FarmerTy's 215 build

[FarmerTy]

Picked this up at the Georgetown used reef equipment flea market (aka ol aggie's place) to replace the blown out TLF 550 reactor I used as a biopellet reactor.

It'll be nice to have the recirculation option now so I can keep my tumbling speed independent of my effluent speed to really dial in the reactor to the needs of the tank.

I blame the loss of this aussie shortcake mariculture on my biopellet reactor blowing up. I haven't had an SPS loss in the DT in a very long time so the timing of it RTNing was quite suspiciously correlated to my biopellet reactor dying on me.

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Have you ever wondered why sometimes a coral death immediately turns green while other times it is just a bleached skeleton?

[+olaggie01]

Dude, that sucks (about the SSC, not the reduction of my reef horde)

I forgot to ask about the tangs, they all play nice last week?

[FarmerTy]

Tang intro was a success. Besides a little flashing here and there, the powder blue submitted pretty quickly to the purple and achilles tang. The naso didn't care about him at all which was to be expected.

I think it's a good rule of thumb to introduce in a new environment if possible and with a large amount of fish so none get singled out. Obviously this is almost impossible with a standard setup with fish in the display already but easily done when all your fish are sitting in a tub. [emoji4]

[FarmerTy]

Finally updated both media reactors in the tank and have moved on from the TLF brand that has taken care of me for so long. Technically I can start adding fish back in the tank as of this past Saturday but I wanted to make sure that the powder blue tang was actually ich-free. I've placed all fish in the tub and have monitored for any signs of ich as the PBT swims amongst them now. So far so good but its only been 5 days so I'll give it a bit longer to make sure before they are added to the DT If they aren't ich-free now, it'll be easy to do the 12 days of TTM again while they are all sitting in the tub. The alternative is reinfecting the display tank and having to go fallow for 76 days for the 3rd time!

For the frag tank, I am starting to suspect that my consumption of alkalinity is not 2.6 dKh/day as that daily increasing number seems absurd now... lots of acro frags or not! I think I have some chemistry issues with that tank so I'll take a closer look at it. I'm thinking my Mg level is not accurate and not really at 1400 ppm and that's causing my alk/Ca to precipitate out of solution, making me think its being used but that maybe is not the case. Either way, I'll try to spend some time tonight diagnosing it.

The display tank is much happier now with the Mg back to a normal level. I always knew that high Mg would slow down or eventually kill snails but after lowering the level, I noticed that my urchins are much more active now as well, so I am assuming it may affect them also. The added snails and the much more active urchins have been mowing down the algae like no other the last week. I think I may see live rock again in about 2-3 weeks timeframe. At least I can almost guarantee when the angels and tangs hit the water, there won't be a speck of algae left where they can pick at it.

That's all the updates I have. I'm happy to be mostly done with QT, it's quite the pain and is the first thing in awhile that has made me question leaving the hobby at some point. Maybe I just got used to my lazy reefer ways of no water changes so this super hands on QT'ing is wearing me out. Same with the frag tank, I've been hand-dosing 2.0 dKh daily and testing every day and its starting to wear me out as well. The goal was to have it water change free as well but that's not the case currently. If I don't resolve the issue with the dosing, I think shutting down the frag tank is a real possibility. I've never felt a slave to my tank ever in the last 12 years until I starting QT'ing everything for at least 45 days and also after starting a separate frag tank.

[Good Greef]

Ty,

I think the "tired" and "slave" feeling you have is why I choose not to QT. Granted, I could have saved 4-5 fish and roughly $150-200 if I had done so, but I feel like my time and passion for this hobby would deteriorate and it's not worth it (not trying to spur a debate here! ). Now that I've finally got my ALK stable weekly with the precise amount of KALK in my ATO, I can finally sit back and just feed my tank weekly after 2 years with no other tasks (except changing out GFO).

I just can't imagine doing all that you've done and seeing some spots of ich show up on my PBT after re-introducing it back into the display. I would probably want to give up lol. Good for you for keeping up with it this long!

Edited July 12, 2016 by Good Greef

[FarmerTy]

Oh yeah, believe me... as I've done my 10,000th tank transfer by now, if I see ich again, I'm shipping my achilles and PBT out and running with ich maintenance again like I have been for the 11 years prior... that and maybe some unexplained holes in the wall from me trying to put my head through it.

Yeah, I'm ready for my lazy reefing ways again. That way I can post more and bug all you peeps on the club more and less on actually maintaining the QT and frag tank.

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Come on man, convert that apex over to the frag tank, get a larger frag grow out tank with better water volume, and set the apex to perform an automatic WC daily. Bingo bango. Just have to mix up a brute can of salt water every few weeks and problems solved.

I even know someone with a brute can with a float valve and everything [emoji57]

Edited July 12, 2016 by Gig 'em

[FarmerTy]

I already have an Apex on the frag tank! I just need to buy some doser pumps. I guess I better get on that before I burn myself out.

If I get a bigger frag tank, which is not in the cards anytime in the near future, I'd totally be going no water change on that too.

Just just want to be able to drive over and grab all the frags you can carry, don't you? [emoji6]

[bfrench]

How goes the fish reintroduction?

[+brian.srock]

Fish reintroduction? Ty loves his tubs and will never move the fish back into the display.

[FarmerTy]

Aw man, Bfrench, why did you have to call attention to it. I was trying to skulk in the background and hope nobody notices I haven't put the fish back in yet.

So, as usual, long story short... I've created more problems for myself. I'm actually at a point of a dilemma and wasn't sure where to go from here so I was going to setup a poll to see what the people of ARC thought I should do.

So this happened. Right before my 76 days fallow was about to be complete, I ran across a red sea regal that was already eating and at a ridiculous price, even shipped. I had to jump on it. I got the guy and sadly couldn't get him to reproduce the same eating that the seller had on his video. He started to get skinnier in the TTM and by the 6-7th day, looked a bit weak. I didn't want to chance losing him so I put him in the tank even though he never completed the TTM to rid him of ich. Fast forward to now, he's the only one in the tank, he's eating pellets and stuff off the rocks like a pig, and he's got ich.

So now, do I want to do another 76 days to go fallow again after he puts back on a lot of weight first?

Risk the other fish and put them all in hoping that my newly plumbed 110-watt UV sterilizer (3' wide) keeps the ich at bay.

Or ditch the achilles tang and the powder blue tang and go back to an ich-maintenance tank like I've done the last 12 years?

[jolt]

I vote go for ich free. You've really wanted both the tangs *and* the regal for quite some time.

[BornToHula]

Well at least the regal is eating in the display tank - what a good looking fish! I've been wanting one for awhile.

I say you should go ich free, you have put in so much work to get there what's another 76 days

[Reburn]

Ich free.

What's another 76 days at this point.

[FarmerTy]

Alright, I'm going to start a poll. I'm staring at all that work for another 76 days and it doesn't seem fun but you guys make a great point... Patience and get it the way you want it... No compromises.

[+SChrisEV]

I agree 76 days at this point is nothing. easy for us to day!

[bfrench]

....suck man....I guess it's a question of how much you really want those two fish.

[FarmerTy]

....suck man....I guess it's a question of how much you really want those two fish.

I really want the regal angelfish... I would like the achilles and powder blue but my heart won't break if I don't have them. I'm still in decision mode... part of that will be made by the wife too so I may not have a choice. 160 days of a tub is one thing, pushing it to 240 days in the house and my long leash might get really short here soon enough. Haha.

[+SChrisEV]

Well if you get rid of the achilles, I know someone who might be interested.

[FarmerTy]

Well if you get rid of the achilles, I know someone who might be interested.

Oh no, they're lining up already! [emoji6]

[victoly]

just lol. lol.

[FarmerTy]

just lol. lol.

Quiet you! [emoji36]

[FarmerTy]

I'm going to be shutting down the frag tank after C4. I've realized between the frag tank, the QT of the fish, and me getting my fish room/office shutdown from the wife, that I really don't want to run 3 tanks anymore, one fish tub, one frag tank, and my display. I think it's robbed me of the joy of keeping a saltwater tank.

I'm still undecided about what to do with the tub of fish and ich in the DT with the regal angel. Oh, and just to answer anybody's question about ich, no, it's not a myth. You can get rid of it. I've have 6 months of my achilles in my tub with no ich. I've introduced a powder blue to the tub and still no ich. They squabble with the purple tang and the orange shoulder tang daily, potentially under stressful conditions with nitrates that are through the roof, fighting between each other, phosphates are are beyond my Hanna test limits, and still no ich. I hope that convinces those that doubt or not if it can ever be totally rid of. I understand if you don't see it, it could still be there. I hardly ever saw it with my ich-maintenance method for the last 12 years, though I always knew it was still there as when the fish were stressed, it would pop back up. In the tub, it is non-existent. Stress or not, it will just not come out of nowhere to infect the fish. It is truly ich-free.

The problem is me feeling the need to save the regal angelfish and introducing it to my DT prior to finishing the tank transfer method and introducing ich back into the main display in exchange for its life. It's healthy, happy, and fat from all the pellets it eats now and anything it finds on the rocks. I'll just need to treat the regal angelfish for ich and allow the tank to go fallow once more. Whether I decide to do that or not I'm not sure. I may just get rid of the achilles and powder blue tang and go back to an ich-maintenance tank. The rest of my fish population can handle ich no problem.

Anyways, less of a rant today, more of a whine about how exhausted I am with the non-display tanks I have to maintain.

[+BobcatReefer]

When I read about the Regal, I wanted to shake you! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT (to yourself!) ?!?! (and twice!!)

All I have is a 20g QT w/ 3 small fish in it and it's a huge pain in my rear. I can't imagine what you've had going on the last 6 months or so, just in navigating your house around all the extra fish stuff everywhere.