Tough couple of weeks.

[RayD]

It's been a tough 2 weeks with the reef. Lost three fish one of them my prized Sohal Tang. Had him for almost three years. The only evidence I could find for COD was that he got into a fight with my very large Malanauras Wrasee. The Wrasse had the be-jesus beat out of him. Bite marks on his body that matched the Sohal. I saw the Sohal all stressed out and the Wrasse pretty beat up. The Wrasse survived, the Tang did not.

I replaced the Sohal with a kick a$$ Purple Tang which developed a decent case of Ich. UGH!! Good thing he's tough and likes to eat. Extra garlic for him! His breath stinks though!

CO2 regulator was acting up and I would see huge swings in the effluent pH in the reactor. Fortunately the Alk hasn't been swinging. Skimmer was making ungodly gurgling sounds which ended up being something really stupid on my part.

It just seemed like everything was acting strange and unstable.

I'm hoping that it is over now. After a massive WC and a good cleaning of all reactors and filters, everything has now stabilized. Tank looks great this morning. The Ich has cleared for now, all pH and other params are stable.

I have to say that having an Aquacontroller warned me of impending problems. When the params reached a certain level, an email was sent to my iPhone and work email alerting me of the condition(s).

The thing is a Godsend! Has anyone used the electronic CO2 regualtor from aquariumplants.com? Thinking about biting the bullet and buying one. Three year warranty is very appealing.

 

[pvh]

That sucks about the Sohal. When I upgrade that's the first fish I'm getting.

Good luck Ray.

 

[delta]

That suck to hear Ray, that Sohal was very nice

 

[pillowfish]

Sorry to hear Ray...hopefully your string of bad luck has ended for now.

 

[cakemanPA]

I have that electronic regulator and it is fantastic. I never have to worry about my needle valve getting blocked or my bubble counter being messed up. Money well spent ir you are running a CA Reactor.

 

[Blueflu1]

I feel your pain Ray. I have been battling a case of Hair algae. I am finally getting rid of it.
Last week I opened my stand to find 4+ gallons of water in my stand. My ca reactor lid leaked. My stand floor is now horribly sagging. I had to cut 2 holes in the stand floor and put a vacuum in one hole to blow air through and dry it. I was putting the reactor back in the stand and I broke the bubble counter on it. So now I have no working reactor, a bowed floor, wet carpets and hair algae remanants in my tank.

Isn't this hobby fun!

 

[afboundguy]

Man Ray that Sohal was sweet And who doesn't love a crappy tank week? I'm sure we've all had them

 

[RayD]

The loss of the Sohal was a real hit. I loved that guy. Super interactive fish. He would come out of the water for food and you could "pet" him. LOL

Sadly missed. I thought about another but went with the Purple Tang instead. I like him alot too.

Thanks everyone for the condolences. We all have bad streaks in this hobby unfortunately.

I think I'll get another Sohal when the day comes that I can get a 6' or bigger tank.

 

[deb b]

Oh man thanks sucks! Every reefers worst night !

 

[RayD]

I have that electronic regulator and it is fantastic. I never have to worry about my needle valve getting blocked or my bubble counter being messed up. Money well spent ir you are running a CA Reactor.

That's exactly what I've been experiencing over the last couple of weeks. I'd check the effluent and it would be way off so I'd crank up the bubble counter and it would be too much. It just started acting up recently. Prior to that the regulator (Milwaukee) was perfect. Now it's getting stuck.

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and order one this week. I've heard nothing but great things about this regulator. They're $189 without the digital readout which I think I can live without. The blinking LED will do just fine.

 

[cakemanPA]

I was using the same regulator previously. I undertood that a big part of the problem was the needle valve. I have not touched my CA reactor in 6-8 weeks (knock on head). I was constantly messing with it prior to the electronic regulator and a ball valve on the effluent line.

That's exactly what I've been experiencing over the last couple of weeks. I'd check the effluent and it would be way off so I'd crank up the bubble counter and it would be too much. It just started acting up recently. Prior to that the regulator (Milwaukee) was perfect. Now it's getting stuck.

I think I'm going to bite the bullet and order one this week. I've heard nothing but great things about this regulator. They're $189 without the digital readout which I think I can live without. The blinking LED will do just fine.