Mark's Nanobox Powered 40B -retired-

[markalot]

Well at this point it seems like you're trying to just control colors since everything else is doing great Are you considering cutting back on your phosphate rx?

 

Yea, I stopped when I dosed Phosphorus and will not continue unless cyano comes back and gets out of control.

[metrokat]

Tank is looking great

[mystersyster]

 

Yea, I stopped when I dosed Phosphorus and will not continue unless cyano comes back and gets out of control.

Very cool. I think I'll pick some up myself instead of running GFO for now. My cyano was about your level. Colors are OK, but I feel that growth will be much better once I get closer to .01-.02. Hopefully as colorful as your tank looks

[markalot]

0

 

on the ULR Phosphate checker. This is a first. All colors look dull and the tank glass is dirty after a single day yet 0 PO4. Crazy. Nitrate was also 0, very clear. I tested the 150 right afterward and while very low the water does turn just a tad pink.

 

Added 1/2 cap Seachem Phosphorus and a bit of CaNO3. Need I play chemistry set with this tank? I can't feed much heavier but I'll have to try.

[Felicia]

Tank is looking great! I love all the new photos and the new light looks really nice! Glad you're liking it so much.

[markalot]

Tank is looking great! I love all the new photos and the new light looks really nice! Glad you're liking it so much.

 

Thanks Felicia.

 

Not much to report. I'm feeding Reef Roids on a regular basis and so far nothing bad has happened. Colors are improving, especially the SPS. Baby steps. The light is just fantastic, so much more fun to look into this tank now.

 

[teenyreef]

Looking good - I'm glad the daily reef roids are working. I'm finding the same thing in my IM40 - by balancing PhosphateRX and Reef Roids I seem to be able to keep phosphates low while keeping the corals fed.

[Sharbuckle]

Never really fed my coral before. How do you find its working Mark?

[mystersyster]

Tank looks great. Some rich colors coming through. Your birdnest looks like mine color-wise... lol.

 

I'm glad you like the light so much. How is the shadowing (or lack thereof)? I've found that as my SPS are growing they start shadowing themselves and start to look really unhealthy in the shadowed areas.

[markalot]

Never really fed my coral before. How do you find its working Mark?

 

I don't really like feeding corals because I overdo it. Right now I am feeding my 150 gallon what I used to feed my 40 and it may be a little too much. This is why I suck at nanos. Now that I've adapted to doing everything slow and cautious my big tank has really taken off ... in here, not yet.

 

 

Tank looks great. Some rich colors coming through. Your birdnest looks like mine color-wise... lol.

 

I'm glad you like the light so much. How is the shadowing (or lack thereof)? I've found that as my SPS are growing they start shadowing themselves and start to look really unhealthy in the shadowed areas.

 

I've got an old BML strip in front that casts an ugly light but does help with shadowing. I think the new NanoBox quad with the 4 lights in a square is the way to go if only using a single light.

 

----

 

So I dosed a crap ton of CaNO3 to see what happened, this should raise nitrates to 5 or 10 and I expected browning but everything looks pretty darn good. This may be what I need to do on a regular basis to keep colors in here, but of course a more reasoned regular dosing.

[DaveFason]

More photos.

 

Your large tanks is like the golden child compared to this tank. Be nice to it!

[Acielot]

I dont see a way to subscribe through my phone. So I'll leave this here.

 

Thats a beautiful tank so far.

[vlangel]

Both your tanks look wonderful Mark. When I got on N-R I thought to myself, "I wonder how Mark's 40 is doing?" Ha ha, and there was an update. I am glad to see that its doing so well.

[markalot]

More photos.

 

Your large tanks is like the golden child compared to this tank. Be nice to it!

 

Thanks Dave.

 

I dont see a way to subscribe through my phone. So I'll leave this here.

 

Thats a beautiful tank so far.

 

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

Both your tanks look wonderful Mark. When I got on N-R I thought to myself, "I wonder how Mark's 40 is doing?" Ha ha, and there was an update. I am glad to see that its doing so well.

 

Thanks Dawn, it's trudging along.

 

--

 

So, how did the nitrate dump work out? NO3 is a whopping 2 now, but hey, light pink is better than clear, right. Almost immediately the KBG acro started to green up, how about that? The valida, which is maricultured, not so much. I will probably get rid of the valida, I'm having color issues with it in the 150 and it grows just too damn fast. The euphyllia all responded well to the CaNO3 with the torch expanding greatly in size the the heads now scary big. Cyano has also shown up in a few spots but not horrible, yet.

 

The birds nest is a very nice pink, but someone bulldozed it off and into the goni so a few dead tips now.

 

 

This is the only tank with hermits, 4 reds and this Halloween who I've had for over 2 years. All seem mostly nocturnal and the reds are morons, mostly laying around on their backs. This guy, though, can move a frag twice it's size from one side of the tank to the other. I've bought shells just like this for him but he never switches shells. Silly hermit, but by far the best cleaner in the tank.

 

Not a great picture but he fanned his tail, a rare sight.

 

Time to beat back the Xenia

 

Love these shrooms.

[markalot]

So unfortunately I do expect some bad news. This spring I noticed the Blenny was breathing a little heavier than normal but all summer it stayed about the same. Now it's really heavy and I think the end is near.

 

I brought him home January 13th 2014 when still running the 20 long.

 

 

 

He's been through a lot, including me knocking the wet side off an MP10 to save his life. Not even close, he has the most personality of any fish I have.

 

Of course I'm holding out hope he will survive but I suspect they just don't live that long.

[teenyreef]

I'm sorry to hear about the TSB, Mark, I hope he pulls through. But I don't think I've heard of very many people keeping them for more than a couple years, it seems. It's a shame because they have such great personalities

 

I'm really tempted to try a Halloween hermit in my 40g tank. They're so beautiful, and I have a few little spots of algae my blue legged hermits don't touch. Does he help with macro algae, or is he more of a meaty leftovers kind of guy?

[markalot]

I'm sorry to hear about the TSB, Mark, I hope he pulls through. But I don't think I've heard of very many people keeping them for more than a couple years, it seems. It's a shame because they have such great personalities

 

I'm really tempted to try a Halloween hermit in my 40g tank. They're so beautiful, and I have a few little spots of algae my blue legged hermits don't touch. Does he help with macro algae, or is he more of a meaty leftovers kind of guy?

 

He only touches the tiny algae, so any frag plug I move from the bigger tank is spotless after a few days. I have never witnessed a hermit eating macro algae, unfortunately. My thin stripes would eat caulerpa after a treated it with peroxide but never before.

[vlangel]

Its really sad when you sense a cool fish beginning to act aged. Nothing to do but wait, but thats hard. Getting old stinks!

[DAP]

Sorry to hear about the Blenny. He has the most comical expression in the pics you post.

[RollaJase]

Sorry to hear about the Blenny Mark but the tank is looking amazing.

[Orangutran]

So unfortunately I do expect some bad news. This spring I noticed the Blenny was breathing a little heavier than normal but all summer it stayed about the same. Now it's really heavy and I think the end is near.

 

That's so sad to hear! Hope he does not suffer too much. Just to show that you provided him a good life to make it to old age.

 

I'm sorry to hear about the TSB, Mark, I hope he pulls through. But I don't think I've heard of very many people keeping them for more than a couple years, it seems. It's a shame because they have such great personalities

 

I'm really tempted to try a Halloween hermit in my 40g tank. They're so beautiful, and I have a few little spots of algae my blue legged hermits don't touch. Does he help with macro algae, or is he more of a meaty leftovers kind of guy?

 

 

Halloween hermits are my favourites! I have two in my tank, and they are peaceful like scarlets (with yellow eye stalk). They always come in the prettiest shells too, usually the elongated ones (cone snails)!

[gena]

Not a great picture but he fanned his tail, a rare sight.

I love everything about this picture .

[markalot]

I love everything about this picture .

 

Thanks Gena.

 

So the center rock is gone and most corals on it saved. A look down from the top revealed it was covered in aptasia, like 15 of them or so. I was able to break most of a lepastrea off, and the two digis came off easily. The KBG acro has started to really color up fast, but the valida was getting worse so it's gone. I moved one of my Orchid stylo frags into this tank and it looks fantastic under all LED.

 

This post is useless without pics but tank was too trashed to take any last night.

 

KH 6.7 so I dosed to bring it up to 7. Need more Kalk.

 

Also dosed more nitrates to see how the KBG acro responds.

[gena]

Did you save any of the blue cloves?

[markalot]

Did you save any of the blue cloves?

 

I'm sure some are left somewhere. If not I have millions in my 150 I can move over. Unfortunately they are very small so when you have a lot of them they just blend in. I would like to have some Anthelia back, especially the hard to keep blue ones.

 

Did you see this picture from my 150? My old old daisy polyps, from when I setup my very first reef, got moved in sort of by accident and love this spot. I'm a huge fan of daisy polyps.