Tank turned 41 years old

[user 26995]

Glad your surgery went well.

congrats on the new fishy too.

 

[Paul B]

I just added another pair of bluestripes. Here is the old, larger female with a new small male. There is also another small female.

 

[user 26995]

Shes pretty. Looks like they are checking each other out!
butterfly is checking them out too.

 

[Paul B]

Butterfly is too busy stealing baby brine from that feeder

 

[Paul B]

This is so cool. My decorator crab found some hair algae growing right at the water's edge behind the top black rim of the tank. I didn't even notice it. He is hanging on to it and eating it like spaghetti. It is hard to tell but that top bubble coral is a reflection off the water surface so it is confusing.
He stuck bubble algae in to his shell that allowed him to float.
Not as dumb as he looks

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I went to a new LFS and I brought some water to test just for giggles. I told the guy, I don't have test kits and am just curious but I know the nitrates read about 5.
He tested it and they are a little over 30. I screamed a little, just a little and then I got excited. I always tell people that if your nitrates go up, it is your fault because your bacteria are not doing their job. And you are their boss.
I will not change water because that is also against my theories, not the solution and besides, that is for Sissies.
I have not tested the nitrates in about 4 years and since then the tank has gone through some changes. For one there is a lot more livestock in there now, probably more than I ever had and I have been using a new feeding regimin which now I know is too much. Every day they get fresh clams, mysis, live worms, new born brine shrimp and fish oil soaked pellets. I even feed the bristle worms just because they pout if I don't. :loco:
I will cut their meals in half. (And let the bristle worms order take out) The other major thing is that I switched to LED lights. I love the lights but by removing the MH lights there is hardly any light over my algae trough except a dim strip of LEDs that only grow red algae. Red algae is not the greatest at removing nitrates.
I am ordering much brighter LEDs for the algae trough and I may even re-design it to be more efficient.
The SPS are growing nicely and there is no algae bloom so the nitrates are not really affecting anything adversely yet, but I love these opportunities that allow me to experiment. If I just changed water, I would not find the cause and that is just pushing the problem under the rug.:suspicious:
I have always been proud of my nitrates staying very low and this gives me the opportunity to test out some new theories.
This stuff excites me and if everything always stays the same, I get bored. I still have my left arm in a sling and I can't yet use it (rotator cuff surgery) so I also have not been able to use my diatom filter or clean the skimmer tube. THis arm thing is also going to hinder my efforts to re build the algae trough, but I will get there, it will just take me a little longer:hat:

 

[Paul B]

I have a dilemma. A couple of months ago I built this piece of rock (pictured) that was supposed to cascade over the right side of the tank and give me more room. It has a place on the end for a large coral and a place in the center for a smaller frag. I can't put it on the right side with out moving major rocks and corals which I am reluctant to do because I have to work with one arm. I have a place on the left side I think I could put it but I would also have to move major stuff including the large bottle the fireclown wants to mate in. That bottle also has 2 large pieces of corals growing off of it.
I could deal with that but then I still have to move the three largest gorgonians and I have no place to put them without them hitting the front glass. I don't want to do a major aquascape for two reasons, first, I just did that a couple of months ago and second, I can't do that with one hand.
This new piece of fake rock is about a foot tall and it extends out about a foot. I want it in there but it may have to wait a couple of months until I can at least raise my arm up to the top of the tank. I am sure I will be dropping everything if I tried to do it now. I hate waiting

You can see the left side of the tank in the beginning of this video. My tank is not very deep front to back. That acropora is about 2" from the glass as is almost everything else. I guess I need a larger tank or smaller rocks

 

[Paul B]

Actually, my tank is now 41 years old this month. I know the title says 41 years old and I don't know how that got there, but it was only 40 years old when that was put up.
I don't remember when I was 41 years old.

 

[user 26995]

I dont remember when I was either Paul.

Thats so cool that you have been keeping that tank that long. Hope it continues to bring you joy for many many many more years.

My first tank will be 3 years old next month.

 

[Paul B]

Congrats on the 3 year old.
That is almost a record these days

 

[Paul B]

I finally got that new DIY rock into the tank, but I had to remove about 15lbs of rock to do it and make a mess. I am still working with one arm so it was a little job.
You can see it on the right side of the tank, it starts to the left of the large gorgonian under the back of the bottle and arcs up and to the left. It was supposed to span over the rocks freestanding but I really don't have the room. Maybe if I remove most of the rock someday but it aint going to happen now. I had to move some large cement stands to the left side of the tank and I was able to return all the rock to the tank. It is still a little cloudy and the corals are not fully open but here it is.

This is the rock I put it. It is over a foot high

Then I did some work on the other side of the tank. That acropora is too close to the glass and I can't move it back so I ether have to frag it or do more major work.

Now I will have to make a bristle worm trap because every rock I move is loaded with them. I don't mind them but there is just too many. I will build something that collects a lot of them at once.

 

[iroll253]

That tank is awesome and coming along great. What lighting are you using now? It seems bluer that usual

 

[Paul B]

For that picture I turned down the white LEDs a little, it is not that blue in person.

 

[Paul B]

I changed my mind and will autopsy this fish as I have found out the cause of the wierd swimming. Kind of.
The fish now has a dark lump on both sides. This is a fairly common malady and I always thought it came from some type of trama like getting bitten from something large or having a rock falling on the fish. The autopsy (after it dies) will show internal bleeding and this is always fatal. I recently lost a copperband butterfly fish from it as I see it mainly on thinner types of fish.
It could also be from a tear in the digestional tract but I don't think so as the fish will not live very long if that happens.
I hope I am home when he dies so I can find out the cause. It is interesting no matter what it has.

 

[Paul B]

I had to re design slightly my algae trough. The LEDs I had over it just were not bright enough so I got a strip of LEDs that are about twice as bright. When I had MH lights the trough used to get the spill light but the LEDs are more directional so I had to add supplimental light to the trough because it was only growing red and brown algae. Now hopefully It will grow green hair algae. I also re designed the way the water enters the trough from the skimmer. I used to have unacceptable splashing that used to make salt creep all over the place. Now I have multiple layers of plastic screening around the skimmer outflow and now there is no splashing and no bubbling which burst and splash on the lights and rear wall.

This acropora has grown at least three times it's size in a year and I can't clean the glass in front of it any longer. Whenever I go near it I accidently break off pieces so I have frags of the thing all over the place. Now I am going to try to move it to a larger space and move the giant mushroom in that place to where the acropora is now. I wonder how many frags I am going to have because there is no room to move it so I have to lift it out of the tank to re locate it.

 

[Paul B]

After moving this all over the tank, getting bit to death and breaking a few pieces off this and other corals, I realize there is no room for this acropora. I temporarilly put it on this rock but it is just about out of the water and not sitting well. When I get time I need to do a major rock move. Of course I just re-aquascaped and removed a bunch of rock, but it is time again.

 

[Paul B]

I don't know what happened to that yellow tang but now he seems fine. The swelling is way down, almost normal, the dark spot is faded and he is swimming normally. Last week all he could do was swim in spirals while crashing into things and not being able to eat very well. I have seen this many times but never seen it heal. I am not sure if he is completely healed but he is swimming and eating like a wrasse should.
Wierd but interesting.

 

[Paul B]

I just got back from a week in Europe. We were on a riverboat cruise from Budapest to Vienna, Munich and Hungary. Had a great time but when I got home I see the water in my reef is down about 7" and some corals are above the water and of course dead. I lost a few corals but not entire corals. My gorgonians are the worst as the salinity rose a lot. I am not sure if anything happened to the fish because the lights are off and I won't know until tomorrow. The pump I put in that the tank babysitter was putting food in was not even touching the water so the fish did not have food in a few days. Most of them should be fine but the copperband needs food every day as does the pipefish so I am concerned if they are still with me. I can't blame the girl watching the tank as she was doing me the favor and she knows nothing about fish tanks. The next time I go away I will put in a back up system for my ATO.
My ATO fills the tank very slowly so to avoid overflows but it may be too slow because sometimes air enters the system and it stops, which is what happened.

 

[Derbird]

I'm sorry to hear about your tank. I'm scared everytime I leave mine for a few days :fear:

I hope all your fish are alright. Sucks enough to lose some corals, no need to lose fish as well.

 

[Paul B]

I see the copperband and he seems fine. The yellow wrasse that was sick seems cured. I can see all the other fish but I have not noticed the bluestriped pipefish yet but he sleeps late so I think he will show up.
I need to trim the dead parts off the corals and see what the damage is as the corals are not awake yet. I am hoping the LPS are good but I don't know yet.
Here is the riverboat we were on in Melk, I took this from a helocopter.