Terrys Red Sea Max E170 Build thread

[Taxus812]

My daughter noticed two of my molly were pregnant and asked me to put them in the quarantine/hospital tank so the fry won’t get eaten. She would like to give them to friends. Sooooo I put them in. I added live sand in a container to help with bacteria. That filter just doesn’t seem to do it by itself.

 

[Taxus812]

Just some pictures. I am really glad I rearranged my aquascape. I was regretting it originally. Now that the fish , and cuc are here, they all play and swim in and out of the rock.

 

[Taxus812]

Skimmer went rabid last night. I was scrambling to get it under control (and off the walls) . I overfed frozen food and learned my lesson.

 

[count krunk]

Very nice build so far!

Stick with your mindset of not chasing numbers

You gave me a good idea. I have a 55g planted right now with 2 angelfish that are quite pretty and growing fast. One big reason is the yum yum yummy baby mollies they eat!

Since mollies and almost always pregnant, the babies provide an excellent source of food for the other fish. I didn't think about doing this in my reef tank. But I think it is worth a try.

Live food is the best food after all!

 

[Taxus812]

Very nice build so far!

Stick with your mindset of not chasing numbers

You gave me a good idea. I have a 55g planted right now with 2 angelfish that are quite pretty and growing fast. One big reason is the yum yum yummy baby mollies they eat!

Since mollies and almost always pregnant, the babies provide an excellent source of food for the other fish. I didn't think about doing this in my reef tank. But I think it is worth a try.

Live food is the best food after all!

Thanks . I am glad I am on the right track. I have been reading as much as I can (and watching YouTube) trying to get a good feel for what my direction will be.

My mollies are always picking at the algae on the sand and rocks. They have been cleaning my sand quite well honestly. So a few bangs for the literal buck (well $2.99). The big concern is they need peaceful tankmates to thrive. My clowns seem to think they are mollies (and sometimes pretend to be PJ cardinals) so they have a great time with them.

 

[count krunk]

I think they will work out as good tankmate and food source in the reef.

Thanks for the tip! I will check out the link you shared as well.

 

[Taxus812]

Sad day
I lost my first fish. It was the molly I that got stuck the other day. I had moved her to the qt/hospital tank a few days ago. She fought like hell but was really thin and weak by the time she went. It was strange she came up to the edge of the tank as if to say goodbye and swam off behind a fake plant and died. I felt quite a connection to her and I know that is not good. Fish die. I will still miss her.

 

[Dub_G]

Sorry for your loss. That is the hard part about this hobby. Especially in the beginning.

 

[Taxus812]

I have worked a lot at spreading out maintenance tasks over 6 months so I’m not overwhelmed and burn out. I worked out a schedule and loaded it into aquarimate that notifies me when something’s due. This has the added benefit of letting me setup for the upcoming tasks and streamline how to do them. Hopefully reducing the time they take to complete

One take is testing. I got a full set in today. ph, salinity, phosphate, nitrate, Ammonia ( just spot checking) , magnesium, dKh, calcium. Normally this would be spread out over three days but I got tied up with other tasks. The total time to complete was just about an hour with cleanup.

People state it takes them 20 min I think either they are splitting them up (like me) or it “feels” like 20min. I am sure some of the hour can be shaved down. I will have to look into options. If I can get testing into 10min chunks it will be a huge victory.

 

[Taxus812]

Another Lesson learned ?

I was mixing up a batch of my Tropic Marin Bio-Actif Sea Salt. While I was waiting for things to settle I decided to read the back (probably should have done this earlier ). On the back it says that when measuring conductivity of freshly prepared Bio-Actif saltwater the conductometer will show ca with 10% low results. Now I am thinking about why that might be. Perhaps the carbon dosing components of the salts throw off the curve since the values are based on the conductivity of sodium chloride. They go on to further recommend instead measuring Specific gravity with a hydrometer.​

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I was not sure if my Hanna Salinity tester is affected by this so I need to test.​

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I'm in the process of mixing up a batch so I did a quick test with hydrometer, refractometer and Hanna salinity tester.​

Hydrometer was about 31 ppt​

Refractometer was 31.5ppt​

Hanna was 31.4ppt​

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I'm measuring about the same but I'm not close to complete with my mixing so my test could be off.​

I decided to post the question on the Hanna forum.​

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https://www.reef2reef.com/posts/6132166/​

 

[Taxus812]

I am finding that splitting things out over time has been opening up something I have hinted at in previous log updates. I get to learn about and focus on one thing at a time. Conversely if I didn't, I would be too busy and overwhelmed to be able to see things that I am seeing now.

All that said, I learned that I honestly like doing these little experiments to see how equipment is working or how to streamline maintenance tasks . I also like seeing what doing one thing in my tank might affect certain parameters. BTW I was on the fence with logging but without it, I would NOT learn about my ecosystem. I am glad I got Aquarimate ( big value is the data is stored on a server and I can float between devices)

So here is an update to salinity measurements. I did not get a response to my question on the forum. I will see if hanna will chime in.

As I said I made 20g of salt and mixed it overnight.
Hydrometer was 35ppt, Hanna was 34.9ppt and refractometer was 35.5ppt

Looks close enough to me.

This reminds me of one thing. Chasing numberss will drive you nuts. I changed to PPT due to the increased resolution over S.G when using my Hanna. Now I know it is near impossible to maintain an exact salinity of 35ppt. Even with an ATO that adds water literally as fast as it is used. Every time I do something in the tank I pull out salt water and the ATO fills it back up. Every time I empty the skimmer cup. the ATO fills it up.

As long as I am close its good enough. The natural world must fluctuate some day to day.

 

[Taxus812]

one of my cleaner shrimp setup shop on top of my rocks. However none of my fish would have anything to do with them. I was kinda feeling bad for him and wondered what would happen.

I was a bit unprepared for the next part but my shrimp must have said the hell with it and jumped on my cardinal and forcibly cleaned him. It brought me back to the military days in Italy when the group commander had to lecture the wing on how its not good to ride the village cows. That moment my son ran off to telling mom how he just seen the skunk cleaner shrimp “r ape clean” a fish. The little cowboy hat I was making just doesn’t make sense anymore.

 

[Taxus812]

Cool moment in reefing

I just did the coolest thing. One of my "bulldozer" snails broke a frag free from my rocks (not sure how I used what seems like 43lbs of glue to secure it). I forgot to put my gloves on and reached in the tank. I noticed my cleaner shrimp cautiously testing whether he could clean my hand so I stopped moving and let him. He went right into my hand to clean. I also noticed that my mollies were picking at my arm and within a few min all the fish were hanging out. It was kind of just what I needed today.



I had a bit of a hard week my uncle died unexpectedly in an auto accident. Life gave us a left hook (family was worried I would pass and the left hook was the heartiest of the bunch is gone). This is twice that my little ecosystem has helped me heal.

 

[Dub_G]

It is kind of cool when the cleaner shrimp start working in your hand.

Sorry about your loss. Life is precious and we never know when our time is done. But it is good to find comfort in things and if the tank is what works that is great! Stay strong!

 

[Taxus812]

I have my first true fish issue. One of my mollies that I put in the hospital tank three weeks ago developed a weird patch on top of her head behind her eyes. I put out a help in the fish disease section but no help so far (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/o...h-and-it-may-be-a-doozie.611251/#post-6149389)

She has no other symptoms but the patch so far. She seems to be eating fine. And she is not rubbing in anything. She is pretty much like you see in the video. Just a patch on her head.


However, I have been battling weird ammonia spikes in my 10g QT. With just two mollies I have had ammonia spikes. Not so high that I needed to get the fish out but after a 50% water change and 24hrs I had up to 1ppt. I decided to pull one molly out last week. She had her babies (none survived). I decided to just put her back in the DT. I then did another 50% water change and vacuumed the tank of any debris. 48hrs later ammonia was back up to 1ppt. this went on for several days. ammonia up changed water. I decided to buy Seachem AmGuard . I also added a Seachem Ammonia Alert to make sure I was not getting a false positive. I then did an 80% water change.

The Seachem cam in today and I went in and the Ammonia Alert was at alert. I added the AmGuard and noticed the mollies heads. I am sure it must be from the high ammonia spikes. Today I trashed the filter sponge and carbon. I just cant find another source for the ammonia. One molly in a 10g tank should not be spiking ammonia after an 80% water change.

My big worry besides loosing this fish is that the other molly I just put back in my DT last week has what she has (no symptoms yet) and gives it to other fish. If I take her out and put her in the QT would also not be desirable. Not sure where to go from here. its a guess.

I added API treatments for bacteria and fungus. These were at the nearest pet store. I will continue to try and get the ammonia under control. Why this QT is crashing so hard is beyond me. I should get quite a few lessons learned out of this.

Update: I visited my LFS and they believe it is a tumor not a contagious disease. It looks to be under the skin and is not an open sore.​

 

[Taxus812]

I built a “first aid” kit for my fish today. I have two 10g tanks (one fresh and one salt) for a hospital/QT. I want to keep in mind that it May not be setup and running it will likely be empty but ready to go. Because of this it needs to be setup quickly without cycling. I bought an ammonia reduction filter pad and I have Seachem AmGuard.
I also got bacterial, fungal remedies from api. I got some copper and stuff for ick. No idea how to use it but I will leverage this forum if the time comes. I will right the date purchased on the container and an expiration of it has one.

 

[Taxus812]

Just a few pictures. I absolutely love my IM gourmet feeder. I moved over to all frozen foods because it is so simple. Just throw the wave pumps into feed and leave the skimmer and return pumps alone.

Here are some recent pics of the new guys . They seem to be settling in good and the wrasse is finally coming out. She doesn’t seem to be as afraid of everything now.


Just some video

 

[Taxus812]

That bubbling death machine in my bedroom:
I was reading a post on Facebook with a new reefer trying to figure out what a hitchhiker coral they had on their rocks. They were a zoa or a paly of some sort and were hit numerous posts about how poisonous they are and that they can kill you and your family. Wait what !?

This stuff is seriously scaring the poop out of me. The tank can burn down my house, electrocute me, flood my house, bacterial infections, contagious tuberculosis and now poison in the air I breath. I might be safer fishing in my septic tank. I didn't have any concept of the danger in this hobby. The other real fear is that it could kill or injure my family. Being totally serious, I thought about taking down the tank and just walking away. I have been inodiated lately with article after article of how much this hobby is going to cost and how much time it is going to take away from my life with maintenance. All this only to have an inevitable crash in ten years as the rocks fill up with gunk and kill the bacteria or the fish die from disease. In the interest of informing new reefers this hobby has a way of scaring the hell out of them. If I knew all this before I started I would have run away (like you would have felt a suction as I left the LFS).

Once I was breathing normally and the panic subsided, I decide to look up more information on the subject that set me off. I found an article on "The Dangers (and Myths) of Zoa Toxicity". It is a poison called Palytoxin secreted by the coral and it is real BUT it is incorrectly attached to all Zoa's and paly's. per the article "The truly potent species appear to be limited entirely to the genus Palythoa, which is currently placed in a separate family, Sphenopidae." Now I thought about the poor poster, a new reefer like me, they are likely burning their tank as we speak. The zoa they pictured was probably harmless. paraphrasing the article The colorful zoa's we typically use in our tanks are exported from Vietnam are the latter, and these are apparently lacking in palytoxin at any detectable level.

Why is this hitting me so hard. I take risks all the time. I was in the military for 20 years. I drive around in a jeep with no doors or top. I also fly model aircraft (large spinning propellers and rotors). I also put my kids on the school bus. These are active risks that I choose to take at that time. The potential for injury goes away when you are not actively doing the activity. This is more of a passive risk. The potential for injury is always there quietly lurking. My family is also at risk.

With all this panic and fear you stop thinking clearly. Fight or flight take hold and you use the primitive portion of you brain. (I often tell my kids if you panic you loose). I have to ask how more likely is it to get struck by lighting. I think if this was a HUGE death machine (outside of electrical) it would be talked about in many circles. The risks would be exaduarated and the lore would flow to every nook and cranny of our society. I don't see any of that so it must be extremely rare.

I wanted to be an informed reefer, I am now wishing I was still ignorant so I could just enjoy the tank. To the Zoa and a Paly sitting quietly at the bottom of my tank waiting to kill me. I can see you an now know your game you little turds.

Who would have thought that a fish tank was more dangerous an extreme sport.

I think I am going to make a post of this. Scaring new reefers away from the hobby.

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[Taxus812]

Big Panic:
I lost another Molly last night and I have one moved into the hospital tank. The male died sometime during the day and he was stuck to the filter combs. I did notice he seemed sluggish the day before. I was concerned but not quite sure if he was alright. I should have trusted my instincts. Outside of being sluggish neither showed any issues in the past few days. they ate and were social. I really look at them a lot and everyday. When the male died I noticed that his rear fins were nearly gone. The one I pulled this morning appears to have a lot of hers gone as well. If this is bacterial it occurred really fast as I did not notice any issues with them in the past few days. I am wondering if they are getting nipped. If they are\were sick what is it ? I posted in the disease and treatment forum but didn't get a lot of hit back. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sick-fish-or-nipped-fin.616046/#post-6183618

I also did an inspection of all my other fish and none show signs of damage. I will likely be watching for any behavior issues. I will also take some pictures to I can reference later.

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[Taxus812]

Building out my backup power system. I am extremely excited about it. Stupid simple, cheap and can run your power-heads for days and days and days.

I planned out this system because the ones on the market today will ruin a battery faster than needed. If you have 24v pumps then you are lucky the battery last a few weeks. This is because they have no isolation for the battery. So unless your power heads have a port for the battery it’s really not a great solution.