Tank Specs:
180 Gals (2nd Hand) bottom drilled Display tank – 6’ x 2’ x 2’
34 Gals Sump (2nd Hand)
6’ Odyssea 8 x 39W T5’s & 4’ x 18W LED tube
12W Sunsun Wavemaker
Rio 32HF return pump
1 KW Teco Chiller (2nd Hand)
Jebo Skimmer (Decommissioned Jan. 30, 2010)
ATS, Cheato & Mangroves
Fishes:
HYT, PT, Convict Tang, Scopas Tang, Blue Tank, Percula, 2 x Purple Firefish, 3 Chromis, 1 Creaner Wrasse, Scooter Blenny, Yellow Watchman Goby, Mandarin
Inverts:
Harlequin Shrimp, Turbos & Nassarius snails, Halloween Crabs, Anemone Crab, 3 x clams, 2 x cocoworm & hitchhiker crabs
Cycled for 3 weeks with 88kg semi-cured LR (Katrina’s told me LR are just 1-1/2 weeks in their hold pond, bought it anyways), 150kg sand (3-1/2” depth), NSW and did not add starter shrimp. On 3rd week started adding my Scopas, Convict Tang & Purple Dottyback.
Sump
On the 4th week added some corals from Carti, Frog spawn, Torch, Hammer, a slug, BTA & Percs. No casualties yet.
3rd month nuisance algae started appearing and covering most of the sand and vacant LR’s. Bought a hermit crab in desperation (bad idea, now in the sump) a lot of Turbo snails & Halloween crabs and a Scooter Blenny given by Stephen. Also started having ICH problems, all the fishes had ICH, so bought a cleaner wrasse to alleviate the fishes discomfort. Dottyback & Percs were the casualties of the outbreak, did not bought any fishes until December. Started having some coralline on the back glass.
Water Quality at the time:
NO2 – 0
NO3 – 15
Ammonia – 0
PH – 8.2
Alkalinity – 8
PO4 – 1
Temp - 28
Gave up on solving the ICH as I could not catch the fishes. I just let it be and still continued to add fishes in my wish list when opportunity present itself. Relied only on feeding to boost fish’s immune system. Luckily they all did recover and there were no major casualties except for another Perc that I bought. Also had a major bloom in coralline algae on the back glass.
My NO3 is still between 15-20 so opted for my first water change on January 10, 2010, bought NSW from Carti a week ago, tested the parameters and NO3 was higher compared to my tank so did the water change using Teco Reef Salt and aged/aerated NAWASA water instead. Did a 40 gals water change. NO3 is still in the 15’s after the water change then decide to do something illogical... I decommissioned the skimmer on January 30.
Fast forward to the present....
Water Parameters:
NO2 – 0.1
NO3 – 25
Ammonia – 0
PH – 8.0
Alkalinity – 8
Temp - 28
PO4 – Not tested
Water parameters have deteriorated a bit but seem to hold steady for a month now relying only on my ATS, Cheato & Mangroves and no water change done since January 10. Fishes are still active and healthy and no more ICH, corals are opening. I still do not have plans to keep SPS so I’m contented with the water params for now given the minimum maintenance plus an occasional water change.
Latest Addition
Thats my tank history and thanks for viewing.
