Josh's SuperReef 65

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
I finished my 2ND one two years ago ish. Just a memory now...
that was my bargaining chip on the current tank.
Here's the 1st one finished. Very tough to get a pic in a bathroom.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
It's been a long March...
Huge wind storm on the 8th knocked over our 100 ft white pine in the back yard. Pulled all the wires out of the pole and we were out of power for two days before I could hook up a generator. It barely missed the house, and everyone is OK, so we had a little fun with it.



Still disputing coverages with insurance, and tree is still there.

The tanks got down to around 58℉ and the fish were looking very lifeless hovering around the bottom barely moving. I was plugging heaters and return into the car AC outlet before the generator, but since we were staying with my parents and it was 15-30℉ outside I didn't have high hopes anything would survive. What may have helped was my battery powered airstone that made a salty mess under my hood, but at least circulated and airated the water.
So as of yesterday everything had recovered and monti is growing back over the die off. Then I found my male clown dead, stuck in the overflow box . The female is taking it out on the tang, and the two have been battling .
Maybe loneliness? Problem becomes such that I had a clown trigger in the QT and was supposed to be the last fish in. If I put it into DT now, it'll probably beat up any new fish. If I put anything else into QT now, It'll probably wail on new fish there too.
I'm stuck, I've had three long term fish die before I could add the trigger, and with each one it gets to be more likely I'll need another QT. That's not going to sit well with wife... hmmmm.
Lots of cyano too since the outage, need major WC soon.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Wow. Hard to believe i havent updated here in so long.
Just about everything can recover has, except friends corals which took a 50% loss, (sorry Rog) i moved what survived into the DT because the QT took a pretty hard hit from the power outage.
December i put a new clown into QT. Really loved his pattern and also bought a new Filefish but it didnt survive long after acclimation to QT which includes a FW bath and Methylene blue. Trying to find a new alternative to photobucket , its so annoying that all my 3rd party linking is now unsupported without paying subscription.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Wow. Hard to believe i havent updated here in so long.
Just about everything can recover has, except friends corals which took a 50% loss, (sorry Rog) i moved what survived into the DT because the QT took a pretty hard hit from the power outage.
December i put a new clown into QT. Really loved his pattern and also bought a new Filefish but it didnt survive long after acclimation to QT which includes a FW bath and Methylene blue. Trying to find a new alternative to photobucket , its so annoying that all my 3rd party linking is now unsupported without paying subscription.

Glad to hear the update!

Is there a reason you don’t want to just upload photos to this site?
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Merry Christmas and thank God for all our Blessings !

I have been revived in my tank spirit as i finally added that clown i got last winter to the DT ! Having a 5 day weekend inspired me to get him moved in. It takes a couple days of fishing new additions from the overflow box, because for some reason when the lights go out, the tang likes to chase them in there. I dont know why, but it never fails. And i always see them in there either right before im ready for bed, or right before im leaving for work.
Here he is in the middle , yougest son named him Burp ...
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Had to pull Burp from the display shortly after, and been trying to trap the tang ever since. He just kept being a bully.
That problem is now solved unfortunately because he died in a failure this week. Sunday morning I woke to a seized return pump , on the day i was leaving to camp for the week. No major buildup other than the gratuitous tube worms around the intake. My wife did comment that it sounded loud the day before, but thought i would notice if it was bad. After tearing it apart found the culprit was a swollen magnet. Luckily i keep a spare impeller assy on hand, so i threw it in, tested, and smooth as silk...
Today i came home to a popped breaker on the tank, dead tang, and very unhappy corals. Thinking mustve been storms that went through, i reset, but instantly popped again. now it has all the signs of "something" shorted. Manually turning everything off, let me get power back on, and wouldnt you know, as soon as i switched on the return pump thats what popped it. This time i tore it apart and the magnet was cracked. After only a couple days of use !
My Backup plan is an identical(or so i thought) quiet one 4000 from my WC station. It swapped right in and everything is now running smooth, but one difference i didnt notice earlier, my WC pump had a fully plastic coated magnet, where my original Return pump (and backup impeller assy) from the sump was an exposed magnet. Hopefully that is the key, but im not sure the root cause of the magnet issue with the original pump? Maybe the storms, or maybe the main pump unit itself is destroying magnets?
Think ill try to get a hold of Quiet One cust service for clues.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the recommendation Dave, but not in budget. Maybe 5 yrs from now if i blow another one i'll consider them. I do like the efficiency and controlability of the new 12v pumps.
Lifeguard Aquatics told me the sealed coated impeller is the upgraded version, and says i should have replaced the bushings before changing the impeller. So i ordered 2 more impellers w/ bushings. No discount on these though.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Thx for the bump Bryan!
7 years into this current setup, and i keep going in and out of having algae issues. Luckily im ok with some green aesthetically, but draw the line when it starts molesting corals. Most recently i tore down my waterfall ATS, and converted it to an upflow hang on type. The design i had for the waterfall was not easy to maintain, and as the pipe slot grew closed, it was prone to leaking at the box ends as seen below viewed from the back of sump.

The original LEDs were reorganized and wired to hang off the back of the sump, and i bent up some ABS and plumbed airline to feed a hanging screen.

This has been growing great, but I still went lights out in the DT to give the KO punch on week 2 of that so far. Only have softies left in the tank, and nothing seems too bothered, but i have been running blues only at lowest power, just to maintain a day/night cycle.

The last round of return pump failures left me with just my two clowns, so once i pull the algae back under control im going to setup my basement qt for new additions.
 

Attachments

  • 20190812_194431.jpg
    20190812_194431.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 2
  • 20191103_090705_copy_1245x1958.jpg
    20191103_090705_copy_1245x1958.jpg
    594.8 KB · Views: 1
  • 20191103_090901_copy_686x885.jpg
    20191103_090901_copy_686x885.jpg
    166.3 KB · Views: 2

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Thanks for the update! How are your rocks? What kind and where from? Have a good pod and CUC population?

I love and hate algae....... more hate than love though!
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Most rocks are fiji from 20011st tank setup, a few were from tearing down our company tank maybe around 2010? I do Have a great pod population, and about 20 ish misc blue leg hermits and nassarius snails, Long spine urchin, and 1 pep shrimp.
p.s.
More hate than love for sure.
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Annual-ish update . Still hate algae, everything else is still moving along just fine. Added a male clown, and a YWG that likes to jump into the overflow.
Havent done a WC in about a year, or so, but last test results are normal except declining salt levels due to leaving the ATO fill on too long overfilling the sump a few times.
I did replace my failed dual-timer coralife power strip with a KASA individual wifi controlled power strip. Truly awesome.
 
Top