My Very First Journal - Gina's 150 gallon upgrade

[Reef-Geek]

Hi, How's the coral box cloud 9 doing? I am setting up a new tank and thinking about it, definitely a bang for the buck but I'd like to know the performance and reliability. thanks

[michika]

Nice tank! I like your magenta step ladder.


Sent from space while riding a T-Rex.

[maron6977]

Originally Posted by Coasting

There aren't enough females in this hobby. I have to try and girl stuff up wherever possible
Especially when I was selling corals or supplies, some people would come to the door and the first thing they would say to me would be "Is your dad home?"

Lol !

[AquaAddict]

This might be hard for you to appreciate now but when you get a little older you will remember with fondness how young you looked.

AquaAddict
(an older woman and reef addict)

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by AquaAddict

This might be hard for you to appreciate now but when you get a little older you will remember with fondness how young you looked.

AquaAddict
(an older woman and reef addict)

We just need more females in general in this hobby, regardless of age

[Coasting]

Well I have been neglecting this journal because I have been neglecting the tank.
I guess I have been having a bit of a phosphate issue from 1 thing or another, oddly not the water source!
Its a bit of a domino effect it seems.
GHA has taken over and I cant seem to keep lps or sps alive despite keeping alk and other levels stable and in range. Except my bubble coral which continues to get massive and thrive and 2 small acan frags I have had forever that keep being stung by other corals or getting kicked around by the fish. Otherwise It's just sofies left. Other remaining lsp are being babysat in someone elses tank.
Problem is the wrasses continue to rip up the gha in search of food which just helps spread it. Urgh. Bloody fish. Lets try this reactor thingy out and see what happens.

Honestly ... oh well! Softies are pretty and the fish have personality.

I had a small loss the end of summer or after my last update. Ick. Learned a good lesson. Do not buy fish from Pet Lovers! Lost my butterfly, male nemo, 2 anthias and damsel. The tangs were untouched by the ick.... strange fish. So since everyone remained fat happy and healthy since then, I went on a bit of a boxing day shopping spree.

Got some new fish. Very happy J&L still had the fish I wanted and had on my list.
Got a lovely Orange Spot Foxface. A big fat Picture Wrasse. And a spunky little dragon wrasse. Oh and a new Damsel. Not on my list but I ended up grabbing a Coral Beauty, dont care anymore about corals getting eaten so it was time for an angel.

Since its been almost a week they are all doing well. A few spats on day 1 but everyone is getting along. The Melanurus occasionally reminds the Picture wrasse that he is in charge. Female nemo has stopped being a total turd.
Everyones fins are healing fast from her attitude problem.
The anthias are weird. They love playing at the water surface. Constantly splashing.
This damsel is much more adventerous. He actually swims around the tank rather then hides in 1 spot.
My Blenny is still going. He will be 5 in the spring. Nobody bothers him. Had to fish him out of the overflow again the other day. Think he was just grazing near the wrong spot and oops! Floody fish takes near an hour to get out.
Love the colours of the foxface .... why didn't I get one sooner!
Red coris is slowly changing. But still an ugly fish right now. Totally different looking with a flashlight.
Fish have all learnt to eat seaweed. Yes all. I have to put extra out because the wrasses eat it all and leave none for the tangs. The melanurus or blackstripe usually rip the whole piece out of the clip and try and swallow it whole while the other fish chase them around.

Anyway. I think i have included a photo of just about everyone minus 1 of each anthias. Probably still forgot someone. Oh well. I think im fish > coral now.

[coralor]

Those are amazing pics of amazing fish!! Curious, do you skip the QT phase and if so how do you acclimate?

[Coasting]

No I dont QT. Dont have room and just dont care. Its gotten me twice. Once a few years back a flame angel from another reefer gave my tank Velvet which killed everyone except my blenny and a lyretail anthias.
Sencond i just mentioned the small ick or something above. I am not 100% sure thats even what killed the fish. Perhaps they were a little off and one of the wrasses nailed the anthias and damsel. Butterfly/nemo caught whatever those new PetLovers fish had, urgh. I swear they sell cyanide caught fish there, will never buy livestock from them again.
Healthy fish can usually recover. So I just make sure everyone looks fat happy and healthy before i add a new addition.

Then getting to see the fish in person before I buy. I knew most of the fish i picked on boxing day had been at the store for over a month (cant verify the damsel) so i knew they were doing well there. Fat happy healthy eating well. Otherwise i annoy the staff by having them feed the fish for me so i can see it eat (dont think that was going to happen on boxing day). I almost got a flame angel the other day but not only were they new, half had a few ick specs or were in a tank attached to the same tank as another that appeared ill. So the coral beauty had been there a bit and was on a totally different wall. He looked fat happy and healthy too (minus trying to commit suicide after being caught in the store).

I do make an effort to feed garlic and VitC soaked food for awhile to new fish. Some people say it helps some say it doesnt. Might as well honestly.

I used to make an effort of drip acclimating fish into a 1gal pail kept at tank temperature for 2 hours. Now i just open the tops of the bags and use a large plastic clothespeg and clip the bag to the tank, add a drop of prime, and use a glass and dump tank water into the bags until im happy and the salinity matches. It usually only takes half an hour because i wander off between cups of water. Depends what salinity the water the fish came from was so that I do check.

Everyone is doing well so far still. No signs of illness. Eating well. Their all coming out of their shell and seem to fit right in. The angel hasnt discovered the seaweed clips yet because the other fish are a bit too crazy over them.

[maron6977]

Nice to hear your turning things around .
Dragon Wrasse - good luck, They like to redecorate your tank
Coral Beauty- had one for 9-10 yrs - good with corals, but not with clams - just my experience
Sorry to hear about your corals , you had quite the collection going .

[DKoKoMan]

Love the tank journal! I appreciate all your honesty and efforts throughout. I would like to add your fish colours are awesome and match the colour pinwheel. I will be setting up my recently acquired 150g DT with a 50g Sump... Nice to see your setup. Keep up with the updates as your tank evolves and the fish grow.