Rebuild about to begin

[kevinsimons]

As many of you know, I lost all my fish to disease in a matter of just a few days; we never did postively identify what happened (I believe disease was introduced via live sand)... but it's time to move on and go forward....

I'm using the disaster as an chance to fix some things that are wrong - starting with the acrylic tank, which I detest. I'm replacing with an all-glass when I get home from Hawaii (reports on what I found - and didn't find - on the reefs in Maui forthcoming).

I'm planning on leaving the tank fish-free for about a month, (the corals are all thriving). I will then empty as much of the water as I can into a 35 gallon receptacle that I've been using for storing RO/DI water, placing the exposed corals into the bucket as the water drops. Then I'll pour the live sand and remaining water back into the new tank, and pump the water out of the barrel and into the new tank.

Does this sound like a good approach? Any suggestions welcome.

FINALLY -

I'm still smarting and not quite over the disastrous loss of all the fish in my tank, and am feeling TREMENDOUSLY guilty about having lost all these (formerly) wild animals. I'd like very much to go forward with only tank-raised animals.... but this seems to limit me to... damsels and perhaps a pair of clowns? Does anybody have any suggestions for a colorful, interesting, peaceful tank-raised community? I'm not opposed to a tank full of damsels - but can I have a school of 10-15 of them, or will they tear each other apart?

 

[cumminz]

First off, I do remember reading about you. Sorry about that. So, why dont you like the acrylic? is it scratched? If U end up getting rid of it, hit me up i may need another tank. Also, i think that a tank with a clown pair, a goby, flame angel, and a Tang is what i want to do. I did hear that damsels do get territorial when they are in a bigger tank, but i see them all in the same tank at my LFS. Good Luck.

-Cameron

 

[kevinsimons]

Cameron,

Acrylic, while light and easy to carry when empty, scratches incredibly easy. Besides scratching easily, I believe it is more difficult to keep clean than glass (starting with, you can't really use those magnet algae removers unless you keep them well away from the sand bed).

Used aquariums are very easy to find on craigslist....

 

[cumminz]

Ya i just bought a new aquarium, but 1 more never hurt anyone. I use credit cards to clean my glass anyway.

-Cameron

 

[reeffreak]

I really not a big fan of acrylic tanks either.They sure look nice in the beginng.Your plan sounds okay from what I understood.

I didn't realize damsels are tank bred?Unless you are referring to clowns being a type of damsel.
Clownfish,pseudochromis,bangaii and a few different neon gobies are though.Besides those and seahorses,I don't know of any other tank bred fishes.A mated pair of gold stripe maroon clownfish and a Fridmani Pseudochromis are nice.How about a picasso clown or two?

 

[kevinsimons]

I could be wrong about the damsels - but I *THOUGHT* they were the first saltwater fish to be successfully tank-raised... (I wasn't talking about clownfish being damsels - although I know they are)...

 

[reeffreak]

You could be right about damsels since I never really pay attention to them to much.I do believe it was clowns that were first successfuly tank bred.Still,the choice is still pretty limited,sadly.

 

[Bifferwine]

Here's a good site for tank bred fish:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=15+1500

 

[RyanG]

ORA is another good site. Search Ocean Reefs and Aquariums Im not sure of the site. They have really cool misbars most of the time amongst others.

 

[fatman]

No one should scrape algae off their glass no mattter what they do their scraping with. It is a lazy persons practice which just dumps all the nutrients contained in the algae right back into the tank where they quickly become algae again. Use a scrubber pad, white one for acrylic,and wipe from bottom to top, remover pad rom water and risnse, repeat, repeat, reapeat until done. The algae will grow back much slower and your nitates will stay lower and/or accumalate slower. I really like tank builds and look forward to all of them.

 

[yote]

Hate to hear about the loss Kevin.

 

[sen5241b]

Kevin, you warned me not to get a blue damsel. I did anyway and the thing killed another pricey fish. Those damsels will kill all the other beautiful fish you want to get. On the other hand even a noob like me can't kill the damsel!

Also, are waiting long enough to let the disease die out?

 

[ladypheesh]

Also, are waiting long enough to let the disease die out?

30 days is the so-called magic number for leaving a tank fish-free to rid it of parasites. I think he said that was his plan.

 

[fatman]

Thirty days is a good ball park figure. To be a little more assured that it is enough time, raise your temp up to around 86 to 88 degrees during that time. That will greatly shorten the stage time in Ich. It will spend less time developing between one stage and another. With no host present for thirty days and hot tank temperatures it will perish assuredly.
Little more technical version of the above:
Depending on the temperature the Ich lasts about 2 to 14 days as a parasite on the fishes body before the cyst (white spot develops) which is another stage (tomont/reproductive stage). This cyst may or may not fall off the fish, but irregardless within 3 to 28 days the swimming stage young emerge (tomites), as many as 300 from each cyst. They are short lived and must find a host in 48 hours or perish. The temperatures of 60 degree (low) and 76 degrees (high) were used for estblishing these above life cycle time periods.