Simplicity... llj's Fluval Spec

[lljdma06]

Do cowries like green algea? I seem to be getting some on my back glass... Has any one seen Lyla?

 

I see him roam about the tank, but I'm not quite sure what he eats or even what species he is. I got him from John at reefcleaners. Supposedly cowries start off vegetarian and then graduate to corals, but this one's never touched coral and I've had a ton of polyp group in past tanks that featured him in the CUC. He's very small, about 1" long and about 1/2" wide.

 

Coral frags keep falling. Glue sucks. Tank is happy though.

 

I haven't seen Lyla, but isn't she a student? If she is, she probably has midterms. I know I torture my students with tests all the time.

[Mstefa1]

I've been very successful with Loctite but then bought some Boston Aqua Farms glue and that won't set well under water. So now I'm back to Loctite and I'm struggling again. I'm thinking about trying Ecotech CA glue.

 

Couple of tricks... Use a toothbrush to clean the live rock first so you get a better bond. If it's going into an irregular surface then use putty as in put glue on some putty, put the putty in the tank, put glue on the frag, then put the frag on the putty. If done well you won't see the putty.

[x3thelast]

The tank is doing well! glad to see it keep going! 5 more til it's 1 yr old!

[1reefluvr2]

I see him roam about the tank, but I'm not quite sure what he eats or even what species he is. I got him from John at reefcleaners. Supposedly cowries start off vegetarian and then graduate to corals, but this one's never touched coral

 

I took out a tiny turbin snail out of my Edge & put her in the spec.. She whent to town on the back glass , noticed theres green hair algea in some of the rock so she shall stay in the spec to keep it in control until she out grows the Spec then in the 375gallon she goes.

 

Poor Lyla:( ............. Hope she has time for her spec. Ill have to post on her thread to get her attention;)

[lljdma06]

 

I took out a tiny turbin snail out of my Edge & put her in the spec.. She whent to town on the back glass , noticed theres green hair algea in some of the rock so she shall stay in the spec to keep it in control until she out grows the Spec then in the 375gallon she goes.

 

Poor Lyla:( ............. Hope she has time for her spec. Ill have to post on her thread to get her attention;)

 

Tank is doing well. Reglued the God of Wars that fell. Gorgs are doing well, but they keep shifting about. Did a water change today. A day late, but I was visiting my mom on Saturday.

[lljdma06]

Took some random pictures. Will upload tonight. Whipped out the good camera and everything. Oooooooooo... The good camera...

 

L

[lljdma06]

Peeechur time...

 

Full tank shot, gsp is sulking. It does that once in a while. It's a pain.

 

 

Palys and sun corals

 

 

blastos

 

 

favia and hornets

 

 

red hornets close up

 

 

emerald crab

 

 

Gorgonian with polyps open

 

 

for fun, my fiance's colony of nuclear green palys and mohawks. They were originally mine, but I fragged some for him. When my mom got sick, my colonies didn't survive. Nice that he has his. They're in his Nuvo 38. I have have God of Wars because I gave him colony B. My baby polyps are doing ok, starting to open more.

 

 

Finally, one of my dendros. We call this one Animal after the muppet.

 

 

Thanks for looking. Doing a water change tomorrow. Hopefully my gsp will stop sulking. Everybody else is super happy though.

 

L

[1reefluvr2]

After looking at your tank pics , I shall get some pink blastos. Now Im on the hunt for pink blastos & purple hornets.

[beebes]

Such a great tank, those gorgs look awesome when they're feeding. Really want to get myself some dendros now.

[x3thelast]

Everything looks marvelous and thriving!

[lljdma06]

After looking at your tank pics , I shall get some pink blastos. Now Im on the hunt for pink blastos & purple hornets.

 

The blastos were a freebie. They broke off from a larger colony at my LFS and sat in the display for months, neglected. I'm her only client that keeps a pico, so nobody needed such a small frag. I kept asking how it was doing and finally she just up and gave it to me. Really a sweet deal, as they are nicely colored blastos. I've been upping their feeding. I want them to grow more.

 

Such a great tank, those gorgs look awesome when they're feeding. Really want to get myself some dendros now.

 

Gorgs are a lovely coral. I really have to fix the position on the back two gorg frags, you never see them and that annoys me. Dendros are expensive. I got my original colonies at $20 a head and that was a big discount. I have three colonies, I keep two & my fiance has one. Two with 2 heads initially, one with three. Easily each colony has about 4-6 heads now, not including very young babies. So do the math. Was from the same LFS that gave me the blastos. She never got really good dendros in again. They're hard to find, and when I see them, they are ridiculously priced and in poor health. Hers is the only store that I've seen target feed nps. Everybody else just leaves them in a corner. LOL, one time I showed a different store a picture of my dendros. They didn't ever know that they opened!

 

Everything looks marvelous and thriving!

 

Eh, not everything is perfect. The corals that were in my 36g, the tank that really suffered when my mom was sick though this pico suffered too, have some recovery to do. They included...

 

The red hornets

God of War remnants, I have two viable polyps possibly, maybe 5, but they are babies...

Favia

Some other zoa frags

 

They just need time and good water, lots of nutrients, and stability. This is a good environment for them, I think.

 

I also fear that I may lose my yellow sun coral that's in my avatar. When I did the heavy tank clean, a small rock fell on the polyp. It didn't look damaged when I first took a look at it, but now I definitely see tissue loss and the dent where the rock fell. I continue to feed it, but it's not opening much. It's frustrating because I've had that coral for over a year and it's been great. Who knows? LPS are sometimes very tough little corals. Also, my orange sun coral polyps are battling green hair algae. They are gradually winning the war and I see new growth, but I have to be on top of it. I know I'll have to remove the frag and cut off the parts with the algae. And my green clown goby is a very finicky and therefore, a very skinny little fish. He's still plugging away and eats, but Mr. Fathead is more like Mr. Skin and bones. He eats about 3-4 times a day, so must have a metabolism like nobody's business. The yuma is doing ok, not great, but ok. Her baby didn't survive, but since I've started upping the feedings and the maintenance, she's doing better. I'm considering moving my orange yuma over to this tank. Pretty Flower is her name, I've had her since 2011. My first coral. LOL, the gsp still aren't opening, but a water change is being done today, so I expect they'll wake up.

 

So you see, not everything is marvelous and thriving, but hopefully with the right care, things will improve. I like being honest with my journals. I mod in the SW section of a general aquarium forum and I've always been very upfront about everything that I do in my journals. Reef-keeping is hard work and you can do all you can to maintain your tanks and still accidents, bugs, and life happen. Add to that the challenges of a pico AND the challenges of nps corals, and well, I've got a lot of work cut out for me. The tank may well crash. So many picos fail within their first year or get upgraded. I hope I can go the distance, but I've made it very hard for myself. Oh well, you don't learn anything if you don't try something new...

 

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I've given serious thought to converting my mantis tank picos, which just house caulerpa and rock now, to coral picos. One mantis, a Neogonodactylus curacaoensis is in a Spec, the other, a Neogonodactylus wennerae is in an Evolve 2. However, I also have a spare Spec lying around that was a FW tank. A trio of Specs could be a lovely idea. If I get a full time job at the college where I work, I'll reward myself by undertaking this little project.

 

L

[1reefluvr2]

Well sick corals or not.. Tank still looks great.

[lljdma06]

Well sick corals or not.. Tank still looks great.

Thanks.

 

Just did a big feed of rotifers, mysis, cyclops eeze, and zooplankton, let the tank sit for 30 minutes, then did a water change. I really have to rethink how I'm attaching the gorgs. I may have to frag and then attach them directly onto the rock. Or get bigger pebbles so they're stable. LOL, I swear these gorgs have been through a lot. It's all to get them the best care. I can scrounge up about 2 more larger pieces of rubble rock, I think, especially if I bat my eyelashes at my fiance...

 

Ok, off to rehearse some Respighi songs.

 

L

[x3thelast]

oh boy! well good luck with the sun coral, if it goes then you can always get a black sun coral

 

i used to have a dendro in my first tank, but hair algae took over its rock and then tissue started to recede shortly after it was just a bright white skeleton

[lljdma06]

oh boy! well good luck with the sun coral, if it goes then you can always get a black sun coral

 

i used to have a dendro in my first tank, but hair algae took over its rock and then tissue started to recede shortly after it was just a bright white skeleton

That's the thing about these corals, they're very susceptible to algae, that's why most people say they don't like light. It's not that the coral doesn't like light; the coral really doesn't care all that much, it's that they can get algae.

 

Not sure how the sun coral will do. It's a bit touch and go at this point. He ate a little last night, but nowhere near how he ate before the accident.

 

L

[lljdma06]

PS: I've discovered small keyhole limpets in my sun coral colony. I've also noticed that I have less hair algae. Thank you keyhole limpets. Now if only a chiton would show up. Those are some serious algae monsters...

[jgpico]

Looking amazing as always L. I have been trying to find gorgs and dendros in my area with no luck. Looks like I'm going to have to order some in. I just made a pretty big coral purchase so it will have to wait either way. I will have to live through you to get my nps fix.

[x3thelast]

That's the thing about these corals, they're very susceptible to algae, that's why most people say they don't like light. It's not that the coral doesn't like light; the coral really doesn't care all that much, it's that they can get algae.

 

Not sure how the sun coral will do. It's a bit touch and go at this point. He ate a little last night, but nowhere near how he ate before the accident.

 

L

is it possible to frag the sun coral? save the healthy part?

[lljdma06]

is it possible to frag the sun coral? save the healthy part?

It's only one polyp.

[1reefluvr2]

I think you could frag them since they look just like a dendro but smaller cut it up .Chiton are they like tiny looking abalone With little antenna? I traded a friend one time for a pair and I never seen them ever.

Wonder if my pistol made lunch of them.

[lljdma06]

I think you could frag them since they look just like a dendro but smaller cut it up .Chiton are they like tiny looking abalone With little antenna? I traded a friend one time for a pair and I never seen them ever. Wonder if my pistol made lunch of them.

And I'm telling ya, it's not a them, but an it. It's a single polyp. Can't well cut that in half. At least I don't think so, and not cause some serious trauma. It did better yesterday, the remaining tissue puffed up and it looks like the mouth and skirt are intact, which means, it can feed. If it can feed, it can grow. We'll see.

 

Chitons are flat and look like they have plates of armor. Need little algae eater. Almost like a pill bug.

 

Looks like I may be able to upgrade one of my mantis tanks into a coral tank. We'll see. Let me see how taxes go. If I get a nice refund, then I can go ahead. What I'd mostly do is bring back some of my corals from the 36g that are still being kept at the lfs and accent it with some zoanthid colonies and maybe acans. The only upgrade I'd need to do is convert the back area into a refugium and buy the 4W innovative marine light. I have all the other spare lights and equipment. Let's see.

 

L

[1reefluvr2]

Got my Dandros ! I was happy to see my sister did what I actualy told her to do.fed ex dropped dandros off she came over placed bag in edge sump. I placed them some what shade, will feed & get them happy before I move to intense light

[lljdma06]

Got my Dandros ! I was happy to see my sister did what I actualy told her to do.fed ex dropped dandros off she came over placed bag in edge sump. I placed them some what shade, will feed & get them happy before I move to intense light

That's great. Update your thread with pictures.

 

L

[LylaPico]

The gorg is looking good. And you're little emerald crab.

[lljdma06]

The gorg is looking good. And you're little emerald crab.

 

Thanks, Lyla, nice to have you back.

 

Tank is doing well. The sun coral is healing up a bit.

 

I'm also happy to report that through diligent maintenance and the aid of keyhole limpets & the emerald crab, I no longer have green hair algae on my sun corals. I don't know how the keyholes got in there, probably when I moved the God of Wars and hornets over. My 36g and my old 8g always had limpets, so did my biocube. Limpets are awesome.

 

The only algae left is in the refugium and honestly, I can see myself adding a small, small astraea to eat the stuff there and let my chaeto grow debris free, also a small blue-legged or scarlet hermit. They'll have plenty of space in the refugium and food. Beasties to keep my chaeto clean.

 

Was tempted to add things to the main display, but I really don't know now. Somehow, I think it's best to keep things as is. Let this tank sit and wait until it's a year old and really work to get some quality photos and better placement of the gorgonians. My baby God of Wars are opening now and have gotten a bit bigger. If it's doing well in a year, I'll see if I can add something.

 

L