WaterBox 220.6 The 2023 Rebuild
- Thread starter MuralReef
- Start date
I just insulated our garage doors and it has noticeably helped keep it warmer. I have a mini split in there since it’s my shop and when it would get cold like this it would run 100% of the time and still not reach the 65 degrees that I set it to. Now it doesn’t seem to have any difficulty reaching 65 and turning off.
Unfortunately, we somehow introduced ich to the tank (probably came in on the clam). Over the course of a couple weeks it claimed all the fish except Jem (the gem tang). Watching our glorious Jamie Foxface succumb to it was the absolute worst.
This all happened during the month of May, and then we were gone on vacation pretty much the entire month of June. The tank was on its own, though we were dosing peroxide for that period.
Everything kinda settled during that period. Jem was constantly hiding (because she’s just kinda a scardy fish - even though she’s large). The corals were all looking fantastic though, and we’ve gotten a lot of growth on everything we picked up from the DBTC meeting back in April.
So since it’s mid-July and our almost all our major trips for the summer are over, we decided it was time to try fish again.
On Friday, we went to Aquatic Art to see about picking up some fish. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for the bank account), they had one of my very favorite fish ever - the white tail tang. I had one when the tank was set up previously, but lost it in the move.
So we picked up the white tail tang, two gorgeous clowns that were from a tank breakdown, and a six line wrasse.
Unfortunately, all the white tail would do is hide in this little cave. As soon as she was added, Jem turned a complete personality corner. The fish who was previously never out and always hiding when we’d come up to the tank was suddenly very concerned with putting the white tail in her place.
She may not look it in the pictures, but she’s a good 5-6 inches long. So even though the white tail was fat and large (4ish inches), the aggression was really concerning to us.
So back to AA we go on Saturday to pick up some more tangs to spread the aggression. We came home with a desjardini and a hippo tang (which were always on the stocking list), plus a coris wrasse just because.
The surprise purchase was this little clown tang, which is currently the same size as the six line wrasse.
We know he’ll get big and mean fast, but he’s currently the smallest tang in the tank (by a lot). Every other tang has put him in his place so far, and we’re hopeful that this will quell his aggression as he grows. If he does turn in to a total jerk when he’s bigger, our back up plan is to take him and drop him in the 10 foot shark tank at school.
Adding the new fish REALLY helped with the aforesaid aggression problem. Everyone has somewhat settled in, and the white tail is coming out more often. The new additions mean we actually get to see Jem out a lot more often too. Both wrasses are constantly picking at pods on the rock, and all the tangs have been grazing on the wall/rock/veggie clip. The clowns picked one of the 12 anemones to host, and it seems all good so far! Everyone is eating well.
It’ll be fun to watch them grow into the tank.
Our other project is culturing 3 different types of pods (tisbee, apex, and tigger), as well as some phyto. We have them all set up in the lower left cabinet.
The pods really went nuts in the tank while we were gone, but I think at least one of these cultures may have crashed. But again - since we’re almost done with our summer camping, we should be able to get them back on track. Definitely more regular splitting and such after school starts.
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This all happened during the month of May, and then we were gone on vacation pretty much the entire month of June. The tank was on its own, though we were dosing peroxide for that period.
Everything kinda settled during that period. Jem was constantly hiding (because she’s just kinda a scardy fish - even though she’s large). The corals were all looking fantastic though, and we’ve gotten a lot of growth on everything we picked up from the DBTC meeting back in April.
So since it’s mid-July and our almost all our major trips for the summer are over, we decided it was time to try fish again.
On Friday, we went to Aquatic Art to see about picking up some fish. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for the bank account), they had one of my very favorite fish ever - the white tail tang. I had one when the tank was set up previously, but lost it in the move.
So we picked up the white tail tang, two gorgeous clowns that were from a tank breakdown, and a six line wrasse.
Unfortunately, all the white tail would do is hide in this little cave. As soon as she was added, Jem turned a complete personality corner. The fish who was previously never out and always hiding when we’d come up to the tank was suddenly very concerned with putting the white tail in her place.
She may not look it in the pictures, but she’s a good 5-6 inches long. So even though the white tail was fat and large (4ish inches), the aggression was really concerning to us.
So back to AA we go on Saturday to pick up some more tangs to spread the aggression. We came home with a desjardini and a hippo tang (which were always on the stocking list), plus a coris wrasse just because.
The surprise purchase was this little clown tang, which is currently the same size as the six line wrasse.
We know he’ll get big and mean fast, but he’s currently the smallest tang in the tank (by a lot). Every other tang has put him in his place so far, and we’re hopeful that this will quell his aggression as he grows. If he does turn in to a total jerk when he’s bigger, our back up plan is to take him and drop him in the 10 foot shark tank at school.
Adding the new fish REALLY helped with the aforesaid aggression problem. Everyone has somewhat settled in, and the white tail is coming out more often. The new additions mean we actually get to see Jem out a lot more often too. Both wrasses are constantly picking at pods on the rock, and all the tangs have been grazing on the wall/rock/veggie clip. The clowns picked one of the 12 anemones to host, and it seems all good so far! Everyone is eating well.
It’ll be fun to watch them grow into the tank.
Our other project is culturing 3 different types of pods (tisbee, apex, and tigger), as well as some phyto. We have them all set up in the lower left cabinet.
The pods really went nuts in the tank while we were gone, but I think at least one of these cultures may have crashed. But again - since we’re almost done with our summer camping, we should be able to get them back on track. Definitely more regular splitting and such after school starts.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have had clowns tangs that were not mean. If they have some nice places to actually hide, then this can help - not caves and arches and things that humans like, but like stacked up rock where they can totally escape. Also, if you feed them well enough to grow an inch or two, this helps too. I raised one from about 1.5 inches to 7" and the CT never picked on anybody. Most people don't feed them enough nor give them spots to disappear complete.
If you have the inkling, get a 20lb pack of real ocean live rock from Florida. This is what I do for disease management. Any tomont that falls off of the fish has to fight for their lives in my sand and rocks with the starfish, worms, pods, etc. that are in my tank. Super-duper bio diversity (not just stuff from a bottle) can keep diseases at bay. This is not eradication, but an effective way to manage.
If you have the inkling, get a 20lb pack of real ocean live rock from Florida. This is what I do for disease management. Any tomont that falls off of the fish has to fight for their lives in my sand and rocks with the starfish, worms, pods, etc. that are in my tank. Super-duper bio diversity (not just stuff from a bottle) can keep diseases at bay. This is not eradication, but an effective way to manage.
