DIY Concrete Aquarium 5,000 gallon - Anderson Family Reef
- Monster Build
- Thread starter dca22anderson
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Good idea!
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Ok so I have to come clean… lost some fish last week out of the blue… and I’m not sure why but all my fish started breathing heavy and laying around the tank.
2 - XL Yellow tangs (one was 6+ years old)
1 - XXL Majestic foxface
2 - (pair) of XXL one spot foxfaces
2 - Small pajama cardinals (that I know of)
1- Mystery wrasse
1- Scopas tang
1- Blue tang
And maybe some others…
Not quite sure what did it but here is what I was doing when it happened:
- new 2” air to outside snorkle (possibly some spray or something got through)
- started dosing Lanthanum through the little skimmer (done this tons of times, it was a new bottle)
- moved some rock and media a week ago from an old empty QT tank back to the sump to keep it alive for next time I set it up (it’s been free of fish for a month+ and the fish graduated to the 500 gallon sump - no meds at all in there)
- fed daily 12 Costco big shrimp cut up into small pieces (done this for 11 months)
- took the GFO and carbon reactors offline to get ready for the sump swap (they were due for a change anyway)
Of course this was the same day Bob (lubek) came by to see the tank in person! Thanks Bob for stopping by! Your new tank is going to be rad!! (Your current one is rad too…)
Good news is the corals were unaffected. They all are growing nicely… some aggression between them so I moved some around a bit.
I added some Sicce 4000’s to the sump blowing air for the last 3 days and the rest of the fish have recovered… WHEW!!
Here are a few pics of the fish doing weird stuff:
Fowleri nosed into the nem basket?? Just sitting there…
Some big tangs lined up facing the Panta Rhei ECM 75 Hydro Wizard pump…
All tangs surfing the flow trying to get more oxygen…
Another picture of the fowleri tang with his nose in the nem basket…
I think the craziness is over for now…
Cleaned the viewing panels tonight and all fish are back to almost normal:
Never a dull moment in the life of a Reefer!!
2 - XL Yellow tangs (one was 6+ years old)
1 - XXL Majestic foxface
2 - (pair) of XXL one spot foxfaces
2 - Small pajama cardinals (that I know of)
1- Mystery wrasse
1- Scopas tang
1- Blue tang
And maybe some others…
Not quite sure what did it but here is what I was doing when it happened:
- new 2” air to outside snorkle (possibly some spray or something got through)
- started dosing Lanthanum through the little skimmer (done this tons of times, it was a new bottle)
- moved some rock and media a week ago from an old empty QT tank back to the sump to keep it alive for next time I set it up (it’s been free of fish for a month+ and the fish graduated to the 500 gallon sump - no meds at all in there)
- fed daily 12 Costco big shrimp cut up into small pieces (done this for 11 months)
- took the GFO and carbon reactors offline to get ready for the sump swap (they were due for a change anyway)
Of course this was the same day Bob (lubek) came by to see the tank in person! Thanks Bob for stopping by! Your new tank is going to be rad!! (Your current one is rad too…)
Good news is the corals were unaffected. They all are growing nicely… some aggression between them so I moved some around a bit.
I added some Sicce 4000’s to the sump blowing air for the last 3 days and the rest of the fish have recovered… WHEW!!
Here are a few pics of the fish doing weird stuff:
Fowleri nosed into the nem basket?? Just sitting there…
Some big tangs lined up facing the Panta Rhei ECM 75 Hydro Wizard pump…
All tangs surfing the flow trying to get more oxygen…
Another picture of the fowleri tang with his nose in the nem basket…
I think the craziness is over for now…
Cleaned the viewing panels tonight and all fish are back to almost normal:
Never a dull moment in the life of a Reefer!!
Last edited:
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Totally!! I need to install a HRV Unit in there... that would have helped for sure!! At least that could have helped me slim down possible causes...
lubeck
Valuable Member
Hey Dave , thanks for the hospitality last week. Your tank is more impressive in person for sure! It’s crazy how big some of those tangs are!
sorry to hear you lost a few more. Hopefully all is back to normal now.
keep on reef’n dude. (I’ve been thinking hard on the 36” tall comment)
sorry to hear you lost a few more. Hopefully all is back to normal now.
keep on reef’n dude. (I’ve been thinking hard on the 36” tall comment)
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Came home to the Blue Tang having a huge chunk out of his chin! I see the Yellowfin Surgeonfish chasing some tangs around… the Blue Tang must have hit the reef… holy smokes man, crazy!!
With those pictures leading the post, I thought you were going to have better news, the fish was healing.
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Still a little puzzled… but things have leveled out… other than aggression in the tank… zebrasomas still chase each other around all the time…
Some of those bigs are getting really big, the yellowfin surgeonfish is a beast and chases anyone who gets in his way…
cmaxwell39
Valuable Member
sorry about the poor fish luck lately. Hopefully thing level out for you and get back to normal.
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
Thanks Calvin! It’s been a weird run but hopefully back on track!!
cmaxwell39
Valuable Member
Corals are looking good as always Dave.
OP
OP
dca22anderson
Valuable Member
It's going well, thanks for asking...
-working on gathering all the gear for my new 500 gallon sump install (basically all new filter component locations with plumbing once done)
-dialing in water parameters a little better with some elements that are low from my last ICP test
-fish have returned back to normal and have stopped dying after that last mystery challenge
-PH is up to 8.2 at night but still wanting to get that a bit more consistent and elevated
-corals are growing, some fighting so I'm moving things around a bit to keep the peace
-riding a ton of miles on my mountainbike with my daughter, her high school team and my family
Second 500 gallon sump ready to go!
This is what it looks like now, still need to finish the basement around the tank too!
Sis and I clocking up some miles on our bikes in the Utah mountains!
Last edited:
Similar threads
