Patricks ADA Mini M

[PatrickO]

Equipment

ADA Mini M 5.5 gallon tank

Nanobox Tide LED

Aquaclear 70 with purigen/CPE/chaeto

Hydor 50w heater in AC70

 

Livestock

1 picasso percula clown

1 yasha goby

1 candy cane pistol shrimp

1 fire shrimp

1 pom pom crab

3 hermits

1 astrea snail

1 trochus snail

 

Coral

1 torch

1 frogspawn

1 unknown paly frag

1 orange digi frag

1 Green Pocilopora frag

2 unknown SPS, smooth skin acros maybe?

 

Set this up 2 and a half months ago as my first saltwater tank. Trying to keep this as simple as possible. This is actually easier to maintain than when it was planted freshwater. I vacuum the sand and change 1 gallon a week. Top off daily with distilled water.

 

 

This is the unknown SPS I got. I bought some frags from someone locally and he said a friend of his had these and they weren't doing well. He threw them in for free. This one doesn't look too good but I'm going to leave it in for a bit and see what happens.

[icy.bing]

beautiful tank... but that aqua clear is scaring me, might want to find some support on the bottom of it.

[k4ndyk1ng]

beautiful tank... but that aqua clear is scaring me, might want to find some support on the bottom of it.

Yeah it is like the same size as the tank lol

[hey]

def support that guy, i have one of these tanks, it wont support that extra force for long.

[aviator300]

def support that guy, i have one of these tanks, it wont support that extra force for long.

Come on guys. Folks have been hanging AC 70s on these picos for years and many (like El Fab) on 3 gal picotopes. It's just that you normally dont get a side view like this one and never see how much it protrudes off the tank.

 

I think you will be just fine PatrickO unless there is some kind of structural defect in the ADA tanks.

[East1]

I disagree, this is providing a rotational force that comes to maximum as a small point directly in the middle of non-reinforced glass, it'll hold but at some point I feel this will crack.

 

If you intend to run like this either support the bottom of the AC or provide some form of reinforcement to dissipate the point load that's created

[hey]

Come on guys. Folks have been hanging AC 70s on these picos for years and many (like El Fab) on 3 gal picotopes. It's just that you normally dont get a side view like this one and never see how much it protrudes off the tank.

 

I think you will be just fine PatrickO unless there is some kind of structural defect in the ADA tanks.

until you see/use one of these tanks in person and the seriously small amount of silicone used on a very thin glass pane you would realize its not a good idea to hang a weight on the rim of it. Also ada tanks have quite a few known failures at the 2 year mark with silicone unsticking. Wouldn't want to speed up that process.

[PatrickO]

Its really not that much weight but I can see the concern. The picture makes it look like more of a monster than it is. This tank is well over 2 years old as well with no issues. I'll look into a little support for it, can't hurt.

[MySafeWordIsWhiskey]

My ADA 30C failed recently. Slow leak....could have been the weight of the filter (also an AC). Not sure why else it would have gone bad. I had the tank for a little over a year.

[PatrickO]

Added a new green acro frag the other day. Moved the bleached torch to the other side of the tank with lower flow. Polyp extension is pretty poor at this point. I got it a few months ago as a throw in from the LFS, was already totally white when I got it but had good polyp extension at the time. Noticed what I think is those tube snails attached to the skeleton, dunno if they're bothering it or now. Also there is a small orange thing looks like tentacles fanned out, I saw it retract for a few seconds and come back out. You can see on the left side of the skeleton.

 

[hey]

the vermetids probably aren't bothering the torch I have plenty and they don't bother anything really. Try feeding the torch in the evenings once the lights go out, only 1 of my torches will eat which I find unusual for lps but I hear its not uncommon with them. With any luck it will start coloring back up, very slowly.

[PatrickO]

When the polyps were extending i fed it mysis which it did eat. Now if I give it mysis it just lays there and doesnt grab it, eventually the fire shrimp runs up and snatches it. I'll give it a little more time and see if it gets better.

[PatrickO]

No exciting update for this tank, just rolling along. No algae to speak of other than coralline so thats good. Ended up taking the torch out of the tank as it was done for.

The pink/orange unknown SPS seems to be growing a lot of flesh back. The green acro is turning white, except for one branch, the one in the foreground is still good. Alk was low I've been dosing and slowing bringing it back up.

I also think I've spotted 2 tiny aiptasias, too small to get a pic of. Gonna keep an eye on those.

 

[PatrickO]

I thought zoas were supposed to win the fight against SPS? The flesh is growing right over the zoas.

[farkwar]

Your images are huge.

 

Can you resize them please.

 

The width of the page is large enough. Your pics span like 8 times the width of the page. That resolution is unnecessary

[PatrickO]

Your images are huge.

 

Can you resize them please.

 

The width of the page is large enough. Your pics span like 8 times the width of the page. That resolution is unnecessary

What browser are you using? Mine resizes automatically and the pics look normal. Anyone else have this issue? I have no idea what res would be appropriate for everyones screen.

[farkwar]

It resizes, but retains original file size. It bogs down. They are like 28megs, would be my guess without looking.

 

Click on it, to view image. It will span 5 or so browser widths.

 

Samsung's Internet Browser.

 

This board messes up with Firefox.

 

Ill post a screen cap

 

[PatrickO]

Are you on a phone? Im using a macbook and it just seems easier to post full size since it resizes. I can easily resize in the future.

[farkwar]

Samsung 12.2 Note Pro.

 

1200 pixels wide would cut the file size dramatically, with no loss for web viewers.

 

It's not a true resize.

 

The forum software forces dimension limits, the file still is the same as its stored on your host. Like looking at an elephant through a small window, the elephant is still the same size.

[PatrickO]

[farkwar]

Exactly.

[PatrickO]

Tanks getting along, looks pretty much the same. Acros are encrusting so thats a good sign. The water is so clear in this tank its making my freshwater tank look like shit because its water is cloudy at the moment.

 

Added a temporary ATO since I'm going on vacation next week for 10 days. Have an automatic feeder as well. Anything else I need to do to prep for 10 days away from the tank? Currently I maintain cal/alk with 7 drops of nano code A and B a day. Should i slowly raise levels before I go?

 

Also the last 2 pics are of some kind of anemone or coral that is slowly popping up all over the tank. Can anyone ID? Thanks!

 

[VABumpkin]

I would do a big water change before you go to replenish your alk/cal instead of dosing more. Those are hydroids. Some are allergic to them but I've never felt any sting from them in my experience. They can overgrow corals sometimes.

[PatrickO]

Should I leave the hydroids? They aren't harming anything at the moment but they're spreading fast. Also, I use nutri sea water for changes and the levels are kinda low. A big water change will be better than elevating levels you think?