Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[jedimasterben]

Yes, I believe that it was indeed a Rabbitfish based on the dentition.

I found out that they are actually farmed in some countries - and here us Westerners thought that egg-scatterers couldn't be farmed for reasonable prices (we're looking at you Bali Aquarich and your stupid expensive angelfish lol).

[Nano sapiens]

I'm sure it's delicious, just doesn't look too appetizing LOL. Now that I know it's not a decomposed fish that you found on the beach I can see it's been cooked. Do they smoke fish there too? It kinda has that smoked fish look.

 

Some fish are sun dried, some are fried and some are smoked.

[Nano sapiens]

Updates: A few WCs/vacuuming sessions and cyano is under control again. I've stabilized Alk at 9.0 dKH and Cal at 420 ppm. After 2 weeks off on vacation, I noticed some muting of coral coloration even though growth was accelerated. Hard to say which factor(s) contributed to this, but with the tank back to normal, it should be easy to get all the color back again.

 

For unknown reasons my healthy population of Bristleworms and Mysis are much decreased even with the influx of pellet food.. I suppose it is possible that the Clownfish tired of pellets and then started sampling the local cleanup crew.

 

Lots of the usual coral aggression/expansion while I was away. Pics to come later.

[Legendary Corals]

Guess who just sponsored?...

[Nano sapiens]

Guess who just sponsored?...

 

Hey, Darwin

 

Good luck with the enterprise! I'f I ever upgrade I know where to get some nice Zoas, etc.

[metrokat]

Welcome back, looks like you were in foodie paradise over there.

[Nano sapiens]

Welcome back, looks like you were in foodie paradise over there.

 

Ever heard of 'Fruit Bat Soup'?

[mx5apex]

sounds like the beginning of the movie Contagion

 

Ever heard of 'Fruit Bat Soup'?

[1.0reef]

This tank is my inspiration!

Same. Some time I need to see this tank in real life!

[metrokat]

Ever heard of 'Fruit Bat Soup'?

[Nano sapiens]

On 2/8/2014 at 2:26 PM, 1.0reef said:

Same. Some time I need to see this tank in real life!

 

Well, I'm just a few miles up the 680 from you in Pleasant Hill

 

Looks like you are into plants, too. Wild pitcher plants growing on the rock islands of Palau:

 

 

On 2/8/2014 at 2:28 PM, metrokat said:

 

Thought that might get your attention. I could post a pic, but then I'd feel responsible for all the disturbed dreams...

[1.0reef]

Cool!

Awesome pitchers! I know Euphy would love to see that pic!

[Nano sapiens]

Lighting Changes: Having observed the various natural reef environments in Palau, of note was the fact that the most colorful corals were nearly without exception in areas that received only a few hours of direct sunlight per day. To better mimic this condition, the tank's main lighting has been reduced from 8 to 6 hours, but intensity has been increased by around 8% (265 to 285 PAR at 5" depth from surface). Royal Blue only will remain as '2 hrs before' and '2 hrs after', but has been reduced from 12 to 10 hrs. DLI (Daily Light Integer) has been reduced from 7.96 to 6.52.

 

Short term observations indicate enhanced growth rates with only a slight loss of pigmentation. However, pigmentation loss may not be related to the lighting schedule since the alkalinity dropped from 10+ dKh to 7.0 dKh while on vacation and PO4 rose from undetectable to .0015 ppm. LPS (Lobophyllia, Acanthastrea), in particular, are reacting more favorably with longer duration of full tissue expansion. Ricordia are showing much decreased Zoanthellae emissions and Zoas appear unaffected. No appreciable change in pigmentation for any SPS.

 

Since the LED array in it's current form is at it's maximum intensity, I believe this particular lighting schedule has sufficient intensity and DLI for healthy, moderate coral growth and good overall pigmentation. The only coral showing signs of previous distress due to over lighting is a 'Superman' Blastomussa, but time will tell if it can recover and adapt well to the new lighting schedule (if not, it will have to be moved to a less intensely lit location).

[Nano sapiens]

Keeping track of the coral battle for supremacy (pics are a little over one month apart). Purple M. digitata is growing taller, but the Oxide Zoas are starting to climb the stalks and are spreading over everything. The Leptastrea up front is making the most gains and has displaced the little green Red Planet frag and is threatening the Undata. The Setosa is making a valiant effort to over-top the Lep, but at the same time it is being overtaken by the red Superhero Monti from behind. The green Millepora on the left is gaining on the Undata, too, but is being threatened by the Oxides from the back side. It's not visible, but the Pavona maldivensis is very close to touching down on the backside smack in the middle of the Superhero Monti, so that will be a wipe out...then it'll be interesting to see if the Oxides can overgrow the Pavona.

 

It is interesting to watch this unfold in a captive environment since it's only the corals going one-on-one without any natural disturbances or predators to influence the outcome.

 

Where will this all end up? It is likely that in a few months there will only be a few species battling on this rock and the Oxides will have the most real estate. Stay tuned!

 

 

[buddythelion]

I'm rooting for the speckled fire and ices!

[Nano sapiens]

I'm rooting for the speckled fire and ices!

 

Not a chance! The little wimps close up at the slightest disturbance. The Oxides, on the other hand, are an unstoppable force of nature. I don't think even the Pavona can stop them, but we'll see.

[1.0reef]

CORAL WARZ!

[Nano sapiens]

'WHEN CORALS ATTACK!'

 

They certainly don't play nice together.

[metrokat]

Oxides are very strong. My little colony has fragged itself too. I see little bright orange polyps in 2-3 places in my tank, far from the original location of the colony. I always thought some silly crab might have snipped off the polyps but I read about zoas fragging themselves. Aliens.

[Nano sapiens]

Yeah, once the Oxides get enough light they really take off. I don't have any separate colonies popping up, but the single colony I have went from 4-5 to at least 30 really quickly once I got my DIY LED strip pumped up.

 

The 'Speckled Fire and Ice' on the other hand are a much more delicate Zoa. If I sneeze, they'll close up...almost. I'll have to protect them from the Oxides if I want to maintain the colony.

[Nano sapiens]

Final PAR map with current LED array (~600 - 650 mA for DIY LED strip):

 

 

The current intensity and DLI (Daily Light Integer) is fine for 95% of the corals and is sufficient for triggering good pigment production, but I can see that the few Acropora species I have would probably intensify pigmentation and growth with more intense lighting. However, doing so would likely over illuminate many of my other corals if left in their current locations (I've already cooked a Blasto with 125 PAR and it's now recovering in a less light intense location). Compromises of a mixed reef aquarium...

 

Keeping the current lighting array 'as is', a couple of parameters I can play with are the DLI, flow and nutrition. I plan to leave the current lighting schema (10 hrs. 'Royal Blue', 6 hrs. 'Full Spectrum') for now since the corals are less stressed than with the original 12/8 hr schedule I was previously using. I have a small Hydor Korallia Nano 240 on order to see what effect additional flow will have on the tank and I'll set it up to create as much of a gyre as possible. Since I can't control the Korallia Nano's output speed (no need to spend bucks for a wave controller with only one unit), I plan to reduce my return pump's output by around 1/3 and then slowly ramp it up from there (assuming the corals respond well to the increasing flow). It is very likely that I will be able to increase the duration of lighting (if desired) with the additional flow due to a decreased boundary layer around the coral which results in increased coral respiration and waste product removal. After evaluating the additional flow effects for a few months I'll be administering the highly lauded 'Acro Power' amino acid product, so that'll be fun

 

For anyone new to nano reefing who happens to read this, note that changes to a stable biological system should never be made all at once or very rapidly. Whenever making changes, start conservatively and gradually build up to a level that is optimal for the corals and the other tank inhabitants.

[Nano sapiens]

Yay, cool, my first new piece of equipment in quite a while...a Hydor Korallia Nano 240gph stream pump:

 

 

Just a quick pic to show the unit in the right corner and the amount of flow the surface of the tank experiences. I've set up the flow to approximate a gyre, but the rotating flow head will still provide turbulence, too.

 

First impressions are it's quite a mild flow, but I think it's moving more volume than the eye can see. This is just about perfect for what I envisioned for this Ric dominated tank as it doesn't blow the Rics over too much. It's quiet, too.

 

This unit is not my first choice since it's a little larger than I'd like, but the smaller Sicce Nano Voyager isn't available in the USA in the equivalent output version.

 

Of interest to me is how the extra flow will effect coral growth and the small amount of cyano growing in the tank. The fish are swimming more, obviously enjoying the stronger current

[Nano sapiens]

Backup Heater Malfunction!: This was disconcerting. Tank cleaning day and I noticed that my backup heater in my sump had the light on, but the temp was 81 degrees (I normally keep the tank at 79 F). Turning the dial to it's lowest temp setting didn't turn it off, so this Aqueon now resides in the trash. Good thing this happened in the winter time and not the summer as the house temps are fairly low right now. As the wise old reef saying goes, "Potentially, we are all just one malfunction away from the next tank crash".

 

Hydor Koralia Nano Stream Pump (240gph): Working as advertised and very quiet. I had to angle the flow to hit a back corner to blunt the flow force since a few of my corals were having issues (Blasto, Lobo and a Ric in an exposed area). As expected, the SPS corals seem to be doing very well with the additional flow.

 

Acro Power: Started dosing this at 1ml/2x per week which is about 80% of the bottle's directions. In a couple months I should be able to tell if this product is helpful.

[Nano sapiens]

After assessing the Koralia stream pump for a few weeks it's now a resident of my aquarium supply box. Certainly not a bad unit and it does what it is advertised to do, but I found a number of downsides when used in a small mixed reef nano tank. I found it too large and distracting, I couldn't clean behind it without messing up it's positioning and it produced too much flow (no matter how I positioned it). Even after repositioning the corals as much as I could, the flow tended to bend a few Rics in half and distorted a few others, caused my Ultra Lobo to distort and nearly peel off the skeleton on the flow side and a Blasto to completely deflate. Interestingly, Kalk usage declined by about 25% during the Koralia's use, which is the opposite of what I would have expected. Stony corals seemed fine, of course, but no significant changes were noted.

 

As always, careful observation of the corals is the best indicator as to whether a change is for the better, or not.

[Nano sapiens]

Since returning from vacation I've been having fun battling some coca-cola colored cyano on the SB. My normal weekly maintenance routine was keeping it in check, but not eliminating it. PO4 is a decent .015, so that didn't appear to be the issue.

 

Bought a nitrate kit on the suspicion that the auto-feeder had dumped more pellets into the tank than I realized during vacation time and sure enough, 20 ppm nitrate-ion (or 4.5 nitrate-nitrogen). Also explains the rate of Kalkwasser usage decline by ~20%. Corals are looking fine with good coloration, so no worries.

 

10% WC and some heavy duty vacuuming under the LR (lots of crud taken out). A couple of these cleaning sessions a week, plus a little less feeding, and things should stabilize back at more reef normal levels.