My first 3g Picotope

[pj86]

Some updates. I went to my LFS and asked about Furan-2, it was $12 bucks. I thought it was a little bit expensive, and decided to do a freshwater dip first. After FWD for 7 min, I noticed that the colony is actually really healthy except for a few polyps here and there. Several large-medium size copepods died, also these weird tiny little things that have 2 black dots on them fell off, and several other creatures. Colony literally is starting to really open up again, must have been that they were getting irritated.

I decided to hang my sun coral upside down which gives it more room and will be easier to take out to feed. On the other hand, my Hawaiian feather duster the past 2 nights has been acting really weird. He would go out and jerk back inside several times, like if he were trying to tear his own feathers. Prior to this he has been doing really well in the tank, also the coco is doing extremely well. Hope, it is just trying to exchange his feather/crown for a bigger and better one. I know they usually don't have good outcomes.

[.Newman.]

if it sheds its crown dont you think something's wrong? I think the radioles grow with the worm, it doesnt have to shed it to make it bigger...at least hats what I thought.

 

sounds like the FW dip helped

[pj86]

The only major thing I did was change from carbon to chemipure elite, 2 weeks ago. The other worms that are closer to the ATO/dosing mechanism are doing really well, on the left hand side of the tank. The coco has gotten bigger. The Hawaiian feather duster will most likely lose its crown . I have increased dosing by adding oyster-feast to the mixture of food, and have bought a T-tube-splitter so that both sides of the tank get a surge of food equally.

 

On a brighter note, I got another picotope. Having a tank on a kitchen counter is nice, but most of the time I'm in my room studying for med. So I get an urge to see it, which then breaks my concentration. So, I bought one for my room and will make this one more simpler than the one I have currently. Fewer water changes, no dosing, no massive feedings. I have plans to make it a bare bottom tank, which will house softies and that is pretty much it. Maybe a fish of course. Also, it will be a tank for which I can share the goods with the NR community.

[.Newman.]

maybe the worm is getting cramped or stung by something near it? i cant think of anything else it could be.

[pj86]

Yea, I was thinking the same thing. It had some damaged feathers, possibly the hermits or sexy were bothering it, not sure.

[pj86]

Some photos, learned that you can link photos from picasa, didn't know that so here go better quality photos

 

Happy candy cane

 

Love this zoa colony

 

Look so cool together, yet each one is so plain

 

Looking better, I feed this guy everyday so far and he is appreciating it

 

And here is my little fishy

 

Will probably upload more pics this way, much better large than the smaller ones I have been putting up

[Reef Casa]

looking good! loving the candy cane

[rockhead01]

Great job! Beautiful tank!

[pj86]

Thanks for the compliments. Here are photos of one branch of my sarconephthya feeding, it is making a nice recovery and looks way better than it did a month ago at the LFS.

[Mr. Microscope]

Wow! Those tubs blues are amazing! What is that orange-red thing there in that last pic? Is there a more common name for it?

[pj86]

Thanks Mr. Microscope. Yea they are also know as cauliflower corals, red/orange flower tree coral, and I heard them referred as strawberry coral at my LFS which I believe is incorrect.

[.Newman.]

nice sarco! I'd call them sarco nephtheas or something like that.

 

is that very green algae up top of your reef, bryopsis? careful if it is thats stuff is impossible to get rid of and can take over your tank if some other algae in your tank happens o die for w/e reason. just warning you i had major war with this stuff a while ago.

[pj86]

Newman, I believe it is the hated bryopsis . So far the algae has behaved and I take off a few pieces of it every 3 or 4 days. I will keep that one, because it is most likely competing with other algae in the tank which might be harder for me to reach if I need to rip them out. Also, it is a good indicator (as long as it doesn't grow out of control) that I have reached the max dosing capacity of my tank at the moment.

So here are some more photos, and photos of how I feed my sun coral currently (modified it to decrease stress to the coral)

 

The amazing kryptonite candy cane (this things glows under anything and loves to eat)

 

Gotta love GSP, some photos

 

probably one of my favorite photos so far

 

And this is how I pamper my sun coral

A microsoft cup I got in college, I knew it would come in handy some day

Close up of the nom nom

Fat and happy

[.Newman.]

i like your GSP!

youve been warned, the stuff is pure evil...

[pj86]

i like your GSP!

youve been warned, the stuff is pure evil...

 

Would an emerald crab eat it? I have an emerald crab in my refugium who picks at the chaeto quite a bit, helping it grow. I wouldn't mind putting him in the main tank, and I think he would appreciate the extra room.

[pj86]

Forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago, my sun coral seemed to be pooping out orange balls. I just thought it was getting rid of waste, but now that I looked close around my live rock I saw about 15 miniature sun polyps all over my live rock. Might be more in places that I can't see. Wonder if they will grow to colonize my rock. Also got to see my sexy molt right in front of me, will post pics later. Everything in this pico is moving pretty darn fast.

[.Newman.]

nice! though its unlikely that what you saw was actual sexual reproduction of the sun coral. unless you have two colonies from different sources. if you have one colony all the polyps in there have only one sex (assuming its like most corals and isnt an exception) and thus would only be able to produce either sperm or egg. The whole colony you have has been started by one polyp that has budded off and spread to form a colony. It's funny, but you may have seen a cool other way for coral asexual reproduction. never heard of orange balls being given off from one colony and growing into baby polyps w/o another colony of the opposite gender...

 

Now you will have tons of awesome sun corals in your tank.

 

a sun coral pico would be awesome looking and very different from all the others! (and i dont mean just a pico with a colony of sun coral or two )

 

 

EDIT: ok upon further search, or rather a quick look on wikipedia, these sun corals can release asexual planula larvae that will settle and form the said polyps littering your tank. lucky you! I've never had any coral propagate besides fission yet lol

[pj86]

Yea, I read it on the web. So after further inspection there is more like 30-40 sun polyps all over my tank. Don't know if I can take care of that many. Here are some pics of the ones that I can take a photo of,

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Microscope]

HOly BLeep! A REAL successful spawning event. I bow to thee!

 

Also, for reals?! You have your NPS suspended from the light hanging into the tank? Then you use the cup to cover it and feed it?? Utter genius. Well done.

 

What is your maintenance schedule? Water changes? Dosing? Feeding? Salt? I gotta know what kinda magic you're working in there!

 

One more thing..

So that sarco is like a toadstool? Softie?

 

TOTM!

[jgpico]

This pico is flippin insane! I have been watching this thing since you first started and wow you have done an amazing job! That is really cool that you have seen your sun coral do that. good job and keep up the good work. Cant wait to see your next little bedroom pico!!!! hopefully my pico is even half as successful as your tank

[.Newman.]

more like a colt coral or tree I think.

[pj86]

Thanks.

Yea, the sun coral use to sit on the sand but its polyps at night started extending way too long and would disturb the zoa's right next to it. Also, taking it out from the tank without hitting anything was an act of dexterity. So this was the solution to the feeding.

 

Here is my maintenance in detail

 

Filtration

Chemi-pure elite

Filter floss

Filter floss change every Sunday

 

Water changes everyday

~1 liter Monday-Saturday

~2 liters on Sunday

 

Feeding

 

Dosing (everyday alternating between full dose and half dose. This is included in my ATO water so it releases about 2 ounces of water every 2 hours meaning it goes through 16-20 ounces of water a day, I mix a fresh batch every 24 hours)

Full dose

.35ml/~12 hours phyto-feast

.1 ml/~12 hours Oyster-Feast

.15ml/~12 hours Roti-feast

Half dose

.17ml/~12 hours phyto-feast

.05 ml/~12 hours Oyster-Feast

.07 ml/~12 hours Roti-fea

 

Sun coral feeding - very variable but in average every 2 days (all extra food gets discarded)

About half-shot glass of mysis (lol, yea I use a shot glass as a measurement, consumes half of it in 2 hours)

 

Red blasto's feeding (every day to every other day, till tissue recover then probably every 3-4 days)

1 mysis per head

 

Neon goby (every day whenever I feed the corals)

Give him probably less than 1 mysis, because he asks for it. He usually eats the copepods

 

Salt

Oceanic (I get it from LFS)

 

That is my maintenance.

 

The sarco is a NPS. It was in really bad shape at the LFS and I knew it was most likely going to die. So that was the moment when this tank headed in a way different direction from the intended plan. The whole tank is designed around the sarco. Will see if there are results in a year or so.

 

Newman, it is a sarconephthya. Yea, like a colt, but just that it is a NPS.

[.Newman.]

well of course its NPS, Micro knows that, I was referring to shape and stuff like that plus I think its less related to mushroom leather. but maybe not. Oh wait, its more closely like Nephthea coral (I'm a fool for not having though of that earlier)

[pj86]

Whoops, read your sentence incorrectly. Indeed, Nepthea would be closer.

[will46r]

I gotta say that's pretty dang cool. Soooo you leave your sun coral there all the time or just for feeding? I'm confused.