Tank Disaster...again.....

May and June this year have been a bad month for me. The new Bio-Cube that I bought was leaking and it took 2 weeks to get it replace. On top of that, I've another tank disaster on the sps tank due to my unthoughtful act.

I've been having this Aiptasia infestation in the 58g sps tank for a long time. I've tried all means of method to eradicate this nuisance pest using Joe's Juice, Peppermint Shrimp, Copperband Butterfly and Berghia Nudibranch without success. During the Memorial Day weekend, I took on the task to remove all live rocks from the tank and clean them with a brush in the hope of removing the aiptasia. With all the corals and tank inhabitants in containers, I plan on re-aquascaping the tank after cleaning each piece of live rocks. I've also bought 14lbs of Tonga Branch to be added into the tank during the aquascape. I spent the whole evening until 4am the next morning working on the tank. By early morning the next day, most of the corals and fishes are back inside the tank with the new aquascape. However, I did not realize that by doing so, this has caused the tank to go through a cycle again. The ammonia and nitrate levels were rising without my knowledge until it's too late. All the sps corals are in very bad shape and condition. Some of them started to show signs of RTNing. I did some water change in the hope that this will bring down the ammonia and nitrate level. I've tried saving the corals by fragging the healthy portion off. In just a couple of days, I've lost about 20 sps frags/colonies and two fishes. All the rest of sps that survived looks stressed and browned out with little poyps extension.

List of losses:

1. Incredible Hulk Acro
2. Tub's Hot Pink Prostrata
3. Alex's Unknown Milli
4. LE SkyBlue Milli
5. Blue-Tip Yongei
6. Pink-Tip A. Nasuta
7. Tri-Color Acro
8. AW-Exotics Blue Hoeksemai
9. Ponape Torch
10. LE True Undata
11. Idaho Grape Cap
12. Purple-Rim Green Cap
13. ATL Shades of Fall A. Nasuta
14. ATL Lemon-Tip Pink Birdnest
15. Raspberry Milli
16. Pink Claratha
17. Jesus's Pink with Blue-Tip Prostrata
18. LE Flower Petal Monti Cap
19. LE Lime in the Sky
20. LE Steve Elias Stag
21. Purple Crayola Table Acro
22. Blue-Polyps Monti
23. Female Lyretail Anthias
24. Six-Line Wrasse

It has been about a month now and the recovery of the tank is going well. Most of the sps are already showing sign of regaining their colors. The ammonia and nitrate level are back to within normal range. I've also finally found the cure to the Aiptasia problem, a Copperband Butterfly that will eat this pest.

Today, I picked up some frags from a good friend of mine to replace some of the corals that I've lost. Thanks, Tim.

List of frags:

1. Bennet Tort
2. Pink Lemonade
3. Pam's Green/Yellow Milli
4. Steve Elias Stag
5. Aqua Delight
6. Suft & Turf
7. Northstars Pink Claratha
8. Pink Prostrata
9. Unknown Acro
10. Unknown Purple Acro

Full Tank Shot - 6/24/2007

June Updates....

Here are some latest updates....

I've received the raplacement nano-cube this week. The tank has been setup and running for about 4 days now. I've moved all my LPS and Zoas/Palys into the nano tank. I've also added some macro algae with 2 mini-halogen lamp into chamber 2 to act as a refugium. The stock pump has been replaced with a Mini-Jet 606 instead of the Maxi-Jet 1200 + Hydor Flow due to the strong flow which has blown the sandbed causing a mini sand-storm.

Full Tank-Shot of the Nano-Cube.

Closer shot of the nano.

Some fish pics that I took this evening. Enjoy....

Banggai Cardinal

Candycane Wrasse

Copperband Butterfly

Female Lyretail Anthias

Lavender Tang

Sunburst Anthias

New toy for the tank...

I will be setting up a calcium reactor for the sps tank within the next few weeks. Due to the limited space underneath the tank, I will have to look for a ca-reactor with a small footprint. My initial choice was the Shuran JetStream Pico but after doing some research and getting some feedbacks from pico's user, I decided to look for something else. I finally found one which should fit, it's the Elos REA 120. I placed the order with Elos USA and have it ship to my local fish store. For the CO2 regulator, I bought the Aquariumplants.com CO2 regulator with solenoid & needle valve. I also purchased a 5lb CO2 tank. I will post more update of the ca reactor as the setup progress.

Elos REA 120 box
Contents of the package
The REA 120
Bubble-Counter

The nano-cube project is still on hold until the replacement tank arrives, which should be today. I will post more updates once the tank is setup.

BioCube has landed...

Last week, I finally received the BioCube 14. I did some mods by removing all the bio-balls from the chamber 2 and adding some live rock rubbles inside. I also intend to add some chaeto inside chamber 2 later to work as a refugium. The stock pump was replaced with a MJ1200 and added a HydorFlow on the outlet. The bottom water inlet to chamber 1 was sealed with a piece of plastic as well. I added 20lbs of Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand from CaribSea into the tank with some rocks and tonga branch. The tank is then filled up to cycle....until 2 days later, I noticed water underneath the tank. Upon further inspection, found out that the tank is leaking. Contacted the seller and he will be sending me another tank. As of now, the leaky tank is empty waiting for the arrival of the replacement tank.

The BioCube 14 box packaging.
Here are the 2 PC Ballast and the power adapter for the moonlights
The tank inside the box.
Here is the tank after being removed from the packaging.
Tank cycling....Here's the leak...