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Aarons First Marine setup Journal – Lots of PHOTOS


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  • 3 weeks later...
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while I can't stand algae in my freshwater tank I quite like the diatom on the rocks as it gives it a more natural and less bare look

luckily I don't have the funds to start a marine tank but it's interesting to read your thread. I was enjoying Morcs too until he took the tank down!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks :D

Today I have ordered a Bubble Magus skimmer from Deep Blue Aquarium so hopefully that does a better job than my current Red Sea air stone skimmer I must say for a air stone skimmer it did take a lot of crud out. Also ordered a Zebra Brittle Starfish from Aqua Fever.

Photos to come once everything turns up.

I think you'll notice a huge difference wirth the bubble magnus!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

WOW had a bit of a disaster late last night

I got home late after work and did my usual routine of walking into the fish room and say hi and noticed that the tank lights were out ???

I paused for a min and thought to myself what the hell that electrical smell…..is and other pause followed by a oh poop!…… switch the power off.

My filter wool in the sump was blocked but not so id didn’t block the flow just slowed it down due to allowing very little air into the overflow.

This annoyed me as I change the filter wool every 2nd and as well as rotate it every other day so gunk does not build up.

Anyway long stressful story short the tank overflowed all over my carpet in the fish room and managing to somehow splash onto my multi box which was set up with nice drip loops and what I thought was out of the way of potential overflow.

The box melted 3 plugs to the box as well as burning thought a plugs positive pin pretty damn scary. My multi box has a surge protector and my wall mains have a circuit breaker both of which had popped THANK GOD.

Fish weren’t so happy I must say as the temp had dropped to 22deg with no flow in the tank or heater or lights. With my butterfly and baby BT showing signs of white spot my guess being the stress of the low temp as it was at 26-27deg.

I managed to get a new heater plugged in and also set the return pump / overflow / sump going before heading back to bed last night, this morning the whitespot looks better with the BT still showing a few small spots but was more than happy with her food this morning.

I’m heading home from work at lunch with new multi boxes and replaced equipment that was mangled from the burning.

Hmmm I better work out how I’m going to dry this damn carpet to???

But hey we aren’t a real reef keeper until you get a load of salty water all over the floor

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LOVE the tank and set-up Great job! was it as hard as it is always made out to be?

Hey Zayne thanks for your comment, in all honesty no it not as hard as SOME make it out to be I have learnt allot in starting this setup and yes it does take allot of patients sometimes more than I can handle ha-ha.

I started by reading and reading some more and asking loads of question at my LFS and also on the forums also following other peoples tank journals etc to get an idea of the process.

The marine hobby is much more accessible to the average Joe these days rather than just hi paid lawyers etc. As the products/equipment is more readily available at a more realistic price as well as the larger knowledge base the hobby now has.

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Just after getting over the fact that my BT died from white spot this weekend some other issue has killed my Double saddleback butterfly and my yellow tail damsel. I cannot believe it the butterfly was my favorite fish and such a friendly we guy.

I did all I could for the fish but this disease took them in less than 24 hours after seeing any sign of illness, I feel so useless I never thought this hobby could be so disheartening. I guess we spend SO much time and money on our fish when things go wrong you kick yourself well I sure do.

I had my LFS check my water as my tests at home where showing no signs of bad water quality. The LFS tested it and also showed everything being stable.

Ammonia 0.00ppm

Nitrite: 0.00ppm

Nitrate: 5ppm (now at 0ppm after a water change)

kH: 8.5

Cal: 430 (Working on bringing up to 450)

Mag: 1150 (Still a bit low but am working on it)

Copper: 0.00 (tested just to make sure)

Temp: 26

The only change I have made to the tank was I have made 2x 20ltr (10%) water changed using RODI water from my LFS (not from my usual LFS) and I have also changed my salt to Sera Reef salt as the AquaOne salt ran out and was showing SUPER HI P04 readings straight out of the Bucket but this was after the death of the fish.

I have done a lot of reading online to try and pin point the possible problem as I can’t pick it from my water parameters.

The first signs my butterfly showed was cloudy eyes on Saturday evening followed by not eating and for him that’s not right at all, after that he showed powder like white spots and very lethargic swimming on Sunday morning, by Sunday night he was dead. I was already treating the cloudy eye with Melafix which my LFS and 2 other LFS mentioned I treat him with…. But this was before the other signs showed up.

I turned off my power heads as he could not handle the flow and was looking VERY weak by about 4pm Sunday not long after died. When I picked him out of the tank his tail and fins looked a bit tatted (pictures to come) So to me looks like a bacterial infection ?….. Is this possible with good water quality?

Below is what I have read online

Brooklynella - Similar in appearance to Uronema, these protozoa seem to be increasing in importance. The infections are initially confined to the gills but eventually will spread causing tissue irritation and skin slough producing ulcers.

Fish become lethargic and secrete excess mucus. Death can occur within twelve hours from toxins released by the protozoa. First indicators can include heavy breathing, cloudy eyes, excessive mucus and Ich like lesions. This parasite must be dealt with very quickly!!

A helpful read for fish Disease

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html

When I read this it was too late and every sign above is what both the Butterfly and Damsel had : (

My firefish (Arnold) is showing a tatty tail but this morning looks to be healing and he is still eating and looking pretty happy with himself, the 2 baby clowns look in good health and are eating well and bobbing up and down all day as usual. Fingers crossed they hang in there but for now I plan to do another 20% water change on Wednesday and Friday as well as continue to treat with the Melafix to help with the tatty tail.

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