Parker's 265 Build - Thread Retired

[Parker]

I'm a big fan of the pillar on the left side, and your impulse buys! I love how this is coming together so nicely.

Thanks Catherine

Sometimes it's the impulse buys that bite you though! :lol:

[Parker]

I thought I would give an update on the tank although there isn't much to report.

I've done a pretty good job of leaving the tank alone and letting it do it's thing. The tank seems to be going through the same odd cycle over and over again. I get diatoms they fade, I get them again, they fade ect. I'm starting to battle a bit of H/A but so far it's managable. I haven't see much in the way of coraline growth yet. But then again I haven't been too concerned with the Calc and Alk levels so far as I don't have much in the way of coral. I did throw in a few pounds of live rock to seed all the dead rock back when I started up the tank but I'm thinking the rock I bought may have been pretty void of life, I haven't seen one pod in the tank so I might have to find another nice peice to throw in there.

I still only have the four impulse buy corals. Two are doing great the other two are brown.. lol the only fish I have in the tank are the chromis I started with.

[JDigital]

Any update on that Apex Controller? :wink:

[Parker]

Any update on that Apex Controller? :wink:


It's funny you should ask that, I have to send the head unit in to be looked at. It went from nice and bright to dim and then to black.

Other then the hiccup with the display I have to say I've been very happy. It does exactly what it's supposed to do without fail, I haven't had one instance where things didn't happen as expected. I haven't had to touch it in a few months.

However there are some things I would change about it if I could. I would match the web interface to the head unit, they differ in how they look and function. For instance, as mentiond I'm having trouble with my display and had to try and adjust the brightness settings via the dispaly, you can't access these menus's from the web interface. I would like to reset the unit back to factory setting to see if that had an affect on display, I can't do that via the web interface, It has to be done on the display unit ( as far as I'm aware )

[PACMAN416]

Sexy Tank!:eyebrows: Sexy Build!:eyebrows:



:first::first::first:

[JDigital]

It's funny you should ask that, I have to send the head unit in to be looked at. It went from nice and bright to dim and then to black.

Other then the hiccup with the display I have to say I've been very happy. It does exactly what it's supposed to do without fail, I haven't had one instance where things didn't happen as expected. I haven't had to touch it in a few months.

However there are some things I would change about it if I could. I would match the web interface to the head unit, they differ in how they look and function. For instance, as mentiond I'm having trouble with my display and had to try and adjust the brightness settings via the dispaly, you can't access these menus's from the web interface. I would like to reset the unit back to factory setting to see if that had an affect on display, I can't do that via the web interface, It has to be done on the display unit ( as far as I'm aware )


I wonder if this is an isolated incident or if other users are experiencing this as well.

[Parker]

I wonder if this is an isolated incident or if other users are experiencing this as well.

As far as I can tell it's an isolated incident, I searched for others with the same problem. I wasn't able to find any.

[Parker]

Never go fish shopping with an 8 year old,

Yesterday I came home with:
1 Royal Gramma
1 Flame Angel
2 Bangaii Cardinals

More fish then I wanted to get at one time but they are all pretty small so I don't foresee any problems.

[lastlight]

Someone's been too quiet. Just because you won the old race doesn't mean you can rest on your laurels. Any visual updates?

[Parker]

Here you go!

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/Tank.jpg

I have been resting on my laurels, I have so many things I need to take care of on the tank. CA reactor isn't running yet, I bought some of those bio pellets, haven't got those plumbed in yet, carbon reactor isn't plumbed in yet. My Apex is half programmed, my auto top-off isn't complete yet. T5's aren't in yet. I have to build or have built a canopy. I need new bulbs.
You can't really tell from the picture but there are corals in there, small ones. The turbo snails killed two of my SPS frags by dumping them in the sand the first day I left on a business trip, when I got back they were mostly buried. The softies are growing well but the SPS aren't growing, they have decent color and polyp extension but aren't growing.
Wow, now I'm all down about my tank... Thanks Brett, thanks a lot!

[lastlight]

No need to be down dude I was just curious. My two big astrea have been pretty good to me so far it's the hermits that like to crawl all over the sps! Sounds like things are at least stable as they are and you haven't even finished with your equipment! Looking forward to regular updates now that's you've been dug out of the sand yourself =)

[Parker]

I'm not down about it, I was just being a jerk and messing with you! It's what I do best... :mrgreen:

It's actually very stable, all I'm doing it skimming ( pretty dry too ) and water changes with sub-par salt. I have no hair algae or cyano, I do get this fuzzy type of turf algae if I over feed for a few days in a row. If I cut down my feeding it goes away in a couple of days. Fish are all eating and healthy. So far I'm happy enough with the tank, once I get a few things taken care of I'm sure the SPS growth will come with it.

I never seem to find all these cool fish and corals that everyone else is posting pics of when I'm out shopping though!

[lastlight]

Hey I'm always 95% sure you're kidding but on the 5% chance you're a whining pansy I gotta cover my bases :mrgreen:

You live in the same city as Dez. No excuses go liberate the man of his frags!

[Parker]

Since Brett made me feel so bad about the state of my tank I thought I should get in gear and get a few things crossed off the list.

First on the list was to get a manifold built to take care of the reactors. I set it up so I can isolate any of the reactors for maintenance or in case it's no longer needed.
Bio-Pellets
Carbon
Calc - Run off the long run to the right. My Calc Reactor is located in the first cupboard to the right of the tank. It reduces from 1/2" PVC to 1/4" tubing for the final tie into the reactor.
Spare


Sorry for the low quality pictures, I used my phone.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/Manifold2.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/Manifold.jpg

[Parker]

I got the manifold up and running last night but I'm not entirely happy with the way it turned out so I might rebuild it. On of the problems I had was getting the hose barbs on the PM reactors to seal up properly, they are very short so there isn't a lot of barb for the hose to connect too, they still seep ever so slightly making me pretty nervous so I shut them down for now. I may have to convert them to run in-sump, we'll see. The sump is plenty big enough so it might be the best option. I got the Calc Reactor up and running for awhile, until I broke off the nipple on the bubble counter where the Co2 connects. I hope I don't have tooooo much trouble trying to source another one.

So all in all a very unproductive weekend working on the tank!
:lol:

[Parker]

Decided to take a few pictures of the tank, not too many of them turned out. None of the SPS pics turned out.

A rock with a couple different zoas on it. It used to look much better but I did a three day lights out a few weeks ago and they haven't quite recovered yet.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/IMG_2887.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/IMG_2888.jpg

The ONLY thing that grows in my tank! The trouble with have a deep tank is it's a huge pain in the rear to get to these guys to kill em. I need to put my face inthe water to get this guy. I've been lazy and I will pay for it!
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/IMG_2883.jpg

[Greenmaster]

Overall a nice build... I love the cabinet and nice and clean setup... about the fish... most fish stores will bring in a fish if they know they have a buyer. Go online and find the fish you want then put in a request :D
Once you get the apex thing sorted out let me know how the whole warranty thing went, that tends to say a lot about a company.
And how about a FTS the last one was over 2 months ago... a good build like yours should have a FTS once a month.

[Parker]

Overall a nice build... I love the cabinet and nice and clean setup... about the fish... most fish stores will bring in a fish if they know they have a buyer. Go online and find the fish you want then put in a request :D
Once you get the apex thing sorted out let me know how the whole warranty thing went, that tends to say a lot about a company.
And how about a FTS the last one was over 2 months ago... a good build like yours should have a FTS once a month.


Thanks.

The Apex problem is already sorted out. I e-mailed Curt and I had an RMA to send it back within the hour. Everything went really smooth. The nice thing about the Apex is I didn't have to take it off line to get the head unit looked at. The system continued to run as it should.

[Greenmaster]

Thanks.

The Apex problem is already sorted out. I e-mailed Curt and I had an RMA to send it back within the hour. Everything went really smooth. The nice thing about the Apex is I didn't have to take it off line to get the head unit looked at. The system continued to run as it should.

That settles it... Apex it is... when I have the money... Thanks man.

[Parker]

That settles it... Apex it is... when I have the money... Thanks man.


I love the APEX. I have EVERYTHING plugged into it. It can do some pretty cool things and I haven't even scratched the surface of what it can do.

You'll be very happy I'm sure.

[abcha0s]

Hi Robb

Great build. Some interesting mishaps with your first tank at the start of your project.

I'm curious what your latest opinion on the BRS Eco Rock is? I am considering this as the primary rock for my build. I know you said that you wish you ordered larger pieces, but are you generally happy with it?

Following along...

[Parker]

Hi Robb

Great build. Some interesting mishaps with your first tank at the start of your project.


Yeah it was a bit of pain at the time but looking back at it things really did work out for the best. Thanks for the compliment.


I'm curious what your latest opinion on the BRS Eco Rock is? I am considering this as the primary rock for my build. I know you said that you wish you ordered larger pieces, but are you generally happy with it?

Following along...

I think the Eco rock is a double edged sword. It's great becase you can avoid introducing pests into the tank. On the flip side you also don't get any of the good stuff. Live rock for then entire amount would have been pretty expensive but would have given instant gratification. With the BRS rock you have to wait for it to seed and color up from a small amount of live rock.

Would I buy the ECO rock again? Absolutly. In a year from now you won't be able to tell what was what and it cost me a fraction of live rock.

[Greenmaster]

Another option is DIY rock... I love how mine turned out... I'll let you know in a year or two if I still think it's good :D

[Parker]

Another option is DIY rock... I love how mine turned out... I'll let you know in a year or two if I still think it's good :D

I've heard lots of people having great success with DIY Rock. I didn't use it because I have no patience or artistic ability.

[Parker]

I decided it was time to due some maintence on my pumps. I have to remind myself to this more often. One of the closed loop pumps had 7 chunks of eggcrate in the impeller!

[Greenmaster]

I decided it was time to due some maintence on my pumps. I have to remind myself to this more often. One of the closed loop pumps had 7 chunks of eggcrate in the impeller!

Wow... was it still working?

[Parker]

Wow... was it still working?


Yep, it was still running. There was no indication that there was anything wrong other then maybe running a little louder then normal. I'll took pictures of the pieces I took out. If I remember I'll post them later.

[michika]

I want to come cook/bake in your kitchen!

That and I'm really really really loving how everything is coming together!

[lastlight]

Ok Robb talk to us man.

[Skimmerking]

ya Rob have some BALLs man , give us the updates

[Parker]

Ok Robb talk to us man.

ya Rob have some BALLs man , give us the updates


Huh, I must have missed these two posts, weird!

HHmmmmm what's best way to describe my tank as of late. I know! It looks like a bag of @#$

I'm really frustrated, I'm not sure what's going on. The tank does well, everything starts to color up and then everything goes for crap. Almost all of my corals are brown a few of them are now starting to STN. I've moved them up, moved them down, high flow low flow, left them in one place for a long time to aclimate. Added more fish, skimmed less, skimmed more, ran bio pellets, shut them down. New carbon, no carbon. Heavy feeding light feeding, long lighting, short lighting. Had my water tested at one of the LFS ( Thanks btw, took awhile to test ) Everything was in-line for the most part, Calc was high. Mg was a tad low, I brought it up slowly, no change.

I have one coral that's actually growing, I have corals in the tank that are close to a year old that have had nothing for growth. Corals that were proven fast growers.

Plus the tank is covered in Apitasia or however you spell it. Spent countless hours with a syringe and wet arm pits going after these guys. I'm thinking of trying a CBB next, they seem to be pretty good at clearing it out.

My next step is to change salt, I did notice that the tank takes a downward turn about 4 days after water changes. I usually change about 70 gallons every month.

The tank has no algae at all with the exception of some film algae on the glass. No hair algae to speak of, nothing.

As for updates on the tank itself, my wife gave me the go ahead to get the canopy made so I hope to get that built when I get back from holidays in a couple of weeks.

[Parker]

I decided to go ahead and change salt last night. I picked up a box of Reefer's Best and changed 1/3 of the water in the tank, about 100 gallons. I'll probably do another water change in a few days.

I also did a major clean, the tank, sump, skimmer and all the various other things that get dirty.

[lastlight]

Robb sorry to read of your issues I'm hoping a salt change turns things around. I'm having good luck with Reef Crystals. It's cheap too.

I say luck because I think half of the hobby may just be that it's weird.

[Parker]

Robb sorry to read of your issues I'm hoping a salt change turns things around. I'm having good luck with Reef Crystals. It's cheap too.

I say luck because I think half of the hobby may just be that it's weird.

Thanks dude, we'll see what happens but I fear I'm going to lose most of my SPS before things start to turn around. I built a frag rack last night and moved everything I have left onto it so I can keep a closer eye on them.

[Myka]

Hey Robb, sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven't read this build thread until just now. Imo, most of your troubles are because of the dry rock. It takes a long time for dry rock to populate like live rock, and the less live rock (more dead rock) the longer it takes. If you go 50/50 live and dead it will take about a year for the rock to really be considered live imo. I think you're looking at quite a long time. No algae is a bad sign. If you can't grow coralline, you probably can't grow corals.

If I were you I wouldn't waste any more money on water changes. If there is no significant uptake of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and no nitrate build up I would cut back water changes to no more than 10% per 2 weeks. There is no point in doing them. I would take the money you save doing that, and go buy 100 lbs of good quality live rock off the classifieds on here for $4/lb. Just make sure there are no aiptasia or bubble algae, or other nasty stuff. Stuff that all in the tank for at least 6 months, and then after that you can start removing some pieces to go back to the look you're going for.

JMHO. Hope it helps. :)

[Parker]

Hey Robb, sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven't read this build thread until just now. Imo, most of your troubles are because of the dry rock. It takes a long time for dry rock to populate like live rock, and the less live rock (more dead rock) the longer it takes. If you go 50/50 live and dead it will take about a year for the rock to really be considered live imo. I think you're looking at quite a long time. No algae is a bad sign. If you can't grow coralline, you probably can't grow corals.

If I were you I wouldn't waste any more money on water changes. If there is no significant uptake of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium, and no nitrate build up I would cut back water changes to no more than 10% per 2 weeks. There is no point in doing them. I would take the money you save doing that, and go buy 100 lbs of good quality live rock off the classifieds on here for $4/lb. Stuff that all in the tank for at least 6 months, and then after that you can start removing some pieces to go back to the look you're going for.

JMHO. Hope it helps. :)

Hey Myka,

Thanks for your thoughts,

I should clarify when I say there is no algae, there is no pest algae in the tank. Hair, cyano, dino's, etc. I do have coraline algae in the tank, albeit very slow growing. The white of my plumbing hasen't even been covered yet. By not having pest algea is the tank is at least a good sign that I don't have a major nutrient problem, no? The tank will have been officially up and running a year next week.

I did seed the tank with live rock, about 40lbs went into my sump and few nice pieces went into the display tank. The nicer pieces that went into the display were coraline covered and still are, I've managed to keep that alive. I'm not a big fan of using live rock used from other peoples tanks, I've tried that with past tanks and it ended up being more trouble then it was worth. Inheriting someone else's problems in most cases.

I was up until last night using Seachem salt. It wasn't my choice to buy Seachem it was part of settlement for a store purchase that went bad. As I understand it the older Seachem salt wasn't the best product on the market to start with and I've had it for a couple of years myself.

[Myka]

Hey Myka,

Thanks for your thoughts,

I should clarify when I say there is no algae, there is no pest algae in the tank. Hair, cyano, dino's, etc. I do have coraline algae in the tank, albeit very slow growing. The white of my plumbing hasen't even been covered yet. By not having pest algea is the tank is at least a good sign that I don't have a major nutrient problem, no? The tank will have been officially up and running a year next week.

I did seed the tank with live rock, about 40lbs went into my sump and few nice pieces went into the display tank. The nicer pieces that went into the display were coraline covered and still are, I've managed to keep that alive. I'm not a big fan of using live rock used from other peoples tanks, I've tried that with past tanks and it ended up being more trouble then it was worth. Inheriting someone else's problems in most cases.

I was up until last night using Seachem salt. It wasn't my choice to buy Seachem it was part of settlement for a store purchase that went bad. As I understand it the older Seachem salt wasn't the best product on the market to start with and I've had it for a couple of years myself.

Hey Robb,

I think many (most?) people underestimate the importance of good quality live rock. It is the main filter in our reefs, the backbone of of reef so to say! So I put a lot of effort into choice, preparation, and maintenance. Sounds kind of important, no? So I guess I just don't understand why people can take a bunch of dead rock, put it in a tank, and expect it to perform like live rock that was seeded (maybe?) thousands of years ago?

When a tank is a year old you should be getting significant coralline growth in a healthy tank. Some ULNS like Zeovit will have inhibited coralline growth, but for the most part coralline can be looked at almost as a coral itself. If the coralline isn't growing, neither will your corals ime. You should have to scrape the coralline off the back glass at least monthly. You should be getting at least dime to quarter sized patches in just a month.

You have to be picky about buying "used" rock, but it is my preferred way to buy. I will usually grab 10% fresh rock from a brand spankin new shipment of rock that comes into the LFS. Gotta get it before their rock holding tank gets overrun by ammonia and kills a bunch of life. I try to get that rock right out of the box when it arrives. I also "cook" all live rock regardless whether it is fresh or used. This way you remove the nutrients without dealing with algae, and with preservation of fauna. Saves a lot of headache.

I honestly don't think salt choice will make a huge difference. Not the type of difference you sound to be looking for anyway. I have used pretty much every salt on the market, and have yet to notice any difference. I'm currently giving D-D H2Ocean a go right now. I started using it about 5 months ago, and haven't seen a difference. It is a natural salt versus synthetic, so I figured if there was a difference to be had that might be it! So far, no change. :lol:

[Parker]

*Place Holder for Pictures for Brett*

[Skimmerking]

Oh no pictures again hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm its a trend here
sorry about your bad luck dude what made you change Salt?

[lastlight]

:pop2:

[Parker]

Oh no pictures again hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm its a trend here
sorry about your bad luck dude what made you change Salt?


I was using Seachem and every time I did a water change the tank would take a major step backwards. Coral dying, coralline bleaching etc. I switched over to Reefers Best and now I'm onto another salt, it's in a Grey pail, I don't remember the name of it off the top of my head.

Things have stabilized for the most part other than the lost corals from the Seachem water changes. The 2 SPS that survived are actually growing, color is improving. I haven't bought any coral quite in a while until I was sure I was able to keep these two alive long term, so far so good.

Lost a couple of tangs a week or so ago. Nothing too crazy, they kicked the hell out of each other for some reason ( after being in the tank for more than a year together) Came home and both of them were sliced up really bad and succumbed to their injuries a short time later.


I lost a MH Ballast awhile back as well, I just got around to ordering up a new one today, I've been running on two MH's for a... I guess a couple of months now. My Apex Screen died a LONG time ago, I did get it RMA'd but never got around to sending that back either, so I ordered a new one of those this morning as well.

Huh, that's sounds like quite the sob story after I re-read it..lol

[lastlight]

I haven't been reefing long but already I know how you can sorta fall out of routine and put things off. I was doing minimal maintenance for a few months when work got nutty. Kien and I had a chat about getting back on the horse and I've been pro-active and all over any issue I can identify. I saw the results in less than a week.

Glad to hear you have some sps still. Water's been tested time to get some frags!

[Parker]

Ignore my aptasia problem, that's next...

Well I guess I have a bit of algae in my tank, but for reference I have never cleaned the back wall :)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank002.jpg

The on coral that's survived it all. The color is starting to come back.. Dez mentioned this one should be whitish with colored tips.. the top of is whit with colored tips even though you can quite tell in the picture..but you can see it has grown..lol

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/IMG_2916.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/FishTank007.jpg

[lastlight]

Some decent growth there and it's down pretty low too. Is that mounted to your closed loop intake? If so you better hope it doesn't encrust too much!

[Parker]

Some decent growth there and it's down pretty low too. Is that mounted to your closed loop intake? If so you better hope it doesn't encrust too much!


It is on my closed loop intake, but is hasn't encrusted to it yet.. almost though! I have to figure out where I want to put it but I'm reluctant to move it because it's really starting to do well..

[lastlight]

I'd say move it higher but you have very few options for doing that with the current scape. You have the potential with your scape to have some crazy massive colonies...

Sounds like you bought some of those to save time lol. PICS!

[Parker]

PICS!

Here's couple I snapped this morning prior to heading in to work. They look much better in person. My camera skills leave much to be desired.


http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/DSC_0117Large.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/DSC_0135Large.jpg

I gotta say, I'm a weeeee bit nervous now having these in my tank!

[lastlight]

And just like that you've got more coral by weight than I do. Well done!

[Parker]

My new ballast should be here today as well, so as of this evening I should be back up to three lights instead of two..which will be nice as some of the stuff oun the outside edges is a bit under lit.

[Dez]

The edges are a bit underlit. It took me a while to find that mondo stag on the left. Your tank is huge! Even with that bucket sized colony it looks lost in there. It seems that you're getting really good polyp extension already. That's awesome. If you need anything else, just let me know.

[Parker]

Some pics from today,

All three lights running again..
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank002-1.jpg

Peaches & Cream
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank008.jpg

I need to find a better place for this one
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank009.jpg

Bucket sized, doesn't really look like it in the tank though.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank014.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank020.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank021.jpg

Left side
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank022.jpg

Right side
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/FishTank023.jpg

[Dez]

Looks good. Go easy on the lighting period because remember, many of those corals you got from me were shaded so you gotta ease them into full lighting. Your lights are 400 watts as well, so you don't wanna shock em. :)

[Parker]

Looks good. Go easy on the lighting period because remember, many of those corals you got from me were shaded so you gotta ease them into full lighting. Your lights are 400 watts as well, so you don't wanna shock em. :)


Thanks for confriming my thoughts... when I put everything I backed my lighting down to 5 hours per day for the next little while. I haven't noticed any bleaching yet, I've been keeping a good eye out for it.

[chris88]

what Kelvin is your lighting?

[Parker]

what Kelvin is your lighting?


Hey Chris,

The two outside bulbs are IceCap 10k and the middle one is Icecap 14k

[lastlight]

400w 10k? Wow be careful lol.

How are you mounting those colonies? None came with rock still attached I'm assuming. It's going to be pretty tricky but it looks like you've managed to attach some already... wedged the rest?

[Parker]

400w 10k? Wow be careful lol.


Only running 5 hours a day right now. I was actually laying in bed last night trying to come up with a nice way to hang the pendants, make them look decent and have the height adjustable so I could raise them up in these situations.


How are you mounting those colonies? None came with rock still attached I'm assuming. It's going to be pretty tricky but it looks like you've managed to attach some already... wedged the rest?

A couple came with rocks/plugs attached. The rest are wedged into the rockwork for now untl I'm satisfied with where they are.



Not maintaining this thread any longer.

[Parker]

I told myself I wasn't going to update this thread any longer because I was getting tired of typing out all of my frustrations, most of which I still have.

Now it's time to go to extremes, the tank comes down this week. Not to sell off or get out of the hobby but to figure out a different way of doing things.

On the list of things do:
A) Rebuild Sump - it's been off-line for a year.
B) Re-plumb the tank, quite a few leaks have developed for some reason.
C) Take full advantage of my Apex
D) Figure out a better way to run reactors
E) Figure out my lighting situation - fix what's causing the issues with my ballasts or switch to a different form of lighting.
F) Aptasia - I had two file fish that took months to start eating them and once the tank was looking great they up and died, the aptasia is back with vengeance. If I don't get this problem sorted the next step is to just burn my house down, that’ll kill it!
G) RO/DI still doesn’t work correctly along with the auto top off – the solenoid valve no longer holds back water, the secondary float valves works fine but I like having the redundancy of two valves.
H) Aquascaping – I hate what I have.
I) Canopy, time to make this thing look good.

Damn, that’s quite the list – now I’m really depressed.
J) Consume vodka meant for tank…..

[lastlight]

sorry to hear man. smart move not to take it down tho. much easier to sort these out with a dry tank. and you can cook the rock in the dark for a few months while you do it. maybe that would kill the pests?

[Parker]

sorry to hear man. smart move not to take it down tho. much easier to sort these out with a dry tank. and you can cook the rock in the dark for a few months while you do it. maybe that would kill the pests?

From what I hear / read, aptasia can't be killed by light deprivation. It needs to be controlled by a predator, killed manually or I'll need to nuke my rock and start over with dead rock and re-seed with new clean live rock.

I'm not a big fan of the predator route, they comes back once the predator has been removed, the tank to too big to remove manually. ( at least at this point in my busy life ) so I may chuck the rock in the snow for a month.. lol

[lastlight]

i believe that. i bet stagnant water wouldn't even kill them.

i'd dry the rock out and then cook it while you remodel. good luck man.

tony's tank will be the sole survivor of the classic slowBuild contest.

[Delphinus]

What a shame, I'm so disappointed for you.

I hear you on several of the items. I went with almost all dried rock to begin with, with the sole intent being to avoid any of the usual pest hitch-hikers like aiptasia .. and in the end all I did was give myself an extra long tank cycling period, and lingering phosphate issues. (I had no idea how bad the PO4 would leach from this rock, 2 years in, and I'm still afraid to not have GFO on the tank.) And .. I have aiptasia anyhow. Came in on something, frags or the little bit of wet rock that I let go in. Oh and vermetid snails. God I hate those, maybe even worse than aiptasia. You can zap or inject aiptasias or introduce predators but freaking nothing works against the vermetids.

And I'm not overly fond of my aquascaping either. :lol: Funny how this is a universal theme.

Sometimes a tank reset is needed though .. good luck with the rebuild.

[Dez]

Good idea not to give up. Take your time while you rebuild for a product that you'll be happy with I'm the end.

[Parker]

Good idea not to give up. Take your time while you rebuild for a product that you'll be happy with I'm the end.

I debated stealing pictures of your tank and claiming it as mine.... :mrgreen:

[mark]

Good to hear you're just stepping back and rethinking rather than selling it off.

As for burning down the house, you might get lucky with the aptasia, sort of have my doubts though.

[Lance]

Glad to hear you're hanging in there. It can be real frustrating sometimes. As for burning down the house I bet the insurance people haven't heard that one before: "No, seriously, I was eradicating a pest from my aquarium. What do you mean I'm not covered for that?"

[Pan]

What a shame, I'm so disappointed for you.

I hear you on several of the items. I went with almost all dried rock to begin with, with the sole intent being to avoid any of the usual pest hitch-hikers like aiptasia .. and in the end all I did was give myself an extra long tank cycling period, and lingering phosphate issues. (I had no idea how bad the PO4 would leach from this rock, 2 years in, and I'm still afraid to not have GFO on the tank.) And .. I have aiptasia anyhow. Came in on something, frags or the little bit of wet rock that I let go in. Oh and vermetid snails. God I hate those, maybe even worse than aiptasia. You can zap or inject aiptasias or introduce predators but freaking nothing works against the vermetids.

And I'm not overly fond of my aquascaping either. :lol: Funny how this is a universal theme.

Sometimes a tank reset is needed though .. good luck with the rebuild.
use a laser to kill the aptasia! :) it works

[Parker]

use a laser to kill the aptasia! :) it works

Too late... Tanks half empty already..lol

[Parker]

Btw, I'm assuming you're all coming over to help me take this thing off the stand?

[Parker]

I see, it all goes quiet as soon as some heavy lifting is mentioned! Don't worry, I got it up there myself I can get it down..lol

[lockrookie]

If I was closer dude I'd be there... I hope someone jumps I. To help these things are heavy

[Skimmerking]

I see, it all goes quiet as soon as some heavy lifting is mentioned! Don't worry, I got it up there myself I can get it down..lol
Parker whAt r u talking about what tank? I see nothing in this post must be all imaginary Lol

[lastlight]

I got it up there myself I can get it down

*crickets*

[Parker]

If I was closer dude I'd be there... I hope someone jumps I. To help these things are heavy

No worries, I got it covered. I was just giving hese guys a hard time.

[lockrookie]

That's good cause I almost killed my 70 year old father lifting mine up on the stand. Let alone in the house

[Parker]

*crickets*

Must............... not....................comment

[lastlight]

Must............... not....................comment

I've never seen a retired thread get so much play.

[Parker]

That's good cause I almost killed my 70 year old father lifting mine up on the stand. Let alone in the house

Yeah, it's sometimes hard to remember as your dad gets older he's not the superhero he once was.

[Parker]

I've never seen a retired thread get so much play.

All the good ones come out of retirement..lol

How many times have you come out of retirement now?

[Parker]

I'll snap some pictures tonight of the nano that's going to house my clowns and a couple other smaller fish during the rebuild.

I have two yellow tangs that will probably live in my mixing tub or be given away.

[Parker]

I'll offer this to my friends first, if no takers ill throw up a post in the buy sell section.

I've got two yellow tangs to give away. Maybe we could work a deal for a bit of coral when the tank is ready.

They are in good health but thin and a tad stressed from me taking their home apart.

PM for address, available for pick up tonight after 7:30.

[Parker]

Boooooooooooooo

I hate the smell of shutting a tank down..

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/image_zpsa879a6bf.jpg

[lockrookie]

No doubt I had to get mine out of the house ASAP after I shut down the 90 it was nasty.

[Parker]

I'm starting to miss it:

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/th_MVI_2917.jpg (http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/RParker_07/Tank%20Build/MVI_2917.mp4)

[michika]

Enough for a resurrection?

[Parker]

Enough for a resurrection?

I looked at it yesterday, so that's probably a good first step.

[michika]

I looked at it yesterday, so that's probably a good first step.


:D

[Parker]

The tank needs to come off the stand so I can get the sump out. That's the biggest thing holding me back at the moment. It's heavy and I'm lazy.

[michika]

It's heavy and I'm lazy.


Survey says both are acceptable reasons.