Steve's 125 softies reef tank

[stevepaynr84]

So it's been an up and down kind of week which started with the wife buying me a flame angel (up) then coming home to find my algae blenny dead and in a powerhead (down). Still at least I had lovely weather for my water collection which was a nice change from driving rain still bloody cold though at only 3 degrees Celsius! Went to the lfs today then with the intention of picking up a chalk goby to turn my sand and help with some of my diatoms but ended up buying 3 convict gobies instead. Still battling my hair algae and still winning albeit very slowly. Anyway a fee shots of the week here.

 

[stevepaynr84]

Haven't posted for a couple of weeks but have set up a bubble scrubber today so thought I'd pop that on here. So in order to try and get the best results I've played with what flow I currently have here to try and get the best flow, and I've completely cleaned my skimmer. Ill take photos of as much as possible tonight to compare everything week by week and see how much of an effect this bubble scrubbing is having! All that's left then is to increase my flow in display tank with another wave maker, build an algae turf scrubber using some bits I've got lying around, clean and organise my sump and small excuse of a cabinet and start throwing some more corals in when everything is finally running how I want it to!

 

[stevepaynr84]

so here are a few quick shots of day zero for bubble scrubbing. Nothing exciting just using them as comparison shots really and will update every wor soweek o

 

[stevepaynr84]

Not seeing a massive change so far from the bubble scrubbing so I won't bother with any photos today. Have added a new powerhead today a all pond solutions wm5000. And am very happy with that so far. Got some new corals going in on the weekend so will update then

 

[stevepaynr84]

Treated myself to a new camera this week. These are the first few shots with it. Not

fantastic as got a LOT to learn with it

 

[truepercs]

Hi Steve...
A few questions.
The live rock you added,purchased? or were you able to find that wondering in the Ocean?
Looks nice, In the past I purchased online. I started from dry rock and a few pieces from a local store. No comparison... I really miss all the sponges and extra live that comes with the wild rock.

What camera did you pick up? (I have Nikon equipment)
What lens have you been using for your photos?

 

[stevepaynr84]

Hi Steve...
A few questions.
The live rock you added,purchased? or were you able to find that wondering in the Ocean?
Looks nice, In the past I purchased online. I started from dry rock and a few pieces from a local store. No comparison... I really miss all the sponges and extra live that comes with the wild rock.

What camera did you pick up? (I have Nikon equipment)
What lens have you been using for your photos?

It was just standard live rock bought in a shop and it's a nikon d3300 with the stock lens. My first time with a dslr so going to take me a while to get to grips with it for best results I think

 

[truepercs]

Well it looks like everything is coming along nicely...

 

[stevepaynr84]

another shot whilst I keep learning the camera

 

[stevepaynr84]

Dont know if anyone can help me with this but I'm wondering if my blue face angel is OK. Last 2 days he's started behaving very strangely amd just hiding in his cave and sort of shivering, he'll come out for food but doesn't seem to be out for anything else which is unusual for him. Water reads the same as ever and nothing has been added recently. I've had him for about a year. Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience of this?

 

[stevepaynr84]

Pleased to say my blue face seems to have made a complete recovery from whatever was bothering him, and here's some more pics from playing with the new camera

 

[stevepaynr84]

So having gotten fed up of this happening with my cabinet and not feeling comfortable with painting it I have decided to build a facade to wrap around the current stand. Plan at the moment is between a solid 3 piece until which will pull forward to allow access to sump and equipment or to hang the front panel with magnets. Want a perfect unbroken finish and am going to use reclaimed wood and attempt to match the colour with other wood in the room.

 

[stevepaynr84]

Here's a very very basic plan of what I'm thinking

 

[stevepaynr84]

So it's been a bad few days with the tank. In the last week I've lost 3 corals, a dwarf parrotfish, a cleaner wrasse, an anthia, and a tuxedo urchin. Plus both my angels have a cloudy eye. Also my big angel is acting weirdly around my yellow tailed damsels since the cleaner wrasse has died as if he wants them to clean him. All water tests are coming back normal so it's very frustrating. Going to do a big water change this weekend anyway and keep my fingers crossed I don't lose any more until then.

 

[stevepaynr84]

So having had a bad time with the tank for a good few months change has happened. Sat watching a film with the better half one evening and hear an almighty splash as the plumbing gave up on the tank and dumped a large amount of water on the loving room floor! Could've just replaced the plumbing but decided to treat myself to an upgrade instead and boy am I happy with it! It's a 4x2x2 tank with a beautiful oak cabinet. I have big plans for this tank but only a small wallet so it's all going to take some time but I'll try to keep updating this thread as and when I remember! In the meantime here's a few pics of the new tank.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Congrats on the upgrade! Way to make the best out of a bad situation.

 

[stevepaynr84]

So a little update on the new tank and all is good. Treated myself to some new corals in the last couple of weeks. Picked up what I think is a German blue monti although I'm not sure how well that one is doing and a couple of open brain corals one of which appears to have a coral barnacle on it which my 4 year old son seems to find hilarious. Plans for the future are to grow the corals out and continue to add to them and then I want to make this into a predator reef tank similar to one I've seen on this although I can't imagine mine will be anywhere near as Good! In the meantime here's some photos. All just off my phone so not the best.

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[stevepaynr84]

 

[stevepaynr84]

So does everyone think these are doing ok? Haven't seen any polyps for last 2 days.

 

[stevepaynr84]

So back in October was my son's 4th birthday and being the good dad I am a pet snowflake eel was acquired. "Eely" was a big favourite so when the old tank broke and said eel decided to choose life on land (a bad option) I didn't have the heart to tell my son the news and we have lived with the pretence that Eely has been hiding in the rocks for all this time. Today I got a phone call from my lfs with the news that the replacement had arrived. Long story short after school tonight there was a very excited 4 year old as "Eely" had stopped hiding and was swimming around happily.
Everybody I give you Eely 2. (My son must never know!)