OutCold’s Tideline 65 gallon to 240 build

[OutColdCRNA]

Been a rough go this last week. The coris that was in the frag tank by itself up and died. He was only about an inch long. I had another small coris in the display that disappeared. Had a clown wrasse that I introduced at the same time to the display. Was looking great! Eating great and out and about. Got home from work and he was on the sand holding a strange posture. Well he didn’t make it. Wondering if he got spooked and ran hard into the glass. So back to square one with my clown pair that still trucking along.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Been a rough go this last week. The coris that was in the frag tank by itself up and died. He was only about an inch long. I had another small coris in the display that disappeared. Had a clown wrasse that I introduced at the same time to the display. Was looking great! Eating great and out and about. Got home from work and he was on the sand holding a strange posture. Well he didn’t make it. Wondering if he got spooked and ran hard into the glass. So back to square one with my clown pair that still trucking along.

Sorry about your losses!! strange how the clown died like that, I might have been head trauma especially with it being sudden like that, and if nothing else had died.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Not much new to report. Tank purchases got put on hold as we were debating moving to Texas for a job opportunity. Did have some zoas shipped to me from a local grower in Omaha that I used while I was there for school. The weather was nice so we opted to give two day shipping a go! But of a gamble but it paid off. Got 17 zoas and lost one. Not bad odds. One bag contained two zoas and the bag had leaked all but a few drops of water. Both recovered and are opened nicely! Guess it goes to show how tough some of these guys can be!

All settling into my frag tank right out of the bag.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Tired of looking at the lone pair of clowns in the tank so I finally placed an order with dr. Reef. Yellow coris, exquisite wrasse, and Lubbocks. Also placed an order with reef cleaners.
also, been dealing with cloudy water. Not sure what to make of it. Been running carbon but doesn’t really seem to make a dent. Not cloudy enough that I can’t see through from one side to the other but just not clear. Stopped running my skimmer as I think I’m getting the start of Dino’s. So yeah there’s that. This tank has been my most challenging yet with fish deaths and what not.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Tank was steady looking cloudy even though I have been running carbon. Decided to give UV a try. Didn’t want to go crazy so I bout the 24 watt green killing machine. Just hooked it up and took a picture for reference. Doesn’t look so cloudy in the picture but if you look at the frag rack across the tank it is hard to make out the frags on it. The blue lights are on now so I tried to color correct with the aquarium cam app.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Today is day three for running the UV. Haven’t seen a noticeable decrease in the cloudiness. Will keep running to see how it goes but as of right now I’m underwhelmed with the GKM UV

 

[OutColdCRNA]

After a week of running the GKM tank has cleared up nicely! Started running my skimmer at night when the lights are off and that seemed to help! Got an order from aqua SD eBay sale and just unboxed and placed in my frag tank to acclimate. Unseasonably cold in louisiana the last two days and was amazed the heat pack in the box was still warm. They even threw in a freebie zoa that I’m dying to see open up! All the scans were open and colorful in the shipping bags. Super excited!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Super impressed with the careful packaging from aqua SD!! Everything was wrapped in plastic so that it wouldn’t move around inside the individual bags. Have no idea what the freebie is as of yet. I had to glue it back to the plug but it has a hard calcium skeleton. Any ideas?here’s a pic of the freebie just placed in the frag tank.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

The GKM finally did the trick. With adding my skimmer to run only at night when lights are out the tank is crystal clear! Finally enjoying looking at the thing! Moved over 16 zoa frags I had in my frag tank and they are open and looking amazing under the noop lights. Slowly started moving them to near their final homes to get them used to the lights.
used the Photone app to get an idea what my par levels are. Getting between 250-300 at the top of my rocks to about 120 on the edges of the tank at the sand. Ultimately pleased with those numbers at the settings I have.
have my first order from Dr. Reef coming in this Thursday.
need to build a shelf on the left side of my cabinet to clean things up and start testing for all consumption. Have a two head jebao dozer that worked great in my nano but thinking of adding a dos and then a trident down the road.
had to pull my first zoa frag as I had confirmed colonial hydroids.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

It’s fish day!! First order from Dr. Reef is coming in today! Excited to have something else to look at from the pair of clowns! Now. I have been trying for three days to trap the clowns to put in an acclimation box. But, I was unsuccessful. So plan B. I got a mirror to place on the clowns side of the tank to hopefully mitigate any aggression with the new additions. The clowns have been the only inhabitants for the majority of three months.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Huge shout out to @Dr. Reef the order I received Thursday was amazing! Everything was packaged beautifully! This was my first time ordering fish online and was super nervous. Especially about the yellow coris I ordered. His website says they are bad shippers but this one looks beautiful and are right out of the bag into the tank! I asked for the biggest specimens he could supple. The exquisite wrasse is huge! Every but if 3.5 inches. The lubbocks is about 3”. The coris is about 2. I’m already planning my next order!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Couldn’t help myself. Placed an order with fraghouse corals. Didn’t go crazy but I wanted to see how they would do in the new tank. Have always had good luck with acros in previous tanks. Let me tell you that the packaging is the best I have ever seen! These five pieces had polyps out in the shipping bags. Was incredible to see! Every acro that goes in this tank will now officially be from fraghouse! @FraghouseCorals

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Another sad day yesterday, came home from work and the lubbocks was dead on the sand. I have no idea what could be the cause. Has eaten like a pig since introduction 10 days ago. Checked him over outside of the tank and had no signs of disease ( was a dr. Reef fish). Only thought is that I had my hand in the tank the day before glueing down some frags and that stressed him out?

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I’m really starting to doubt my dream of having a tank full of wrasses. With the recent lack of success. Wondering what I could substitute for the remaining wrasses I was hoping to add. Will still probably add a Melanarus but thinking of ditching the coris and leopard and lubbocks additions. Still want to add a tomini at the end. Just getting defeated with the ransoms deaths. Even with professionally quarantined fish.

 

[chimbo84]

I’m really starting to doubt my dream of having a tank full of wrasses. With the recent lack of success. Wondering what I could substitute for the remaining wrasses I was hoping to add. Will still probably add a Melanarus but thinking of ditching the coris and leopard and lubbocks additions. Still want to add a tomini at the end. Just getting defeated with the ransoms deaths. Even with professionally quarantined fish.

I can’t talk to what happened in your specific case but in my experience, wrasses seem to do better in more mature tanks where they can pick at copepods and Amphipods. Also curious what Dr Reef’s quarantine protocol is for wrasses since many of them are more sensitive to copper and other meds.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

I can’t talk to what happened in your specific case but in my experience, wrasses seem to do better in more mature tanks where they can pick at copepods and Amphipods. Also curious what Dr Reef’s quarantine protocol is for wrasses since many of them are more sensitive to copper and other meds.

I have noticed a sharp decline in the pod population. I supplement heavy with pods before their introduction. Hoping to have a secondary source for food if they didn’t come in eating. Had been pleasantly surprised that they both ate readily immediately after introduction. The exquisite that I received at the same time is beautiful but also a much larger specimen.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Been a while so I’m going to paraphrase the last month. Been making adjustments as far as stability. Added a shelf to my left cabinet to hold my riser and made two containers out of Voss bottles. Been holding all at 8.5 and cal 440 via BRS 2 part.

All the corals I had in the QT tank are now in the display. Not much growth on the zoas but the 5 acros from fraghouse are encrusting but looking pale

Nutrients are running low dispute heavy feeding. Skimmer has been off for weeks and have not done a water change in at least a month.

And now the big news! Sent off my first ICP and will be starting the moonshine! Today is my first dose of the dailies as I await my ICP results to order the correction elements.

Will also be receiving an order from Dr reef this week with three more wrasses. Think after this order I’m only going to order one more fish and call the fish stock complete!

Really excited for the moonshine. Wanting to fill in the top of the tank with acros and other sps but waiting to see if the shine will bring the color back. So here is a full tank shot to mark day one of the shine!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Been a while since I updated. Tank had been looking great! Won a new noop light so added it and been trucking along with moonshiners! Seeing great coloration and growth!

Then 1 am last Friday happened. The worst storm that this part of the south has seen in recent history! 200,000 without power. Trees down that it looks like the apocalypse all over our city. Long story short we are going on 30 hours without power and no end in sight. Been manually adding oxygen to the tank but woke up this morning and checked the tank and all my wrasses were breathing super fast. Started blowing in the tank with an air line trying to draw enough air in. My dad was able to run and find me a battery powered air stone! Spent the following couple hours chainsawint downed trees. Came back in and my adorned wrasse was up and swimming around but my exquisite didn’t make it. Too little too late. But thankfully temps in the tank are staying about 79. So that’s a plus!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Looks like the tank may be a total loss before this power outage is over with. Estimated time for return of power is next Saturday, yes that’s right Saturday the 24th!!!

 

[OutColdCRNA]

First of a handful of acros in the tank bit the dust and RTN’d over night. More storms in line for us today!! Tank doesn’t smell bad yet and all the snails and fish seem okay. House temp is staying around 80 even thought the heat index outside was 116 yesterday!