nlm2889 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Good evening all! I'm going to try to keep up with this, and although I've said that before, I'm older and more mature! Ha. Anyway, onto fish! I've had this 'tank' for three and a half years in one iteration or another. It initially started as a 'softies only' EcoPico 5 gallon because I had a larger Nanocube. Soon enough, I moved and decided to sell of my Nanocube keeping only my 'favorite' corals (read: all of them) and somehow made most of them fit into the tiny EcoPico. iPhone Pictures 017 by Nick Miller, on Flickr This eventually evolved into a standard 5.5 gallon tank, along with an LED fixture that I build using MakersLED. iPhone Pictures 126 by Nick Miller, on Flickr' Which eventually led to a Mr. Aqua 12" cube iPhone Pictures 118 by Nick Miller, on Flickr FINALLY, in it's 4th iteration, I've set up a IM Fusion 10! IMG_5262 by Nick Miller, on Flickr This is a current FTS, and a clear example that this little tank needs some TLC and maybe a makeover. The current equipment list is: IM Fusion 10 IKEA Hemnes 2 drawer chest AI Prime (absolutely awesome!) IM Ghost skimmer IM reactor (Phosguard and MatrixCarbon) JBJ ATO MP10 Tiny heater, Tetra? Brightwell Aquatics Neomarine salt mix Also, I currently have a fussy Eheim canister filter hooked up because I'm seeding some base rock. < > I've purchased some base rock, and I think this is the direction I'm leaning towards: IMG_5231 by Nick Miller, on Flickr Also, this neat algae-covered rock I found at PetCo for $5 that has well over a hundred micro-brittle stars! IMG_5210 by Nick Miller, on Flickr I currently have a royal gramma, Melvin, who is extremely territorial. For well over 4 years I had an Occelaris, Maverick, that thought he was born to fly. RIP Maverick tl:dr; AQUARIUM Anyone have advice on getting rid of this ugly hunk of rock in the middle, salvaging the encrusted Montipora and converting this to a new design?? IMG_5260 by Nick Miller, on Flickr Glad to be out of the shadows! Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted July 26, 2015 Author Share Posted July 26, 2015 For some reason Melvin, my Royal Gramma, seems to be having issues. His dorsal fin appears to be a little ragged on the end, and it looks like he's missing some scales. Yesterday he was laying in odd areas of the rock work and appeared to be breathing heavily. Laying in the rock work isn't anything new, but these spots were out in the open more than usual. The only thing I can think happened is that he got caught by my maxi-mini and had to fight to get free. The anemone is about 4" in diameter, while he's about 2.5", maybe a little smaller. I'll see if I can nab some pictures later. Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 I couldn't get a good shot of the fish, but here's a picture of the anemone. I've had it for three years now, and it has colored up nicely. I saw it and another anemone at my local PetCo on sale, haggled with the manager and snagged each for $12.50. They were browned out and tiny, so I'm glad I bought them. Untitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr This is difficult to see, but the base of the oral disc is a pretty magenta color. Currently I'm in the process of rearranging/preparing corals. My father has decided that he'd like to give reefing a shot, so I'm going to take advantage of the situation and try to slim down the number of critters I have currently. Also, Melvin seems to be doing fine now. He showed signs of Ich, but has since gone back to his old ways and seems to be behaving normally. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Hi Nick, congrats on starting your thread! I'm glad to hear Melvin is doing OK, now. If you don't like the look of the big rock, don't be afraid to take it all apart. Detatch anything that can be broken or chipped off, take that sucker out, grab a cold chisel and hammer, and have at it. You can just chip or break off the part that is encrusted, or even break that apart and you'll have even more montipora in a few months The color on that maxi-mini looks awesome Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Melvin in poor shape by Nick Miller, on Flickr[/post] Here's a bad picture, but his sides are a little rough... I've given some softies to my dad, he has started his own tank. I set it up for him and let it cycle, then tried help him set it up via video chat. It was pretty funny Hi Nick, congrats on starting your thread! I'm glad to hear Melvin is doing OK, now. If you don't like the look of the big rock, don't be afraid to take it all apart. Detatch anything that can be broken or chipped off, take that sucker out, grab a cold chisel and hammer, and have at it. You can just chip or break off the part that is encrusted, or even break that apart and you'll have even more montipora in a few months The color on that maxi-mini looks awesome Thanks Teeny! I'll be shopping for a chisel soon and prepping the base rock to be designed. Link to comment
Steensj2004 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 My Talbots Damsel looked the same, I added garlic to the food for a few weeks, cleared up in about a month. I used garlic non-stop now. Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 My Talbots Damsel looked the same, I added garlic to the food for a few weeks, cleared up in about a month. I used garlic non-stop now. I'm glad you said this because I remembered I had a bottle of garlic extract! Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 I finally bought a refractometer, but it didn't come with any calibration fluid so I used distilled water. Previously, I was using a hydrometer. I use Brightwell's NeoMarine salt, and previously, when I would mix 2.5 cups of salt with distilled water it would always be higher than it should be, so I normally only use 2 cups to get 1.026. Today I mixed water like normal, and, using the refractometer, got a reading of 1.024, or about 33ppt. I added a half cup of salt, once it's dissolved I'll see how it looks... Definitely wish I would've purchased this sooner! You know, I've done TONS of reading about reefing. I have tons of books, magazines, online articles, and have spent hours reading. I feel like I have PLENTY of explicit knowledge, but I'm frequently reminded of how poorly pictures and paper translates to tacit ability... That's half the fun though, right? Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 I measured the saltwater after adding that additional half cup. 45ppt. HA! That made for an interesting day; trying to bring it back down to 1.027 was a chore... I broke down and bought an Innovative Marine Nuvo Pico 4 off of eBay, and it'll arrive Thursday, although I won't set it up for probably a month. I'll be using it to save some of my corals while I reinvent my Fusion 10. I should've been pickier the first time around, but I think it's time to put some effort into designing the tank. I've got base rock puttied into a few different designs, but I'm unsure if I want a pillar on one side and low rocks on the other or if I want to have a tall solid rock wall. I'm leaning more towards the pillar, to take advantage of the negative space it provides, but negative space isn't as cool if you don't have a fish that swims around..... ....which brings me to my next decision. Melvin, my royal gramma, is a neat little fish, however he (as if I've sexed it...) spends all of his time in his hole staring at me like I'm a moron. There is a small cherub angelfish at my LFS that appears to be active and in great health, so I'm really considering finding a new home for Melvin. Sometimes I think I'm too emotionally invested in this... Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 FTS after removing some corals/cleaning things up a bit. I apologize for it being so dark.. Here's the right side view... ...and here's the left side! Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 I should also mention that I snagged an IM 8W Skkye light to go over my pico. Price? $10 Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 Well, I've started the sloooooow re-imagining process by setting up a IM Pico 4. How does that make sense you ask? Because it gives me practice aquascaping!! More importantly, I haven't quite had a chance to get cracking on the single chunk of rock I currently have in the Fusion 10. I just got back from a week in Michigan visiting my girlfriend :wub: She's awfully special...but that's not what this thread is about! Well, not yet I'll nab some pictures here in a bit... Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 The 8W light I was using ended up having a bad capacitor for the moonlights, which caused it to overheat and melt a portion of the fixture..... but I was able to take parts from the 4W fixture to fix it! Here's a pic of the Pico 4 Untitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr This is also allowing me to clean up the sandbed in my Fusion 10 and make it less cluttered! I also picked up a small 1" blue Turbinaria frag from a fellow reefer last weekend; I'm hoping the polyps will grow to be as large as those I've seen on green/yellow varieties, but I don't think that'll happen Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 Looks great! Stinks about the melted fixture, but awesome that you were able to fix it Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 Well, I had initially intended to remove a couple of corals from the large rock....but, as I started chiseling the entire rock broke apart. Thankfully, I had time to go ahead and remove as much as I planned on keeping! It looks like my new aquascape is developing sooner than I had planned! Untitled by Nick Miller, on Flickr Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Wow, lots going on here! I just got caught up...I've found that in these small tanks, the best way to scape is to break up big rocks into little rocks, then glue the little rocks up into big rocks again But it really helps to try to build up your rock piles as much as you can just using gravity first. It looks more natural that way, and you can use a lot less glue. Also, try piling up the rocks under the water, or with the tank half full. They balance and pile differently underwater because they're lighter. Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 After 3 weeks of being busy with finance classes, work and family, I finally made time to cement the rocks I've picked out and rearrange the tank. I'm not very happy with the way it turned out, but as all tanks are, it's an evolving design Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 After 3 weeks of being busy with finance classes, work and family, I finally made time to cement the rocks I've picked out and rearrange the tank. I'm not very happy with the way it turned out, but as all tanks are, it's an evolving design I like it. FTS? Link to comment
teenyreef Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 Pictures! And remember you can always change it later. After all, that's the best thing about this hobby. You are the absolute ruler of your little watery kingdom and you can change anything you want anytime you like Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 There are only two LFS here in town, one of which recently suffered some severe smoke damage and the other is my oh-so-favorite (...) PetCo. PetCo is redoing their reefing section, so coral were 70% off and fish were 40% off! I snagged a zoa rock (we'll see what happens...) with 60+ polyps for $9 and a false A. percula for $12! He's smaller than Melvin, the royal gramma, and they seem to be getting along. There isn't any posturing or aggressiveness by either fish so far, even during feeding time! On another note, teenyreef gave some great advice regarding phosphate removal. I noticed a while back that my SPS were colorless and bland, but attributed it to poor husbandry skills. A few weeks ago I noticed some coloration coming back in them, especially my purple Poccilopora, my green Stylophora and my birdsnest. I also noticed that my reactor was unplugged, meaning carbon and Phosguard hadn't been running! Coincidence? Nope. As teenyreef predicted, I had overdosed Phosguard and was starving my corals of nutrients. For now I'm just going to run carbon, although the tank looks terrible and I'm starting to have minor algae issues. I suppose that's what happens when I don't give it proper attention for almost a month! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Wow, that's awesome! The pictures look great - have you named the clown yet? He's super cute Link to comment
nlm2889 Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 I was feeding the tank tonight and looking at all of the algae that has recently grown when I noticed some odd things on the zoa rock I had purchased from PetCo. I saw these 3 light colored tube things that were moving oddly. I thought maybe they were a tunicate or sponge that had grown, but thought it strange that they were moving so much. I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with what I was seeing, when all three moved at the same time! THEN IT HIT ME! I RECOGNIZED THESE MOVEMENTS! I recognized them as crab legs!!! I did some poking around and there's a little crab hitchhiker! Probably no more than 1"-1.5" in total diameter. He's so covered in detritus that I can't really tell what kind of crab, but I can only assume that it's a juvenile emerald crab. I'll have to pay close attention to it to see if I can identify it, or even snag a picture! That rock has been in there for only a week, so I haven't gotten to see too much of it.. It makes me wish I would've acclimated it a little better....all I did was temp acclimate I've had a couple of emerald crabs in the past, but I haven't had much success with them. I think the longest I've had one was around 6 months. Hopefully I haven't hurt this wee crabby too much so far.. These are reasons why I love this hobby! These kinds of surprises are (usually) wonderful and keep the excitement. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I love bonus hitchhikers Hopefully you can get a picture of him soon! Link to comment
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