Nobby's S-650

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
At last, I made it to the LFS and came away with a lovely new Leopard Wrasse. This time I was going to try something new with the introduction of this fish to the tank. I was going to prove to all the fish that I am indeed far more intelligent than they are. I was going to show them just who is the top dog in our house. Oh yes, it was time to lay down a marker.
So, I decided to continue with the acclimatization box, but this time I had a cunning extra plan. I would provide a sand bed for the Wrasse to sleep in if it felt troubled. I intended that the Wrasse may stay in the box for a couple of days giving it ample time to look at the other fish, and they at her.
Wrasse Bed.jpg

and here she is in the box, looking slightly sorry for herself. With that, I sat down with a smug smile telling myself how great I am. I even felt like high-fiving myself. A job well done.
Wrasse Bed 2.jpg After about an hour I released the latest batch of baby Brine Shrimp into the tank, and some of them flooded through the holes into the box, and the Wrasse could be seen eating them. This was a good sign. Oh yes, these fish will not outwit this particular reef keeper. Oh no Siree.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Well, I couldn't sit there all afternoon looking at the tank as there were some important things to do, like watching the greatest football team in the world via the internet. That didn't go too well though, as Bristol Rovers lost 4-1. Never mind, I still had my little experiment ongoing with the Wrasse. Upon looking at the tank I could see that at some point she must have dived into her special sand bed, as there was no sign of her in the box. Everything was looking good. All the usual suspect's were swimming around.....the Cleaner Wrasse was cleaning the Leopard Wrasse.....whoa! What? Cleaning the new Leopard Wrasse! What was she doing swimming around the tank ! She had only gone and squeezed through one of the holes in the box! The holes are much smaller than she is. My Grand Plan lay in tatters as she swam around for about an hour and then disappeared into the sand ! Will I ever see her again? I did at one point lower the box towards the sand and opened the door, hoping that she may go back in, but as always the only fish interested in the box is the filefish, In this picture you can see the filefish inside the box, and the Wrasse is swimming underneath it.
Out Of The Box.jpg

I think I will put my plan for World Domination on hold. Maybe I'm not ready yet.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
Well, I couldn't sit there all afternoon looking at the tank as there were some important things to do, like watching the greatest football team in the world via the internet. That didn't go too well though, as Bristol Rovers lost 4-1. Never mind, I still had my little experiment ongoing with the Wrasse. Upon looking at the tank I could see that at some point she must have dived into her special sand bed, as there was no sign of her in the box. Everything was looking good. All the usual suspect's were swimming around.....the Cleaner Wrasse was cleaning the Leopard Wrasse.....whoa! What? Cleaning the new Leopard Wrasse! What was she doing swimming around the tank ! She had only gone and squeezed through one of the holes in the box! The holes are much smaller than she is. My Grand Plan lay in tatters as she swam around for about an hour and then disappeared into the sand ! Will I ever see her again? I did at one point lower the box towards the sand and opened the door, hoping that she may go back in, but as always the only fish interested in the box is the filefish, In this picture you can see the filefish inside the box, and the Wrasse is swimming underneath it.
View attachment 50538

I think I will put my plan for World Domination on hold. Maybe I'm not ready yet.
You are simply a reef master! Lol
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
It's unreal isn't it. I seem to be having real problems with introducing new fish to the mature tank.
Yes same here. I havnt added anything to the S650 for ages, probably around a year and it just disappeared.

The ones I added in the new tank are both fine, but with the acclimatisation box
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Yes same here. I havnt added anything to the S650 for ages, probably around a year and it just disappeared.

The ones I added in the new tank are both fine, but with the acclimatisation box
I also bought two more Bimaculatus Anthias at the same time, just to keep the numbers up, and only one of those has made it. I haven't seen the second one.
Although it has only been two days since the Leopard Wrasse went into the sand I don't hold out any hope of seeing her again.
 
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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Friday night, just before midnight and I'm thinking of going to bed.......then I hear the dreaded gurgling from the S-650. I got up to adjust it, but quickly realized that the problem was that the Vectra L2 Return Pump had stopped working and the water was draining into the Sump. I tried a technical reset (power off, power on) of the quiet drive. That didn't work. So I thought I'd remove the pump, give it a quick wash through in the sink as usually pumps stop when they are clogged somewhere inside. I did that, and nothing. You could hear a very quiet whirring sound from the pump, but the motor did not fire up. At this point it was near 2am so I decided to make the tank workable, go to bed, and fix it in the morning. I placed two old heaters in the display, an air stone for oxygen, and water movement was supplied by the rear circulation pumps which also provided surface movement. In the meantime I placed the disassembled Vectra into my tub of water/vinegar solution to soak until morning. With heating, water circulation and oxygen the tank would be alright for a few hours.
Next morning I put the Vectra back together after cleaning everything. To be honest it didn't look at dirty as it has only been running for around 6 months. However, it would still not run. I tried reset of the Quiet Drive but that didn't fix it either. I had to pop round to the local hardware shop for a few pipe connectors and I installed the original Sicce Return Pump. That got things back to normal so now I have to contact Ecotech to find out why their super duper pump has failed after six months.
Not the best of things to happen so late on a Friday night, but it didn't seem to affect any fish or corals.
 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
Friday night, just before midnight and I'm thinking of going to bed.......then I hear the dreaded gurgling from the S-650. I got up to adjust it, but quickly realized that the problem was that the Vectra L2 Return Pump had stopped working and the water was draining into the Sump. I tried a technical reset (power off, power on) of the quiet drive. That didn't work. So I thought I'd remove the pump, give it a quick wash through in the sink as usually pumps stop when they are clogged somewhere inside. I did that, and nothing. You could hear a very quiet whirring sound from the pump, but the motor did not fire up. At this point it was near 2am so I decided to make the tank workable, go to bed, and fix it in the morning. I placed two old heaters in the display, an air stone for oxygen, and water movement was supplied by the rear circulation pumps which also provided surface movement. In the meantime I placed the disassembled Vectra into my tub of water/vinegar solution to soak until morning. With heating, water circulation and oxygen the tank would be alright for a few hours.
Next morning I put the Vectra back together after cleaning everything. To be honest it didn't look at dirty as it has only been running for around 6 months. However, it would still not run. I tried reset of the Quiet Drive but that didn't fix it either. I had to pop round to the local hardware shop for a few pipe connectors and I installed the original Sicce Return Pump. That got things back to normal so now I have to contact Ecotech to find out why their super duper pump has failed after six months.
Not the best of things to happen so late on a Friday night, but it didn't seem to affect any fish or corals.
I hate it when things like that happen, especially when it’s inconvenient.

I’ve got 2 of the original pumps and just change them over once a year or sooner if I’m in a maintenance mood.

You really need a spare pump of whichever you decide, it’s the heart of the system so you can do a quick change over.

Glad to hear it’s all ok though
 

Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Friday night, just before midnight and I'm thinking of going to bed.......then I hear the dreaded gurgling from the S-650. I got up to adjust it, but quickly realized that the problem was that the Vectra L2 Return Pump had stopped working and the water was draining into the Sump. I tried a technical reset (power off, power on) of the quiet drive. That didn't work. So I thought I'd remove the pump, give it a quick wash through in the sink as usually pumps stop when they are clogged somewhere inside. I did that, and nothing. You could hear a very quiet whirring sound from the pump, but the motor did not fire up. At this point it was near 2am so I decided to make the tank workable, go to bed, and fix it in the morning. I placed two old heaters in the display, an air stone for oxygen, and water movement was supplied by the rear circulation pumps which also provided surface movement. In the meantime I placed the disassembled Vectra into my tub of water/vinegar solution to soak until morning. With heating, water circulation and oxygen the tank would be alright for a few hours.
Next morning I put the Vectra back together after cleaning everything. To be honest it didn't look at dirty as it has only been running for around 6 months. However, it would still not run. I tried reset of the Quiet Drive but that didn't fix it either. I had to pop round to the local hardware shop for a few pipe connectors and I installed the original Sicce Return Pump. That got things back to normal so now I have to contact Ecotech to find out why their super duper pump has failed after six months.
Not the best of things to happen so late on a Friday night, but it didn't seem to affect any fish or corals.
Nothing worse than super-duper becoming super-pooper.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I hate it when things like that happen, especially when it’s inconvenient.

I’ve got 2 of the original pumps and just change them over once a year or sooner if I’m in a maintenance mood.

You really need a spare pump of whichever you decide, it’s the heart of the system so you can do a quick change over.

Glad to hear it’s all ok though
I still have the original Sicce Return Pump as a spare. I just didn't have the correct connections for it. I got them on Saturday morning.
 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
You might be doing this already, but what you need is an adapter so you can just easily swap them straight around if one fails as there different connections

Anyway lets have some pictures of your plumbing prowess when you get chance

Has the leopard wrasse appeared yet ?
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
So, we are back online again ! Yippee.

What has been happening eh? Well, this has been ongoing for a number of months now, but I've had an Anthia war ! I used to have four Lyretail Anthias (1xM, 3xF) and three Bimaculatus Anthias (3xF). They all seemed to happily co-exist. Then, without warning, one of the female Lyretails disappeared. No idea what happened to her. Next, the Male Lyretail started hiding and resting on the same rock. These rest periods gradually became longer and longer, he seemed to lose his colour a bit, then he disappeared. The same thing happened with another Lyretail female. During this period I also found one of the Bimaculatus floating on the surface. At this moment the sole surviving female Lyretail is hiding and is attacked by the two Bimaculatus whenever she appears. I just know how this will end up. The Bimaculatus are bigger than the Lyretail. I will wait for the inevitable and increase my stock of Bimaculatus when that happens. I suspect one of the Bimaculatus wants to become a Male, as this one seems to be the aggressor. I thought mixed Anthias would have been ok, and for a long time everything seemed fine. Something changed in the dynamics. What that change was, I have no idea. This hasn't just suddenly happened over a week, but has taken months to get to this stage, so I don't suspect disease or anything like that. No other fish have been involved or have died.
As for the rest of the tank, no changes. Corals are growing nicely, the fish seem happy and fat. This week I will switch off the Chiller and it's pump as it's no longer needed. It also is the heater for the tank, but the temperature in the house doesn't drop sufficiently to need a heater during the winter. I have a wife. The house never gets cold. There doesn't seem much point in running the Chiller and pump as during the Winter it doesn't do anything. I will connect up my old temperature controller but with no heaters attached, just to keep an eye on the water temperature. If need be I can always switch the Chiller back on.
 
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Blue Space

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Sorry to hear about your loss there. The lyertails are so beautiful! Sounds exactly like the male got bushwhacked by the larger female that is turning male.
 
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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Now, the Return Chamber down the back of the S-650 where the Circulation Pumps are housed.....It appears that I have a forest of Aipstasia growing in there. In the main tank there are just a couple of tiny ones that are kept under control by the Filefish, who does a great job of eating them. I am starting to get a bit angry that this horrid stuff is growing. So I either switch off all pumps and give the chamber a good ole Dhobi to clear it out, or the alternative is to catch my Filefish and put him into the chamber for a spell to see if he can eat the lot ! Any recommendations anyone?
 
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PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
I think I’d Joe’s juice the chamber, shops vac the water out afterwards. Then see what happens. Aiptasia are almost 100% guaranteed to get into a tank. I started with dead rock and now have 20 in my sump, go figure
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
The demise of my Anthias continues. It's strange, but I don't think it's a parasite nor disease problem. There has been no mass deaths, just one by one, in a steady drip, over a long period of time. The latest Bimaculatus to perish did the usual, starting to hide away, not eating. They eventually just disappear, however last night just before lights out I saw the latest casualty swimming very slowly. I managed to get a quick look at her and I was shocked! There were huge chunks bitten out of her back, and I mean HUGE chunks. I was amazed she was still alive .I would guess that something like 25% of her body had been eaten ! I really am at a loss as to why this is happening. I am now down to just the one Lyretail and the one Bimaculatus.
The other strange thing is that both of the surviving fish were the smallest in their groups !
 
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SPR

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The demise of my Anthias continues. It's strange, but I don't think it's a parasite nor disease problem. There has been no mass deaths, just one by one, in a steady drip, over a long period of time. The latest Bimaculatus to perish did the usual, starting to hide away, not eating. They eventually just disappear, however last night just before lights out I saw the latest casualty swimming very slowly. I managed to get a quick look at her and I was shocked! There were huge chunks bitten out of her back, and I mean HUGE chunks. I was amazed she was still alive .I would guess that something like 25% of her body had been eaten ! I really am at a loss as to why this is happening. I am now down to just the one Lyretail and the one Bimaculatus.
The other strange thing is that both of the surviving fish were the smallest in their groups !
I think they basically just murder each other, slowly

In the S650 I’ve got just 2 left

On the aiptasia (alerts don’t seem to be working) that’s what happened to me, it’s amazing how life forms adapt. I got a knife and just scrapped them off with no issues

I’ve got a few in the display hidden in corals, but they don’t seem to be harming anything so I’ve just left them alone
 
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