Day 273 continued continued

Stopped by a place called Auction Village in Warren. Mary saves anything fish related that comes in. Friday she had a 29gal., two filters, two 24" lights, air pump and a heater. Sold it for $20. Started working on fish room again, made opening for triple 180gal. not large enough. Plan on opening that up and evening up the 388gal., electrical next.

Day 273 continued

Also on Thursday night I picked up a Red Terror from Matt. This fish is about 11", very healthy. He's in a 90gal for now, thanks Matt for the Terror (tank #19), he adapted really good. Stop by anytime.

Day 273

On Thursday night I picked up a fish from Carey and Chad. Bob the fish thought he was a convict, sorry to tell you, but you are a Jack Dempsey, Bob (tank #1). Thanks for the great healthy fish, he is doing great!

Day 270

The 380gal. has these corner, run-off drains. I moved the pre-filter(floss) material to these drains, onto the pipe on the right, and out of the sump. Its easier to access. Cleaned tanks #1-#5 yesterday, filter cleanings, 25% water change, and vacuumed gravel.

Day 269

Tom got my number from Petsmart, he had two Tetra that he wanted to donate to tropical tank. Thanks to Tom, his Dad and brothers for the fish. Unfortunately one of the Tetra didn't make it, the one that was starting to swim upside down. The other one is doing great, thanks again. Good luck with the new Red Devil, they don't call them that for no reason!

Day 268

This is pictures of Aron's Tank #7. Blackbelt Vieja cichlid was the cause of all the aggression and fin damage in tank #7. He was put in sump of 380 gal., doing good. Tank #7 is now peaceful, no aggression. Cleaned tanks #6 (#7 was just set up-no cleaning) thru #10. Filter cleanings, vacuumed gravel, and 25% water change.

Day 267

Cleaned tanks #16, #11, and #12. Vacuumed gravel, filter cleaning, and 25% water change.Rena filter taken off tank #12, replaced with Fluval 304. Moved two 3" Oscars from tank #19. One went into tank #16, and the other went into tank #7(Aron's tank). Blackbelt Vieja of Aron's is too aggressive, so he went into sump of 380 gal. to calm down. Sump of 380 gal is actually a 55gal., many a fish have lived there until I can figure out where to put them. Happy Easter!

Day 266

More fish picture requests, so here we go! This is a countdown of all my tanks, starting with tank #21. Flowerhorn 7" bought from Zak.

Aron came over two days ago, brought over 50 gal. and equipment, a Pleco 3", Jack Dempsey 4", Blackbelt Vieja cichlid 2". Jag. and Texas he brought died overnight. Set up his tank today, this will be tank #7. Today I replaced Iwaki pump on 380 gal. with Iwaki pump I bought on http://www.michiganreefers.com/ , cleaned filter, vacuumed gravel and did 25% water change. Hole in the head Pacu, in tank #6 ate one shrimp today.

Day 262

Went by Pet Supplier on Duck Lake Rd. in White Lake Twp., MI. Owner gave me a good deal on these fish, 11" Pacu and 9" Jaguar. Going to watch Pacu for a couple weeks it might have hole in the head, if it does I will treat. They went into tank #6, I had to divide because of aggression of Jaguar. Flowerhorn in this tank went into tank #5 divided with Oscar. Texas that was sick passed away yesterday, R.I.P. Cleaned tanks #14,#15, and #21. 25% water change, vacuumed gravel, and filter cleanings.  Took Rena filter off tank #14, moved hob canister filter from tank #15 to tank #14. Installed Fluval 304 on tank #15.

Day 259

Hex. tank sold this morning off of http://www.michiganreefers.com/ , thanks Darryl. Lowered price of 55gal. to $110 on craigslist this morning. Small Texas still alive but laying on side, heavy breathing. Other fish in tank doing good. Tanks #17-#20 were cleaned, water change 25%, vacuumed gravel, and cleaned filters.

Day 255

The Texas cichlid Eric brought over is not doing well, lying on bottom. I will watch for next few days. Severum and Green Terror are doing very good, fins are healing. Listed 60 gal. acrylic hexagon tank on www.michigan reefers.com, sold the same day, will be picked up on Friday. Listed tank #6 on craigslist...no response. All else is good.

Day 250

This is tank #12

Tank #12 had two castles in it, took them out and put in three large holey rocks, better for the African cichlids. Tank #9 started to leak, switched out and replaced with another 55gal. I had.  Did a water change only, in tank #13. Aron brought over a Severum(into tank#11), a Green Terror(#16), and a Texas cichlid(#11). All about 2"-3", and some food today. He wants to bring over a 55gal. and more fish.

Day 247

This is the African cichlid that got donated to me today, Brian got my number from Petsmart, he needed to get rid of this fish, too aggressive. Thanks to Brian and daughters for the very healthy fish. The other picture is the filter I got for refinishing Sean's 75gal. tank, he included three lrg. holey rock also. Thanks Sean, nice filter and nice doing business with you. I also went to the house I'm painting, picked up the 55gal. with glass tops, and a HOB filter.



Day 245 continued

Blacked out back of 388gal., I use tar paper(for roofing). You have to attach it with duct tape or packaging tape. All else good.

Day 245

                                     More Pond Chemical Log 2009

10/13  50% water change, filter floss changed, Nitrate 5.0mg/L
10/19  50% water change, Nitrate 10.0mg/L
10/21  Nitrate 10.0mg/L
10/25  50% water change
10/26  25% water change
11/1    50% water change
11/6    50% water change
11/9    Water cloudy, 25% water change
11/23  50% water change (too long)
11/28  50% water change, floss change, vacuum gravel, new charcoal (carbon)
12/3    50% water change
12/10  50% water change & floss change
12/18  50% water change & floss change
12/25  50% water change & floss change
12/30(?)  50% water change & floss change
                       *2010*
Note- obviously from the amount and frequency of water changes and floss changes, I was dealing with overpopulation of my pond & alot of fish waste, which would cause the cloudy water, fishy smell, and increase in Ammonia & Nitrates. I was unaware I had too many fish, I just wanted to own more fish! The only thing that saved me was pond maintenance(water changes). So I move into 2010 with the pond, more entries:
1/12/10 50% water change & floss change
1/17      Moved pond to 380gal., 50% pond water, 50% tap water, changed floss, transferred bio-media
1/17      (Pond drained, and set outside)
1/17      Found Oscar DOA, jumped out prior to 1/17 ( I wondered why my dog kept going behind pond and coming out with fish breath!)
             Iwaki pump 18.4gal/min., max. head 26.9ft., 1/8hp., 3250rpm., 1080gal./hr? test!
1/22      Testing Nitrate 5 days after move, Nitrate 5.0mg/L, pH 7.8, Ammonia 0.5mg/L, temp 80.0*
1/23      Moved Oscar & albino Oscar to 380gal. from 75gal. for grow out
1/24     Albino Oscar missing-eaten by Red Tail Cat!(this cat ate an 8" albino Oscar-unbelievable!)
1/24     25% water change-cloudy
1/31     Added 24" Black Pacu (note* mistake, at this point I was already overloaded, I should have filled pond back up and divided fish in 380gal.)
2/3       Nitrate 80mg/L, 25% water change
2/4       Added 100gal. refugium( * it was a 100gal. rubbermaid tub, water drained from 380gal. to 100gal. tub to sump. It increased my 380gal to 480gal.! It also increased the amount of water I would have to heat, and overload my electrical, causing a power failure, and fish loss. I tried, but sometimes I'm my own worst enemy! I must like to learn the hard way.)
2/8       Nitrate 40-80mg/L, 25% water change
2/10     Power failure, 4 Pacu DOA(*note- I'm a firefighter so I work 24hour shifts, that's why my entries are days apart. And that's why this fish loss was not caught in time. Now I call home daily from work for my family to check my tanks.)
2/16     50% water change, Nitrate 80-100mg/L.....more entries to come.

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Day 244

Went through the boxes yesterday, lots of food(pellets), medication, lights, filters and decorations. One Stealth Pro heater 200w, which I will return to Marineland for warranty replacement. Took the food and combined it with mine, took the lights and replaced my old and bad fixtures. Tank #6 was sold, so tank#7 was moved to its spot(top of a 55gal. stand), this was done during the cleanings of tanks #1-#6. The fish I moved yesterday were, female Flowerhorn in tank #11 went to tank #1 and divider in tank #11 lifted, male Flowerhorn from tank #10 was moved to tank #1 also...they didn't get along, so female moved to tank #10. Texas cichlid in tank #7 was moved to tank #4 divided with Thia silk Flowerhorn, lrg. Flowerhorn was then moved from tank #4 to tank #6(was #7 before move). Rob sold two of his fish that I was holding on Sunday, the Vieja(tank #7) and Red Tiger Motaguense(tank #5). Dropped my waterproof cell phone in tank #11, but it was plugged in. It wouldn't turn on, thought I lost all contacts. Put it on the heat duct all night and it worked this morning, text only, got lucky.