B1N4RY's 8 Gallon Reef Aquarium.

IMO you are having issues because of overstocking.

 

Water Chemistry Parameters.

So I had both my Purple Firefish die this morning. So no more adding livestock until I get to the bottom of this. Here are the results of my Salifert test kits. I did however, do a 0.2 gallon water change this morning a few hours prior to testing so I will have to wait until Friday to test again. But I don't think the readings would have been far off.

Salinity Grade: 1.025 SG
Temperature: 78.0 Fahrenheit
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 8.0 pH
Alkalinity: 11.18 dKH
Magnesium: 1485 ppm
Calcium: 400 ppm
Phosphate: 1 ppm

 

+1 Way too overstocked.

 

First Ever Full Blown Aquarium Disease.

So the last fish inhabitant of my aquarium is about to pass on and after taking a full battery of water parameter test and going with everyone's suggestions on what I thought was a Bristle Worm problem I think the following photographs below would most likely point to some type of water born disease except I'm not expert on marine disease so if you have any thoughts than please chime in. It doesn't seem to affect any of the inverts, clams or corals within the aquarium. Your assistance in advance is greatly appreciated.

 

Looks like Brooklynella?

 

Stocked too fast, too small of a tank.

Too bad for the fish in a big way.

 

Ill agree with the group. marine velvet.

 

Well he passed this morning and now only inverts remain so there is no need for quarantine. Also there is no need to start over since I am looking to purchase an Ultraviolet Sterilizer and there are no fish left to allow the parasite to reproduce. So that means no livestock additions to the aquarium for at least 1 to 2 months. Based on others recommendations and my own research it's Brooknella Hostilis.

 

EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10 ES.

Well since I have no fish in my aquarium and won't have any for at least 2 months I decided that I should shift my attention to gathering the rest of the equipment for my aquarium. I don't feed my fish on a daily basis in order to prevent from fouling the water. But I did notice that my sand bed looked a little dirty and I could see areas our the lower perimeter of the live rock that was accumulating waste. One of the things I have learned from the many books that I have read is I need to focus on keeping water... not fish or corals. Keep your water quality in line and the other stuff should fall right in to place with minimal effort.

So I purchased an EcoTech Marine Vortech MP10 ES for my aquarium since. I remember purchasing their very first MP40 when the company first start 10 years ago and I wanted some of that amazing technology again in my aquarium. The design and operation of the pump should address not only my concerns about aesthetics with it small sleek form factor both inside and out of the aquarium but also the efficiency and functionality.










I don't have it mounted completely on the aquarium because I wanted to test out the position as well as the various modes to see what was most complimenting to my aquascaping and overall aquarium dimensions. I'm currently operating the pump on Tidal Swell Mode. I was amazed at how much detritus this literally lifted off the sand and the rocks. My sand bed looks like the first day I placed it in and so far I couldn't be happier. I cannot wait until I get my Apex and Install the RF Module to I can program multiple modes throughout the day. Hopefully tomorrow evening I can get around to mountain the EcoSmart Module and cabling everything accordingly.

 

20 Gallon Long Aquarium Upgrade.

So after taking a look at my aquarium and seeing how cramped the aquascaping looked. I decided that maybe I should go a little bit larger. So the local Pet Smart was having a sale on 20 gallon long aquariums so I decided that would do just nicely. I wanted to space our the rockwork and provide more swimming space for the fish and growth for the coral.




So the first thing that I needed to do was reinforce the stand that the aquarium was being placed on. The piece of furniture was not designed for the weight of an aquarium. This there was some bowing on the center of the stand from the weight of the previous aquarium. So 1 inch by 1 inch wood beams and I reinforce the center of the stand to support the additional weight.








After reinforcing the stand was completed the next step was to paint the rear glass of the aquarium so that no wires, tubing or equipment would be visible. I used a Rust-oleum latex paint which when dry how a smooth glass like feel on the surface. I take a couple of coats to properly cover the glass at first and dries extremely fast.


















The next step was to transfer the some of the existing sand, live rock, inverts & clams as well as the equipment to the new aquarium. I purchased an additional 30 lbs of live sand to give myself a 1.5 inch deep sand bed. Also the Kessil a360w was repositioning in order to spread light across the entire aquarium.