J-Ranko's 10 Gallon Obsession

[J-Ranko]

NEW FISH!

 

Added a Sixline Wrasse last Sunday (May 9th), and he's been doing great since. Here are some pics:

 

 

 

He's about as active as the clown, though not as bold, and just hunts for pods and small crustaceans all day.

 

Also, I was successful in my first battle with aiptasia and got rid of all visible heads. Of course, there's probably dozens of baby ones just growing at the moment that I can't see yet.

[nick1912]

Looking great. Love six lines!

 

I had not seen aptasia in 3 months and last night I saw a tiny one on my sandbed. Removed it quickly!

[J-Ranko]

Looking great. Love six lines!

 

I had not seen aptasia in 3 months and last night I saw a tiny one on my sandbed. Removed it quickly!

 

Thanks! The sixline and the clownfish will likely be the only fish in my tank until I upgrade. I've got no more room for fish, but I like them both and they're getting along just fine.

 

Now for more corals...

[J-Ranko]

Added a derasa clam (May 17th) and a ricordea polyp (May 21st):

 

Its lip appears blue from the side...

 

...and green from the top.

 

I know what you're thinking: a derasa clam in a 10 gallon!? I know it will outgrow the tank eventually, but there's always the inevitable upgrade.

 

Here's a shot of the ric:

 

 

Here's the latest FTS (taken yesterday, 5/24/2010):

 

 

It's not obvious in this FTS, but coralline algae growth has really taken off the past 30 days and now I'm at the point where I have to scrape it off the glass on a regular basis. You should see more pink and purple spots on the rocks and even some on the back glass panel where my scraper can't reach. Here's a comparison shot way back when the tank was cycling:

 

 

And here's a shot of my sixline wrasse hunting for pods:

 

 

A new full tank video will be uploaded shortly...

[J-Ranko]

Here's a link to the new video:

 

 

Enjoy!

[J-Ranko]

Unfortunately, not all is good news. Despite the growth of the corals and coralline algae, I have lost a couple of snails (1 astrea and 1 cerith). My water parameters tested fine so I'm not sure what killed them off, besides perhaps starvation as I have very little to no growth of nuisance algae.

 

Also, the only coral not showing growth is the green polyp staghorn, which is now showing a very slow STN. Since last week, I have observed a very gradual progression of tissue necrosis starting at the base. Tissue has receded about 1 cm in 1 week. I'm going to frag it into several pieces to save the remaining colony if possible.

 

I have been carefully observing my other sps and they have no signs of any tissue necrosis. They continue to show growth and polyp extension so they should be fine at the moment.

[J-Ranko]

Unfortunately, not all is good news. Despite the growth of the corals and coralline algae, I have lost a couple of snails (1 astrea and 1 cerith). My water parameters tested fine so I'm not sure what killed them off, besides perhaps starvation as I have very little to no growth of nuisance algae.

[...]

Never mind, I found my fourth cerith behind a rock. I haven't seen the astrea in over two weeks, though, and I did find what appeared to be its rotting flesh last week when I did my water change.

[bmac16]

im going through the same thing in my 120 right now. i have virtually no algae growing and the tank has been up for a few months now. i had 40 astreas and im down to 12. totally effed my parameters for awhile.

 

goodluck with the staghorn

[J-Ranko]

im going through the same thing in my 120 right now. i have virtually no algae growing and the tank has been up for a few months now. i had 40 astreas and im down to 12. totally effed my parameters for awhile.

 

goodluck with the staghorn

 

I managed to stop the STN. I fragged it and stabilized my temperature with a fan (time with the lights). It's now a rock-solid 79 degrees. Before it was going from 79 from 82 on a daily basis and that might have been giving the staghorn stress. Odd, though, since it was the only sps showing any sign of stress. My other ones are doing just fine.

 

Anyways, I got lots of new toys I upgraded and/or added but I've been lazy to update. I'll be posting some more pics soon.

[J-Ranko]

Lots of new toys! (Got these over a week ago but I just posted them today.)

 

 

That's a 250w Lumatek ballast (dimmable and can power 150w, 175w and 250w bulbs of your choice). I also got a Phoenix 14,000K lamp (150w), a PhosBan reactor, and a refractometer. I also got a dual switch in-sump ATO from autotopoff.com (not included in the picture above).

 

I modded my Fishnneedit fixture to accommodate the new ballast and larger lamp. This bulb/ballast combo is amazing--the light is so much brighter and yet just as blue as my 20,000K 70w ushio lamp!

 

The Phosban reactor is actually running Purigen (not GFO or GAC) sandwiched between two poly-filter pads. The maxi-jet 900 is just to pump water through the reactor.

[J-Ranko]

Here's the most current FTS (taken today 6/6/2010) under the new Phoenix 14,000K lamp:

 

 

I haven't added any new livestock recently but that should change in the next couple of weeks.

[J-Ranko]

More FTS:

 

 

 

Both taken today 6/6/2010.

[Gerber77]

Looks great! What are the plans for new additions?

[J-Ranko]

Looks great! What are the plans for new additions?

 

Thanks! I'm looking for more sps with blue or purple coloration, and maybe some acans and zoas. I might even add a nice Euphyllia (torch or hammer).

[lakshwadeep]

Nice duncan colony and open rockwork.

[J-Ranko]

Nice duncan colony and open rockwork.

Thanks! You should see how many new polyp heads the Duncan colony have grown out since I bought it about two months ago. It's my fastest growing colony so far. I'll see if I can get good pictures of the new polyps--most of them are still small.

[J-Ranko]

I've been too busy and lazy to update for a long time, but I wanted to let you guys know that this tank is still going and it's doing quite well. I rescaped the tank a while back and I've added several new corals since my last update. Here are the latest full tank shots (all taken on 9/15):

 

 

 

 

My tank is now seven months old!

[J-Ranko]

Testing out a macro lens I'm borrowing. Here's a nice shot of my blue acro straight out of the camera (no processing):

 

 

I like the dreamy quality that was achieved through a very shallow depth of field. Notice how the polyps are relatively big for a SPS coral. (You can view a bigger version at the nano-reef.com gallery.)

 

Stay tuned---more macro shots to come!!!

[J-Ranko]

Here's a macro shot of my Aussie duncan. This is a shot of just one of its polyps with an extremely shallow depth of field.

DOF is so shallow that only a part of the polyp whiskers are in focus.

[J-Ranko]

As you guys can probably tell, I'm loving this macro lens! Now if I can just actually buy one for myself...

 

More macro shots to come as I continue to experiment with the lens, this time with greater clarity and more depth of field for sharp close-ups. The two shots above were taken more for their lovely aesthetic effects than detailed magnification.

[mdannyg]

that blue acro shot is great!

[J-Ranko]

that blue acro shot is great!

 

Thanks! I'm gonna try to get sharper macro shots tomorrow (MH lights already off).

[J-Ranko]

Here's a macro shot of my Aussie duncan. This is a shot of just one of its polyps with an extremely shallow depth of field.

DOF is so shallow that only a part of the polyp whiskers are in focus.

 

Just to add to the above, my Aussie duncan colony has grown to a 22-head/polyp monster over the summer. Here's a full shot of it from the front:

 

 

(I'm probably overusing shallow DOF at the moment but I just can't resist. )

[reefrook]

wish my duncans grew just as fast! great shot by the way

[J-Ranko]

Here are some nice close-ups of my acans:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a close-up shot of my purple frilly gorgonian:

 

 

wish my duncans grew just as fast! great shot by the way

 

Thanks! (I'm only borrowing the macro lens for now, though.) I think if you feed your duncan polyps directly and frequently, you'll get explosive growth.