180 Gallon Build

And that's from today?

 

Yes, that happened this morning. 4th day of treatment with Kordons

 

I'll definitely keep you updated, it's got me confused as much as you apparently. I'll be doing research tonight as well

 

How many days are you supposed to treat with the Kordon's? What's the temp of the tank?

 

The "splotches" cleared up, and only 1 is showing any signs now. They had it pretty bad, so it may have just been my eyes. 10 days, temp is at 83

 

Lost another Loach, he was still pretty covered in Ich, only 1 other is showing signs of it now. He's still pretty active and eats though. So I'm hoping he pulls through. Everyone else seems to be Ich free on the outside. So overall things are looking better. I can only do 24 hour treatments during the weekend due to my work hours. I'll go back to 12 hour treatments this week. The new Loaches in QT like to play with the Ghost Knife, they tease him by getting in front of him, so he thinks they are food. Then they swim off. He's quite a bit bigger than they are, but they are more than fast enough to get away.

 

Meds and heat isn't a good combination, and it can really stress the fish further. I'd lower the temp.

 

Best news I'm going to share in a week. All signs of Ich are gone. I'll treat for another 4 - 5 days, just to make sure, but things are starting to look up again. Everyone in the main tank is doing really well, plants are really starting to take off, and the new additions are doing great. My BGK and new Loaches like to see who can give me a bigger heart attack by playing dead in the QT. Made me double check parameters today, just to be sure, lol.

 

So, I've been looking into better UV sterilization for my tank. Due to the Loaches and BGK being extra sensitive to diseases. I'm currently using The Green Killing Machine, and it clearly isn't doing the job I expected. So I'm upgrading. Just ordered this beast

I plan on putting it on my FX6 output, as it handles up to 900 GPH, and my FX6 will likely catch more of the bacteria in the water column having the intake inside of the tank, and not requiring it to float into the over flows. I'm expecting it by this Monday, and will update with pictures once I get it installed.

 

So, day 4 Ich free. Only 1 Loach survived. He'll be happy to get his new friends today. Going to introduce the BGK to the main tank as well. I'll post pictures this afternoon. So glad to be rid of that Ich. Such a disappointing thing that I trusted a vendor. I knew better, but... Live and learn.

On the upside, everything is looking good. I got more BDBS, mainly for the QT, but also to fill in some low spots. Looking forward to watching everyone grow now that things are hopefully settled!

 

Only 4 days without seeing ich? I'd hold off on adding new fish for at least a few weeks after seeing it.

Ich isn't necessarily the vendor's fault. Even high quality fish from quality sources can get ich.

 

Glad you posted before I added them, I was getting ready to acclimate, I'll wait a bit. The new UV filter will be here Monday which should definitely get rid of anything left over

 

Might have another issue. One of my BoesemanI Rainbow, has discoloration along his face? Is this normal, or possibly a disease.

 

I can't really tell anything from the pic. Can you get a better shot?

Have you tested your parameters lately? That would be my first thing to check.

 

Not sure what it was... It's gone now. He was being pretty aggressive when it was showing though.

 

See how he's darker in the face in those?

 

Hmm, maybe just paling from behavior then, if he's changing so quickly. I would still check water parameters, just in case.

 

Parameters were 0/0/10, was the first thing I checked before posting

 

Been keeping an eye on him, and I'm going to chalk it up to paling due to aggression. He was being extremely aggressive towards the other rainbows while his face looked like that. I haven't seen it occur since. He was like that when the lights came on, so I'm guessing something happened while the lights were off that set him off.

 

Sometimes simply the lights coming on can cause fish to pale, too.

 

Small update, I got the new UV Sterilization unit Friday, and installed it Saturday morning. The tank has cleared up significantly, since I'm not using any Purigen. The water should be crystal clear once I reintroduce it. I'm going to get some better hoses for plumbing, because the ones I had were too short, but I made it work. I'll post pictures tomorrow. The new UV is huge though. Definitely much bigger than I was expecting. I'll also clean the filters and reintroduce the Purigen.

 

It's 21" long 6" wide. Quite large, but the difference is amazing, and what little algae I had growing is regressing quickly. Planning on introducing everyone this weekend, and getting a few more Ludwigia Repens. I love these plants, and they definitely compliment there colors in the tank. Not to mention the ones I ordered are growing great. After that, it will just be updates on growth. Looking forward to finally having this setup settled in, and growing!

 

Well, I have some exciting news! The scratches in the glass finally got to me. I looked on Craigslist, and found a really nice 180 Gallon tank. It's 72" x 24" x 24". So I'll be moving things around and getting ready to switch everything over. A lot of work coming up, but it should be worth it to get rid of these scratches!

 

Okay, so I'm going to check out the tank tomorrow. I have everything pretty much planned out. Except where I'm going to keep everyone while I'm draining, moving, transferring everything to the new tank. I have a 40 Gallon Tupperware, is this going to be enough for everyone for a couple hours? Anything I should keep in with them besides an air stone? I'm sure this is going to stress everyone out, anything else I should do after the transfer to calm them down?

 

A 40 gallon tub is more than enough for a few hours. An air stone and a heater would work. I usually put a drop or 3 of Stress Coat in the water while my fish are in 5 gallon buckets during big changes.

 

Another round of good news. So, compared to my other tanks, the 175 just didn't have the crystal clarity my other tanks had. So I played around with my canister setup, and the upgraded UV helped. The water is SO much more clear. I'll post pictures later, I just did a water change, and there's bubbles everywhere.

As far as the tank switch, that is scheduled for the 19th. I already have a buyer for the 175 scheduled for the 20th as well. I'm making the money back I paid for the 175 and getting the 180 for $600. If the buyer doesn't want the sump, I can make up most of the difference between selling it as well. I'm not looking forward to the work involved in moving these beasts around, but very excited about the end product. I'll keep everyone updated as the switch occurs.

 

Looks like the time line has moved up a bit. I'll be getting the new tank Saturday, and moving the old one out Sunday. So I'll take pictures of the new one when it gets here, and after I clean it up. I ordered some new glass lids for it, that should arrive today. My excitement builds daily about this. I can't wait to get it setup!

 

Okay, so the stand has an uneven corner. My plan is to put a piece of plywood on the stand, and a leveling mat on top of that. Any other suggestions, or does everyone think that should be enough?

 

How uneven?

My 75 gallon stand was about 1/8" off on 1 corner so I used wood shims.

 

Not something that could be shimmed. The internal corner where the boards meet comes up just enough to keep that corner from making full contact. When you're talking 180 Gallons, making sure you get full contact on at least the 4 corners is a must

 

Got it home this morning, and cleaned it up already, even painted the back glass black. Only 2 coats on it so far. Going to put another coat on it still.

 

Not something that could be shimmed. The internal corner where the boards meet comes up just enough to keep that corner from making full contact. When you're talking 180 Gallons, making sure you get full contact on at least the 4 corners is a must

They shI'm old houses to level them. A puny 180g tank is nothing

New tank looks good.

 

Lol! Not so much the weight, but how it's uneven. It bows up in the middle, not on the edge. 8x4 sheet of plywood was only $10, and the mat was $20. I can't complain.

Thanks, can't wait to get everything switched over, as much work as it's going to be. It's going to be worth the end product.

 

Getting it filled up, and ready! I ended up putting them in the 35 Gallon I had setup. I only had 6 Cory's in there, so they are enjoying the new company! I had to leave them in over night, which I didn't see much issue with. First thing I checked this morning were parameters, and it's 0/0/20 so they should be fine until this gets filled and temped right. The glass is so much more clear!

 

Everyone is home, but my FX6 impeller went out, after I ran it dry because I didn't fill it up before running it. I ordered a new one, and it will be here today. So I filled the FX6 with dechlorinated water, dosed to 2 ppm Ammonia, tossed an air stone in it too keep the bacteria alive.

In the meantime, the FX4 is experiencing a minI cycle. I checked water this morning, and Nitrites were at .25, Ammonia was 0 though. So I added some Prime and Stability. I'll keep an eye on those for awhile. I don't expect it to last very long. If I have any problems, I'll switch some media out from my 55, and it should kick start the rest.

I'm so much happier with the tank now, and will honestly be much less apprehensive about posting pictures. The scratches definitely got to me. Speaking of! Pictures!

 

Looks great! The scratches were distracting for me too, so I'm glad this one is better!

For the BDBS, you can stick the siphon into the sand about 1/2" or so. The longer siphon tube and the weight of the medium grit should help the sand not get sucked up, but it will get the brown dust off the sand so it'll look black, rather than this brownish.

 

Anytime I siphon near the sand, it sucks up quite a bit. I might get a cheap long tube vacuum and siphon into my tub. So I can rinse out the light stuff, and save the rest. Thanks for the suggestion! I've been thinking it's the lighting that's making this sand look different than my other tanks.

 

Do you have the fine grit BDBS then?

 

It was 20/40

 

Hmm, I think that's medium, and my medium doesn't really get sucked up - unless it's just the finer particles that are getting sucked up for you?