Tank is looking lousey

[Paul B]

Well it's this time of the year again where we are all too busy and there is not enough hours in the day, especially for maintenance.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Sicily for a vacation and I had someone feed the tank frozen food. I cut some pieces off different frozen foods and measured these in a cup, one for each day so the person did not have to measure anything. The contents were put into a funnel mounted on a powerhead so the food would be distributed around the tank. It worked very well but of course I did not want to put too much preasure on this person so I did not have her defrost the food first to drain the juices. All was well and the animals were healthy but the tank just does not look the same yet. The power in my neighborhood also went off for almost a day and I was not here to start the generator.
Anyway I have a new form of stringy algae that is in a few places and goes up to the surface of the water. I have seen this before a few times and like always it will disappear but it is nasty looking stuff. It comes right off with a baster and I am not worried about it. It is just another one of those wierd cycles that happen in an old tank. It's a combination of the frozen food with the juice, the power being off and a moorish Idol that is much too large for my tank. It just amazes me that so many different things can happen over time. Luckilly, when there is an algae bloom the corals look better, I just have to keep the stringy algae off of them until it disappears. I need some time to get out the diatom filter and make all well again. Of course the Christmas party at my house last night (and this morning) diden't help
Take care and have a great holiday.
Paul

 

[Damsel13]

Well I hope your party went well and that you get some time to "baby" the tank a little now.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Debbie

 

[57reefer]

Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. I like the idea of separating out the food for each day for the person taking care of your tank. My family is planning our first trip since our tank has living creatures in it. I’m looking at a computer UPS to hook up to my pump, heater, ect. Only critical items. It also it will help with power spikes. How long have you had the Moorish Idol? Does it eat several times a day? I’ve heard it’s really hard to keep.

 

[Paul B]

57 Reefer, thank you. The "problems" with my tank are not really problems just part of the hobby. In a 36 year old tank cycles happen all the time. I never know whats going to show up next. I should get a couple of free hours today to "fix " it. I have had thew moorish Idol for almost 4 years. It is fed twice a day from an automatic feeder which deposits pellets into a funnel which goes into a dish, the third feeding is from a baster and is composed of sponge (which I collect here in NY) mysis, clam, Live black worms, bananas, fish, etc. Not all at the same time but he gets all the food at least every week. He eats way too much and it is part of the problem with my tank water. Actually he is the biggest problem.
Here he is eating from a baster.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[57reefer]

Awesome look idol! I don't think that is something I want to take on. I used to have a 300 fish only in the 80's but sold off when I got married. I sure that sound familiar to some of us. Now the kids are 12 and 16 and really wanted to get a tank from all the stories they have heard. It only a 65 but we are having fun. This is the first reef I’ve had. This forum has been great and so have all the posters. Thanks for the help so far.
Tom

 

[Paul B]

I finally got a little time and did some maintenance. Now the tank looks like a lagoon near a garbage dump instead of a reef in a toxic waste dump. I found the largest problem and I never would have guessed what it was. I have been putting in this codium seaweed for a few years and it lives fine for almost a year. Then for some reason it starts to darken and grow copius amounts of hair algae on the plant itself but not on anything else in the tank. I was removing the codium periodically to clean and I thought it was a great way to remove nutrients but I think I was wrong. It seems that the codium Makes hair algae. I think the plant has a way to manufacture nitrogen from seawater the way land based bean plants can manufacture nitrogen from the soil. This is just my opinion of course as I am not a horticulturist. Although the hair algae (which is very stringy and long) only grows on the codium, pieces break off and land on other structures and especially gorgonians in the tank. It does not take hold anywhere but it is a nusence. I removed the codium and all is well again except for a few strings of this slimy algae that I will remove. I just find it facinating when I discover something new. It gives me something to research. I guess thats why I loved this hobby so long. Speaking of love. Here is the other love of my life for the past 33 years. I am the good looking Santa on the right.
I have been playing him since the sixtees.
Have a fantastic day and a great holiday.
Paul

 

[57reefer]

Nice family picture. Hope you had a great holiday. Hope you also found some time to work on you problem.

 

[Paul B]

57 reefer. Thanks, I did get some time to "fix" my problems. As a matter of fact my daughter bought me a new diatom filter which came just in time because my other two of them are really on their last legs and I have to tweek them every time I use them. Now the tank seems fine. It is an ongoing thing with the moorish Idol eating so much.
Have a great rest of the holiday
Paul

 

[NaH2O]

Great pic, Paul! Glad to hear your algae problem is on the mend. Keep us updated.

 

[Damsel13]

Really nice picture. And who is that guy in the santa suit?
JK

Debbie

 

[Paul B]

Good looking, aint he?

 

[Paul B]

Great pic, Paul! Glad to hear your algae problem is on the mend. Keep us updated.

My tank will never look as nice as some of the tanks here and here is why.
My tank is a compilation of experiments, and luck, both good and bad. As I frequently say, I don't have a tank to see how beautiful I can make it although that is not a bad thing. This has been a hobby of mine for over fifty years, I have never lived, even for one day without a tank. I get all excited when something goes wrong and I have to figure out what happened so I can "fix" it. My fish don't get sick anymore and I miss the days when I would see some spots or some other diseaes and I would have to cure it. The last malady was a couple of years ago when my moorish Idol got a very bad case of Pop Eye. It took three operations but he recovered fine. I once had to exise a tumor from the belly of my puffer. It was a large tumor and the fish couldn't swim anymore. After the operation I fully thought the fish would not live the night but after he came out of my ICU he lived another 12 years.
After that I was called to operate on many fish in LFSes and wholesalers. I never lost a patient from an operation.
As I look at the tank with a magnifying glass as I often do, I am amazed at the life in there. Brittle stars by the dozens along with tiny clams, worms, snails etc. I love to turn off the pumps and watch the plankton swim out of hiding, many times with a blue striped pipefish in pursuit.
My tank is going through a stage now that I don't know what to call it. There is a growth on most of the rocks that looks like a combination of macro seaweed and cyano along with various polyps. Maybe all 36 year old reefs experience this but I have a limited source of reference to look up about it.
I know I had a point here but I don't remember what it was.
Anyway I know I am rambling so I will shut up now.
Happy New Year.
Paul

 

[Paul B]

The joy of reefing. I am in the middle of waiting for my tank to clear. I removed about 100lbs of rock. That is not that easy because the soft corals like encrusting gorgonians grew all over them kind of cementing everything together so I had to get out the razor blade to amputate the rocks apart. There are dozens (or maybe hundreds) of brittle stars. Cute little suckers. I will leave all that rock out for a week or two so I can clean them as well. They are in a tub with a diatom filter. This will give me a chance to re-aquascape which I enjoy except I always end up with 5 or 10 gallons of live rock left over. I still have 10 gallons of it from the last time I did this. At least the moorish Idol will be happy as he will be able to swim around the rock for a while.
Paul

 

[NaH2O]

Paul - about how often do you do this with the rock? Apologies if this was addressed already, my memory isn't the best

 

[Paul B]

Nikki, I change it around every few years. I get tired of the same look and when you leave the rock for too many years in one place the gravel under it becomes completely filled with detritus and it becomes useless. I like to give it a good stirring once in a while. I don't have DSB so I could do this. After this procedure it is good as new for a few more years.
Paul

 

[Paul B]

I completed the aquascaping and I have to say I liked it better before. I also have 10 gallons of live rock left over as I always do. Every time I do this I try to go for a more open look with the larger rocks toward the top which is exactly the opposite thing from what most people do. I try to get only a few pieces of rock actually touching the gravel with the larger pieces arching over the smaller pieces. Of course it is not as stable this way and not as easy to make it look natural which is why I will be tweeking it for a few weeks. I also have to try to get the pieces of rock with the soft corals growing on them to still face the light.
Paul

 

[Sherman]

Hey Paul:

 

[Paul B]

Working on it

 

[Scooterman]

Go Paul Go!
I need to do something with my LR layout also & somehow make a very open but stable layout, I hate the pile up of rocks that just let things clog up.

 

[Paul B]

Scooty my new rockwork is very open and as little of it is touching the gravel as possable, I just don't like the look yet. It is too even. I need a little time to move stuff around. My rocks are never piled on top of each other there is always a definate plan. I need these plans to work for years not just months.
Paul