James' 22l Pico 8months progress

[Jamo]

looking good! both freshy and salty

 

Congratulations your my 100th comment!

 

Cheers dude. I prefer watching my pico but i prefer playing the the trops, i can actually play with the cichlids they will chase my hand expecting food, and will bit if i don't give them food. Eventually that will become a marine tank, saying that though i want to find a big enough tank to fit in 3 sevs 3 discus and 2 blue acara, and a shed load of cardinal tetras and loads of plants for them to save them from becoming dinner! i think that is something to aspire too.

[lacassiere101]

yea freshwater tanks is a whole different ball game cause your watching and caring for fish and not corals which i prefer but for some reason i cant not have a reef

[Jamo]

yea freshwater tanks is a whole different ball game cause your watching and caring for fish and not corals which i prefer but for some reason i cant not have a reef

 

 

How come you can't keep a reef?

[Jamo]

I've been really bored hence all the wall posts!

[Jamo]

I've been really bored hence all the wall posts!

[Jamo]

Happy Easter for any of you that celebrate it! Hope the easter bunny brought you some nice frags.

 

I just got 3 frags, already forgotton the colour, i was a bit excited when i was in the store Got a good deal two about 30polps and my water for the next week and a half for just £20 which is pretty good. Will upload pics once they open up, i think i got pink red and blue heads but i'm not sure, there are def pink and red lol.

[Jamo]

The pics are a few days late, sorry about that, had a busy bank holiday weekend.

 

Anyway. Just been playing with a 150w metal halide that i have lying around. It came with my 40g tank along with a t5 unit too. Never used it as the bulb was a bit tempermental. But i wanted to see the diff on the marine tank as i was considering using the wiring from the unit to light the pico.

 

Here is a fts with the mh lighting.

 

 

Heres a pic of my lil fish. He's doing really well, he never really impacted the water quality, i've noticed him dashing about around the large mushroom, i think he's trying to host it. As soon as i get my larger tank i will get him a small nem for a few weeks whilst the new tank is set up.

 

 

The macro on my phone won't pic this up but if you look at the centre of the pic there is a zoa with an orange mouth, its one thats been growing, i hadn't noticed it before though, the rest have white mouths. I'm hoping i get a few more oranges ones grow from this one

 

 

Here are the new red zoas, they look pink under my light. I think thats because my bulb is combi purple and white and needs replacing, they were much redder in the store, or so i thought!

 

 

Are these palys or button polyps?

 

 

What ever they are i am getting a frag of 4 heads off them every week or two. they are growing on the centre overhanging the rock work, i don't want them to grow too big, do you think i should take them to the lfs and see if they will trade me? what do you think i should be looking at for 4 or 5 heads? Heres a pic of one of the frags.

 

 

Heres a pic of my fave zoas sitting next to each other.

 

 

I'm finally getting towards the pyramid shape i was after, might need another kg of rock though to make it 4 sided rather than leaning against the rock. I may use some base rock as its much cheaper and i have enough live rock for filtration. Would this be cool?

 

Here's the tank shot with standard lighting.

 

[Jamo]

Just managed to catch a couple of snaps of the orange lipped conch!

 

 

Here is it from the top of the shell

 

 

This pic is rubbish, minus the shot of his eye!

 

 

And finally a decent image!

 

 

This guy gives me plenty of entertainment, its like playing wheres wally, but instead of looking for the man your looking for his eye in the sand.

 

Not sure how big he will grow but i've been told it won't grow too quickly.

[Gerber77]

All the new additions look really good.

[Jamo]

Cheers dude. Should be something sweet in the tank on sat night!

 

Does Anybody know anything about adding a mh to my tank? I have an aqua medic 150w unit and it lights the tank really well but it gets pretty hot. Does anybody have any experience of what cooling equipment i would need? I want to do this with stuff i would have lying around in the house if i can.

[Jamo]

Just noticed one of my crabs has been killed, should i take the carcass out? Will it cause much of an ammonia spike to let it be eaten by the rest of the clean up crew?

 

Edit:

 

I went to remove the crab and its gone, guess the conch must have got to it. I still have three skeleton hermits, I guess it molted instead. I was just shocked as the molt had alot of colour and the crab didn't go into hiding.

[Jamo]

I rescaped the tank just after taking those pics as the red zoas and the gsp kept getting knocked down by the bloody crabs! Everything looks much better now, tank has a few arches for the fish to swim though and he's now sleeping on and around the shroom. I watched him push a hermit away from the mushroom just, was very funny, wish i filmed it!

 

Its official, Orange Lipped Conch and Cheato are the cure for cyanobacteria, in my tank anyway, the conch has eaten the horrid red slime off the sand and glass(where it can reach) and the rock and corals it was growing on! The Cheato has definitely played a part in taking the nutrients that water changes were missing.

 

I'm currently changing 70-75% of the tanks water per week in two or three changes depending on how busy i am. I think this is helping the growth of the Saddleback, he eats like a horse, reminds me of the simpsons episode where Homer and Bart join a touring fair and bart has to muck out the worlds smallest horse, who craps a hole lot; so the water change is necessary but everything appears to be benefiting. By next week i hope to have a few frags to trade with my lfs (So i hope anyway)

 

I've also noticed a large amount of green coraline and pink coraline algae growing on the back wall of the tank! I'd say this is the best week i've had with the tank, everything looks happen and large!

[Jamo]

I've got a hole appearing in my xenia, assuming its not good! Whats happening? Any Clues?

[Jamo]

Xenia is still alive though the hole is still there, come on people help me!

[Weetabix7]

That's really weird, not sure what to say.

Do you know what your Alk is?

Are you sure you don't have anything in there that could be eating it?

[Jamo]

That's really weird, not sure what to say.

Do you know what your Alk is?

Are you sure you don't have anything in there that could be eating it?

 

Alk being pH or is there something i've missed? Its not like its melting, its like a wound on the side, there's nothing eating it that i know off, I'm considering cutting above it, as its just the stem that shows the wound. It is all still pulsing. Another colony i have seem to be doing fine and are mid-split for the first time in the tank! they both started as single heads and now easily have 20 heads each. Not bad growth considering my lighting and the fact that its only 3 months.

[Jamo]

I got up this morning to feed the fish and admire the tank, saw the xenia that i've been having problems standing up right fully extended and the hole in the side has developed into a healthy looking foot extension. Somebody had suggested to me that they can develop new feet so they can move against a current so i guess thats what its doing. Wish i had a decent camera so i could snap it for you all.

[Jamo]

MY xenia holes have turned into a new base as the xenia has hauled itself from the rock the the glass splitting and leaving a new clone colony behind. Interesting to watch!

[Dave_uk]

Looking good.

 

Its amazing how fast xenia can spread. I put a small frag with around 10 polyps into my reef at home a few months ago and now I have a thriving colony at home with 100+ polyps and have taken a frag for my pico which is doing well.

[Jamo]

Looking good.

 

Its amazing how fast xenia can spread. I put a small frag with around 10 polyps into my reef at home a few months ago and now I have a thriving colony at home with 100+ polyps and have taken a frag for my pico which is doing well.

 

Yeah i'm loving the growth of everything atm. The xenia growing on the glass has left a few colonies on the rock as it moved to the glass. These will be harvested and taken to the lfs in a couple of weeks i guess.

 

Hopefully getting some new stuff on the weekend or next week Will have pics as soon as everything is settled.

 

Also how great is it to have the top three spots on the forum going to englishmen!

[Nanobuds]

that fish looks like a clarks anenome fish. i think they get big, and too big for a pico eventually

[Jamo]

that fish looks like a clarks anenome fish. i think they get big, and too big for a pico eventually

 

Nah its not a clark's they are a diff body shape for a start. Clarks are more common damselfish, like a yellow tail shape.

 

Saddlebacks are much diff. He will grow big though, I've noticed about a cm's growth in 3 months. I'm after a second one at the moment. I'm working on another larger tank for them to house once they have matured. Tank plans are sorted, just construction to be completed. Should be sorted in a month or two. Which is plenty of time.

 

I do like the Clarks clown fish though!

 

(Amphiprion polymnus) :http://www.freshmarine.com/brown-saddle-clown.html

[Jamo]

My saddleback clown has very shallow and rapid breathing. They are displaying discolouration and rapid fin movement. There has been alot of flashing againts their host mushroom as well as the crushed coral substrate. The fins look split and damaged too. The skin looks in a bad way. They still have a big appetite and the water conditions are:

 

Ammonia less than 0.1

Nitrates 20

Nitrites 0

Temp 26c

pH 7.8-8

 

Looks like I've had a pH drop, got the lid off the tank atm to get some air into the water removed 25% water too to allow for better surface disturbance will top up tank with fresh water as soon as its warm. Going to fill it up, then change 50% again.

 

I'm thinking temp fluctuation due to ambient temp isn't helping. Going to try get a fan near the tank and move it back to my room as my room tends to be warm all the time so at least that will keep it stable.

 

Anybody know what could be wrong with the Clown? My Network sponges have all died this morning too after really rapid growth in the past two weeks. My Monti hasn't opened either how ever i noticed that a large aiptasia was touching it so after removing the nem i hope the monti will come out.

[Jamo]

Sorry for the lack of updates: Bad news is coming.

 

My newest clown was introduced to the tank with brooklynella i diagnosed it and took it to the shop, they thought it was fine after a week and i had it back, two days later both of my clowns were dead. Gutted. Absolutely distraught. I loved my first clown fish and was devastated to find him dead after 5 months of perfect health and growth. The lfs have given me a full refund for both fish and apologised for the inconvenience if having my tank quarantined for 8 weeks.

 

Whilst tank is in quaruntine i have moved it to my room and added a metal halide pendant. I added a monti cap green that i got off adam crouch (check out this guys pico, thats how you do it!) I intend on adding some more sps, i have a ponape hysterix coming in soon, i was supposed to get it a while ago but due to circumstances that are too long and tedious for this i haven't got it yet. Hopefully will be getting it in two-three weeks.

 

When adding the M.H. I managed to burn my monti and a mushroom. Make sure when you add the pendants to hang a lot higher than where you want them to be once acclimated.

 

I also made a really ghetto blue light for my tank. String of blue led fairy lights(waterproof, i know because i originally brought them for a bbq in england, need waterproof lights because when it does rain there are always more important things to get inside, don't want your beer getting watered down!) Anyway here are a few pics of the tank in my room now and the blue lights effect on a few of my corals. Oh and excuse the crap quality (B.Berry Bold camera really sucks in dark situations!)

 

 

FTS obv.

 

Nuke Green Zoas

 

 

Monti Cap Green, you can see where it died and where its alive, last week half of that green wasnt there! Recovering well. Can't believe i fell into such a rookie pit fall. I guess at 6 months of pico i have a lot to learn yet!

 

 

 

Xenia, i love this xenia in the blue. The pom pom xenia is white and looks amazing but it moves to quickly and is quite small only a few small hands it grew out of my rock from a polyp that i must have got in a frag bag from acclimating.

 

Finally this is a pink zoa colony, they don't glow but one does, it was getting harassed by a mushroom before i moved the colony a couple of weeks ago. Weird side effect eh?

 

 

In light it looks more like a paly than a zoa but it deff was a zoa before i assure you!

[Jamo]

So I said I was going for some SPS but my lfs stock has been very lps these past few weeks. So today I decided to get myself a 2headed Duncan frag, £6 for two heads, the assistant "accidentally" cut two heads, nice guy! Got myself two more hermits, a Mexican Orange and a large blue one that I don't know the name of yet. They are acclimatising at the moment, as soon as they are acclimatised and and i have puttied the frag I shall take pictures, check back in a few hours, the Duncan was open in the bag on the ride home, so I don't think it should take long for me to witness the fitness and awesomeness. Hopefully getting a finger coral tomorrow. Hopefully be able to frag them both soon, I hear they are both fast growers especially with my m.h.

 

Anybody in the uk want some cheato? I am getting loads atm. I started with a tennis ball sized amount, i now have about 10 tennis ball sized balls. I'd rather sort something out with forum people than put it on ebay or take it back to my lfs.