EvilTwin's 75g tank

[EvilTwin]

I'm new here, so I just wanted to post up some pics of my 75g tank that I am now just starting to add corals to. Enjoy the pics. My camera has never been so busy since I started this hobby.

The tank:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2616.jpg

My single hitchiker button polyp:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2573.jpg

My latest, a Blushing Finger Leather (I think):
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2612.jpg

[EvilTwin]

My BTA:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2571.jpg

Other critters:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2542.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2539.jpg

[EvilTwin]

Right Side:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2618.jpg

Left Side:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2619.jpg

[FragOutpost]

It looks like you are off to a great start. Nice tank. I like your stand. Is the finish rosewood or cherry?
Great pic of the tang. I wish mine would stay still long enough to get a pic like that!:D
Are your clowns hosting in your BTA?
You are correct on the blushing leather. The species name is Cladiella. Is it getting a good amount of flow?

Nice tank. Keep us updated on the progress!

[EvilTwin]

The color of the Sedona stand from perfecto is called Red Oak. It is a very nice color and accents the tank very well. I let the wife pick the furniture, mostly as a way to deflect the fact we were spending more money and to get her involved.

I got lucky with the shot of the tang, and I wasn't using the macro lens. My camera is a Canon Powershot G5. Fully automatic, yet will do everything manually as well. A friend of mine is a photographer by trade and he has been educating me, so my pics have been getting better.

My clowns are not hosting in the bta yet. I'm a little discouraged by this as I am sure it would provide for LOTS of photo ops. I suspect they may in time, so I am waiting them out. So far they have shown no interest whatsoever in the BTA. My BTA has been doing surprisingly well, from what I can tell, though the last time I fed him he spit most of the squid chunk back out. I'm holding off on feeding for a few more days.

The leather is getting good flow from one of my powerheads. I plan on upgrading them shortly, possibly adding a third.

[FragOutpost]

The color of the Sedona stand from perfecto is called Red Oak. It is a very nice color and accents the tank very well. I let the wife pick the furniture, mostly as a way to deflect the fact we were spending more money and to get her involved. That's great that your wife is getting involved...Now if you could only convince her to do the water changes then you would be set. :D :p

Don't be discouraged by the clowns. Tank raised clowns usually take some time to start hosting in an anemone. I would hold off on adding any corals with long flowing polyps as clowns are notorious for hosting in various corals instead of the anemones provided for them. If you anemone is not actively feeding then I would wait at least a week before trying to feed again.

Keep good flow on the leather and it should bounce back soon. You may try dosing some iodide as well.

[Peterock]

Welcome to the web and also welcome to saltwater :D

You have a nice starting point on your tank a few questions though..
What are you water parm?
How much LR do you have?
What type of setup (equipment do you have)


Again welcome.

[salazar]

Nice backdrop is it paper or textured, the Tang is HUGE!!! just kidding LOL

[EvilTwin]

Well, I have about 50 lbs of LR. Everything in this tank was migrated over from a 60g hex tank that I started back in September. It was too deep and not long enough for the tang. I was literally down to my armpits to reach the bottom. Might be good with a REALLY deep sand bed setup, but I'm planning on selling it. A guy at the LFS wants to do a discus tank and offered to buy mine.

Water params are in a thread in the newb section.

Right now I have a skimmer and 260w of PC lighting. I was running a canister on the old tank but stopped with the new. No sump or refugium at this time. Not sure what I want to do there. I could have bought an overflow tank, and maybe I should have but it would have run another $100 and I would have needed to do the sump then. I needed to move tanks quickly because I was worried about my tang being so stressed, so I didn't want to make things too complex this time around.

The background is a huge wall of rock that I built behind my tank to get that effect. I really didn't like seeing a wall or painting the tank so I thought this was nice...

JUST KIDDING! I bought one of those plastic backgrounds from Foster&Smith. It has a very realistic 3D effect when you look at it, tho.

[FragOutpost]

I think you made a good choice upgrading to the 75 gallon. You will find that it offers much more flexibility than the tall 60 hex. Plus it will be much better for the tang. What else do you plan on adding to the tank as far as fish and corals are concerned?

[EvilTwin]

One of the most frustrating things about the 60g hex tank was that the tank hood was so narrow that I could not even find a decent lighting fixture to give me decent lighting. The 20" aqualight was ok for a bit but that only gave me 96 watts, not even 1.5 wpg. I had considered getting a MH setup, but would likely have had to actually construct something as my wife would not allow a pendant. Given all the factors, including an increasingly stressed fish, we opted for a new tank.

I am not sure what else I want to add to the tank at this point. While it is very tempting to buy new fish and start to load up the tank, I have been reluctant to do so. There are two LFS near me, in addition to That Fish Place which is an hour away. Both have comparable SW selections but one has a much nicer setup, beautiful display tanks and a better all around selection. My damsel, bicolor and one clown came from there. The take good care of their livestock and the people there know their stuff. I've had good luck with mail order from Liveaquaria.com. The tang came from there. But in general, I don't see truely great specimens when I go looking to the stores, so I shy away. TFP has a lot of stuff but I am usually turned off by the occasional dead fish I see floating in their tanks. They had a xenia frag in their coral table that was half dead, otherwise I might have bought it. One of the two attached frags was grey and withered. Like I said, I'm really being more picky now. I hate watching things die and even more I'd having to take them back.

So what else do I want? I would like to get a xenia. Those pulsing tips look really cool and I think they would add some nice motion to my tank. I like things that move. It makes the tank seem so much more alive. Corals can be very pretty, but they don't DO much except sit there and look pretty. Right now, I need more LR, so once I have that cured and aquascaped in, I'll have more places for things to go and I can start getting more things. It gives me time. My problem is I get impulsive, so who knows what I might see in the LFS next week.

Since this is a photo thread, here's more pics of my leather that came out earlier:
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2621.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2622.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2623.jpg

[FragOutpost]

It looks like your blushing leather is beginning to come around.
Xenia, as well as most other soft corals, should do well in your tank. Just remember to take it slow and not add too much at one time. Just beware with xenia as it has the potential to take over your tank under the right conditions.

[EvilTwin]

Yes the leather appears to be doing nicely, but then again, what do I know. This is all new to me.:o

When I looked at it this morning, the polyps were all out and it appears that the branches are now much more spread out. If you look at the first picture of it above and the latest, there is a noticable difference in spreading of the branches. When I bought it, it was very compact. Heeding your advice that it should have a good amount of water flow, I swapped out one of my two powerheads. I had a Penguin 1140 which I was using to mix my saltwater with. It has a 300gph rating so I put that in place of the other Penguin 550 that was there. I had feared too much flow in the hex tank thinking that with the shape it would have turned it into a big swirling underwater tornado. Once I changed the powerhead, I started to see an immediate difference in the coral and my BTA appears to be much happier as well.

I'm curious, does my Blushing Leather count as something orange for the next contest?

Also, I was considering adding a serpent star to my tank. I see they are reef safe but I think I need to get the additional rock first, since I will need some more spaces for it to hide in. I also wanted to get a cleaner shrimp, but I already have a peppermint. Will they get along?

[FragOutpost]

Great. Glad to hear that adding more flow seems to have helped. You could probably drop in another powerhead or two with no problems. The blushing leather branches should continue to spread out.

I'm curious, does my Blushing Leather count as something orange for the next contest?I'd say that it is more pink than orange, maybe you could get a shot of your clowns. But enter whatever photo you want. :)

Also, I was considering adding a serpent star to my tank. I see they are reef safe but I think I need to get the additional rock first, since I will need some more spaces for it to hide in. I also wanted to get a cleaner shrimp, but I already have a peppermint. Will they get along?
I think a serpent star would be a great scavenger for your tank. You currently have plenty of rock for a serpent star. Once they get settled in they usually won't move around too much, especially if you always feed it in the same spot. Peppermint shrimp are usually kept in small groups. You shouldn't have any problems adding a cleaner shrimp to your tank. From what I understand, shrimp are usually only cannibalistic when larger groups are place in an area too small. But in a 75 gallon you have plenty of space for a few shrimp.

[D12monkey]

Definately yes to the serpant star. As Frag said it's a great scavenger.

;) How good are you with photoshop? :p I'd change the color to a dashing neon orange. LOL

[FragOutpost]

How good are you with photoshop? I'd change the color to a dashing neon orange. LOLHehe! :D :D :p

[EvilTwin]

Would I be better off with something like a Linkia Blue Star or serpent? From what I was reading most serpents are carnivores. I don't like the idea of using my livestock as food. I saw different species of serpents being labled as one thing, but the species says they are something else? What species of star is a good, reef safe detrivore and where should I look to get them?

[FragOutpost]

From what I understand blue linkia stars can be difficult to acclimate. I would stick to the serpent star for now as they are very hardy. I would say that serpent stars are more of a opportunistic scavenger than a carnivore. Yes they will eat meaty foods but it is unlikely that it will hunt down and prey on healthy tank mates. I just recently acquired a serpent star from FloridaPets. I posted a thread about it last week with a photo of the star. This is also usually a common item at local stores. Usually they will hide underneath a rock with only an arm or two sticking out and can be difficult to notice if you are not looking for them.

[EvilTwin]

A newer pic of my blushing finger leather. Looks like it filled out a little in the last two weeks. I also suspect it is starting to align itself to a more vertical position for lighting since my placement kinda had it on it's side.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2672.jpg

[FragOutpost]

It appears to be doing much better, although the polyps do not yet look fully extended. Blast it with flow and try dosing some iodide and it should grow very quick. :)

[EvilTwin]

I did my usual feeding this morning and gave the fish a typical treat of bloodworms. Since I was feeding with a turkey baster I decided to feed one to my single button polyp. I got the idea after seeing photos of a sun coral eating mysis shrimp. Up until this point I had tried spraying it with the other chopped foods like clam but it never would seem to eat. It appeared to REALLY love the bloodworm. Sucked it down like a spaghetti noodle. Maybe this will help speed up the reproduction so I can get some more. My poor button needs friends...er clones.:rolleyes:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2680.jpg

[FragOutpost]

Wow. That is a very inpressive photo. How long have you been feeding bloodworms to your fish? I used to feed frozen bloodworms to my cichlids but never thought about feeding it to some polyps before. Very nice! :)

[EvilTwin]

This is the only time I have tried it. I guess I know what to feed my polyp now. They do, after all, like meaty foods.

Now if only it were ORANGE!!!

More pics

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2687.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2677.jpg

[EvilTwin]

Sorry, I misread your post. I have been feeding bloodworms once a week or so since I set up the tank. The clowns like it the most.

[EvilTwin]

OK, something strange here. I guess everything is strange the first time, right? Right now, as I type this, my green polyp has opened it's mouth and it is gaping wide. Nothing seems to be coming out and I can't tell what it is doing. I have set up the camera to take 1 minute interval pictures for the next hour and a half. Anyone got any clues?

[D12monkey]

pooping?

[EvilTwin]

pooping?Well, I thought about that, especially after it gulped down that big ass bloodworm. But nothing came up, so I wasn't sure. Was cool to see it all stretched open like that. Maybe it was sleepy and just needed to yawn a bit.:sleepy4:

Something I did notice is that on one side it has a small bulge that appears to be getting a bit bigger. You think that's from the worm or might it be budding off?

[FragOutpost]

Inverts like polyps and anemones have a two way digestive system, meaning that food enters and exits via the same orfice. My guess is that you will eventually see the digested food exit the mouth. As for the bulge on the side...I don't know. Got a pic? When you say it is getting bigger do you mean by the hour? or more like slightly bigger every day/week? If you mean day/week then it is probably forming a new polyp. If by the hour then...????

[EvilTwin]

It seems ike it's just been getting bigger over the last few days. That would be so cool if it was going to bud off another polyp. I'd really like to see these start to multiply. How often do polyps like this tend to reproduce?

[FragOutpost]

When starting with just one polyp it will grow slowly. Polyps as with most corals will grow exponentially, meaning one polyp has the potential to become two, two become four, four become 8, and so on. Also certain species grow faster than others and growth is also dependent upon water parameters, so it is difficult to say how fast the polyps will reproduce. Does the foot of the polyp seem to be getting bigger or spreading out?

[EvilTwin]

The only time it looks like it's spreading out is when it squats down a bit. I think the bulge was just a lump in it's throat from the big ass worm

[EvilTwin]

Just took some more photos today as I was cleaning up the tank. I put my remaining yellow polyps on a new piece of rubble rock and set it on the bottom in an area with good flow. I also moved the new sps frag down to the bottom since placing it up higher on any of the rocks allowed the snails to move it and knock it over. I moved the gorgonian higher and into a strong flow. It has opened up nicely. The xenia has a bunch of new polyps forming at the base of the stalks. The finger leather seems to be growing nicely. Enjoy.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2868.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2870.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2871.jpg

[EvilTwin]

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2875.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2878.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2872.jpg

[FragOutpost]

Looks like your corals are doing really well! The SPS frag will probably do better with as much light and flow as possible. You might want to consider using some epoxy or superglue to attach to the top of the rockwork. Glad to see that you were able to salvage some of the yellow polyps after the snail intrusion. The leather is looking better ever time I see it! :)

[EvilTwin]

Well, once it's grown out a bit more (the leather) perhaps I can start fragging it and send you one on those nice frag plugs you are sending me.:D

[EvilTwin]

I know this is a photo thread, but it seemed the best place to just provide updates on my tank. I made some changes today after getting back from a week away in Boulder.

The first thing I had noticed was my gorg was not looking well. The polyps are now much browner in color, as opposed to the nice white that they were. I did a 20% water change so we'll see if that helps at all. After doing the change my xenia turned quite grey and shriveled for a while and my leather retracted. I suspect the temp as the water was a little cold.

I took a trip to That Fish Place since I needed salt and I picked up some other stuff while there. I got a pair of PowerSwwp 228 powerheads. These are the ones with a built in sweeping output. They are only rated at 270gph and I have them in each corner of the tank. I also have an additional 400 gph ph in the back center of the tank pointing forward. So I now have plenty of water movement but not so powerful it blows everything over. My old powerheads kept coming loose from the walls and blowing substrate everywhere so these were needed.

I figure the sweeping powerheads will be a bit of an experiment. I have not seen any reviews so I guess I will have to review them. It looks like they sweep in a 90 degree arc, and sweep faster one way than the other. One good thing is they come with a very solid mount with 4 suction cups. It stays very secure in my tank and runs quietly.

[FragOutpost]

That is weird about the gorgonian polyps turning brown. I'm not sure what causes that to happen. I had bought a couple of zoomed powersweeps when I first set up my tank a while back and they worked great for a while but after about 6 months the sweeping motion would start to lock up and they soon became either locked in a fixed position or the nozzle that sweeps would quit sweeping and you would have to aim in a certain direction. A few months later I just tossed them. It is a nice concept but I think it has too many moving parts which means too many things that could break. I hope that they have improved the durability of these powerheads and I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

[EvilTwin]

Well, I ran tests today after my water change. PH dropped to 8.0, which is huge after only a 20% water change. Nitrates are now undetectable. I also tested for iodine which cam up at .02, this is low. Phosphates were zero but silicates were really high. I suspect this is the reason for my diatom problem I have been fighting. My fish don't seem to be stressing, but the gorg isn't looking any better. My finger leather has been a bit retracted since yesterday as well. I suspect if I let things settle out I'll see some improvement. The xenia is still quite retracted. I will get some iodine to dose in the next day or so.

[FragOutpost]

Once your PH rises to 8.2 your xenia should bounce back like nothing happened. Quick changes in PH are very stressful to reef invertebrates. The general rule of thumb is that PH should not fluctuate more than 0.2 +/- within any 24 hour period. Silicates would explain the diatoms issues although Calfo also says that excessive iodine may contribute to diatom outbreaks. Are you using RO/DI water? I think kent makes a silica busting DI cartridge. Could your silicates be coming from somewhere else?

[EvilTwin]

Took some pics today. The gorg is doing badly but the Digi seems quite happy (I swear I see new growth :rolleyes:) and my yellow polyps are really coming around

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2891.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2892.jpg

[FragOutpost]

The digi is looking great. Sorry to hear that the gorgonian is not doing as well.

[EvilTwin]

Well, I guess it has got so bad that the vultures have moved in. I cought a hermit climbing up and down on the stalks this morning and the skeleton has become more exposed at the top. I am wondering if the polyps near the bottom somehow survive, will is eventually grow back?

[FragOutpost]

If the gorgonian doesn't completely shed all of it's flesh then there is a possibility that it could grow back, but it would be a long, uphill battle for it to recover to what it once was.

[EvilTwin]

One of the downsides to working from home is the need to take pics every time I walk by the tank. Todays art:

My new Lawnmower Blenny
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2896.jpg

The Twins...I love twins!
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2897.jpg

The xenia, looking a bit thin these days
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2899.jpg

The gorg, after a dip and a snip
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2900.jpg

[FragOutpost]

Lawnmower blennies are excellent consumers of filamentous algae and will starve if not acclimated to prepared foods. Nice fish! Is it eating yet?

[EvilTwin]

He was jumping all around my tank eating off of the glass and rocks. Everything I read indicated that they will graze on diatoms and micro algae, too. I've got a bit of a diatom problem so I am hoping he might help me with that. If I let it go for a while my sandbed turns into a carpet. I literally can pull sheets of diatoms out after a few weeks. If I am sorely mistaken, please let me know.

[FragOutpost]

I'm not sure how much it will graze on diatoms. You will have to let us know about that. But it will put a dent in some green hair algae which is how it got its name. :)

[EvilTwin]

Today, I added the new 40 lbs of live rock to my tank, forcing me to re-aquascape nearly half of the tank. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. During the move, I seem to have lost track of my blenny. I really hope I didn't place one of the big rocks on him or something. :eek: That would be horrible. all of the other fish have appeared except him. Because I was moving so much around. I decided to go ahead and add the hippo tang to my tank. I saw one at the LFS the other day so I went back for it this morning and did the acclimation while I moved the rock around. I also added an orange linkia star and two turtle conchs.

I had read that the hippo tangs are notorious for playing dead during acclimation. Mine was no different. It merely laid on the bottom of the bucket and barely moved for the 3+ hours that I did a drip acclimation. Once in the tank she (Dory, of course) spent the rest of the day hugging the glass as she swam the length of the back of the tank. She also kept doing loops over my veggie clip, pausing to eat occasionally. With the lights out, it seems she found a home.

More to come.

[EvilTwin]

Some new things going on in the tank:

I found hundreds of these on my glass today. No idea what they are.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2966.jpg

One of the clowns is literally diving into the anemone all day long
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2960.jpg

The purple gorg. Not dead yet.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2961.jpg

[EvilTwin]

The xenia. It is really bad at this point and I'm not sure why. It looks like the base is deteriorating on one of the stalks. I'm not optomistic
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2946.jpg

The tank after adding the new rock. I had to move things around a bit since.
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2940.jpg

Dory. She is currently in my 12g eclipse tank as I started to see spots on her within two days of getting her. I have her isolated and I am treating for ich. She is very good at playing hide and seek, as I had to dismantle all of my LR to get her out of my 75g tank. Next time, I quarantine first.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2947.jpg

[EvilTwin]

awwwwwwwwwwwwww...how cute
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_2956.jpg

[Teeka01]

It looks like pods to me. But I am not sure.

[D12monkey]

It looks like pods to me. But I am not sure.

Bingo.. but there's a snail in the upper left also.

[EvilTwin]

It looks like pods to me. But I am not sure.

Someone else had suggested the same thing, but I wasn't sure. Perhaps that is all they are. I just have hundreds of them all over my glass today.

[EvilTwin]

Bingo.. but there's a snail in the upper left also.

Actually, that is a snail egg pod. I have a ton of those on the glass, too. It's from my nerite snails.

[FragOutpost]

They are definitely pods of some sort. Great shot of your clowns hosting!

[EvilTwin]

It's been a while since I've updated. This month has been tough with life and work and such. We were away for the holiday, so of course I was paranoid about how the tank would be for three days without me. I had an automatic feeder set up but I don't know how well it worked while I was away. Nothing died that weekend, though. So that was good.

The purple gorgonian is completely gone. The only thing left is the internal skeleton. I wish I could have done something to save it, but it just didn't seem possible. At least it was free.

I lost my hippo tang after two weeks of battling some kind of parasite. At first I thought it was ich and treated for such in a QT but it did no good and she perished. That was a tough two weeks.

I have a BAD diatom outbreak going on and I suspect it was because my DI water filter was out of juice, so my silicates were up. Lots of silicate in my local city supplied water. What is interesting is that the growths of algae, which is spreading in sheets across the bottom, is starting to curl up on itself, so maybe it it finally running out of nutrients in the tank.

Other than that, things appear well. The anemone twins (Thing1 and Thing2) are doing well, and one of the clowns is hosing all of the time in both. It is keeping the other clown from going into either anemone. I have some type of sponge-like creature that has been growing on the back of a rock and has nearly doubled in size. Some baby snails have been getting much bigger and I see them much more often. I have some pics to upload so they will be coming shortly. More to come.

[Teeka01]

I am really sorry to hear about your losses.

[EvilTwin]

It's been a while since I have posted anything about my tank as it's been a bit hectic these days. I spent a lot of time battling a red slime alage problem which now seems to be under control. I have built and installed my first attempt at a sump. Since my tank backs up to a wall that is empty on the opposite side in my basement, I was able to plumb through the wall and place everything in the unfinished area of the basement. The most notable and desirable effect is that my skimmer is now in the sump and I can't hear it. The plumbing took two evenings to do along with a few trips to Lowe's. Here's the final pics:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3177.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3178.jpg


Initially, I was concerned about things running too slowly. The overflow box I have is a Tidepool SOS, which has an interesting mechanism that helps keep it quiet but slows the flow down a bit. It took some adjusting but I finally have it working well. I removed one one of the sweeping powerheads I had as they weren't doing a great job and put in the 400gph unit I have. Lots of flow going on right now. The nice thing about the sump location is it gives me options for plumbing in a good RO/DI unit there and space for a water recepticle for auto top-offs as future upgrades.

As for my critters, the fish all seem to be doing well. My clowns have each adopted one of the two BTAs. The BTAs continue to grow:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3171.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3172.jpg

[EvilTwin]

My corals are another story, and I've been a bit concerned about them all lately, hence the changes in the tank setup. My green button polyp is not looking good after it spawned three new polyps in the last month or so. It seems to have collapsed down on itself. The other smaller polyps appear ok:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3162.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3163.jpg

I have had an explosion of baby snails, which all appear to be Trochus snails. I had only one of these left in my tank and it seems to be laying eggs continuously. Here's a baby:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3164.jpg

[EvilTwin]

The free digi frag that I got a while back does not appear to be growing well. In fact, I almost can't tell if it is still alive or not. It's so hard to see any polyps but it looks like something is there:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3167.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3168.jpg

My blushing finger leather has receded a little as well, I think due to a lack of flow. I've fixed that so we'll see how it does now:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3169.jpg
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3170.jpg

[EvilTwin]

The xenia that I had has all but died off. It still manages to stay around and I'm hoping it will get better:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/Tracer1989/Aquarium/IMG_3176.jpg

So that's where I'm at right now. Water parameters seem to be as they should be. I suspect the slime outbreak had some negative effects on the tank but now that it is under control I hope things will improve. More to come. Suggestions always welcome.

[FragOutpost]

Glad to see that you have your sump setup in the other room. Your setup looks great. I wish that I had enough room on the other side of my tank but on the other side of the wall that my tank backs up to is a hallway.
The digi and xenia are looking a little rough. Xenia is pretty resiliant and can recover in the right conditions but the digi looks like it is beyond hope. What is your ph and alk at? The leather is looking great though.

[EvilTwin]

I have found what might be the reason for my problems, but I don't know what the cause is. I did water tests yesterday. I'll admit I have been lax in testing but my water quality has usually been good, until now. My nitrates are testing above 20 for the fist time since having a SW tank. Up until now I never had more than a 5 ppm reading. Funny thing is, I would think adding a sump and doing all these things would improve the tank, but it had got worse.

So today, I did a 10g water change but the nitrate reading has not budged, and actually looks worse. I am mixing another 10g tonight to do another change tomorrow. I'm using DI water with no nitrate reading, so it's not coming from the water source. I suspect it is coming from the feedings. I was feeding every day and feeding flake. Only as much as they would eat in a few minutes and a veggie strip for my tang.

I fear the digi is all but dead. I took a good look at it tonight but could see no polyps. I moved it to a position that is easier to see in the tank. I will check it again tomorrow. The xenia has just been hanging on, barely. I'm really worried about my new additions, although the Kenya Tree looked really good today I worry that it will deteriorate if I don't fix the water parameters.