LadyBryozoa's 6.25g Petco Arc

[LadyBryozoa]

Hello!

 

I'm a marine biologist living it up on the GOM (Gulf of Maine, that is) coast, working at a college with an aquaculture lab so most days I'm messing around in temperate waters. I've got access to filtered real SW and RO/DI (yay microbiology lab!) among other things.

 

Long story short - I had a 5.5g AGA nano reef before for about 4 years, then got out of it after a faulty heater killed everything and I was super depressed. I kept the rock and good equipment because I knew I would start back again at some point and didn't want to start from scratch.

 

My old tank circa 2011

The time has come!

 

A somewhat recent trip to Goodwill (thrift store) turned up a treasure for me: a 6.25g Petco Arc. At the time I had no idea what kind of tank it was as I had never seen one before, even at Petco. All I knew was that it came with what I needed and it looked stunning. The fact that it's an AIO was perfect, as I hate having a HOB (salt creep uuuugh) and heater cluttering up the tank and I don't have space for a sump. I also love that it's glass and won't scratch as easily as acrylic. The past owner was clearly using it as a FW tank and so it came with a load of unneeded gravel and plastic plants. I did a major cleaning and it looked brand new afterwards - sadly I never thought about taking a picture of when it was empty...sorry!

 

Enough with the boring stuff! Now that my tank has been hanging out with its water, rock, and sand (with the addition of Microbacter7 [see below]) doin' its cycling thang for the last few weeks, I'm ready to write about it now that I can add (multicellular) LIFE.

 

EQUIPMENT

 

Tank: 6.25g Petco Arc

Overflow compartment: stock with added acrylic baffles (I made them myself!) where filter cartridges originally slid in

Return pump: 40 gph Aqua one (stock) modified with tubing to sit at the bottom of return chamber instead of stock setting mid-chamber - considering replacing with Hydor pico pump for more gph

Heater: Marineland Visi-therm 50W in return chamber

Lighting: Coralife Mini Aqualight Dual T5 (10,000K & Actinic) and Coralife 1W blue 470nm LED for shimmer & nighttime - at some point in the future I'd like to transfer to all LEDs

Media: filter floss, ceramic rings, activated carbon (adding chaeto soon)

Rock: mixture of dry rock from old tank and live rock

Sand: mixture of dry sand seeded with live sand

Water: filtered real SW and RO/DI for topoffs

Supplements: Microbacter7 to give some UMPH since I didn't start w/ a tank full of LR/LS

 

CORAL

 

Softies: zoas (including radioactive dragon eyes and fire & ice...others? Out of the loop on specialty zoas these days), blue Sympodium

LPS: none yet

SPS: smooth encrusting Monti

 

 

INVERTS

 

CUC: turbo, Trochus, and cerith snails

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Stocking plan: MORE ZOAS (luuuvs them), mushrooms, frogspawn, other LPS (thinkiiing), sexy/anemone shrimp, pom pom crab? (had one in the old tank but hardly ever saw it), perhaps some SPS

 

Current thoughts (April 29, 2016): I have some diatoms and will be watching them closely. Today I caught a partial glimpse of a crab (just a claw) and will try to keep a look out for him so I can know what kind it is!

[Astinus]

HI There! and !!

I am so Jealous! Access to the Real Deal.

Ur Tank looks great!

I too love Zoas! Salt Critters has some awesome Zoas on sale...Link Time Saltcritters is 1 of NR's Sponsors

 

http://saltcritters.com/livestock/?sort=newest&page=3

 

 

Edit: *Following*

[LadyBryozoa]

Thank you!! I have admittedly been a lurker for a while now.

 

Since shipping costs are so great I plan on primarily shopping at my LFS. They have a bunch of sweet zoas (spidermans, mango tangos, pink flamingos, etc, etc.) for really great prices and I've had to stop myself from getting all of them NOW.

[Astinus]

Thank you!! I have admittedly been a lurker for a while now.

 

Since shipping costs are so great I plan on primarily shopping at my LFS. They have a bunch of sweet zoas (spidermans, mango tangos, pink flamingos, etc, etc.) for really great prices and I've had to stop myself from getting all of them NOW.

lol! Hear ya and totally get it.

[PieMan2k]

HOLY CRAP A MARINE BIOLOGIST WORKING WITH AN AQUACULTURE LAB!!! I gave long been interested in Marine Biology and was wondering, how hard was it to find a job ad a marine biologist? I've heard from many people that openings are few and far between. Also what would be good to look for in a school that offers a marine biology degree or something similar.

[LadyBryozoa]

I'm actually an adjunct instructor, but I have full access to the school's lab. I don't personally do any aquaculture, but we do some work growing lobster and trout. Finding a job can be pretty difficult depending on what you want to go into. I study marine invertebrates and invasive species, so there aren't too many jobs there, but I'm doing grant-paid research (may not last much longer) in addition to being an adjunct. It's definitely not a money-maker, but I really enjoy it! It's much easier to find something when you're more open to moving also!

 

If you want to major in Marine Bio, I would say look for a place that is actually close to the ocean. There are places that aren't right next to the water and only offer the classes during the summer. Also find out what the professors in the department research to see if they match your interests (or if you're not sure exactly what you might be interested in, check them out to get an idea of the kind of research being done in the field and what kind of experience you might be able to gain).

 

I'm willing to talk with you more about it if you'd like!

[AUSSIE NANO]

I'm in Australian and also have access to real filtered and treated and tested seawater courtesy of our marine research division.

 

http://pir.sa.gov.au/research/research_specialties/aquatic_sciences

 

Mine is a 5 gallon nano. I do 50% water change per day. I do nothing else. No feeding of Corals ever. I have Sinularia brassica, Sarcophyton species and one Euphyllia glabrescens. Only one piece of love rock at around a pound in weight. Excellent Coralline growth. NO algae on glass or coral sand. Bright white. Lots of shimmer from the LED. Set to 12,000 Kelvin. Also no fish. I never keep fish in a Coral tank as they have a substantial reductive load on the REDOX particularly in 5 gallons of water.

 

All doing excellent. Lighting is AI Prime with sunrise through midday and sunset program. Effectively 0% rising to 70% output for 2 hours then falling again to 0%.

 

I also use a Tunze nanostream 6040 running on either pulse mode or wave mode. I mix it up a bit.

 

Cheers!

[CronicReefer]

I'm actually an adjunct instructor, but I have full access to the school's lab. I don't personally do any aquaculture, but we do some work growing lobster and trout.

What kind of lobsters do you work with? I've had a Debelius Reef Lobster for over a year now and he's my favorite critter by far although I don't see him much, he seems to never leave his burrow as he has gotten older.

[PieMan2k]

I'm actually an adjunct instructor, but I have full access to the school's lab. I don't personally do any aquaculture, but we do some work growing lobster and trout. Finding a job can be pretty difficult depending on what you want to go into. I study marine invertebrates and invasive species, so there aren't too many jobs there, but I'm doing grant-paid research (may not last much longer) in addition to being an adjunct. It's definitely not a money-maker, but I really enjoy it! It's much easier to find something when you're more open to moving also!

 

If you want to major in Marine Bio, I would say look for a place that is actually close to the ocean. There are places that aren't right next to the water and only offer the classes during the summer. Also find out what the professors in the department research to see if they match your interests (or if you're not sure exactly what you might be interested in, check them out to get an idea of the kind of research being done in the field and what kind of experience you might be able to gain).

 

I'm willing to talk with you more about it if you'd like!

I was hoping to get into the coral side of aquaculture. I know in Florida they have lost a vast about of the elkhorn corals which make up a vast majority or the reef. Since they are dying off the reefs are reducing in size and the waves are getting bigger that are hitting the shore. Noa the are crossbreeding different types of Elkhorn together and I believe adding some other hardy corals into the gene pool. So far they have had success but I know stuff like this is happening all over the world, I just don't know how often people can get an opening for one as you mentioned that they are a little harder to find.

I'm in GA so there really aren't any "good"schools on the water but I want to stay in state for at least my core classes then possibly transfer to a school that has a very well rounded marine biology class. I mean all options are available but I didn't know if you knew of any schools that were "known" in the marine biologist community.

[markalot]

Ooo, a Marine Biologist thread.

 

Looking forward to seeing your tank progress, good luck!

[GioReef]

Nice little tank! One word of caution, be wary of your other motile invertebrates if you decide to get a pom pom crab. Some people, including me, have had those little guys turn against smaller/weaker inhabitants. Good luck!

[LadyBryozoa]

I was hoping to get into the coral side of aquaculture. I know in Florida they have lost a vast about of the elkhorn corals which make up a vast majority or the reef. Since they are dying off the reefs are reducing in size and the waves are getting bigger that are hitting the shore. Noa the are crossbreeding different types of Elkhorn together and I believe adding some other hardy corals into the gene pool. So far they have had success but I know stuff like this is happening all over the world, I just don't know how often people can get an opening for one as you mentioned that they are a little harder to find.

I'm in GA so there really aren't any "good"schools on the water but I want to stay in state for at least my core classes then possibly transfer to a school that has a very well rounded marine biology class. I mean all options are available but I didn't know if you knew of any schools that were "known" in the marine biologist community.

 

Nice! Actually the guy at my LFS graduated from the marine science program at the University of New England (UNE) doing just that - coral aquaculture. He's the guy that does all of the shop's fragging and aims to sell specialty zoas much cheaper than you can get online. I personally went to Texas A&M Galveston that is right on the water (downside - hurricanes) and they have a great marine biology program. It's a small school (around 1500 students when I was there) but I liked that. The University of California system schools are great, but expensive. There are also programs at University of Massachusetts Boston (they have a marine science center in Nahant) and University of North Carolina. I hear UWash is good, University of Rhode Island is also nice. University of Texas has a good program, but requires you to take the marine bio classes in the summer.

 

My suggestion is still to look for the professors that share your interest and not so much the "known" schools. These schools I've listed all have programs but may not have anyone working on coral aquaculture. Of course you want to go to a good school, but the connections you make are going to mean waaaay more than the school's reputation. Not to mention, large schools like UC Davis, etc have so many students it can be difficult to work one-on-one with faculty.

[LadyBryozoa]

What kind of lobsters do you work with? I've had a Debelius Reef Lobster for over a year now and he's my favorite critter by far although I don't see him much, he seems to never leave his burrow as he has gotten older.

 

At school one faculty member works with the delicious American lobster (Homarus americanus) which is what you get if you buy "Maine" lobster. He studies lobster shell disease. What's cool is that lobstermen will bring us weird lobsters they catch! Right now we have a mutant with a THREE pronged claw. We have not banded him for obvious reasons...

 

[LadyBryozoa]

I'm in Australian and also have access to real filtered and treated and tested seawater courtesy of our marine research division.

 

http://pir.sa.gov.au/research/research_specialties/aquatic_sciences

 

Mine is a 5 gallon nano. I do 50% water change per day. I do nothing else. No feeding of Corals ever. I have Sinularia brassica, Sarcophyton species and one Euphyllia glabrescens. Only one piece of love rock at around a pound in weight. Excellent Coralline growth. NO algae on glass or coral sand. Bright white. Lots of shimmer from the LED. Set to 12,000 Kelvin. Also no fish. I never keep fish in a Coral tank as they have a substantial reductive load on the REDOX particularly in 5 gallons of water.

 

All doing excellent. Lighting is AI Prime with sunrise through midday and sunset program. Effectively 0% rising to 70% output for 2 hours then falling again to 0%.

 

I also use a Tunze nanostream 6040 running on either pulse mode or wave mode. I mix it up a bit.

 

Cheers!

 

That's awesome! We have filtered and unfiltered SW. I started the tank with the filtered stuff, but would likely need to use the unfiltered/raw SW to feed my tank. On the upside, since our natural SW is cold, the majority of stuff wouldn't live too long if it didn't get eaten. I always used raw SW from the Gulf of Maine in my last tank and never had any issues!

 

 

Ooo, a Marine Biologist thread.

 

Looking forward to seeing your tank progress, good luck!

 

Yeah, perhaps I should change the thread title to add in "Marine Biologist AMA"! Thanks!

 

 

Nice little tank! One word of caution, be wary of your other motile invertebrates if you decide to get a pom pom crab. Some people, including me, have had those little guys turn against smaller/weaker inhabitants. Good luck!

 

Thanks! I've heard that and will be taking it into consideration even though I never had (or noticed) any issues in my last tank. She did like to hoard food all to herself though.

[Astinus]

 

At school one faculty member works with the delicious American lobster (Homarus americanus) which is what you get if you buy "Maine" lobster. He studies lobster shell disease. What's cool is that lobstermen will bring us weird lobsters they catch! Right now we have a mutant with a THREE pronged claw. We have not banded him for obvious reasons...

 

Neat looking Lobster! Question, When it "Molts", do u think the claw will grow back as a Normal claw?

[LadyBryozoa]

Neat looking Lobster! Question, When it "Molts", do u think the claw will grow back as a Normal claw?

 

Good question! The claw will stay as is through molts, just bigger. However, it would be interesting to remove the mutant claw and see if it would grow back the same or as a normal claw...

[Pinner Reef]

Definitely a tank to watch here. And that lobster is friggin cool.

[Astinus]

 

Good question! The claw will stay as is through molts, just bigger. However, it would be interesting to remove the mutant claw and see if it would grow back the same or as a normal claw...

Awesome I Really feel privileged to have a Marine Biologist here...and to answer questions for us

I Used to keep Land Hermit Crabs. And every now and then they would have a Bad Molt...they would re-molt and come back to "Normal" after a couple Molts.

[Elizabeth94]

Really neat lobster!

 

My university has a really nice marine bio curriculum as well. We have the only shellfish factory in RI, so thats pretty neat. I don't know much more about it, since I am a criminal justice major, but if it weren't for all the chemistry courses I would have had to take, I certainly would have been in marine bio.