29 g to 76 g Half Circle tranformation

[oakrad34]

DAY 45:

Sorry I have not posted anything of late. Recently added (two weeks again) a large clown and yesterday added an anenome. The clown had been slowly working his way into the anenome. Tried to take a close up photos of the clown but gets excited everytime I get close to the tank (thinks its feeding time).

Also added a brain that is doing well. Installed a fan in the back and closed all openings so the canopy is tight lipped. Thinking of adding a snowflake eel. Hopefully the damsels are fast enough. The clown is too big. I don't have any crust in the tank and looks like the eel is the most fish friendly of all the eels.

Update on rose carnation, three weeks counting and is looking good. Hand feed it every 2-3 days with zooplex. I do have another tree coral that loses a branch here and there. I place the branches in holes in the rocks and they are starting growing like crazy. Hopefully it doesnt get out of control.

Here are some recently pixs.

 

[lcstorc]

That brain is SWEET. I really like it.
What kind of anemone is that? I'm trying to learn the different anemones.

 

[oakrad34]

I believe its a sebae or LTA. The owner was not in and the helper did not know the name. The anenome was with several clowns and skunk fish and all were swimming in and out of it.

Question? My 29g is running high on nitrates but low on nitrites and amm. I currently have 20+ pounds of LR. The tank has been running for 7 months. I'm thinking the bio balls might have something to do with from reading other post. Should I remove them and if so ----how? Should I do the same with my 76g. Currently have 65 pounds of LR in it.

Thanks

 

[lcstorc]

WEll if thetank is 7 months old you certainly shouldn't have trites. Those are only present during a cycle. the issue with the bio-balls is that they do not preform the last step of the cycle which is converting nitrate to a harmless gas. So if you are running bio-balls and getting high nitrates it sounds like the bio-balls are working as designed. LR has the bacteria that finishes the cycle. Ideally you should have a bit more LR in both systems. The general recommendation is 1-2 lbs per gallon. You are slightly under 1 currently. If you have a low bio-load then that us fine but you may want to add some fully cured live rock before you mess with the bio-balls. Ultimately though if these are reef tanks then yes you will want to remove them but do so slowly. If you take them out all at once you will shock your system. Right now the system is used to having them there to do part of the biological filtration. I took out a coupld of handfuls each water change until they were gone and had no noticeable spikes in the tank.
BTW how high are the nitrates? Anemones are particularly sensitive so you want them reduced as soon as you possibly can. I would do a serious water change at least on the tank that has the anemone. If the other tank is a FOWLR then they can take some nitrates but keep and eye on it.

HTH

 

[oakrad34]

Sat, I added two fishes, a Blue Tang and a Naso Tang. I was only going to get the Naso Tang but the LFS worker said if I wanted to add a Tang later on, it would be more difficult. She said the Naso (first choice) is more territorial than the blue tang. So I decide to get both.

So, I watched all day Sat and the Naso and Blue got along....BUT...to my suprise (I should've known) my blue Damsel became very aggressive toward the Blue Tang. The Blue was slighly bigger then the Damsel but both were similiar in color...blue body with yellow tail. I don't know if the Damsel mistook the Tang as a Damsel.

The Damsel :bluemad: began to nip the Blue Tang and he kept on going...going...and going:hammerhea . The Blue Tang on several occasions went into shock. She didnt look good . I wasn't going to lose her! So I decided to capture the Damsel. Well after about 15 minutes of dodging and weaving, I decided to take another approach...a drastic one, but one I had to take.

I started to remove my LR and place it in a cooler. I removed about 3/4 and placed all corals on the sand. The whole process took about an hour, and .....finally caught him...but there was a lot of debris.

Placed all the rocks and corals back in place. I turned the lights off maybe to help settle the Tang. After about three hours the sand had settled and tank looked pretty clean.

I turned the lights back on and the Tang began to swim around, very shy but curious. Then the first test...food...The Tang ate and ate. I had already written her off but to my suprise the Tang came through. Hopefully this is a good sign.

I included a photo of the Blue Tang and Naso Tang. Both get along with all my fishes now:jabber: . Sorry I didnt have time to take photos of the LR removable and capture of the Damsel. The End.....

....oh wait a minute, you're wondering what happened to the Damsel. Placed him into my 29g tank with another blue Damsel slightly smaller. And yes both get along and swim side by side to my suprise. FIN (no pun intended )

 

[Charlie97L]

that's one of the drawbacks of putting damsels in the tank to "cycle" it.

they're very territorial, and when they have a new tank all to themselves, they get aggressive to any new additions.

just FYI, in the future, putting live animals in to cycle the tank is a pretty outdated idea. a piece of raw shrimp from the grocery will work just as well, and it's not putting an animal (even as mean as damsels can be) through the stress of a cycle.

looks great! i love what you've done so far. both those tangs will outgrow your tank in a year or so, but i expect you know that. (always a good excuse for an upgrade). there's a guy in DC who has a naso that's 15", and another with a blue tang that's 13". they're awesome.

great job, love the half circle tanks.

 

[oakrad34]

29 g to 76 g Half Circle transformation

Sorry, I have not updated in a while, here are some updated photos. Its sad to say I recently lost one of my favorite fishes- Flame Hawkfish. Had him for about a month until he decided to well you know commit suicide. A few days ago I was in the back of the tank and saw a small red object on the ground. It was the Hawk. My tank is sealed all the way around on the canopy. But I do have some doors on the back that swing up and down for feeding. My guess is when I opened the door and was feeding he must have jumped and went through the opening. The opening is only 4" X 5". I must have left it open when I went to the Frig to return the food. I then closed it. But what are the chances.

Looking to get another one. Not so much losing the money, but hate seeing a fish go like that.

But anyway here are some photos:

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Looks great. Whats the fish in the last picture? It is very cute.

 

[oakrad34]

Sleeper Gold Head Goby. The white specks are sand. He is sifting through the sand for food. Very nice and colorful fish. Had him for about a month.

 

[zy112]

Looks great