Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

[TheTodd]

Chromis suck! They always die. Get some smaller anthias.

Do Anthias school the same way? I always see them in smaller reef tanks at the LFS and they seem to kinda keep their distance. I've never seen a group in a larger tank.

 

[Fishman007]

Do Anthias school the same way? I always see them in smaller reef tanks at the LFS and they seem to kinda keep their distance. I've never seen a group in a larger tank.

Same here, i have seen them school but most of the time they are spread out across th tank.

 

[Fishman007]

What?!? this is not something i like to hear. so Chromis have a tendancy to just randomly die??

I think x is talking about the murders they commit against each other.

 

[mr_X]

I think x is talking about the murders they commit against each other.

I don't exactly know what happens, but I always ever ended up with one.



As for the anthias, yes, they are schooling fish.

 

[carey]

How many anthias would be considered a "school"? Five, seven? Maybe I will give some a try if the chromis dont work out. I had squarebacks before and really loved them, but if I were to try again I guess lyretails would be the best choice? For longevity at least and ease of care....
I seem to have alot of space left in the 180g but then again I dont have the tangs in yet. Other than the tangs I will just be adding some small fish from the other tanks like gobies and blennies and a pair of clowns, not sure which pair just yet, leaning towards the b&w's since they are so big and the percs are still quite small.
I'm ok with having a overstocked tank, I will still be doing my larger than normal water changes and with less tanks to work with overall I think I can dedicate the time needed to keep the 180g in really good shape parameter wise anyway. lol
Kinda sad in a way to be getting rid of some tanks, but if Mr x can walk away from his 300g then I guess I can too. lol

 

[carey]

The black friday sale bug bit me and I went a fish shopping! LOL

After seeing several candidates for tangs I finally settled on a large hawaiin naso.

I saw some blondes but they were either too small or didnt look that great but the naso I got is as big as my other tangs and his color is outraegous! He is in the bag with oxygen temp acclimating right now but I have ALOT of work to do now. lol

I need to do a large water change on the biocube so I can move the clowns in the 125g over there today and I have to half drain the 125g and empty most of the rock so I can get the tangs, wrasse and goby out of there so I can add them in with the naso to the 180g.
I've checked all the tanks and they are within a degree or so temperature wise and salinity is almost deadon compared to the 180g. I was hoping to just move the existing tangs over and drip the new guy. Anyone think that will be an issue? Or should I drip the old tangs too? I didnt want to stress them out any by having them in a bucket, I've had the three for a few years and would just die inside if anything happened to them.

So let me know what you guys think, I will check this thread soon and see if anyone has any opinions.

I also came across a huge copperband that is eating like a pig at the lfs, he was even stealing food from the chromis in the tank with him, so I *might* consider him, just maybe.....

Also got all the eaten up coral moved out of the 180g and into the cube, hopefully they will recover, at least some of the polyps anyway. My one trusted lfs said that if any of the mat remains from the zooas and plays that they can come back, hope he is right. lol

Anyways, off to make some salt water! LOL

Thanks for reading!

 

[redsea]

Congrats on the new Naso, you must be so excited! Unfortunately, I am not sure what to say about the question, lol. Do other params matter too when acclimating a fish (like nitrate nitrite, pH)?

 

[carey]

Well, the water the fish came from in the 125g had nitrates but the 180g doesnt so I cant see that being an issue. There were no nitrites of course in either tank or ammonia.

We just finished getting the 125g emptied, boy did pootie put up a fight! Ws like deep sea fishing getting him in a net and him jumping. lol AND we found the pistol shrimp!!! We've only seen him 3 times now, when we got him, moved him tot he 125 and today. lol he is quite big, got a pretty good shot of him though so I will post the photos later.
Twitchy found a cave right away, the tomini is ok but pootie is not looking happy at all. He's breathing heavy and just overall doesnt look good. :-( The naso is in too and he is swimming around looking pretty happy already, he was getting dark spots in the bucket from stress but he went in and they disappeared.

The perculas are in the biocube right now, we are planning to empty the 60g next and putting in fresh rock after we get the aipastia rock out. So, the happy fish go in the cube, then to the 60g again. lol It's musical fish over here right now.

Just waiting for the water to clear in the 125g and I will fish out the hermits and snails, water got quite cloudy from all the fish catching. I have the 180g under blues only so hoping that helps them transition better.

We are going to put all the aiptasia rock back into the 125g and nuke it with ammonia, cant wait to see those guys dead. THEN the tank goes up for sale. And the biocube too.

I made a decision to get a custom stand made for the 60g rimless so we are gonna keep that instead of get a Nuvo, it will cost less in the end and we like the rimless look. lol

Sorry this is so long, just so much to say today! I also took pictures of one of the few white tangs in the world today, my lfs in Orlando has had one for a few years now and he is awesome! Pictures arent the best but you can see him mostly.

Thanks red for following along and your support, I really appreciate it. Makes me think someone cares.

 

[Sniperhank]

It's been 3 minutes and I don't see any pictures of this "white tang" or the pistol shrimp. Screenshots or it didn't happen Carey!

In all seriousness, glad things are coming along well for the most part. This is a big move overall...just refresh our memory what fish "Pootie" is?

 

[carey]

Pootie is the blue hippo, twitchy is the yellow. lol Ijustturned on the white lights and fed the tank, everyone ate except pootie from what I could see. even the new naso. I also had a seaweed clip that the naso made short work of. So he seems to have acclimated very well.

here are the photos, lol. The ones with the white tang you can see him on the lower right side of the pictures kinda. I guess it is an albino yellow, supposedly there are only like 3 in captivity, not sure how true that is, but it is really cool that I can see one somewhat locally. The lfs also has a tank I believe is 12 feet or 14 feet long, I think its a 800 or 1000 gallon tank. It is full to the brim with tangs and sps. It is one of the best tanks I have ever seen. They have a black tang that is about the size of my head. lol

Pistol shrimp:



Tang shots, soo sorry they arent great but for those that never knew there were white tangs its still neat:

 

[redsea]

Well, the water the fish came from in the 125g had nitrates but the 180g doesnt so I cant see that being an issue. There were no nitrites of course in either tank or ammonia. We just finished getting the 125g emptied, boy did pootie put up a fight! Ws like deep sea fishing getting him in a net and him jumping. lol AND we found the pistol shrimp!!! We've only seen him 3 times now, when we got him, moved him tot he 125 and today. lol he is quite big, got a pretty good shot of him though so I will post the photos later. Twitchy found a cave right away, the tomini is ok but pootie is not looking happy at all. He's breathing heavy and just overall doesnt look good. :-( The naso is in too and he is swimming around looking pretty happy already, he was getting dark spots in the bucket from stress but he went in and they disappeared. The perculas are in the biocube right now, we are planning to empty the 60g next and putting in fresh rock after we get the aipastia rock out. So, the happy fish go in the cube, then to the 60g again. lol It's musical fish over here right now. Just waiting for the water to clear in the 125g and I will fish out the hermits and snails, water got quite cloudy from all the fish catching. I have the 180g under blues only so hoping that helps them transition better. We are going to put all the aiptasia rock back into the 125g and nuke it with ammonia, cant wait to see those guys dead. THEN the tank goes up for sale. And the biocube too. I made a decision to get a custom stand made for the 60g rimless so we are gonna keep that instead of get a Nuvo, it will cost less in the end and we like the rimless look. lol Sorry this is so long, just so much to say today! I also took pictures of one of the few white tangs in the world today, my lfs in Orlando has had one for a few years now and he is awesome! Pictures arent the best but you can see him mostly. Thanks red for following along and your support, I really appreciate it. Makes me think someone cares.

No problem, I love following along! As we always say, have the fun of the hobby is living viacariously through other people's great tanks!

Yes, the custom stand will probably end up being cheaper.. Additionally, you already have the 60g figured out, and are used to it, so it should be a fairly easy transition.

I'm sure Pootie will end up just fine; he is probably just settling down.

White Tangs are so awesome! They are a morph of the Yellow Tang, right?

 

[carey]

I think they are morphs, not really sure. lol

I got some pretty good pictures of the naso!

 

[redsea]

Look at the Tang! How nice!

Is everyone behaving okay?

I see Pootie is out!

 

[carey]

Yep, pootie is doing much much better! Everyone is out and swimming around. We just finished emptying the 60g and added some of the smaller fish into the 180g as well. The biocube now has the mandarin, both clown gobies,the linear blenny and the true percs from the 125g. The arc eye hawk, citron goby, lawnmower blenny, barnacle blenny and the b&w clowns are now in the 180g. The tank is now pretty much stocked I think, though a bunch of the fish are pretty small. lol It looks amazing with all the activity now, just like at the lfs display tanks I always see. That is exactly the look I wanted.

Now I will start testing twice a day to see if i have any spikes as I added a boatload of fish today, can never be too cautious. I expect to do a large water change in a few days and with the biopellets running that should help to level out the parameters if they do rise. I am so pleased!!! it was sooo much work and theres still more to do before I can sell the 125g and the cube but this was a huge step!

 

[Sniperhank]

I've never seen a nice LFS display...I need a picture as I only dream about them! Mine are full of aiptasia .

Either way, I'm happy things went so well for you carey. Less time for maintenance and more time for WoW in your future lol.

 

[carey]

You betcha! Right this moment I only have 4 saltwater tanks with fish, the 125g has about 150lbs at least of aipastia infested rock and the 60g is empty except for king crab and 2 anemones. The 10g in the kitchen I emptied of coral and its in the biocube and the 8g pico in the kitchen just has the itty bitty sailfin blenny and the tailspot blenny. The tailspot will eventually go into the 60g after I set it back up and I want to sell the pico too. lol This will make feeding time soo much easier not to mention water changes.

Now I just worry that the 180g has too many fish! hehe always something to stress about I guess.

As for the lfs display tanks, you gotta see what my stores have, they are unbelieveable! Where I was today with the white tang their 800g+ tank is beyond words. I betcha even MrX would be envious lol

 

[redsea]

I am glad you are enjoying the tank, and that it is booming with activity! Busy tanks are always a blast to watch.

 

[TheTodd]

That's a good looking Naso. The tank is coming along nicely.

 

[carey]

Hmm well today is a weird day. Not sure if the naso is eating. he is tearing up the algae sheets I put in but I havent seen him actually eat any frozen and he doesnt seem to like pellets either.
I also tested for ammonia in all my tanks and the API tests are coming up with traces but when I use my salifert tests they come up 100% clean. The API is a brand new kit too, just got it like a week ago and the expiration date isnt for like 3 years.
Not sure whats going on with that, will continue testing though and see what I get.

The mandarin isnt happy with the biocube it seems, I havent seen him eat since he went in and he has been swimming to the top of the water and just floating around, not his usual behavior. Another fish I will need to keep an eye on.
Gonna try to take a quick video of the 180g so you guys can see how active and full the tank is, its so cool to watch, there is constant activity. I will say this though, the move has been good for pootie tang, he actually doesnt race away now when I approach, I think all the activity has made him less scared of people and brought him out more.
The chromis are hilarious, still have all seven and they are constantly begging for food. lol And since I took all the polyps out of that tank I havent seen or caught the filefish eating any corals, hopefully that luck holds up.

 

[Fishman007]

Hmm well today is a weird day. Not sure if the naso is eating. he is tearing up the algae sheets I put in but I havent seen him actually eat any frozen and he doesnt seem to like pellets either.
I also tested for ammonia in all my tanks and the API tests are coming up with traces but when I use my salifert tests they come up 100% clean. The API is a brand new kit too, just got it like a week ago and the expiration date isnt for like 3 years.
Not sure whats going on with that, will continue testing though and see what I get.

The mandarin isnt happy with the biocube it seems, I havent seen him eat since he went in and he has been swimming to the top of the water and just floating around, not his usual behavior. Another fish I will need to keep an eye on.
Gonna try to take a quick video of the 180g so you guys can see how active and full the tank is, its so cool to watch, there is constant activity. I will say this though, the move has been good for pootie tang, he actually doesnt race away now when I approach, I think all the activity has made him less scared of people and brought him out more.
The chromis are hilarious, still have all seven and they are constantly begging for food. lol And since I took all the polyps out of that tank I havent seen or caught the filefish eating any corals, hopefully that luck holds up.

Hope the naso and mandarin are ok, happy the rest of the fish are ok and cant wait to see the vid!!!