Turtle's Fairy Tale

[SashimiTurtle]

Ok, last post here about the new build. Don't have a thread up for it quite yet, heck I don't even have the tank yet.

The stand is finished other than paint. Ugh... paint. ;Inpain I stood on it after finishing it, it can hold 205lbs safely. I even bounced on it, as much as I could. Me standing on a 36" tall cabinet with an 8' ceiling, I'm short but not that short.

The eel acted like it was going to bite into LRS tonight, actually did bite it a few times, but didn't eat. It was definitely fish tonight. A nice quarter sized chunk too. I cut it up into a few pieces small enough to be bite sized. Maybe tomorrow itll be hungry again. I also think it is still figuring out the feeding stick, which will change to tongs once I get around to ordering some. I'm thinking those 24" long stainless steel tongs for the planted tanks.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

PST, hey... over here. @NY_Caveman already found it...

 

[sfin52]

I found it, shhh. I won't tell

 

[NY_Caveman]

PST, hey... over here. @NY_Caveman already found it...

I am ubiquitous.

 

[Scurvy]

Great job with the stand! No doubt Id be missing 4 of my 10 thumbs

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Great job with the stand! No doubt Id be missing 4 of my 10 thumbs

Only smacked my thumb once with the hammer. In my defense, finishing nails are REALLY small targets and my fat thumb was sitting right beside it. Glanced off the nail and whack.
;Rage;Punch;Sour;Blackeye

Missed all my fingers with the circular saw and the jigsaw tho, which I guess is a good thing.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

We did a little maintenance... maybe a combination of corrective and preventative.

First, we cleaned this nasty skimmer. Fudge anyone?

Then we took it off the pedestal. We have a hunch it was too high up and was making more bubbles with air than it was with water. It's back on the bottom of the sump now and the recirc is wide open. I'll probably come home from work tomorrow to a skimmer cup volcano... but it's worth a shot. It hasn't been pulling anything out in a while, just builds up in the neck.

Bubbles were breaking at the bottom of the cup, but worked up to here by the time I was done making a mess of the tank.

Speaking of mess of the tank... yea...

Super cloudy. Someone *cough Turtle* decided the chaeto needed to have a "fluff n fold." So, naturally, all the gunk it had captured , the slime algae and some mid kicked up and filled the display. Plus side, chaeto looks nice...

While we're here... the evil shrimp lord of the sump came out to see what all the fuss was about.

Back to buisness. The filter sock was clogged completely before I even started with the skimmmer... so I put a new one in. I've been trying to keep a fresh one in, but recently it has been getting clogged completely in just two days. Film algae from scraping the glass I think. First filter sock replacement... notice the amphipods. They're everywhere.

Yea, you heard first filter sock replacement. After we stirred up the chaeto, remember the scum I told you came loose... well, it had to go somewhere... filter sock numero dos. Lasted all of 15 minutes.

Hmm... I think that's about it. The money cowries have all moved from where the fell into the tank. This is the only one I could easily find. It's kinda right there. Proof they demolish GHA, that algae clip had a lot more GHA on it than that one tuft. It has picked the rest of it clean.

The rock urchin is finally moving around also. It prefers the shadowy undersides of the rocks, you know where algae doesnt grow, but I have a hunch that it comes out and eats more at night. It's in a great big forest of GHA, maybe it's still getting used to my dirty tank and doesnt know where to start. Kinda like Turtle at the Chinese buffet. (Yes, it's a really horrible picture... the tank looks like I just poured a gallon of heavy cream in it from the Fiji mud. It won't settle for another few hours.)

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Well, no skimmer cup volcano overnight. Already pulled some yuck out the tank too.

 

[Katrina71]

I love the stand! I'm excited to see the whole thing when it's done.

 

[Katrina71]

You are tempting me to make a stand for the pico.

 

[Fudsey]

Eeeewwwwww.... You touched the skimmer gunk with your finger..... ;Yuck;Yuck

 

[NY_Caveman]

Eeeewwwwww.... You touched the skimmer gunk with your finger..... ;Yuck;Yuck

I will give you a dollar to lick it! How much would it take?

 

[Fudsey]

I will give you a dollar to lick it! How much would it take?

You don't have that much money $$$$$$$$$

 

[Sipec]

I will give you a dollar to lick it! How much would it take?

$500 for me, just touching it with the end of my tongue

 

[Sipec]

Do u still have Maui?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Checked on the skimmer... still no volcano. I think taking it off the stand was a good idea. Definitely easier for it to get water into the body now. Bubbles are popping right at the top of the cup.

24 hour filter sock... was almost overflowing.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

First real power outage since moving in. Total duration was only about 2 hours, but when the girlfriend woke up for work at 0300 it was 64°F inside. Had a text from the power company saying I might be affected by an outage in the area occurring around 0100 and they expected power to be restored by 0345.

Power came back at 0320, all looks well here. The brunneus and mccoskeri are swimming around at dawn like normal, clowns are still in their night time spot but every now and then one will swim ot then back in... all other fish are still hidden sleeping. Lights on at 1100 and they'll wake up.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Do u still have Maui?

Maui unfortunately passed away... I think it was all the metal contamination from my last tank. I do have a new dwarf eel. Go check out my other build... it's in my signature.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Cleaned up the powerheads. Flow is a lot better, especially since I finally got around to kinda fixing that other PP8. Replaced the ceramic bushings with 1/4" airline tubing. It's a good bit quieter now, but not silent like the other one. I left the coraline algae this time. I didnt feel like doing a vinegar soak. It's not too bad...

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Test results...

Ca 425ppm
Alk 8.3
NO3 0ppm
PO4 0.03ppm

I think we're on the right side of the nutrient problem. Remember there is still a considerable amount of GHA in the tank holding up nutrients so the free nutrients in the water will be a bit misleading. I'm going to try and maintain low levels and starve it out as well as keep manually removing the larger pieces where I can.

I figured out my 24 hour clogged filter socks. Combination of loose GHA that got caught, plus phytoplankton. Filter sock is removed...