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Cultivated Reef

Matt's 4 gallon pico


Matt_95

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Hey all, I'm setting up my second nano reef over the summer so I thought making a thread would allow me to keep track of what I am doing.

 

The tank I am using is 22x22x36cm, so 17 liters. I purchased a small chiller for this purpose a couple of years ago, I believe it is a peltier so I don't want to go larger than what I am using invade it can't handle the higher temps with a larger volume. I have to work out how to get the tubing for the chiller over the back of the tank without it collapsing in on itself, I'll be going to the hardware store in the next few days to try find a solution to that.

I also have to get a new power head as the old one stopped working recently. Once I've got that sorted I'll get my rock and fill the tank up. I will be using natural sea water.

The stocking I am wanting currently is a mix of soft corals and LPS. I'll also catch myself a yellow clown goby as well and some anemone shrimp if I can locate mini carpet anemone here.

 

I've painted the back black and cleaned it up since I took this photo.

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And here is the chiller I will be using:

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I filled the tank up to make sure everything works and that there are no leaks. Unfortunately the heater doesn't fit inside the HOB so it is going to have to be in the display. The pump for the chiller is inside the HOB to minimize clutter. I don't like the look of the pipe for the chiller obove the tank but I haven't thought of some way to hide it. So far, everything for this tank hasn't cost anything as I have just use parts lying around the house. I have ordered a BoostLED par30 bulb for the tank tonight. As soon as I get my hands on some rock I will walk down to the ocean and grab some water and get it started.

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Got my rock today! Lots of pods, a few muscles and snails and some sort of filter feeder has come out so far. Unfortunately I have also found a crab and wasn't able to catch it. What do you think of the scape?

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Thanks very much, I am thinking that I may try some nps under there down the track.

I ended up moving some rocks around and I think the scape flows better now. In the first one, the two rocks on the right hand side stood out to much to my liking. I lay it down flat and I used some rubble that I created from breaking some of the rock to cover the cavity under the rock on the left hand side so that I have more surface area exposed to the light to grow coral.

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I had a very small ammonia spike on Tuesday, 0.25 only, was gone by the next day, I think I missed the nitrite spike, nitrates were at 1ppm.

I went to get a refractometer today from the lfs to replace my hygrometer. The hygrometer said my water was at 1.025, it was actually 1.030!! I went down to the beach and did a 50% water change and then brought it down to 1.024, is that good for a mixed reef?

 

I also saw that they had a branching hammer, I decided to get it as they seem to be pretty uncommon here. They had 30-40 wall hammers and only 1 branching hammer. I'm getting a small yellow hammer and a few other frags after christmas also.

The first colour is an accurate colour representation.

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I can't wait to see it under the new light and fully extended.

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Thanks! I'm getting a pair of clowns from a local breeder, hoping that they host it.

My father just asked me if I'd like to go out on the boat for my birthday, I'll make sure we stop off at some bommies so that I can collect some corals for this tank.

Here's a current FTS. I don't know why I can't get the correct colour on the hammer from the front. I moved it up higher in the tank as well.

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Anyone know what this is? Had one in my last tank and it did well. It should go blue under my par30 when it arrives.

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Oh, the clowns won't be permanent, they will be in here two months max and they will be tiny. I have a 45cm cube for them which should provide them with ample room.

Thanks, is it safe to keep for now?

I got my par30 yesterday, I'm pretty happy with it.

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I am getting a yellow hammer after Christmas, I'd like to get a few other hammers for this tank as well, they're definetly my favorite coral. I'll have to be mindful where I place them though to avoid any warfare.

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Thanks, I'm planning on spacing my Euphyllia throughout the rock work so I am going to have to ensure I leave space between them and my other corals.

 

I got the lamp from Masters, I don't think that they are outside of Australia though. It's just a normal lamp with a base. I wanted the Boost gooseneck, but the website was out of stock.

 

Thanks, I've just done that now. Is it alright if I leave the hood on the lamp around the heat sink? Or do I need to saw it off? I prefer how it looks currently so I want to avoid sawing it off if possible.

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I got a green and purple scolly today along with a small Blasto at the boxing day sales. I also found a maxi mini carpet at the store, they are very hard to find around here it seems. I asked to get it, but it was unfortunately torn in half while they were breaking the rock it was on. They said they don't want to sell it to me in that condition, but they are holding onto it for me and if it heals, I'll go buy it. I get 10% off of all livestock there now as well.

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I find it really difficult to photograph this tank, the camera picks up more blue than there actually is in person. I mucked around with the white balance on the computer and this is the closest I could get to the real colour of it.

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Less accurate

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I fragged one of the smaller heads of the hammer.

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Bad photo of the Blasto.

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One of my shrimp has got eggs.

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This hitch hiker came in on the rock the scolly was attached too.

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FTS, what do you guys think? Any Improvements I can make?

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very cool setup, gives the impression of a bigger tank! i've always seen scolys placed flat on the bottom, i dont know if thats for lower light or better coloration but maybe somethin to check, i know those things arent cheap!

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Thanks very much, I'm glad it looks larger than it is, I really did not want to make it appear small.

 

The scolly was bought attached to a piece of rock, in the wild they can be found living unattached on the sand, or on the rock. There is still a fair bit of rock behind it so it did look a bit odd on my sand bed as it is so shallow. I'm trying to avoid having corals on my sand bed as well to keep it feeling a bit more open.

Surprisingly it was pretty cheap as well, only $30, that is about $27 USD I think.

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No pictures sorry, but I do have a bit of an update. It was my 18th birthday on the 28th so my girlfriend, best mate and my family went snorkeling, I haven't been since my last trip to the Great Barrier Reef earlier in the year so it was nice to be able to do it again, the reefs within half an hour of my house via boat are all dead now so we haven't been diving as much the last few years as we have to travel a fair distance more. Anyway, there were Acans everywhere, so many beautiful ones I couldn't collect as they couldn't be removed without the use of tools. I collected a red and purple acan, a pink and blue acan and a green, white and brown acan. Not very impressed with the pink and blue, the colours aren't as nice as they appeared in the ocean so I may not hang into them long term. I also have two other lps I got, I thiught they were Acans when I was diving but now I can get a good look at them, they're clearly something else, I didn't pick up on the difference while on the reef as I can only hold my breath a little over a minute while a few meters down. I also got a green toadstool, white xenia and although I don't know how to care for SPS all that well, I fragged a couple of exceptional looking ones. One was a deep purple one, although in my tank, the lower bits are brown under my light. The other was a lighter pink one. I also saw a highlighted yellow acro and a really nice blue one. I am hoping that they do well in my tank, not sure how the flow commg from only direction will be for them though.

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Is it not illegal to collect from the ocean like that, where do you live. If you don't hang on to the acan atleast take it to lfs so it's not a waste of the reefs.

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I also hope you don't make habit of collecting as its bad enough that they are dying from our pollution, and collection companies that over collect. Now I'm not trying to point fingers but just don't over doit for your benefit so all our grandchildren can enjoy it

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It is legal as long as no tools are used and that I am not within the boundaries of a marine park or no take zone. If I don't keep the acan, it will be going into a friends LPS reef, I would never just throw out a coral.

And yes, I will continue to collect my own coral where possible, the damage to the reef is infinitesimal. More damage is done people snorkeling every day through there or people dropping anchors. I would also rather collect for myself so that the coral is also in my care, no coral has to die sitting in dealers tanks or the lfs. Where do you think your coral comes from? While the acropora may not survive in my system, they would have died on the reef, they were fragged when a group of tourists kicked them and pieces fell into the sand.

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