Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

[Paul B]

I am not sure my fish will survive through all this as it is a big change to go from real water that is very old to brand new ASW but we will see. If the tank crashes, and there is a real possibility of that, I will still consider it a success. Of course the fish may not see it exactly like that.

I am trying as hard as I can with what I know and the time constraints I have in doing this to keep everything alive and not killing the important bacteria and pods that keep the tank healthy.

My many pod eaters may have to go on a diet for a couple of weeks and I hope they can find enough to eat but it is what it is and I am doing the best I can.

I just went downstairs to check the tank because I was concerned with all the fish in there there may not be enough bacteria left to keep the water healthy. But they are fine and happy looking, some of them are doing the Macarena.

The very large rock I have outside is frozen and the sponges on it look like ice cubes so I can "assume" the nasty stuff is dead. Now I have to scrape off the dead, frozen sponge and rinse it off in salt water to get it ready to go back in.

If I was not afraid this sponge would take over the ocean here, I would bring all the sponge encrusted rocks to the sea and scrape and wash them off in the sea.

I won't do that but that would be the best thing.


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[Paul B]

This is my biggest rock that I built from smaller rocks cemented together.

 

[Paul B]

Tomorrow is the day I remove all the fish, dump out the water and re fill the tank and re aquascape. I have to go and get ashes first as it is Ash Wednesday and that is my wife's Idea. If I don't take her she will go by herself and I don't need her mad at me on a very busy day when my tanks life is in the balance. This will be very difficult, moving all this water and rocks around and keeping it all warm, aerated and "happy for the 12 or so hours it will take.

Then another day or two to glue back all the corals, mostly gorgonians. I purposely didn't feed the fish yesterday to limit wastes and today, if the rain lets up a little I would like to go down to the sea to pick up some barnacle encrusted rocks to temporarily add to my tank for the fresh bacteria.

This is a good time for that because I killed a lot of bacteria on the heavily sponge encrusted rocks I had to bleach.

 

[Paul B]

I have two 40 gallon tubs and some 5 gallon buckets full of live rock and a bunch I had to bleach. I also have my diatom filter filled with powder because I am not removing the gravel and it will be full of detritus and I don't want to remove all of it.

The first thing I will do is partially empty the tank and catch all the fish and remaining corals. I hope I can find all of them.

 

[Paul B]

I got everything back in the tank and everything looks good. The fish are hunting for food and so far I didn't lose anything.

This only took me 7 hours and I have more live rock left over than I started with. Like 3 five gallon buckets.

I have my big angel fish in a bucket and I almost lost him. I noticed the water looked very funky and it smelled. I could see sparks under the water. The heater broke.

Luckily it was only for a minute or so and being I am an electrician my fish don't care about electricity in their water.

 

[MadReefer]

That a lot of left over rock.
Diana can use it for her upgrade when she pics up the big angel fish.

 

[Paul B]

Come and get it. I probably have 20'lbs of rock left over.

 

[diana a]

I am in awe of you Paul! All that work! I look at my little 40 gallon and want to upgrade but I think of all the work it will be to dismantle and setup a new tank in the same day. The new tank would go in the same spot as the current tank.

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning Diana. I have done this 3 or 4 times in my life and it isn't a lot of fun. But I do consider it part of my hobby so whatever it entails, I try to enjoy it. Of course "enjoy" is a relative word and I also have some relatives I enjoy, some I don't.

So far I don't like the look or ASW but I will get used to it. I need to go down to the sea to get some bacteria but it is very cold and raining today so I will wait until tomorrow or until someone volunteers to get some for me. Maybe those people in that club who go swimming in Coney Island in the middle of February. I won't even swim there in July.

I didn't see my tank yet this morning and I won't be able to do much because I have a thousand "paper" cuts on my hands from the tiny tube worms on the rocks. And I wore gloves.

Today, if he is still alive I will bring that Koran Angel to a LFS and hope he takes it.
I had my diatom filter running all night for the fine particles floating all over which looks like powder.

Unless of course my fish are so annoyed at me that they are doing cocaine. I hope not.

I realized last night that there is nothing in the tank for my large, very old urchin to eat so I will get some clams and lettuce, his two favorite foods.

I also hope my 4 pipefish, 2 mandarins and 3 ruby reds find enough pods because the tank is really clean now. Much to clean but I had to do this to get all that sponge out and unfortunately, the algae and food sources went with it. I will throw a bunch of sinking pellets in there to feed the pods.

After I put the rocks and water back in I ran my Diatom filter 7 times to clean it up. I really don't know how people stay in this hobby without one. I could never survive.

I think I went through maybe 8 of them in the years I have been doing this.

One good thing, I found this guy who I haven't seen since I put him in. He seems happy and healthy.

 

[Paul B]

My Koran Angel is alive and well so I can take him to his new home. My tank looks good but a little bare from all the rocks I didn't put in. I will add a few of then but not to many. My reef is now a lacework of open spaces and I kind of like it. It has very open rock work which wasn't easy to do and doing that unfortunately makes the aquascape very prone to collapsing as none of the rocks are touching the back glass.

Taking my wife to her Dr. now so I will try to take pictures later.

 

[MadReefer]

I agree with Diana. I want to rescape the 80g for more open space but seems like so much work. So I give you a bunch of credit Paul.

 

[Paul B]

It is getting there. Still a lot more to do.
Tonight I made linguine and clams so my fish ate clams as did my urchin who doesn't know he is a vegan.

 

[diana a]

It looks awesome! I can see where the fish can travel in between the rocks.

 

[reefsandrotts]

Looks great
Are all fish accounted for?

 

[Paul B]

It looks awesome! I can see where the fish can travel in between the rocks.

Diana, the way it is now, a Whale Shark can swim between the rocks. I still will add some more rock for some tighter holes.

Almost all fish are accounted for. I can't find the last dragon wrasse I put it. But I haven't seen him since I got him a couple of weeks ago. He may be under the gravel as that is where they hang out.

 

[Paul B]

Good Morning. It was cold, windy and wet this morning but nice and sunny now.

 

[Paul B]

The tank is doing well. I just had my arms in it for an hour gluing gorgonians and leathers and "fixing" the rock which is very precarious and I am sure it will fall soon

I added more rock and still have a lot left over that probably won't go in.
Unfortunately I found a dead fish in the vat where I had the rock after I removed it from the tank. It was a cool looking gobi who must have hidden in a rock as I removed it. I didn't even know I had him.

All in all one fish lost isn't all that bad considering all the work I did to this tank yesterday.

Soon, maybe today depending on the tide I will drive down to the beach to collect some algae covered rocks to temporarily add for the diversity and bacteria. I want to make sure algae grows and some new, fresh amphipods and copepods won't hurt and will give some food to my urchin and 7 or 8 pod eaters.
It's still a little murky from my hands being in there just now.

 

[DaveK]

Considering the work you did on the tank, it looks great. A little time and it will look as good as ever. My own tank looks like an algae farm, and it's going to need some major work on it soon.

As for diatom filters, I still have and use mine. Since they are no longer being made I'm in the long slow process of builfing something similar using an Ocean Clear canister, which uses a pleated cartridge, and an Iwaki water pump I have from previous projects. I know this arrangement will not filter near as clear as the diatom, but it will be able to hold a lot more muck before it needed cleaning. I figure that skimming can remove the fine material this new method will not be able to remove,

 

[Paul B]

This morning it was 23 degrees and I walked down to the beach. The ocean is at the end of this road and it is a huge hill. I like to walk this way occasionally to start my walk because it is a big climb and my heart gets started.




My tiny tomini tang doubled in size





Bluestripes seem happy.




I have 4 of these Hector gobys

 

[reefsandrotts]

Looks awesome,
Glad everything seems to be settling in.