Before I tell this tale please remember that I have had 3 hours of sleep per night since friday what with painting and all to get this tank up so Im on my last leg.... Ok so everything was going great yesterday My plan was to match tank temperatures and move the coral. That proved near impossible. So I ended up floating the coral in the new tank to acclimate them to the new temp. As Im trying to keep the Cube running but Im losing water to the coral bags quickly so I supplement with new tank water. I figured it would be a good way to acclimate the fish. Took a bit longer than I thought but no problems. (a few hours) My next move was to transfer the liverock from the cube into the area I left open for it. I wanted to try and replicate the rock work in the cube as closely as possible so I took lots of pics. Only problem is the rocks that need to go in first obviously are the ones on the bottom HAHA good luck. So anyways I start moving rock trying to keep track. When I get to the bottom ones it whips a huge sandstorm of all kinds of tank JUNK now I cant see a thing in the cube. no problem I will set up the rock in the new tank. I start putting rock in cept Ive got a FOUR inch sand bed so to set the rock on the glass buries half the rock which kicks up a sand storm in the new tank. Now I cant see what Im doing and my corals are getting dusted. In the middle of this dilema I look over and notice Clowny the clown fish (his real name is clowny but mostly I call him Bozo) is having a hard time breathing I can barely see the fish. Having mixed water between the 2 tanks for a few hours and having the temps now within 1/2 degree I start scooping up what fish I can see and transfering them over. They all went right into the net thats how upset they were about the conditions in the tank... Clowny, Rock Hudson, Purple Pieman, Woodstock all went in no problem. HEY IM MISSING A FISH!!!!! Wheres FLoyd???? I have no idea where my barber pole goby went. Then I realize his buddy Lou the fireshrimp is missing... Wait wheres Mr Belvedere the cleaner shrimp??? They mustve hitched on the live rock because they are NOT in the Cube UGH!!! Well ok I got other critters to worry about. Clamy is in a bag acclimating (luckily) as are my snails The hermits are on their own. I pluck em out and plop em in. At this point Im only running my powerheads. I was gonna use the biocube water to fill the sump but now its a swamp so forget that. Plus its half new tank water anyways
I add more water to the sump and fire up the pumps WAIT THAT WATER IS COLD!!!!!! I pull the plug but its 2 late... Tank temp starts dropping... 78, 77.5, 77, 76.5, 76 then it stops phew Its a quick drop but it couldve been much worse. i drop another heater in the sump, bring the display temp up a bit and hit the pumps again... hey where is that drip coming from? The last joint I connected on the plumbing has a tiny tiny slow slow drip. Ive seen these before in new plumbing and 95% of the time they seal themselves. 2 hours later it does just that.
Everything is done! I hoist up my 40lb light fixture and throw in on the tank. I start to clean up before turning on the lights so that the dust can settle a bit. Finally around ...hmmm I dont remember what time but it was late I fire up the lights for a few mins. They are beautiful but freakin LOUD That fan! I take a quick head count Everyone I moved is fine looking much better in the cleaner water.... HEY who is that Its one of the new Yashia gobys saying hi but he is all alone... but at least I know he is there... I shut off the lights and go to bed.
All excited this morning I get up and switch on the lights. Opps i hit the MH button by accident.... I didnt want to shock the fish... I turn on the T5's and go to switch off the MH.... WTF... it wont turn off The switch keeps springing back to ON. I try the T5's same thing they wont switch off! Now im mad! I can use my timers but I DONT like the idea of faulty switches in an electrical component
Everyone is fine this morning. havent seen the new fish at all today or Floyd or Mr Belvedere but Lou showed up so I still have hope!
Sorry for the long winded update... if you read this far anyways.....
How are the new fish and shrimp doing?
Well.... they looked great in the bag... I saw one of the fish before lights out last night and he looked great. It didnt look to me like he had found his girlfriend as for the pistol... he was about the size of a sexy shrimp 3/4" x 1/8" TINY I will probably never see him again lol