TomV
Active Member
After power outages and disasters related to them, I really got burned out and discouraged. It seemed I lost fish every time we had a power outage and they always happened in the middle of Winter! 
So, after picking up some battery operated pumps and now that the Spring is here, I've been re-energized and thought I would give it another shot again.
The tanks (10g and 55g) had been just neglected and barely maintained by me. Yes, I'm guilty here for that! And they became Hair Algae forests. Well, I finally decided I was sick of looking at them like that and I owed it to my big Purple Tang (who, like a super fish, SURVIVED all the outages this winter while everyone expired around her--including crabs!!). So, I cleaned out nearly all the hair algae and the rest is dying off while the Feather Dusters (also brave survivors) are popping out all over the tank again.
I got hold of my good friend Dana (from Cramer's Caribbean Critters,algae cleaners) and she gave me another great deal on critters, gorgonians, etc. (believe it or not, I still have one Gorgonian I got from her in the 10g and the polyps are STILL extending!) . So, I'm getting my cleaning crews and some other stuff from her next week.
The target is to get back to where my tank was in 2004 (the golden days of my tanks!) where I had: Hairy Mushrooms, Ricordea, Normal Blue and Red Shrooms, Xenia, and Gorgonians, a Finger Leather or two, and maybe a Colt Coral or two. That's pretty much it.
I only have 1 fish in my 10g (Yellow Tail Blue Damsel) and he's gonna be my only fish in there unless I add an Oscellaris or something-- but right now I have no plans for that. The 55g has 2 Domino Damsels and the big Blue Tang. That will be my main coral tank. The 10g will have some corals, but won't be focused on as heavily as the 55g.
With me so far?
So, the questions are these:
1: With those above mentioned corals, what kind of additives should I focus on? Feeding them? Any other advice on them?
2: Water changes are a pain because I had a stroke in 2005. So, I can't haul water up and down the stairs at great volumes. What would be a good method of doing water changes?
-- What I was thinking about with the water changes is this: Get a 5-10 gallon bucket or container of some sort and keep it topped off and covered (up near the tanks on the 2nd floor). Keep it filled with salt water for the water changes. And when it comes time to do the changes, pull out the water via a syphon while emptying the 5-10 gallon container into the tank via a powerhead (or pump) with a tube attached. That way, I will always have aged + Pre-mixed Saltwater on-hand and not have to shut any filtration off or disturb anything greatly while doing the water change because it will be done at somewhat equal speeds.
Ideas? Questions? Queries? Comments?
So, after picking up some battery operated pumps and now that the Spring is here, I've been re-energized and thought I would give it another shot again.
The tanks (10g and 55g) had been just neglected and barely maintained by me. Yes, I'm guilty here for that! And they became Hair Algae forests. Well, I finally decided I was sick of looking at them like that and I owed it to my big Purple Tang (who, like a super fish, SURVIVED all the outages this winter while everyone expired around her--including crabs!!). So, I cleaned out nearly all the hair algae and the rest is dying off while the Feather Dusters (also brave survivors) are popping out all over the tank again.
I got hold of my good friend Dana (from Cramer's Caribbean Critters,algae cleaners) and she gave me another great deal on critters, gorgonians, etc. (believe it or not, I still have one Gorgonian I got from her in the 10g and the polyps are STILL extending!) . So, I'm getting my cleaning crews and some other stuff from her next week.
The target is to get back to where my tank was in 2004 (the golden days of my tanks!) where I had: Hairy Mushrooms, Ricordea, Normal Blue and Red Shrooms, Xenia, and Gorgonians, a Finger Leather or two, and maybe a Colt Coral or two. That's pretty much it.
I only have 1 fish in my 10g (Yellow Tail Blue Damsel) and he's gonna be my only fish in there unless I add an Oscellaris or something-- but right now I have no plans for that. The 55g has 2 Domino Damsels and the big Blue Tang. That will be my main coral tank. The 10g will have some corals, but won't be focused on as heavily as the 55g.
With me so far?
So, the questions are these:
1: With those above mentioned corals, what kind of additives should I focus on? Feeding them? Any other advice on them?
2: Water changes are a pain because I had a stroke in 2005. So, I can't haul water up and down the stairs at great volumes. What would be a good method of doing water changes?
-- What I was thinking about with the water changes is this: Get a 5-10 gallon bucket or container of some sort and keep it topped off and covered (up near the tanks on the 2nd floor). Keep it filled with salt water for the water changes. And when it comes time to do the changes, pull out the water via a syphon while emptying the 5-10 gallon container into the tank via a powerhead (or pump) with a tube attached. That way, I will always have aged + Pre-mixed Saltwater on-hand and not have to shut any filtration off or disturb anything greatly while doing the water change because it will be done at somewhat equal speeds.
Ideas? Questions? Queries? Comments?
