Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[Nano sapiens]

Hmmm, 'Houston we have a problem...'

 

I guess it's a good problem to have in a way since it indicates growth, but it looks like I am close to reaching the threshold of Kalkwasser dosing with around 40-45% stony coral coverage. Even with a lot of evaporation due to a large surface area and no top, I'm having to fill my pet bottle ATOs with over 90% Kalkwasser. I noticed a 10% increase in Kalkwasser usage coinciding with the installation of the Cree emitters recently, even though the PAR is currently similar (indicates that PUR is now higher).

 

There are a couple ways to work around this issue which aim to limit the rate of organism calcification (reduction in temperature to reduce metabolism, photoperiod and/or intensity decreases, nutrition availability). Temp is already low enough for my liking at 77F (peaking at 80F), so nothing to do there. Since I'd rather not get into vinegar/acetic acid mixtures to try and increase the amount of Kalk in solution, continued gradual nutrient reduction and an hour's reduction of the 'all lights on' photoperiod should help keep the tank within the limits of Kalkwasser dosing without having to remove any stony coral.

 

And to throw out a 'wild card', I've been raising salinity over the last 2 months from 1.025 to 1.026 and this *may* have contributed to increased stony coral growth and thus Kalkwasser usage.

[jedimasterben]

A good problem, though still a problem nonetheless!

[BRADYBUNCH7]

hey where do you get your rics from?

[Nano sapiens]

hey where do you get your rics from?

 

A few R. floridas are super old and are what we used to call 'Haitian Rics' from when there was a ban on corals from Florida. However, most came from Coralmorphologic's '10-pack' and the rest are mostly from local LFSs.

[Nano sapiens]

A good problem, though still a problem nonetheless!

 

With some careful planning I think I can manage with just straight Kalkwasser for a good while still. It's hard to say which coral is sucking up the most Cal and Alk, but my bet is on the Red Planet as it is sprouting and encrusting...and actually getting some color (holy miracle of miracles!).

[ninjamyst]

A few R. floridas are super old and are what we used to call 'Haitian Rics' from when there was a ban on corals from Florida. However, most came from Coralmorphologic's '10-pack' and the rest are mostly from local LFSs.

 

wish coralmorphologic is still around....

[Nano sapiens]

Yeah, they were great, but the founder, Colin Ford, is doing some great work in Florida rescuing corals from the dredging operations down there.

[braaap]

Wow. Beautiful tank. Love the rics and all the color.

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks!

[Nano sapiens]

Sept 2014 FTS:

 

 

Not much has changed other than some rearrangement of some Mushies and some trimming here and there.

[gena]

Looks great! Did you pay a lot for that pink yuma???? It really stands out in the garden.

[Nano sapiens]

Looks great! Did you pay a lot for that pink yuma???? It really stands out in the garden.

 

Thanks, Gena.

 

I didn't pay much for it as it was just a little fellow that the LFS had hanging around for a good long time. From what I was told, it came out of a local reefer's tank when he tore it down and the 'Moma' was bright pink (likely under T5s).

 

It took a while to get going, but it's now over 3" across when fully inflated. This is the only Yuma in the tank that I feed directly each week. Yumas normally feed by moving individual food particles via cilia, but this one is a bit unique in that it draws in it's oral disc covered mucus net to consume any small trapped food caught therein.

[TigerLily]

Beautiful and so clean.

 

 

My tank is littered with dwarf ceriths and nerites everywhere I look! Where are your clean up guys? Are they camera shy?

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks, TL.

 

Do you see that little itty-bitty white pixel of a speck on the back wall? That's probably a young'un of the 'micro snails' (aka 'Collunista' snails) and, including my small Limpets, are the only snails types in the tank . I usually see the Collunistas in pairs, so I suspect that they don't really clean as much as they should

 

The rest of the 'crew' are composed of a few Bristleworms, a gang of Mysid Shrimps, some micro brittlestars, some odd little cigar-shaped amphipods and a whole hoard of tiny black-bottomed mite-sized 'whatchamacallits' that cruise the live rock. The only store bought CUC is single Blue Leg Hermit that is showing signs of senescence it's so old...

 

For Nano tanks, I believe in the 'less is more' when it comes to the CUC. The death of a larger snail, or multiple good sized snails, can easily pollute and destabilize a small tank

[ninjamyst]

For Nano tanks, I beleive in the 'less is more' when it comes to the CUC. The death of a larger snail, or multiple snails, can easily pollute and destabilize a small tank

 

Just was about to place an order for a CUC to replace all my dead ones. Will hold off on that =P. I really dont know if they do much with algae removal.

 

Also, I notice your sandbed is pretty shallow. How deep is it? 1/2 inches?

[Nano sapiens]

It's about 1" deep or so on average.

 

At least some of the CUC will develop over time from what comes in on the live rock. Whatever you don't see in the tank you can likely get from other reefers or the local LFS from their 'Live Rock' holding bin.

 

The micro brittlestars are excellent as well as the mini conches that often come in on live rock. I also really like Stomatellas, but they don't last too long in my tank for some reason. I have home grown Limpets that have been around since day one and they prefer to cruise around in my dark rear chambers. The Mysids are really cool and they came in via feeding frozen (likely as viable eggs...tough little buggers).

 

If I had dry rock and had to purchase CUC snails, I'd definitely stick to the 'dwarf' species for a Pico or small Nano tank...and just a few at that.

[Pesciolino69]

Your tank is for me one of the loveliest all the forum.

[Nano sapiens]

Glad you like it

[TigerLily]

For Nano tanks, I believe in the 'less is more' when it comes to the CUC. The death of a larger snail, or multiple good sized snails, can easily pollute and destabilize a small tank

 

I know I will never do dwarf ceriths again for sure. They get everywhere they aren't supposed to be and at night they come up from the sand like a bunch of miniature zombies - my tank looks infected with them! They all end up on my overflow and somehow get sucked through and wind up in my back chambers. They can stay there. Maybe I'll grab all I can find and throw them in my fuge compartment. I feel like they don't do much anyway. I'd rather have the nassarius snails stirring the sand. They stay hidden except for when I feed, and then they all come up like an organized army, elephant trunks waving. I feel like they're industrious. And they're pretty small too.

[Nano sapiens]

I have to agree that I find a small tank full of larger snails distracting, along with the other problems from die-off that I mentioned previously.

 

My take on store bought CUCs is that they have their place in a new tank where nuisance algae needs to be kept in check. However, once a tank stabilizes and matures, and assuming it's maintained properly and not over fed, they become less and less important and a potental liability if kept in numbers in a small tank. Ideally, and naturally, the organisms that come in with the live rock should be able to fill the clean up role if given a decent chance to do so. If live rock was not used for the setup, then it shouldn't be too hard to acquire some of these smaller critters from reefers or the LFS. The exception is the Hermit Crab which is find is very usefull in devouring tougher stringy algae that the other smaller creatures can't handle.

[gena]

On 9/6/2014 at 5:43 PM, Nano sapiens said:

Thanks, Gena.

 

I didn't pay much for it as it was just a little fellow that the LFS had hanging around for a good long time. From what I was told, it came out of a local reefer's tank when he tore it down and the 'Moma' was bright pink (likely under T5s).

 

It took a while to get going, but it's now over 3" across when fully inflated. This is the only Yuma in the tank that I feed directly each week. Yumas normally feed by moving individual food particles via cilia, but this one is a bit unique in that it draws in it's oral disc covered mucus net to consume any small trapped food caught therein.

This is the pink one I was talking about:

On 8/27/2014 at 3:29 PM, Nano sapiens said:

Are you talking about the one in the center? Or the light pink one in this photo above? I love them both . I have one from lalani in my 8g tank and it's one of my favorite corals. It likes to eat too but I don't want it to get too big so I don't feed it often LOL.

[Nano sapiens]

On 9/7/2014 at 8:23 PM, gena said:

This is the pink one I was talking about.

Are you talking about the one in the center? Or the light pink one in this photo above? I love them both . I have one from lalani in my 8g tank and it's one of my favorite corals. It likes to eat too but I don't want it to get too big so I don't feed it often LOL.

 

Yes, the rosy pink one with whitish bubbles in the somewhat right/slightly upper area of this photo. All the other Yumas I have are either different shades of orange or green/gold.

 

Nice that you have one. I can understand in an 8g that space is at a premium

[Nano sapiens]

As a point of interest, I worked through my list of corals to determine what was 'wild' and what was 'captive' (where 'captive' denotes at least a 'first generation' clone). I listed any different morphs of a species seperately since some may be captive and others wild.

Out of (33) different types and morphs of coral in the tank, (16) are captive and (17) are wild (48% captive, 52% wild). The 'Shrooms contributed greatly to the slightly higher percentage of wild stock since wild imports are still very common. Interestingly, of the (6) Zoanthid types, only one is wild. Of the (11) stony corals, all are captive with the exception of one type of Acan and a Scolly.

[ClaireRenee]

Your tank is spectacular! As I was doing research into SW and nano reefs, I saw this thread and since then it has been full speed ahead. I researched every spare minute. Saved money and slowly collected all of the gear and just a few days ago, water went into my first SW setup. My goal is to have a tank a tenth as beautiful as yours. Thank you for sharing! You are an inspiration.

[Nano sapiens]

Thank you for the kind words, Claire. I'll take a look at your build thread.

 

If you have questions or issues, feel free to ask.

 

Ralph.