ToTaLCHaoS13
06/08/2008, 08:24 PM
Well, I was not happy with the look of my rockwork and decided to take a full day and do it right. I started at 10:00 this morning by filling five five gallon buckets, a 30 gallon tub and a 30 gallon tank with water from my sump. I put them on the floor in front of my display and started removing everything one piece at a time. I was careful to make sure the corals were seperated from each other and from my Rose BTA so no one would get stung or go to war!
After getting all the coral and rock out I went to work catching the fish and putting them in a small display upstairs. My first surprise of the day came when in the corner I noticed a guy I hadn't seen in over a month...my Purple Firefish. He had been hiding somewhere in the rockwork and I thought he was long gone, but I guess not! There was somedisappointment though. I had hoped my Blue-spot Yellow Goby would turn up. Unfortunately he was no where to be seen. That was probably one of the biggest disappointments I had experienced in the last couple years. You see, I put him in the tank about a month ago and he immediately darted behind a rock and was never seen again. Pretty hard to take when you drop $120 on a fish!
So now that the water was an absolute cloud of detritus I put my HOB filter in and let it go to town for a couple hours. By the time I finished lunch it was pretty clear. My main complaint about my old arrangement of rock was that I didn't have a lot of height and somehow I managed to create the infamous "rockwall" even though I thought I was doing everything possible to avoid it. So I started by placing a few oblong rocks verticle on the bottom. Next I put my green montipora in to create a shelf in the corner. Slowly I worked to get more gaps and holes thoughout the entire structure and by the end I was very happy with the look. Next I started placing the corals in, trying to get the SPS up high, the LPS more midlevel, and the polyps on at the base. Latly I put my two clams and brain on the sand and stood back to enjoy my creation. Here it is!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/ToTaLCHaoS13/Picture001.jpg
So at this point it is clean-up time. After tossing the old water into the yard and cleaning out all the buckets and tubs, I wiped down all the tools and completed a 60 gallon waterchange. After taking a little brake to watch the end of the NASCAR race (go Harvick!!!) I checked all my parameters and dosed the sump. Lastly I needed to change out my carbon. I filled a new bag and set it off to the side and went to get the old bag out of the refugium...and that's when I noticed something move! I thought maybe I was just tired and my eyes were playing tricks on me since the only thing in the refug is chaeto. I had placed the clams and brain in there today to keep them happy and though maybe a crab had hitched a ride, but as I looked close there was nothing there. I took out the ball of algae so all that was left was sand and still there was nothing. I went in the other room to get the new carbon and when I returned there was a dime size "something" hiding in the corner of the fuge! As I got closer it quickly ducked under the sand again. Soooooo I used my finger to strain though the corner and found.........my Blue-spot Goby!!! He had apparently gone through the return pipe and was happily living by himself in the refugium! I am so happy! Here he is:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/ToTaLCHaoS13/Picture004.jpg
I know, not the greatest pictures. I put up some better ones of the tank tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
After getting all the coral and rock out I went to work catching the fish and putting them in a small display upstairs. My first surprise of the day came when in the corner I noticed a guy I hadn't seen in over a month...my Purple Firefish. He had been hiding somewhere in the rockwork and I thought he was long gone, but I guess not! There was somedisappointment though. I had hoped my Blue-spot Yellow Goby would turn up. Unfortunately he was no where to be seen. That was probably one of the biggest disappointments I had experienced in the last couple years. You see, I put him in the tank about a month ago and he immediately darted behind a rock and was never seen again. Pretty hard to take when you drop $120 on a fish!
So now that the water was an absolute cloud of detritus I put my HOB filter in and let it go to town for a couple hours. By the time I finished lunch it was pretty clear. My main complaint about my old arrangement of rock was that I didn't have a lot of height and somehow I managed to create the infamous "rockwall" even though I thought I was doing everything possible to avoid it. So I started by placing a few oblong rocks verticle on the bottom. Next I put my green montipora in to create a shelf in the corner. Slowly I worked to get more gaps and holes thoughout the entire structure and by the end I was very happy with the look. Next I started placing the corals in, trying to get the SPS up high, the LPS more midlevel, and the polyps on at the base. Latly I put my two clams and brain on the sand and stood back to enjoy my creation. Here it is!
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/ToTaLCHaoS13/Picture001.jpg
So at this point it is clean-up time. After tossing the old water into the yard and cleaning out all the buckets and tubs, I wiped down all the tools and completed a 60 gallon waterchange. After taking a little brake to watch the end of the NASCAR race (go Harvick!!!) I checked all my parameters and dosed the sump. Lastly I needed to change out my carbon. I filled a new bag and set it off to the side and went to get the old bag out of the refugium...and that's when I noticed something move! I thought maybe I was just tired and my eyes were playing tricks on me since the only thing in the refug is chaeto. I had placed the clams and brain in there today to keep them happy and though maybe a crab had hitched a ride, but as I looked close there was nothing there. I took out the ball of algae so all that was left was sand and still there was nothing. I went in the other room to get the new carbon and when I returned there was a dime size "something" hiding in the corner of the fuge! As I got closer it quickly ducked under the sand again. Soooooo I used my finger to strain though the corner and found.........my Blue-spot Goby!!! He had apparently gone through the return pipe and was happily living by himself in the refugium! I am so happy! Here he is:
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q109/ToTaLCHaoS13/Picture004.jpg
I know, not the greatest pictures. I put up some better ones of the tank tomorrow. Thanks for reading!