My own piece of reef!

[CollegeNano]

Looking good. A lot of nice colors growing in there.

[got2envy]

that dendro is awesome! I tried a small pink carnation..it was beautiful...lasted 5 months then started to decline I use NSW and I was dosing phyto everyday which had my skimmer on OT

 

how's that vortech working? may have to look into one of those

 

I love the tank!

[nematoad]

I love the dendro, probably my favourite coral in the tank right now. It's expanded a lot more now after being fed a few times. Looks awesome, and I'm glad I shelled out for it

 

The MP-20 is great. I had it set to the wrong pin spacing for the first 24h, but after I fixed that, it quieted down real good. Everything seems to respond really well to the random reef crest mode. I even catch polyp extension on the Monti, and the LPS are all real extended and waving around like crazy! Great piece of equipment, well worth the money, considering that a MJ powerhead takes up way more space, and adds heat, so it's great in such a small tank where space is limited. That and if you had two powerheads and a wavemaker, it would run you a bit less, but for a bit more, you can have it all in this one little unit.

[nematoad]

Last night before going to bed, I looked in the tank to see the new peppermint shrimp on top of the rock, not underneath. And then it grabbed a large copepod and ate it!! Oi, eat the aiptasia, and leave the little pods alone you little bugger.

 

Looking at the rock work in the tank, I'm beginning to think I may reduce the amount on the right side of the tank, namely the rock holding up the 'shelf' I have up near the MP-20. I was thinking of halving it, so that it still holds up the shelf, but it provides more space in front to allow for swimming fish to have more space in the middle 1/3 of the tank, as I have read repeatedly that clowns are top/middle swimmers. I would want to provide them with a bit more swimming space once I get them. I would try to keep it looking pretty much the same, except that the rock would be thinner (less depth) there. Any thoughts?

 

Area in green would be much more open, which is currently open in the middle of the tank only(red area is area to be pushed back)):

 

From the side (red indicates proposed size/shape of rock):

[andre]

i agree you should try to make a little more swimming space. the tank itself is already thin in width limiting the swimming area. that aquascape is pretty cool though, especially once it fills with corals.

[nematoad]

Well, got home today and discovered my MP-20 is totally on the fritz.

 

This is part of the email I sent the tech manager, after having been in contact after the last incident with it on Wednesday:

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

I got home tonight after a night away to find that the MP-20 has been on feed mode for some time. My corals and aquarium inhabitants are clearly unhappy. I tried to unplug the power supply and plug it back in. It resumes operation as per normal, but IMMEDIATELY goes into feed mode (blinking white light, hardly any flow). I cannot switch it to any other mode.

 

After disassembly of the wet side, and re attaching it, the pump unit appeared to resume normal operation, but quickly went back to feed mode. Now, the pump just turned to green and full flow, but could not be switched out to any other mode, nor did the flow adjustment knob work. Now the pump is showing yellow/white error, but still pumping at constant low speed. It has just stopped completely, then gone back to blinking white. This is absurd.

 

The impeller has a clear wobble to it. Upon taking it out of the water again, even when tightened, there is a wobble to the unit. I do not know if it a problem with the motor (dry) or the wet side, or the pump controller unit itself.

Attached are pictures of the wet side showing some wear on the components, yet I received this pump and put it in my tank less than 2 weeks ago:

 

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC_0234.jpg

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/l...t=DSC_0235.jpg

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/l...component1.jpg

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/l...component2.jpg

 

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

Basically, this thing is F%#^ed.

 

I was quite happy with the unit while it was working, and still would get another one if they are going to replace the whole unit, as there are just so many problems with this one. I took the cover off of the unit and turned it on, an ther is quite a bit of wobble even in the dry side motor. I am certainly not pleased, as the corals were looking deflated and unhappy. I have replaced the MP-20 with an AC30 powerhead, and turned the refugium up to full flow.

 

The monti's polyps are open, so I figure everything is ok.

 

The new peppermint shrimp is crazy. It just reached into a hole in the rock, pulled hard, and came up with a bristleworm's head. Hopefully it survives. Man, I hope the damn thing eats some aiptasia too. It's looking like a good candidate for aiptasia eating crew.

 

On a positive note (I think), the mag float was covered in poo. Now, I doubt the shrimp pooed on it, nor a snail. Hoping it's the goby Never thought I'd be happy to see fish poo.

 

So I've talked to the people at reefgeek, the exclusive retailer of the Aquaillumination lighting units, and to ship on here (I'm in Canada) comes to $8-something. But the good thing is that to upgrade to a24" fixture (you know, just in case....) costs only $660 for another light fixture and longer rails. One power supply can do 2 units, and a single controller is all that is necessary. Order to be placed soon (B day present to myself maybe?? )

 

I will work on the rock tomorrow. See if I can make something of that rock with a hammer and chisel....

 

Anyways, everything is opening up again, except a few heads of the dendrophyllia. The chili coral looks deflated, but it usually does till about 8 pm. Will check parameters later tonight after training. Sigh......freaking MP-20.

[nematoad]

Update: New coral added

 

First off, some stuff about NOT having the MP-20. It sucks. I think the Duncan is liking it more as it hs less flow over it and it's showing great extension and is really plump, I think everything else is not too happy. Particularly the dendrophyllia, which never likes to be completely open (well, it is now that I am typing that it doesn't like to be open). Definitely a great product, it just sucks that I got a bad one.

 

I'm a little worried about the chili coral as I haven't seen it plumped up yet, but that might be because of the stronger light (I changed from a 36W PC fixture to a 130W PC fixture, but it's to big for the tank...). It's getting there (I can see it's starting to get it's polyps extended), but not quite in it's full glory like I like it to be.

 

Anyways, on with the show. I had to return something to the LFS today, so I was going to pick up a coral that I've had my eye on there for a while too: the white tubipora musica (white pipe organ coral). Really nice, big colony, nice white polyps, very nice, and would be a nice stark contrast to the colours of everything.

 

Anyways, I saw the pink pocillopora damicornis, which I had been reading about as my next SPS coral (medium to high light, but adaptable). I couldn't take my eyes off the pink pocillopora, and then I noticed two little acro crabs in there. Done deal!!

 

I took it home, and while the coral was acclimating, I took the crabs out and grabbed a quick pic:

 

 

I figured out (from my days working at a fish store...not the LFS fish store...) that I had a male and female acro crab (female on left, male on right). You can tell from the coloured area on the underside. The female has a round larger area (for carrying eggs), while the male is smaller and narrower (no egg carrying).

 

The IDs put forward are Trapezia aerolata Dana, and Trapezia septata Dana. Look like either one, but exact classification probably won't ever be known.

 

I had been debating just putting the whole thing (plug and all) into the tank. Anyways, while acclimating, something was noticed moving in the water. I sucked it out with a pipette, and immediately I recognized it to be a spider. I looked over the coral, but there was no sign of them. I decided to detach to coral from the plug, at least so it would be easier to see the coral.

I saw none on the coral after multiple pass overs. So then I put it in separate water in anther container and continued the acclimation. I looked over the pug and found 3 more spiders:

 

I debated what to do, and even went over the coral twice more with a magnifying lens to see if I could see any more. I really don't want zoa eating spiders, so I was at a loss as to what to do. I just kept the coral in a cup in the refugium to keep it at the right temp.

 

I finally decided after another check to just put the coral into the tank. I am going to assume I got all the spiders (after at least 10 - 15 pass overs of the coral). Otherwise, I think if there are any spiders, the peppermint shrimp would eat them for sure. Those shrimp are eating everything: copepods, aiptasia, feather dusters...pretty much anything they can eat.

 

So now the pocillopora is in the tank on the top with the crabs happily hosting away:

You can kind of see the claw of the male in this pic.

 

Oh yes, my spotted clown goby lives!! I saw him twice today during daylight hours, which is more than I have ever seen him since I got him 2 weeks ago. Seems to be alive and well, a bit sunken belly, but I saw him go after a pod a bit after the pics were taken:

 

 

 

Two spot goby is hilarious. I love how he eats the dirt and just chucks it out. And he hovers too. Very nonchalantly; he is one cool character.

And the fin damage is starting to heal (probably even before I got him), which is good. And since he's eating, it should be no time till it's back and pimping.

 

 

I see this in the corner of my tank, and hear snapping sounds. Maybe I have a pistol shrimp here?

 

Or maybe it's just the goby digging himself a home.

 

Anyways, here's how the tank looks with the new 24" 130W PC fixture (old one was 12" and 36W). The bulbs are 21", so bigger than the aquarium. I definitely have a lot of light.

 

 

And now the normal FTS:

[StanD]

Nice to see another member with a 10g tall

 

Those 2 acro crabs are awesome!

 

 

Stan

[Nick's Reef]

Gourgeous tank!

[MrGone]

Wow great looking tank!

[nematoad]

Wow, another 10g tall!! Nice, it looks so full.

 

I'm already considering upgrading to a 16" cube or a 20" cube. Why? No space. I can barely reach in to get things or feed the corals without bumping or knocking something over. Plus, I think once once things start to grow in, I'll have pretty much zero room in here. So emails have been sent for quotes on tanks.

 

I'm looking into the current USA Nova extreme pro 20" fixture, 6x T5HO. Looks good, and isn't MH. So far looks like some people like it, but since I want to go SPS, I'll wait a few just to see how theirs fare, and then get one if it looks good. Being from Canada, and our currency sucking of late, really put a damper on my plans to order the Aquaillumination unit, which sucks. So in the mean time, I might get the current fixture, then once I get the AI, use it on a second prop tank or a really nice fuge tank We'll see.

 

The only problem with the Nova extreme is that not only is it 4" longer than the tank, it is also 4" deeper (the dimensions are 20" x 12" x 4.75", and my tank is 16" x 8"). Hence the 16" cube would be a nice size too.

Also in the works are a possible SOB refugium (Stand out back ). I local guy is building a few things out of acrylic so I'll see if I can get him to make me one measuring something like 20" tall and 12" wide and 4" deep (4 gallons). Hopefully it works out.

[Khayman]

My LFS has Dendrophillia coral but he wants $150.00 per peice he has 2. I see you have it. Is this a good price? Please message me to let me know.

[nematoad]

My LFS has Dendrophillia coral but he wants $150.00 per peice he has 2. I see you have it. Is this a good price? Please message me to let me know.

 

I guess it depends on how much you want it, and how much you'd be willing to pay

 

I saw dendrophyllia online, and I really liked it, and it was non-photosynthetic. Had to have it. When I went to my lfs, I saw them for $125 (Canadian). I picked one (they had 30 - 40 at least) with 15 or so heads, and a nice arrangement. I figured it was a good price to pay since I'd seen it online at the cheapest for $50/head, plus if I fragged a few heads at $20 each, I could make a good part of it back.

 

So it looks like the SOB refugium is a go. Just wondering, how deep does a DSB have to be to be effective? Will be posting in the bio filtration forum for this one.

[StanD]

Being from Canada, and our currency sucking of late, really put a damper on my plans to order the Aquaillumination unit, which sucks.

Let me know which one you're looking for and I can get you a Group Buy rate thru ReefGeek. Greg is great and SCNRS did a GB thru him earlier this year. I coordinated the effort and Greg had awesome customer service.

 

Also, the 2 current GBs I'm conducting end on 10/15, so if you need a Tunze skimmer or a Vortech pump, drop me a PM.

 

Thanks,

Stan

 

p.s. I still have the 10g tall in my office, but I upgraded to a 20g, then a 55g, and a 33g plus a frag tank......it NEVER ends .... lol.

[nematoad]

Let me know which one you're looking for and I can get you a Group Buy rate thru ReefGeek. Greg is great and SCNRS did a GB thru him earlier this year. I coordinated the effort and Greg had awesome customer service.

 

Also, the 2 current GBs I'm conducting end on 10/15, so if you need a Tunze skimmer or a Vortech pump, drop me a PM.

 

Thanks,

Stan

 

p.s. I still have the 10g tall in my office, but I upgraded to a 20g, then a 55g, and a 33g plus a frag tank......it NEVER ends .... lol.

 

Wow, that would be awesome! I got the MP-20 from you (I had to send it back to due manufacturing problems...), and I definitely got a great deal. Great guy to deal with, in case anyone is thinking of getting in on any of the GB items through him!

[nematoad]

Well folks, big update. Good news and bad news.

 

First the good: I installed aquaclear surface skimmer I picked up a day or two ago. Needed some adjustment of the AC intake (had to cut it down an inch or so), but it's in and working great. The surface has never looked so good. My only concern is that the tubing is an accordion style tubing, and those styles are notorius for trapping detritus. I guess I'll go in there with a tubing brush once in a while. But it's working great, so it's definitely a good $11.29 spent. Well great, considering that an acrylic one (2" x 6" x 6") I was quoted at $10, and this one is way smaller an does just a good of a job. Anyone with an AC mod refugium, I'd recommend this if you don't already have surface skimming.

 

Also, I put my light over the tank, and then realized I don't need a lid. the whole light is bigger than the tank, so it is the lid. Looks better, since the handle no longer props the light up on one side.

 

I also noticed the other day that I have little bits of coralline algae growing on my powerhead already. It's been in there like two weeks, which is very encouraging, as it's definitely growing elsewhere in the tank then, filling out the LR some more. I've noticed that my LR from Quang is having more and more dark red coralline taking over from the purple. That would be awesome to have all red rock. Now I just wish the bright orange corraline would spread from the duncan coral base to the other LR.

 

Did you guys hear about the DOw Jones gaining almost 1000pts in one session? Hopefully the Canadian markets perk up and the dollargoes up against the US dollar....so I can order my AI unit cheaper!!!!

 

Now the bad.

 

After installing the surface skimmer and moving stuff around and sitting back to check out the tank, I notice a little white frilly nudibranch jetting around the tank glass just behind my Montipora capicornis. I quickly take it out with tweezers (not knowing if it's good or bad: I've decided to yank first, ask questions later. Better to be safe than sorry with anything in the tank. If I kill it, and it's a good hitch hiker, then the next time I'll know to leave it be. If it's bad, great, I killed it, and I'll know to watch out for it later.) Anyways, I notice that it looks exactly like the white things at the base of my monti. I noticed them (a little cluster of them) a few days ago, and today there were weird little pod things next to the clusters. I thought nothing of it, thinking it was some kind of coralline or something or rather. I put two and two together right then and there: Montipora eating nudibranchs.

 

I look them up and surely enough, they are monti eating nudis.

 

I take out the monti (my only one), and then pick a few off, then remember that I bought some Tropic Marin Pro-Coral Cure a few days earlier!! Sweet!!!! I prepare 800 ml of the dip (1 squirt to 200 ml) in a 1 L yogurt container (same shape as the monti!) and dip the monti in there. I had already picked a few off, and the few that I missed, I could see at the bottom of the container (after vigorously shaking the monti in there).

 

Here are a few pics of them:

 

 

 

 

 

Now to deal with the eggs, I broke off some of the base of the Monti to get full access, and scrubbed the hell out of the base where the egg sacks were. Then I did a few minutes more dip in the solution just to kill off anything else.

 

You can see the eggs here. They are in clusters, and are tiny and white. You can clearly see that part of the monti is white and part is brown (green under actinics). I looked over the coral, and there's no visible damage to the front of the coral, but there is a small section that appears to have been eaten away on the back. Yikes. Hopefully they haven't been in here long (last piece was added 10/02, so that gives a minimum of 10 days they were in there, possibly longer)

 

Anyways, after the picking off, TMPCC dip for 15 minutes, the scrub with tooth brush and the re-dip, the Monti is fine (sliming away, and a bit of polyp extension now). As soon as I put it in, the peppermint shrimp came over and picked a few things off the cap, so I'm assuming it got a few tasty treats.

 

After reading up on montipora eating nudibranch control, there were several wrasse options (which I won't go, as I can't willy nilly add fish to my tiny system), one post mentioned peppermint shrimp possibly eating them. If any peppermint shrimp is going to eat them, mine surely does as it eats everything.

 

I also read that they have a preference for monti caps over all other types, which is good to hear. I'm supposed to go check out a blue monti tomorrow, but now we'll definitely QT or at the very least dip dip dip!!! Not sure if it's an cap, encrusting or branching....if it;s the latter, I'm interested, but if it's the two former, then you won't be seeing it in my tank, and if it is the branching, there's a chance of it making it in.

 

Anyways, now I'm on monti eating nudi alert. Lesson learned: use TMPCC to pre-treat corals, and know the enemies you have to watch out for. So far, as I add more SPS, I know I have to watch out for flatworms and red bugs.

 

All these pests, and my good luck. Oh well, better now than when the system is established and everything's encrusted. Speaking of which, hopefully the monti has better growth now. It grows outward (I've had it for almost a month and it's grown about 7.5 mm since then). Hopefully it'll start to grow back down now.

[nematoad]

Well there have been some downs the last few days:

My twin spot goby is dead. It got ich, displayed ymptoms for a day, and was dead. the clown goby is MIA and assumed dead without sightings for a week.

 

Everyone else is doing fine. The crabs are all getting along, no one has been eaten, and several have molted.

I bought a skunk cleaner shrimp and a sexy shrimp just to liven things up a bit. All the corals appear healthy.

 

 

I have ordered a new tank already. A 20g 'cube': 16 x 16 x 20. It's basically two of te tanks stuck together. It'll give me a lot more room in the front, and room for things to grow out. I'm thinking of basically keeping the same rock arrangement, and keeping the front half pretty clear and neat, maybe a small island in the sand.

I am also having a 21" tall refugium built to accomodate a DSB and chaeto, as well as provide space for a heater and possible ATO. I also went out and bought a Tunze 9002 nano skimmer in anticipation. I have no room to run it now, but I have it on hand to stick in the moment I'm able to. Hopefully it'll really help keep the water clean. I also put on order the Current USA NEP 6x 18W T5HO from a local shop. I was this close the the AI, but the canadian dollar being so crappy, I just couldn't justify it. Anyways, if the T5HOs perform as well as they are touted and appear to be doing on other's tanks, I should be doing pretty ok.

 

I also got two nice pickups this week from two LFS. One is a acropora echinata that was dying back a bit, but I gave it a nice 15 minute bath in TMPCC and it seems to have stopped dying back, and is starting to show the tiniest amount of PE. The other score was an acropora microphthalma. The coral was peeling off (why does this happen?) from teh bottom up, but at least one branch was separate from the main colony, so that was totally salvageable, and is very healthy. Some other tips I was able to cut away, and so far are healthy. Both acros were $10 each, which is great: if they survive, I get cheap acro frags, if they don't oh well, they're only $10.

 

Some pics:

 

And it came with a passenger too:

 

Too bad, as I was looking forward to giving my stray acro crab a home. Light arrives on tuesday. Can't wait.

 

I have a Q about the light, maybe better put in the lighting forum: do I need to acclimate to higher light when going from 65W PC to 108W T5HO?

[nematoad]

Well, I got a package from Eco Tech today, and I thought all was well, and I would finally have the pump back after almost a month without it.

 

I opened things up and to my dismay, I saw this:

 

As a reference, this is a FTS from the 23rd of September (It's in the top right conrer), the day before it died and was removed from the tank:

 

They sent me someone else's pump. I called service and the service manager answered and he at first didn't believe me saying that the chances that they would mix them up and send me a wrong one is "infinitesimal" as they hardly ever see MP-20s come in for service. I was not thrilled at him essentially telling me that I'm wrong, when the evidence was in my hands.

 

Sure enough when he checked the work log for that day, there were in fact TWO MP-20s in for service. I got one that belongs to a guy in Virginia or something. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the situation at all.

 

Anyways, long story short, I am being sent a brand new pump (as I should be), and they are going to send me a shipping label to send the MP-20 back to them. Hopefully everything is rectified in the end.

 

All I can say if F.

 

 

In other news...it's time to upgrade already

 

I've ordered a 16 x 16 x 20 (20g) tank from a local custom tank maker. It's ready for pick up.

I however have no stand for it yet.

 

I've also been mulling over the design of the refugium and new stand, and I've started to consider a sump instead.

I really like this overflow design from glass-holes.com:

http://www.glass-holes.com/product.sc;jses...amp;productId=3

 

And this guy had a very good idea running up the return line through the drain line. I'd run it with this also to keep everything looking clean, and have a 1 or 1.5" drain line, with a 1/2 or 3/4 inch return line running back through it, and coming out the front of the overflow.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=20020

 

Two great ideas I think for nano reefs.

 

I'd run the 1 or 1.5" piping out the overflow box back down into the sump (I'd use the current 10g tall, so I can still have the DSB), use baffles to section off the 10g into a input + refugium, skimmer and return sections. Then I'd run the return back through the input tube, and out the overflow box via a hole in the front.

I'd like to make the stand so it can fit the existing 10g tall inside if possible, but I could always use something different.

[Smurf]

Holy moly.... What were those chances??

 

 

"infinitesimal"

[jervismun]

Fine tank! Now a finer tank in the making...

[Yamato]

checked out your thread, nice development, makes me wish I did this with my biocube 8.

Hey, u mind if i ask how much was the cool power head...I always wanted to upgrade my stock pump in my BC8. I have a small pump that has a modest 47g/hr moving the surface water...what is the out put?

[nematoad]

The pump is an EcoTech Marine VorTech Mp-20 pump. http://www.ecotechmarine.com/products/mp20.php

It can have a variable output of 500 - 2000 gph, but since the stream is very diffuse, it's nowhere as intense as a regular powerhead putting out 500 gph. When at 500, it's really calm but it moves a lot of water. I got it after hearing rave reviews everywhere, and then actually seeing it in a local reefer's tank in action. I also really liked the wave-making function as well as all the other functions. I wanted a wavemaker, and originally looked at the Red Sea wavemaker as it was the most accessible one, but it, and two powerheads would have come out to about $250 new, not to mention the cord mess and the space lots to the extra powerhead in there, so I opted to spend a bit more and get the MP-20. And it keeps the pump motor out of the tank, saving a lot of space. I have a AC30 powerhead in there right now (mine was sent back to the States for service), and it actually takes up more room than the MP-20 wet side.

 

I got mine through a group buy here at NR courtesy of StandD (Thanks again!!). I'm not sure if it's still on or not, ended up costing $316 after conversion from USD, including shipping. I don't know of any other Canadian sites offering it besides JLaquatics.ca. They have them for $320. If you're interested in getting one locally, give Menagerie a call, I heard Harold is bringing in a few, no idea on cost though.

 

Best $320 I spent on this tank so far.

[phases]

Very nice set-up. Tagging along for the upgrade. Nice to see someone else from my neck of the woods. Your dendro looks almost the same as mine. Did you get it at NAFB?

[Yamato]

Wow, $300plus, didn't realize it was that pricy, but sounds like it is the ideal water mover.

thanks for the detail input, its a bit (ok, alot) out of my price range.

 

wow, I just read up on it, and it does sound very high end. Nothing but the best for your reef!

[nematoad]

Thanks Phases. I'm guessing you're the one with the Acan tank on AP? Very nice. I'm not much of a fan of Acans, but I like a few that you have there

 

And yes, those Dendros are from NAFB. I spent about half an hour picking out my favorite one.

 

@Yamato, yes it's pricey, but well worth it. If I ever get a bigger tank, I'll definitely look into the MP-40Ws.

 

Upgrade is in the works while I figure out the plumbing situation (don't want to drill tank, but want a sump to hide equipment) and make a stand and match it to the furniture of the living room....