The "She Said Yes!" 120 Gallon Build

[robanister]

Did you have ammonia drtector? I use these for qt. Then I know when to change water. Also run a airline plus backpack filter

 

[dangles]

LFS testing of the water I pulled from the QT tank…

Talking with them, they don’t think it was my acclimation method either. ICP test is next.

 

[Lostoften]

Nice job with the build and aquascape!

 

[dangles]

Long story short, the two tangs I brought home last week both died within 18 hours of bringing them home. Both in a qt setup. It doesn’t make sense because they both spent over a month at my lfs before I brought them home. They were completely fine!

That leads me to believe the issue was on my end but I can’t figure out what it was! Temp, salinity were fine. Ammonia was undetectable. Same saltwater I use for my display. Water was being oxygenated fine. I acclimated them with repeated scoops of new water into their bags before putting them in the qt.

First thing next morning I found the scopas dead. When I got back later that afternoon the yellow was also dead. No visible signs of stress or injury. Just… dead.

It was pretty freaking devastating. I was really looking forward to those two tangs in particular. And I did everything right! Or at least I assumed I did.

I have 3 theories….

1) stress of transfer (seems really unlikely though)
2) contaminated saltwater in my mixing bin (RODI filter failed?)
3) one of the items in the qt tank leached something awful into the water

I have a pending ICP test on the newly mixed saltwater. If that comes back clean, I’ll recreate the qt with all the same equipment and put a cheap fish in to see how it does.

Will update when I find out more.


In unrelated news, my branching cyphastrea seems to have recovered (finally!) and is slowly starting to encrust over the rock it’s glued to! I’m pretty surprised. I thought for sure my wild nutrient swings over the last couple of months were too much for it.

 

[Mikeltee]

That just happens sometimes with the fish. I picked up a flame angel today. I observed a trio for about 30min and picked what I believed was the best one. I got home within 30min and he was upside down in the bag. This is the second time I've purchased a fish from my LFS and brought it home a couple hours after they arrived at the store. While it's nice to have first pick, I think I'll wait at least 24 hours from now on. Poor little fella...

 

[dangles]

That just happens sometimes with the fish. I picked up a flame angel today. I observed a trio for about 30min and picked what I believed was the best one. I got home within 30min and he was upside down in the bag. This is the second time I've purchased a fish from my LFS and brought it home a couple hours after they arrived at the store. While it's nice to have first pick, I think I'll wait at least 24 hours from now on. Poor little fella...

Ugh. Yeah it blows man. I like to pick one out, pay, and let my lfs hang onto it for a couple of weeks. Minimize transfer related stress, make sure they’re eating well, and give the copper in their system time to work.

 

[dangles]

I’m about 5 months into this tank now. It’s settling in nicely at this point now that I’ve got the fleece roller sorted and the refugium up and running. I’m starting to see coraline develop in spots My pH has been consistently running between 8.15 and 8.25 which is awesome! I credit the refugium and to a much lesser extent the kalk I’m dosing. It really is minimal - I think I’m dosing less than 200 mL/night.

All my current fish are happy and eating well (4x/day from my Avast Plank autofeeder which I LOVE). The AquaBiomics test I did that showed NO known parasites was super reassuring. I’m still trying to diagnose the issue with my 2 RAPID tang deaths in qt though. My ICP test just arrived at the facility.

Some more tank shots…

One of my gonis isn’t happy though. I’m going to take him out and dip him soon, and probably move him.

My happy goni:


And my happy hammer:


I posted this already but my branching cyphastrea has rebounded and is slowly starting to grow out over the rock it’s on!

My seriatapora have also recovered really well. Their base colors are still faded but the polyps are extending wonderfully again.

And of course my micro lord… one of my favorites at the moment!

 

[dangles]

I did a thing…

 

[dangles]

My ICP test results came back for my saltwater mixing bin.

Everything was within normal parameters EXCEPT my iron and manganese - both "HIGH"

The water testing I had done on my well water before installing the mixing station showed no detectable levels of iron, and about 10% of the manganese that the ICP test detected.

So... here are the possibilities:

1. The ICP test was wrong
2. My initial well water testing was wrong
3. There is too much iron and manganese in my salt (Tropic Marin Pro Reef)
4. Somehow it's getting in the water via my RODI system

I'm about to start a thread about it here to see if somebody has some insight.

 

[dangles]

My ICP test results came back for my saltwater mixing bin.

Everything was within normal parameters EXCEPT my iron and manganese - both "HIGH"

The water testing I had done on my well water before installing the mixing station showed no detectable levels of iron, and about 10% of the manganese that the ICP test detected.

So... here are the possibilities:

1. The ICP test was wrong
2. My initial well water testing was wrong
3. There is too much iron and manganese in my salt (Tropic Marin Pro Reef)
4. Somehow it's getting in the water via my RODI system

I'm about to start a thread about it here to see if somebody has some insight.

Mystery (seemingly) solved...

"In addition to iron, manganese is also often used as an anti-caking agent in salt production. However, both elements are very sensitive to precipitation, i.e. after a few days there will no longer be much of them dissolved in your tank, especially if you have a high PO4 value.

Anti-caking agents (also known as anti-caking agents or anti-agglomeration agents) are separating agents that are added to crystalline substances such as sea salt to prevent the individual crystals from clumping together, primarily for the purpose of making them easier to use in machines. For example, sodium hexacyanidoferrate(II) (Na4[Fe(CN)6])

That is quite normal and every sea salt i know has elevated levels at the beginning."

 

[dangles]

Coral order! First up is a group from Tidal Gardens.

1 - Orange plating monti
2 - Joker favia
3 - Fascination favia
4 - Platygyra
5 - Red Dragon acro
6 - Bali Green Slimer acro (oh man did this one live up to its name when I dipped it!)

I was happy with the frag sizes. Not huge, but also not “boogers”!

I also had them throw in a group of astarina starfish. Hold your judgment lol. Than from Tidal Gardens has gone on and on about how misunderstood he believes these to be. In his opinion they’re the most underrated, and hardest working CuC out there. So what the H I’ll give it a shot

Tomorrow I have a larger order coming from Top Shelf!

Lastly a short video of my refugium (through the dirty side). I thought it was cool to see the copepods (maybe amphipods?) crawling around on the side

 

[dangles]

Lastly a short video of my refugium (through the dirty side). I thought it was cool to see the copepods (maybe amphipods?) crawling around on the side

The more I read the more I think these are amphipods

 

[dangles]

My second shipment came! TSA this time.


Between the TG order and this one I got a few of my grails: the Red Dragon and Oregon Tort acros, the rainbow (Mission Mars) pectinia and the Emerald scroll (Turbinaria heronensis). Super pumped about these!

The Manila Spy had fallen off the plug and broke into 3 pieces in transit. It was a small frag to begin with

I also got my replacement cucumber since the original one died.

My Red Dragon acro has NOT done well. It seems to have bleached overnight.

 

[dangles]

Well the Red Dragon acro bleached completely after the dip. I used Revive which is supposed to be pretty easy on corals but apparently this one doesn’t like it at all. The rest are still doing fine. I’ve moved many of them up higher on the rocks while I decide on their permanent locations.

I had to re-glue the Bali Green Slimer earlier. Here’s a shot of it doing its slimer thing

The sea cucumber is also still alive! I’m wondering if he’s going to have trouble eating since my sand is chunkier than average aquarium sand.

 

[Arkayology]

What were the results of the ICP test? Anything interesting?

 

[dangles]

What were the results of the ICP test? Anything interesting?

All the parameters were about where they should have been except iron and manganese which are normally elevated in fresh mixed seawater. I tested my saltwater mixing bin since that’s where I pulled the water from for the qt tank. That leaves just 2 options for why those fish died so fast - stress or a contaminant from a piece of equipment I put in the qt tank. Stress seems so very unlikely though. They were both very healthy fish before I took them from the shop, and it’s not like it was the first time I acclimated fish. I wish I would have saved a water sample from the tank they died in. I might set it up again with the same equipment and send a sample of that water after a day or so.

 

[revhtree]

Great build!!

 

[dangles]

My stomatellas are reproducing! I’ve found about half a dozen babies in the sump and in the high corners of my tank. I’ve seen a couple of baby cerith snails, too

I’m also super eager to see the asterina starfish start to reproduce



In coral news…

My pectinia started to recede on one side. I thought maybe it was flow so I moved it. I really hope it recovers! The opposite side still looks fine.

My Fascination favia isn’t looking very happy either. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on there. The light is under 100 PAR. My phosphate has been swinging lately. Maybe that’s it? But another nearby favia is doing just fine.

In positive coral news, my branching cyphastrea is continuing to encrust over its rock. It seems to be speeding up! If you remember from a couple of months ago I was really thinking this one was on its way out. Super pale. Its color is all back though

 

[dangles]

Oh also I found another hitchhiker from my TBS live sand…


(Video slowly scrubbed forward and backward to give a better view)

TBS said they think it’s related to a gorilla crab (and thus a threat to my CUC ). Somebody else though said it kind of looks like an emerald crab. I’m not sure at all.

 

[Arkayology]

Oh also I found another hitchhiker from my TBS live sand…


(Video slowly scrubbed forward and backward to give a better view)

TBS said they think it’s related to a gorilla crab (and thus a threat to my CUC ). Somebody else though said it kind of looks like an emerald crab. I’m not sure at all.

Those sharp "pinchy" looking claws tell me that this is crab is no bueno.