MrX's 120G Build

[MrX]

Thanks Chris. Do vermetids get that big? It's about 1/2-1" wide.

I Googled them and after watching some YouTube videos I realized I had found another; it was on the frag plug where my Birds Nest is mounted. I crushed that one as the web was hitting the coral.

I broke the ricordia off the rock where it and the mystery "brown-bag" were residing. The ricordia is now mounted on another piece of small rock. I'm still trying to figure out for sure what this other thing is; Dong (dz6t) thought it might be a sponge.

In other news I found a decent size bristleworm in the DT, itcame out a bit at feeding time, and 2-3 more baby snails; they look like ceriths but hard to tell for sure.

Made a video of the DT today:

[video=youtube_share;iElS4vNbnLw]http://youtu.be/iElS4vNbnLw[/video]

 

[afsportsguy000]

Wow! Very impressive tank.

 

[MrX]

RIP Mr. Hawkman (that's what the kids called the Longnose Hawkfish).

It hadn't been eating for the last 4-5 days, looked like it had a run in with something and hurt it's mouth. When I went to feed it was coming out, I could tell it was hungry, but it was like it couldn't open it's mouth. The couple times I did see it open it's mouth it looked almost painful. No signs of ich or other parasites. All the other inhabitants are still fine.

I checked before I went to bed at 2:00am or so and it was perched in the back corner of the tank. This morning... not a trace. Didn't come out to eat, can't find it anywhere in the tank. I haven't moved rocks or anything so there is a small chance it is hiding, but I'm guessing it died and the clean-up crew removed all evidence.

I really liked that fish. Wish I knew what it tangled with so I could address it before buying another one.

 

[MrX]

Re-did my rock'scape a little the other day. Man the fish and corals weren't happy!

Think everyone is settled back in just fine. (NOTE: The Longnose was having issues before I did this, so it's not the cause.)

Large Image Link (180 kB)

 

[mnavick]

Look forward to coming out this week to see the progress.

Congrats on the 10K+ views, what a thread!!!!

 

[MrX]

Spoke too soon... ninja fish lives!

Fed the tank and happened to look over to the side. What do I see but the longnose poking up over a rock. Not sure where it was hiding... I looked everywhere (obviously not). Just transferred it back to the QT tank for observation and maybe some meds.

It is very pale looking, not the usual 'vibrant' red/white if that makes sense. Guess not eating for 4-5 days will do that to ya.

Any suggestions on what to do? I put a dose of Herbtana (all-natural parasite killer) in the QT and have the filter off for a bit (got a maxi-jet 600 providing flow/airation).

 

[MrX]

RIP Mr. Hawkman. After a week or so of not eating he finally succumbed to whatever was ailing him. QT, Melafix, and vitamins seemed to help a little (brought some color back) but he still wouldn't eat.

 

[RadReefer]

Your tank is very young... I am not surprised about this. Why don't you focus on mastering chemistry and growing Corals. Worry about fish later.... Enjoy what you got untill you have the nack...

 

[MrX]

Your tank is very young... I am not surprised about this. Why don't you focus on mastering chemistry and growing Corals. Worry about fish later.... Enjoy what you got untill you have the nack...

Hmmmm... not quite sure what to say. If you have some specific advice on what I should have done differently in regards to keeping this specific fish I'd love to hear it. Chemistry levels for fish in my tank have been spot on for months now. Not sure what else I could do to have kept the fish any better than I did. If all the fish in my tank suddenly died because I did something newbish or stupid then I'd understand your comment. The other residents are all swimming along happily, eating, and seem just fine.

I'm more than willing to learn, but just telling me to wait until I have the knack doesn't really help.

 

[jt628]

Sometimes fish die for no apparent reason... I have lost damsels while achilies tangs reamin unaffected... the circle of life bud... Don't sweat it. smoe species just cannot handle some systems for some strange reason or another...

 

[jeremy052274]

Mr. Hawk (I love hawkfish) died from an injury, not water chemistry. It happens, and sucks Sorry man.

 

[MrX]

Wow... I've been slacking on my thread. hehe. Just letting the tank mellow for a bit. Small things here and there, some new corals, lots of new CuC (70g snail package from ReefCleaners.org), a new Hermit from jt628 (thanks again man!).

I finally bought some tubing to hook to my skimmer cup and now it drains into an old laundry detergent bucket; now I don't have to clean it as often. Still haven't spent any time figuring out how to hang my float switches and get it hooked up to the Apex Breakout box. I really need to get off my arse and do that.

Tonight I spent 2.5 hrs clearing out the frag rack. I didn't have enough flow in there with just a maxijet 600 so I was getting an algae/cyano outbreak. So I moved the 50+ frags into the 10g tank temporarily, took out the frag rack, installed some filter socks, cleaned the heck out of the frag tank, added a maxijet 1200 on the bottom, took apart my frag rack and made it smaller and two-tiered. I also cut 4 openings at the very bottom of each frag stand leg to allow circulation; previously I had only drilled some holes in the legs.

Hopefully adding the additional flow and the openings will reduce the algae/cyano. Also going to change the timing on the frag light to reduce to amount of time it's on each day.

Here's a couple new FTS shots and the new hermit trying to escape up the silicone in the corner:

 

[MrX]

Corals temporarily in the 10g and the new two-tier frag rack:

 

[MrX]

Shots of the corals back in the frag tank... some aren't too happy. These are Windows 7 HTC pics so I can't really do much better.

 

[MrX]

Frag tank is staying pretty clean now, no more cyano, since I added more flow. The new two-tiered frag rack is working out well also.

Wednesday I got in a shipment from DiversDen: a bonded-pair of Longnose Hawkfish and a M/F pair of Yasha Gobys with a Red-banded Snapping Shrimp. The hawkies are about 1.5" and 3", while the Yashas are maybe 1-1.5", and the shrimp was like .5" or smaller. As soon as the Gobys/Shrimp got into the DT they disappeared and I haven't seen them since. Not hard for me to lose track of them... I can barely keep track of the Sea Hare and it's a LOT bigger.

Tonight I decided to finally try and get my float-switches set up. Debating on the best way to mount them in the sump... my first pass involves two 2' pieces of 1/2" PVC and two 1/2" caps. I drilled holes in the caps to put the float switch through and screwed it in from the inside. Then the cap goes onto the PVC tube. I figure this will give me a nice sturdy mounting point and keep the wiring out of the water/splash zone. Now I need to figure out how to mount the two pipes to the stock tank sump. I want something that will hold them secure, while allowing me to raise/lower the pipes to the right position. Ideally I'll figure out something that doesn't require me to drill into the side of the stock tank.

Once I figure out how to mount the poles I need to get some wire to connect the float-switches up to the Apex Break-out box.

 

[MrX]

*sigh* SonX found our first 'carpet jumpers' just now... one of the Yasha Gobys somehow jumped through the screens and was on the floor next to the tank. I looked behind the tank hoping not to find the other one. No goby there, but I did find a snail.

Wish I could see where the other Yasha and Shrimp are.

 

[beelezebubba]

that's rough man. fish, they're the worst.

tank's looking nice tho.

 

[MrX]

Me and the kids were looking in the DT just now and took a flashlight under the stand and we found a tunnel. After watching for a minute saw something moving in it! Woot! Looks like the Red-banded Snapping Shrimp is still kicking. Hopefully the other Yasha Goby is in there with it.

that's rough man. fish, they're the worst.

tank's looking nice tho.

Yeah, I should just quit now before I face more disappointment. Fifty-bucks and you can have it all.

Thanks man.

 

[jdeb101]

Beautiful and well done! Very inspiring.

 

[Owen386]

yeah takes a while for the shrimp to be comfortable with its surroundings enough for you to see it. I love my Pair though! I always know hes still kicking because he clicks a bunch of times at night. Few suggestions make sure that rock work is secure they Love to dig, Also say goodby to your even sand bed LOL will look like a dessert after a wind storm soon.
See some Cleaned shrimp in there Pistol shrimps natural enemy, Just lost my cleaner shrimp to my pistol (I think)

Set ups looking great!

-Owen