My First Tank in Ottawa

[MJChang]

thanks to a whole lot of guys, who sold me things and earned my money and now earns my compliments

my setup of tank is almost finished

some spaces left blank for some exotic corals that probably needs seekin hard in the market

and this is how the tank looks and some of the corals in

would like to update some pix later this week if the ritteri does fine

most of them survive well so far--except two corals that failed because of somethin bad in skeleton, which, to my experiences, happen to some frags in particular of stylo and birdnest

probably they shoulda survived if i didn't put'em under rocks to do some supportin job after havin figured out there was STN

[Cheebs]

Very, very nice! Could we get some details? How long has it been running, what size is the tank, lighting etc.

[MJChang]

thanks

the tanks about 90gallon

19*17*15

ati sunpower 8 bulbs dimmable f2b

ati blue+
ge 6500k
ati purple+
ati blue+
ati blue+
ati blue+
ge 6500k
ati blue+

i put the lightin much higher than usual---usual 6 inches but my workers mistakenly doubled it

probably the tank's shadow than usual 15 inches tall so it works ok so far. so i havent corrected it yet

[dakrazyone]

nice to see your on here, bumped into you in RC lol.

[MJChang]

nice to see your on here, bumped into you in RC lol.

hey, thanks

now my priority comes to cleanup of cyano mess

[dakrazyone]

i use to rake it out with my net to remove most of it then do more water changes til it's all gone.

[MJChang]

i use to rake it out with my net to remove most of it then do more water changes til it's all gone.

i got a ritteri that hate changes of water

so i'll try a combination of phos control, coral snow and bio digest this time

[Rybren]

The tank looks very good and is coming along nicely.

I'm a tad confused about the size....

19*17*15 only works out to about 20G.  It sure looks bigger than that.

[MJChang]

The tank looks very good and is coming along nicely.

I'm a tad confused about the size....

19*17*15 only works out to about 20G.  It sure looks bigger than that.

well, bad math and memory

as to make it accurate, i measured with a ruler

it's

39*29*19

and 19*17*15 is my sump size

[Rybren]

Okay.  That makes a lot more sense to my simple brain.

[Marx]

beautiful tank! something we all inspire to do!!

keep up the good work!! and thanks for the inspiration! 

[MJChang]

things happened so horribe to my tank



i hosted a dinner party and since the tank is next to my kitchen, some pitches of beer was accidentally poured into my dt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

changed lots of water

[kole18]

That sucks

[MJChang]

that pisses me off

and i guess i need to host a sleepover after a nightmare dinner party and casual friday afternoon

[dakrazyone]

that type of dosing seems kinda of extreme, hope all is well.

[MJChang]

thanks yall for comfortin

im now turnin to enjoy one of the best movies ever in history

transformer 2

[MJChang]

so far everythin doin fine except the ritteri

ssssss

[Lockpick]

Maybe throw some chips in there the fishes might want something to accompany the brews lol

[kole18]

Actually its another type of Vodka dosing method " Budwiser" reduced nitrates  j/k. hope everything is ok bro, do a water change for sure run carbon etc... to avoid loosing your livestock.

[MJChang]

one thing for sure

those fish'd never drink and drive

[MJChang]

btw, anyone knows where in ottawa to buy some lanthanum chloride?

wanna add some more live rocks into the sump with some mangroves

[kole18]

I've got 2 mangroves in my sump which isn't doing well but my cheatos is really growing crazy, this is helping my tank actually for nitrates & phospate as well my pods for mandarin:)

[MJChang]

i have some chaeto in my sump but it doesnt grow well

[kole18]

Maybe add a bit of flow & lights too

[MJChang]

Maybe add a bit of flow & lights too

yup, i'm considerin changin the lightin of sump seriously

now i'm just usin a home depot bought lamp 25w

[MJChang]

some pix after alcohol accident

[MJChang]

well, after acohol accident, the ritteri is really doing badly with lots of tentacle tips rotten up

[MJChang]

now all the sps's suffer RTN

have yet to figure out the reason triggered the plague

[kole18]

That sucks though goodluck!

[Marx]

i believe it might be the yeast found in beer.

yeast causes all sorts of bacteria in different forms that can occure in different habitats.

water changes, and more water changes till you've done 100% over a few days. run a butt load of carbon, even run purigen for a bit.

hopefully this helps!!

[MJChang]

i'm afraid its aefw infection

will be waitin and stop addin new sps's for a while

[kole18]

Just do a water change, don't run carbon or gfo let it settle down the tank for week & start running carbon & gfo. When my sps starting to bleached I always took off my gfo, I don't really use carbon in my tank it will strip & will causes sucking off all your nutrients in your water. I hate to say this I don't really run gfo or carbon in my sump for the last 3 months & what's in my sump just cheatos & sanbed of caribic seamud plus LR's , skimmer. If I was you i wouldn't run carbon & gfo for a week, just do a water change to replenish all those toxic in your water & turn of your daylight bulb & leave the actinic on atleast a day to reduced the stress of your corals.

[kole18]

It sucks once one of your sps start to bleach you assumed it will also start on the other corals too. A few months ago I've lost 2 colony of sps I think that causes of rtn its the gfo I haven't change lately. I took it off & did a lot water change finally it did recovery from rtn, but one my fav colony the cherry tip digitaper didn't make it even if i did frag it

[Hookup]

i'm afraid its aefw infection

will be waitin and stop addin new sps's for a while

do you dip your corals in anything before adding them?

[MJChang]

yup, tm pro coral cure

i took some out and dipped last nite

closely examined'em and figured out no signs of infection

today i got a florescent green tip ritteri and quarantined the ritteri i had who was doin pretty poor

i'll just wait'n see what'll be happenin

the worst is i gotta restart the system. sigh

[MJChang]

Just do a water change, don't run carbon or gfo let it settle down the tank for week & start running carbon & gfo. When my sps starting to bleached I always took off my gfo, I don't really use carbon in my tank it will strip & will causes sucking off all your nutrients in your water. I hate to say this I don't really run gfo or carbon in my sump for the last 3 months & what's in my sump just cheatos & sanbed of caribic seamud plus LR's , skimmer. If I was you i wouldn't run carbon & gfo for a week, just do a water change to replenish all those toxic in your water & turn of your daylight bulb & leave the actinic on atleast a day to reduced the stress of your corals.

thanks, kole

i'm really considerin shuttin down the gfo. I've removed the sucks and the phosguard in it. phosguard is much more horrible sucker compared with gfo.

[dakrazyone]

yea, gfo's , pellets, carbon can be great additions to any tank, but i think there needs to be more control on output.  I guess they work too well only downside is controlling stability.  I tend to run them on and off.

[MJChang]

yea, gfo's , pellets, carbon can be great additions to any tank, but i think there needs to be more control on output.  I guess they work too well only downside is controlling stability.  I tend to run them on and off.

second thought can also be given to the addition of two powerheads. changes of wave sometimes bring trouble, 2

however, if so, it's the most optimistic situation.

checked water parameters. all ok.

[Hookup]

some pix after alcohol accident

This one still look drunk... HAHAHAHAHA

[MJChang]

 

very bad skills of photographin

my professor was so desperate about it

[MJChang]

the tank looks now



the brown nana starts colorin up. it tells well in this hobby its a must 2 b patient. it was dyin then i threw it away then it now gets colored up. doin nothin sometimes helps in tank

[kole18]

I think you need some cleaner crew your tank is mess up dude, threw some snails & hermits

[MJChang]

I think you need some cleaner crew your tank is mess up dude, threw some snails & hermits

i do have snails--20 somethin. they seem to work far behind cyano does

to get a sand starfish tomorrow

[kole18]

What do you dose to your tank man? Bud, Heineken , labatt just kidding man:). No I mean what do you dose in your tank got you so much cyano there & lots of fish as well there too. Oh that's really hard to balance for those bioload. I've got 7 fish atleast in my tank, & I feed my fish atleast 2x a day. I only dose bio-cal so far now I cut down the coral-vite since I'm doing water change every 2nd week.

[MJChang]

What do you dose to your tank man? Bud, Heineken , labatt just kidding man:). No I mean what do you dose in your tank got you so much cyano there & lots of fish as well there too. Oh that's really hard to balance for those bioload. I've got 7 fish atleast in my tank, & I feed my fish atleast 2x a day. I only dose bio-cal so far now I cut down the coral-vite since I'm doing water change every 2nd week.

zeo amino acid--usual side effect of zeo products

do u guys think plastic planter could release anything harmful into circulation? i put one in the refugium

[MJChang]

ritteri has really become my foe

i moved the ritteri back to dt and it hugged a powerhead and then sliced itself up

i'm so mad now, again changing tons of water

now everythin seems fine including the awesome sebae

[Cheebs]

I think you need some cleaner crew your tank is mess up dude, threw some snails & hermits

I'm actually really loving the look of the back wall, looks really neat and natural

[leemay]

nice tank!
what type of anthias? how much you feeding them?

thanks

[MJChang]

thanks guys

i almost reaquascaped due to the ritteri mess

1 is sunburst

3 resplendent 1 missin 1 loss from ritteri mess. tryin to get 2 replacements

i feed'em twice a day: 1 mysis and 1 cyclopeeze

[kole18]

Is that the second retteri right? It sucks dude, I've got rbta & gbta which is not doing well due to my alk went down hill & bio cal isn't enough to keep up alk at right level. Alaways something isn't right, but plta is doing well & stupid thing is wont host my clown insted it's rather to host my brain coral.

[MJChang]

yup, exactly man

the first disappeared

the second sliced up

man, i feel desperate

bta isn't natural host for ocelaris or percula, so you probably need tons of patience. I used to have four bta's, very gorgeous but my ocelaris hosted whole lot of things, like the water outlet, piece of live rock while ignorin the very existence of bta

mag and gig are the natural host. actually my sis and i have maintained all sorts of anemone happy--sebae, gig, bta and condy and mag. we just failed on mag--twice. the sebae i'm now havin seems good so far. to my surprise, my ocelaris or percula hosted it. it seems to be heteractis malu, which naturally only hosts young clowns and clarkii. probably the clowns are still young far from maturity

the previous one was that close to survival before it terminated itself by huggin the darn powerhead

i took 2 powerheads out and rearranged the rockwork. hopefully it'll help.

[MJChang]

after lots of mess--beer dosin, rtn and ritteri suicide

the tank seems to be back on track



the nana was brown for a while and decides to color up recently



checkin those greenin up coraline, i guess this acro is potential to develop as a strawberry shortcake, greenish coraline, purple tip and pink polyp



the purple rim monti



the green humilis



bein frequently moved ass around, the penope or p-what birdnest has yet to show its full beauty



the dinosaur's egg monti



the watermelon monti



a gorgeous malu and a divorced clown

[kole18]

hey dude you've got a major algaes outbreak there, run some gfo & carbon to clean up those mess. yikes that happens to my tank at the beggining of 1st month green & red cyano. I did a lot water change & reduced my light as well minimize feeding my fish would help. Nice selection of acro there man, goodluck man

[MJChang]

i'm runnin'em. and i guess the situation is improvin, sigh, compared with the pix in last month

i'm a little bit desperate for ive got nothin to reduce

nitrate 0--salifert and tropic marin

phosphate 0--hanna

dont know where cyano comes from

[bt]

Your levels could be 0 because it's being all used up by the algae.  You may still need to deal with the nitrate and phosphate source reduction, though.

Have you tried a lights out period?

[MJChang]

yup for 2 days

then my diamond goby jumped out to kiss the carpet

[MJChang]

however i'm going to reaquacae the tank next year to mimic a barrier reef scenario

[Cheebs]

In any case it's looking great, I don't se emuch of an algae outbreak myself compared to the other pics Good job!

[kole18]

I think those green slimy algae it comes from dry foods, I'd noticed on my tank every time I feed pellets it always ended up not been eating all my fish & shrimp in a few days I see green slim on dead beaches of my acropora of what I do try to point my power heads direct to those algae just get rid off it or I even grab the snails place it to that spot I stop a bit feeding dry foods now these causes a lot nitrates that's what I find

[MJChang]

usually i do reaquascape and scrub both glass and live rocks and then algae disappear

but since i live in ottawa alone without help from my family to complete such a big job, id better say let it be

yet ive planned a summer trip to australia. so i'd very possibly reaquascape it from pix

[MJChang]

some new additions

a gorgeous elegance coral, nice color and huge size



a very potential bushy acropora



a nice pinkish blue bushy acropora. my bad photograph skill really eclipsed its beauty



a red table



a purple table



a very potential staghorn



a browned rainbow stylo. hopefullly it'll be clolorin up.



a borwned staghorn. as you can see, its polyps are yet blue

[kole18]

Dude those are nice pcs of Sps collection you've got there now & elegance as well.

[MJChang]

now i need just a gorgeous ritteri

then everythin thrives without any more accidents

[kole18]

Hey dude what happen to 2nd that you just got recently? Don't tell it did died again those retteri dude I'd used to have those anemone 2 yrs ago you should see it almost half of my 35g tank covered with these gigantic retteri amazing it was hosted of 4 clowns:) I'd sold for 150$ one of our fellow co-ovas. I've got this anemone from OI when pat still live here in Ottawa I've kept it a year didn't even split but so huge yellow tip & purple base. Retti it moves a lot though you need a space for this anemone, if you get the healthy 1 oh dude for sure this is gonna beuatifull anemone for your tank & goodluck finding 1, I know mscape always carries these type of anemone or az too.

[MJChang]

Hey dude what happen to 2nd that you just got recently? Don't tell it did died again those retteri dude I'd used to have those anemone 2 yrs ago you should see it almost half of my 35g tank covered with these gigantic retteri amazing it was hosted of 4 clowns:) I'd sold for 150$ one of our fellow co-ovas. I've got this anemone from OI when pat still live here in Ottawa I've kept it a year didn't even split but so huge yellow tip & purple base. Retti it moves a lot though you need a space for this anemone, if you get the healthy 1 oh dude for sure this is gonna beuatifull anemone for your tank & goodluck finding 1, I know mscape always carries these type of anemone or az too.

as u said, it moved a lot and then sliced itself up after wonderin into a powerhead

and seemingly ritteri doesnt split well. im quarantinin the big chuck left from slicin but the opportunity seems slim to grow back

[MJChang]

there is the tank after mess:



theres still plenty of cyano on the back but on sides the situations improvin







the table coral hostin a crab and two shrimps



the rainbow stylo needs colorin up















this purple acro is very potential

[kole18]

I didn't even noticed that you have a nano wavebox there now man, nice that's what i have in my 70g too  . I used to have mp40es but sucks always break my profelr, keep on spending bucks for these wavemaker to repair cool.

[MJChang]

I didn't even noticed that you have a nano wavebox there now man, nice that's what i have in my 70g too  . I used to have mp40es but sucks always break my profelr, keep on spending bucks for these wavemaker to repair cool.

i didn't put it in for a while

i used to have 3 6055's 1 6025 and 1 6045

well, the wave was probably too strong it probably contributed to the rtn i suffered

so i decided to make more natural waves, addin the wavebox while takin out 5025 and 6045 i changed the frequency of the 6055's too

now it looed btetter

[MJChang]

and the elegance is so big i necessarily reaquascaped

[kole18]

Hey bro how manny gallon is your tank? Is that 90g cube .

[xenon]

Any reason why there is a heater in your tank and not in the sump?

[MJChang]

Any reason why there is a heater in your tank and not in the sump?

sump is too small very compact design

[kole18]

I was going to ask about that too xenon the heater in his tank isn't supposed to be we're place in your sump & if your sump is too small bro needs to upgrade

[MJChang]

I was going to ask about that too xenon the heater in his tank isn't supposed to be we're place in your sump & if your sump is too small bro needs to upgrade

im savin to upgrade in 4 yrs

gonna set up probably 60*35 dt with a zeovit sump--could still be small, just heaters, probably a chiller, zeolite reactor and skimmer

i'd like give a shot to the plasma lightin. it seems cool on my friend's tank. its probably much cheaper in yrs to come

i guess zeovit system is still my preference

[Hookup]

got an updated FTS?

[MJChang]

The malue anemone removed to the back of rockwork

I've got a lemonade rbta

latest pix



thought it would stay in the rock crevice i'd arranged but it stuck to the rock

not full opened. probably it'll be movin this night





the elegance, really huge

[MJChang]

i finally improved the wave to my liking

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L41nzGeKgN4&feature=youtu.be

[Hookup]

Really nice setup.. No beer

[redbelly]

Nice looking Pappilare!
Do you have an updated pic?
I have crazy polyp extention on mine to the point where you can not see the base at all.

[MJChang]

here are some updates

the tank. I decide to add more blue, seekin one or two blue staghorns



a very potential efflo. runnin outa glue, i put it temporarily on sand



the tricolor needs colorin up



the rainbow/bicolor bta



the duncan



the dominant male resplendent anthias, really somethin



trio of resplendent anthias



the small school of longspine cardinals



full open blueberry gorgonia

[salvini55]

Cool, looking good! those anthias look hungry 

[MJChang]

u guys got any ideas where to find a small hanger of metal halide for sump?

i'd upgrade my lamp sumplight to a metal halide

[JetJumper]

Princess Auto.

[MJChang]

some updates:



my clown finally hosts my rbta



some corals













what's this specimen?





sunburst anthias, my fav



the copperband wiped out all my christmas tree coral