[WhatReef]

WOW! that looks awesome behind the bar like that man, really awesome. Do you have any plans to blend it into the wall? or maybe a canopy or something?

[BLKBRDTA]

Originally Posted by WhatReef

WOW! that looks awesome behind the bar like that man, really awesome. Do you have any plans to blend it into the wall? or maybe a canopy or something?

Thanks Garrett! Yea I have the canopy door panel already, it will be a single door that runs lengthwise above the lights.. I have been stalling on that for a while now since the T5's came in. But now that I am pondering a 92g Corner upgrade, I may want to wait on the canopy. The doors on both sides of the tank need to be extended to meet flush against the sides too. Now I just need to measure to see if a 92g would even fit into that corner!

[WhatReef]

lol you definitly have the reef bug and one of the signs is upgrading tank size lol, i start with a 50 and now i have a system with over 230 gallons in it lol it would prob be cheaper to just live next to the ocean lol but i love it anyways hahah, keep up the good work

[RenesisJim]

Beautiful tank, really good work. Hope the 92 works out for you

[BLKBRDTA]

Originally Posted by WhatReef

.."..but i think you should go to the tennis court and bring those bio balls with ya lol j/k :P.."..

..Garrett.. I just pulled this from the dead and started cracking up again! They're still clean! haha

Originally Posted by WhatReef

lol you definitly have the reef bug and one of the signs is upgrading tank size lol, i start with a 50 and now i have a system with over 230 gallons in it lol it would prob be cheaper to just live next to the ocean lol but i love it anyways hahah, keep up the good work

Yes, I without a doubt have caught it once again! I am trying to fill in that bar just right and a wider & longer tank would do that perfectly. Yea living by the ocean would be great because you a have a limitless frag tank with constant, ideal water parameters and quite an amount of flow.. Hahaha Thousands of $'s to recreate, but absolutely free to exist in the wild!

Originally Posted by RenesisJim

Beautiful tank, really good work. Hope the 92 works out for you

Thanks Jim, it has taken a year to get it to its current condition and state. A few bumps along the way but thats something every aquarist will encounter eventually. I will update this thread again if I indeed have enough room to cram a 92g into that corner (with slight modifications of course..)

[BLKBRDTA]

A truly amazing story.

Today I decided to do another annual 4 to 6 month system cleansing in its entirety. Standard list of things to do, siphon gunk, clean filter sponges and floss, clear overflow box and drain line, etc. And most importantly, clean the bio-balls! As most of us know, they have a bad rep for collecting detritus.. Which was exactly why it was time to be pulled out and rinsed. Before I continue on, we'll back-track over 2 months ago to the beginning of June. I woke up one morning and could not for the life of me find my Six-line Wrasse..! I looked everywhere he could have possibly gone, in the overflow boxes, behind the tank, all around the inside of the tank with a mirror and flashlight. No such luck to prevail.. After about two weeks I finally gave up on the search and rescue missions and let fate take its course. After all, any fish who hasn't eaten in 2 weeks should be near death if not already dead, right?

As I was pulling out the bio-balls one by one to be rinsed in RO/DI water, a pale light blue figure caught my eye. I thought it was just accumulated waste that was growing algae at first. But as the bio-balls started to separate from each other, I could see it was in the shape of a fish and slowly spiraling downward towards the bottom of the filtration media tank.. "Oh geez, theres his body" I thought to myself, knowing he was certainly dead from being crushed and starved for 2 and a half months. But as I moved closer in to make sure, I could see his eyes moving around and staring right back at me.. He was alive!! I had to tell someone immediately so away I ran, but when I came back, he was actually moving around and swimming in the media zone!

This is the strangest part. When I removed the rest of the bio-balls, I squeezed my hand into the tiny media slot and pushed down.. Miraculously, he swam right up to the surface in the corner, just below my hand, and started bobbing his nose in and out of the water.. Like he knew exactly what I was doing and that I wasn't going to harm him! No lies..! I then very gently closed my hand around him (and he didn't even swim out of the opening) then lifted him quickly out of the water. He squirmed when he felt the cold air shortly, so I had to tighten my grip ever so slightly (which made him wiggle even more.) Then I quickly dipped my hand into the display and slowly opened up. He spiraled down again and swam into the rocks, then directly into the corner of the tank. He was mortally PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and it seemed like his spine was permanently curved from being stuck in between the bio-balls for 10 weeks. But he gradually turned around, straightened his spine, then finally swam into the rock work again.. He is now regaining his social values (even though my Canary Wrasse won't stop bluffing him) and is slowly exploring once again. Even eating!! Now to pack the weight back onto him and get his coloration back!

After jumping into my overflow box, being sucked through the siphon tube, passing the filter sock, falling down the drain line, being stuck between the bio-balls for 10 weeks and living only on detritus waste.. He is beyond 5 Star General status.. Man what a trooper.. I am honestly still dumbfounded.

A truly amazing story..

[jeanne]

Hi I'm back! Wow what fabulous pictures and what a bar too. Whoo Hoo! I know I have slow dragged on my pics but shall do them. Think I need help! I lost my coral beauty and my pigmy angel. Not sure why perhaps tank was too new. Never could find the pygmy. Again great pics Jeanne

[BLKBRDTA]

Originally Posted by jeanne

Hi I'm back! Wow what fabulous pictures and what a bar too. Whoo Hoo! I know I have slow dragged on my pics but shall do them. Think I need help! I lost my coral beauty and my pigmy angel. Not sure why perhaps tank was too new. Never could find the pygmy. Again great pics Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne, everything is finally coming together! Takes a while to build an entirely new system from scratch, but the rewards are so worth it. Whenever people come over, they are immediately drawn to the bar because of the tank behind it. Then the questions start rolling in about everything, its really a great addition to it all. No rush for the pictures either, take your time and get them up whenever you have a chance.

As for your two Angel's.. Unfortunately, they probably fought to death. Dwarf Angels, and pretty much all Angelfish in general are very territorial over LR and caverns once comfortable in an established aquarium. They should always be one of the last fish added to the system because they usually will pick on newcomers. You can get away with housing two dwarf's in the same tank, but a large amount of space and LR is needed to accommodate each. 50g per Dwarf Angel is a good rule to go buy. There is a member here who has a Flame Angel display with I believe it is 6 Flame's in it.. And its only 150g! He got away with it because he introduced all of them at the same time so they would not establish territories immediately. There are also no other fish in the display, but wow what a sight!!

[WhatReef]

thats a pretty crazy story about the six line, but they are for sure a surviver fish lol you proved that haha. Once my long nose hawk fish was missing lucky he was just in one of the over flows hanging out in the back, every since that day i usually do a fish cant every day just to make sure, but my fish are happy in the tank and dont try to escape anymore they actually get excited when i come near the take and swim up to the top and sometimes even spash the water at me lol its funny esspecially the hawk fish haha

I really have to get some update pics up on my thread its been sometime and i have just been really busy

anyways keep up the good work

[jeanne]

Thanks for your patience and comments about angels. I wasn't very clear. The first one I added was the coral and she was added last. After she died I tried the pigmy, named her Farrah! yep died right after you know who. Oh well am going to avoid Angels. ha ha. Is it possible that bristleworms can kill fish? Thanks so much for your help. Jeanne