Lorraine's 125 (et. al) - The 2nd Year

[bluespotjawfish]

Last year at this time my tank crashed - so I spent the Christmas Holiday tending to it. All my corals were lost, and I subsequently lost all but one of my fish (Mr. Palani). Since today is the start of the second year, I thought I would start a new thread, and begin by recapping the events of the first year. A lot happened in this first year, so this may take me a while to remember, but I will give it a shot.

Other Links:
Christmas Tragedy in My Tank
Lorraine's Rebuilding of 125 gal Tank

Photoshows:
My Aquarium 12-2006 - PhotoShow Circle
Aquarium 1-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
February 2007 - The Tank - PhotoShow Circle
Aquarium 3-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
Aquarium 4-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
Aquarium 7-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
Diggin' My 125 8-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
Aquarium 9-2007 - PhotoShow Circle
Bluespot Jawfish - PhotoShow Circle

I am going to be doing a new photoshow soon that will show some before and after shots of each coral and of my tank at this time, but that will take some time to put together. I will also recap the changes in my equipment and parameters.

This year Christmas is being spent programming my new Neptune AquaController Jr. I think I finally have it figured out, thanks to the generous offer from Doni to call her on Christmas Eve (what would we do without her)!

Stay tuned for the transformation! I still can't believe it myself!

[bluespotjawfish]

This is a summary of Then and Now...kinda explains why I have been so busy this year and when I pay the credit card I say ouch!

Fish:

Then: Nasa Tang, Palani Tang, Emporer Angel, Foxface, Flame Angel, Maroon Clown, Purple Stripe Pseudochromis, Bluespot Jawfish, Adult Twinspot Wrasse, 2 Yellow Tangs, 3 Green Chromis, 2 Gobys, variety of crabs.

Now: Mr. Palani is the only survivor. New fish include a pair of black onyx true percula clowns, a pair of Pyle wrasses, Midas Blenny, Mandarin Goby, 5 Blue/Green Chromis, Yellow Tang, a pair of Barlett Anthias.

Water Quality Parameters:

Then: Ammonia = 1.2; Nitrites <0.1; Nitrates = 5-10; Phosphates = 1.0; ph = 8.0; Salinity = 1.0235; Alk = 17.6 dKH; Cal = 475 ppm

Now: Ammonia = 0; Nitrites 0; Nitrates = 0; Phosphates = 0; ph = 7.8 - 8.2; Salinity = 1.025; Alk = 140 ppm; Cal = 425 ppm; Mg = 1360

Water Changes:

Then: Used tap water, mixed water in my sump. Water changes every month or two.

Now: RO/DI water, mixed 1-7 days, held in Brute container, pumped to tank. Water changes at least weekly. RO/DI Unit is a 100gpd 5 stage unit from The Filter Guys.

Topoff Water:

Then: Filled a bucket from the sink and dumped it in the sump without pre-treating for chlorine, once or twice a week usually when the pump made noises because it was starting to run dry.

Now: Tunze Osmolator Auto Topoff, with 13 gallon reservoir.

Lights:

Then: 5' VHOs (2 Blues and 2 Whites).

Now: Aqua Medic HQI 250w (Aqualine Bulbs 2/13k 1/20k), supplemented with two 5’ VHOs (1 Blue, 1 White). Also purchased a new canopy (my old one didn’t have enough clearance for MHs).

Skimmer:

Then: Don’t know the brand, it ran with 2 pumps.

Now: ASM G-2. Septra 3500 pump.

UV Sterilizer:

Then: 24w UV sterilizer

Now: 24w Gamma UV Sterilizer

Pumps/Overflow:

Then: CustomSeaLife Velocity T2 pump. Overflow box flooded most every time the power went out (for 8 years). Extra medium pump and backup battery operated air source internal to the tank.

Now: Iwaki 30R. New overflow box from LifeReef. Three MJ 1200s internal to the tank, on alternating, oscillating, or random timers.

Sand Bed/Live Rock:

Then: The bottom had aragonite with a plenum filter. Live rock took up about 1/4 of the tank.

Now: New bottom of aragonite, no plenum. A bit more live rock.

Refugium:

Then: None

Now: Custom Built LifeReef. Pumped in from the UV Sterilizer, gravity fed back to sump. Just took out the chaeto, just some rubble, and a few inches of sand.

Reactors:

Then: None

Now: Two Little Fishies Daisy Chained Phosban Reactors, one for carbon, the other for Phosban. Precision Marine KalkReactor hooked up to ATO.

Controllers:

Then: None

Now: Reefkeeper II with pH and temp probes AND Neptune Aquacontroller Jr with pH and temp probes.

Corals/Inverts:

Then: Poof they are gone, just a few crabs and 3 cleaner shrimp left after the crash.

Now: Variety of frogspawns, hammers, fox coral, candy coral, hammer coral, mushrooms, polyps, acros, plating and branching montis, birdsnest, pom pom xenia, brains, acans, spaghetti leather, ricordia, pocillopora, sun coral. Snails, crabs, clam, sand sifting stars, cucumbers, and the same 3 cleaner shrimp.

[bluespotjawfish]

This thread is kinda like talking to myself only I'm not talking outloud.

Someone may turn me in if I post again though.

[lcstorc]

I'm reading. Waiting for the pics though. You have such a beautiful tank we really need some pics.

[boozeman]

[Dentoid]

Then:


Now:

[bluespotjawfish]

lol! Still weeding through the pictures.

Yeah - Now I'm not talking to myself and don't need to be committed! I'm talking to a real live computer!

[bluespotjawfish]

I've still got 200 photos to weed through (just December 2007).

Here are a few full tank shots though. One is early December. The other one (with the yellow tang) is Christmas Day. Seems like the tank changes daily!

[althea2you]

very cool!! i reading too!!! such a difference between the two! wowsa!

[bluespotjawfish]

Thanks! I can't believe how much it still changes every day. I really am working on the pictures. This is a lot like work!

[framerguy]

Nice Lorraine. I really like the aquascaping! Lots of swim throughs. What is the light blue square left of center?

[bluespotjawfish]

My Palani tang supervises all my remodels and makes sure I don't block any of his swimthroughs with rocks or corals. The blue thing is my overflow box. If I was to do this over again, it would be black. I thought the blue would look best with the blue background but it stands out a lot. And I can't cover it up much because my Palani uses this area as a major swimthrough.

[Frankie]

Great idea Lorraine! Tank threads get so long. I love your idea. I'll be tagging along

[bluespotjawfish]

Wish you would come and help me weed through these pics!

[bluespotjawfish]

The long awaited show is here (long awaited for me anyway)! Enjoy!

My 125 - One Year Later - PhotoShow Circle

A year ago December, my tank looked like this