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Author Topic: Vicki's 40b  (Read 26179 times)

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Offline lazylivin

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #100 on: November 10, 2014, 12:46:27 »
Sorry to hear about the issues. This is a frustrating Hobby at times

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #101 on: November 10, 2014, 13:41:34 »
I don't use purigen or chemipure, I have a small bag of activated carbon that I change out once a month.

Thanks, it is a very frustrating hobby. 

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #102 on: November 11, 2014, 10:02:17 »
Yay new sump tank :)

It was a bit tricky trying to get the sump tub empty and out but I managed and this tank will be filled tonight with 15 fresh gallons of water.  The water I took out of the tub was a weird colour, like a greeny tinge to it.  Already the leather has opened up a little bit so hopefully things are on the up.

On a sadder note by little fw betta fish looks like he's succumbing to old age.  I have a small 10 g I use as a sort of rescue tank, when its empty I look for bettas in stores that will most likely be overlooked and die.  I've and this guy over a year, he had no tail when I got him no was grey in colour.  He soon grew a tail and Is a lovely blue with orange pattern.  He's had a good run considering he would probably have died in a small cup a year ago.  He probably will last a few more days, a week tops, of course I'm on vacation at the end of this week so I'll leave instructions for my dad in case he dies while I'm gone.

Offline TroyReeF

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #103 on: November 11, 2014, 10:28:54 »
Very Kewl!! I hope it works out.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #104 on: November 11, 2014, 10:54:20 »
Thanks!  Me too, i'm at a loss as to what the problem is if this doesn't fix the coral death. 

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #105 on: November 26, 2014, 10:58:49 »
It's been about 2 weeks since the switch over from plastic sump to glass sump and while I'm not noticing any huge difference I am hopeful.  The tank survived my week in LA under the watchful eye of my dad.  He kept me update with texts and sent a very enthusiastic message & photo when he saw the hermit I thought was dead wandering around, he's a fan of the hermit crabs.  The lovely challice was completely gone by the time I got back but once it strted to go I figured there would be no saving it.

Some of the corals are opening up, the zoas in one colony have opened and the others are still closed but not melted so they sold open soon.  One of the 3 acan colonies is gone completely, the other 2 are showing skeleton but they also have flesh left in the center so maybe just maybe they'll have a slow recovery.  The devils hand is shedding but is now green as opposed to yellow/dull pink so I think it's getting some life back in it. 

I'm going to keep doing regular wcs and watch for recovery, I know it'll be slow. 

I'll be taking advantage of some of the awesome Black Friday deals on a few sites too I think no getting new filters for the RODI systems no maybe some new test kits. 

This is the tank as of today.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #106 on: December 01, 2014, 18:43:18 »
I bought all new test kits in the Black Friday sales to rule out old/ off results.

They arrived today and of course as soon as I got home I tested everything.  My old alk test was slightly off.

The results for the 40b:
Alk.   7.7.
Ca.    415
Mg.    1320
Phosphate.    0

The alk is a bit low, I'll increase what I dose.  The ca could possibly go up slightly?  I have no idea if the mg is good or not to be honest, but no way to change it if its not.


I also have the 3 g tank holding several sps corals that I'm too afraid to move to the 40 b.

3 g results

Alk.    5.4.    Ridiculously low, but really with little side effects, corals are slightly less colorful than they were but re not bleaching or dying.  I will increase my dosing of this.
Ca.  380.  Again a bit low and I will increase this. 
Mg.   1420.   Is this high?  Not sure if its having any effect but its odd that this tank has higher mg than the 40b, what affects this?  What uses this? 
Phosphate.   0.

To be fair this 3 g holds a huge piece of monticap, a largish green poci a war coral and several small frags so its probably gobbling up the chemicals.

It bugs me that his 3 g plastic piece of crap tank with an equally crap hob filter can keep sps alive yet the 40 b can't even keep acan's alive.  I will find the cause of this if I have to tear the whole thing apart piece by piece and kill everything in the process!  No killing but you know what I mean, I hate the not knowing. 

On a positive note, the acan's that have some flesh left seem to be hanging in there, they respond to light and what little flesh this there is puffed up during the day and withdraws wheat he lights go out.  If I can keep another semi crash at bay they might recover. 

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #107 on: December 01, 2014, 19:22:45 »
Thanks to cyber Monday I just bought a skimmer, I've never had one before and never even considered one.  I went for a reef octopus.  I'm a little nervous about installing it once it arrives but I should be okay, I also got new filters for the RODI system.  And now I'm broke. 

Offline chevydoc

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #108 on: December 01, 2014, 19:40:40 »
I just got a reef octopus as well. Its for a new build but i think ill like it. Everything ive looked into says they are great skimmers.

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #109 on: December 01, 2014, 20:34:16 »
1250 is a good Mg target.   But 1420 should not be a problem

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #110 on: December 01, 2014, 21:29:19 »
I have no idea how to get it down so I guess it'll have to stay where it is, it doesn't appear to be having any negative effects.

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #111 on: December 01, 2014, 21:57:53 »
Some salts have elevated Magnesium..  That is more than likely the source, its not to worry about at that level.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #112 on: December 04, 2014, 17:46:32 »
Yeah I figured that was the case, I use reef crystals and it has pretty high ca too so I try to keep mine in level with the salt mix so I do t get massive fluctuation when I do a WC.

My new skimmer arrived today!  Very excited.  I mentioned it to my dad at work and he said he'd pay for it so he could give it to me for Christmas and save my parents from shopping.  I sort of like this plan, although I'm going to try and convince them that it needs to go into the sump purely for testing purposes no then not take it out :D

I have 2 sets of zoas opening now and the Duncan is open and regrouping its tentacles which had sort of melted away.  It pooped so I think that's a good thing.  I also put t small frag of monticap in to test the wates slightly and it's been in a week so far and hasn't bleached or changed. 

Offline Steve

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #113 on: December 04, 2014, 19:40:11 »


I mentioned it to my dad at work and he said he'd pay for it so he could give it to me for Christmas and save my parents from shopping. 



I am looking for a Reef Dad, maybe he could adopt me!

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #114 on: December 04, 2014, 19:47:07 »
I am looking for a Reef Dad, maybe he could adopt me!

Haahaa.  You can't have him, he's mine! 

Oh, and we agreed that the skimmer would do more good sitting in the tank than sitting In their house so I'm installing it tonight! Score! 

He's also good at tank sitting and cat sitting.  He even seems interested with how the coral recovery is coming.  I almost had him convind we needed a tank at work and while he was on board with a big tank we agreed the chemicals we work with probably wouldn't be so good for the fish/ corals.  Maybe one day. 

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #115 on: December 07, 2014, 09:19:32 »
Recovery pics.  The leather is looking better than it has in months, the Duncan is open and growing new tentacles.  Yay! 








Yes, bubble algae but I've started removal of it, it's shocking how fast that stuff comes back.  The red champ is almost completely gone, just a tiny bit left in one corner.  I think I need to up my cuc in the next few weeks. 

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #116 on: December 23, 2014, 12:35:53 »
Almost 3 weeks with the new skimmer and it's finally breaking in, the gunk it's pulling out of the tank is crazy, I have to empty & rinse the cup everyday.   It definitely looks like it's making a difference,the water looks cleaner, the corps look healthier and there's even some coralline growing on the glass & power heads. 

http://s156.photobucket.com/user/vickiwilson91/media/imagejpg3_zps50523c2d.jpg.html][/URL]

http://s156.photobucket.com/user/vickiwilson91/media/imagejpg1_zpsab3de2b9.jpg.html][/URL]

http://s156.photobucket.com/user/vickiwilson91/media/imagejpg2_zpsde03dbb4.jpg.html][/URL]

I'm still working on the bubble algae but I need a slightly bigger tube, the one I'm using keeps getting blocked. 

In the 3 gallon I found a tiny bit of pokerstar Monti in the bottom of the tank, I thought it was all gone so I've moved it up In to the light and it will hopefully colour back up.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #117 on: January 30, 2015, 18:05:11 »
Finally moved all the corals into the tank. 



The red Monticap needs to colour up a bit and I want to get one of those magnetic rocks to attach it to the side or back of the tank.  I'm glad it's looking okay and it'll be interesting to see how it grows In this tank.




Offline delta1190

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #118 on: January 31, 2015, 15:51:21 »
where are those zoas i loved so much ?? do you still have them ?

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #119 on: February 01, 2015, 18:52:01 »
Sadly no, I had pulled a few and they were healing when ll the tank disaster happened.  They sadly didn't make it.

Offline delta1190

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #120 on: February 01, 2015, 19:58:44 »
 :'(

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #121 on: June 20, 2015, 17:40:37 »
Tanks is going strong.  Corks are doing great and growing.  My clownfish has finally turned into a female so at some point in the summer I'll be trying to find a small male.  I might also stock a few more fish, probably a couple more pj cardinals so there's more movement in the tank.  I spent a few hours this morning cleaning the tank and equipment.




Offline delta1190

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #122 on: June 20, 2015, 19:52:01 »
looks great keep up the good work

Offline Wall_Tank

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #123 on: June 21, 2015, 08:27:58 »
Glad things have settled down.  Tank looks good.

Offline vickiwilson

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Re: Vicki's 40b
« Reply #124 on: June 21, 2015, 12:37:19 »
Thanks, it's been a struggle to keep going with it but I'm glad I did.  I'm going to get one of those magnetic rock shelves and glue the monticap to it so it's not just sitting out there on the rock, then I can start attaching corals to the rock structure.  I'm sick of stuff sitting on the sand.

 

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