Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[Nano sapiens]

Ricorida (in all their puffy-goodness) Under 'Dusk' Actinic Lighting:

 

 

 

 

 

iPhone 5 tried it's best under these lighting conditions, but it's definitely a bit 'blue-challenged'.

[Christopher Marks]

Allow me to be the first to wish your nano reef a happy 10th anniversary! It's an honor to feature this reef once again at this awesome benchmark, thanks for your contributions to the community @Nano sapiens!

 

[Nano sapiens]

32 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Allow me to be the first to wish your nano reef a happy 10th anniversary! It's an honor to feature this reef once again at this awesome benchmark, thanks for your contributions to the community @Nano sapiens!

 

Thank you , Chris, for the feature!

[tibbsy07]

2 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Thank you , Chris, for the feature!

Congrats!! Well-earned TOTM

[vlangel]

Way to go, again nano sapiens!  I loved your tank back in 2013 and I still love it.

[markalot]

4 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Thank you , Chris, for the feature!

 

Yes, awesome longevity for this tank!

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks, guys and gals!  :)

[Nano sapiens]

Considering this is the 10th year and all, I've decided to break with traditional and post something completely non-aquarium related (actually, thinking back a ways, I already did this once already when Metrokat asked for pics of my son's cats).

 

Most (all?) of us have other hobbies/interests outside of reefing, so here's mine...old school 'nano' sized N scale model train layout I built recently that is portable so it can be taken to shows (these trains can easily fit in the palm of one's hand).  I'm currently working on a Z scale layout that one could consider 'Pico' sized  😉

 

 

 

 

 

'Pico' sized 😲

 

[vlangel]

8 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Considering this is the 10th year and all, I've decided to 'break with traditional' and post something completely non-aquarium related (actually, I already did this once already when Metrokat asked for pics of my son's cats).

 

Most (all?) of us have other hobbies/interests outside of reefing, so here's mine...old school 'nano' sized N scale model train layout I built recently that is portable so it can be taken to shows (these trains can easily fit in the palm of one's hand).  I'm currently working on a Z scale layout that one could consider 'Pico' sized  😉

 

 

 

Very cool.  I love your attention to detail.

[debbeach13]

Congratulations on 10 years and TOTM absolutely deserved. So colorful. 

[Christopher Marks]

I admire your attention to detail @Nano sapiens, those models are really neat! How long did you work on building the portable set?

 

Growing up my dad stored the bones of a huge 12'x4' N scale train track layout that needed to be finished in our basement. I always imagined what it would be like to bring it to life, it was just track and base terrain shapes, there were some tunnels built in even, but not yet covered up. Dad just never found the time unfortunately, and supplies became increasingly more difficult to find. He'd always take us to the train model sets at the county fair every summer, the one he grew up going to. I think it played into my love of LEGO as a kid, I mostly built cities and towns.

[Nano sapiens]

On 8/2/2018 at 7:55 AM, Christopher Marks said:

I admire your attention to detail @Nano sapiens, those models are really neat! How long did you work on building the portable set?

 

Growing up my dad stored the bones of a huge 12'x4' N scale train track layout that needed to be finished in our basement. I always imagined what it would be like to bring it to life, it was just track and base terrain shapes, there were some tunnels built in even, but not yet covered up. Dad just never found the time unfortunately, and supplies became increasingly more difficult to find. He'd always take us to the train model sets at the county fair every summer, the one he grew up going to. I think it played into my love of LEGO as a kid, I mostly built cities and towns.

All in, the portable N scale took me around a year or so, working weekends and after work on it.

 

We have similar stories in that my father started a layout in the garage...and the track rusted out over winter.  After that, he lost interest and everything went into a few boxes that I recently inherited.  I just continued where he left off in the 70's  😊

[Nano sapiens]

6 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Congratulations on 10 years and TOTM absolutely deserved. So colorful. 

Thanks, glad you like it :)

[Nano sapiens]

Ok, back to aquarium items of interest, namely macro photography of some little stuff  :)

 

Here's a little 3/8" Mushie (likely a R. yuma) that I found attached to the underside of one of the large Ricordia rocks and in complete darkness.  This little guy was glued under the rock, so it must have been 2-3 years or more ago that this was done when the rock was turned more upward (I tend to rotate the Ric rocks slightly when cleaning as the Rics do slowly move around).  So basically, it's been eeking out a living with virtually no light for quite some time, which is interesting in and of itself:

 

 

I can see some orange/yellow starting up around the mouth cone, so it could be one of two types of Yuma that are in the tank.  It's also been extremely slow to color up since it's having to fire up long unused pigmentation processes.

 

 

Next up is likely a remnant of a Sunset Montipora colony.  What caught my eye is that the single polyp is super bright fluorescent minty green and just looks very different from your typical Sunset:

 

 

Probably won't last long as the Pavona is creeping towards it...

 

 

And lastly, a small greenish Leptastrea hitchhiker colony that I first noticed around 5 years ago, but hadn't seen since.  Turns out it became completely hidden from view when the large Setosa colony expanded and only now is visible once again (a bit to the right, under the lip of the Pavona madivensis):

 

 

...and. of course, the Barnacle Blenny had to make a cameo appearance  😊

 

 

[Nano sapiens]

Elder GBG (Green Banded Goby)...RIP Little Buddy!:

 

My elder GBG finally took his journey to the "big reef in the sky".  I've had him since March 2016, so if I assume he was ~ 6 months old when I got him, that'd put him around 3 years old.  In nature, he'd have been very lucky to have made half that due to predation.

 

Last pic I took of him on 8/10/18 and the lack of pigment, hunched dorsal area and reduced interest in food were good clues that he was nearing the end:

 

 

I still have one left that looks fine for his age.  He came in with a second batch of fish I had bought a few months later.  

[Christopher Marks]

RIP GBG. He sure was a little chunk!

[Nano sapiens]

14 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

RIP GBG. He sure was a little chunk!

He was 2" of a mean, not-so-lean, fight'in machine!!!

[ramona]

On 3/4/2018 at 8:25 PM, Nano sapiens said:

Ricorida (in all their puffy-goodness) Under 'Dusk' Actinic Lighting:

 

 

 

 

 

iPhone 5 tried it's best under these lighting conditions, but it's definitely a bit 'blue-challenged'.

I love your tank. It is my inspiration.

Could you share your technique for attacing ricordea to rock? substrate? As for now I have 3 ricordea Florida in 3 shot glases filled half with crushed corals, will it work? how long should I keep them in? Do you lift them up to vacuum underneath?

[Nano sapiens]

6 hours ago, ramona said:

I love your tank. It is my inspiration.

Could you share your technique for attacing ricordea to rock? substrate? As for now I have 3 ricordea Florida in 3 shot glases filled half with crushed corals, will it work? how long should I keep them in? Do you lift them up to vacuum underneath?

Glad you like it ☺️  I generally just let my loose Rics hang around the bottom area for a few weeks until they pick up a few gravel pieces, then glue using those to a small rock.  Some people use netting or rubber bands to strap the loose Ric to live rock.  I haven't had much luck with the shot glass method.

[Lula_Mae]

Tank is looking great, congrats on TOTM! Sorry about the GBG, I finally got one for my pico. He's so teeny and funny and cute! 

[Nano sapiens]

3 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Tank is looking great, congrats on TOTM! Sorry about the GBG, I finally got one for my pico. He's so teeny and funny and cute! 

Thanks!  The GBG had a good, long life (certainly much longer than he would have had in the wild).  They are a great little fish for a nano tank and I hope yours has a long life, too.

[Nano sapiens]

'It's the Holidays' Update: 

 

 

System:  Still humming along.  Only issue (from an aesthetic point-of-view) in the last half year was a minor bloom of brownish film on the sand bed and glass.  Unlike my previous encounter with something similar in color that disappeared when the lights went out, but returned when the lights came back on, this one tended not to disappear.  Which leads me to suspect diatoms in this case.  I tend to up my detritus removal efforts for things like this which has helped in the past.

 

Fish:  My large female 'Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny' past away last week.  For about a week she wasn't eating, yet her stomach retained a very full appearance right up to the end.  I suspect she might have been egg-bound which can lead to a fish's demise.  I got her in Oct, 2017 and she was already mature at ~ 2-1/2" long, so who knows how old she actually was when she died.

  

My ORA 'Yellow Lined Cleaner Goby' is still bouncing along.  It looks a bit scraggly, for sure, but he/she has been in this aquarium since Feb, 2016, so that would put this little fish's total age at well over 3 years.

 

The single GBG ('Green Banded Goby') Is doing quite well for his age and still actively pursues his food in the current.   It's funny to watch because his cheeks have gotten so muscular that he can't close his mouth so he has to take aim, dart and suck in the food.  I peg this one at around 3 years old in total.

 

Lastly, there's the cryptic 'Hasselt's Goby'.  This fish spends all day holed up in the cave he's made under the live rock and I only see it when I add food (especially likes frozen Mysids).  It has a remarkable sense of smell as it only takes a small Mysid or two added to the water and it'll have it's nose sticking out within a few seconds.  Besides being somewhat light phobic, it's also quite a timid fish that gets nervous when other fish/inverts approach...which can make feeding a bit of a challenge.  I haven't found any online information as to how old these can get, so who knows...

 

Coral/False Coral:  Still the same cast of corals as last year...and the year before...and the year before that.  I gradually upped the lighting channels on my Storm controller by ~2% to compensate for the slight loss of light output over the years and they have all responded very well with increased growth (no noticeable color changes).  I also slightly altered the color mix by increasing my Cyan channel an extra few percent to warm up the overall look of the system a bit.

 

Fastest growers this past year have been the Pavona, Leptoseris and Leptastrea stony corals.  Both Birdsnest species have been a little slow, but steady, and this is perfect as their branching habits can be a chore to control in such a small system.  The most successful colonizer once it started to receive over 200 PAR, surprisingly, is the one people try to keep shaded (to keep the 'orangish' eyes, higher lighting results in a color shift to bright green) and the resulting slow growth, namely the 'Molten Lava' Leptoseris.  I have never seen sweeper tentacles from this coral (which is very common with Leptoseris/Pavona) and it is able to suppress other corals' sweepers, so I believe it is using localized chemical warfare which allows it to even overgrow the aggressive Pavona maldivensis.  Drives home the fact that just because a coral is lumped into a category based on what the majority of it's relatives are like, the conditions  believed to be favorable to the group may not actually be the best for it's growth and/or color.  I've managed to control the spread of new Acan polyps by reducing spot feeding to once every two weeks or so (2-3 feedings a week were causing new polyps to sprout like crazy and if I had continued doing that I'd probably have 1/3 of the tank just filled with one type of Acan by now!).

 

All the Ricordia have been doing well, so no new news there.  The Rhodactis, on the other hand, have been a bit challenged due to one highly expansive specimen (close to 8" diameter when really puffed up) and that is causing challenges for the others since they are partially to fully shaded much of the lighting period.  Almost all the Zoas are doing great with the slightly increased light levels and I'm especially happy to see my 'Ultimate Chaos' zoas have come back from near extinction.  The only ones challenged at the moment are the 'Hawaiian Ding-Dangs' (what a name!) and I'm going to try spot feeding once a week to encourage recovery/growth.

And, of course, 'Santa Dendro' (see Avatar) is back to deposit those delicious meaty treats into all the hungry coral polyp mouths around the world this holiday season 😉 

[sam_the_reefer]

I think your birdsnest has also grown more and sprouted more branches since your last FTS.

Also, I had a similar brown diatom problem before all my fish got sick and died...hmmm...but mine could have been Dinos. I should have upped the water changes / detritus removal like you did when that happened.

[Nano sapiens]

8 hours ago, xellos88 said:

I think your birdsnest has also grown more and sprouted more branches since your last FTS.

Also, I had a similar brown diatom problem before all my fish got sick and died...hmmm...but mine could have been Dinos. I should have upped the water changes / detritus removal like you did when that happened.

Yes, you are correct that the Birdsnest on top has grown, even with occasional pruning.   The ORA Bird of Paradise Birdsnest has the long extending branches and that one I have to prune regularly or it gets in the way.

[vlangel]

On 12/1/2018 at 9:39 PM, Nano sapiens said:

'It's the Holidays' Update: 

 

 

System:  Still humming along.  Only issue (from an aesthetic point-of-view) in the last half year was a minor bloom of brownish film on the sand bed and glass.  Unlike my previous encounter with something similar in color that disappeared when the lights went out, but returned when the lights came back on, this one tended not to disappear.  Which leads me to suspect diatoms in this case.  I tend to up my detritus removal efforts for things like this which has helped in the past.

 

Fish:  My large female 'Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny' past away last week.  For about a week she wasn't eating, yet her stomach retained a very full appearance right up to the end.  I suspect she might have been egg-bound which can lead to a fish's demise.  I got her in Oct, 2017 and she was already mature at ~ 2-1/2" long, so who knows how old she actually was when she died.

  

My ORA 'Yellow Lined Cleaner Goby' is still bouncing along.  It looks a bit scraggly, for sure, but he/she has been in this aquarium since Feb, 2016, so that would put this little fish's total age at well over 3 years.

 

The single GBG ('Green Banded Goby') Is doing quite well for his age and still actively pursues his food in the current.   It's funny to watch because his cheeks have gotten so muscular that he can't close his mouth so he has to take aim, dart and suck in the food.  I peg this one at around 3 years old in total.

 

Lastly, there's the cryptic 'Hasselt's Goby'.  This fish spends all day holed up in the cave he's made under the live rock and I only see it when I add food (especially likes frozen Mysids).  It has a remarkable sense of smell as it only takes a small Mysid or two added to the water and it'll have it's nose sticking out within a few seconds.  Besides being somewhat light phobic, it's also quite a timid fish that gets nervous when other fish/inverts approach...which can make feeding a bit of a challenge.  I haven't found any online information as to how old these can get, so who knows...

 

Coral/False Coral:  Still the same cast of corals as last year...and the year before...and the year before that.  I gradually upped the lighting channels on my Storm controller by ~2% to compensate for the slight loss of light output over the years and they have all responded very well with increased growth (no noticeable color changes).  I also slightly altered the color mix by increasing my Cyan channel an extra few percent to warm up the overall look of the system a bit.

 

Fastest growers this past year have been the Pavona, Leptoseris and Leptastrea stony corals.  Both Birdsnest species have been a little slow, but steady, and this is perfect as their branching habits can be a chore to control in such a small system.  The most successful colonizer once it started to receive over 200 PAR, surprisingly, is the one people try to keep shaded (to keep the 'orangish' eyes, higher lighting results in a color shift to bright green) and the resulting slow growth, namely the 'Molten Lava' Leptoseris.  I have never seen sweeper tentacles from this coral (which is very common with Leptoseris/Pavona) and it is able to suppress other corals' sweepers, so I believe it is using localized chemical warfare which allows it to even overgrow the aggressive Pavona maldivensis.  Drives home the fact that just because a coral is lumped into a category based on what the majority of it's relatives are like, the conditions  believed to be favorable to the group may not actually be the best for it's growth and/or color.  I've managed to control the spread of new Acan polyps by reducing spot feeding to once every two weeks or so (2-3 feedings a week were causing new polyps to sprout like crazy and if I had continued doing that I'd probably have 1/3 of the tank just filled with one type of Acan by now!).

 

All the Ricordia have been doing well, so no new news there.  The Rhodactis, on the other hand, have been a bit challenged due to one highly expansive specimen (close to 8" diameter when really puffed up) and that is causing challenges for the others since they are partially to fully shaded much of the lighting period.  Almost all the Zoas are doing great with the slightly increased light levels and I'm especially happy to see my 'Ultimate Chaos' zoas have come back from near extinction.  The only ones challenged at the moment are the 'Hawaiian Ding-Dangs' (what a name!) and I'm going to try spot feeding once a week to encourage recovery/growth.

And, of course, 'Santa Dendro' (see Avatar) is back to deposit those delicious meaty treats into all the hungry coral polyp mouths around the world this holiday season 😉 

Gourgeous as always.  Is your remaining GBG sad that it has no one to fight with?  Didn't the 2 of them beat the tar out of each other?