tibbsy07 5.5 pico reef

[Paandemonium]

I was trying to make an excuse for them and say that its spelled that way in another language but all 20 of the ones I tried didnt help... so I guess they just dun f*cked at some point

[natalia_la_loca]

It's possible they spelled it that way to make it easier to trademark. Although it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it...

[tibbsy07]

It's possible they spelled it that way to make it easier to trademark. Although it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it...

I was trying to make an excuse for them and say that its spelled that way in another language but all 20 of the ones I tried didnt help... so I guess they just dun f*cked at some point

I got a response on FB from them: "Why not?" Because it's "awkqa" as it is spelled now not "awkwa" and it sounds dumb. That's why.

 

Sticking with my regular water changes. I think I'm going to go back to CPE... Purigen is fine, and I removed the 1/2 tablespoon of phosguard I was using, but I'll be damned it the Xenia are almost gone. My salinity is good, and everything else seems to be great. The Kenya tree is out, I think the hammer is getting a second mouth, the dragon eye zoas look good, the EE zoas are great. The green bay packer ones or whatever they are are all still closed up, and I think I'm going to lose them. The GSP is growing like wildfire now (yay!) and the ricordea is bigger than I've ever seen, and starting to get better coloration. The Blue sympodium is open and seems to be good. I have no idea why the xenia are so unhappy, but I'm bummed. It happened almost overnight and I really like watching them sway and pulse.

[joy13]

You will find xenia either loves a tank or hates a tank. I know I love the white xenia but it doesn't grow for me. Next time I find some I am going to get it again and try in a different tank.

[tibbsy07]

You will find xenia either loves a tank or hates a tank. I know I love the white xenia but it doesn't grow for me. Next time I find some I am going to get it again and try in a different tank.

It was growing like crazy for the last few weeks. Then I did a water change and swapped to purigen and it lost every bit of life it had, it seems. All pulled in, no pulsing... Looks like tiny little purple matchsticks.

[tibbsy07]

Picture dump!

 

Current FTS:

 

Left half of the tank looks good

 

Zoas look ok... That middle set is always unhappy. My guess is that they'll melt. Lame.

 

Bad photo (phone camera) but the hammer is turning sort of oval-shaped. I think it might be splitting?

 

Blue sympodium is out and open now:

 

Ricordea is all puffy and is starting to get an orange hue to the tips

 

And I am LOVING the GSP. I think I will definitely put some on the rear glass when this grows some more.

 

Here are my unhappy xenia. Don't know what changed but they are furious all the time:

[ninjamyst]

i think your zoa will be fine. they close up sometimes for no reason. i read xenia can't be killed so they are probably just closed up, resting, plotting for an invasion.

[tibbsy07]

i think your zoa will be fine. they close up sometimes for no reason. i read xenia can't be killed so they are probably just closed up, resting, plotting for an invasion.

Hopefully. I noticed it happened when the purigen was added and the CPE was removed. I'm not sure if that actually has anything to do with it or if it is just a coincidence. I've been thinking of going back to CPE. It just works so well and it's only 1 thing to have to think about. Besides, a single 11oz bag would last me months.

[markalot]

Xenia does not look that bad. Take it from someone who thought they killed all of them.. Death is deflation, shrinking, then rapid dissolving.

 

They got injured, probably due to a very rapid drop in phosphates (phosguard is very very efficient) and will slowly recover. The fact you can make out the heads is encouraging IMO. And again, I'm comparing this to the time I killed off 95% of mine ... it was rapid and ugly and once they looked the same one day to the next it was over, but took weeks to recover.

 

I added about 2 tablespoons of phosguard to my 46 which caused the rapid death and injured zoas, pallys, a hammer, and two frogspawn. I had it back out of the tank within 2 days but corals continued to decline for a week before stabilizing.

[joy13]

The xenia does look POed but it is far from gone. Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank so it is probably just taking its time to acclimate to the new conditions.

[tibbsy07]

Xenia does not look that bad. Take it from someone who thought they killed all of them.. Death is deflation, shrinking, then rapid dissolving.

 

They got injured, probably due to a very rapid drop in phosphates (phosguard is very very efficient) and will slowly recover. The fact you can make out the heads is encouraging IMO. And again, I'm comparing this to the time I killed off 95% of mine ... it was rapid and ugly and once they looked the same one day to the next it was over, but took weeks to recover.

 

I added about 2 tablespoons of phosguard to my 46 which caused the rapid death and injured zoas, pallys, a hammer, and two frogspawn. I had it back out of the tank within 2 days but corals continued to decline for a week before stabilizing.

Good to know. I removed the phosguard, so hopefully the tank will be ok now. I think it was just too much. I doubt I have much phosphate anyways.

 

The xenia does look POed but it is far from gone. Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank so it is probably just taking its time to acclimate to the new conditions.

[metrokat]

Be happy to send you xenia if the darn things weren't unshippable. I routinely pull out a stalk or two and toss it in the sump. Ya I just toss it, it finds a spot.

[tibbsy07]

Be happy to send you xenia if the darn things weren't unshippable. I routinely pull out a stalk or two and toss it in the sump. Ya I just toss it, it finds a spot.

Thanks. I'm hoping this stuff will make a recovery. I really like it, and my wife LOVES it.

[joy13]

Be happy to send you xenia if the darn things weren't unshippable. I routinely pull out a stalk or two and toss it in the sump. Ya I just toss it, it finds a spot.

The only way to ship xenia that I know of is iffy. Put the frag plug on a piece of Styrofoam with a rubber band, make sure it is upside down and the styrofoam is to keep it from bumping against the sides of the bag. You should be able to glue the frag to the inside of a styrofoam cup too. It is easier to find it locally than shipping it.

[tibbsy07]

Weekly water change today. Maybe 1 weeks worth of salt left then I have to get more. I'm also just going to go back to CPE. Even if it costs me 16 bucks every 3 months, it seemed to handle the tank better than the purigen. I know many people use both together, but I don't want to overdo it.

I also just wonder if my purigen just is bad and maybe that's why the tank is "meh" right now? I've had some diatom blooms in the sand and the AC70 intake tube is disgusting. I had to engineer a way to clean it out as best I could. Might be cyano. CPE would handle it all and I could get an 11oz bag and have it for forever.

[ninjamyst]

They sell mini 3.1oz CPE for like $7-$8 (shipping sucks though). They are really small and perfect for nano tanks. I got 3 from InTank Media during their Thanksgiving sale. Figure that will last me a year for my Spec. But I am actually switching to all Seachem products after I am done with CPE. Nothing wrong with CPE, but more cost effective for me to buy large jars of Seachem Matrix Carbon and Phosguard and mix my own bags now that I have two tanks.

 

http://shop.mediabaskets.com/Chemi-Pure-Elite-Mini-31oz-Bag-16746.htm?categoryId=-1

[jedimasterben]

Don't forget that that bag of CPE that should theoretically not have the media exhausted for many months in a small tank will be rendered almost useless in a month's time due to bacterial films and detritus/matter clogging both the pores of the bag and the pores of the media.

[tibbsy07]

They sell mini 3.1oz CPE for like $7-$8 (shipping sucks though). They are really small and perfect for nano tanks. I got 3 from InTank Media during their Thanksgiving sale. Figure that will last me a year for my Spec. But I am actually switching to all Seachem products after I am done with CPE. Nothing wrong with CPE, but more cost effective for me to buy large jars of Seachem Matrix Carbon and Phosguard and mix my own bags now that I have two tanks.

 

http://shop.mediabaskets.com/Chemi-Pure-Elite-Mini-31oz-Bag-16746.htm?categoryId=-1

Yeah, I really like the purigen stuff and I had great luck with it in the 12g I used to have, but for some reason, this tank seems to be unhappy (at least some of the corals are) and it's not keeping the bioload in check like the CPE. I'll look into the matrix carbon, though. Maybe that would work for me? It'd probably be cheaper.

 

Don't forget that that bag of CPE that should theoretically not have the media exhausted for many months in a small tank will be rendered almost useless in a month's time due to bacterial films and detritus/matter clogging both the pores of the bag and the pores of the media.

I'm not worried about bacterial biofilms - I haven't seen any significant biofilm formation on the bag (I rinse it regardless). There is likely some, but not enough to inhibit water flow. Maybe the detritus, but my filter floss takes most of that out before it gets to the CPE, though tiny particles could theoretically get into the bag. When I used the CPE for the first couple of months, I had no issue with water chemistry.

[tibbsy07]

Thinking of getting one of PJ's jar reef things for my desk at work. <1g

 

I have to figure out space availability

 

2 feet deep, 4 feet wide, 20.5" from the desk to the shelf bottom, shelf sits 8.5 inches back from the beginning of the desk. I'm not even sure I can have a reef jar yet, to be honest. I can have plants and I can eat at my desk, but I don't know if a reef jar will be ok.

[jedimasterben]

I'm not worried about bacterial biofilms - I haven't seen any significant biofilm formation on the bag (I rinse it regardless). There is likely some, but not enough to inhibit water flow. Maybe the detritus, but my filter floss takes most of that out before it gets to the CPE, though tiny particles could theoretically get into the bag. When I used the CPE for the first couple of months, I had no issue with water chemistry.

Filter floss without a flocculent is actually not very good at removing particulates, especially the size that would fit into the micropores of chemical media.

[tibbsy07]

Filter floss without a flocculent is actually not very good at removing particulates, especially the size that would fit into the micropores of chemical media.

I still didn't see any major issues with water quality, but this is a valid point. A number of people here seem to be having great luck with just carbon in their HOBs (Sandeep, Nano in her 7.5g sumped cube, etc.) I may go this route.

[tibbsy07]

Not much new to report. Took some phone pictures. I spent about an hour trying to get my wife's camera to take a decent photo, but to no avail.

Took a top down shot - you can see where the diatoms are forming in the rear (upper) left corner.

 

Unhappy xenia:

 

The zoas that never open ever:

 

Happy zoas:

 

Splitting(?) Hammer:

 

Blue sympodium - these guys looked GREAT today, totally open and fluffy, but as I was taking the picture I bumped the shelf and they got less happy:

 

GSP has been growing like a weed. The polyps have gone from 3ish tentacles to ~8 on most and they are longer, more sweepy:

 

Hard to take shot of the yuma (as it is in the rear of the tank) and the color isn't great, but it's growing

 

I had a decent one of the ric, but it ended up being on my wife's camera (only decent photo I got) and I'll upload it later.

 

Kenya tree has been doing great recently, but tonight I noticed an interesting thing. It was extended as always, but then it started to curl up a bit and there was like a clear mucus-slime-stringy stuff on a few of its branches and it eventually broke off. Is that bad? I didn't touch the coral or the water.

 

Hard to see, but there is some of it in this picture. See the lower right branch and the stringy stuff about halfway down it pointing upwards.

[tibbsy07]

Ok, so I've been doing some reading, and I'm a little confused. I thought purigen and chemi-pure were pretty much the same in terms of function - removal of dissolved organics, ammonia and nitrogenous wastes. Elite adds in phosphate and silicate removal, whereas purigen will not. I sort of figured they were redundant even though I used both at the same time on my 12g. I was using CPE on my tank and then swapped to purigen. A number of pico users still rock both though... Am I missing something?

 

Should I be using CPE and purigen; CPE alone; Purigen alone; or activated carbon (+/- phosguard as needed)? I haven't really had any issues lately with chemical filtration, but this next month I will have to buy some new tank stuff - salt and media, mainly. Thoughts?

[jedimasterben]

Most people don't understand what they do, how they work, or what they remove, so they use the shotgun approach.

 

What happens to your tank without chemical filtration?

[tibbsy07]

Most people don't understand what they do, how they work, or what they remove, so they use the shotgun approach.

 

What happens to your tank without chemical filtration?

I have no idea. I haven't tried it. I'm seriously thinking of just going activated carbon. A number of folks here have done the same and their tanks looks good. AC is cheap, too.