RandomLetters Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Your pico is gorgeous, and inspiring. If my new tank ends up looking half as nice, ill be happy. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I have a question and I think you might be the best person to answer it. How are you controlling phosphate levels in your tank? And what are they? I was SHOCKED to see mine at 0.25 and I'm sure you are adding a ton with your crazy feeding schedule. Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Thanks RandomLetters andrewkw, I checked a few minutes ago before water change and they are undetectable with the API test kit. I check every once in a while, mostly when I try new foods, they have always been 0 ppm and same with nitrates. I haven't used anything to control it except daily water changes and I'm more forgiving with the algae that pop up in the aquarium. Link to comment
DK_Reef Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 subscribed read all 14 pages, initially because I was curios about Emperor shrimps. I really enjoyed the whole thread and your tank is really awesome. How is the emperor doing? Link to comment
bioload Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 So here are some photos, I will start with the new additions Blueberry gorgonian frag. This species have very low survival rates, and haven't heard many success stories keeping them more than 2 years. Just giving them a try, for 4 bucks I think it will be nice to see how well it fairs in my system. Blue sponge. This sponge was on a snail at the LFS, a few days ago I saw that the snail had died and it left behind with it the sponge. So I purchased the sponge. I got this small toadstool frag from a LFS that gave it to me for free. It is growing really quickly and has about doubled in size and is already attached to a rock. Here are a few closeups of my older inhabitants Had to move the coco, because it wasn't happy in the back due to the movement of the Xenia Mellena sp. I cant wait to get the sea fan food from fauna marin to add it to my feeding mixture. The flame scallop has gotten plumper since I have purchased it. The orange ric just keeps on growing but doesnt want to divide. The yellow tip purple yuma has already divided. Trumpets have gotten pretty darn huge compared to when I first got it. And here are the FTSs BEST looking 3g of water I've ever seen........great work!!!!! Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 subscribed How is the emperor doing? Shrimp is doing great. He has moved quite a bit more than I thought it would. But usually when he finds a place it likes it stays upside down and moves very little. The emperor shrimp has been receiving 1 Hikari L pellet every day and usually almost eats all of it. It molted the first day I got it, which means it probably got an element it needed. I can see why these shrimps aren't that successful in captivity, because they really need someone to put food in front of them all the time. So any large tank would make it extremely difficult to find the shrimp during feeding time due to its size. Also, it makes no effort in its part to find food. Other than that, if Im successful with this emperor shrimp, I will begin recommending them for pico/small nano tanks and also begin the process of trying to breed them. bioload, tanks. So today, I really was interested in how much I spent on this tank. I began looking through receipts and after I punched in the numbers in the calculator my face went to . I totally over spent on this little tank. I will not add a single thing, and begin trying to grow out the corals to frag some so I can recover some of the damage made to my wallet. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 you probably went beyond $500 right? its a feeling that gets me depressed too lol. i went way over $500 in this first year i had it xD A static grow out period is always good. Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Indeed, way over $500. I can't imagine how much larger tanks cost, well over a few grand. But on the upside, as long as the corals are healthy, there is a possibility of getting a good portion back. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 yes there is. especially if there is a market for your corals in your area. or if you are brave to ship at a guarantee. Link to comment
andrewkw Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 My pico is low budget most of the stuff comes from my other tanks at 0 (additional) cost Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 andrekw, there is always a main tank (the money guzzler). I have a second pico, and it remains pretty much empty, it has 2 frags so far from my main tank. At first it doesn't seem to bad spending $20-40 every week or so. But then after 5 months it really really starts adding up. But luckily I keep my entertainment money separate, to avoid any real overspending. Link to comment
Squared Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 your tank is awsome. how big is that emperor? Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Squared, it is slightly bigger than a female sexy shrimp. Im not sure if I have a male emperor or female emperor, my best guess is a female because it has a relatively large abdomen. Link to comment
Funktastic Wint Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 can you trim gorgonian when it starts growing out of the water? Link to comment
DK_Reef Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 That is amazing information on the emperor, great work Soon I will engage in a money pit extravaganza or as it is better known a nano reef lol There are two new corals I learned we can keep here, this really nice endemic blue octocoral that I think alot people would like to have and I might possibly be able to frag it. Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 can you trim gorgonian when it starts growing out of the water? If your gorgonian is growing to the point it is about to go out the water, it must mean you are doing something right. Some species are easier than others. There is a greater chance of fragging it if the specimen is happy in the conditions you are keeping it. Most gorgonians that are non-photosynthetic are pretty hard to keep, I'm having trouble even with a menella sp. which is consider on the easier side to keep of NPS corals. RealDaKine, thanks. Indeed that is a very nice coral, looks like a sympodium coral. It has recently been acquiring popularity because their prices have been going down due to more availability. Do you have a pic of the main colony? Link to comment
DK_Reef Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 If your gorgonian is growing to the point it is about to go out the water, it must mean you are doing something right. Some species are easier than others. There is a greater chance of fragging it if the specimen is happy in the conditions you are keeping it. Most gorgonians that are non-photosynthetic are pretty hard to keep, I'm having trouble even with a menella sp. which is consider on the easier side to keep of NPS corals. RealDaKine, thanks. Indeed that is a very nice coral, looks like a sympodium coral. It has recently been acquiring popularity because their prices have been going down due to more availability. Do you have a pic of the main colony? I believe the scientific name is Sarcothelia edmondsoni. Here is a good colony picture I found online I don't know of any LFS that sells it, my local reef fourm just said to collect your own and recommended locations , I was planning on collecting my own specimens here is how abundant it is Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 thats a just a variant of blue cloves ._. also pj you should be able to guess if its a female by the bent shape of the scales on the abdomen. in female shrimp the scales are sort of curved to create a basket type of thing for the eggs. does it have that? Also gorgonian growing out of the water...wouldn't it just not do that? once it reaches the water surface it would have to either branch/grow laterally. I see this in SPS (you see no SPS growing out of the water lol) so idk if gorgs are the same. Link to comment
DK_Reef Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 thats a just a variant of blue cloves ._. I don't know what that is but it wouldn't mean anything , it makes up 50% of the legal corals which is good enough for me lol Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 it should mean something considering blue cloves are deemed by many as a pest coral. Blue Clove Polyps are IMO some of the more awesome corals, and the ones you posted pics of are infinitely beautiful (that green-blue is amazing) It's just very unfortunate that they will spread throughout your entire tank and choke your other corals out completely just like xenia does. I would not put them into any tank that contains your most prized corals, but they are a good choice for a casual tank that you want to look natural as they do take over. Link to comment
DK_Reef Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Interesting I didn't know that, the ID guide just said it was "endemic" and a disappointment I don't want it to dominate. Do you think it would choke out zoanthids? Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Really depends on your tank. I have some blue snowflake cloves for about 4 months, and they haven't spread at all. But most aquarist report them being a pest. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 yes you can get lucky like pj and get a type that doesnt spread very fast. then you'd have just the right amount of a cool looking coral. I had a similar issue with this one species of GSP i had - a real whiner, could not grow in my pico and withered away. Only lived in my 10 gal nano. It wasnt your run of the mill every day GSP tho, it has flesh colored skin as opposed to the regular GSP having purple colored skin. Link to comment
pj86 Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Short update on how my tank is doing. Good and bad news. Ill start off with the bad news. Last night my emperor shrimp molted and was vulnerable to predation. So when I went to check on him last night he seemed stuck/sucked to the live rock. He already seemed gone. So I tried to remove him and I felt this resistance coming from the end of the live rock. When I was able to free It, it had a chunk of its abdomen removed. I know I have eunicid worm somewhere in the tank, but I just hope it hasn't gotten to large. I can see now why these shrimp need their host, they are extremely vulnerable to predation if not on top of a host. The good news is that, my sexy shrimp spawned again and this time I was able to remove it an hour before the spawn and capture all the larva. This occurred 2 nights ago. The female sexy shrimp has been put back to the main tank today in the morning and seems to be doing fine. All the larva are doing great, and tonight will be their first larval molting. Another good news is my tank is growing beautifully and most of the corals are thriving, except the blueberry gorgonian. All the corals are beginning to seem more mature and established because for the past month I haven't really moved anything. Photos will come soon. Link to comment
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