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Livewreck's 10 gallon reef - On Autopilot


Livewreck

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12/5/2015 - 13 months

Fside.jpg

 

Click Show to see equipment, etc.

Equipment:

Aquarium: Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion Nano 10 Gallon

Light: Nano Box Mini Tide with Storm Controller

IM Aqua Gadget Desktop Ghost Protein Skimmer

Heater: Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 25 Watt

Main circulation pump: Eheim 600 Compact

Water flow: VorTech MP10 QD

InTank Media Basket

ATO: Tunze Osmotator Nano

Apex Jr. Controller

Filtration:

9 lb. live rock, Caribsea Fiji pink sand, Poly Filter Floss, Purigen, PhosBan, Carbon

Additives:

Bulk Reef Supply 2 part -- Alk dosed at 1AM; Calcium dosed at 9AM -- Magnesium, as neede

Live Stock:

Various Zoas and Palys

Sarcophyton (Tyree neon green toadstool), ORA Green Sinularia, Caulastrea (Trumpet/Candy Cane),

Ricordea Florida, Birds Nest (thick branch pink),

Photosynthetic Gorgonians: (Isis hippuris, Pterogorgia)

White Pipe Organ (Tubipora musica), Frog Spawn

Yellow Clown Goby

Rock Flower Anemone

Snails, Sexy Shrimp, Blue leg Hermit Crab

 

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I recently upgraded from a 4 gallon CadLights pico to an Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion 10 gallon aquarium. And what a wonderful step up that is! Not only is it easier to aqua-scape the 12” square display area in the IM Fusion 10, but the rear filtration compartments are large enough to easily accommodate just about any equipment one wishes to add to help regulate water parameters. I really love this small aquarium.

 

Jupiter%20April%202014-3.jpg

 

I was able to obtain a beautiful piece of fully cured live rock at an LFS. It had been in one of their display aquariums that they recently dismantled, so I was able to transfer livestock from my 4 g pico to my new nano reef just a few days after setting up the new aquarium.

 

The single 10 lb. chunk of LR was too massive for my 10 g reef, and by itself it left the aqua-scape without a visual counterpoint. So I used a hacksaw to cut off a few pieces from the main rock. I used one of the sawed off pieces as an accent rock and intend to have it fully over-grown with green star polyps. I glued a few of the smaller pieces back onto the main rock in such a manner as to improve its overall visual appearance.

 

FullSizeRender.jpg

 

Jupiter%20April%202014-3-2.jpg

 

This little tank is a LOT of fun!

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Wow! It looks really nice :)

What are the bright blue guys?

Thanks, tr.

 

The bright blue coral is Sympodium. They were supposed to be blue-green, but I'm hard pressed to see a bit of green at the edges of some of the individual polyps. With any luck the Sympodium will spread over the Rock and form a bright blue mat.

 

The tank is still cycling, in spite of the fact that I used "old," fully cured LR. When the algae blooms are over I'll add a fish or two - still still not sure if I'll go with clowns or a Yellow Watchman Goby and a small Wrasse.

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  • 1 month later...

Seed Shrimp

 

It's been over a month since I set up my 10g IM Fusion aquarium and transferred most of the contents of a 4g pico to the 10g mixed reef aquarium. Over the past week I've noticed a type of "bug"in my aquarium that I can't recall ever seeing before. They are tiny Ostracodes, a.k.a. seed shrimp. They are about 0.5mm in length. At least several dozens are in the tank now. I expect the population to increase. They will make tasty snacks for my Yellow Clown Goby - who is currently waiting patiently in a quarantine tank.

 

Seed%20shrimp2.jpg

 

Ostracodes are tiny bi-valve crustaceans and move at about the same speed as copepods -- except when frightened or chased, and then they hop quickly like tiny sand flees. In the upper right hand corner of this photo are tentacles from a small Florida Ricordea.

Seed%20shrimp1.jpg

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Update 3/29/15 - one month after transfer from 4 gallon pico.


update3-29-2.jpg

 

Green Star Polyps will eventually cover entire rock.

update3-29-1.jpg

 

Red Stylophora, White Pipe Organ, and Blue Sympodium: very patriotic...

update3-29-5.jpg

 

Neon Green Toadstool - Tyree Sarcophyton

update3-29-8.jpg

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There's always something interesting going on inside my nano reef. Over the past few days I spotted a few of these critters scurrying along the inside of the glass:

 

Unknown.jpeg

 

They're tiny flat worms measuring anywhere from about 0.25mm - 0.5mm in length. I've removed those that I can see and suck up into a pipette, but I know there are many more in my tank than just those I can see.

 

As far as I can tell from a Google search, they do not harm corals directly, as they eat algae; however, they can reproduce to the point at which they can cover coralites and smother them... leading to the eventual death of the coral.

 

I'm expecting my final (yeah... right) delivery of coral frags in two days. So I'll wait to treat the tank with Exit after the new corals get settled in.

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reefernanoman

There's always something interesting going on inside my nano reef. Over the past few days I spotted a few of these critters scurrying along the inside of the glass:

 

Unknown.jpeg

 

They're tiny flat worms measuring anywhere from about 0.25mm - 0.5mm in length. I've removed those that I can see and suck up into a pipette, but I know there are many more in my tank than just those I can see.

 

As far as I can tell from a Google search, they do not harm corals directly, as they eat algae; however, they can reproduce to the point at which they can cover coralites and smother them... leading to the eventual death of the coral.

 

I'm expecting my final (yeah... right) delivery of coral frags in two days. So I'll wait to treat the tank with Exit after the new corals get settled in.

I got those suckers too! They reproduce like crazy and I have heard that they might all die off at once crashing the tank in the process. I blast them with my turkey baster so that my filter floss can trap them and I can get out as many as I can. They are very annoying, since they are all over the place. Nice tank and progress BTW. let me know how that worm out thing works for you.

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Fingers crossed the flatworms don't get out of control, but everything looks so happy and healthy in your latest pics! I'm looking forward to seeing the new frags :)

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Thanks guys. I'll keep you posted on my experience with Exit and how it works to rid the tank of the tiny flat worms. fingerscrossed

 

Shortly after taking the last tank photos I noticed that my Montipora cap. variety started to bleach from the center outwards. (I'll post pictures later.) All water params are fine and stable. I did a lot of reading and found many articles describing the same phenomenon - including the fact that it was only the Montiporas that were effected.

 

While I can't determine the cause for the bleaching, a few articles mentioned that Montis are particularly susceptible to coral warfare. The only potential "threat" in my tank is the Toadstool that is located just an inch away from the Monti. Toadstools (and well as many other leathers) are known to produce toxins, so I'm going to remove the Toadstool, bring it to my lfs, and see what I can trade it in for. I'm also going to discard the small Monti cap and replace it with a Montipora digitata.

 

As I mentioned just a while ago, in this hobby, there is always something happening.

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OK. So this is weird. Here is a photo of the Monti that I thought was bleaching:

 

DSC_2831.jpg

 

That was last week. Now, a few days later, it looks like this:

 

DSC_2847.jpg

DSC_2850.jpg

 

Ignore the slime and white zones along the edges, as I moved the Monti to a new rock and damaged it slightly in the gluing process. But note that the lighter areas in the center of the coral seem to be getting better. I'm keeping the Monti for now and will wait to see what happens. I'm also keeping my Tyree neon green Toadstool. I really like that one and I'm happy that it is not the culprit that cause the Monti to bleach a little.

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Flat Worm Saga

 

I have very few flat worms, but I treated the tank today. First I removed the carbon in my filter. I figure I have about 8 gallons of water in my Fusion 10g, so following Exit's recommendations, I added 7 drops of Exit to the tank. After a few minutes passed, I was able to capture one of the little creatures and placed it in a small glass container. I wanted to see how long it would take for Exit to kill it.

 

One hour later the flat worm was still swimming around, so I added another 3 drops of Exit to the tank. After allowing time for the additional medication to mix with the tank water, I discarded the water in the glass container (keeping the worm inside), and replaced the old water with the new, higher dose water. That seemed to do the trick, although it took another 30 minutes or so for the worm to die. Although, to tell you the truth, that darn critter may just be playing possum.

 

The funeral is tomorrow. Please send all donations to me directly. Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

 

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reefernanoman

Flat Worm Saga

 

I have very few flat worms, but I treated the tank today. First I removed the carbon in my filter. I figure I have about 8 gallons of water in my Fusion 10g, so following Exit's recommendations, I added 7 drops of Exit to the tank. After a few minutes passed, I was able to capture one of the little creatures and placed it in a small glass container. I wanted to see how long it would take for Exit to kill it.

 

One hour later the flat worm was still swimming around, so I added another 3 drops of Exit to the tank. After allowing time for the additional medication to mix with the tank water, I discarded the water in the glass container (keeping the worm inside), and replaced the old water with the new, higher dose water. That seemed to do the trick, although it took another 30 minutes or so for the worm to die. Although, to tell you the truth, that darn critter may just be playing possum.

 

The funeral is tomorrow. Please send all donations to me directly. Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

 

So it took like 10 drops total to do some damage to those damn worms?I need to do this since I got too many to count! Ahhhh.

They are so ugly too!

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Yes, I used a total of 10 drops.

 

But, Good Grief! The little flat worm in my small glass dish is still alive this morning, 18 hours after treatment with Exit. The worm is definitely hurting.... not moving around like flat worms normally do; but it's not dead yet.

 

I see only one flatworm on my tank's glass. That worm isn't moving either. I'll clean the glass in the tank and watch it closely over the next few days. If Exit worked, I shouldn't see any more flat worms on the glass.

 

As advertised, Exit is specific for attacking flat worms. It has had no effect on the copepods in my aquarium, and all corals look fine.

 

 

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reefernanoman

Yes, I used a total of 10 drops.

 

But, Good Grief! The little flat worm in my small glass dish is still alive this morning, 18 hours after treatment with Exit. The worm is definitely hurting.... not moving around like flat worms normally do; but it's not dead yet.

 

I see only one flatworm on my tank's glass. That worm isn't moving either. I'll clean the glass in the tank and watch it closely over the next few days. If Exit worked, I shouldn't see any more flat worms on the glass.

 

As advertised, Exit is specific for attacking flat worms. It has had no effect on the copepods in my aquarium, and all corals look fine.

 

 

Good luck! I'll check back with you later. I'll probably be next with this.

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The worm in my small observation dish is now dead. That's nearly 40 hours following treatment with Exit. The instructions note that it can take a while to kill all the worms but it does not state exactly how long it takes. Anyway, Exit works. No new worms seen inside the tank.

 


That red stylo is AMAZING Ive never seen one like that!

 

​Thanks. The odd thing is that all of my SPS corals are attached to the live rock at approx. the same distance from my light; but some, like the red stylo, look great. Others are brown (thought to be due to not enough light), and still others are slightly bleached (thought to be due to too much light). I'm currently experimenting with my light settings. It will take a few months before I'll know enough to report my results.

 

I had to make a significant change in my aquascape because of mistakes made by two different online stores. I intended to order only 4 corals - 2 from each store. But both stores sent me the wrong corals. In each case they were quick to correct their mistakes, but that left me with 4 more corals than I wanted, and no place to put them. So I had to add more live rock.

 

Here's a one shot iPhone look of my "Aquascape by Mistake." I think it actually looks better than my original scape, especially in person. Once the new live rock purples up I'll take a set of photos that really show how nice the new scape looks. - I also added a Yellow Clown Goby. There are many caves and crevices for him to hide in... and that's what he's doing theses days.

 

DSC_2880-Edit.jpg

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There's a lot going on in this tank, now - looks nice! "There's always room for one more coral!" B)

 

Thanks, tr. But the truth is that I'm a teenyreef wannabe. I'm amazed at what you accomplish with your nanos.

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Well, I saw a very plump, active flatworm in the tank yesterday. :( So the first treatment (4 days ago) to rid the tank of flatworms fell flat. I'll re-treat with Flatworm eXit today.

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reefernanoman

Well, I saw a very plump, active flatworm in the tank yesterday. :( So the first treatment (4 days ago) to rid the tank of flatworms fell flat. I'll re-treat with Flatworm eXit today.

Those little bastards! Carry on. Fingers crossed.

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Well, I saw a very plump, active flatworm in the tank yesterday. :( So the first treatment (4 days ago) to rid the tank of flatworms fell flat. I'll re-treat with Flatworm eXit today.

You have to take the instructions and dose double. they become immune after the first treatment.

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reefernanoman

You have to take the instructions and dose double. they become immune after the first treatment.

Well that's nice

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