Jump to content
Premium Aquatics Aquarium Supplies

My Bonsai Reef


sam_the_reefer

Recommended Posts

sam_the_reefer

 

Strange...

I have a theory. The mag drop from my 2 week vacation must have affected his immune system and he must have caught a parasite when I did the extra large water changes I did to correct the params (50%) daily for 3 days. I use NSW, so the microbes could have come from there.

Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

So, my reefer friend has somewhat recovered from his tank accident and setup a nano and now the extra LS are back in his tank. My LS still look pale/bleached from the mag drop during my vacation, but hopefully they'll get their color back with the new lights which I'm very pleased with. The briareum/GSP was very much affected by the mag drop....it still opens up but the polyps have no green in them and are much smaller.

 

Loving the minimal setup compared to my previous 2 x par38s.

27473347525_31778c802b_b.jpg

27473359845_bfa91b6705_b.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
sam_the_reefer

Something weird is happening to the tank. It seems like I might have bleached my orange zoas with the new light, but it's only affecting the orange ones which is odd. I'm also losing color on the green zoas with black mouths. But, the other green zoas have turned a brighter green and are doing well as well as the gray zoas and the yuma's color has improved and it's gotten bigger. The GSP is dying but still holding on so I started using my skimmer again to give it the best chance of survival. I did swap the big yellow hammer with a smaller cristata and also got a small pipe organ frag. I've been adding and removing too much things in the tank for the last six months and it's taking its toll. So, I plan to adopt the 'let it be' method and leave it to recover. I did do an extra thorough sand vacuuming and tank wall cleaning over the weekend.

Progress (more like downward spiral) shots since January this year:
27892380582_6d84fb5b86_k.jpg


Oh, and I added a similar damsel to replace my many-lined basslet and returned my hermit crab to the ocean because it ate a perfectly healthy cristata head.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
sam_the_reefer

Rinsed and reduced my sandbed around 2 weeks ago. It should be easier to clean now that it's shallow. I'm still trying to get my zoas to color back up. The good news is I don't have horrible brown cyano anymore which was caused by the new damsel digging up the old sandbed. Also the cristata is bleaching (LPS hate me. :( ). I gave some of my green zoas to a friend and they really colored up in his tank so I asked him what he was feeding it. He said he just fed chopped tuna for the fish. So tank is on a chopped tuna diet right now. :)

 

28571725966_421d6b8eaa_b.jpg

Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

So I went to our local fish collector last weekend and got another spikefin goby, 2 peppermint shrimps, and a blue banded coral shrimp.

 

But the real story is, I saw some freshly collected but horribly packed S.Gigantea. And I felt nostalgic because since I was a child, seeing brightly colored S.Gigantea with clownfish was always my dream setup. It didn't help that the gigs they had were florescent green and blue. And they were freshly collected and not bleached, I can tell from seeing countless gigs in the wild. Is it really not possible to keep these in nano tanks? :) Maybe it's the horrible packing and shipping stress that's responsible for the death rates? I do know someone in my local club who has a very bleached gig for 2 years now and it even survived his latest tank crash that killed a toadstool. In my personal experience gigs are found in very shallow water so I think they're pretty tough. Temps can go pretty high in a tidepool in summer, and salinity varies greatly in the shallows especially in the rainy season. The idea of keeping a brightly colored gig in a nano is really gnawing at me now. <-- end gig in nano craziness -->

Meanwhile, I got some new zoa frags from a fellow reefer and added some macroalgae again (ochtodes and halymenia). Tank still has some diatoms and I'm still getting the bleached zoas to color up. The cristata is still bleached and doesn't really take any food. :( Maybe it's a sign that I should pursue my gig-in-a-nano dreams. :)

Link to comment
Nano sapiens

The bacterial problems that S. gigantea often experiences have been associated with handling, shipping and holding.

 

Trying to keep a small one (collected directly from the ocean) in a 10g would be a challenge.. Like your friend, you may be able to keep it alive, but keeping it 'happy, healthy and growing' would perhaps be a bit too much to ask in such a small tank.

Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

The bacterial problems that S. gigantea often experiences have been associated with handling, shipping and holding.

 

Trying to keep a small one (collected directly from the ocean) in a 10g would be a challenge.. Like your friend, you may be able to keep it alive, but keeping it 'happy, healthy and growing' would perhaps be a bit too much to ask in such a small tank.

Ah, but all the gigs I've seen in the wild are less than 12" in diameter. They do expand and contract greatly. Maybe like zoas, they remain contracted in high PUR/PAR light?

Link to comment
Nano sapiens

Ah, but all the gigs I've seen in the wild are less than 12" in diameter. They do expand and contract greatly. Maybe like zoas, they remain contracted in high PUR/PAR light?

 

Expansion and contraction could be due to a number of factors, so hard to say if they had too much light for too long, purging their system and/or stomach contents...or some other reason.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

Ah, but all the gigs I've seen in the wild are less than 12" in diameter. They do expand and contract greatly. Maybe like zoas, they remain contracted in high PUR/PAR light?

i miss your toadstool days, loved the contrasting look you had!
Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

i miss your toadstool days, loved the contrasting look you had!

Me too. :( The other toadstool has gotten huge in my friend's tank though, I don't think it will fit this tank anymore. I need to find a fluffy toadstool that stays small.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

Me too. :( The other toadstool has gotten huge in my friend's tank though, I don't think it will fit this tank anymore. I need to find a fluffy toadstool that stays small.

why not have him frag it and give you a piece to grow again?
Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

why not have him frag it and give you a piece to grow again?

He won't need to frag it since it's dropping babies in his tank. :) It will eventually grow and shade the other corals in this small tank though. I think that type of toadstool is reserved for larger tanks.

 

Thanks for the idea though. I think I'll be on the lookout for smaller type toadstools next time when I'm snorkeling instead of entertaining my silly gig dream. I thought I found a rare green cap "japanese" toadstool before but it wasn't the case, it just looked like it when it was closed.

Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

 

Expansion and contraction could be due to a number of factors, so hard to say if they had too much light for too long, purging their system and/or stomach contents...or some other reason.

No, I mean when I see them in their natural habitat (the really colorful green/blue/purple S.Gig), they're usually dense and folded unlike in tank pictures.

Link to comment
Nano sapiens

No, I mean when I see them in their natural habitat (the really colorful green/blue/purple S.Gig), they're usually dense and folded unlike in tank pictures.

 

I see. That is interesting and may be a way to reduce the surface area exposed to the intense natural light?

Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

 

I see. That is interesting and may be a way to reduce the surface area exposed to the intense natural light?

Probably...I think I saw someone have a gig tank in another forum and blast it with 2000 par light but still it didn't look like it does in the wild...so, I'm not sure if it's because of the type of light or UV radiation. So much we still don't understand about these creatures.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
sam_the_reefer

Many changes since my last post. The similar damsel jumped which was sad because it was the reason I went to the trouble of rinsing my sand bed. I also ended up adopting my friend's very bleached gig. I know it's taboo, so won't be posting pics until there's visible improvement in its condition. I've had it for a week and so far it's doing well.

Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56

Many changes since my last post. The similar damsel jumped which was sad because it was the reason I went to the trouble of rinsing my sand bed. I also ended up adopting my friend's very bleached gig. I know it's taboo, so won't be posting pics until there's visible improvement in its condition. I've had it for a week and so far it's doing well.

time for pics man! And a new toadstool haha
  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 1 month later...
sam_the_reefer

My female clown died today (she jumped). It's sad because I've had her for the longest time (5 years). But part of me is also relieved. Both my clowns have been suffering from a bacterial infection possibly from a bad batch of frozen food (I think it was the de-shelled clams). And the female hasn't been eating for weeks. The male has been eating for the past week though.

Link to comment

My female clown died today (she jumped). It's sad because I've had her for the longest time (5 years). But part of me is also relieved. Both my clowns have been suffering from a bacterial infection possibly from a bad batch of frozen food (I think it was the de-shelled clams). And the female hasn't been eating for weeks. The male has been eating for the past week though.

 

Sorry to hear about this. I had something similar with my female clownfish where she'd get a bacteria infection for a week then it would go away for a few weeks, then reoccur again. It only started when she grew to nearly 4", so it may be due to running into coral projections or possibly stress related when confined to a smaller tank.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
sam_the_reefer

 

Great, looks like it's doing well! :)

Thanks! I can see a hint of green, so I'm hoping that it is.

 

Btw, your corals' colors are always very vivid. What's your secret?

Link to comment

Btw, your corals' colors are always very vivid. What's your secret?

 

Thanks, but no real 'secret', really. Online research into what affects coral health and pigmentation is very helpful.

 

I would say that there are a number of factors to good coloration. Selecting coral strains that already have proven coloration potential, 'complete spectrum' with adequate intensity lighting, relatively stable water parameters, adequate nutrition, proper placement (light and flow) for each type and patience to allow a new coral to fully adjust.

 

Couple things not to do would include 'overdriving' the corals with light (can provide stunning coloration, but stresses the animals too much long term) and resisting the urge to constantly fiddle with the lighting/parameters once a happy medium is established.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • sam_the_reefer changed the title to My Bonsai Reef

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...