Nart's Im25 Lagoon Build

Well... my 2nd wrasse passed away too. Just not my luck in keeping wrasses in my tank I feel bad...

 

Awww, dang Nart.. I'm sorry. I don't know what to say... your tank looks like paradise to me and I know you take care of it. I wonder what the problem is??? We may never know I guess. That's crummy.

I know this doesn't lessen the sadness and disappointment that you're feeling tonight. I've been meaning to tell you this anyway... I have really enjoyed using this pic you posted and playing find the fish with the family. We all love your Starry Blenny. I really am sorry about the 6-line.

 

That sucks! I almost killed my wrasse today on accident and he's my favorite fish ... I feel for you!

I know this doesn't lessen the sadness and disappointment that you're feeling tonight. I've been meaning to tell you this anyway... I have really enjoyed using this pick you posted and playing find the fish with the family. We all love your Starry Blenny. I really am sorry about the 6-line.

I have a lawnmower that does the same thing! I often think his head is just another knobby chunk of the rock. He can even make his head dark brown and tummy light like the underside of the rock is light. Crazy fish!

 

Omg that pic of the starry blenny is hilarious, he looks like slimer out of ghost busters hahahaha. Sorry about your wrasse man.

 

Appreciate the kind words. It's always a terrible feeling losing a fish. I'm not sure what's causing it to die. Maybe it's the high salinity?? I have no idea...

Hahaha.... yeah the starry blenny is quite the character. He's very skettish when my hand goes in the tank or if I look at the tank. But he's learned that when it's feeding time, tongs = food. He recently started eating right off the tongs too.

 

NART oh no! So sorry.

The blenny sounds like Petal. She's so fast and if I even look at the tank wrong she disappears into her burrow in a flash of purple. She's still a bit nervous of the feeding pipette I just got but she's warming up quickly to it.

I hope this doesn't detract you from trying again if you can figure out any possible causes. Were both wrasses from the same source?

 

Always sucks losing a fish. Lost one of my urchins earlier this week.

On a side note the starry blenny is my absolute favorite fish (that's not a tang) they just have so much character. Won't be able to add one to my main tank, but think I'll add 1 to the fuge or something

 

Appreciate the kind words. It's always a terrible feeling losing a fish. I'm not sure what's causing it to die. Maybe it's the high salinity?? I have no idea...

Hahaha.... yeah the starry blenny is quite the character. He's very skettish when my hand goes in the tank or if I look at the tank. But he's learned that when it's feeding time, tongs = food. He recently started eating right off the tongs too.

What is your SG? Going up is harder on them than going down and a drip acclimation is much easier on them. I usually keep mine at 1.025-1.026. Just got some in the mail yesterday that were around 1.019-1.020 and I dripped them in a bucket for a couple hours, occasionally removing some of the bucket water.

 

Nanologist no. From different LFS. The problem is my first one already came injured... so at least that one I could kind of guess. But this one I'm going to blame me for it because of the salinity level.

Btw- the way this company is dealing with their calibration fluid is very unprofessional. I'm trying to get in touch with their supervisor if they have one.

LJC6780 my tank salinity is 1.029 because of the inaccurate calibration fluid

 

NART I know its a bad situation but your corals look amazing on the recent photos no wander you didn't know, once mine got to 1.028 when I was away and I just through RO in there till it got back down to 1.025 I did it like over a hour whilst I was messing with other stuff and it was sweet, but you take your time as you have some crazy corals. Cant believe that fluid company. Are you starting to lower it? And are you continuing with your nitrate dosing venture?

 

I'm wondering now if you will trust a different brand of calibration fluid? In reading a bit about it I found that some old-time reefers still prefer to use RODI or distilled and calibrate it at zero.

 

NART sorry for your loss.

 

It's crazy how some of the corals survived a salinity shock... imagine, some of the corals I just threw straight in from 1.025-1.026 right into my 1.029 tank

Yeah I am bringing back down my salinity level. Right now it's at 1.028 and still dosing nitrates. I just haven't focused too much on all that stuff yet. Just worried about getting salinity down without dropping the alkalinity too fast.

I won't trust any calibration fluid without triple checking them from now on.

On another note... guess whose getting to setup another nano saltwater tank?? I told the wife that I am pawning off the freshwater fishes off to her sister, so I said now I can setup a second nano tank right?? She laughed so hard, she said "just when I thought I was about to get you to one tank left...."

Culprit I might hang on to the light now... sorry bud!

 

LOL NART just got done ripping this down

25g long tank and I said the same thing after seeing that 20 long today at the shop, only thing dragging me down is light, and the fact that il end up putting ££ and £££ into it . Would love a 10 gallon cube or something though.

 

I'm wondering now if you will trust a different brand of calibration fluid? In reading a bit about it I found that some old-time reefers still prefer to use RODI or distilled and calibrate it at zero.

I have heard it's better to calibrate as close to the readings you'll normally do. I double check this by reading rodI water. It's about the width of the line difference from the 35ppt and the 0. So I use the 35 since it's closer to the levels I keep.

I can't believe their fluid was that far off! No chance the bottle got left open is there? I reached into a box of random testing stuff and found the bottle open and leaking and was so bummed ... ordered another bottle since I knew that one couldn't be accurate. I ordered mine from BRS and it was spot on.

Yeah. Going down is much easier and I'm sure you could bring it down over a few hours safely ...

 

LJC6780 yeah I say that too. To calibrate as close as you measure for better accuracy.

100% about the bottle being closed. I am very meticulous about my clean ups after tests because the space I work in is in the kitchen.... so I make sure everything it cleaned up and put away lol

grantm91 yeah. Light is the most expensive part... luckily I have a decent spare laying around that will work. I now wished I didn't throw away my 15G or 20long tank....

Lowered down the salinity to 1.027 whoot. Also trimmed back a bunch of chaeto. My back AIO sump is swarming, I mean swarming with all sorts of pods and sponges. I decided to save the old tank water and trimmed chaeto along with a few pieces of bio-media to start cycling some rocks for my nano tank. I think it's going to be strictly a frag tank though... so it'll house my Mad Rack and glass frag rack in it.

 

That's good that it all worked out this will be a snazy frag tank, orbit, mad rack, boom ! you know that melve guy on youtube he was live yesterday, he's awesome I like that guy a lot his video on the BTA is good.

check it out if your interested I ment to share this with you a while back but forgot.

 

LJC6780 yeah I say that too. To calibrate as close as you measure for better accuracy.

100% about the bottle being closed. I am very meticulous about my clean ups after tests because the space I work in is in the kitchen.... so I make sure everything it cleaned up and put away lol

grantm91 yeah. Light is the most expensive part... luckily I have a decent spare laying around that will work. I now wished I didn't throw away my 15G or 20long tank....

Threw it away?!

 

Threw it away?!

lol I was thinking the same thing but I like to repair old tanks and some would rather not spend the time and just buy new. Especially at those $1 per gallon sales at Petco!

 

Yeah... living in a small apartment. No space

On another note... low key cycling for the new tank

 

I guess I was thinking I would have at least sold or given it away ... I can't stand throwing good things away. I actually have a whole load of stuff to take to the donate place ... should do that today!

 

I have been afraid to check my parameters across the board, but for the first time every they were actually low!!
Salinity almostttt 1.026
dKH = 10.2
Calcium = 450
Mag = 1280
Nitrates = >10PPM

Tank is looking a lot better. All the frogspawns are happy and plumping up. One of my frogspawns that started having a shade of brown tint to it is now neon green again. Not sure what I can attribute this to, as the problem I have is fixing too many things at once.

 

I have been afraid to check my parameters across the board, but for the first time every they were actually low!!
Salinity almostttt 1.026
dKH = 10.2
Calcium = 450
Mag = 1280
Nitrates = >10PPM

Tank is looking a lot better. All the frogspawns are happy and plumping up. One of my frogspawns that started having a shade of brown tint to it is now neon green again. Not sure what I can attribute this to, as the problem I have is fixing too many things at once.

Some reasonable numbers! Everything living should definitely start reacting positively. I fight with slowing myself down and not making too many changes at once also. Just keep telling myself most great things in life don't come quick and easy. Especially, in this hobby.

Looking good though! Can't wait to see some pics after things get healthier.

 

The hard part was dropping the salinity without dropping the Alkalinity and everything else too quickly. So I was literally changing 1-2 gallon of water every 12 hours.

I am going to try and get a video update this weekend. My biggest hold up is.... my tank is like a frag plug galore right now. Ever since that Mad Rack experiment. Still trying to decide what I want to grow out and what I want to go in my frag tank once I get that up. I guess I can still do a video update of my cluttered mess.

 

Oh sure... we don't mind your mess.

 

Haha! Yeah you should have seen my place this weekend during the whole 37g adoption tank move into the new 29g... my gf was getting irate! Mostly because she uses the free time on the weekends to clean the house and it was like she was trying to clean up after a tornado that's still going around destroying things.

I like seeing the messy part. I even try to organize things as I go but I'm sure you all know how it ends up going down... just because you feel rushed in a way to get the water perfect and get the fish back into the tank!

 

So is that less than or greater than 10 on the nitrates? (You have it written greater than) ... just curious because my own have been pretty high until recently and I've finally gotten them to around 10.

I've also had to start dosing Alk and mag. My Alk had dropped to just over 5 for some reason so I'm thankful I had some Alk solution on hand. Something is eating up Alk and mag but I'm not sure what it is!

On another note, I took down the GFO temporarily because the ULR Phosphorus test was zero!

I need to check everything again and probably do some sort of water change today. Still trying to catch that dang coral beauty!

 

Ah - good catch LJC. I meant less than 10 PPM.
So Nitrates = < 10PPM

Just curious now - what are your parameters across the board LJC6780
From what I know, when you don't get your Alk and Calcium in line.... something with the chemistry make up... magnesium will not stabilize till you get Alk and Calcium up.
Do you dose? LPS corals eat up Alk real quick. Especially so if you have SPS.

 

Ah - good catch LJC. I meant less than 10 PPM.
So Nitrates = < 10PPM

Just curious now - what are your parameters across the board LJC6780
From what I know, when you don't get your Alk and Calcium in line.... something with the chemistry make up... magnesium will not stabilize till you get Alk and Calcium up.
Do you dose? LPS corals eat up Alk real quick. Especially so if you have SPS.

I am now but I didn't need to until recently. Haven't changed anything but adding a few softies. I do know that my mag was always low and I couldn't get it up ... I've been dosing mag and Alk. And I did dose a little calc but did that manually.

Here is my last bit of testing ... I'll probably test later today or tomorrow.




I also maintain 76.6-77 degrees and 1.025-1.026 SG. pH has been as low as 7.4 or so but since I've been dosing Alk it has come up over 8 at times.

 

Oh wow. those are some number jumps.
I also struggled to keep my Alkalinity and Calcium up if my Magnesium wasn't in line.

Magnesium is supposed to be about 3 times your calcium. So you might want to raise that up a bit.
It wasn't until I started using the one part Kalkwasser solution in the ATO, my parameters started to hold stable.

 

Here's the girl finally exploring other parts of the tank View attachment 321922

Culprit Yeah, they can be very finicky eaters. Only reason why I got this one is because it accepts frozen food and is a more aggressive eater. However, I will still need to stock the tank with copepods.

What kind of coral is the center one? Love it and want one.

 

Pretty sure that's pulsing Xenia KristaD Look up a video, they actually pulse, as in open and close, really cool. Cool part is, it's cheap! A lot of reefers don't love it, because left unchecked, it can grow like crazy, even taking over some tanks. That said, I have one too and I think they can be controlled. I'm keeping mine on it's own rock, away from the main rockwork.

There are some others that look similar but do not pulse, usually available in other colors. Check out Liam's Clove Polyps and Blue Sympodium Polyps too.

 

I have one pulsing Xenia and it isn't as lacy. Thanks stella1979, I'll look up the others!

 

Yeah - it's a pulsing xenia. I got it from a local reefer, I forgot exactly what he said it was, but it was some xenia strand that's really hardy. Surely enough, they are hardy and grows really well.

I haven't had any issues with them growing in unwanted places, I think the main thing is not trying to frag it in the tank. Something about fragging in tank = small fragments of the xenia floating off into other parts of the tank and since they grow like weed it'll start spouting out. Though, if you really wanted to kill it in unwanted places, get a mean stinging coral and plop it right now top for a few minutes, problem solved. lol.

If you lived closer I could give you a frag. I'm literally running out of space in my tank.

 

Thanks for the offer! I'm from Virginia but no plans to visit anytime soon

 

Ah - Virginia is a beautiful state. First impression upon arriving like a year and a half ago... it's so green! I'm from California born and raised... so entirely different.
One of the neat things here is being able to walk around open-carry and even being able to get a concealed carry permits! Whoo hoo! 'Merica!

No one seems to want pulsing xenias around me lol. Even the beginners I tried offering it to. All of them are scared of it taking over their tanks.

 

Oh wow. those are some number jumps.
I also struggled to keep my Alkalinity and Calcium up if my Magnesium wasn't in line.

Magnesium is supposed to be about 3 times your calcium. So you might want to raise that up a bit.
It wasn't until I started using the one part Kalkwasser solution in the ATO, my parameters started to hold stable.

Well the calc had been 420 for ever before that ... mag has been around 1185 or something ... always low no matter what ... has been trending up since switching salts but not where I want it. Alk has been pretty steady until the drop. Not sure what made it drop. I haven't had to dose calc at all since it has always been so steady. I did raise it up a bit because it dropped some too but it's not on the doser.

Ah - Virginia is a beautiful state. First impression upon arriving like a year and a half ago... it's so green! I'm from California born and raised... so entirely different.
One of the neat things here is being able to walk around open-carry and even being able to get a concealed carry permits! Whoo hoo! 'Merica!

No one seems to want pulsing xenias around me lol. Even the beginners I tried offering it to. All of them are scared of it taking over their tanks.

I would assume it's like mushrooms ... keep them on their own rock.

 

Ah - Virginia is a beautiful state. First impression upon arriving like a year and a half ago... it's so green! I'm from California born and raised... so entirely different.
One of the neat things here is being able to walk around open-carry and even being able to get a concealed carry permits! Whoo hoo! 'Merica!

No one seems to want pulsing xenias around me lol. Even the beginners I tried offering it to. All of them are scared of it taking over their tanks.

You think Virginia is pro-carry, Nebraska gives conceal carry permits as baby christening presents. JK (kind of)

 

So I was thinking of re-doing my tank with this..... I'm so itching to re-do my rockscape.




Thoughts?

 

Looks like a pretty cool frag rack to me, reminds me of Legend of Zelda, which I love. Anyway, what exactly is it? Like, what's it made of? Kinda looks like 3D printing...