Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[bribo12]

When I worked at a lfs we had one in our coral tub. He was about 3" and always looking to fight something lol. There was a 5" clarki clown in the next tank over and the clown tang would flare against the glass lol. Beautiful fish but man are they mean!!


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[Sniperhank]

Yes, they sure are supposed to be mean. This guy didn't seem to care much about the other fish it was with. Was a big ol wrasse that I don't remember. Pretty impressive considering they were in a 40 breeder...

[Sniperhank]

It has been some time since I've updated.
The biopellets were doing as I wanted. The red turf algae was easy to remove and was on the run. It was then quickly replaced by hair algae brown gunk. It has been a constant battle keeping it off the coral via manual removal. I added three turbo snails and a lawnmower blenny to help as I was struggling to keep up. Things aren't as overwhelming as it stands, but it is far from where I am happy with what happened and feel things were fine before I fiddled.
Currently running the ATS and skimmer, which is now working well after having to be taken apart twice due to stopping skimming, the biopellets and GFO. Feeding remains every three days, but the difference between this today and having fat pleased fish a year ago isn't the same. My small orange clown vanished a week ago and the b/w female is skinny. Both were eating and don't see why they would look like that when a fish like the marine betta, which gets much less food due to being a slow stealthy feeder, is fat and healthy. Can only assume that whatever occurred during the time frame where I had to use distilled water from Giant Eagle something happened, be it from that water or the bacterial bloom that occurred during the same time frame would be any guess but I believe the bloom to be a nail in the coffin...just odd only the clowns were affected, not the coral beauty or marine betta.

[Dary421]

Hank ,...what's your water parameters?


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[Sniperhank]

Never had a nitrate reading, though I always suspect it being the culprit from the distilled water.


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[Sniperhank]

Well, I do a pretty bad job this year of keeping things updated in my thread.
The battle of the algae that came about when the turf was eliminated continues. I'm doing a large water change today on top of the weekly 10%.
Currently the only remaining fish are the coral beauty and marine beta. The loss of the clowns was confusing as they always are but literally withered away. The confusing part was that the beta, who would sometimes miss a feeding due to its nature of ambushing the food is fat and still active in the tank, is fat and active. I've wondered of parasite, but no proof. Could simply be stress but it has no effect on the coral beauty and beta who shouldn't be as hardy as a common clownfish. Possibly way overthinking things and just need to apply the KIS effect I recommend so often.
When I got home yesterday from my uncle's 70th birthday I was caught off guard by the fact that my rbta moved. Only concern was that it was co close to my beloved Duncan colony, but I simply moved it. I might not know why it moved after all these years but I won't complain now that I can enjoy its beauty now.


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[Sniperhank]

To continue the documentation of my battle as best as possible. During weekly maintenance I discovered that my ATS has no growth on it at all. It has been out competed by the algae in the display. As much display algae as possible is being removed during water change and we are going into a 3 day black out.

[54seaweed]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I should have taken a picture of the clown tang they had. First time I've had the opportunity to see one in person. What a beauty.

did it look like the one I have , I love the colors he has you aught to see him under the blues his blue stripes pop . they are a awesome fish very active .

[Sniperhank]

Another quick update. The 3 day blackout and large water changes did wonders. Rather than a week's growth of hair algae getting several inches long it is now barely noticeable. The rocks I had a chance to scrub with a toothbrush had no growth at all. So Today's water change is also in tandem with more scrubbing. In the right direction.

[Sniperhank]

Well, the path has remained a hard one. The I have done a major number on the algae outbreak. There are only a few spots remaining.
I discovered that my power heads had reset somehow, most likely during a brownout, and they were only going at 20% power. They are now at 50, but I haven't been able to get the schedule reprogrammed into them from the app.
This caused all sorts of issue. This led to the death of all but my marine beta my large acro colony also went along with my favia and favite frags. Montis are slightly bleached but it has proven impossible to kill them up to this point and am not worried.
Fast forward to water change night, yesterday. All went well and went to bed. Woke up today to the sound of sucking air around 5am. Missing about 2 gallons. Things worked as intended. Only the return section was drained and thus water stopped draining into the sump once water stopped entering the display. Return pump unplugged. No water on the floor at all, but def leaked into the basement upon inspection. Unsure what caused this but hoping that there is not a crack in the bottom of the sump that is to blame. Unable to investigate due to having to bring my father to see my newly born nephew.
So, heater is moved into the display until I can figure out what on earth happened in this continuation of disastrous events. Really putting off me getting the ro/di back up and running as I was planning to do.


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[navaljonf]

sorry to hear about this


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[Dary421]

Hank,.... Wow !!!! Just when you thought your life was screwed up you turn on the jerry springer show and suddenly you feel normal again., same case on the tanks here.
Wow,.. What brand of powerheads were you using ? Seems weird that they'd go to half power and stay there ,..but ,I guess that's the downside of high technology .
Sounds like a lot of intense investigating is ahead of you ,... Stay calm ,.. Take one item at a time ,... If you still have any hair left at the end of the project pop a cold one,...I may just pop one myself while following along . Good luck my friend


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[Sniperhank]

The power heads are vortechs. I'm thinking that it was like a soft reset and they got stuck in a loop. Most likely will be able to schedule them through the website but haven't had a chance due to what is currently going on. One step at a time ya know?


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[Sniperhank]

In quick follow up, I have no clue where the water issue was. My brainstorming last night was that the hob overflow lost siphon. It would make sense as my system is on a tilt and it would only overflow out the back corner of the display. But the water level was below the overflow when I discovered it. Tie this together with the last 30 minutes. I've sat and watched as I filled the tank back up with 5 gallons of saltwater I mixed yesterday in prep for this test. Not a single drop out of place. Plugged the return pump back in and everything started up like normal, including the overflow. Didn't have to suck air from it or anything it just went to work, so the aqua lifter is also working properly. No complaints, but what on earth.


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[Sniperhank]

Things have been going along as expected. There has been progress made in the algae battle. That said, probably won't be a complete victory until I have ro/di water again instead of store bought distilled.
I ended up down at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium yesterday with the wife. I didn't think to take any pictures, but it was a good chunk of fun. I got to spend a ton of time running my mouth to my wife about what was going on in the systems, the different saltwater life in the systems and their needs, what was going on in their coral save the reef system, and so on. At some points, I ended up having quite the crowd as families would stop and watch the tank as I talked about what livestock was in the systems, their needs, and so on. There was one tank in general that I found quite interesting. Strangely it was one that had star polyps in it. They were red like I had in my system before it was wiped out by a fungus or something. Literally all over the tank like a beautiful red field of grass. Got to open up the discussion about how the things we try to keep in our system and people actually pay money for to have can turn into invasive creatures.

[Autumnsky]

Its funny how much we enjoy the passion of the hobby and sharing it with others. I had a guy at work who wanted to keep some little Blue Gill and boy did I ever gush on and on, lol! You realize, wow, I know a lot of stuff about that (and then also how much you don't yet know)!

[Sniperhank]

Very true. For the fish I didn't know what they were...I really wanted Tony Gil to be there lol.

[Sniperhank]

This guy is a beauty.

[Autumnsky]

Purple Tang right?

After looking up those guys, I think I need have a 125G-175G SW tank too now, lol. (probably not but... ) He is a great looking color.

[Sniperhank]

There are a ton of different niches in this hobby...I for one am one of the ones that need a huge tank. Tangs are amazing fish and cover such a wide range. When it comes to dream fish, several are tangs.