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[OPEN] Rick J G


rickjg

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Very nice Rick J G! I love to xenia on the wall. I wanted to try something similar, but I only have the pink pulsing xenia which isn't as nice as the white pom pom variety you have.

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never seen xenia on the side like that. Its awesome. I wanted some but just didnt know where to place it so it would look good. How did you attach it? and train it like ivy on that side of the tank. does it just sprout and spread all over that wall???

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Originally posted by levon15

never seen xenia on the side like that. How did you attach it? and train it like ivy on that side of the tank. does it just sprout and spread all over that wall???

Levon15

It’s very easy to get xenia to attach to almost anything. Just put the xenia next to the edge of the tank or rock where you want the xenia to grow onto (The closer, the better & touching is the best). After that you just sit back & wait for the xenia to grow. If your xenia is happy they grow like weeds. Keep the alkalinity up and they should do fine. If they are not pumping start doing water changes and test your water. Xenias are the canaries of reef tanks, if they are not happy something is out of whack with your water chemistry.

 

 

This picture shows my nc6 when it was setup on 6/5/05 and you can see the xenia frag in the bottom left corner. If you compare the xenia to the picture I posted on 9/11/05 you will get an idea just how fast it grows

DSCN5354.jpg

Rick

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Originally posted by oogie

I CANNOT KEPP XENIAS ALIVE!!!!

oogie

 

I know how you feel, I can't get zoas to live in my tanks.

They just slowly waste away, because I don't feed my corals.

 

Rick

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

nc610-29-05.jpg

UPDATE 10/29/05

 

 

leather10-29-05.jpg

Powder blue Sarcophytum (Toadstool)

 

 

hammer10-29-05.jpg

Red Monti Cap & Neon Green Hammer

 

 

frogspawn310-29-05.jpg

Frogspawn, Clear w/ blue & green tips

 

 

frogspawn210-29-05.jpg

Frogspawn, Green w/ pink tips

 

 

SPS310-29-05.jpg

Turbinaria

 

 

SPS210-29-05.jpg

Thin Branch Staghorn, Brown w/ white tips

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Beautiful spread of corals. I do love Xenia but it grew so much in my big tank that that it became a pest so I removed it all.

 

What types of (and how many) clean up crew do you have in there now? The rocks look so neat and tidy. :)

 

Best regards

 

Ann

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Oh my... that is crazy (the mushrooms) look like the same ones I have, just I have about 1/3 of that...

 

What do you dose (anything?) did you frag them?

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Beautiful spread of corals. I do love Xenia but it grew so much in my big tank that that it became a pest so I removed it all.

What types of (and how many) clean up crew do you have in there now? The rocks look so neat and tidy. :)

Best regards

Ann

I try to keep the xenia limited to the sides & back of the tank so I can remove easily.

It’s really hard to get them off of the rock work with out taking the rock completely out of the tank.

My cleanup crew is down to two blue leg hermit crabs & two astrea snails.

(hermits are down from eight, because the banded coral shrimp likes to snack on hermits)

Oh my... that is crazy (the mushrooms) look like the same ones I have, just I have about 1/3 of that...

What do you dose (anything?) did you frag them?

I don’t dose with anything on this tank, just a gallon or so water change every couple of weeks.

The srooms frag themselves and float around to the right side of the tank, were the water flow is the lowest.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Recap of Nano-Cube 6 info

Setup 6/05 as office display tank

 

Lighting:

2.27, (1) 50/50 ACT/10K, (1) 50/50 blue/10K + 1.18 (1) 50/50 blue/10K = 72 watts

10 hour daylight cycle

 

Coral List:

Thin branch Staghorn, Brown w/ white tip

Red Monti Cap

Yellow rim Turbinaria

Frogspawn, green w/ pink tips (Euphyllia)

Frogspawn, clear w/ blue & green tips (Euphyllia)

Neon green tip Hammer (Euphyllia)

Blue polyp Sarcophytum

White pulsing Xenia

Red Mushrooms

Green star polyps

 

Livestock List:

(1) Skunk Clown

(1) Banded Coral Shrimp

(2) Blue leg hermit crabs

(2) Astrea snails

 

Live rock:

Fuji rock & Tonga rock

 

Back Chamber Setup:

Chamber 1 – 50 watt heater (set @ 80), live rock rubble

Chamber 2 – Chaeto fuge w/ + 48LED fuge Lighting, runs on night cycle

Chamber 3 – (2) Rio 90 pumps, small mesh bag with (1) tablespoon of Seachem PhosGuard & (4) tablespoons of virgin activated carbon (changed weekly)

 

Saltwater:

Natural seawater from Scripps Pier in La Jolla, CA. (sand filtered water supply to Steven Birch Aquarium)

Approx one gallon changed out every week or two.

RO freshwater for evaporation makeup water (one gallon used in 6 month)

No additives used.

Water temps are 80 at night & max out at about 82 during the daylight hours.

Test kits: None used

 

Notes:

I have been very happy with my mods on the NC6. Most of the mods I have made can be replicated by other nano-reefers on their Nano-Cube tanks if they so desire. The mix of hard & soft corals has worked well and provides a lot of diversity.

I have no major problems to report (like broken glass). The only problems have been a couple of small spots of turf algae that popped up on my live rock and were removed with a razor blade, but have been very slow to grow back. The tank also has a small-scale flatworm infestation, but I just siphon them out at water changes (I like to think of it as nutrient export), because I don’t want to dose the tank.

 

I have used B-Ionic in my other tanks, but I decided not to dose this tank. I am purposely running a low calcium setup to slow the growth of coralline algae on the back plastic. I like the look of the black background better than a coralline covered background. I also want to slow the growth of the hard corals in my tank. I know it goes against conventional reef tank maintenance principles to run a low calcium setup, but nano-reefs don’t need the fast growth of large reef tanks. My hard corals are all very healthy and growing, but at a slower rate than they would if I dosed with calcium. The xenia & mushrooms are still growing at very fast rate and are removed as needed to keep them from adversely affecting other corals (this is also another great nutrient export).

 

On a final note, I would like to add my vote for Oogie to win the Open contest. He had the best mods & corals going, but unfortunately he fell prey to the Nano-Cube thin glass syndrome. The prize would help makeup for his losses.

 

Sincerely,

Rick J G

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  • 3 months later...
Obsessed Reefer

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

Man I really like your tank. Got any recent pics of it?

 

:happydance::happydance:

 

So what you gonna do with your prize?

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Thanks for the great responses to my NC6.

 

It’s still up & running and I expect it to be for quite a while.

I made a couple of minor changes, like trading the red shroom rock for a rock with rics & zoos. The red shrooms were spreading everywhere and got completely out of control, just too much of a good thing. I also got rid of the frogspawn on the right side, it went crazy with sweepers from the shrooms growing too close and stung & killed one of the staghorn heads. The remaining staghorns are doing great with good growth. They are very fragile, though and I broke off one of the heads while cleaning the tank a couple of weeks ago and had to epoxy it back onto the rock. The Toadstool was growing to large for the tank, so I chopped it up into four different pieces (talk about an evil smell). I’ve flushed lots of Xenia and still have lots left.

 

Most of the LEDs fried on my fuge light and I have not bothered to replace them. I made a new behind the tank fuge light, but I just don’t have the space for it the way the tank is setup right now, so I’ve removed the remaining Chaeto until I resolve the fuge light situation.

 

I’ve been experimenting with feeding the corals with frozen food the last couple of months, but it seems to causing algae growth on the glass, but that could also be the result of removing the Cheato.

 

Here is a couple of recent pics of my NC6, 4/12/06

 

nc6frontview14-12-06.jpg

Front View

 

NC6sideview24-12-06.jpg

Left Side View (this is the view that most people see first)

 

Rick

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which part of glass does algaes grow on?

Pretty much all of the glass seems to be getting a little algae, but more so on the hard to reach & clean areas like the curved glass and up by the water surface.

Now that I think about it, the bulbs are ten months old (how time flies) and are at replacement age,

that could be causing the problem.

 

How are you powering the 12v LEDs?

Thanks! :)

Eric

I think I’m using a DC 9.5 volt 300mA AC adaptor for the LEDs. I was trying to run them slightly under powered for longer life, but it didn’t work. I emailed Besthongkong.com, the LED supplier, and they assured me that the new LED modules like the one I used have a built-in regulator, but didn’t offer a replacement. I had any early model from when they were first released.

http://www.besthongkong.com/index.php?cPath=9_20

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