Blaxsun's Abyss: Red Sea 750XXL

[blaxsun]

You were not worried about the flukes ?

Not really. The tang already had one freshwater dip previously (when it arrived) so this was a second followup. I saw 2 come off for sure (may have been a third). The tang went from an occasional rub against some of the rocks to care free immediately after. He was behaving perfectly fine during acclimation and after I observed him in my tank for about 30 minutes.

We've got a very eager bicolor cleaner wrasse in the tank that just lives for cleaning the fish - and he's quite effective at it. And I have Prazi just in case - but I've yet to use it.

I'm quite certain I've introduced some diseases and/or parasites over the past year or so - despite all the fish being very healthy, eating well and not exhibiting any adverse behaviour (there are other aspects and things I look out for as well). Feeding the fish well, supplementing, boosting their natural immunity as well as running UV/ozone has been paying dividends.

I haven't lost any fish due to injuries, illness or disease; misadventure seems to be the #1 leading cause of death. Every now and then a small fish will just disappear; sometimes I find a body - often not (I also have a very effective cleanup and scavenging crew). Sometimes I write a fish off and then it shows up out of the blue (like one of the lyretail chromis I just got that apparently got separated from the swarm, and hid out for a day until he found his comrades again).

Right now I've got a blue-sided fairy wrasse, clown goby and starry blenny that I can't locate. The clown goby was last seen in the sump and may still be hiding out there. The blenny disappeared immediately after I introduced him and could still be alive somewhere in all the rockwork (my new 5" decorator crab completely disappears during the day, so if it can pull that off a 1.25" blenny would have no problem flying under the radar). At a loss with the wrasse; it definitely didn't jump, so it's possible it just went into the sand bed for an extended duration).

 

[blaxsun]

Nov 24. Just the Fish Ma'am
As promised, I dug out the Sony camera and snapped away. These were captured just hand-held from a distance of about 4' from the tank with a macro lens (I didn't have time in post-production to cleanup any dust spots or correct any blurriness).

This is PJ the pajama cardinalfish - posing for the camera (his right is fine - it's just the lighting). Donald the azure damselfish and probably Huey the blue devil damselfish in the background.

This is Elvis, the new white tail bristletooth tang, posing with PJ and two of the other damselfish.

A rare shot where Carl the striped dottyback and A**hat the bicolor cleaner wrasse are together with Roger 'Rabbitface' in the background. In the back is the chip's acropora I bought about 6 months ago that has quadrupled in size (fully 10" across).

From left to right, Pinky the lyretail anthias, one of the new lyretail chromis (there are 4), Cylde the clownfish, Yin the bicolor chromis, 2/5 of the Swarm of green chromis and Sway, the female lamarck angelfish.

One of the blue devil damselfish, Soylent the green wrasse and half of the Jailbirds banggai cardinalfish.

Two of the blue devil damselfish (probably Dewey and Louie), Bonnie the clownfish and the rest of the usual suspects.

EMP the emperor angelfish - who's slowly transitioning into an adolescent and losing his gorgeous markings.

The new half black mimic tang we've decided to tentatively call Sly.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Nov 24. Just the Fish Ma'am
As promised, I dug out the Sony camera and snapped away. These were captured just hand-held from a distance of about 4' from the tank with a macro lens (I didn't have time in post-production to cleanup any dust spots or correct any blurriness).

This is PJ the pajama cardinalfish - posing for the camera (his right is fine - it's just the lighting). Donald the azure damselfish and probably Huey the blue devil damselfish in the background.

This is Elvis, the new white tail bristletooth tang, posing with PJ and two of the other damselfish.

A rare shot where Carl the striped dottyback and A**hat the bicolor cleaner wrasse are together with Roger 'Rabbitface' in the background. In the back is the chip's acropora I bought about 6 months ago that has quadrupled in size (fully 10" across).

From left to right, Pinky the lyretail anthias, one of the new lyretail chromis (there are 4), Cylde the clownfish, Yin the bicolor chromis, 2/5 of the Swarm of green chromis and Sway, the female lamarck angelfish.

One of the blue devil damselfish, Soylent the green wrasse and half of the Jailbirds banggai cardinalfish.

Two of the blue devil damselfish (probably Dewey and Louie), Bonnie the clownfish and the rest of the usual suspects.

EMP the emperor angelfish - who's slowly transitioning into an adolescent and losing his gorgeous markings.

The new half black mimic tang we've decided to tentatively call Sly.

An emperor in a reef tank? Wow that’s cool. How is it keeping him from nipping

 

[blaxsun]

An emperor in a reef tank? Wow that’s cool. How is it keeping him from nipping

Indeed! Right now I believe he's responsible for nipping at some of the nuisance or rather bland-looking zoanthids and palythoas, as we have seen a few colonies that have significantly scaled back. At present he currently doesn't touch any of the other soft corals (I really wish he'd have dined on my xenias!), LPS or SPS (all the SPS corals are doing fantastic!) So I wouldn't say he's completely reef safe, but "nuisance zoa killer" is probably a selling point! Whether his (suspected) diet continues to be limited to nuisance corals remains to be seen, but I'm cautiously optimistic!

I have a midnight (noir) dwarf angelfish that will devour any acans or blastos introduced to the tank, and I have a quoy's parrotfish that routinely rearranges some of the smaller rockwork and has a tendency to burrow. Other than these 3 fish, everything else (including 3 other angelfish) are great.

 

[blaxsun]

Nov 24. Just Feeding Time at the O.K. Coral
In addition to seaweed and frozen feedings, the fish also get 4 pellet feedings daily. The fish have figured out which side of the tank gets triggered, and they're even reasonably good at predicting when feedings occur each day - as I often find a group of them hanging out a few minutes prior to the pellets being dispensed.

This is actually the 3rd pellet feeding (low on frozen fish food today), so it's not quite the "feeding frenzy" of the first two. But in case you were curious what it's like feeding 50 hungry fish - this should give you a small glimpse!

 

[blaxsun]

Nov 27. Some Fish Just Want to Watch the Reef Burn
With the addition of the several new fish, I've had the opportunity over the past week to spend some time observing some annoying behavior. This is pretty much par for the course with a larger tank and a lot of fish, so these are more tales of my misadventures than actual complaints (since the reef fish bureau seems to be permanently closed).

• Neon dottyback; I have a flat palythoa frag plug that's on one side of a rock outcropping. I literally have to replace it daily (I've even glued it, but to no avail). Apparently my neon dottyback has claimed a crevice adjacent to it as his "lair" and makes it his daily mission to push or otherwise dislodge the coral frag (supposedly it's blocking the "view"). I'm actually more impressed than upset considering the coral to fish size ratio. For now the coral is lying on the sand. Dottyback: 1, Me: 0.

• White tail bristletooth tang; while a relatively new addition, I've observed this a**hat toppling a rather nice red symphyllia over and over again - sometimes literally within a few minutes of replacing it back upright. I've actually caught him in the act several times, and even patiently waiting for my attention to be drawn elsewhere. The coral is an odd "v" shape so glueing isn't really an option, so I've had to relocate it elsewhere. Why all the fuss? Apparently the tang can't swim freely between point A and point B (a corridor between the rocks) without having to slightly tilt to the side, so the coral must go! Tang: 1, Me: 0.

• Quoy's parrotfish; despite having several "lairs" and ample sleeping space, our parrot decided that there wasn't enough burrows and proceeded to hollow out one by a lower rock ledge. Shenanigans resulted, with sand everywhere. I redistributed the sand and placed a few select rocks in his path and partially excavated two poor tube anemones. So far, so good. Parrotfish: 0, Me: 1 (for now).

• Unknown assailants #1; I've been trying to establish a new ricordea mushroom colony on a patch of bare rock where a colony of zoas used to live. I've managed to get one frag permanently glued in-place, but "someone" has kept pulling another frag off before it could harden. The other small rock where I glued to adjacent ricordea keeps getting knocked upside down into the sand, so I've moved 3/4's of the mushrooms to the other side of the tank near a condy anemone (the fish generally avoid this, so it's reasonable safe of being disturbed for the time being). Fish: 1, Me: 0.

• Unknown assailants #2; my poor neon green hydnophora keeps getting picked on. If it's not the condy anemone that decided to relocate and sting it, it's several unknown jerks who keep pushing it off the rock ledges where I've placed it. I relocated it higher up to a separate ex-Christmas coral and managed to 'hook' it around some natural outcroppings so it's somewhat lodged in place. Fish/Anemones: 2-3, Me: 0.

• Unknown invert assassin(s); I've got several larger spiny astrea snails that don't give two F's about where I've placed my corals. If the coral happens to reside between point A and point B of a particularly tasty patch of rock, the coral gets dislodged (even if glued) and unceremoniously pushed off to fall into the sand. Inverts: 10+, Me: 0.

 

[blaxsun]

Dec 4. How Much Do We Love Our Fish?
One of the benefits of running all the tank gear through a pair of Neptune EB832s is that I can meter my total electrical usage. Over the past 19 months I've used this feature to fine-tune equipment purchases (as well as upgrades and replacements) with the idea of keeping my electrical costs down.

This is the typical electrical consumption over a 1-week period (~95 kWh), with a monthly cost of ~$60. Switching from a Sicce Silent 5.0 to the Sicce SDC 6.0 for the UV pump last year literally paid for itself in 6 months (and probably saves me between $10-$12 a month alone).

In the Fusion app you can see what each of the various devices consumes at any given time.

The Second EB832 averages ~431 watts with the Helio system, so even the total load on that power bar spikes to just over ~800 watts when it's active - it's very energy efficient. Since the lighting only runs 12 hours, it's probably the next big ticket item in terms of electrical consumption. Beyond that - everything else runs 24/7 and the above power draws are fairly consistent. I was surprised to see how little the Ozone system draws.

The Sicce SDC 9.0 averages 57 watts @45% and the Sicce SDC 6.0 27 watts @65%. Both reactors use ~9 watts (they're on the same plug). The Red Sea ReefWaves use 14-15 watts combined with the Maxspect backups only drawing 2.5 watts each. The ReefMat hardly uses anything at all at 1-2 watts.

Cheaper than an AirB&B anyway.

 

[Sean Clark]

You are making me feel lucky that I am only paying $0.10/kwh. You are doing better than I am in the efficiency category.

 

[blaxsun]

You are making me feel lucky that I am only paying $0.10/kwh. You are doing better than I am in the efficiency category.

Well, $0.10 USD/kWh (or $0.13 CAD/kWh).

 

[Sean Clark]

Well, $0.10 USD/kWh (or $0.13 CAD/kWh).

I forgot about the Canadian part. You seem so friendly...

 

[blaxsun]

I forgot about the Canadian part. You seem so friendly...

Haha!

 

[MelancholyBlenny]

Do you have a list of all the fish you have somewhere? Trying to stock the same tank and looking for ideas.

 

[blaxsun]

Do you have a list of all the fish you have somewhere? Trying to stock the same tank and looking for ideas.

It's back a few pages, but here's an updated one.
..........

 

[MelancholyBlenny]

Must have missed it, thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Dec 7. Blaxun's Zoo Inhabitants
4x damselfish: 1x azure, 3x sapphire/blue devil
7x wrasses: 1x quoy's parrotfish, 1x green, 1x sixline, 1x blue star leopard, 1x melanarus, 1x red-striped (Christmas), 1x cleaner
12x chromis: 5x green/blue, 2 bicolor chromis, 1x black bar chromis, 4x lyretail chromis
4x cardinalfish: 1x pajama, 1x blue eye striped, 2x banggai
2x blenny: 1x morphing midas, 1x lawnmower
1x dragonet: 1x blue (male)
2x dottyback: 1x neon, 1x striped
4x tangs: 1x sailfin, 1x powder brown, 1x white tail bristletooth, 1x half black mimic
4x angelfish: 1x midnight dwarf, 1x coral beauty dwarf, 1x lamarck (female), 1x emperor (male)
4x anthias: 2x marcia's, 2x lyretail (female)
2x clownfish: 2x ocelaris (male+female)
1x hawkfish: 1x flame
1x "grouper": 1x marine betta
1x basslet: 1x royal gramma
1x foxface: 1x one spot

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Dec 7. Blaxxun's Zoo Inhabitants
4x damselfish: 1x azure, 3x sapphire/blue devil
7x wrasses: 1x quoy's parrotfish, 1x green, 1x sixline, 1x blue star leopard, 1x melanarus, 1x red-striped (Christmas), 1x cleaner
12x chromis: 5x green/blue, 2 bicolor chromis, 1x black bar chromis, 4x lyretail chromis
4x cardinalfish: 1x pajama, 1x blue eye striped, 2x banggai
2x blenny: 1x morphing midas, 1x lawnmower
1x dragonet: 1x blue (male)
2x dottyback: 1x neon, 1x striped
4x tangs: 1x sailfin, 1x powder brown, 1x white tail bristletooth, 1x half black mimic
4x angelfish: 1x midnight dwarf, 1x coral beauty dwarf, 1x lamarck (female), 1x emperor (male)
4x anthias: 2x marcia's, 2x lyretail (female)
2x clownfish: 2x ocelaris (male+female)
1x hawkfish: 1x flame
1x grouper: 1x marine betta
1x basslet: 1x royal gramma
1x foxface: 1x one spot

FYI, marine bettas are not groupers

 

[blaxsun]

FYI, marine bettas are not groupers

Yes, I know - Plesiopidae (spiny basslets, although it indicates they're closely related to groupers). We refer to him as our "little grouper" because he's always hanging out in the same spot.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Neon dottyback; I have a flat palythoa frag plug that's on one side of a rock outcropping. I literally have to replace it daily (I've even glued it, but to no avail). Apparently my neon dottyback has claimed a crevice adjacent to it as his "lair" and makes it his daily mission to push or otherwise dislodge the coral frag (supposedly it's blocking the "view"). I'm actually more impressed than upset considering the coral to fish size ratio. For now the coral is lying on the sand. Dottyback: 1, Me: 0.

too funny! I tried to mount a frag on the rock my DD's (danged damsels) were laying eggs on. Had to move it for fear of its life....

Right now I've got a blue-sided fairy wrasse, clown goby and starry blenny that I can't locate. The clown goby was last seen in the sump and may still be hiding out there. The blenny disappeared immediately after I introduced him and could still be alive somewhere in all the rockwork (my new 5" decorator crab completely disappears during the day, so if it can pull that off a 1.25" blenny would have no problem flying under the radar). At a loss with the wrasse; it definitely didn't jump, so it's possible it just went into the sand bed for an extended duration).

I have this happen. I've had a court jester goby, my 4 wheel drive goby and lastly a blue dot sleeper goby. I added 2 of the gobies. 1 dived under the rocks in my pistol shrimp/barber shop goby burrow and haven't seen it at all. The 2nd blue dot is out and about after days of mostly hiding.

So it seems R2R stopped notifying me of your updates as well!!!! Unwatched and watched!

 

[blaxsun]

 

[blaxsun]

Dec 11. Blaxun's Amazing Zoo Crew
Ho Ho Ho! Santa came early (rather it was time to re-stock the cleaning crew while the wife was away!) Look what Mr. Kringle brought:

• 1x Sea Squirt (first time I've ever seen one of these in-person, so I had to have one)
• 20x Nassarius snails
• 10x Trochus snails
• 10x Ring Cowries
• 8x Scarlet Hermit Crabs
• 4x Orange Lip Conches
• 2x Spiny Conches
• 2x Black Brittle Starfish (haven't seen these in forever, either)
• 1x Banded Brittle Starfish

Everything is currently being acclimated and then I have to "chaperone" everything into the tank by keeping the fish away/occupied (everything looks tasty - even if it isn't on the menu!) A quick shout-out to my LFS in Saskatoon - Bayside Corals (they always get the most interesting things in).


One happy cleanup crew family! (more than 50% will disappear within minutes...)