JET's new Bangkok 230g tank

Haaileybop

Haaileybop

Member
I am so sorry that you are having issues with your tank :-( but don't give up! I would just give things a little time to settle and then dive back in! I know I am always nervous leaving my tank even for the weekend. Keep us posted.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Yeah, I'm not quitter, don't worry. But I'm certainly at the peak of frustration right now.

Tok - I saw some HUGE Monti's here but they were all brown color, not purple or orange. I did see other purple hard coral though..
 
dmatt88

dmatt88

Has been struck by the ban stick
Jetbkk said:
Things just seem to be going from bad to worse.

I am on holiday now in Bali and Komodo and my wife's niece is watching the house. I don't know how she did it but she managed to break my beautiful new Montipora into pieces. To make matters worse she threw the pieces in the trash. After finding out about this I told her to but them back in the tank. Hopefully an hour out of water wasn't too long but it probably was. I am so upset about all this cant begin to tell you.

Also my Powder Brown got sick and spread it to my other fish. A dozen have already died (many Anthias, Harlequin Tusk, Powder Brown Tang, etc) .

I really feel like breaking down the tank and giving up at this point. I'm so discouraged right now.

On a more positive note, I went snorkeling in Komodo yesterday and it was mind blowing. The coral was outstanding. I saw enormous patches of Xenia and Leathers, 2 foot clams, Acropora everywhere, Acans, Blastos, Sunflower coral, Montipora, Plates, huge red and yellow Anemones, sea fans, and a huge variety of fish. I still can't believe how good it was.
Click to expand...

Oh man dude. I'm rethinking my tank sitter for the Mexico trip.

...........mmmmmmm clams.
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Ok guys, time for a little diversion since I've been so preoccupied trying to deal with my Ich problem and setting up a QT.

Here are some photos from my trip to Indonesia and Komodo Island. It is a truly stunning area, and the diving and snorkelling is mind-blowing. I saw football field patches that were so crammed with corals that no sand was visible. I really couldn't believe me eyes and it was great to see many of the corals and fish that I keep in my tank in the wild and in their true state.

There are tons of islands like this one, which is Banta Island:

Komodo2.jpg


This area is called "Pink Beach" and it a fantastic snorkelling spot. The beach is a very unusual pink color, hench the name:

komodo_1.jpg


And here is a shot of me 3 feet a away from a huge Komodo Dragon. This guy could easily eat me if he was fast enough to catch me!

Komodo3.jpg


Today is a big day for my tank. I'm making a QT and relocating all my fish there. I will then completely redo the aqua-scape on my DT. I can't think of a better time to do it and I've been really annoyed by the lack of sand space (for all my Open Brains and Clams!) and general clutter of the live rock layout. I hope it goes well. More later.
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Yesterday was a rather massive day for my tank and livestock. Since I had to get all my fish out and into QT, there was no choice but to nearly breakdown my entire tank --- we removed all the corals, all the rock, and 50% of the water. What a huge project it turned out to be.

Tear-down.jpg


The first 8 fish came out pretty easily, but the Red Coris took almost too hours, and that is in an empty tank! The bugger is a master hider and it was really frustrating. But in the end, all the fish came out and into a brand new QT tank where I will start hypo-salinity in a day or two.

The QT is nothing special and I would rather it was longer and not so tall, but this is what I have to work with on such short notice. I put some sand on the bottom because my 2 Leopard Wrasses in particular were looking really stressed out and sure enough 4 out of the 9 fish spent the first 12 hours under the sand. They are all out and about now as they normally are in the morning and they all look healthy so far. I really didn't want to put them in a brand new QT but I had no choice really. I'm just worry about the Leopards as they had a lot of pods to eat in the DT and they have never eaten prepared foods before.

QT.jpg


We did a completely new rock scape in the DT and it gives me 3x the sand space in the front which I really needed for all my Open Brains, Clams, etc. Once I get things tweaked a bit more I'll post some photos.

Now I just hope everything stabilizes and the next challenge will be beginning hypo on the QT tank.
 
sk8rdn

sk8rdn

Has been struck by the ban stick
Looks really good. Hopefully things settle down for you for a bit. Good luck with the hypo... :)

....Moving On, Moving On....
 
Uslanja

Uslanja

Active Member
Hey Jetbkk! Bummer on the tank tear down and redo! The tiniest piece of Monti will regrow no problem so if there is just a smidgens on the rock, give it light and flow and watch it grow!! Hope the fish all do well in quarantine. And....... looking forward to your next aquascape that will without a doubt be phenomenal!! Any chance of you shipping one of this Komodo Dragons to Canada? Do they like snow? But on the serious side...... real nice vacation photos!! Do you have any more that you can post?
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Hey Guys! Here are some photos of my fallow tank while my remaining fish deal with being in a QT for 2 months. As I mentioned earlier, all the coral and rocks had to come out to catch the fish, so it was a good opportunity to try again with the rock scape.

I still have a ton of work to do on it, and was hesitant to show anything yet, but what the heck this is a tank chronicle afterall. I really need to get the corals on the sand bed laid out better. I don't think I'll ever get a 30" high again because I basically can't place corals accurately on the sandbed with my hands and the claw just makes things so difficult! There is also one very big rock dead center that just doesn't cut it. I need some sort of ledge there, so I will need to figure that one out..

I'm just about to hit the 4 month mark on the tank, so it is still a baby. It is going to evolve a lot in the coming months, and next up will be the addition of some SPS corals on top.

FT_August12b_sm.jpg


FT_August12a_sm.jpg


FT_August12c_sm.jpg
 
Haaileybop

Haaileybop

Member
Looking good! I have trouble with my tank at 24", I would need to be swimming to arrange things in 30" of water. How are you fish doing? And your hippo?

I still love your lighting. I want to replicate that in my own tank.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Thanks! Believe me, to really touch the bottom like I need to I would have to stick my head under the water as well..

The Hippo died the other day. I thought it might have a chance but it couldn't outrun the Ich. Since I lost my only 2 Tangs in this bout of Ich (Hippo and Yellow) I think I'll try some different varieties next time, perhaps a Chevron and a Purple Tang..

The other fish are doing fine in the QT and I started bringing the salinity down today. I'm doing it a bit slow so I don't shock the fish..

My lighting is pretty straight forward -- 2 400w MH with Salamander reflectors. I'll have to check which bulbs i'm using though, I can't remember.
 
Haaileybop

Haaileybop

Member
I am sorry to hear about your two Tangs. I know you had your hippo for a long time, I am glad though that your others are holding fast. How are your corals doing? And how is the monti doing that spent time in the trash >.<?

Thanks for the info on the lights, your lights really let the coral color pop. Did you look at LEDs before going that route?
 
Jetbkk

Jetbkk

Member
Actually I had my Yellow Tang almost as long. The corals are fine. Actually the Monti wasn't put in the trash -- our tank sitter just put the pieces that broke off in the trash (luckily, I guess). However some of those pieces were pretty decent size and would have made good frags so I'm still pissed about it. Oh well, I guess the Monti will grow back at least.

I considered LED's, but since I wanted to try some SPS corals this time I just felt safer going the MH route..
 
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