55 Gallon Frag Tank

Okay heres some from the tank, The tank was in a little phyto bloom for a still unconfirmed reason. Oh by the way went and got my permit today er technically yesterday but whatever . Also, oddly enough my zoas STILL have not split/reproduced at all 0.o

Hmm hmm hmm. I just did a bit of thinking and the only thing I can think of is either hermit crab harassment or pod harassment. The only problem there is, theres no evidence of pods around the zoas, everywhere else just not near the zoas. So im going to do a bit more research, but, I think I may be getting rid of my hermits.

Nice pictures.

You have low nitrate levels and good lighting right? Can you see any tissue or budding at the base of the zoas?

They are about 7 inches from the water surface with a 150W halide directly over them. I really cant tell, but, I believe I may have saw something when I cut the lights on this morning. Im going to check into that a bit more later today or tomorrow. Havent had any nutrient issues. Honestly theres been nothing going into the tank accept the once or twice a month nass/hermit feeding (about 6 or 7 pellets of Marine S). I am also curious if thats the problem. Either way, im not too concerned about it right now, after the move il look into it more.

Well nothing I can see in terms of growth, Haven't caught anything munching either.

Try looking at the tank at about 1-2 in the morning with a red flash light and see if you can see anything.

Well the funny thing is atm the tanks in my room which is blacked out 24/7 so I cut the lights on around midnight and off around 8-10 am. I've been staying up all night because I dont have my sleeping meds and havent set the timer because we'll be moving shortly (lost power and the back up battery died) It does look yet again like they're wanting to split, however, on one I noticed the lines arent where it would split in half, its more like its going to split about 1/3rd off as the new polyp and keep the rest. No clue if this is normal or not because I cant seem to find too much on the specifics of zoa reproduction sexually or asexually.

They generally split from the base. I don't think it's always exactly in half, so they're probably doing fine.

Is the tank doing okay without power? Zoas do require good lights to grow. I'm sure this is just temporary though.

Nah we got power lol. Lost it for a few hours a couple weeks ago. Moves coming up sometime within the next week, may be running into a small issue the way things are looking but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Oh I see. What's the plan for the 55 when you move - since you're downgrading to the 20.

Are you keeping any fish in there? Or is it all coral?

Right now its A coral, 3 hermits and snails. The 55 I plan on building a DIY brace (MH melted the brace) and eventually when I upgrade to a bigger tank using it as a sump. Blasting music doing a bit of DIY and hardware cleaning (buckets etc) preparing for the move and the new set up. Still got to finish scraping paint off 1 side of the 20, Probably going to have to put everything in 5 gallon buckets and as much as I hate to, sit them at my grandpaws house with a heater and a powerhead in each bucket and hope for the best. Right now we're trying to figure out how to come up with $800 to get power at the new house, otherwise all is well atm.

Making a net for the chaeto, Got to tear down the fuge lighting and rebuild the housing I had on the 10 gallon and figure out some cooling for both lights. Il get back to yall with the results and hopefully I can find a camera to get some pics (or batteries for mine)

Well then...I've been wondering where all my bio filtration is in the tank (what little there really is) and then, while I was scraping away at the 20 I happened to look up...All my bacteria is growing very healthy in the shallow parts of the displays sand bed and corraline (I believe) is growing well in the 1-2" deep areas. Didnt think to look under it like that but that tells me the areas I want to avoid when pulling sand and the areas I want to focus on. I will be pulling a very small amount at a time because for one I dont want to loose a lot of sand because of a small dead area, and for two, I would rather transfer the little sand im going to put in the 20 from this tank.

The net for the chaeto is somehow managing to completely own me so right now im focusing on more important things.

Be careful about moving the substrate. I vaguely remember and incident where a sand bed released toxic gas and killed the numerous fish in the tank. Though, I'm sure there circumstances were slightly different.

That's good that you have coralline growing.

I just wish it was somewhere besides the sand

Alright well I need to finish draining the tanks but everythings in buckets and waiting to be moved (probably tomorrow) Got the power issue worked out and itll be on tomorrow so il update whenever I get internet at the new place.

Updates?

Well im here and just got internet a few days ago. Tanks still arent up for 3 big reasons. First of all I have no room to work because everyone aside from me is crammed in the living room in the house (I live in the shed...Yay!...) Secondly The salt was left behind and third so was the hook up for the RO unit from the water hose. However I may have a way to hook up the RO unit to the kitchen sink here but I havent leak tested the hook up yet. I got a bit of plumbing to do on the kitchen sink in a few hours but im going to try and get some salt and the plumbing parts I need to finally get my return optimized today. Hopefully il have it up and running by this afternoon/tomorrow.

Last time I was able to get to where the buckets are to vent the gas build up the snails looked good, Didnt get a chance to look at much else and only got to vent one bucket so im expecting a big cycle and the bucket with the zoas in it to be a total loss.

Well I managed to get the salt but the dog got into the salt and a box of powdered laundry detergent that night and I think we all know where im going with this. However I did get an e-mail on the 9th from fintastic about an interview and im hoping the position is still open and I cant at least manage to get into the interview. Wasnt going to contact them but I figured its worth a shot so wish me luck

Got a reply quickly from Fintastic, The position is filled but my application is going to be kept "on top of the pile in case another position develops" so I at least have one thing going for me atm. Hoping to go sometime today to the local hydroponics store and see about getting a job there. Last time I was there I was basically handed the job when I turned 18 by the owner but I havent been back in a while so hopefully I can get myself some funding for this little venture going soon.

I hope everything works out for you. Good luck on getting the tanks up!

Something tells me this is going to be a disaster but sometime today or tomorrow the buckets are being opened and we'll see whats happened...If nothing else its an interesting experiment.

As common sense would suggest, just be smart about it.

Planning on it. Forgot to open the buckets but good news is il at least have room for the tanks in a few...as much as it pains me to say it...more weeks...still stuck with all the beds in the living room atm so theres no room but we about got the first room done so thatll free up at least 2 beds (Bunks)