garrettparson Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Ha alright. Boxer crabs are pretty awesome. But the B natans are a small fish that use corals like acro's to hide in and they usually just float a inch above them and sometimes resting on them. So I thought that would be perfect besides the fact that they are almost impossible to find on sale. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 I will try to get pictures up tomarrow. My corals are expected to be in the mail at 10:30 am. So I will take a pic once they are in the tank. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Okay, So I have the yellow mille in and the purple tip acro in. The mille opened up with in seconds of being inside the tank. Im not sure how long or how much the extension is suppose to be on a millepora but it looks decent to me. Its very tiny maybe 1 and half centimeters tall. The acro is a little bigger with small nub branches. The acro however has not let any polyps out which worrys me. Does acropora usually take a while to let polyps out? Should I be worried since its only been around 2 hours in the tank? Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Its completey variable on how long it takes them to open. I think zoanthids are the worst of all corals, you can transplant them into a perfectly fine tank and sometimes they take a month to open lol the mille wouldn't send out anything if params were off so this is totally normal. What about the salinity control how are you doing that? Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Well the glass lid will be here tomarrow( i added the extra chaeto cork mod to it ) But the salinity over all is almost as good as the vase was! It takes awhile there actually is still a little condesation under the glass, so yeah. But tomarrow it will be resealed for a while I guess. The acro that is not open I guess is fine. No dying tissue no bleaching as of now. We'll see in the next few days. Also In the next couple of hours I will try to beg my sister for a few pictures with her camera. lol Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Pictures! Not that great of quality though. Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 that is a perfect start for the tank, I would keep all those corals for sure. it is free of algae perfectly, so get your gardener gloves on if any pops up anywhere. Allow no diatom growth, no green haze on the glass, none on the rocks, if you see algae of any kind don't wait for it to cycle out, remove it! you can preserve this clean look for the life of your tank, plus the c balance dosing will help to lessen any algae blooms that start. Algae and diatom blooms may be common in new tanks, but no one says you have to leave a tank looking ugly, manual gardening guarantees nothing will ever wipe out your tank. Countless times Ive watched thread makers refuse to wipe out new algae growths and then they turn into something that smothers the whole tank and makes them hate pico reefing. It was so easy just to remove X growth the first time they saw it, but too many people told them it was natural and to leave it alone. Just a helpful prediction, you've already got a hundred or more $$ in the tank so lets treat it in a way that forces success. by all means anyone who wants to experiment with binder pads or things that target nitrate and phosphate can do so, my only point is regardless of what you do to affect water quality, manually remove anything that circumvents your efforts. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Ha why thanks! Yeah this tank is more expensive then I thought, If you want to include all the equipment and items being shipped and such its around 300$$. Ha and trust me there will be no such thing as algae in my tank. Aha for now Im deciding which new coral piece should be glued to a rock or to the wall? Quote Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I really wouldnt glue anything yet you will probally find some more rosck soon that you like and its hard to find a nice scape or build one when things are glued. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 Yeah I suppose I should wait it out for another couple weeks. The way im planning having my rock scape is to be very open/little rock in there so there is plenty of room for corals to branch and over lap each other. I just really need to decide on reather or not I want to add anymore live rock or not. Any suggestions/opinions are appreciated! Quote Link to comment
.Newman. Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 and over lap each other. this strikes me as something that can end badly. plenty of room and trimming later when needed are always a good thing. i wish corals would play nice and grow close to each other, but its difficult to figure out how to place two corals together so that in the future they will not fight for space. i hope you do a good job with placement, it is very important. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 12, 2011 Author Share Posted June 12, 2011 Yeah I have thought about that. In such small systems though I have notice that there has been less fighting? I could be completely wrong but it just seems like they get along better. Of course if I did see any signs of stress between the corals I would trim/move. Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 18, 2011 Share Posted June 18, 2011 Hey Garrett so by now its been through a few feeding/change dumps right and you've started the c balance drops...it will be on its way now if the lighting works out to be just right. How about another update shot, very helpful to track an early reef with those good pics. Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Hey, unfortuently it is still under "construction" I have had the worst experience with the glass shop. I waited a few days, came back and they lost it. Came the next day after they promised a new one and the back two holes where the cables go in/out are to far in. So im giving my uncle a shot of just drilling to extra small ones in the back and just plug the unneeded holes up. So at the moment I have to keep up with with top offs with the fan blowing 24/7 its kind of a pain. Hopefully my uncle can drill it in the next few days, if it breaks I have a extra were they found the other one. The good news. The coral has not bleached or anything, I have not added anything and I am not until the lid is fixed. The thing that amazes me right now, is I already have over ten small white tube worms growing on the back of the false wall! I thought this would take atleast a couple of months! Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 just about another week under the belt, hows it going now with the lid for sealing, and the temp preservation Garrett? Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 The lid is now sealed, temp is staying around 78. I keep slowly seeing more and pods and stuff. Tomarrow after my water change I will offically take the two newish corals I have off there plugs before they incrust. One to the wall and one to the rock. Maybe both to the rock im not sure. lol No signs of coraline algae yet. But everything seems to be going smoothe. I have a question though. Say one monday morning I wake up in a rush/late and forgot to dose. Can I dose that same day at night when lights go out? Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 (edited) no never in a tank this small. I had a relative do exactly that while I was on vacation and it burned every coral white just skip that dosing round, I forget all the time. mornings only on a tank this small all dosing in every reef aquarium not using a counterlit refugium should be strictly in the mornings...for those that dose in a constant drip, or in the afternoons, its with larger tanks that use volume to lessen the deadly pH spike that dosing alkalinity portions of two part dosers causes...even though you have a counterlit refugium, the volume is too small to risk. skipping a round of dosing is not harmful, your tank isn't even commanding alot of calcium and alk yet the reason you can't dose in the evenings in a pico (safely) is because the pH rebound period from the photosythetic portion of the daylight cycle lasts until the mid to early morning, in most tanks, especially ones with great lighting. the lowest pH period for any pico reef using a standard lighting schedule is just before the tank lights come on, after a nonphotosynthetic night time period has allowed waste gas CO2 to accumulate. In the daytime and just after lights out the tanks is still lacking any CO2 because the day run sucked it all up for photosynthesis in the corals and live rock organisms. Edited June 26, 2011 by brandon429 Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 What time do you like to feed your pico? I have fed mine both morning and night and I think night might be best only because the trumpet coral, but who knows day could be better? Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 if I feed at night when the polyps are out I sometimes let the food sit overnite and rip change in the morning when they are withdrawn. doesnt really matter, as long as they are fed. as another alternate, sometimes I would spot feed the lps and change the water late at night after they've closed up. Quote Link to comment
xxbrianxx Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Hey brandon, wouldn't leaving the food there for that long dirty up the water pretty bad? Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Ah okay cool. Well its almost been running for one month in four days. Now 5 more months to worry about. Haha Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 overnite is as long as I leave it, occasionally. usually its a feed + rip change within an hour or two. Ive noticed the green scum layer on the glass is worse when I leave overnite but I just deal w that in the next change Quote Link to comment
garrettparson Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 Okay, gluing coral to rocks/wall using scotts gel glue and and you only have a inch wide of a hole to work with is the most annoying/hard thing I have done yet. My corals are pretty mad about it too since it took me several trys. Quote Link to comment
brandon429 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 they w be okay Ive slimed mine multiply don't forget to go to dallas bonsai .com and look around at their pincers its awesome what they have Quote Link to comment
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