High Tide Aquatics

Diving straight in - Sameer's Waterbox Infinia 230.6 build thread

The difference is how much water are you taking with your skimmate. To adjust, turn your valve on your skimmer to push the line between the water and the bubbles up higher in your skimmer neck. It will cause water to overflow into your cup, which is water you don't really want in your system. Let the water overflow into the cup, drain it and refill the tank with salt water to maintain salinity. After a few hours/days of this, your water will be crystal clear. I run a silicone hose from my skimmer cup into a bucket to syphon the water out of the cup continuously. Some have drains with a tube you can hook up. I run that inside a bin to prevent spills/overflow issues.
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woah, this is so awesome and looks so easy to achieve.. thanks for sharing! I will try it right away

Yeah, IMO you are better off getting a rock or rubble from a member with an old tank. Get's you the bacteria you want and more. If it is that old and in your garage, I give it a 50% chance it is even still alive.
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It's just 3 months old, instructions at the back says use within 1 year.. and it didnt require refrigeration, so it may still be ok..

I have a plan I believe: Wet skim + Carbon + Filter Floss + Microbacter7

Thank you so much for wonderful idea.,
 
I don’t rinse frozen items just toss cubes or broken off sheet chunks into a TLF pouch feeder. Helps keep frozen chunks/cubes from drifting into caves or the larger fish hogging swimming with big chunks in their mouths. However I did buy a sheet of PE Mysis which only a few chunks completely clouded up the tank so after a few times ditched that product!
I’ve never used MB7 not sure whats exactly in there! But prefer using purple non sulfur bacteria (PNS) when or if needed .Products like PNS ProBio, MB Purple, Microbe Lift Special Blend. The first two are relatively new but Microbe Lift has been around since the 70’s and have good success a while back using it on outdoor koi ponds clearing up the water visibility!. It did clear up cyano outbreaks a couple times when I was running sand which was the only thing I did was dose special blend so it appeared to take care of the issue. Since running BB haven’t had one lick of cyano but do miss the white stuff!
PNS ProBio has take home kits so you can grow your very own PNSB or yellow snow cultures which a few reefers on BAR have done or currently doing. These types of bacteria have been used in waste management sites for ever so they've been extensively studied and proven. With most all our sewage being dumped into our bay the PNS is always on overtime.. Well the other half of sewage biosolids/ sludge is trucked out of the bay area sent to a facility where its cooked/ treated and applied to agricultural cropland as fertilizer, or bagged with other materials and marketed as biosolid compost for use in agriculture and landscaping. This product still contains compounds, nanomaterials, hormones, and pathogens which end up in the food chain. Heavy metals and endocrine disrupters many of which are carcinogens are not filtered out hence they accumulate in the soil and are absorbed by crops sold for feed to all sorts of animals like dairy cows, beef cows, sheep etc.
A while back was helping the PTA at daughters school in SF building vegetable planters. Most all schools in SF have unlimited access to get free biosolid soil to use at their discretion. Her school was growing edible vegetables with the biosolid soil for a while ! Ugg! Upon enlightenment they promptly switched soil!!
Anyhow sorry went down a rabbit hole from one to another!!
Congrats on beating ich!
Oh I dislike hermits their always fighting causing a ruckus beating up other hermits for the shell on their back even though you provide tones of unoccupied shells. They will literally form a line each taking next hermits shell in front of them then repeat lol

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Try and beef up the flow along the sand bend and rocks as much as you can until your just under sand blowing around really helps cyano taking foot. Or add smaller power heads to reach the dead spots also
 
Thanks @PjFish for detailed message.. MB7 does look similar to what Microbe Lift achieves.. its highly regarded on R2R.. Coral Snow method listed here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/extreme-water-clarity-and-cyano-eradication-made-easy.916381/ mentions using the same.. Since I have it, I might as well just use it :) Will share my review once I am done using this 1L bottle.

However I did buy a sheet of PE Mysis which only a few chunks completely clouded up the tank so after a few times ditched that product!
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goog to know I am not alone in this.. yeah I see worst cloudiness when feeding PE Mysis, but do see with other frozen foods as well, I plan to buy a nori nibbler like what you shared above..

Try and beef up the flow along the sand bend and rocks as much as you can until your just under sand blowing around really helps cyano taking foot. Or add smaller power heads to reach the dead spots also
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Thats what I did to beat Cyano in addition to turning off the light for about a week or 2.. No signs of Cyano in my tank at the moment

I have a question about the Nassarius Snails.. I heard they come out as soon as you feed, mine doesnt seem to come out at all.. I do see them at night climbing glass, rocks and sand.. they are a little bigger in size and darker in color than what I see online when I search Nassarius Vibex.. makes me wonder if I got the right kind.. Is that normal for them to stay hidden in sand during the day and only come out at night? will share pics later tonight when they come out.
 
Thats pretty normal to be under sand most of the day! Maybe there well fed so don’t bother popping out when smelling food but mine used to always immediately emerge when feeding..Unless there being bothered by crabs or something hard to say..But take some closeup pics especially of their elongated trunk and foot.. Whelks have more dark spotted foot pattern as well with their syphon/trunk.. Shells appear more rougher
 
Major Update: Few weeks back a BAR member was selling bunch of their fish as part of their tank breakdown.. I expressed in another thread, how my tank started to look boring without the tang energy after PBT passed away and I had to re-home Convict due to aggressiveness.. You dont feel energized if you dont enjoy it, and it was about time that I add some more color and energy to the tank.. Since I was getting out of the hypo period, I secured the deal by making a deposit and recently added bunch of new fish to the tank! I know, it isnt advisable to add such a big bio-load at the same time, specially right after a lengthy Hypo stretch, but I just couldn't resist buying the vibrant batch of fish! Brace yourself, this is what I added to the tank at the same time:

1 Biota yellow tang (Yes, another one coz I just love yellow tangs)
1 Tomini tang
1 Blonde Naso
1 Orange shoulder juvenile yellow/orange
1 Marine betta (such a beauty!)
1 Midas blenny (Seller had 2 of these, unfortunately 1 died while he was taking the fish out of his tank - absolutely love the personality of the blenny I have)
3 golden head sleeper gobies (Seller had 4 of these, unfortunately 1 died while he was taking the fish out of his tank)
3 royal gammas
1 rosy scale wrasse sub male
1 juvenile lineatus wrasse
1 Brunneus wrasse
1 Katoi wrasse
1 Super male yellow coris
1 Radiant wrasse
1 Orange back wrasse
1 Magnificent foxface (2 inch, very very cute little fish)
2 green chromis (making it a total of 7 Chromis in my tank now)
1 aiptasia eating file fish (Seller had 2 of these, unfortunately 1 died while he was taking the fish out of his tank.. I already had 1 in my tank, so now I have 2)
1 Flame angel
3 onyx true percula clowns (Total of 5 Clowns in my tank now)
1 Watchman Goby
1 Pistol Shrimp and 1 Cleaner Shrimp (Havent seen them since day 1, but I hope they are alive - though I know Wrasses might have already had a good expensive meal)

Original Stock:
1 Blue tang
3x Yellow Tangs
5x Chromis (total 7 now)
3 Pajama Cardinals
2 Clowns (Black Storm and Oscellaris and added 3 more Percula Clowns, total 5 now)
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 FileFish (total 2 now)

As I imagined, the new Chromis, Yellow and Clowns faced some aggression for a couple of days, but to my surprise, nothing serious and actually it kinda made the tank look better as the 3x Yellow Tangs that were very shy earlier became so outgoing after adding this new bunch of fish that were really outgoing! Now all of them roam together with very little chasing and aggression..

Unfortunately 1 of the golden head sleeper gobies which was eating very well and looked healthy was found dead 3 days after the addition, couldn't find a reason yet but no more casualties after that - I have 2 of them now and they have turned over the sand in my tank at least 1 zillion times since they were added.. Sand looks clean but very uneven, guess giving it more of a natural reef kinda vibe.

There was a bacterial bloom that lasted 4-5 days that made the tank look cloudy, but that seems to have subsided! I also started skimming wet after suggestions from @H2OPlayar in addition to running Carbon Rox 0.8, Filter Floss and UV (24*7).. I did the white bucket test, and the water didnt look too yellow.

Marine Betta was very shy for 1st few days, I hand fed Mysis shrimp and now if come to eat more easily.. Love to watch it open it's big mouth almost as if I am watching a horror movie! Midas Blenny has found a spot right in a rock that's right in the middle of the tank.. Looks so cool when it goes back in and come out from that small hole!

I always wanted a Blonde Naso, this one looks a bit thin, trying to feed more to bulk it up!

Also, getting a pair of Mandarins from @newfly that I will add to my tank soon, and I guess with that I will have whatever is needed to have a tank of my dreams (corals next)! All in all, I am loving the energy and color in my tank! I know things can go south real fast, but I am keeping my finger crossed.. Managing diseases with UV and variety of healthy food is my plan to keep things as they should be!

Here is a small video of how the tank looks like at the moment:

 
Also ordered 3 bigger shells from Amazon after suggestions from @Darkxerox, and 1 of the biggest hermit crab immediately relocated! Other 2 shells are still vacant.. I dont like the look of these, look more like man made stuff.. will order some more -slightly smaller than these ones, as I feel these are really really big and heavy for these small creatures

 
@spuri87
I’ll 2nd that!
That’s a whole lot of fish in not such a big box
I predict you’ll lose about half to 2/3 of them within the year
I do hope I’m wrong....but I don’t think so....

And “onyx” clowns are a hybrid of ocellaris and percula clowns
 
MichaelB said:
Wow and I actually thought I had a lot of fish. I feel like a rookie lol.

Keep a eye on ammonia with the upped bioload. That's more than you started with.
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I had a detailed chat with chatGPT before adding them, and GPT said dont do it! I said I am doing it, tell me what to do to not fail lol.. Ammonia and bioload were number 1 concerns followed by aggression.. so, I regularly checked Ammonia after adding the fish to the tank.. Cloudiness (bacterial bloom) was concerning, but cleared up within few days on its own (guess UV definitely helped).. I was ready with mirror to prevent aggression, but glad didnt have to use that
 
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Kensington Reefer said:
@spuri87
I’ll 2nd that!
That’s a whole lot of fish in not such a big box
I predict you’ll lose about half to 2/3 of them within the year
I do hope I’m wrong....but I don’t think so....

And “onyx” clowns are a hybrid of ocellaris and percula clowns
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with due respect, I hope you are wrong @Kensington Reefer for obvious reasons.. :) I believe 1st 21 days are the toughest (read ich cycle).. Most losses happen during the 1st 3 weeks in the tank (or more if you start seeing symptoms in those 1st 3 weeks), after that its a matter of maintaining stability, unless when you add something new to the tank at which point clock restarts.. Again, there can be so many factors that can lead to this theory being wrong, but I am just concentrating on the positive scenarios.. I am an avid learner and reader and love to take calculated risks.. I am sure both of us will love to see a post next year from me saying everything survived, but that may very well not be the case as we all understand the risks in this hobby.. Until then, I just want to enjoy this hobby without thinking what can go wrong :)
 
Death is a guaranteed
But hopefully not soon!
I do hope I’m wrong.
But the fish don’t ask to be in your care and their lives are in your hands.
Do you think the fish agree with your “risky” choice?
Is that really “ethical reef keeping”?
I highly recommend 50% weekly water changes a copious amounts of high quality foods with frequent feedings
Best of luck...
At the moment I feel bad for the fishes
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Death is a guaranteed
But hopefully not soon!
I do hope I’m wrong.
But the fish don’t ask to be in your care and their lives are in your hands.
Do you think the fish agree with your “risky” choice?
Is that really “ethical reef keeping”?
I highly recommend 50% weekly water changes a copious amounts of high quality foods with frequent feedings
Best of luck...
At the moment I feel bad for the fishes
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I have read these lines a couple of times before as well and kinda knew it was coming on this post too :) I am taking no offense but let's not get started on ethical reefing as there were prior discussions on that in other threads too.. all I wanted to do was share my happiness with the group, that I have my dream tank.. Dont feel bad for the fishes, you can stopby for a coffee/beer and enjoy the tank with me.. They are being fed well, enjoying UV bath, with tons of bacteria and frozen food.. I will try to do justice to the responsibility I took.. But If things start to fall apart, I will be the 1st one to admit and share here with the group that I shouldn't have done that.. Guess we all learn one way or the other.. If things work well, I will have what I call '1st hand experience' in reef-keeping.. if things don't work well, I will learn that I should have done it some other way.. But if I dont try at all, I won't learn at all.. i would rather try and enjoy my time with this tank I love, then not learn at all #positivevibes
 
spuri87 said:
I have read these lines a couple of times before as well and kinda knew it was coming on this post too :) I am taking no offense but let's not get started on ethical reefing as there were prior discussions on that in other threads too.. all I wanted to do was share my happiness with the group, that I have my dream tank.. Dont feel bad for the fishes, you can stopby for a coffee/beer and enjoy the tank with me.. They are being fed well, enjoying UV bath, with tons of bacteria and frozen food.. I will try to do justice to the responsibility I took.. But If things start to fall apart, I will be the 1st one to admit and share here with the group that I shouldn't have done that.. Guess we all learn one way or the other.. If things work well, I will have what I call '1st hand experience' in reef-keeping.. if things don't work well, I will learn that I should have done it some other way.. But if I dont try at all, I won't learn at all.. i would rather try and enjoy my time with this tank I love, then not learn at all #positivevibes
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It’s your box...do as you choose
For you, it’s a financial and time loss
But for the fish...it’s their lives that are lost
 
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