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Mr. Microscope's JBJ Picotope


Mr. Microscope

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i know you have probably explained it in more detail before but why the split light schedule? i will be using the par38 as well and wanna make sure i dont do something horribly wrong by keeping it on. thanks mr. m

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Mr. Microscope
i know you have probably explained it in more detail before but why the split light schedule? i will be using the par38 as well and wanna make sure i dont do something horribly wrong by keeping it on. thanks mr. m

No worries.

 

Here you go:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3022826

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3021981

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that's funny. im the same way. in fact the emerald had decided that it wants to ride along whenever i put it in the tank. just clamps on and gets swished around a bit.

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+1 on the lighting schedule. I used a similar split schedule for a while based on your recommendation and had good results. The only reason I am back on a traditional schedule is because the tank started receiving sunlight during the blackout hours and wasn't getting enough dark time for the corals to grow properly.

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Mr. Microscope
+1 on the lighting schedule. I used a similar split schedule for a while based on your recommendation and had good results. The only reason I am back on a traditional schedule is because the tank started receiving sunlight during the blackout hours and wasn't getting enough dark time for the corals to grow properly.

 

Yeah, I noticed that my office lights are bleeding into the tank. This is interesting because it's causing stuff to stretch a little for light, but also obtaining awesome color and growth from the LEDs. Kinda the best of both worlds.

 

I have to admit that changing my lighting schedule was one of the most beneficial single act I've done for my corals. That and weekly 35% WC's.

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Okay. I'll post a few shots for you. Sorry, some are out of focus. iPhone pics.

 

Took a couple of days to see these coz my computer access goes thru a firewall, but NICE, definitely interested, esp. ked's reds. Would sometime next week work for you?

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Mr. Microscope
Took a couple of days to see these coz my computer access goes thru a firewall, but NICE, definitely interested, esp. ked's reds. Would sometime next week work for you?

That's one thick firewall. LOL

 

Sure. I think next week will be fine. PM me and we'll work something out.

 

BTW, I haven't seen a tank thread for you yet. Are you planning to start one?

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Mr. Microscope

Okay. So, I just read through reefer916's thread in the Water Chemistry Forum, 10 Minutes a day to keep your water perfect, Daily water change thread, and I've decided to alter my water change regimen. I normally change 4L every Friday after work. This is about 35%, and I usually notice my corals freak out a little each time. I will still do the 35%, but I've decided to break it up throughout the week. Everyday, I'll change 800mL. This should be a bit gentler on my corals. Also, I won't need to use a hose or even turn off my pumps! I can just use a tupperwear or something. This small amount could be done in between mouse clicks. It doesn't get much simpler than this. I think the daily small water change seems like the perfect solution for picos, but we'll see. I'll post results in a few months.

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let US know how it works lol

my problem with that method would be mixed SW sitting in my WC bucket all the time. idk, but it just seems a bit unsanitary to me, like what if something falls into the WC bucket and pollutes all that water and you dont notice it cuz it dissolved. I have had that happen (WC water smelt pretty bad). that would be a problem with the way i personally can afford to change water, your setup may be very different. you might be able to mix small amounts of water, idk how you do it. so let us know :P

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Mr. Microscope
let US know how it works lol

my problem with that method would be mixed SW sitting in my WC bucket all the time. idk, but it just seems a bit unsanitary to me, like what if something falls into the WC bucket and pollutes all that water and you dont notice it cuz it dissolved. I have had that happen (WC water smelt pretty bad). that would be a problem with the way i personally can afford to change water, your setup may be very different. you might be able to mix small amounts of water, idk how you do it. so let us know :P

Good point about the bucket. In the beginning, I made five gallons of water in a bucket to get me started. I used three and intended to use the remaining two for water changes after my cycle was complete. I noticed, however that the water did become slightly odiforous after sitting around for a month. So, I dumped it and made a fresh batch. This is why I started making it fresh every week.

 

I have a five liter container with a screw top that stands tall and skinny. I use this to drain old water into during my water changes. I'm still going to make my water fresh every week, but I'll store it in this container and just take a bit out everyday. It should prevent contamination. I'm thinking I'll shake it up a little before using it each day to increase oxygenation.

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Good point about the bucket. In the beginning, I made five gallons of water in a bucket to get me started. I used three and intended to use the remaining two for water changes after my cycle was complete. I noticed, however that the water did become slightly odiforous after sitting around for a month. So, I dumped it and made a fresh batch. This is why I started making it fresh every week.

 

I have a five liter container with a screw top that stands tall and skinny. I use this to drain old water into during my water changes. I'm still going to make my water fresh every week, but I'll store it in this container and just take a bit out everyday. It should prevent contamination. I'm thinking I'll shake it up a little before using it each day to increase oxygenation.

You could add an air stone to the mixed water to keep the water moving .

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Mr. Microscope
You could add an air stone to the mixed water to keep the water moving .

Not a bad idea. Do you think that would affect pH?

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Not a bad idea. Do you think that would affect pH?

I wouldn't think it would , you could check the first batch to be sure it stays stable.

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it should affect pH, and sea water has good bufferign anyway ;)

 

What i do is I make up new SW(3 gallons) every thursday evening, and the following day, in the evening I use up all of it in my weekly water changes (3 gal gets 2 gal WC and my 10 gal gets a 1 gal WC). I clean the bucket out, let it dry until next thursday ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Mr. Microscope

Hello All,

 

Here’s my big update. As of Halloween, my tank turned 1 year old! It’s been an awesome year and I love it here on Nano-reef! Thank you for all your support and comments.

 

Here’s the status on my tank right now. Aesthetically, the thing is a mess. I’ve got frags all over the place. But, my tank has been amazingly stable and healthy for the last few months. All of the corals are prospering, growing, and coloring up very well.

 

Here’s a FTS and top down to start out:

FTSandTop20101111.jpg

 

The stars of my tank right now are my Organism and Valentine’s Day Massacre Palys. In the month that I’ve had them, the Organisms are really coloring up well. They looked like a faded orange when I first got them, but they’ve developed a really nice deep red. The VDM has maintained its amazing orange color and put out another polyp. The baby is maybe half the size of the big one. I can’t wait to see how it colors up.

OrganismsandVDMs20101111.jpg

 

Here are a couple other things I got at the frag swap a month ago. The Kedd’s Reds are really starting to glow. I had fragged off six or seven and had them in stronger light for a while and they really became neon. So, I’ve moved up the mother colony to get its colors going too. You can see some of the shimmer on the right side of the colony (top of the picture) where the light is stronger. Also, the cabbage leather that I got has possibly tripled in size in the short month that they’ve been in my tank. It’s developing really neat polyps around the edges and middle that weren't there when I first got it. Some of them look a little green. I’m a little worried that it’s going to be a bit too aggressive of a grower to put on the display rocks and I’m not really sure where to put it. So, it’ll stay on the rack for now.

KeddsRedsandLeather20101111.jpg

 

The baby ric that I got has maintained color well. It’s crazy how it looks green in white light, but orange in blue light. You can kinda of see what I mean in the pics. A couple weeks ago, it decided to detach from the tile that it came with. I found it floating around one morning. So, I had to rig up this little container with some rubble. I’m hoping that it decides to reattach soon. When it detached, I saw that it still had a tiny bit of rock/glue/something at the bottom. I’m hoping that it doesn’t think that that’s good enough and never attach to anything of substantial size.

Ric20101111.jpg

 

I’ve also made a determination on my Mystery zoas. I figured out that I had gotten a rock with two different zoas on it. They changed their color right away when I got them and have since recolored up well. The result? Inside Outs/Coffee Cosmos and Eye of Rah. You can see my scarlet hermit crab hanging out by my Inside Outs and Whammin’ Watermelons on the left and the Eye of Rah zoas on the right. I noticed that the Eye of Rahs that were receiving less light were getting a better blue color to them. So, I’ve moved them to the sand bed to see what happens.

Mystery solved!

MysterySolved.jpg

I thought that I lost my scarlet hermit crab a couple weeks ago because I hadn’t seen it for a while and found it’s body (what I thought was it’s body) stuck in the intake of my AC70. It turns out that it was only a molt and it was hiding while it recovered its exoskeleton. It’s again, happy as a crab! :lol:

 

Finally, here’s a little recovery update on the progress on the Magician Palys that were closed up for five weeks during the mini-cycle.

MagicianProgress20101111.jpg

 

 

Other updates without pics:

 

I found a little Aiptasia a few weeks ago that came on one of the rocks that I got at the swap. It was very small, but I nipped that one in the bud right away. No signs of aiptasia since.

 

My new water-changing regimen seems to be working out well. I’ve only been doing it for two weeks. So, it’s too early to say whether or not it’s going to be beneficial, but so far so good. For anyone that doesn’t know about this, I’ve changed from doing 4 liters every Friday, to doing 800mL/day. I like that I don’t have to turn off my pumps for this and can do it very leisurely. None of the corals get angry either, which is the reason I started doing it.

 

I purchased some Kent Lugol’s Solution a few weeks ago too. I wanted to dip some corals that weren’t looking so hot. It worked on two and not on the other. My BamBams are unfortunately looking like crap right now. I’m not sure why. They took a fall within a week of being in the tank. One bonus of getting the lugols, however, is that I’ve started dosing Iodine now. I've read that zoas really react well to trace amounts in the water. I ran some calculations and figured out that a weekly dose of 4 microliters is appropriate. I’m putting this in the tank on Mondays and also in my freshly made water. Again, it’s too early to say if it’s doing anything, but if I start getting really plump polyps, I’ll post pics. I’m thinking that perhaps the Organisms owe their plumpness to the iodine, but I can’t say for sure.

 

A few months ago, I noticed a couple tiny little round and white snails crawling around my tank. I was removing them whenever I saw one because I thought they were a pest. But after a little more research, I realized that they are colonistas! Super bonus to the CUC! I now have a thriving population in my tank. They are all over the place and get into each little nook and cranny in the rocks/glass/corals/you name it.

 

Lastly, you may have noticed that I am sans a sig banner at the moment. I'm brainstorming a few ideas right now and hope to come up with something soon. But, I figured that I had punished myself long enough with that, Mortal's Hubris stuff. So, I had to take it down. Perhaps I'll make an LCARS themed banner...

th_picard-facepalm.jpg...maybe featuring the Picard facepalm if something goes wrong in the future.

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Mr. Microscope

True. As their blue is getting sparklier, their red is fading. I moved them to the sandbed today to see if that improves things. Thanks!

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animalmaster6

Happy Birthday!!!

 

The corals are looking really good. Those Magicians are weird, that's a really interesting coloration for them.

 

Looking forward to Seeing the new banner!

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