Carey's LAST Build- 125g Reef

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the guy at the lfs told me he would use the old water but i was thinking i wouldnt use it either
 
I used half or so when I upped to the 55g, just didnt wanna do the water lugging this time around. I did have a small spike in ammonia though after moving the rock over, lasted about 3 days I'd say. I didn't start putting fish in til a week later. I wanted the tank to settle.

Well, even with all that thought I'm sitting where I am with only 4 fish left.

Just take your time, that's the best advice I can possibly give.
 
carey said:
LOL. It took me 3 days to make enough water. I didn't use any of the 55g water though. I had the luxury of having both tanks up at the same time.
When i say three days, i mean 6 hours per day, thats how long it takes to fill up my 32g garbage can. :) I did it slowly, I'm sure you could speed it up.

Can u tell me the process you took to set up qt... did use subrate?
 
carey said:
I do not use swubstrate in a qt tank. or any live rock. Is that what you are asking? :)

Yea.. so just water and pvc tube? Did you have to cycle it?

Edit: after reading last post sorry.. dumb smart phone.
 
Only reason I ask is I was like you and thought the lfs was good enough not to sell bad fish.. but I may have ich on one.. so hard to tell since he's so small but figured id start a 10 gt tank anyways..
 
Just need a tank, heater and some sort of filtration. Sponge filters are very popular, I'll be getting on of those and putting it in my sump to collect bacteria. So when I need the qt I'm ready to go. :)
 
carey said:
Just need a tank, heater and some sort of filtration. Sponge filters are very popular, I'll be getting on of those and putting it in my sump to collect bacteria. So when I need the qt I'm ready to go. :)

So no cycle required just add water and tube?
 
If you have a sponge filter runningin your sump you'll move that to the qt, then you have a cycled filter in the qt. Otherwise you are not cycled and will have to do pwc's just as if you are cycling with fish.
 
carey said:
If you have a sponge filter runningin your sump you'll move that to the qt, then you have a cycled filter in the qt. Otherwise you are not cycled and will have to do pwc's just as if you are cycling with fish.

So if I use a sponge filter from an established tank im good.. almost sounds to easy..
 
Carey you use instant ocean right? If so about how much salt did you use for that 32g can lol
 
It works for FW too. I'm ordering some sponge filters this week so I can keep 2 in my sump just in case. they run like $6 - $10 depending on the size.

It's the same thing as cycling a tank using established media, it will a void a cycle but you might have a mini one so still check the qt to be safe.
 
I'm seeing alot about sponger filters. Carey can you tell bout them? What are they? What do they do? Where do you put them? (I read some people are putting them in their power filters). I mean, is this something I should be doing?

Thanks
 
Buffy said:
I'm seeing alot about sponger filters. Carey can you tell bout them? What are they? What do they do? Where do you put them? (I read some people are putting them in their power filters). I mean, is this something I should be doing?

Thanks

Been doing this for quite sometime.. apparently we should.
 
This is the sponge filter I'm looking at

Aquarium Internal Filters: ATI Hydro-Sponge Pro Filters at Foster and Smith Aquatics

I will keep one running in the 125g for sure, so I can have a qt ready on the fly. It will harbor lots of the beneficial bacteria that you need to avoid a cycle in a new tank.

They are also good for fry tanks too, or to prevent anything from getting sucked up. You can us a powerhead or an air pump to make it run.
 
It's been a quiet few days in this tank. I've moved and movbed stuff again so I'm sure the gramma died last week sometime. I also cant' find 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 peppermint shrimp. :-( Evil pistol shrimp, I bet he's responsible. lol

But anyways to todays point. I've been pm'ing some senior members to get their take on my situation and qt'ing.

You will not believe the results! I won't of course say who said what but I'm getting definite mixed feedback. Some people don't even run a qt unless they have a sick fish, as in no qt'ing new purchases. I know qt'ing that one blue tang would prob have saved my tank, but to know that people who have been doing this DECADES don't qt is startling.

I have also gotten mixed comments about when I should re stock. I've heard to try another store's fish, or even to add my own fish from another tank to the 125g. It's been about 2 weeks so far since the death plague hit my tank and I havent had any issue with the last 3 fish.

I'm not saying I'm gonna go get fish today, but maybe there is some merit in considering it within a reasonable time frame.

I've also been told that the tank was new and it could have been a result of that, although I don't see how a new tank with 4 fish added over 3 weeks could have been the source, but hey, I'm new at this so it could hold some value.

Also heard that I moved too fast, well, I had the tankup and running over a week before I added over my livestock from the 55g. And only then when the parameters exactly matched.

Just sharing some interesting opinions I've gathered over the last few days.

Another thought, we still don't know that it was marine velvet that took out the fish. We know it wasnt ich for sure. The skin didnt peel off the fish, just they got discolored and whatever it was killed within 24 hours of first symptom.

Any thoughts, no flames please. I'm just still trying to get my head around all this.

Thanks folks for reading my mini novel here!
:-D
 
It's been a quiet few days in this tank. I've moved and movbed stuff again so I'm sure the gramma died last week sometime. I also cant' find 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 peppermint shrimp. :-( Evil pistol shrimp, I bet he's responsible. lol

But anyways to todays point. I've been pm'ing some senior members to get their take on my situation and qt'ing.

You will not believe the results! I won't of course say who said what but I'm getting definite mixed feedback. Some people don't even run a qt unless they have a sick fish, as in no qt'ing new purchases. I know qt'ing that one blue tang would prob have saved my tank, but to know that people who have been doing this DECADES don't qt is startling.

I have also gotten mixed comments about when I should re stock. I've heard to try another store's fish, or even to add my own fish from another tank to the 125g. It's been about 2 weeks so far since the death plague hit my tank and I havent had any issue with the last 3 fish.

I'm not saying I'm gonna go get fish today, but maybe there is some merit in considering it within a reasonable time frame.

I've also been told that the tank was new and it could have been a result of that, although I don't see how a new tank with 4 fish added over 3 weeks could have been the source, but hey, I'm new at this so it could hold some value.

Also heard that I moved too fast, well, I had the tankup and running over a week before I added over my livestock from the 55g. And only then when the parameters exactly matched.

Just sharing some interesting opinions I've gathered over the last few days.

Another thought, we still don't know that it was marine velvet that took out the fish. We know it wasnt ich for sure. The skin didnt peel off the fish, just they got discolored and whatever it was killed within 24 hours of first symptom.

Any thoughts, no flames please. I'm just still trying to get my head around all this.

Thanks folks for reading my mini novel here!
:-D

Hi Carey,
I read all your comments and also all the history, is hearth breaking, but also you will consider that as a good experience, if the problem doesn't kill you, you will become more powerful.
Regarding the QT or not QT, by my knowledge and also the experience that I have before, it is better to QT all your fishes at least for 2 weeks, I have also started to change my water parameters (I read a lot from a guy who is a Marine Biologist) to be more specific the salinity, I always leave it at 1.020 (only if you have some invert) or 1.015 (if you have just fish), this can reduce the infections problem that they can develop. At low salinity the fishes are fine and the issues will reduce dramatically.
I hope that this will help you.....
Have a great day!!!
 
thaks for the input Mario, appreciated. I also heard the same thing about salinity, that it can hinder an outbreak if its low, which I've heard is why LFS's keep their salinity low. I have lots of corals though, so I keep mine at 1.025. I have been told the corals need the higher level, if I heard wrong please someone tell me.
 
I def can understand the no qt'ing part, some people simply have better luck when it comes to new fish and their health, still think its a very wise idea to qt new fish, especially once you start getting closer to the end of your stock list...nobody wants to lose a couple hundred dollars in fish because of a hitchhiker disease. I def don't think you moved too fast, although you say you're new to this, you def know what you're doing. Plus with your parameter testing and everything, I'm pretty sure your "noob" status has been ruled out as a cause.I'm not sure of the circumstances of the previous owner, but maybe this killer disease hit the previous owner hard and that's why they decided to get out of it?? Being that you had it up in a week, possibly the disease didn't completely die off. Have you looked into possible uv sterilzing, I don't know if it would help but I'm thinking that it would:)i I honestly feel that you were just the extremely unlucky recepient of a nasty disease
 
I put the system together myself, it wasnt a used tank. I'm pretty sure its the blue tang that started all this. But I prob will never know.

I still intend on QT'ing anything that goes into the big tank, just to be sure. My cube isnt heavily stocked at all and neither is the pico so think I can be safe in those tanks.

I'm waiting on a used 20g or so tank with stand from the inlaws that I will use as a QT since I think a 10g will be too small. I also ruled out using my 55g as a QT, well I think I did anyways. Life would be ALOT easier if I just used that tank. LOL
 
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