The only thing that I kinda regret is not asking for someone to help me out, I would certainly get some friends on board of I were to do it again

That looks great!!!

Thanks ed!

Tank looks great,keep us updated on the reef keeper on how it works for you.

 

Reefsickness

So the reefkeeper is still confusing, the inly time i got to play with it, i tried to sync it with the computer, and failed... anyone have suggestions?

Here are some more pics I took recently, the tank is going full steam ahead

Christmas wrasse

LTA, do these guys split? because this one is huge!

My rbta, and yes he already split

a couple shots of my huge red chalice (thanks roy!!!)

more photos:

Vlamingi tang

Blue hippo

Yellow tang

A nice monti that I recently got

a devils hand? Or a toadstool?

The "frag rack"

tank left

tank middle

tank right

What dose that mean ?

I think Kim was talking about myself, not you! I tend to be a die hard wheeler dealer...

and by the way Ed, Tank You!!!

Oops! I mean Thank you!

UPDATE: 8/10

So It turned out that the wrasse made it, and the fish are super happy!

Here are some photos:

So I lined the hood with mylar bubble wrap, and put 1" stand off's to prevent them from melting. I attempted to tilt the reflectors so the dead zone in between them would be minimized. I love the mylar, it was only 10 bucks for a roll at home depot

Next I cleaned, and cleaned, and then cleaned some more!

here is the tank as of now (some of the pics have the metal halides off or warming up)

horseshoe crabs....(=

Here is a picture of the tank a while ago

The day of the transfer 1:30 pm

1:45

2:00-5:00 then I took it all down...

did anyone ever mention how much detritus a DSB holds? well i am now convinced

Rock went here:

Fish went here:

Inverts went here:

I picked up the tank at 6:00 pm (Yeeeehaaaa!!!!!(naughty)) Ed was nice enough to meet me at the shop and help load it up, then the old tank and the new tank got swapped:

Then I filled the tank with some new water:

Now here is where it started to hit the fan...

The temperature was great outside before 74 degrees... but now it cooled down to 65... so my tank outside was liable to crash... I had to tactfully switch the one available heater between the two temporary tanks, while hoping the new water would get to the favorable ranges.

fast foreword to 1am:

Now the tank water is alright, so I started some aquascaping...and the parameters were correct: temp: 76, salinity: 1.026, Ph: 8.3.

So I started to move some fish after moving some water back and forth between the two holding containers for acclimation...

However, when I put the first fish in the tank ( a yellow tang), it FREAKS!

Now I get scared... I ask myself all of the questions: any toxins? Not that i can think of... any ammonia? Not with brand new water... Salinity? Nope, perfect... Ph? perfect in the tank...

Then I remembered that the ph in the holding tank probably dropped... Why? because there is an inverse relation between ammonia ion concentration and the Ph, meaning the ph in the tank was fine, but the ph in the holding tank was lower...

That, added with groggy fish(keep in mind it was the middle of the night here) made them looking like they were being boiled alive...

So I whipped out my Seachem marine buffer 8.3, and slowly added a bit by bit...

2:45 am

I get all the fish in, and they are looking okay, the coral that is outside I decided to leave for the night with a top and a heater/powerhead... then I got some zzz's

7:45 am

I check the tank, it looks good, the fishies are nice and happy. Meanwhile, I acclimate the rest of the critters, and now the tank is "stocked" the only fish I am worrying about currently is my chistmas wrasse, but he might pull through (it looks to be about a 50/50 chance by my guesses)...

Now I get to clean up!

Living room:

Deck:

Stay tuned for updates!!

cool. call em "bullseyes"

sorry to hear about the anthias, those are cool ones too

the skimmer is a cpr back pack fyi. they can be run with a maxi jet very easily. good skimmer, great price they are pretty solid.

bumppp

share the love

tap plastics... i think

where did you buy this? i hope it was tank raised

go to upscales, saw the screans there today

i will take the light pm sent

get the bulkhead from brs, they are dirt cheap there

hahaha, i think that the give away is that dave was "secretive" to matt, i think we all know dave is too nice for that

oh geez, i send a pm... oops

one supplement i really like is "stability" by seachem. it works very well when you are moving tanks. don't be afraid to try and cure the new sand in a bucket with a heater before hand as well

so, in terms of fish, what was on his beginner list?

there was the bengai, the bristle tailed file fish, and what else?

hahah, go 240, that will hold you off for another year...

welcome

i think people are being a little too dramatic about the skimmer. skimming is shown to decrease nitrates, yes very true. at the same time, i have talked to people (and wasn't there also a post a few weeks ago?), who dont use a skimmer and do monthly water changes with great success. so dont think you are going to kill every thing as soon as it is offline, it isnt the end of the world. do some water tests, if you constantly see nitrates being an issue and going off the charts, then maybe you should put it back in... and as far as weening it off the system, i dont think it would need to be weened...

okay, so never posted any pics, that is because there was nothing to take a pic of (bare ten gallon tank, nothing other than two fish)! the fish were up to par after about three days of treatment, and i would say that this was a success.

i certainly would suggest this treatment to other people!

and mick-

i agree with the hypo salinity, however it does stress the fish, and that didn't seem to be a good option for this circumstance.

i think that i am going to donate this fish to someone with a fowler, i really dont think i have been caring for it properly by keeping it in my qt system, it deserves a better set up. i think i will just hand it off to jeff, owner of the aquarium in oc.