12/12 2008
The tank is filled with tap water, and mixed with salt, to a density of 1.0235.
13/12 2008
16/12 2008
I brought 50 kgs. of live rock home, but discarded 10 kgs., which will be returned. The remaining 40 kgs. are placed in the tank. The correct water level in the sump has been established. The skimmer is installed. It is surprisingly noisy, but hopefully it is a matter of adjustment/running in.
17/12 2008
The discarded rocks have been exchanged, and 6 kgs. more have been purchased, so that the total weight of live rocks is 56 kgs. The osmolator has been installed. An Aquaclear 30 powerhead has been connected to the osmolator.
18/12 2008
This first attempt has, as evident, ended up like a "Wall" of rocks. The reason for this, is My reluctance to discard rocks that I have already bought. The deco-ration is not acceptable to Me though, and I will remove some rocks, thus reducing filter capacity, but hopefully gaining aesthetic value.
19/12 2008
After close consideration, I have opted for a more open decoration. This means, that I have had to remove 18 kgs. of rock.
20/12 2008
The removal of some of the rocks, has left the tank with a more "open" look, and with a far better perceived sense of depth. As a welcome bonus, it has also resulted in a lot more places for sessile animals. The Ceramic column in the right side of the tank, is now drawn forward, leaving room behind it for all Powerheads, which allows acces to these, for maintenance, without distur-bing the rockwork.
23/12 2008
In just 3 days, both brown and green algae has completely covered the whole decoration! The rocks have matured for 6 months (without any light), which apparently has allowed almost skipping of the brown algae phase, for a jump directly to green algae. There is no substrate in the tank yet, as I would like to avoid getting it dirty during the first phases of maturing.
25/12 2008
The first measurements in the tank: PH between 8 og 8.3/ NO2 below 0.1 mg/l / NO3 ~ 1 mg/l.
29/12 2008
The brown algae have, somewhat surprisingly, already been replaced by green algae. This is a considerably faster development, than anticipated, based on previous experience. It must be because I have used Live rock, whitch has matured for some time, at the dealer. That is probably also why, I haven`t seen any sign of life, except for the algae.
2009
7/1 2009
The algae growth continues, and is now so strong, that I am thinking about moving the date for the first algae eating animals forward. Also, the first algae, which was basically just a green colo-ured layer on the rocks, have now been replaced by long filamentous algae of variuos kind. There is, not as much dirt as anticipated, so the substrate has been added now.
9/1 2009
Water tests: NO2 below 0.02 mg/l / NO3 ~ 1 mg/l.
10/1 2009
The first animals have been introduced; 10 Nerita sp. snails and 10 small red hermit crabs of unknown species. They are said to be algae eaters.
16/1 2009
More life; 10 Turbo snails, and 4 pieces of living rock, with various animals and algae (images HERE, HERE and HERE)
18/1 2009
It is still a little early, and the algae bloom is not over, although it seems to be receeding. All measurements seems to be OK though, so I have taken a chance, and added the first animals, both some hermit crabs and Nerita snails, introduced as a clean-up crew, and since one of the local shops is having some very good deals right now, some rocks with various sessile animals. Placement of the sessile animals is some-what random, since I have no real knowledge about their demands for light and water movement.
30/1 2009
Water tests: Salinitet 1.0235, NO2 not detectable.
February
11/2 2009
A couple of changes has been made in the tank. Two of the rocks with anemones attached, which were acquired 16/1, seems to get too much light at the positions they were placed in, so they have been moved to spots with less intense lighting. At the same time, 10 kgs of live rock from an established tank, has been added.
13/2 2009
March
14/3 2009
It appears, that, after several attempts, good placement of all the sessile animals have been achieved. Today 10 snails, probably Nassarius vibex or a closely related species, and 2 Lysmata wurdemanni has been introduced. The snails are supposed to eat detrius from the sand, and the shrimps are reputed Aiptasia-eaters.
15/3 2009
The skimmer (Tunze DOC 9210) has for a while been a source of too much noise. It has already been established, that the motor has a defect, but a replacement has proven hard to get. A new skimmer is planned for, but in the mean time, I have borrowed a motor for the Tunze, which has brought the noise down to an acceptable level, but still makes the skimmer the strongest source of noise from the tank.
17/3 2009
Water circulation in the tank, has been reinforced, by the introduction of a Tunze 6055 variable stream-pump, with a corresponding controller, which enables a pulsing cycle of flow. Some experimentation with direction and variation of the flow, to get it right, will probably be needed...
20/3 2009
A new skimmer has (finally!) been received and installed. It is an ATB 2`nd line cone skimmer, rated for tanks up to 1000 liter. Initially it looks very promising; The noise level is well below that of the return pump, making the tank a lot less noisy. Setup was surprisingly easy, and the skimmate looks very convincing for now.
24/3 2009
A lot of moving around has taken place, but now it seems like most of the sessile animals thrive in their alotted position. More sessile animals have been introduced, along with 2 fish (not visible in the photo), and maybe they too will need some repositioning, before they get a permanent place. The acquisition of these last animals, have been a little random, as they all are coming from a private tank, which is being decommisioned, and not all of them, would be obvious choices, had I seen them in a store. The tank can now be considered as fairly mature.
April
18/4 2009
To combat a growing planaria problem, I have acquired a Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (Sixline wrasse) and pair of Synchiropus splendidus (Mandarin fish). They are not "only" deployed as planaria fighters, as both species are high on the "wanted list" anyway, but for the mandarin fish I would have waited some time, if not for this problem. Also the number of sessile animals have been reinforced, in the form of a rock with a number of dark purple disc anemones along with a piece of yellow zooanthid-covered dead coral. The coral was easily divided into three pieces, which were tentatively placed in various shaded areas. Also the disc anemones were placed in relatively subdued light.
23/4 2009
Unfortunately one of the mandarin fish has died, probably due to stress or damages from transport. The remaing mandarin, a male, seem to be OK, and is very active. The same goes for the wrasse. It is uncertain if they have had any impact on the planarium problem, but I think there is a little decline in the number of visible planaria.
28/4 2009
A Heterachtis sp. anemone and a pair of Amphiprion clarkii (clownfish) are introduced to the tank.
The anemone has been placed i a flat glass bowl on the sand bottom, in a good distance from other sessile animals. hopefully it will find the accomodations (lots of light and good water circulation) satisfactory, and stay there! The clownfish have immediately accepted the anemone (literally, they went in, within the first 20 minutes!) and is tumbling around in it, already before it has regained it`s size after transport.
There is however, a number of detailed pictures HERE
May
8/5 2009
22/5 2009
The clownfish have settled in. There is a bit of strife between them, and the smallest one has lost bits of fins. Hopefully this will blow over, once the largest has changed gender (They are fairly small, app. 3 cm., so presumably They are both males). The planarium problem does not really seem to be solved by the fish, so during the last 10 days, I have manually removed all visible planaria from the tank. This have had a marked effect, so there is now only relatively few left. I have stopped the removal for now, to see if the fish are able to keep the population in check by themselves. The mandarin fish looked for some time, like it might starve to death, but now it seems to get a little better, even though it is still very thin.
25/5 2009
Technical difficulties. The return pump (Tunze PH3000) died sometime during the night, which off course led to a rise in the waterlevel in the sump, to the absolute maximum. This in turn made the skimmer overflow violently! On the positive, I got the system succesfully tested for overflow in the event of a power failure... An attempt to run an old Aquabee UP3000 as return pump, did not go well (extremely noisy), so I have had to invest in a new pump. I chose an EHEIM Compact 2000+, which only yields 2000 l/t for 32 Watt, compared to the 3000 l/t for 25 Watt of the Tunze. On the other hand, it is a pleasure to listen to the tank now, as this pump is almost totally silent, and without vibrations, when mounted on the suction cups that came with it.
June
4/6 2009
First water change. 9 liters of water was changed. The plan is, to do this once every week.
15/6 2009
A minor technical accident. I forgot to refill the freshwater supply chamber, which resulted in the Aquaclear 50 pump running dry for too long. It melted the bearing for the drive shaft. It has been replaced by an EHEIM Compact 300 pump.
29/6 2009
July
18/7 2009
Assisted by Carsten in Decocean, I have gotten a tentative identification of My two unknown coral species. One is of the genus Pocillopora and the other of the genus Stylopora. For now, I will not try to get a closer ID. I slso got a lurking suspicion confirmed; My "Amblygobiodon hectori" has been misidentified! It is actually a wrasse, probably of the genus Halichoeres. All names have been corrected, where the animals are mentioned.
August
1/8 2009
Unfortunately the symbiose anemone does not seem to thrive, slowly decreasing in size over time. It looks like It is shrinking, when the HQI light has been on for a couple of hours, so I am now relocating It to a place with less intense light. I have also tried to feed the anemone with a little lump of frozen artemia, which seems to be appreciated. Just in case, I have acquired two Euphyllia sp. corals, which hopefully can act as "replacement anemones" for the clown fish, if things continues to go badly.
9/8 2009
September
2/9 2009
New inhabitants to the tank. I have acquired a dwarf emperor (Centropyge loriculus) and two cleaner shrimps (Lysmata amboinensis). Both have been on My wish-list since before the tank was started, althoug the plan is, that there are 4 L. amboinensis. The dwarf emperor has started to explore the tank immediately, while the shrimps are hiding away.
30/9 2009
October
3/10 2009
The population of cleaner shrimps (Lysmata amboinensis) have been reinforced with 2 more, so that it now is up to the planned 4. The C. loriculus have settled in without any hint of problems.
22/10 2009
27/10 2009
It appears that one of the Lysmata amboinensis are gone, so I have acquired 2 more. Also 2 red seastars (Fromia sp.) have been added.
29/10 2009
...and all of a sudden, I count 6 L. amboinensis in the tank !
November
10/11 2009
New fish. It is actually against My better judgement, that this one, a 10-12 cm long Pomacanthus imperator has been acquired, since it will probably outgrow the tank within 1-2 yearsår, but it was simply too beautiful to stay in the shop, and a larger tank in addition to this, is already planned...
19/11 2009
December
7/12 2009
Unfortunately it seems that the new P. imperator, even though It appears to have settled in very well, have dragged a couple of unpleasantries into the tank. It shows the typical spots of Ichthyophthirius and additionally a large number of discoloured areas on the body, measuring 3-6 mm across. Ichthyophthirius seems to have spread to C. loriculus and the unidetified goby, albeit only with a few spots. Something must be done, and since medicine i out of the question because of the invertebrates, I can`t come up with anything better than having a go with UV-light. As of today, a 24W UV-aggregate, running 24 hours a day, has been included in the setup.
10/12 2009
It seems like the UV-light is working; Suddenly today, all fish are free of Ichthyophthirius, and the discoloured areas on the P. imperator are markedly reduced.
The P. imperator deserves a couple of words; It has, in record time, established total domination in the tank, and appears very confident, both regarding activities in front of the tank, and inside it. It is extremely curious and clearly aware of anything happening outside the tank, appearing at the front glass, to follow the activity as close as possible. Also activity inside the tank is monitored very closely, the fish physically followin My hand, only quickly dodging sudden movements, expelling a sound that can best be described as "growling". This "growling appears to be a series of thumping sounds, that the fish also uses, when it is excited, e.g. at feeding time, or when It is chasing tankmates around, which I`m afraid, is rather often. If a fish can be described as "Charming", it certainly fit this fish better than any other fish I have had any contact with...
12/12 2009
And then it is a 1 Year anniversary! For this occation, the snapshot below was taken. Unfortunately the tank was not really prepared for it, so especially the back glass could do with some attention.
It could be worse, if I do say so Myself, but off course there are things that did not quite turn out the way they were supposed to. Also some of the introduced animals have not really lived up to My expectations.
The first problem was a blooming in the number of planaria, which I attempted to solve with the introduction of two species of fish; P. hexataenia and S. splendidus. That did not really work, to say the least!, so I resorted to manually rmoving the problem with an airhose, which was used to suck them out of the tank from wherever I could get to them. The planaria are still here, but the population seems to have stabilized at an acceptable level. I still use the hose from time to time though.
Another problem has been a violent blooming of Valonia sp. algae, which threatened to spread all over the tank. They have been thinned down manually, but now seem to be in a natural decline.
Also Aiptasia has, like in most marine tanks, been present here. It has never been a real problem, and I have managed to keep the (visible) population under 10 at any given time. Right now, only two are visible, and they will get the boiling water treatment within the next few days!
A current problem is a decline in the health of the corals. I haven`t excactly been a role model when it comes to monitoring trace elements, and adding these, so that is probably the cause. I am right now working on establishing the correct amount of Ca and KH, so that I can get a reliable Strontium measurement. Then I will start adding the needed elements, and continue with a good all-round mix.
Disease has only been a promlem once (see 7/12-10/12 2009).
Animals that did not "work" as intended;
Red hermit crab. I had high hopes of the entertaining behavior of these animal from previous encounters with larger species, but they are only rarely visible. They do however have a tendency to get into the overflow and block the drainpipe to the sump.
Lysmata wurdemanni shrimp. Two were purchased, and have never been seen since they were released into the tank, and they have had no noticeable impact on the Aiptasia anemones they were supposed to combat.
Synchiropus splendidus. A pair was introduced, to combat planaria, but the female died the day after introduction. The remaing male obviously do not recognize the planaria as edible, and furthermore it seems to be slowly starving to death. According to common knowledge, there should be enough live rocks to sustain it, but competition from 2 wrasses and 2 angelfish, is apparently too much for Him.
Pseudocheilinus hexataenia. That too was introduced as planaria predator, and just like the mandarin fish, it completely ignores that task! It is however, a nice addition to the fish stock, and do very well on the offered food. It will eat anything served.
14/12 2009
A bit of maintenance of the technical installations. The plumbing under the tank, including the valve on the main drain, has been dismantled for inspection for dirt. That was actually not necessary; everything was clean. There have, however, been occational dripping from the connections lately, which in itself is no disaster, since all of the very small amount of water, leaks into the freshwater reservoir. That is, howerver, not desirable either, so the connections was thoroughly covered with special grease, before the system was assembled again. That put and end to the problem for now, but it is probably something that needs attention now and again. Also the freshwater reservoir has been emptied and cleaned (early attempts to enrich the freshwater with KH-buffer, left large amounts of a mud-looking chalklike substance on the bottom and sides), as were the three powerheads also present in the sump.
15/12 2009
New acquistions; I added 6 turbosnails (Astraea sp.) to the poulation, a starfish (unknown species) and a Chocolate-Surgeonfish (Acanthurus pyroferus). The surgeon has received a "warm" welcome from the Imperator, but is already, a few hours after release starting to challenge the assaults. It would appear, that It`s better speed and maneuvreability makes up for smaller size, so that they are more or less equals.
20/12 2009
There is a new outbreak of Ichthyophthirius! Both the emperor and the surgeonfish are affected. An inspection of the UV-filter reveals that there is almost no circulation through it, which apparently have allowed the parasites to reproduce again. The problem has been corrected, and now I hope for a speedy recovery, since I have already ordered new fish, which will arrive in 2 days. I have done some new tests of the water, and the results are listed HERE
22/12 2009
New fish; 4 Gramma loreto. That is, there is really only 3, the last one is only here because it was given for free, since it is in very poor condition. It is almost certain that it will die, but the chances here is probably better than in the store, so it gets the chance, however slim it is.
Add: The damaged fish died during the evening.
26/12 2009
I have observed 2 G. loreto simultaneously, that seems to be OK. This evening I recovered one from the overflow chamber, which I hope is the third, but I can`t be sure. The mentioned Ichthyophthirius outbreak seems to have subsided, with only a single stubborn spot remaining on one eye of the P. imperator.
28/12 2009
All 3 G. loreto have simultaneously, slightly surprisingly, given up their shyness and are more or less constantly visible. They do however, still keep close to a cave or crevice, where they dissappear into, whenever the large P. imperator comes too close. Two of them stays close together, whereas the last one resides in the opposite end of the tank.
2010
1/1 2010
Unfortunately it seems like only 2 G. loreto have survived. They occupy each end of the tank, and the missing one has been gone for a couple of days. The Imperator is still showing symptoms of infections/parasites, but it seems quite unaffected by this. The real problem is actually, that it is pretty aggressive, which is very visible in the way some of the other fish displays torn fins from time to time! If the situation does not change, I will have to give it up.
8/1 2010
New tests. I am still struggling with some values that are not quite as they should be. Especially KH is fluctuating quite a bit, and definitely needs some experimentation with addition of natriumbicarbonate, to get it right. The Strontium level is tested to 0, but that is hard to believe. I will however add extra SR to the next addition of trace elements, but it is hard to believe I will however, start adding extra SR.
12/1 2010
15/1 2010
New tests. KH is still unstable, but I am now getting closer to the right dose of natriumbicarbonate addition. The Strontium test suddenly shows that the SR content is spot on! I did this test extra carefully (it is by far the most complex test I do) so there was probably something wrong with the first tests.
16/1 2010
I have finally had it with the aggressive P. imperator! The surgeonfish have just had another rough-up and a G. loreto is missing half of the tailfin. Unfortunately it is impossible to net, so a fish trap has been acquired for the purpose. Hopefully I will have the fish caught and ready to ship off in a couple of days.
The last push for the aggressive fish, does however come from an opportunity to get hold of My absolute favorite dream; a Pomacanthus navarchus! It has for many years, been the ultimate goal, so it does make it a little easier to say goodbye to the, in spite of all, beautiful and fascinating P. imperator. It is a very small (app. 6 cm), specimen, but in full adult colour sceme, just arrived to Denmark. To avoid aggression, which would probably be fatal, from the large emperor, it has been placed in the sump, where the dimmed lighting and total absence of aggressors, hopefully will ease the stress from changing environment and water.
18/1 2010
The fish trap has worked pretty convincingly. The P. imperator was caught and returned to the dealer, and as a bonus, the unknown goby, which has been on the "get rid of in case of overpopulation" list, was also trapped. In exchange I got a rock with Zoanthus sp. polyps and a LPS coral (probably a Lobophyllia sp.), a Xenia sp. colony, four Nassarius sp. snails and a Mithrax sp. crab.
The easy removal of the two fish, have inspired a plan to take out the two wrasses P. hexataenia and Halichoeres sp. P. hexataenia was originally acquired to combat an attack of planaria, a task it totally ignored, and even though it is a pretty little fish, it is also a serious competitor for food, to the S. splendidus which is actually starving slowly to death right now. The Halichoeres sp. is, just like the now removed goby, the result of a purchase from a year ago, where I bought the entire content of a small tank, and absolutely not a fish I would choose myself. It is also a very active hunter of the small crustaceans, which is the only acceptable food to the mandarin fish.
Above, a picture of the fish trap in action.
As evident, it is a pretty large contraption, which is actually impossible to place anywhere else in the tank. The two funnels on each side, leads the fish into the box and makes it difficult to get out. In this mode, the trap is working on its own, but should off course be inspected regularly. Larger fish requires that the trap door in the end of the box (right side in the picture) is opened by pulling the string visible in the picture. The string is then held tight, until the door is required to close again! Then You just wait for the right fish to enter the trap... The funnels can be replaced by grates that leaves more space inside the box. There is a hole in the roof (invisible in the picture), so that bait can be easily placed in the box. The trap is made by Aquamedic.
21/1 2010
I really do not have much luck with angelfish... the newly acquired P. navarchus died today.
23/1 2010
After an initial triumph, where 3 of the 4 fish designated for capture, were trapped in rapid succession, the last one (Halichoeres sp.), proved extremely elusive, but today I got it! Now only the fish I am sure I want to keep remains. The fish stock now consists of, listed in the order of acquisition:
2 Amphiprion clarkii, 1 Synchiropus splendidus, 1 Centropyge loriculus, 1 Acanthurus pyroferus and 2 Gramma loreto
30/1 2010
The tubes and bulbs in the lamp are now more than one year old, and has consequently been replaced with new ones. I have not been entirely satisfied with the light , which in My opinion was a bit "flat", so the 14000K Giesemann Megachrome Coral bulbs have been replaced with 12500K Giesemann Megachrome Marine HQI bulbs. The T5 Giesemann Actinic+ tubes have likewise been replaced with Aqua Medic Aqualine Reef Blue. There is not much difference, but it have resulted in a little more warm colour tone. To compensate for the initially more powerful light from the new bulbs, the lighting period with HQI has been reduced by 2 hours.
The image below, illustrates a new problem; A few spots in the tank have been covered by Cyano bacteria.
It is probably the result of too much feeding. During the period of removing unwanted fish (see 18/1 2010), the trap was repeatedly baited, sp that the actual amount of feeding was app. 3 times higher than normal. The Vallonia algae (green bubbles) are also a problem. Both will hopefully dissapear, or at least be reduced now, when the feeding is back to normal.
February
1/2 2010
March
19/3 2010
20/3 2010
New fish. Attempting to combat a growing nuisance, namely Vallonia algae, I have acquired a small Naso lituratus, of app. 6 cm in length. This pecies grow to a size of more than 40 cm. in the wild, so it will only be here for a short period of time. In the store I also came upon a Pomacanthus navarchus of just the right size (10 cm) which I simply had to bring home too...
Rock overgrown with Vallonia algae.
Naso lituratus and Pomacanthus navarchus. Both were immediately jumped by the L. amboinensis shrimps, in their eagerness to service the new "customers".
28/3 2010
The new fish seems to do OK, but are very shy. They are both absent at feedings, but apparently picks food from the rocks. It is almost certain now, that the A. pyroferus has died, after a period of increasing signs of famine. It did eat well, but somehow its digestive system have failed. I also counted the S. splendidus as lost, after missing any sign of it for the last week, but today I discovered it in the overflow box! He (it is a male) even apperared to be in better shape, than before, so the algae covered sides inside the box must contain plenty of life.
30/3 2010
April
8/4 2010
The newly acquired N. lituratus has died. Reasons unknown.
27/4 2010
I removed one of the red Fromia milleporella starfish from the tank. It had lost two of five arms. It was lying upside-down, so I assume it was dead, or dying.
1/5 2010
Another fish has died. After 40 days in the tank, the P. navarchus suddenly lying on it`s back, not reacting to the inquisitive L. amboinensis. For safety reasons, I have collected it and put it down.
3/5 2010
The tank is not doing too well. The Mandarin fish is heavily attacked by some sort of fungus on all fins and the head. The two G. loreto are also affected if not nearly as badly The dwarf angel also looked suspicious yesterday, but does not show any sign of disease today. The clownfish have not been affected at all. I presume that their regular contact with their anemone kills off most exoparasites and generally keep them clean? All invertebrates look fine.
4/5 2010
The Mandarin fish have been picked up and put down, since it did not react to the net. The remaining F. milleporella starfish was found with only two arms left, so that too was removed. A possible (but probably unrelated) problem for the tank generally, has been slow water movement at some places. To overcome this, I have installed a Seio Polario 15000 L/T pump. It is a bit unusual compared to other pumps, in that it looks a lot like a jet engine, with the water coming in at one end, and blowing out the other. The neat trick here, is that the stream is reversed at intervals (30 sec. here)! For now it have made a mess of the tank, blowing up a lot of debris from hidden corners, but the long term effect will probably be, that the tank in general, will be a lot cleaner, hopefully reducing the overwhelming growth of Valonia algae.
May
11/5 2010
Another fish must be counted as lost. A G. loreto has not been spotted for the last 4 days. The remaining G. loreto does not look too good either, but at least the clowns and the C. loriculus seems to do well enough.
20/5 2010
It looks like the disease is gone. Everybody appears to be fine, with no trace of fungus or other damage to the fins or skin.
June
19/6 2010
New fish. I have acquired a pair of Synchiropus splendidus as replacements for the one lost to the disease in May. Thes seems to be in good condition, if a little thin and are already hunting for food on the rocks. There should be plenty to find.
29/6 2010
The S. splendidus pair seems to be OK. They are comsiderably more reclusive than their predecessor, but maybe this will go away in time. Yet another fish have arrived, a Salarias fasciatus, which will hopefully help reducing the algae in the tank a bit.
July
1/7 2010
I have installed a Deep SandBed filter in the sump. The filter is a glass box, measuring 38x25x12 cm, filled with fine-grain sand. The box fits snugly in the sump, with app. 2cm. of water above the top.
When the filter, in a couple of months is matured, ot will hopefully help reduce the Nitrate content in the water, thereby reducing the amount of algae growth.
10/7 2010
Unfortunately things are not going so well. Apparently only the male mandarin fish is alive and only three L. amboinensis remains.
6/11 2010
After a period with lacking interest for the this tank (We are moving), I have decided to terminate it.
