new 65gallon tank.

[pvtdonut]

heres a full tank shot of how it is today. big change than last time.


i still wanna get more live rock in there. the lfs just got in really nice pieces.... if only it wasnt so expensive. i just dropped 45$ on this rock...me and my gf went halfsies on it...


it really is a nice piece though. it has some nice stuff growing on it...and this neat little branchy skeleton thing. lol anyone know what that could have been?



anyway....
heres a tank shot from the side....


heres my skimmers skimmate from the past few days. blech! definitely more mucky than the last cup.

[pvtdonut]

i finally rigged a light for my sump... FINALLY. i know its a bit ghetto, but it works....

here it is...



i got the socket from a 2.5 mini bow canopy that wasnt being used, and had no plans on using ever again. so i ripped it out of the canopy. it works...it has a max of 250 watts...the bulb is only 18. at the moment...i only have it hanging from the door until i can get a cover for the sump and get a little fixture for it to lay on top....maybe ill DIY one together.

speaking of covers, im going to go to lowes and finally get some egg crate and cover my display tank and sump with it. so that i can soon get that firefish i been wanting.

heres a full pic of my sump..btw...


now. also. i have plans for some coverup on some things. firstly, the huge powerhead that runs my skimmer. this freakin thing....



its huge, ugly, and doesnt blend in well with my tank at all....soooooo..i was thinking... i saw another nice zoa frag at the lfs...nice bright flurousecnt green color..i think i might get that, place it on the pump, and let it grow out onto the pump. i know they can grow on almost anything, ive seen them take over the egg crate in the frag tank at the lfs...so why not cover a pump with them...it will look pretty neat..imo.. so i migh do that...and plus, its only about 5 inches from the light. so its not far at all....

also...this rock right here...i want to get it looking alive again. i want to grow some zoas on here also....i think it would be neat if it could work out.... not sure what color i want to go with though.


i want to start adding some color to my tank....since ive had the skimmer, i been noticing the coralline start growing back. which is nice. =]

as for ideas for some future stock....im thinking...

inverts:

couple cleaner shrimp

red blood shrimp.

some more turbos. cause they are doing an amazing job cleaning my tank!

queen conch. <- definitely on my to get list. i been wanting one for a long time, and my lfs has not been able to order one for me. i been upset about that. and plus, im sure theyre great sand sifters.

horseshoe crab. i know they get big..yea.but i still want one. theyre great sand sifters...and thats my main problem right now...i dont have any. ill maybe pick one up as soon as either one of my lfs.s get one..

thats all i can think of right now for inverts...thats all i really want for now too..

as for fish:

the firefish red or purple one...or maybe one of each...who knows...unless i know they wont get along with eachother....

yellow tang. not sure if i will actually go along with this one though. i really like this fish, but if i need to get one, it will have to be a big enough one so that mr. powder bl00 doesnt attack him at all. so i need a decent sized one so he can defend himself. and i would need it to be my last fish i add....

flame angel. im gonna look these guys up and research them before i get one, if i decide to. they have amazing colors. and would really stand out in my tank... but i want to know if they would cause any trouble with anything in there first. and from what i hear, they really dont get too big. i heard of people keeping them in a biocube and being pretty successful with it. but they eat corals.. =\

still havnt gotten my mandarin yet, been waiting. im going to try and build up my pods again cause i know that i have none anymore....sooo yea. illl wait till then for him.

scooter blenny. my mom said shes going to buy one as soon as she finds one.... she loved my last one....lol

...i know theres one more on the list that im missing...idk what it was though..it will come back to me... ill let you know when i remember...haha


also for some other ideas....

the maxijet thats in the lower left corner...yea..that 400 that barely works...im thinking of replacing it with a nano koralia, or even a stage 1. i just dont want it to stick out too far from the wall.

uv sterilizer is being considered...but probably wont get it anytime soon...maybe around xmas time...lol

light upgrades...i need to find a decent wattage of 16" PC lights to replace mine...the 40w isnt cutting it with me, and since i cant upgrade the whole fixture to MH's yet, ill have to stick with what i got...so why not get a better bulb.

as i said before, i want to get more live rock...

since i now have a light, i want to set up a small fuge in my sump.....im not sure how im going to go about doing that yet......i was thinking of getting a aquaclear filter, taking the media out of it, leave the cover off for light, and turning that compartment into a mini-fuge...and i would set it to the lowest speed, so that nothing gets ruined in there....but idk if that idea would work too well....it sounds like it would...but thats in my head, and a lot of things work up there, but not in reality..lol it would have a decent flow going through it to keep things moving....

but like i said....just an idea. cause i dont have the room to plumb another tank to this one... or i would use the 5g.

anyway..thats it for the updates..i know this was a long one, im sorry about that..i hope it kept you interested....if you read it all...lol. im going to go to sleep now..haha

goodnight all!

[Skurvey Dog]

Whoa Lil Buddy! Graphic intense, viewer discretion advised!

Loved the pics and lots of 'em. I really liked the piece of LR that you got. What did it weigh, about 7or 8 pounds? That coral skeleton on the LR sort of reminded me of birdsnest. You are moving in a positive direction, but still must stay ---->>>>Focussed<<<<----- reading, learning and putting that knowledge into practice and good stewardship skills. I saw that monster of a shell in the DT.... is Hermzilla still with you? If he's in the DT you know he's a force of the dark side Luke. We've been there, said all that. I'm glad the skimmer is really doing it's job for you and that you are seeing instant results. I'm not too sure about the idea of trying to frag corals on your removable hardware/ equipment. I say this because if you had to do maintenance on it or repair/replace it, it could create a problem for the coral. I'm sure others will chime in on this as I have never tried to do this. Maybe if a small portion of LR were there, it'd help blend in the hardware or maybe something else. I am an artist, so sometimes I look at things a little differently. When one has a work of art, there is always a focal point, or a main subject which pulls the viewer's eye and holds it there, with everything else around it complimenting it, but not taking center stage. I guess, what I'm trying to say is this. You have your LR, which is a dominant feature in your tank, and you have stated your desire to add corals. Use the LR and future corals to paint a tapestry and the viewer will focus on the beauty of your tank and not your equipment. They will see it of course, but the focal point of your tank will pull the viewer's eye back and hold it. I hope I have explained what I am trying to say as sometimes I am poor with words. This is just an idea if you do not want to do some major equipment replacement or changing things around as I know the skimmer was a hassle to install.

The "ghetto" light hook up for your sump. You crack me up. There is nothing wrong with trying to meet the needs best way you know how when there is no funding available to do it otherwise. I just want it to be electrically safe. Make sure that sucker can't wind up in the sump. I have my lighting laid out on top of my fuge on acrylic braces and one day I was in a hurry and instead of taking the lighting down and laying it on the side as I normally do, I pushed it up and when I did... wham!! It fell into the fuge. I threw the switch on everything and pulled it out. It was a sheer miracle in itself that nothing happened. So please always be careful! I should of fried that day.

Your wish list of fish and inverts is quite broad and many are not suitable with each other or for your present tank size. I know you probably cringe when you hear this... I am sorry, but I will not lie to you. Please refer to the compatibility list and look at Dicks, Amphibious' "Buying Fish" guide.... it is a MUST to follow to have a better chance at being successful.

Besides, you can always put many of those wants on a back burner for the future monster tank one day.

[pvtdonut]

how i haave the light set up, it is hanging from the door and the door is cracked open. its about 8:" away from my sump and its positioned more infront of it instead of over it. its temporary, until i can get a fixture and the eggcrate in there.

as for the fish, i probably wont end up getting most of them due to the mr. grumpy gills in there... who thinks he owns the tank. everything i get he ends up attacking and he makes them scared.... he did it to my goby ad the copperband.
speaking of the goby... he died last night. =( i woke up this morning and saw him flowing around in the open...all limp and whatnot. kinda sucks. i know he didnt eat much...mainly because i have no living things in my sandbed and he barely ate..and whenever he did try, the tang chased him away......i need to seed the sand before i get anything else like that....

the hermit is no longer with me.... he died due to unknown reasons....when i gave him the new shell, he stopped eating and never walked around the tank...just stayed in the corner... =\ i miss him. =(

[pvtdonut]

well...theres another one down.... WTF IS GOING ON! im starting to get really upset about this. my other clownfish died today while i was at work.... no idea why....i checked all of my water levels and everything was ok...i had a little tiny bit of ammonia..but that was it... nothing high enough that would seem to kill anything......

gah. =(

[pvtdonut]

this is BS! wtf! my tang died while i was in the shower just now! omg.

this really sucks....

i think it may have been the rock i put in there..it may have been uncured... not a very smart move on my part.... but the guy at the lfs said it wouldnt do any damage to anything in the tank if i put it in there... =[


im gonna let the damsel go solo and see how he does.... if he survives, then thats good..theres ich in the tank, so if he dies, i will let my tank run fishless for some time...enough to save some money. im considering 2 things to do with my tank now.

1: lionfish. i been wanting to get back into the whole..lionfish thing latley... ive had 2 in the past...and both died when my tank crashed...this was the last tank i had...before the 65... i kinda miss them.. they were adorable to watch.. espicially my little one, Killer. Monster was the slightly larger fuzzy. =] the best fuzzy dwarf ever. lol. ..sorry, i got caught in a flashback....

lol, anyway. im thinking of getting a little dwarf again. im not sure if i want to get the fuzzy, or a radiata dwarf... my lfs had this really cool dwarf radiata..i really like how it looked. and looking at its adult stage pics, he looks really nice. and then along with that i want to get a dwarf black volitans. ..havnt seen any floating around in my lfs anywhere, but i saw a picture of somebodys online...and it was GORGEOUS! i really would like to get one. and if i cant acquire one of them, then i will go with a red volitans. and have them the only ones in my tank. and my eel in the sump of course... but now i have the equipment to handle the bioload, unlike in the past...so everything should be alright. and plus they are extremely hardy animals.

and option number 2: considering if i really want to take the route of keeping an octo. the lfs has been getting a few in latley and i think they are magnificent creatures. they have one in their biocube 29. its about 4 inches. and it is so amazing to see it camouflage with every step it takes across the rocks and sandbed. and watching it eat was just awesome.

i know if i wanted the octo, i would have to be extremely safe and octo-proof all of my equipment and secure my tank. could get costly, plus to make sure everything would still perform well enough, (ie. pumps, overflow, return lines..ll that.) and the cost of the octo is the same as the 2 lionfish together would be. roughly 80-90$ after tax and whatnot... plus the cost to get the tank octo-proofed. lol. also i wouldnt be able to keep inverts very long to clean up my tank...they would be dinner for him.

these are my two choices i have came up with. ill give it more time and see which one i decide to go with.

[pvtdonut]

anyone know if it would be safe to feed a lionfish those saltwater mud minnows? i was hoing to get some and use them to feed my lionfish when i got them.

Skurvey, i know you have some in your tank. in the fuge i believe? do you use those as food for your lion? i was curious because i know its unhealthy to feed them freshwater minnows, so shouldnt marine minnows be healthier for the lionfish? since its kind of native to them?

i enjoy watching the lion hunt his food down. i think it makes having him a bit more exiting. =)

thanks for the input.


my ammonia is also slowly dropping as well.. its at .25 today. i got a poly pad and a bottle of Ultimate. i been squirting a bit of the ultimate into the tank daily. it seems like its working. the damsel is still alive, which is good. his breathing isnt as bad as it has been in the past week.

and im never listening to the information my lfs has to give ANYMORE. i think they should give me some store credit for losing all of my fish due to that guys advice. i am definatley going to come here before i go ask them something.

i trust the people here more..

[pvtdonut]

oh, and also while i have been coping with my losses, i managed to pick up a sheet of egg crate and made a cover for my tank, annnnd my sump. =] took a little while to mark where it had to be cut, but i got it done.... heres few pics.

heres the main tanks top.




heres the sump's. i cut out a little spot in the middle there so that i can easily feed the eel without having to go through the trouble of taking off the lid every time.



my next investment is going to be a fixture for the sump's light. and maybe foaming off my overflow so i can bring the eel back to the top when i have everything set. he's getting quite big....cant stay in the sump forever. lol

[CarmieJo]

Nice job on the eggcrate. Sorry about the loses.

[Skurvey Dog]

Hey Lil Buddy! Sorry I haven't had a chance to post to your thread lately. Sorry to hear about the disaster with your tank and the major losses that you have been having back to back. Is the Damsel still hanging in there with you? You obviously have something major going on with your tank water there. I remember several weeks back, seems like when the deaths started occurring, we had discussed some possibilities about the water. You had stated that nothing had changed and I believe I mentioned possibly a chemical disturbance that you had/or could not test for. And that we had discussed you doing some major water changes religiously. Perhaps a contaminant in the form of aerosol/ air fresheners, perfumes, carpet deoderizers, anything that might fit into that category. I do believe there is a possiblity that the