seffieuk
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
gorgeous new fish you've got there, esp the radiant wrasse
lovely photos Barney, but the the last photo is brilliant, his little face, made me go ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Seffie x
Barney And Lyn's 5Ft Reef Tank (150G(Uk) System)
- Thread starter xxBarneyxx
- Start date
lovely photos Barney, but the the last photo is brilliant, his little face, made me go ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Seffie x
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Brief update.
The fairy wrasse has pop eye
Went away for the weekend and got a phone call to say that one of the eyes on the fairy wrasse was sticking out. Got home and it is sticking out quite a bit, no other obvious injuries or problems though.
Tank tests come out ok (except for the temps which have been upto 30c but averaging around 28c). All other fish are fine and the fairy wrasse is still swimming around ok and eating like a pig.
I read up a lot on it and generally the advice seems to be that if its only one eye and they are otherwise eating and acting ok then just leave them alone and make sure they are well fed and water quality is kept up.
Other news is that I have finally ordered the TC-10 temp controller. This will control both my heater and cooling equipment (fans) and will stop the heater from ever screwing up and cooking my tank again.
Phosphates are still an issue but going down. Haven't been using the liquid phosphate remover as I wanted to let the new fish settle first and now I want to the wrasse to recover before I start using it again. Cheato has finally taken off in a big way though and hopefully this will help a lot.
Still got so much I want to do with this tank (build a hood, change the lighting, remake the sump, etc, etc) but I just never get the time or money to be able to do it.
Corals are doing really well though. The bubble coral despite being half detached from the skeleton is still doing really well and has grown a new head. Sun coral is opening like clockwork every evening and whenever I feed the fish (and it opens up over night as well). All the softies are growing and spreading quickly (a little too quickly but it fills the space for the moment).
Generally things are just ticking along. not going to be able to do anything major with it for at least 2 weeks due to lack of time but then I want to take all the equipment out and give it a #41#### good clean and try to rearrange the sump a bit to make it easier to work with.
Not sure on what other fish we will be getting. I would like a pair of cardinals but finding an actual pair seems difficult. Would also like a couple more wrasse but not 100% set yet.
The fairy wrasse has pop eye
Went away for the weekend and got a phone call to say that one of the eyes on the fairy wrasse was sticking out. Got home and it is sticking out quite a bit, no other obvious injuries or problems though.Tank tests come out ok (except for the temps which have been upto 30c but averaging around 28c). All other fish are fine and the fairy wrasse is still swimming around ok and eating like a pig.
I read up a lot on it and generally the advice seems to be that if its only one eye and they are otherwise eating and acting ok then just leave them alone and make sure they are well fed and water quality is kept up.
Other news is that I have finally ordered the TC-10 temp controller. This will control both my heater and cooling equipment (fans) and will stop the heater from ever screwing up and cooking my tank again.
Phosphates are still an issue but going down. Haven't been using the liquid phosphate remover as I wanted to let the new fish settle first and now I want to the wrasse to recover before I start using it again. Cheato has finally taken off in a big way though and hopefully this will help a lot.
Still got so much I want to do with this tank (build a hood, change the lighting, remake the sump, etc, etc) but I just never get the time or money to be able to do it.
Corals are doing really well though. The bubble coral despite being half detached from the skeleton is still doing really well and has grown a new head. Sun coral is opening like clockwork every evening and whenever I feed the fish (and it opens up over night as well). All the softies are growing and spreading quickly (a little too quickly but it fills the space for the moment).
Generally things are just ticking along. not going to be able to do anything major with it for at least 2 weeks due to lack of time but then I want to take all the equipment out and give it a #41#### good clean and try to rearrange the sump a bit to make it easier to work with.
Not sure on what other fish we will be getting. I would like a pair of cardinals but finding an actual pair seems difficult. Would also like a couple more wrasse but not 100% set yet.
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
The fairy wrasse is recovering Still not 100% but the eye is almost back to normal again now.
Last night I finally got around to fitting the eggcrate on the top of the tank (cutting a fairly large chunk out of my hand in the process). This replaced the netting we had over the tank to stop the wrasse from jumping.
The only problem is that it seems to have cut out a LOT of light. I didn't have this problem when I used eggcrate before on my old 4ft tank so not sure why its such an issue now. Will have a play around with it tonight but if the corals seems effected then I will have to come up with a different solution. I have been thinking of building a hood for the tank and doing a DIY job on some lighting. If it was just a square tank it wouldn't be a problem but I dont think I can make a decent looking bowfronted hood (NEVER get a bow fronted tank, they are SUCH a PITA).
I replaced all the timer plugs last night as well as some of mine where starting to lose or gain time. I also switched some of my tubes around so now I can just have blues on by themselves (I always had 1 blue/1white in each pair). Tank looks amazing under just blues!!
The TC-10 has been sitting in our bedroom since Saturday so I think wiring that up will be my job for tonight. I was going to take out all the pumps and give them a good clean last night but didn't fancy putting my hands into the tank with half my finger knuckle missing.
Going to be taking some more photos soon (promise ).
Still not 100% but the eye is almost back to normal again now.Last night I finally got around to fitting the eggcrate on the top of the tank (cutting a fairly large chunk out of my hand in the process). This replaced the netting we had over the tank to stop the wrasse from jumping.
The only problem is that it seems to have cut out a LOT of light. I didn't have this problem when I used eggcrate before on my old 4ft tank so not sure why its such an issue now. Will have a play around with it tonight but if the corals seems effected then I will have to come up with a different solution. I have been thinking of building a hood for the tank and doing a DIY job on some lighting. If it was just a square tank it wouldn't be a problem but I dont think I can make a decent looking bowfronted hood (NEVER get a bow fronted tank, they are SUCH a PITA).
I replaced all the timer plugs last night as well as some of mine where starting to lose or gain time. I also switched some of my tubes around so now I can just have blues on by themselves (I always had 1 blue/1white in each pair). Tank looks amazing under just blues!!
The TC-10 has been sitting in our bedroom since Saturday so I think wiring that up will be my job for tonight. I was going to take out all the pumps and give them a good clean last night but didn't fancy putting my hands into the tank with half my finger knuckle missing.
Going to be taking some more photos soon (promise
).
seffieuk
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
I also switched some of my tubes around so now I can just have blues on by themselves (I always had 1 blue/1white in each pair).
Going to be taking some more photos soon (promise
Now why didn't i think of that duh!!! And you better get those photos up matey 
Seffie x
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Just a small update to say there wont be any updates for awhile. We got told at the weekend that the landlady wants to sell our house so we have 2 months to move out
ben1987
Fish Aficionado
Gutted mate, hope you find somwhere quick!
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Me too. Going to look at a place today but we need a 3 bedroom house and there isn't that many of them in this area. Also got the #106### of having to find the money for a deposit and 1 months rent in advance for the new place while we wait for the deposit back from this one (plus the money for hiring a van, replacing the kitchen lino which I managed to rip when fitting a dishwasher, etc, etc). We are all really upset as we really love this house and it was just perfect for us.
Edit: Just been told the place we where supposed to look at today has gone this morning.
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Well house move is (almost) complete. Moved the 5ft'er which was a complete nightmare the day went something like:
Move VERY heavy 4ft tank to new house
Move about 50g of water to new house from 5ft tank and put into 4ft tank.
Move rock (around 15KG at a time) from 5ft to 4ft.
Move half the equipment and set up on 4ft
Move Corals
Move fish and another 30g of water
Move rest of equipment
Make sure 4ft is running ok.
Empty the 5ft and sump and move that to new house.
So about 20 car trips, a couple of van trips and one bad bristle worm sting (bad enough that my hand is still swollen 4 days later)its all done.
Sad to say that we lost out exquisite wrasse as well A few days before the move she just disappeared. she had been ok before (eating swimming around) but had only just recovered from pop eye in one eye and a few days before she had managed to get through the weir and into the sump. We had assumed that she had just had to much stress in a short period of time. However when we moved the 5ft we found her down the side. Somehow she had managed to jump out of the tank, through eggcrate and land in a spot where we couldnt see her Only thing I can think of is that there is a tiny little gap cut into the eggcrate where the return pipe from the sump goes through and she must have jumped through there. If that or she got into the sump again, jumped out of there and then flapped all the way around to the side of the tank without our cat noticing it?!?!
It also looks like we may lose our bubble coral as well. Even though it was still half detached after our clown fish ripped it to bits it had been doing really well. After moving it though it really doesn't look good at all.
I also managed to snap 2 more shafts for our korillia 4's. I hate these bloody powerheads now. They do a great job but it seems the impeller shafts just spontaneously explode every time you so much as take the front part of the powerhead off.
Anyway, the plan now is to finish unpacking the house then to start work on the 5ft. I want to:
Build a new hood to house X6 T5 tubes (with TC-12 controlled cooling fans)
Build a new sump with algae scrubber and make it easier to work on.
Repaint all the trim.
Possibly get a new cabinet (our is looking a bit worse for wear now and I dont want 1ton of salt water on a damaged cabinet).
Move everything back into the 5fter.
Everything will probably stay in the 4ft tank for at least a couple of months while we finish moving in and I get enough cash to buy a few bits and bobs for the 5ft tank.
Move VERY heavy 4ft tank to new house
Move about 50g of water to new house from 5ft tank and put into 4ft tank.
Move rock (around 15KG at a time) from 5ft to 4ft.
Move half the equipment and set up on 4ft
Move Corals
Move fish and another 30g of water
Move rest of equipment
Make sure 4ft is running ok.
Empty the 5ft and sump and move that to new house.
So about 20 car trips, a couple of van trips and one bad bristle worm sting (bad enough that my hand is still swollen 4 days later)its all done.
Sad to say that we lost out exquisite wrasse as well
A few days before the move she just disappeared. she had been ok before (eating swimming around) but had only just recovered from pop eye in one eye and a few days before she had managed to get through the weir and into the sump. We had assumed that she had just had to much stress in a short period of time. However when we moved the 5ft we found her down the side. Somehow she had managed to jump out of the tank, through eggcrate and land in a spot where we couldnt see her Only thing I can think of is that there is a tiny little gap cut into the eggcrate where the return pipe from the sump goes through and she must have jumped through there. If that or she got into the sump again, jumped out of there and then flapped all the way around to the side of the tank without our cat noticing it?!?!It also looks like we may lose our bubble coral as well. Even though it was still half detached after our clown fish ripped it to bits it had been doing really well. After moving it though it really doesn't look good at all.
I also managed to snap 2 more shafts for our korillia 4's. I hate these bloody powerheads now. They do a great job but it seems the impeller shafts just spontaneously explode every time you so much as take the front part of the powerhead off.
Anyway, the plan now is to finish unpacking the house then to start work on the 5ft. I want to:
Build a new hood to house X6 T5 tubes (with TC-12 controlled cooling fans)
Build a new sump with algae scrubber and make it easier to work on.
Repaint all the trim.
Possibly get a new cabinet (our is looking a bit worse for wear now and I dont want 1ton of salt water on a damaged cabinet).
Move everything back into the 5fter.
Everything will probably stay in the 4ft tank for at least a couple of months while we finish moving in and I get enough cash to buy a few bits and bobs for the 5ft tank.
seffieuk
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
Oh my goodness, you must have been exhausted - did it ever cross your mind to call it a tank with the tanks?
Seffie x
Seffie x
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Yep was totally exhausted and in a lot of pain too. Then had to spend the next 3 days moving all the rest of the furniture as well (with a swollen hand). I must admit I did consider trying to sell the lot and then starting again from scratch and it is something I'm still thinking about (we potentially have room for a much bigger tank now...) but not sure I could bring myself to do it after all the time we have put in. We are quite attached to the fish as well
I'm still recovering from the move now but had to come back to work today. Could do with a week of sleep
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Oh yeah I forgot to mention we did also manage to pick up a couple more fish (currently living in the cube tank).
We got a Sea fighter Dwarf parrot (some kind of flasher wrasse but havent got exact id on it yet) and a Midis Blenny. The orange clown took exception to the midis blenny when it was first introduced and it had been hiding up a lot for the first few days. However over the last week it has been out and swimming around a lot more and the clown now leaves it alone. Both fish will probably go in the 5ft when I rebuild it along with my green coral goby and my algae blenny will go in the cube tank.
We got a Sea fighter Dwarf parrot (some kind of flasher wrasse but havent got exact id on it yet) and a Midis Blenny. The orange clown took exception to the midis blenny when it was first introduced and it had been hiding up a lot for the first few days. However over the last week it has been out and swimming around a lot more and the clown now leaves it alone. Both fish will probably go in the 5ft when I rebuild it along with my green coral goby and my algae blenny will go in the cube tank.
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Just as a brief update. Everything is still in the 4ft tank and doing "ok" our finger leather isnt happy and our poor sun coral is starving to death (cant get at it in the 4ft tank because of the odd size and access to it).
We moved the cube tank and that is now looking really good. Sadly though we lost the sea fighter in the move (as I netted it out it bit the net and got stuck on it, by the time I got it unhooked from the net it had died). The midis blenny despite having adapted well to the tank and sorted out it's differences with the clown also was lost not long after the tank move. I think there was a mini cycle in the cube tank after the move and because of everything else going on I had no RO water to hand and no chance of getting to anywhere that sold salted water so had to just cross my fingers and hope for the best. I also need to replace one of the tubes on the cube, add my powercompact lighting to it and rearrange the powerheads a bit (still a bit of a miss-mash of equipment in here).
Finally got our RO unit setup yesterday so will be making up a hundred or so litres of RO for top ups and water changes.
I must admit I have kind of lost all interest at the moment and have been giving serious thought to getting rid of the lot. I haven't got the money to do what I want to do with the 5ft tank and if I set it up as it is now its just going to annoy me that its not actually how I wanted it to be. The 4ft tank looks horrible as well (no scaping at all) which isn't helping to keep me interested. Just seems like a lot of time and money is needed when with everything else going on I don't have either time or money to spare on it.
We moved the cube tank and that is now looking really good. Sadly though we lost the sea fighter in the move (as I netted it out it bit the net and got stuck on it, by the time I got it unhooked from the net it had died). The midis blenny despite having adapted well to the tank and sorted out it's differences with the clown also was lost not long after the tank move. I think there was a mini cycle in the cube tank after the move and because of everything else going on I had no RO water to hand and no chance of getting to anywhere that sold salted water so had to just cross my fingers and hope for the best. I also need to replace one of the tubes on the cube, add my powercompact lighting to it and rearrange the powerheads a bit (still a bit of a miss-mash of equipment in here).
Finally got our RO unit setup yesterday so will be making up a hundred or so litres of RO for top ups and water changes.
I must admit I have kind of lost all interest at the moment and have been giving serious thought to getting rid of the lot. I haven't got the money to do what I want to do with the 5ft tank and if I set it up as it is now its just going to annoy me that its not actually how I wanted it to be. The 4ft tank looks horrible as well (no scaping at all) which isn't helping to keep me interested. Just seems like a lot of time and money is needed when with everything else going on I don't have either time or money to spare on it.
seffieuk
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
Sorry for your loses, that happened to me when i moved tanks as well 
Think you are right about just the one marine tank
Seffie x
Think you are right about just the one marine tank
Seffie x
I hope you don;t sell cos I enjoy your pics
Maybe take a step back and run things as they are. I sometimes get that lack of enthusiasm for tanks and then it kicks in again
Maybe take a step back and run things as they are. I sometimes get that lack of enthusiasm for tanks and then it kicks in again
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