6x9base13 - Quarantine come display

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OK, so I blundered in, asked a bunch of questions , showed some pics of where the 4000L was going to go and then... disappeared. To quote The Bard - "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men ,Gang aft agley".

My business, a brain fart about moving house , the phase of the moon, the state of the outer Mongolian economy and a few other things taking up my time got in the way,but the bug .........

Taking a step back though, I'm all sure you know the sequence - Mmmm, I have a TL550 lying in the garage, let's set it up. Mmmm, but that wall looks a little bare - perhaps a 3 footer could slot in ! Mmmmmm, if I break out that wall and move the bar we can squeeze in a 2m star fire with fish room in the wendy house outside..............

Anyhow, I got the hell in one day about 5 months ago and thought I need a quarantine tank in any case and I have less than zero knowledge about marine (some fresh water experience including success with discus) so arrived home with a TL450 which I thought should fit the bill - I learn and get what will become a quarantine / frag tank eventually. Let's get started while we plan the 2m !

Well, 5 months down the line, still can't decide where to put the real main display and still have lingering thoughts of moving, but doesn't matter. I'm having so much fun with this, I've almost forgotten about the rest !

So, in a nut shell:

(this was not the original config, but as is now)

Boyu TL450 - nearly 6 months old
4kg's live rock
Just over an inch of substrate
Chamber 1 - Filter floss changed with every water change, stock UV for what it's worth. Started without it based on internet readings, but feel it did make a difference when I put it back in.
Chamber 2 - standard skimmer (no experience with skimmers, but if left high enough seems to do the trick very nicely, does need checking/adjusting daily though.)
Chamber 3 - Seachem matrix stones, bag of carbon, bag of Purigen
Chamber 4 - return pump , bomb of biocubes and heater

Cycled with live rock, stability, raw prawn.

Live stock (going to add with commentary on the time line )

3 weeks in and with parms looking good I couldn't wait :

Week 3

1 x Ocellaris (started out as two, one got a real Nemo like damaged fin and then was no more within 4 weeks. Only loss in my tank to date! He was with us for about 3 months, suspect bullying as they tried to assert dominance for pairing. My lighting wasn't auto and I left the lights on for very long that day too, feel terrible since I suspect that contributed :(

1 x Blue legged hermit
3 x turbo snails
1 x rock with assorted Zoa's

Over time I've developed thick coraline on my rocks to the point where purple is almost overpowering. Cyano and diatoms arrived and then the dreaded green hair algae. Not matts and matts, in fact I pondered the advice to pick it off since I couldn't see that being possible, but now I realize mine wasn't actually that bad. I could siphon most of it off.

Cyano tho is still the bain of my life. Got some on one side of my tank and just can't deal w i t .............................FFS be back shortly !!!

Right where was I ?

Blue legged hermit (known as Crab Maga) was mostly missing in action. Seen once a week at most back then.

Noodles (the shrimp named after how I would eat them lol:) was front and center ! He dominated the display in the hollow in the center.

Clowns , as they are !!! Fricken clowns ! Remember waking up early the first morning they were in to see them floating upside down on their backs !!!! Crapped myself until they spotted me and woke up and righted themselves !

Messed around with flow, had a 600l and 1000l el cheap wave makers in at first. Thought it was too much. Whipped out the 1000l and ran nicely with the 600l till it started acting up (got a dodgy 600l for sale if anybody is interested :) reliability stopped when the shrimp shed, suspect it's cleanable) . Replaced it with the 1000l with the best of intentions of replacing it again with some better kit later , but it's one of those "never got a round tuit" things and still running the 1000 although re-positioned a few times.

PS. All this is in anticipation of me getting the coraline spots on the glass cleaned and adding pic tomorrow, so will break here, have a glass or two and continue tomorrow.
 
Regarding the cyano, is there enough flow in the area with cyano?


Mmmmm again , never pondered that side effect of the flow issues I've had. That side does have compared to the other side which is completely clean.
 
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Hold on a second, severe noob alert ! That purple stuff on the rocks is coraline right ? Cyano is the light fluffy like discoloration on the sand and lightly on the rock ? Think a FTS is over due !!!
 
hmmm, yeah...
So what are you doing this weekend? Cleaning the tank glass? Tanking pictures? Upload them?

That's the plan :blush: . The tunze magnet is the best thing, but just not quite getting everything off on the curved front glass. Got myself a scraper now so will have it !
 
Here some shots from the setup , planning the scape and filling with first salt.

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So, life got in the way. Called out twice so didn't get the quality time I would normally spend with her on Sunday's. Tomorrow night will become water test and change night.

I did get a quick scrape and phone photo session though :

FTS with everybody looking a little miserable with the scraping and disturbing the flow:

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On the left we have xenia's on a magnet. Trying to get them to spread to the back wall for some movement.

Then a mushroom -2 weeks old in my tank.

Then we have my first mistake in the foreground - a rock with zoa's which I dumped in without dipping :(

Noodles the shrimp in his usual spot.

Then to the right a new rock with a Ric (one week old ) and a torch (2 days old )

We also have a mussel., a red legged hermit and two Nessarius snails (5 days in tank) and various other filtering critters.
 
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Nice start
Sad to say that front rock is covered in cyano, get some plain white vinegar and inject 0.5ml into every day and it will go.

Ps. The answer to your forum name is 42 :)
 
Yup , answer to life , the universe and everything !

Thanks. Will tackle that, the Aiptasia and brown palys I see popping up :(
 
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