My 72 gallon BF tank journey

[leftyfish]

Oh yeah it's deep...5"

Well so the return pipe is probably 1" and the loud drain is 1 1/2". I'm not looking to change the volume of water, just give it a more appropriate size tube, so there is no air in the line.

The pump is not adjustable, I'm not even sure what it is this is a reef ready tank so all the piping is hidden behind a black compartment that I believe acts as the overflow? I know when I unplug it only 1" of water fills the sump below. I have avoided addressing this because it seems confusing. I know it's just pipes and water, lol!

[Mike-words]

You should be able to cut that drain pipe back to 1 1/4" or 1" without a problem

[leftyfish]

Originally Posted by Mike-words

You should be able to cut that drain pipe back to 1 1/4" or 1" without a problem

Thanks Mike, I'm going to HD in a few to see what I can find.

[leftyfish]

No luck yet with the plumbing, decided maybe a bigger pump would be better, this one is driving me crazy with the hummmmmm it has, I put rubber under it to insulate it, no change. It's a mag5, I'm looking at a few that are rated 792 gallons and they are supposed to be quiet.

I got up early to see hundreds of mysids swimming around the rock frantically. I'm guessing my mandarin used to dine on these as I have never seen so many before. Every rock in the tank is covered in them.

[Mike-words]

Well that's to bad the plumbing didn't work. I have 2 little giants pumps on my 175 g. If that's the route you want to take. But I would try extending the drain pipes below the water line first

[leftyfish]

I didn't try the plumbing, as HD was no help on what I needed. Any suggestions on where to get the pipes would be great, lol. I might try Ace at some point.

I got this bubble magus skimmer, works great, but is so completely loud that I can't stand it anymore. I contacted them and asked others with one for help and everyone says it should be quiet. BM company has been no help so far, a week after I contacted them. We'll see how it goes.

I think if I had a bigger pump, then the pipe would be fuller and I would hear less of a stream? Also my pump causes a lot of vibration noise as well, so looking to get rid of that sound. I've put down rubber pieces and nothing has helped.

This is week 5 of hypo treatment for the clowns, next Friday I start raising the salinity back up. I had a day where it was at 1.011 (clowns were acting normal on me, lol) and I got it back down below to 1.010, but I'm going to do a cryptopro treatment anyway when I bring it back up.

Other than that, just staring at my empty tank, it has two spots of cyano in the sand, not sure the best way to grab it out of there. Been feeding "Red" my cleaner shrimp, he and the RBTA are best buddies.

[leftyfish]

Third day of bringing hypo back up to normal in the QT, clowns are doing great, bringing it up .002 a day via evaporation and adding high salinity sw. I am looking forward to getting them back in the DT, where has the time gone, 6 weeks went by fast, thank goodness, it seemed like it was going to be forever. I will keep them in QT for a few days after salinity is at normal, but they never had signs of ich, so back in the DT they will go, as it has been fallow for 35 days. The literature says 28-30 days for ich cycle, so I will wait a little more just to be sure it is out of there.

I already have my next fish waiting for me, the guy I buy corals from has been holding a blue assessor (aka blue basslet) for me all summer, so I know it is healthy, not been exposed to other fish, or other diseases. I fell in love with it when I went there in May, it is very different from fish you see at the LFS, this one in particular is very peaceful and it swims throughout the tank. And I'm getting it for a lot less than if I were to order it and have it shipped, yeah!

[leftyfish]

Some NEW Eyecandy...green mini carpet snuggled up with the other three I have, my favorite is the blue on top, the magenta one is hiding.


And, after over 40 days of being fallow, I brought home the blue assessor my coral guy was holding for me!


I'll watch him close, and as long as he stays spot free, the clowns will go back in at the end of the week! He was hiding until I fed him, then he bolted out. So blue, I love it.

[carey]

Very nice, glad your time out is over and you can add your fish back.

[leftyfish]

Originally Posted by carey

Very nice, glad your time out is over and you can add your fish back.

I'm happy too, I need to empty the QT tank once I move over the clowns to clean the algae. Then it will be time for my tang, in about three weeks. Going away for a week so I want QT empty but running while I'm gone.

[Tank2379]

Nice Pics what lights are you running might have missed it?

[leftyfish]

I am using Aquaillumination Sol, two white modules, going to add a third soon. I love them, it is crazy when the blue LEDs are on, the whole tank transforms.

Hard to get pictures to look right, I can never enter the contest because I have to adjust the levels on the picture to match what I see, haha.

[leftyfish]

Everyone is doing great, the clowns are acting "normal" again. When salinity went from 1.019 to 1.021 their whole attitude changed, back to clowning around. Hoping by next week to put them back in DT!

I'm leaving for a week at the end of next week, so I don't want them in the QT. Going to clean QT, fill it back up and let it run while I'm gone, then get a kole on order, I miss my kole tang, it had so much personality.

The blue assessor is doing great, very peaceful, swims in all the caves. When it's feeding time he is all over the place. No spots, and I keep watching him closely, paranoid now after the tank ich crash in June. I can't get over his color, I love it, I wish he would get bigger than 2.5" though, haha.

[leftyfish]

Ugh, found a dead fighting conch the other day and another one today. I pulled it out and came back in to find two hermits locked up. I broke up the fight, grabbed my bag of shells and put one by each to see who was to blame. The electric blue was thrilled to have a new shell, the Scarlett red went on his way. My poor conches. There are shells everywhere in the tank, guess he is picky.

[carey]

I have more shells than hermits and yet mine still kill each other. Go figure....

[leftyfish]

Originally Posted by carey

I have more shells than hermits and yet mine still kill each other. Go figure....

Probably why they get a bad reputation.

In other news, red the shrimp was chasing me down so I fed him. He is very demanding when he is hungry.

[leftyfish]

Exciting news...put the clowns back in the DT and I came home to them exploring the RBTA! I wouldn't quite say hosting, but they were wiggling in it and swimming on the underside. Leaving in a few days for a week, ordering tang when I get back for QT.

[leftyfish]

Clowns are driving me and the RBTA crazy, they host the underside of it during the day, then up to the magnet cleaner at night. Just jump into it already.

Hoping to get a kole tang and mandarin this week for the QT. Might just get tang because I'm going to assume it has ich and that I need to treat it. So I don't want to expose mandarin unnecessarily. But if LFS has all fish in one system, then I'll get both, as the mandarin would already have what is in the system.

Does anyone do prophylactic treatment before any signs show up? I'm overly cautious as the last tang and no QT wiped out my tank.

[leftyfish]

Got some fish in QT, lawnmower blenny and two mandarins (seeing if they will pair), LFS will take one back for credit if I can't get them to pair. They are awesome like that! Anyway, I'm not sure if one is male or female, the other is definitely male. I'm watching closely, they are staying near each other and rubbed each other earlier, other than that no fighting.

[leftyfish]

Lol, both male, once the one in question got comfortable, it hasn't put down it's upper fin. No fighting, but I will trade it for a female!