South Side Outdoor - Finally!!

So managed to find the problem, being a noob, and listening to Lfs, I was suggested stress guard when introducing new fish.nothing fancy written on the bottle, or warnings
Never again.
Stress guard = mad skimmer
Skimmer was pulling water like an open tap.
Had to leave it off for 2days ~ hopefully this wont be a problem.

I know also know that adding anything to my tank will cause my skimmer to got nutty.

Added some nice livestock over the weekend , thanks to SAMS and Perkies.
Especially Perkies, for waiting till the last minute on friday afternoon and being as helpful as always.
Only problem, my ricordea is AWOL in my tank.
New stock included some a variety of tangs , and a fox face rabbit.
Only issue is now my clown surgeonfish/ clown tang is being a little brat and a pain in the a$& to the other fish.

Anyone know how to deal with spoilt brat fish
Will post pics during week , when I manage to take some decent ones.
 
so since my skimmer decided to go mad ,i pulled the plug
i also managed to find some carbon in a draw from my other tank.
gave it a good rinse off last night, stuck it in a filter sock and popped it into the sump.
left it in the tank over night , and will hopefully pull all the c^%p out the water , that the stessgaurd put in.
will check later to see how the skimmer works then, also the dosing of the stress guard is 2 days , so hopefully it will be out of the water by today.
how long can you safely leave a skimmer off for ?
 
Thats the problem with some of these remedies, they can make your skimmer go crazy for a while.
I have never used stress gaurd, but have used a similar product and I had to turn off the skimmer while I was using it.
The tank should be ok without the skimmer for a few days, if you are stressed get some microbe-lift specially blend. It breaks down waste in a similar way to a skimmer.
 
Okay , so after my skimmer had to be left off for nearly 4 days , i was a little un easy and decided to take action.
i managed to find a off cut of a tile , and put it under my skimmer to raise it around 2 cm.
that managed to solve the complete overflow when i turned it on.

only problem after leaving skimmer off for 3 /2 days , phosphates have increased to between 1 or 2 mg /L., with this in mind , my algae seems to have grown/ growing , and i need to reduce the phosphates to starve the algae.

can anyone suggect a solution, i am not interested in a reactor , as i think this is temporary , and if it carries, on look into that.
i have read ways to reduce phosphates
1. skimming
2. bacteria
3. macro algae

i have 1 and 3 now sorted , and will purchase some bacteria today to address that .
anything else anyone can suggest ?
 
Just a punt for my Hydor Nano slim skimmer, realized that what happened to you never worried me as it is so easy to adjust, and there is two ways/levels of adjusting it. So when I added the stuff in he pass, I just set the skimmer to skim drier/higher and progressively lower it during the day, normally takes me about 4 hours to 'clear' my tank of it.
 
tank looked better yesterday after having skimmer back on over night.
i skiimed dry in the beginning, as i didnt have time to set it properly.
last night loosed up a bit , and let it skim a little wetter to ensure it gets as much out .
will retest tonight , and hopefully phosphates will be down, but need to address algae issue, making me dilly
 
on another note , the anenome that i have been looking after seems to be doing well in recovery .
eating hake and a prawn piece about 3 times a week , and looks like he will get better.

one thing that is bugging me , is that he is positioned at the top right of my tank , on the front glass.
(dont take this in the wrong way)
if i stop feeding him , briefly , do you think this will encourage him to move .
at the moment , i cannot see his mouth , and would be great if he moved elsewhere.
i know they will move and settle when comfortable , but i think he is happy where he is now , but this is not ideal for me ( no i am not selfish )

suggestions and comments ?
 
Using and old bank card..... Scrape him gently off the glass and place him in a place you would like him to stay, put something over him to keep him from floating about until he foots himself, then hope from there he wount move to front glass again .... Be sure to place him in high flow area somewer high up aswell, preferbly under a halide... Once he foots, feed him, he shud stay in place...
 
will give it a bash , and see how it goes , dont want to up set him , but i know if i move him onto a shlf he will exposed to more light and flow , and at least i can see him feed properly instead of staring at his base all day
 
so from my last post , i managed to get my nennie , off the front glass , and positioned onto a rock , and settled , but what a mission.
kept folding over , and not wanting to place , and with my tank on feed pause , to stop the flow in the tank , it wasnt the easiest job in the world.
it has settled nicely and is perched at the top of the tank , on a nice flat piece of rock , under my MH, so getting nice light when they are on.

here is a picture in the new posi , with his friends - pic out of focus a bit

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on the tank side , things were a little quiet , weather in the cape hasnt allowed us to do much, and unfortunately my wifes Gran passed away - RIP, so the family were in mourning last week and preys were held last week up until wednesday.
during this period , one of my MH bulbs decided to stop working , and i freaked .
thanks to @Ayoob and @Adee and anyone else for the helpful insight and sourcing the bulbs i needed i ended up at the lamp house, and left with 3 of these beasts and a little hole on my pocket.
didnt realise the price tang on these canons , but i guess you have to do it now and again
400w BLV Nepturion MH Bulbs

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here is the latest FTS , with the new bulbs in place - i must say , i love the new colour , the old bulbs must have been a much lower K ratings , as the new bulbs give the tank a slight blue undertone , that i would usually see only on t5 tanks , when my t5 are only on , i get a deep blue colour to the tank, and then when the MH are one , it becomes and bright blue/ white , new bulbs have made a huge difference, so glad it was money well spent.



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so i have managed to kind of get the hand of the fish pics , but some of them are still too quick.
my vlamingi has ants in his pants , and loves to see me , but can never sit mildly still to get a decent pic of him.
i will try again later , but here are some of my inhabitants

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Here are some more pics:

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also did some shopping on the week end and found a few beauties :

gold spotted rabit fish - was in the shadows , will get a better pic later

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fox coral - thanks to @Perky pets superstore
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