Friar's 4 gallon Finnex - R.I.P.

[friar1]

The Damsel, "Flo" is excavating her cave. She picked out a spot in the scape, a crak in the rocks, and is right now blowing sand out of a little divot she has made in the sand. Now its a deep cave. Looks like it's almost down to the glass bottom.

[metrokat]

I had a sand storm yesterday. Luger, the pistol was digging deep under the rocks, so from the hole it made, it looked like Vesuvius - smoking constantly. The particles were so fine that the filter floss took forever to catch it all.

[friar1]

I have no filter running, so I notice it when Flo does her digging.!

[brandon429]

Candy canes are neat. What I used to think was the most passive of lps has now become the most prominent sweeper producer in the tank, damaging and aggressive in age what a neat dichotomy. When the heads get mature, as in half dollar size they can really tear up things I would have never guessed

[friar1]

Hi Brandon.

You know, in my tank, I actually think it depends on where they are at in relation to other corals. When I first got these, they produced super long sweepers, but as they grew closer to other corals in the tank, notably zoas, go figure, the sweepers became much shorter. But I also have that neon green trumpet, it is farther away from other corals than the candy canes are, and its sweepers are about normal. I now have the two largest candy cane colonies right next to each other. They seem to be staying away from each other, sweeper-wise. I got a chalice, short sweepers, Acans, short sweepers, maze brain, short sweepers. I put the maze brain frag right above the chalice frag to see what would happen over the long haul. The one thing I have stayed away from is a torch or frogspawn coral. I would be interested to know what would happen if I put a small frag of frogspawn in the tank, now that there is less room for sweeper tentacles.

 

Brian

[metrokat]

You have no filter.

You have no filter?

Did I read that right?

[friar1]

You read that right Kat!

 

I just hooked up my turtle canister filter again after giving it a good cleaning, and lo and behold... GHA outbreak!

 

Not a big problem though. I think I will take the filter out again, or I am going to put a ball of Chaeto in it. Not sure what I want to do, but there was no filter on this tank for about a month. No problems, clear water. WC once a week.

 

'Course, When I change water, it is about a third of the total water volume, so they are quite large WC's

 

The filter adds ugly to the tank, now that I think about it, so I will probably take it out again. I just need to keep up on WCs if I do.

 

Brian

[metrokat]

So do you rely on LR and LS and the large WCs for filtration alone or do you also have macros or a sump?

Where does the water go if not over filter floss to catch detritus and crap? What if you over feed?

Are you skimming?

[friar1]

Well,

I have a 4G tank so skimming is not a good option.

Mostly I rely on LR and LS. I have a very small clump of Chaeto in the back of the tank, but I don't think it does much for it. Yet.

 

I did have this turtle canister filter on for the last year., but when I took it out to clean it, I needed parts and so the tank ran for at least a month without it.

I really just used that filter to polish the water more than anything else, and also, my corals are not too sensitive to slightly dirty water. As for detritus and feeding, I have a great crew of bristle worms and other creatures of that type that take very good care of food that lands on the rock or the sand.

 

I always seem to have issues with this tank if I feed too often, so I have to make sure it is only a few times per week.

 

Right now, that turtle filter has Chemi-pure elite and purigen. I think it works better if I add a PURA Filtration Pad, it has ferric oxide in it too. I might do that real quick and leave it for a month and see what happens.

 

I do not like the HOB type filters, too noisy. But the wisdom these days is that canister filters are just traps for detritus and will do more harm than good. I think at this stage of the tank I could probably do without any filter at all and it would be fine.

[friar1]

If I took the Damsel out I am quite sure I would not need any filter at all. I just can't find a home for that fish

 

[metrokat]

wow, this is very interesting.

[friar1]

hi Kat,

 

Well,

when I first started in this hobby, people were saying you did not need a filter, just live rock and sand. My first tank, a 1.5 gallon I had, got a bad gha outbreak in it after about three months. after a few months of fighting the gha, I put the turtle canister filter on it.(it was all I could afford that would work). GHA went away. But I do not know if that was due to the filter or the maturity of the tank.

 

Now, after a year of no algae problems in this tank, I get a couple of GHA outbreaks. Probably a mini cycle, since I just added coral to the tank.

 

I still think that if I took the filter off and got rid of the Damsel, there would probably be no problems keeping this tank running good, as long as I keep up with WCs. But that is a guess, I have only anecdotal evidence to support my hypothesis.

 

[friar1]

two of my Mini Minis are getting ready to split again! I am going to have a mini garden! Hope they don't overrun the tank. They split faster than the corals do!

[africaturtle]

I've just read your thread and it's very interesting.

Do you have any idea how much you've spent total (not counting electricity or water consumption) on hardware + corals?

 

Anyways, keep it up your tank looks good and healthy.

 

Cheers,

 

Georges

[friar1]

I've just read your thread and it's very interesting.

Do you have any idea how much you've spent total (not counting electricity or water consumption) on hardware + corals?

 

Anyways, keep it up your tank looks good and healthy.

 

Cheers,

 

Georges

 

Thanks Georges,

 

I have spent about maybe 400 to 500 dollars on equipment and coral, including shipping

This would be overt he course of a year

 

Lights were about 150, with the two LED drivers and LEDs and heat sink

 

aquarium was about 50

 

pump and filter and heater about 100 altogether

 

about 100 for all the corals and shipping.

[africaturtle]

Thanks Georges,

 

I have spent about maybe 400 to 500 dollars on equipment and coral, including shipping

This would be overt he course of a year

 

Lights were about 150, with the two LED drivers and LEDs and heat sink

 

aquarium was about 50

 

pump and filter and heater about 100 altogether

 

about 100 for all the corals and shipping.

 

Thanks for the detailed answer,

I'd say that's a swell looking tank for an affordable budget!

georges

[friar1]

I had an interesting thing happen the other day,

 

My pink chalice attacked my Maze Brain with its guts (mesenterial filaments) Almost wiped out the maze brain. Very interesting to see. The brain was covered with a white weblike structure. I thought it was the vermitid snails I have all over my tank, because their webs were out too. But when I got home, there was the maze, half skeleton! Wow, the intensity of the attack was mind blowing. The maze seems to have lost about half of its flesh, the other half seems ok. That chalice was not joking around, hehe.

 

I have seen the sweepers most of the LPS in my tank put out, but this is the first time I have seen this type of activity from a coral up close.

 

So goes life on the reef!

 

Brian

[Builder Anthony]

best suck all that stuff out of there or you may have a breakout of brown slime that will devour your tank.

[friar1]

yeah, it's all gone

thanks

[friar1]

OK,

 

I can say with certainty, I need to run my turtle canister filter on this tank. I took the filter off to clean it. I had to wait a month before I could get it working again. Algae began growing when I put the filter back in. After getting the filter working again, the algae has slowly retreated and now is all gone. The canister has purigen and chemi-pure elite in it and nothing else. Still doing weekly water changes and feeding the tank every other day or so.

 

I may not really need it too much if I did not have the fish, but with the damsel, it is needed.

 

Brian

[metrokat]

How are you so cool about one coral eating up the other. Me, I yell at the coral in question and put it in the corner.

[friar1]

Well, first of all, the victim survived. And I did put the attacker in a corner by itself, just so the victim could recover. I just thought it is such interesting behavior. I saw this on a nature program, did not think I would see it up close and personal, as it were

 

I find the various corals in this tank to be extermely complex and interesting creatures. Like the Candy Canes and Trumpets. At night, their physiology completely changes, their puffed up flesh, which is evident in daylight almost completely recedes at night, as they put out their sweepers. It is such a fantastic transformation!. And the Acans, although they have some sweepers too, they do not go through such a transformation, but when irritated, the Acans almost behave like a soft coral, oozing mucus like rics and mushrooms do.

 

To see that chalice attacking the maze brain, although I did not want that to happen, just added one more interesting facet to the tank.

 

I love it!

 

B

[metrokat]

For Christmas I want a pair of night vision goggles. You too right?!

[Nano sapiens]

Well, first of all, the victim survived. And I did put the attacker in a corner by itself, just so the victim could recover. I just thought it is such interesting behavior. I saw this on a nature program, did not think I would see it up close and personal, as it were

 

I find the various corals in this tank to be extermely complex and interesting creatures.

 

One of the great things about Pico/Nano tanks is that you can see all kinds of interactions in great detail.

 

I can see why a 4g would need filter media, especially with a high-energy needs Damsel in the tank. The only real alternative is more frequent water changes, but that can be a pain.

 

I've managed to go filter-less with a 12g, keeping a small fish or two, for four years. LR and LS with consistent WCs work out as long as I resist the temptation to overfeed.

[friar1]

One of the great things about Pico/Nano tanks is that you can see all kinds of interactions in great detail.

 

I can see why a 4g would need filter media, especially with a high-energy needs Damsel in the tank. The only real alternative is more frequent water changes, but that can be a pain.

 

I've managed to go filter-less with a 12g, keeping a small fish or two, for four years. LR and LS with consistent WCs work out as long as I resist the temptation to overfeed.

 

Yeah, I bet i could get away without a filter having this Damsel, if I were to move to two or three water changes a week. But I would not be able to miss a beat, after a while, the algae would come back.

 

 

 

For Christmas I want a pair of night vision goggles. You too right?!

 

Haha, yeah Kat. I can just picture me sitting in front of my tank with a pair of those sticking out from my face!

 

My daughter would have a heart attack if she came in to the room to see a strange headed creature staring into the reef tank in the dark HHAHAHAHAH!