Marine tank 2

Brengun

My fish for my second marine tank, currently being fish-sat by my lfs until my tank is ready.
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<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=Lionboy.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/Lionboy.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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bundyrumman

They look mighty good quality fish there Brenda.

Doug

Amazing fish!!

Brengun

The frontosa and elec yellows are gone from the tank. Now to make a huge mess removing the ugf and substrate and add in the crushed coral substrate and salt up that water.

Mooo

Nice!

samtheman

beeeutyss!!!

Brengun

Progress so far. Found 4 stowaway electric yellows still in the tank so whiteknight kindly gave them a new home for me. Thanks Tez.
Before
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Removed the gravel and ug filters and added new high ph gravel, liverock etc. Still need to adapt the canister for sw (remove sponges etc) and setup the Deltec 600 skimmer at some time. Got 0.25 ammonia but no nitrites as yet.

Tank atm.
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Mooo

I'm getting exciting now, will be amazing, can't wait..

Brengun

Canisters all done, just pure noodles, balls and coral bits, as I am pretty sure my triggerfish will keep rearranging the tanks gravel to stir up the bio.
Still have to make a couple of eggcrate fences around the heater and powerfilters so no one gets hooked up on them or in the case of Mr T carting them around as a prize.

Brengun

Update is tank is cycled yay! I added a deltec 600 skimmer which I had to modify the output tube with an upsidedown fanta bottle because it was tossing water out over the lids and the irrigation center didnt have the right sized elbow to fit it. Works well though.

I took out the powerfilters and added a couple of cheap 3000L 5watt $18 wavemakers from guppies.

I caught the tank at 30C so I bought a TECO TR10 200watt chiller and connected it from the canister so I didn't need a powerhead to drive it. Works great!

I was advised my my lfs not to put the expensive fish planned straight into the newly cycled tank as they might not be able to cope so instead I have introduced 5 blue-green chromis who are loving the 6ft space. The planned next two fish, the lionfish will eat the chromis though, so the chromis will have to go into my 3ft coral tank when the lions arrive. They are cute little fish and they follow me along the tank begging for more food all the time, little gluttons.

queenbeebrooke

Lovely!! I am super excited for you Brenda! I want that shark, what a beautiful fish!

Brengun

LFS is spoiling him rotten. They can pet him now.

TrevorR

Hi I am just wondering what fish is that in the very first picture which looks like a shark.

Brengun

It is an Epaulette shark. Very interesting shark as it can beach itself, virtually stop all its body functions and come back to life when the tide returns.
Scientists are studying the species to see what it is that can cause the shut down as it may be handy when wanting to do a human heart transplant etc.

queenbeebrooke

Awww I wanna pat him bren! Whats his name? he def deserves a name!!

Brengun

Lazareth or Laz for short, since he can rise from the dead.

queenbeebrooke

well i am a little bit freaked out but otherwsise.. cool. laz is good for me LOL

bundyrumman

Well Laz is nearly taking food out of my hand now Bren.

Brengun

Oh shaddup, insanely jealous!

DJ-don

Man I love Epaulette sharks!! their so smart and interesting as crazy.

and this setup especially the fish wouldnt have been cheap either!

How big are all the fish??

Brengun

The first 2 of my 4 fish have moved in today.
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Mooo

Drool!

queenbeebrooke

oh Bren they are just beautiful! Congrats!!!!

321clayt

Looking good. They almost make your 6ft look small lol.

samtheman

Drool...they are amazing bren

Brengun

So much for feeding them with the frozen shellfish prawns the lfs sold me to feed them. On the one occasion I got one to eat a prawn he spat it back out.
Sacrificial live endlers were a big hit tho.

DJ-don

have you considered white bait?? the stuff that you get at bait shops
its always a big hit with the carnivores

Speedy

Bren, i think there can be issues with feeding freshwater fish to salt water fish as feeders. Maybe do some research on it but i think i heard once that there were problems when feeding a lionfish goldfish feeders. My sleepy cod and catfish love prawns but my bass wont touch them. Some fish just prefer live food.

Brengun

Yeah they needn't think they are getting live endlers all the time. I just wanted to make sure they were ok in this new tank and wanted to see them actually eat something. They will just have to rough it now with the frozen food. Think they would eat a peeled cooked prawn?

Speedy

Most fish like a cooked prawn so it would be worth a try, I some times get the imported prawns (not good enough for me and i dont agree with the farming practices used) from woolies to feed to mine. It works out very cheep in the long term at 12 bucks a kilo and it took me three months to get through the last lot and i was even using them as fishing bait aswell.

TrevorR

Looking great!

Brengun

My 3 fish, two lionfish and a clown triggerfish.
Ok I missed the end of his tail but its still a pretty nice shot.
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_5671.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_5671.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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samtheman

they're great bren!

Mooo

Oh Stunning shots

Brengun

Marine tank 6ft update 4/2/12
About time for an update.
With just calcium carbonate gravel and some live rock and a canister it just wasn't cutting it in terms of filtration. The skimmer was working twice as hard as it needed to and the phosphates were always high do to 3 big pooping fish.

My choices were either get a sump and all the associated pumps and media or put in a deep sand bed. Since the sump has ongoing costs like lighting and power for the pump I chose a DSB instead.

Here is the before shot. First out was that great lunking sewer pipe ornament.
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_9923.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_9923.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Marine tank before livesand"></a>

Out came the fish into a 65L plastic container with an air stone for about 10 hours. I added a slime coat treatment to their temporary accommodation.
They were not happy Jan!
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0995.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_0995.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0995.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_0985.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Out came the live rock that was in there.
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0995.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_0986.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Out came the gravel. It is still stored in a container with water and an air stone and I pick out the little worms and critters and return them to the tank when I spot them.
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Skimmer off, chiller off, power heads off and canister off. I shortened the canister intake so the new sand won't be sucked straight into it.

In went 90kg of Aragalive Bahamas Oolite sand. No wonder my back was getting twitchy by the end of it.
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Didn't it make a cloudy, frothy mess?
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I put the live rock back in and positioned it using Braille since I couldn't even see through the water even after a few hours. Immediately the water went pins and needles electric either from the live rock or the little anemones on it.

I turned one power head on and the canister and chiller and after a while the skimmer which proceeded to pull out some of that white frothy mess.

After a few more hours I started to worry if the fish in the container after 10-12hours might just have to go in the tank, cloudy or not. It didn't look quite so cloudy now so first I introduced the triggerfish since he is the easiest to net back out if the water wasn't ok yet. Well he went nuts, ploughed straight into the sand nose first, frantically sat at the front of the glass looking at me like get me out of here! He didn't look ill, apart from breathing a bit fast and in a minute or two he started carefully swimming about in the gloom. He was actually quite pleased he could ride the current of the power head from one end to the other without having to avoid that blue sewer pipe any more.
<a href="http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0995.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd85/Brengun_photos/my tanks/Marine tank 2/IMG_0997.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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After the triggerfish had settled down and was happy, the next fish was one of the lionfish, the biggest one. Same thing happened, he ploughed nose first repeatedly into the sand. Had these fish never seen sand in their lives before or just forgotten when they were babies in the ocean? Eventually the lionfish settled down and followed the triggerfish around like a puppy so two down one to go.

The little lionfish went even more frantic when he first hit the sand and the triggerfish actually sat on him and held him down for a minute as if to say 'get a grip!'
Once the lionfish had calmed down he just sat there in the corner not game to move so the triggerfish nipped and led him around the tank until he had the mapping layout of the tank.
Through the night though he mostly sat in front of the power head. Maybe he didn't like the sand in the water trying to attach to his slime coat?
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I added Easylife water conditioner so their slime coats would be safer and the tank could get its bio going again.

This morning the tank cloudiness has cleared a lot. The skimmer has settled down and the fish, although a little more sedate than usual, seem quite happy. See my Braille planted live rock? Not bad at all if I do say so myself.
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Since I would have lost most of the little critters in the gravel and the live rock I had wouldn't have a whole lot left to seed the new sand bed, I went to the aquarium shop today and got another 12kg of live rock. I just haphazardly added it all into the tank as I will landscape another time. For now all it has to do is drop its payload of little critters and bio life into that sand.
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Mooo

Looking great Brenda, I like it better with out that sewer pipe..more natural .
It's going to look awesome in a day or two..make sure you get a nice clear one after.

baldy

Looks Great Brenda.

Any new pics yet?

By the way "Hi" havent been around for a while.

Been Busy.

Brengun

Lost the fish with velvet. Tank is now in quaranteen and being treated. Liverock is fine and deep sand bed is populating bacterias nicely.

Mooo

Crying.

Brengun

Update. I have rearranged my liverock to be a bit more pleasing to fish swimming around.
Moved the big toadstool to the rear right corner out of the 3ft coral tank.
Moved the devils hand coral to the front left out of the 3ft coral tank.
Moved the big anemone with his porcelain crab out of the 3ft coral tank. They are all sulking atm and haven't fully unfurled themselves.
I went fish shopping today.


I got two little captive bred Percula Saddleback Clownfish. They are orange under normal lights.

But an orangy yellow under my LED lighting.


I also got a yellow foxfaced rabbitfish.

He wasn't too fussed on coming out for a start.

Once he found out I had also bought his best friend a purple tang they both cheered up.


And... a Cowfish. I might have to call it Mooo?



They all seem very happy together in the big 6ft tank.


I know I am very happy to have them.

321clayt

Looking great Bren good luck with these guys

Mooo

Naww They are all lovely, & the cutest li'l cow fishy, with long horns too, Love them all Brenda..

Errol Wilson

The tank looks cool Bren, Bad luck with the small pride, the are one of my favorites, love the way they hunt livies with all their fins outstreched. All the newbies will be fine, love the tang

Brengun

A bit of drama early this morning with the skimmer adjusted up and it overnight dumped 6 buckets on the cement floor. Oh well, it was kinda due for a water change anyway lol.
I think I frightened the neighbours though mixing salt mix in buckets outside in my nightie lol.

Mooo

Lucky Les seen it, before it emptied all together....
lol In your nightie, I'm always getting about in mine lol..

How is Mooo doing ?

Brengun

Mooo seems a bit of a loner. The purple tang and yellow foxface get around the tank all day together. The pair of clownfish stay with each other all the time.

Whats a cowfish favorite treats? I might be able to give it little tidbits whenever I am there.

Mooo

My son use to feed his worms by hand..

321clayt

yeah same just some black worms or some brineshrimp.

Mooo

My son said....You gotta feed em microscopic stuff till they get older....:/ like mandarin fish, they aren't aggressive & have tiny little mouths so can only eat tiny things...
The little brine shrimp cubes come in different sized particles, u can get tiny little ones right up to misis shrimp & crill.. you just startoff with the smallest & go up as they grom.. However if he is looking sick already i can tell u now he is a gonner, i'm sorry but they are realy easily stressed & hard to relocate, especially into an established tank cause they wont fight for territory, just get bullied to death.. watch them with annenome's too, they real sensitive & will get piosoned from one touch... Over all a really hard fish to keep, but worth it, just look at my vidios, they r so much fun.. they love to interact with u & sulk if u don't talk to them, thats why i hand feed them kills to birds in one go, they like dogs that need attention & walking... lol

Brengun

Ahhhh so thats what he's been up to? He's been stalking copepods. The tank has heaps and heaps of them running around on the rocks and sand.

He has ich atm, as does the rabbitfish. Oddly the purple tang doesn't yet have it so hopefully I have nipped it in the bud with meds.

One clownfish has gone awol and no carcass in the tank. Maybe he just jumped out over the back of the tank?

Heintz.G

Hi Bren found this on line hope it helps.

All kinds of meaty foods and greenstuffs. A bottom feeder.

Puffers are primarily predatory fish in the wild though they do graze on a bit of algae.

This puffer will enjoy all kinds of meaty foods including shrimp, worms, clams, various mussels, snails, tunicates, and fish.

They are not picky eaters and will quickly become adapted to a variety of prepared aquarium foods and an occasional algae wafer.

Flake food is not recommended. Even though they may eat it, puffers will not thrive on it.