DJ Bacon's new and improved 14g biocube with 72 watt nanocustoms upgrade

[Djbacon]

happy to help!! and glad you like the tank.. Feels like im learning something new daily so if I can help, feel free to PM me with questions

 

Cheers

[jayxem]

Nice Brain!

Keep it up man...

 

(finally adding snails today )

Just finished 50% water change.

 

Have you been dipping your coral before you put in?

[Djbacon]

Hey Jay,

 

Nah, haven't needed to, they have both been healthy local specimins.

[Djbacon]

Shipment is due in tonight - includes the following

 

10 Eagle Eyes - (green and orange)

5 Orange Bam bams- (who comes up with these names...seriously)

10 Neon Green Zoas-

A few bonus Cotton Candy Zoas (pink and white) - thanks Walt

Orange Ricordea mushroom

 

I am chompin at the bit to get home and get these guys out of the shipping box. They should arive about a half hour before I do, all the way from Florida. This is my first time ordering anything live online so I am excited to see how it all pans out. I'm half expecting to battle for the lives of this stuff just because it has been in a box for 24 hours but also believe the shipper to be a pro so I have hope all will arrive in good health

 

In other news, I removed what I believe to be an aipstsia anenome last night. Cruddy timing. Discovery of this led me to opening up my rear chamber and inspecting all my live rock back there too. Only one little guy found and dispatched. Everything else is running like clockwork. Shrimp molted a second time in 2 weeks - all CUC, the brain and hammer are doing well. Water parameters are VERY steady Feeding the brain is VERY trippy.

 

Pics tomorrow

[Djbacon]

Here they are folks - fresh out of the box. I am leaving them oin the sand for now until they open up and I can see where they will go later - I'll post more pics ovcer the next few dayts as they open up.

 

[Djbacon]

30 minutes later

 

[c est ma]

Ooooh, you've got some sweet stuff there! Nice ric.

 

Love the brain & hammer as well. Congrats!

 

--Diane

[Djbacon]

So much for time lapse ... I had to move the Zoas out of the freeway of snail traffic on the sand bed. Im going to move the various zoas to different heights relative to light and monitor how quickly the grow...

 

I placed the orange ones at the top of the tank, hoping the additional light will help them multiply quickly...

 

The eagle eyes are down towards the left front...

 

The green neons, are mid level on the right,

 

The cotton candy are mid level, semi shaded,

 

The ricordea is at the very front right of the tank. I notice the flow there might be too heavy for it as it seems to be migrating off it's rock..toward the rear. Everything I have read says decent flow for the Ric, but it looks like it may just get peeled off it's rock.

 

Exciting night last night...I also caught my brain trying to eat one of my nassairus snails that made the mistake of cruising across its mouth !! It appears to be ok after I pulled it out.

 

Ill take a new FULL TANK shot tonight once everything is happy in its new location. Gladly listening for any tips on grwoing these guys quickly as there is ALOT of availbale real estate in this tank at the moment.

 

[c est ma]

1. IME, rics like LOW flow...

 

2. RE growth: be careful what you wish for. IME (again!), you will run out of room far too soon...

 

 

--Diane

[justin81]

looks great!

[Djbacon]

New clown fish arrival - he is already spending most of his time in my hammer coral... !! awesome -

 

also updates with a ricordia - doubled in size since a week ago when I got it

 

 

and my very happy brain coral

 

 

enjoy !!!

[c est ma]

Awww, cute fish! And very nice pics of it, too. That ric is lovely and your brain looks most happy indeed! Great update! Glad to know things are going so well.

 

--Diane

[LOS]

Wow, Rick. Your tank is really coming together nicely. I love how your clown is "nesting" in your hammer. lol. I've heard of that, but hadn't seen it before.

 

I am so psyched that you caught the reef bug. It will be fun to feed our addictions together and our wives can always commiserate together!

 

Los

[Djbacon]

Hey Los !!

 

You tracked me down to Nano-reef !! Yeah, having fun with this - just got a new shipment of stuff from a guy on Ebay - haven't posted yet becuase it arrived at 60 degrees and both bags (zip locks...idiot) had opened and spilled.

 

Not sure these guys are gonna make it. Some very beautiful zoas though, if I can save them....looking forward to getting home tonight to check on them.

[Djbacon]

A new Full Tank Shot - 2 months -

 

 

Some items of interest. I got a new shipment of Zoas in. Came with a bonus frag of some Fire and Ice Zoas....the only ones of the order doing well. Kinda funny, the one doing the best is the one frag in the front of the next picture that I found in the travel bag before throwing it out. I superglued it to a rock and it is the happiest of the bunch. He's visible a the bottom of the photo.

 

 

Also got this cool candy cane, juyst a small frag but the color is amazing, especially under actinics.

 

 

The radioactive dragon eyes and whammin watermelon frags bags both opened up during shipment and arrived with a cold heat pack at 60 degrees. neither are doing well. I will post photos of them when they open up. For now they kinda jacked up. The watermelon have signs of life. The dragon eyes....eh..Im sad but I'll be amazed if they make it. They are looking pretty limp and bony. Would not receommend ordering from Ebay, this shipper (who shall remain nameless in the event he makes reparations) did not do a not very good packing job. Cheap heat pack was cold upon arrival at 22 hours and they used zip lock bags intended for jewelery. Double bagged but not enough air/water nor any live animal stickers to ensure cautious handling.

 

Anyway...Enjoy the pics...

[stratosphere]

I've been tagging along on your thread--lots of great info! I just took the BC 14 plunge myself at the end of February, also in SF. Returning to reef-keeping after a 10-year hiatus, I feel like a total noob again, though a LOT has improved since 1996, when I dismantled/sold my 30g reef when I left for college.

 

I was wondering what LFS you got your live rock from? Mine (along with water, sand and my BC14) came from Ocean Treasures and I also seem to have digitate hydroids all over my rocks. I'd prefer to remove the little suckers rather than start from scratch. Did you just pluck yours off with tweezers? Inject them with something?

 

Hopefully I'll get around to starting a thread for my tank soon, too.

 

Fabulous progress--keep us updated!

[Djbacon]

Didn't want to mention their names cuz they were really cool - let me pick up a new batch, i got some different kinds and was more lucky. (dont mention to them I told ya please, they are my neighbors)

 

btw, they just got the most AMAZING shipment of hyper colored zoas Ive ever seen, thousands of em, enough to fill the whole LPS tank. !!! If i didnt have stuff in the mail coming id have been on a shopping spree today.

 

If you tell em there are hydroids all over the rock they will likely let you pick a new batch. Tell em you read they are dangerous for corals. The remaining ones I did find I just pulled out.

[Djbacon]

Can anybody ID this? Found on my live rock in the rearr chamber 0 in the middle of the feather dusters

 

 

- Critter ID'd - edited 3/13 - Pinneaple sponge - harmless filter feeder

[Djbacon]

I love Walter's stuff.

 

fresh out of the bag - not fully open yet but here are the new goods

 

Neon dragon eyes -

 

new bam bams - dang these are orange

 

 

whammin watermelons

 

 

and a rainbow ricordia -

 

Ill post a new shot once they all open up -

 

enjoy !!!

[Djbacon]

Had a weird thing happen to the watermelons from the previous batch...they seemed to melt away after opening. After much advice from many members - I tried a furan 2 dip on the watermelons...

 

That thread can be seen here - http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry1548760

 

I have left for chicago for the weekend so I will be interested to see how they respond. Fingers crossed. On another note - My pal Ron in NJ (Altis Reef, Farm Raised Frags And More!) sent me a ridiculous package of zoas. Great stuff!!! This was to make up for a small order that arrived cold. Man did he come through on the next batch, not to mention a ton of bonus stuff. Mad props to Ron !!

 

RADIOACTIVE DRAGON EYES

 

 

WHAMMIN WATERMELONS

 

 

some Lemon Lime ones (not positive on the id)

 

 

and also these guys on a stick, they look like eagle eyes but Im not positive.

 

 

Anyway, WHAT a shipment huh? Letting it all settle in while I am away for the next few days then going to have to do some serious arranging of all these guys when I get back Wednesday.

 

Thanks Ron !!

[HoomHow]

Nice work there! Tank is coming along amazingly! :-) Keep up the great work.

 

PS - I want some of your lemon limes ;-) (If thats what they are)

[Djbacon]

Just a quick photo update - nothing terribly exciting going on - water parameters are steady - Did a bunch of pruning and gluing of the various orange zoas I've aquired in the last few weeks. Will be great to see this all fill in over the next few months. Not even sure of the names of all these -

 

These are both of the left side of my little nano - My little Zoa Ledge -

 

 

[stratosphere]

Wow - looking great! Those are some sweet new zoas.

 

How did that Furan dip work out on the other Watermelons? I just got some sweet radioactive dragon eyes from our LFS (thanks for the tip! They do have a bunch of great hyper-colors still) and upon getting them home realized that a large swath of polyps down the middle of the rock are melting/sliming out black gunk. After observing them for a few days, and things only getting worse, I did an iodine dip today and a bunch of the dying/melting polyps came off. Will see how the remaining sick ones fare. The healthy portions of the colony almost all opened back up after an hour or so, running just actinics. Zoas are amazingly beautiful but I'm getting the feeling after doing a bunch of research that they can run into a few more health/pest/predator issues than I realized...

 

I'm still battling the digitate hydroids--I never tried to take the LR back to the LFS, as I didn't really want to cycle again and figured I'd experiment and try to figure out a way to kill the suckers. So far I've tried pulling them out with tweezers but have only seen a population explosion since then. Next will try kalk pasting their holes. Someone mentioned trying Joe's Juice on the larger ones, so I'll try that too. Lot's of folks say they just live with them, so that's an option I guess, until I see tissue damage to future coral inhabitants.

 

Also, where did you get that brain--it is stunning!!

 

Your tank looks great; I'm having fun tagging along. Keep the updates coming.

[Djbacon]

Glad you are enjoying the thread

 

The brain was given to me in bad shape from a friend - has since made an amazing recovery. The trick with the brains is just to leave them alone - their skin in very fragile.

 

Regarding the zoas, The Furan dip did not help. It is intended for disease and pests and what not. I think once the zoas go inside out its over. I have had the "melting outward" issue with 2 colonies now, the one set of watermelons and a small colony of orange bam bams. .

 

Pics would help.

Do you have a link to your tank? How old is it now? Fully cycled?

 

 

I ended up tossing the watermelon frag as a bunch more came as a bonu s frag with a ricordia I ordered.

Other stock that came in the same shipment is doing fine. Im surprised to hear that stuff you bought local had the same issue. I use our LFS's pre mix and have had no trouble with anything I have purchased there. Many folks say you dont really need to acclimate corals but Id say give them a good hour floating to acclimate to temp and then another good hour adding water from your own tank to be safe. The stuff I have had shipped has responded very well when following those simple steps. The ones that melted , in both cases, were less carefully acclimated.

[fillmorelover]

Does anybody here know what to do about the fact that you cannot have a protein skimmer in the biocube 14 while the filter is in... How do you guys work around this?