KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build

[JDigital]

Bulbs got swapped awhile ago. I find to the eye its good, but to the camera its way too blue.

Can always correct the white balance after if you can't setup the camera to capture it correctly.

[michika]

I wish, I apparently am too retarded...I've tried according to the Nikon handbook that came with my camera. I think I need in person help. Nothing I do seems to improve it, it only gets worse.

Pointers?

[michika]

Greyhound claim is FINALLY resolved! What a pain that was.

[Skimmerking]

well was it worth it im hoping to get out today to get them piece mailed out ok. i have been laid up to a accident with my hand rip my finger down to the bone. a few needles and thread holes.

[JDigital]

I wish, I apparently am too retarded...I've tried according to the Nikon handbook that came with my camera. I think I need in person help. Nothing I do seems to improve it, it only gets worse.

Pointers?

PM'd

[michika]

I made a bunch of frags a couple of weeks ago, and most of them are thriving. My Red-Orange digi isn't a fan of being fragged, both pieces STNed a few days after the initial fragging.

We also have some progress on our other build!

A couple weekends ago my parents were cleaning out their garage. They found a whole bunch of duplicate power tools, and they cleaned out a pile of boxes that used to belong to my father's mother.

We came home with a bunch of sweet new (to us) power tools, which we now no longer have to purchase. I also got this awesomely eclectic tea set that used to belong to my grandmother. I think its amazingly tacky, but very endearing in an heirloom-y sort of way.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0344.jpg

[fishytime]

Hey!, I saw one just like that on the Antiques Roadshow once....was worth like $4000:razz:

[Marlin65]

Sell buy more clams :lol:

[michika]

Some 180g shots from this morning.

T5s only
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0501.jpg

T5s and MH
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0539-1.jpg

We did some re-aquascaping as the brown/green cap was encroaching on one of my clams and starting to cause problems. I pulled some of the rock I was cooking in the sump out and put it into the display to make more space for frags, and growing colonies.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0532-2.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0511-1.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0525.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0527.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0528.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0537.jpg

I have all these intentions to get rid of all the majano anemones, but I start, and then my efforts drop off after awhile. Plus my efforts seem to make no impact. I'm kind of at the end of my list of ideas for addressing it long term. Ideas?
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0546-1.jpg

[Delphinus]

My pair of C. ulietensis ("double saddle-back" or "false falcula") butterflies DESTROYED the majano problem in my 110.

Problem is they like anything with long little tentacles. So zoanthids for example seem untouched. But palys on the other hand, are in a contant state of "trimmed" (the polyp itself is fine, but no tentacles coming off them.)

And LPS is a problem because of the feeder tentacles. So since LPS tend to feed at night and butterflies tend to, you know, sleep, at night .. it's a very slow rate of decay with them, but now that I've had the butterflies 2 months I've had to relocate all my LPS into my smaller tank.

I don't see any LPS in your tank though so you might be OK. Just that one patch of palys there to the left? .. Mine have shown no interest in the clams so you should be OK there.

...

Something interesting I learned though. The whole legend about Chaetodon ulietensis for majano control was begat out of an article written by Terry Siegel in Advanced Aquarist a number of years ago. Going back and re-reading that article and looking at his tank pictures, he has mis-ID'd his fish, what he in fact has is Chaetodon falcula.

From a few conversations I'd have with folks on RC, C. falcula is slightly more reef safe than C. ulietensis. Also in the last year of looking for ulietensis, I passed on falcula a number of times because I was holding out for ulientensis, because the article was adamant that it was ulietensis. (It was only after I had the fish already that the mis-ID was shown to me..) So falcula may be better in a reef, and may be easier to obtain (could just be luck of the draw though). Both are spectacularly beautiful butterflies (very subtle differences in markings, in the falculas the black are smaller defined triangles, where in ulietensis it's more gradual).

[michika]

I really am leaning towards butteryflies to address the issue now. I tried shrimp, they didn't last. The problem is clearly out of control, and its only gotten worse in the past couple months as things have gotten so busy around here.

[christyf5]

I bought a raccoon to get rid of my majanos and aiptasia. After about 5 weeks or so he had finished them all off. Unfortunately now he has become quite the generalized grazer, ricordea, blastos, acans, I've even seen him nail a few sps polyps. He also cleaned one rock of its fugly browny yellow zoos (not sad to see those gone). However when I move everything to the new tank he will be going back to the LFS. I want clams more than a raccoon butterfly and I'm pretty sure they'd just be snackycakes to him.

Go for a falcula if you're looking at keeping them more long term. I love having a butterfly in the tank but I don't love the damage he does.

[michika]

I would love the anemones to be gone, but I love my clams. If worse comes to worse I could always rehome a butterfly if need be. I just looked at the falcula in pictures, and its pretty.

Tony is this what you have?
http://www.themarinecenter.com/media/photos/425F24C20D5A48AB842F3547D40F2BC6T.jpg

Additional power bars arrived today. If Kevin hadn't been shoveling we'd probably not have found them. UPS left them squished between our garage and truck. I would have never even thought to look for them hiding in the back yard!

They're here though, and now this means we can update how the lighting on the 180g is controlled. Plus you can now update your Reef Keeper Elite, or Light, using Vista. Still no Mac love, which makes me sad. I'll just be happy to check in on the controller via my iPhone using iReef.

[Skimmerking]

Catherine my threadfin worked great too and didnt touch anything i was amazed and then he died :cry: what a great fish too
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Bep_chaetodon_auriga_sharm.jpg/180px-Bep_chaetodon_auriga_sharm.jpg (http://www.canreef.com/wiki/File:Bep_chaetodon_auriga_sharm.jpg)

[Delphinus]

Threadfins have a pretty medium reef-safe rating as well and ironically I had heard they were hardy. The problem is all butterflies are pretty delicate compared to other fish though, they seem to be among the first to kick off at the first sign of trouble. :( Sorry about your loss there Mike. :(

FWIW, I had a raccoon butterfly over the summer months until that weird clam spawn incident (?? I'll never really know for sure) in September in which I lost him, my flame hawk, my rabbitfish and my sixline in the space of a few hours. Anyhow, he never once bothered the clams. Having said that though, he did do a fair bit of damage to the LPS corals and didn't judiciously eradicate the majano anemomes to the same extent that the ulietensis have. He must have been picking at them though as their numbers quickly jumped after he died.

But comparatively, the pair of ulietensis I have now pretty much removed several dozen stands of majano within a little more than a week. Within a couple days, I was sure there were fewer, and within a few days more I actually saw them picking at them .. and within a month they were ALL gone, even the ones that were hard to get at because they were in crevasses or under clams.

What you have pictured there is the falcula - notice the tightly defined triangles for the black spots. Whereas ulietensis the black is more gradual and more like stripes. This is ulientensis:
http://www.marinecenter.com/media/photos/F45ECE6E59FA4BBBB9968D0264069E78A.jpg

Here are mine:
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/delphinus_photos/P1010008-1.jpg

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/delphinus_photos/P1010016.jpg

I am going to have to take them out at some point, it breaks my heart to do it because I love them to pieces, but they are picking at my gorgonians. Gorgonians are about my last stand with corals these days and to start losing them now I might as well switch to FOWLR and save on electricity bills for the lighting.

Ultimately I might setup a FOWLR just for butterflies though. After seeing some incredible semilarvatus recently I'd love to have a FOWLR with some butterflies. Then I could just plop some aiptasia or majano rock in there for a cleaning and poof done problem solved..

[fishytime]

Hava you tried the Tailored Aquatics aptaisia destroyer???works great on aptaisia....and mushrooms:lol:

[Delphinus]

I tried all manner of chemical treatments for majano but the problem is they are far too small and fit into far smaller holes than aiptasia. If you have a handful it's probably still manageable by those means at that point, but once you have them .. I would say > 30-40 range you're pretty much hooped unless you remove all the rock from the tank and do it rock by rock.

Being anemones they do come off the rock if you can disturb them (ie. poke) them but this wasn't an option for me as the tank itself is 30", the stand is 36", and the tallest stepladder I have is .. well I'm not sure but definitely < 36", and I'm 5'9-5'10ish. :lol: So I didn't even bother trying that method but taller guys could probably give it a go.

[michika]

I started with a much stronger treatment that actually does seem to be working, but I'm so paranoid that its going to take forever. I am tracking it with photos though. Someone else recommended to me injecting straight white vinegar into them.

So every three to four days I've been injecting patches with maximum 2x0.5ml needles of white vinegar. It has actually been working so far and I've been tracking the progress with photos. I'm going to beat the majanos! I'm hoping to get the numbers down considerably this way. I find it to be about 10x as effective as lemon juice, kalk water, or any other product on the market designed for majanos. Plus its cheap!

Those butterflies look stunning though Tony. The photos are great!

Photos from Operation 'Die you something somethings DIE!'
December 20, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0546-1.jpg

December 26, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0580-1.jpg

December 27, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0583.jpg

By the Clam
December 26, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0581.jpg

December 27, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0585.jpg

The urchin has really been attracted to my green digi lately and has made multiple frags that I need to re-home asap.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0575.jpg

Yesterday we set the tank's lighting up on my two new PC4s (Powerbars for the Reef Keeper Elite). Its worked out well so far. I've also started to cut back the MHs run time from 9.5 hours a day to 7.5. I'd eventually like it to be 7 or 6.5 but the tank will tell me if its too little or not.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0572-1.jpg

I tried once again to set up the email notifications on the RKE-NET module, and I still get errors. I emailed Digital Aquatics once again for help. Given its a holiday week for many people I don't really expect a response or resolution to this before the new year.

Other then the majano campaign the tank is just on autopilot. We did some regular maintenance yesterday; cleaning out strainers, traps, and the sump. The reflectors also got a much needed wipe down. I have fresh saltwater mixing and heating right now for a water change tonight.

With these new powerbars we now have the option of completely changing around our control center, which Kevin has plans to work on this week. All these timers are going to go up for sale, hopefully to be re-homed to someone else who can get some good use out of them.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0574.jpg

[Skimmerking]

catherine its looking good , u have any picture's of the skimmer

[michika]

Thanks!

Nope nothing great to show anyone. Kevin has his basement workshop set up, and is working on repairing the skimmer box this week, assuming there are no other emergencies here at home or at work.

[fishytime]

I agree the progress looks good....didnt you go through an "operation xenia removal" a while back???? maybe you should try the vinegar on that little patch that has cropped up:razz:

[michika]

It comes back every four or so months, and I usually inject it with something to kill it off. Its the only remaining patch, and for the longest time it looked like there was nothing there until about a week ago.

[michika]

Bleh, Digital Aquatics tells me that the RKE NET module doesn't work with any email that requires SSL. So no gmail, no ISP provided email, no university email, nothing. I guess I won't be using the notification feature on the NET module until I can find an email provider that doesn't require SSL.

[michika]

Updated iReef shots from this afternoon. One of my jobs this week is to re-calibrate all the probes associated with the RKE.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/c7120eb5.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/bfcb5b82.jpg

[Skimmerking]

Catherine, that looks cool is that from ytour I-phone or I touch

[michika]

Its from my iPhone. I love being able to check up on the tank throughout my workday. It just gives you that extra peace of mind. I'm hoping in the new year to install a tank-cam.

[michika]

Mounted another cap on the glass. I'm hoping it will thrive here and free up some much needed space on the rockwork.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/48a67adf.jpg

[michika]

We ordered an ozonizer for Tibet, our big tank, it arrived yesterday and we immediately put it into use on the 180g.

Our skimmer pumps on our Octopus have both crapped out. One is done for good and the other is limping along. The loss of the one pump is significant and has slowed skimmate production.

We are going to run our new skimmer for the big tank on the 180g until we move everything to Tibet. While I can semi-justify the purchase of replacement pumps, I just don't see the need when we have a perfectly good backup skimmer sitting around.

A few corals still aren't recovering well from the bad carbon incident. I still have a few that have bleached or have burnt type tips. I'm hoping with some extra vigilance things will be back to normal soon.

I'm still battling majanos daily and am somewhat at the point where I'm thinking I'll just remove the display rock and cook it. This is a battle that I'm tired of fighting. At least none of the sump rock has any.

Trials and tribulations eh?

[The Grizz]

All these timers are going to go up for sale, hopefully to be re-homed to someone else who can get some good use out of them.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b286/michika/DSC_0574.jpg

How much and when would they be available?

[michika]

They're available now and I'd say $20 each, or if you take them all I'll cut you a deal.

[The Grizz]

They're available now and I'd say $20 each, or if you take them all I'll cut you a deal.
I will take them all, as I have been looking for some of these and need 5 . So a couple extra won't hurt.

[michika]

Sounds good. Send me a PM with when you're free and which end of the city you're in.

[Skimmerking]

i got a question for ya that i have been meaning to ask your location is YYC what is the heck is that

[michika]

It's the local airport code!

[freezetyle]

i got a question for ya that i have been meaning to ask your location is YYC what is the heck is that

calgary

[michika]

Mmmm goldfish crackers! I want some now!

The 180g is plugging along. We set up the ozonizer for the big tank on it. We're preparing to hook up a new skimmer in a couple of hours, and we have a sweet new addition; a convict tang.

Since setting up the ozonizer Friday evening I can already see a difference in the water clarity. Next step will be to tie it into the RKE and set up an appropriate shelf for all my new toys.

[michika]

Ian at Oceanic just made my day! Yay ORP calibration fluid!