My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[slief]

Originally Posted by ERivera65

beautiful fish Scott! love the leopard, I have always wanted a blue star leopard wrasse, I don't think my melanurus wrasse would be too happy with another wrasse though, I tried a yellow coris and he chased him all around the tank and it didn't end well with the coris. love the borbonius anthias too. beautiful fish for a beautiful system!

Thank you very much! Funny you mention the Melanurus wrasse.. I spotted the Leopard wrasse a little bit ago and as soon as my Melanurus wrasse spotted it, the Melanurus chased it away. I was actually surprised to see it out so soon. I looked for a while and couldn't find it. I fed shortly after and I think that's what got it out. So far my Melanurus has been good with all my other wrasses so I think he'll be fine with the new one too.

One of the new Borbonius Anthias is out and eating well.. That's a really good sign. Not sure where the other one is. There are an awful lot of places for it to hide. Hopefully it's ok. I took several hours to acclimate using drip system that continually exchanges water very slowly. They came in really low salinity so the really slow acclimation was necessary. I don't QT my fish here and while that may be frowned on, in 20 years of doing it this way, I've never had an issue as a result of that although some of my fish do come from a QT system at my friend Jim's place.

Truth is I wasn't expecting to see any of these fish so soon so it's a blessing that I've seen at least one of the Borbonius already and even more so that it's eating aggressively. I got the Borbonius Anthias really really cheap as they were still in the bags from airplane ride from overseas. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up loosing one.. Even if I do, the combined cost for the two is still about half of what it would have cost me for one from Live Aquaria. While I hate loosing any fish and have a very high success rate, I knew going into this with the Borbonius, that loosing one or even both was a real risk so I have good reason to be optimistic at this point.

Here are a couple shots of two of the three new fish in the tank.
Loving the Borbonius. So pretty and I've been wanting one for years!

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by slief

Beautiful fish!

Originally Posted by slief

2 Borbonius Anthias. Fresh off a plate from overseas.

For a minute there I thought you had gotten take out...

[slief]

Originally Posted by Lavoisier

Beautiful fish!



For a minute there I thought you had gotten take out...

HAHAHAHA!!! I had to go back and check my original post.. Damn typo!! Fresh of a plane!!

[Lavoisier]

I love your tank, and your story, it is an inspiration.

[ERivera65]

Originally Posted by slief

Thank you very much! Funny you mention the Melanurus wrasse.. I spotted the Leopard wrasse a little bit ago and as soon as my Melanurus wrasse spotted it, the Melanurus chased it away. I was actually surprised to see it out so soon. I looked for a while and couldn't find it. I fed shortly after and I think that's what got it out. So far my Melanurus has been good with all my other wrasses so I think he'll be fine with the new one too.

One of the new Borbonius Anthias is out and eating well.. That's a really good sign. Not sure where the other one is. There are an awful lot of places for it to hide. Hopefully it's ok. I took several hours to acclimate using drip system that continually exchanges water very slowly. They came in really low salinity so the really slow acclimation was necessary. I don't QT my fish here and while that may be frowned on, in 20 years of doing it this way, I've never had an issue as a result of that although some of my fish do come from a QT system at my friend Jim's place.

Truth is I wasn't expecting to see any of these fish so soon so it's a blessing that I've seen at least one of the Borbonius already and even more so that it's eating aggressively. I got the Borbonius Anthias really really cheap as they were still in the bags from airplane ride from overseas. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up loosing one.. Even if I do, the combined cost for the two is still about half of what it would have cost me for one from Live Aquaria. While I hate loosing any fish and have a very high success rate, I knew going into this with the Borbonius, that loosing one or even both was a real risk so I have good reason to be optimistic at this point.

Here are a couple shots of two of the three new fish in the tank.
Loving the Borbonius. So pretty and I've been wanting one for years!

Awesome, heck for the price send one over to me too lol. I have seen Jim's QT tanks in his garage in the LAfishguys show and that's very nice of him to QT stuff for you. I have a friend that owns a store and does the same for me. Beautiful pics and hopefully the other borbonious comes out, your acclimate unit is awesome and it is the best thing to do, I have always drip acclimated my fish slowly like that and have had a good amount of success with long slow drip acclimations. Best wishes with the fish and tank!

[albano]

Originally Posted by ERivera65

... I have always drip acclimated my fish slowly like that and have had a good amount of success with long slow drip acclimations...

IMO, There are certain fish (like leopard wrasses) that should be QT'd, not only for health reasons, but to make sure they're eating.
That being said, I do not QT every fish, some go into a separate section of my 200g sump to be watched for a few day or longer. I get most of my fish from a LFS and I drip acclimate for about 15 minutes (going from<1.020 up to 1.026) and I've never had a problem. If a mail order fish comes in 'stressed' I will only temp acclimate the bag, and put the fish into QT asap with no drip...

With over 40yrs in SW, I don't think that there is anything that would convince me that a long drip is necessary, or good for the fish.

[gunraktham]

Great tank.

[slief]

Originally Posted by albano

IMO, There are certain fish (like leopard wrasses) that should be QT'd, not only for health reasons, but to make sure they're eating.
That being said, I do not QT every fish, some go into a separate section of my 200g sump to be watched for a few day or longer. I get most of my fish from a LFS and I drip acclimate for about 15 minutes (going from<1.020 up to 1.026) and I've never had a problem. If a mail order fish comes in 'stressed' I will only temp acclimate the bag, and put the fish into QT asap with no drip...

With over 40yrs in SW, I don't think that there is anything that would convince me that a long drip is necessary, or good for the fish.

Interesting. I've always been concerned about fast salinity changes and the potential for osmotic shock. Never in a million years would I have considered it safe to go from 1.020 to 1.025 in 15 minutes. I've always used the slow drip method for large salinity changes but I also supplement the acclimation box with additional o2 from an air pump. I guess you learn something new every day although I always feel better with the slower acclimation process when there is a significant salinity difference. I've never had a casualty as a direct result of my slow drip acclamations but I also never go as long as I did with the Borbonius as I never mail order fish and never see bagged salinity levels that low. 1.017 was low enough that I felt much better with the .001 per hour route that I took.

[reefermad619]

Originally Posted by slief

Thanks!! That tire was from my LTR450 which I sold early this year along with the rest of our sand toys. I had an extra set of razor backs for it that I hung onto to sell seperately and just haven't gotten around to selling it yet..

Bummer! My cousin and I are just getting back in after a much too long break. Tank looks great as always! I Gota say, it was your review that made me pick up the kessils for my build. I'll be starting a build thread soon.

[shermanator]

I've spent my nights over the past week or so reading this thread. It's a wonderful journey, thanks so much for sharing your tank's history. And such great detail - you gave me some great ideas for my current build.

Thanks so much for this thread and being able to follow along your journey. Your tank is a masterpiece and I loved reading the ups and downs along the way.

[gveng]

Great job bringing this tank back to its former glory Scott!

[slief]

Originally Posted by shermanator

I've spent my nights over the past week or so reading this thread. It's a wonderful journey, thanks so much for sharing your tank's history. And such great detail - you gave me some great ideas for my current build.

Thanks so much for this thread and being able to follow along your journey. Your tank is a masterpiece and I loved reading the ups and downs along the way.

Thank you very much Sherm! That was a really nice thing to say and I really appreciate it. Years back when I started this thread, I never realized all the changes, trials and tribulations that were in store for the future but I am really glad I documented them. From time to time I go back and read through this thread to remind myself of where I've been with this tank and where it's going. It's been a long journey. Much longer than the thread but this tank is such a deep rooted part of my life that even my fish are like children. I'm glad I don't loose fish often but the couple major losses I've had over the years have been very painful. That said, sharing those experiences helped me greatly in dealing with them emotionally. Most non reef enthusiasts look at fish and think they are neat but don't understand the emotional attachment unlike fellow reefers and aquarium keeper who see out tank inhabitants in a different light and from a different perspective that only an aquarium lover can understand.

Anyway, thank you very much for the kind words. As you know, I continually update this thread so you never know what might be in store for the future. Stay tuned and thanks again!

Originally Posted by gveng

Great job bringing this tank back to its former glory Scott!

Thank you very much! I'm really pleased with the current direction of things. Especially after that last disaster over a year ago. While it was a heartbreaking experience, it was very reassuring to see things rebound in a hurry without a single setback. Oddly, the tank seemed to do better than ever in the shadows of that event. As if there was some sick upside to bleach in the aquarium..

A bit of an update on the new fish. I've only seen one of the two borbonius. Given the nature of how where (depths) they are collected, I am really not surprised and wouldn't be surprised if one of the two didn't survive. I knew that going in but they only cost me $80 each and the one of them is doing really well and eating aggressively. Given that these particular fish typically cost anywhere from $200-$300, I will be happy if the one ends up costing $160.. Heck, I'd actually like to get a few more of them. I think that is now one of my favorite fish. It's really different and quite beautiful.

The Leopard Wrasse is doing well also. The day after I got him, I saw him out and about briefly when I fed but then my Melanurus saw him and chased him back into the rocks in a hurry which kind of had me worried as the Melanarus has never been aggressive with any of my other fish or wrasses for that matter. By the next day (Tuesday) they were getting along fine and the Melanurus wasn't even giving it second look. The Leopard wrasse is out all day long now and eating well too. It's an absolutely beautiful fish and a really inexpensive one too.

My buddy Jim is going to the wholesaler today and I gave him a list of items I am looking for.. A few more dragonface pipe fish, a male Bellus Angel which is hard to come by, some more fairy wrasses (I've had a couple jump out and made a screen cover yesterday for the side of the tank they seem to leap from). He's also going to check to see if they have any Borbonius Anthias but I suspect that even if they do, they will be much more than I paid for the first ones which I got right off the plane at an incredible discount. Will update later today if I get any new fish..

[ERivera65]

Originally Posted by slief

My buddy Jim is going to the wholesaler today and I gave him a list of items I am looking for.. A few more dragonface pipe fish, a male Bellus Angel which is hard to come by, some more fairy wrasses (I've had a couple jump out and made a screen cover yesterday for the side of the tank they seem to leap from). He's also going to check to see if they have any Borbonius Anthias but I suspect that even if they do, they will be much more than I paid for the first ones which I got right off the plane at an incredible discount. Will update later today if I get any new fish..

LOL, you've read my mind Scott, I was going to tell you that your tank is missing a nice Genicanthus angel! lol I just got mine, just not a bellus lol. I got a Lamarck and it is small (1.5") but a very vicious eater and it has been doing well, nipping on rocks, and hasn't gotten bullied by my other fish. The next fish on my list are some lyretail anthias, but I am not sure a small trio of lyretails will do well with the trio of chromis I have now currently in my 75. Any suggestions or do you think they all will be fine with each other?

[slief]

Originally Posted by ERivera65

LOL, you've read my mind Scott, I was going to tell you that your tank is missing a nice Genicanthus angel! lol I just got mine, just not a bellus lol. I got a Lamarck and it is small (1.5") but a very vicious eater and it has been doing well, nipping on rocks, and hasn't gotten bullied by my other fish. The next fish on my list are some lyretail anthias, but I am not sure a small trio of lyretails will do well with the trio of chromis I have now currently in my 75. Any suggestions or do you think they all will be fine with each other?

I already have a very happy female Bellus that I've had for about a year so the male is just to get her paired up. Unfortunately the males are hard to come by.

Here is my female.

[albano]

Originally Posted by slief

I already have a very happy female Bellus that I've had for about a year so the male is just to get her paired up. Unfortunately the males are hard to come by.

Get another (smaller) female, and your current female should change soon enough.

[slief]

Originally Posted by albano

Get another (smaller) female, and your current female should change soon enough.

That is a very good point. They are hermaphodites and can change sex.. I forgot about that..

[albano]

Originally Posted by slief

That is a very good point. They are hermaphodites and can change sex.. I forgot about that..

I've had Bellus angels change sex MULTIPLE times (f to m to f to m) depending on tankmates (other Genicanthus angels)

[ERivera65]

oh that's right, I forgot lol. beautiful fish!

[chris_88]

Well it's good to see you have at least 1 surviving pyramid butterfly, I tried a trio myself a few years back and they lived for about 2 weeks and then bottoms up they went

[SS_Sean]

Funny. I clicked on this tank build and one of the first pics was of your closet with the skimmer, and winch for the lights. I said, "Hey, I know that closet!" LOL... Just watched all 12 episodes of your tank build on LA Fish Guys the other day. Nice build. Job Well done.

Jim cracks me up. He's a trip.

[slief]

Originally Posted by ERivera65

oh that's right, I forgot lol. beautiful fish!

Thank you very much!

Originally Posted by albano

I've had Bellus angels change sex MULTIPLE times (f to m to f to m) depending on tankmates (other Genicanthus angels)

That is good to know. That makes getting another Bellus much easier.

[slief]

Originally Posted by chris_88

Well it's good to see you have at least 1 surviving pyramid butterfly, I tried a trio myself a few years back and they lived for about 2 weeks and then bottoms up they went

Mine has been doing great. I've had it over a year now. Not the most beautiful fish in my book but definitely unique and something I rarely see in other tanks.

Originally Posted by SS_Sean

Funny. I clicked on this tank build and one of the first pics was of your closet with the skimmer, and winch for the lights. I said, "Hey, I know that closet!" LOL... Just watched all 12 episodes of your tank build on LA Fish Guys the other day. Nice build. Job Well done.

Jim cracks me up. He's a trip.

Jim is indeed a trip. He's a good friend of mine. I've known him over 20 years now. I assume the Episode you saw was episode 80 covering my sump overhaul? If so, that was shot about 5 years ago I think. There have been several other episodes on the tank thus far and one more being edited that covered my display refugium overhaul. In fact we will be filing the last part or parts for that one next Thursday.

Thank you for the kind words!

[slief]

Oh yea.. Jim got me 4 more fish yesterday.. Nothing exciting though. I got 3 more dragonface pipe fish. I call them slinkys and really like them. They remind of little fuzzy toys I would get as a kid from those little Quarter toy dispenser at the grocery store. You tie a fishing string to them and you can make them crawl across your arm or whatever by pulling the string. They were maybe 4" long and had those little eye balls that bounced around. Anyhow, one went into the display refugium to pair with the other one in there. The other two went into the main display. Hopefully the two in the main display will be able to find enough food between my pod population and my daily feedings. My Mandarin is always fat and happy so I'm sure there is enough food in there. Plus I've been adding Tiggerpods. In fact, I added 3 bottles last night to supplement my pod population.

He also got me a little tiny blue stripe pipe fish. I put that into the display refugium but I don't have much confidence in it's longevity. He called me from the wholesaler and I told him to get it but I didn't realize the thing was only a couple inches long. I should have asked. I will be very surprised if it lasts 5 minutes even in my display refugium as I maintain decent flow in there and I can imagine this guy getting bounced around by my pair of Tunze 6095's. Those are controlled by my Apex & making a nice little wave in the display fuge. They only run a max of 30% on the 12v jumper instead of the 24v one to slow them down. Even with their .4 second on and .4 second off, I get a fairly decent surge in the 24" cube so we will see. I probably made a mistake in green lighting this little guy. I will know better when I get home today.

[SS_Sean]

Originally Posted by slief

Mine has been doing great. I've had it over a year now. Not the most beautiful fish in my book but definitely unique and something I rarely see in other tanks.



Jim is indeed a trip. He's a good friend of mine. I've known him over 20 years now. I assume the Episode you saw was episode 80 covering my sump overhaul? If so, that was shot about 5 years ago I think. There have been several other episodes on the tank thus far and one more being edited that covered my display refugium overhaul. In fact we will be filing the last part or parts for that one next Thursday.

Thank you for the kind words!

Thanks for the heads up. I watched those, too. Looking forward to more.

[slief]

Today I went to our local annual frag swap called FRAG and did something I swore to myself I would never do.. I got 3 SPS frags. I don't dose anything and I don't plan to either. I do 5 gallon a day automated water changes for my 650g volume with my cheap instant ocean salt and my tank does really well. I was looking at pictures of my tank from 9/2013, 3/2014 and 5/2014 and shocked to see how my hammers have grown over the last several months. Like tripled in size and heads. My soft coral colonies have tripled in size too and new sprouts are growing all over the bottom of the tank and the rocks. I will post some comparative photos in the next day or two.

It's been a long time since I haven't tested alk and ca in about a year because my numbers were always good when I tested and my tanks health and coraline growth was a good barometer. I might run some tests tomorrow just to see and will post the results. Anyways, these SPS frags are just an experiment. I don't have high hopes but on the other hand, I have good reason to be optimistic as my tank is doing better than it ever has in the last 20 years. It will be interesting none the less. If they do well.... Well, it's a can of worms that I don't really want to think about.






I also got this 5" Fungia.