Cottonwood 125 Reef tank build

Ahhhh yeah... A lot of us have had bad luck with chromises (chromees?). It's funny because they are sold as "peaceful" fish. Sometimes, they are. But I think people forget that they are a type of damsel, so that aggressive tendency is there in a lot of them. That, and they tend not to ship well. They have a pretty high mortality rate after they've traveled. They die a lot when they are first added to a tank. Once you have them, though, they are some of the easiest fish to keep. I've had my two chromey homeys for 5+ years now (I started with 5, and they killed each other until only the two I have now were left).
 
Ok what gives?!?! My last Chromis is gone. And is no where to be found...I haven't seen either of my goby's since I put them in. They all were eating fine and swimming around fine before just totally disappearing over night. I think there may be something in there killing and eating them. I have only found one body and it was half of the 2nd Chromis to go missing. Water is fine, my crabs and snails are all fine, my tang seems to be doing fine. I have lots of bristle worms and brittle stars. I have 2 small emerald crabs but they seem to be too small to get a fish. I saw two yellow worm things, looked like a millipede with a round body and legs underneath. (didn't look like my pink bristle worms at all) It had a head with two black eyes and it would dig in the sand...They were both big and looked capable of grabbing a sleeping fish...one had to be at least a foot long the other about 6-8 inches. What are they and could they be the culprit? I don't want to add more fish just to have them disappear as well. Oh I also have 4 pep shrimp that just sit in one spot on my rocks...and that's it for livestock.
 
Looks similar to a couple of them Biff. I stumbled on this thread just now and it looks just like the one that was caught out of the guys frag tank.
But it doesn't seem like it would eat fish...so I'm still confused about my fish. Hopefully my Goby's are just hiding and not dead too. Maybe this will just be a mystery. I just would hate to get more fish for them to go missing.

This isnt a bristle worm right? - Reef Central Online Community
 
Well I saw my worm again and tried to catch him but he's so fast and he's in a tight spot...I'm going to try to buy some frozen clams or something and see if I can lure him out into the open with it.

Also I think my last Chromis is officially dead and maybe my goby's. I haven't checked my parameters in about 4 days and they have changed some
pH - 8.1 (right between the 8.0,8.2 colors)
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10
Ammonia- .25
Salinity - 1.023 (hydro)

I'm getting a little bump on this pay check so I'm going to try to order a refracto if I can find a good one at a decent price online.

reefs2go.com also gave me a credit on a future order for the price of my 3 chromis, my yellow watchman and my green coral goby's. So that was very cool as well. I really like everything that has gone on with them from the start, great company to deal with.
 
Ok...well I havent been on in a while and my tank saga has continued. So I'll up date you all, and ask for your knowledgable advice. Well I still have my reefs2go.com credit to use. However I bought some fish from a guy on craigslist. I thought I was buying 5 bluegreen chromis, a yellow watchman goby, a green coral goby, scooter blenny, and 2 pep shrimp. Well he lives in phoenix but was headed to flagstaff for the weekend so he met me along the way, about 15 mins from my house. He said he brought 3 blue chromis and 2 purple chromis, yellow watchma goby, engineer goby, starry blenny, scooter blenny, coral goby, and 2 pep shrimp. When I got them home, I acclimated them and got a better look at them as I put them into my tank. (no I dont have a qt) The blue and purple chromis didn't look like the blue chromis I had before only one did. So upon further research I found out I actually had 3 blue devil damsels, 1 blue green chromis, and 1 unknown damsel that is a purpleish brownish color. along with the other fish I mentioned. All of this was in October. Since that time fish have gone "missing" first the blue green chromis, then the pep shrimp, then the blue damsels one at a time.
As of Sunday I had the mystery damsel, my sailfin tang, yellow watchman goby, engineer goby, starry blenny, scooter blenny, a few ghost/feeder shrimp, and a randalls pistol shrimp.
I went to a funeral as was gone all of monday and when I got home Tuesday afternoon the first thing I did was check my tank and to my horror I found my Sailfin tang dead! My first fish I got and long survivor. He was fine when I left and the only thing I can think of is that the 'mystery damsel' finally got him.
Now I have always liked triggers and angels but I wanted to have corals and stuff. However funds are limited so I can't afford the lights, so I think I might just go to a fish only tank, and go with some triggers. A couple questions....will they end up getting my blenny's and goby's that I have in the tank? I know they will probably get my snails and hermits, but if I dont have snails and hermits, what cleans the sand?
I was thinking of doing an eel, some triggers, angels, an ocotpus would be sweet!
So since I'm going in this direction now I guess I'm just looking for ideas and advice.
Thanks guys and sorry for the long post!
 
Well hello cotton....sorry to hear about all that.....
Glad your back on though....now your talking my language ,,,,,,triggers and angels an tangs Oh my:lol:....
Skip the octopus altogether though....almost never live more than a couple months.
Triggers and angels are an aggressive bunch......i'd put triggers in last....i think they would leave your blenny and goby alone,but any additions after them would be in for one heck of a fight to fit in......
I don't really have a full blown reef system ,but you can see what i can keep in my sig with an angel,even though he does nip every once in awhile ...
 
Cool, that gives me a great idea nemo, thanks! I just found a 30 gal tank on CL that I might offer the guy $125 for and see what he says. Then I could grow some of the cool coral that my wife wants in it, and it could be a Christmas thing! saltwater/coral/liverock/fish tank

But I think I'm going to head your direction with the 125gal!
 
Thats a perfect plan,doesn't look like he has much going on in the tank,125 sounds reasonable to me......i'm getting an 18 inch T-5 for my angler tank so i can start putting some cool stuff in there ,that i know my angel would feast on:lol:
It'll be nice to have another Angel and trigger man to the very small group:mrgreen:
 
What kind of angel and triggers do you have? Can I get any kind or are there certain ones I should stay away from? I've always liked triggers, I'm kind of excited about getting some now.
 
I have a Koran angel,a humu/picasso trigger, and a clown trigger...
All triggers have the potential to be butt heads....i just happen to get ones that are:lol:....my Angel is a big butt head too....
If i did it over i think i'd still get the clown trigg and koran ,but instead of a humu,i'd get a blue lined or sargassum ....even though i like the crosshatch its $$
 
Those are awesome! Unfortunately a bit out of my price range though! I was wondering...how do you keep your sand bed clean, and any algae cleaned off rocks with out snails and hermits? That's the one thing I'm worried about.
 
So we have a Secret Santa at work and the girl that got me...I'm 90% sure this is what she got me.

FreshMarine.com - Bursa Trigger Fish - Rhinecanthus verrucosus - Buy Cheap Blackbelly Triggerfish at Wholesale
I'm sure she got me the small so 1"-2" will it be ok with my butthead damsel that is in there even though the trigger is small? The damsel is probably 2"-3"... Also I found a humu trigger on craigslist that is about 4" and the guy only wants $15 for it....yes or no? They do look similar to the bursa that I'm confident I will be getting.

But how do I keep the tank clean without snails and hermits? I see some brown growth but its very slow and the critters keep in in check, once the trigger eats them, how do I do it? I'm a little worried about the triggers going after my goby's and blenny's but it says with caution so I hope they will be ok.
 
So we have a Secret Santa at work and the girl that got me...I'm 90% sure this is what she got me.

FreshMarine.com - Bursa Trigger Fish - Rhinecanthus verrucosus - Buy Cheap Blackbelly Triggerfish at Wholesale
I'm sure she got me the small so 1"-2" will it be ok with my butthead damsel that is in there even though the trigger is small? The damsel is probably 2"-3"... Also I found a humu trigger on craigslist that is about 4" and the guy only wants $15 for it....yes or no? They do look similar to the bursa that I'm confident I will be getting.

But how do I keep the tank clean without snails and hermits? I see some brown growth but its very slow and the critters keep in in check, once the trigger eats them, how do I do it? I'm a little worried about the triggers going after my goby's and blenny's but it says with caution so I hope they will be ok.
 
I like the Bursa trigger,thats a nice gift....
15 bucks for a 4 inch humu is cheap.....pretty sure the 2 would fight it out though,especially since the humu would be much bigger(same family)
I never have an algae problem(not saying i don't have any,just not out of control) ...my rocks do get algae on them ,but the angel and tang always mow it down.....my sand is never a problem ...
I think yours would be fine too......
 
Well they double charged her on the order for my Bursa Trigger and she yelled at them over the phone. So they just canceled her order and gave her money back I guess?...Not really sure...So she is going to give me some money to get one when I order some stuff next. So I'm looking at maybe the picasso on CL for $15 and maybe a niger trigger, I like the blue color of them.

For Christmas I got some Sea Monkeys! After I hatch them can I put them in my tank for fish snacks? That would be cool :sfish:
 
So I'm just a huge flip-flopper! I just found out I will be getting some money next week from a car accident that happened 1.5 years ago. So I am going to finally build my sump right and get everything set on my tank. Including some lights. So I (and my wife) really want to do some corals. Mostly softies, but what would be safe to add if I want to have some triggers? Or will this make triggers out of the question? I haven't got any yet since that order got canceled, but I have always liked them.

Was thinking 2 of these 36" for lights? Its cheaper than the 72" I was looking at.

http://cgi.ebay.com/36-Metal-Halide...752?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f79dfd38

http://cgi.ebay.com/72-Metal-Halide...073?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19c1d5ed91
 
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