  03.30.2007
I took photos today of the new plumbing in its running state.
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  03.25.2007
I finished the plumbing.
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  03.24.2007
I have finally got the gumption to integrate another sump into my system to
prevent flooding when the pump stops. I have been short around 20-30
gallons of capacity. I am adding a 50 gal. tank.
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  03.23.2007
The two Nemos and Koninon are getting along in the QT.
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  03.22.2007
Just a few photos today. The blind clownfish can eat now by hunting
and pecking in the small box. But she doesn't seem to like being in a
small box. As that frag (pictured, right) grows I think it is
Montipora (I first thought it was Acropora).
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  03.18.2007
Yesterday I saw the blind clownfish eat one nugget of food. She was
still pecking around fairly randomly, and seemed more likely to sweep them
all away than eat them. So today I switched her into a box with a
solid bottom. I dropped a small piece of shrimp (probably not small
enough to fit in her mouth in one bite) in there to see if she can make
anything of it. I also brought home an unmated female clownfish just
about the same size as the unmated male. They fought like cats and
dogs for a while, and now they've seemingly declared a truce or perhaps
they're warming up to one another (the male took the brunt of the beating as
far as I can tell, which is probably normal). I will watch them
carefully.
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  03.16.2007
The blind clownfish has not managed to eat anything that I've dropped in.
I think she has knocked them through the bottom of her box. But she
does seem to know that the food is there and is trying to find it.
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  03.15.2007
I finished plumbing the QT topoff into the new QT sump. Last night I
moved the blind clownfish into an overflow box as a temporary shelter.
I'm hopeful as I drop food in there that she'll eat it while it rests on the
bottom. But so far she frequently just ends up pushing them out
through the openings at the bottom of the box as she flutters by. She
may have gotten a bite or two, but I don't think so. Her former mate
is sitting in the secondary 29 gallon sump, and he doesn't seem to like it
very much. I'll move him somewhere more permanent soon. I also
worked on the closed loop for Lagoon1 because I was not satisfied with the
flow along the bottom. I first tried just replacing the little
manifolds I had on the return with single outlets down toward the bottom.
The flow was insane, and blew sand everywhere. Too much. So I
decided I needed to improve the manifold, and I've now added two additional
outlets hoping I can balance the output better (two are at the surface where
more flow should not cause significant problems if I have to divert more of
it).
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  03.11.2007
Today I cleared out the old QT Sump and Refugium to make room for the
ReefLagoon Auxiliary Sump (which I hope will make the system immune to
flooding barring some catastrophic event). Then I put the new sump in
place and when installing one of the 1 1/4" bulkheads I overtightened it and
cracked the end pane. I sealed it with caulking and I hope it will
hold...
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  03.10.2007
Olivia the blind Ocellaris clownfish still ignores food. She seems
calmer today, and tomorrow is the last day of treatment. I don't know
yet where I will put her and her mate, Nemo. In the meantime, I
finished the main plumbing for the new QT Overflow/Sump and it is running.
I also threw together a diagram of the fish nook and the supporting system
in the crawlspace.
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  03.09.2007
I still cannot get Olivia to eat. She still seems unwilling to accept
and cope with her condition. She swims frenetically most of the day,
as if to learn the contours of her container, but she does not seem to
learn, and bumps into walls, heaters, air stones, my hand... I tried
to hand feed her, but all she ever did was startle and flee when she would
butt up against my hand. In other news: I finished the stand for the
QT Overflow/Sump, put it in place, and now all I have to do is plumb it and
pump the water over from the QT Sump/'Fuge and then finish plumbing the
overflow from the QT to the Overflow/Sump.
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  03.07.2007
I have the lumber cut for the stand for the 20 Gal QT/Integration Sump, but
I haven't had time to assemble it. Maybe tonight (but I am getting
tired). Yesterday I found Olivia the female Ocellaris clownfish
swimming oddly in Reef 1 (I took no photographs of her, but I have some from
Lagoon 1 yesterday). Everything seemed fine otherwise, although the
rhodactis on the right side of the tank looked a bit less perky than usual,
so I feared I had let the tank conditions deteriorate too much. I
tentatively concluded she must have a bacterial infection, and set up a five
gallon bucket as a hospital and moved her there. I posted a question
on ReefCentral and someone described a similar situation with a Clarkii
clown who turned out to be blind. I tested Olivia, and she does seem
to be mostly blind. She does not respond to visual stimuli (including
food for the second day on a row), and she is alarmed when she runs into
things. Today she was doing laps in the hospital, so maybe she is
learning to orient herself without visual cues. I moved Nemo (her
mate) in the bucket also, to keep them together for now, and I am treating
them with a broad-spectrum antibiotic to be sure I kill any infection that
was involved in her loss of vision. It is probably too much to hope
that her vision will be restored. I am resigned to helping accommodate
her condition as well as I can. |
  03.04.2007
Today and yesterday I worked on adding yet another element to my growing
compound sump. I have a 55 and I was going to drill it and put it in
my nook. But after I got the drilling done and had set up my platform,
I realized I could not get the tank into that place. I have now made
plans to revamp my QT setup and make it possible to connect and disconnect
it to the whole system (isolation vs. QT). I will begin execution
tomorrow.
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  03.01.2007
Nothing new today but some photographs. I sold the old sump for $30.00
and some cultured copepods for $5.00. |
