Mark's Nanobox Powered 40B -retired-

[DaveFason]

I love the random digi branches that are centered in the tank. 

 

Thanks for updating the thread! 

-D

[Sharbuckle]

Tank is looking as awesome as ever. Love the growth, it looks so mature. 

[markalot]

Alk 4.1

 

Tank looks fine, spongodes a little pale and the big bird only has partial polyp extension.  I raised it to 6.5 in one swift dose.  Maybe I want to kill all the SPS in here?  Nothing seemed to mind but we'll see in a day or so.  I will be removing most, if not all, SPS during the Christmas break.  

[Frag Factory]

Good God your tank is nice!

[Andreww]

Mark, just saw your FW tank.

Nice work.

I used to have a CO2 planted tank.

In fact I still have the ADA lily pipes and drop checker I used on it. Sold the rest of the stuff .

 

A good forum where I learned a lot was the Barr Report.

It was an annual paid subscription to access the full site but well worth it.

Havent checked it in a couple years though.

[Christopher Marks]

On 12/10/2018 at 5:31 AM, markalot said:

 

I must get rid of the SPS in here, this is just silly, dosing two tanks.  The spongodes is growing into the front glass, the bird is being the bird, and the caps are trying to cover everything.   I need a softie / LPS tank and this should be it

3 hours ago, markalot said:

I will be removing most, if not all, SPS during the Christmas break.

It's hard to believe the SPS era is coming to an end, but I can understand why! The amount of dosing they soak up is unreal. What do you plan to do with all the frags?

 

Since you're going soft and LPS only moving forward, what kinds of new coral are you hoping to introduce to the system? Anything you've had your eye on?

[vlangel]

I love the looks of this tank but lime CM I understand why you don't want to dose 2 tanks.  Ha ha, I don't even want to dose 1.  I am sure it will be a stunning LPS/softie tank with hypnotic motion.

[markalot]

10 hours ago, Frag Factory said:

Good God your tank is nice!

 

 

 Thanks FF.

8 hours ago, Andreww said:

Mark, just saw your FW tank.

Nice work.

I used to have a CO2 planted tank.

In fact I still have the ADA lily pipes and drop checker I used on it. Sold the rest of the stuff .

 

A good forum where I learned a lot was the Barr Report.

It was an annual paid subscription to access the full site but well worth it.

Havent checked it in a couple years though.

 

I signed up back in the day as well, now it's all free,  Community is not very good.  I mean, nothing wrong, just not "friendly".

 

8 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

It's hard to believe the SPS era is coming to an end, but I can understand why! The amount of dosing they soak up is unreal. What do you plan to do with all the frags?

 

Since you're going soft and LPS only moving forward, what kinds of new coral are you hoping to introduce to the system? Anything you've had your eye on?

 

6 hours ago, vlangel said:

I love the looks of this tank but lime CM I understand why you don't want to dose 2 tanks.  Ha ha, I don't even want to dose 1.  I am sure it will be a stunning LPS/softie tank with hypnotic motion.

 

Thanks Chris and Dawn.   I'm torn between getting rid of all SPS or just getting rid of most of it.  The caps have to go, it's just crazy how fast they grow.  The blue digitata is unique, I can;t get rid of it and I don't have room in the other tank.  So yea, still thinking.   Purple stylo can go, Orchid stylo can go, both are in the larger tank.  Bird ... maybe.  Spongodes, probably.  How's that for decisive.  :D

 

 

 

[markalot]

The green and red caps are gone and somehow I managed not to break the tall blue digi stem.   I did fail to get rid of all SPS though, even had ideas to add a few more.  It's a sickness.  Going to let things clear up, chop down the purple stylo and the pink bird, then evaluate.

 

 

Moved this over from the side.  Glass is dirty but you get the idea.

 

 

[Andreww]

Mark, a curiosity of mine if you don’t mind me asking; what is your flow pattern like in the 40?

I notice your bird and Stylo grew in a weird shape, quite different than your SPS colonies in the 150.

Would you blame the flow for that?

I noticed in my tank at some point the monti cap was only growing in one direction and minimal in other parts.

Switched up the flow a bit and noticed improved growth in areas that were lacking before but still not perfect swirly round pattern.

Just added a second powerhead to see if more turbulent indirect flow will change the growth pattern.

 

 

[markalot]

2 hours ago, Andreww said:

Mark, a curiosity of mine if you don’t mind me asking; what is your flow pattern like in the 40?

I notice your bird and Stylo grew in a weird shape, quite different than your SPS colonies in the 150.

Would you blame the flow for that?

I noticed in my tank at some point the monti cap was only growing in one direction and minimal in other parts.

Switched up the flow a bit and noticed improved growth in areas that were lacking before but still not perfect swirly round pattern.

Just added a second powerhead to see if more turbulent indirect flow will change the growth pattern.

 

 

 

MP10 on the left, Gyre on the right.  I would say the MP10 is the only thing the bird noticed since the gyre shoots flow across the top and bottom but not so much in the middle of the tank.  So the bird would feel flow from the left, which sort of explains how it grew.  I think the gyre is a neat pump, though my controller is just about shot, but I would not use it as advertised.  I prefer the wide strong flow of the vortech pumps.   

 

Look at the very beginning of this video.  See how slow everything in the middle is moving?

 

[Andreww]

14 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

MP10 on the left, Gyre on the right.  I would say the MP10 is the only thing the bird noticed since the gyre shoots flow across the top and bottom but not so much in the middle of the tank.  So the bird would feel flow from the left, which sort of explains how it grew.  I think the gyre is a neat pump, though my controller is just about shot, but I would not use it as advertised.  I prefer the wide strong flow of the vortech pumps.   

 

Look at the very beginning of this video.  See how slow everything in the middle is moving?

 

Makes perfect sense. Thank you for clarifying that.

Didnt look at the pumps you were using on this tank and I have to say after watching the BRS video makes me not want a gyre anymore even though they’re highly praised pumps.

 

At one point I was gonna order the knockoff gyre, the icecap cuz maxpect doesn’t have the size I need for my tank but decided against it last minute. 

 

WWC uses a couple gyres on the back wall of their 900 gallon since the colonies are so close to the waterline but not on the sides. 

 

Thx again for your answer!

[Tamberav]

How is the SPS removal going?

 

My gyre seems to get chaotic flow in the middle but maybe because my tank is small. I know this because my nem is smack in the middle and gets tossed around. I still plan to add a MP10 when the SPS get larger though. 

 

I have a sunblaster t5 I bought to hang with my nano-box duo on my IM 25 Lagoon, it's going to look as awesomely poorman as your hybrid did. As long as the corals look good, I'm happy. 

[markalot]

I have not removed any and even refilled the doser.  lol.  I lost a lot of color moving things around and getting rid of the monti caps but it's slowly recovering.  Based on the amount of hair algae growing I think I released a metric ton of PO4.  I've been dosing PhosphateRx, one drop a week, to see if I can get things to improve.  The green softie hates PhosphateRx so I go really slow with it.

[markalot]

Still going.  After removing the caps and cleaning some things I lost a lot of color, but it's slowly, ever so slowly, returned.  Running LED only now, no T5 supplementation.

 

 

 

Closeup showing the blenny being the blenny, but also the crop of aptasia on the lower left that decided to move here after I scrubbed them off everything else.  I expected a bigger outbreak.

 

 

KH is 8.0, Calcium is way up at 460.   Going to measure nitrates tonight, I suspect they are very low since I have so many nitrate sponges in here (algae, Xenia). 

[DaveFason]

Looking good Mark. It looks like you are nearly out room across the tank. 

 

What settings are you running on the unit now?

[Sharbuckle]

Love this tank, always have. Makes me want to put xenia in my tank, a debate thats always raging in my head.

[markalot]

12 minutes ago, Sharbuckle said:

Love this tank, always have. Makes me want to put xenia in my tank, a debate thats always raging in my head.

 

DO NOT ADD XENIA

Hopefully I got my opinion across.   I love the look of Xenia, but it wants too, and can, completely take over.  The only thing that can fight Xenia is other soft corals and shrooms, but not even all of these.    :)   Left on it's own I am convinced any tank with Xenia will become a tank of only Xenia within a years time.  

 

 

[Tamberav]

I love Xenia 😮 I have some on my back wall of the 25g. I actually have a hard time keeping it alive and this is the first time in a long time it's lived....grows slowww for me but it's probably just plotting a take over lol

 

I really love those tiny blue cloves too but I think they may be even more invasive. I haven't seen them around in a long time.

[Sharbuckle]

31 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

DO NOT ADD XENIA

Hopefully I got my opinion across.   I love the look of Xenia, but it wants too, and can, completely take over.  The only thing that can fight Xenia is other soft corals and shrooms, but not even all of these.    🙂  Left on it's own I am convinced any tank with Xenia will become a tank of only Xenia within a years time.  

 

 

Good thing my tank is only softies and shrooms! haha but ya I know what you mean, that’s why the debate has raged on for two years now 

[markalot]

4 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Looking good Mark. It looks like you are nearly out room across the tank. 

 

What settings are you running on the unit now?

All 75% except Mint at 100% and the extra blue strips at 50%.   Right now I either have a little too much light or not enough nitrates.  The spongodes is growing but on the pale side.   This combination looks almost identical to running a coral+ bulb.  I had been running coral+ and actinic. 

[markalot]

Nitrates perfectly clear, as expected, so I'm dosing a few drops and seeing what happens.

 

Out of curiosity I put one drop of Pohls extra super special in the nitrate test and it turned bright purple.  A good reason we should demand content listings on reef products, I don't like paying $30 for an bottle of nitrate.  I'm sure there are other magical ingredients in there ... sure of it.  Right?   I have been dosing and noticing good results, but the Xenia growth increased dramatically since it loves nitrates.  

[Tamberav]

30 minutes ago, markalot said:

Nitrates perfectly clear, as expected, so I'm dosing a few drops and seeing what happens.

 

Out of curiosity I put one drop of Pohls extra super special in the nitrate test and it turned bright purple.  A good reason we should demand content listings on reef products, I don't like paying $30 for an bottle of nitrate.  I'm sure there are other magical ingredients in there ... sure of it.  Right?   I have been dosing and noticing good results, but the Xenia growth increased dramatically since it loves nitrates.  

 

I do wish they would let us know what it is in it too. I feel like I could be overdosing some stuff. I have the KZ 1234 line and I thought about Pohl's but it says it has amino acids and other 'stuff' which might already be in their 1234 line? Ugh. My nitrate is 0 as well, I ended up buying Seachem Flourish Nitrogen for now. 

[vlangel]

@markalot and @Tamberav, you two just need a lot more fish.  Actually goby and blenny type fish that need to eat multiple times a day.  My 56 aio tested at least 50 ppm for nitrates last time! (which is a little scary).  Of course it has no sump or skimmer.  I am trying to cut the food back but with 12 hungry fish plus acans, a nem, a sun coral its tough to know everyone is getting enough.  I will up the water changes before I let my fish lose weight.  I like my fish plump 😆.

[Tamberav]

31 minutes ago, vlangel said:

@markalot and @Tamberav, you two just need a lot more fish.  Actually goby and blenny type fish that need to eat multiple times a day.  My 56 aio tested at least 50 ppm for nitrates last time! (which is a little scary).  Of course it has no sump or skimmer.  I am trying to cut the food back but with 12 hungry fish plus acans, a nem, a sun coral its tough to know everyone is getting enough.  I will up the water changes before I let my fish lose weight.  I like my fish plump 😆.

I would love more fish but my clowns have been with me many years now and mama clown is a jerk. Even the sixline gets its tail nipped up from her. I basically added robust fish that can take her bullying. 

 

A fang might be left alone, but I am not positive about that. A goby might go unnoticed but I am bare bottom and he won't be able to make a cute little burrow. 

 

I considered a hawkfish but that might be too mean. A pygmy angel might eat my corals? Maybe not SPS?

 

I can't feed multiple times a day on days I work 😞 12 hours shifts.. boo.

 

I will have to try and put some thought into how to tackle it... I think my corals or w/e might just be using up w/e nitrate they can get their claws on. 

 

I hate having to dose Nitrates... I want it to run naturally but that seems hard 😛