Awpong's 50g Cube - Long Overdue Update

[awpong]

Your tank is looking great. Cant wait to see yojr new addition. I loved my shortcake.

 

Thanks! I'm looking forward to mine. I need to start mixing up the colors in this tank.

 

Love this little tank, neat fishies

 

Thanks Squared! I haven't seen you on here in a while.

 

Nice tank pank Inspired me to do something similar

 

Gracias! And I'm looking forward to your build. You're going to love your dwarf lion!

 

Where did you order from?

 

All of these frags are coming from Reefgardener.net

 

Amazing selection! Love the colors they bring to the tank man. Cannot wait to see this grow out and mature over time.

 

Me neither haha. I want things to start filling in! But I'm finally starting to notice some growth which is nice: a few new zoas popping up here and there, and some increased SPS encrusting with new growth tips.

[picoreef78]

How to the MP10's hold out for you? Glass not too thick? My old one rattles a bit.

[awpong]

Start trying to get into the open fusion! https://apexfusion.com and join this forum http://forum.neptunesystems.com/forum.php it's helped me lots since I set my apex up in January.

 

So I finally got apex Fusion, but I'm not sure I understand what is different about it than the normal apex site. Care to enlighten me?

 

 

How to the MP10's hold out for you? Glass not too thick? My old one rattles a bit.

 

The MP10s are doing great. The glass isn't too thick, and I don't use the cushioned pads.

[mpsti05]

The simplicity of programming! Did you get a wxm to control your vortechs? The programming of those is awesome! The ease of

Logging in to fusion on your iPhone or Internet anywhere in the world. Fusion pretty much writes the goofy code to the apex for you in a much simpler way. No more port forwarding nonsense to check in on your tank when your not at home. Setting up email and text alarms for issues with the tank.

[awpong]

The simplicity of programming! Did you get a wxm to control your vortechs? The programming of those is awesome! The ease of

Logging in to fusion on your iPhone or Internet anywhere in the world. Fusion pretty much writes the goofy code to the apex for you in a much simpler way. No more port forwarding nonsense to check in on your tank when your not at home. Setting up email and text alarms for issues with the tank.

 

.... I spent 2 hours today figuring out how set up the email and port forwarding ...

 

Oh well.

 

And no, I didn't get the vortech module. I didn't really see the need, mainly because I don't really change my settings on the MP10s. I guess I do turn on nutrient transport mode after feeding for ~30 minutes. Could I program that into my feeding setting on the apex?

 

Not sure if that alone is worth the $130 module.

[mpsti05]

If you feed them around the same time everyday you can have ntm mode on for say an hour or whatever you want. You can also set up things like if you hit feed mode A it puts the vortechs down to 10% for say 15 min and shuts the skimmer off for however long you want.

 

My feed mode A turns both vortechs down to 5-10% for 15 min and kills the skimmer for 30 min

[picoreef78]

Fixed the propeller side, loose. Now on opposite end.

 

Have it on the side now. Have you don't back wall back wall yet?

If you feed them around the same time everyday you can have ntm mode on for say an hour or whatever you want. You can also set up things like if you hit feed mode A it puts the vortechs down to 10% for say 15 min and shuts the skimmer off for however long you want.

My feed mode A turns both vortechs down to 5-10% for 15 min and kills the skimmer for 30 min

 

Do you turn off your pumps for feed mode?

[awpong]

Fixed the propeller side, loose. Now on opposite end.

 

Have it on the side now. Have you don't back wall back wall yet?

 

 

Do you turn off your pumps for feed mode?

 

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean. I have one of my MP10s on the side of my tank, and another is on the back wall. They are running anti-sync on reefcrest (75-80%)

 

 

And I don't turn my pumps off during feeding. I only turn my return off so that food doesn't get into my sump.

[picoreef78]

Looking at FTS your left pump( on right looking at tank) is on the back wall and your right pump (on left) is on the side wall.

Left pump MP10

 

 

Right pump MP40

 

 

When I shut off return pump, draining to sump. Has not flooded but my ATO alarm goes off.

[awpong]

Looking at FTS your left pump( on right looking at tank) is on the back wall and your right pump (on left) is on the side wall.

 

Left pump MP10

 

IMG_5376.jpg

 

Right pump MP40

 

IMG_5377.jpg

 

 

When I shut off return pump, draining to sump. Has not flooded but my ATO alarm goes off.

 

I have the same thing happen when my return goes off, but I pull the return up a little to break the siphon, and I turn off my ATO. It's programed into my apex feeding code (not the physical siphon break).

[picoreef78]

I need to program my PEX for feeding. Updated the firm ware last week.

Need to add the automatic feeder before I travel or take crazy call.

 

How is the set up working for you? I was thinking about putting both pumps on back.

[mpsti05]

Fixed the propeller side, loose. Now on opposite end.

 

Have it on the side now. Have you don't back wall back wall yet?

 

 

Do you turn off your pumps for feed mode?

I do not turn off my return for feed mode. Current tank is an all in one, once I get my new tank setup with a sump I'll turn off the return pump. When I hit feed mode A it puts both vortechs to 10% for 15 min and shuts off the skimmer for 30 min

[awpong]

Big Update... Good and Bad... Mostly Bad:

 

1. It looks like the smallest angel finally fell victim to the bullying by the medium angel, and she is unfortunately no longer around :'(

 

I think she either got chased into the powerhead or anemone, because she was fine one minute, and about 30 minutes later, she was completely white and being pecked at by the other angel. It's unfortunate, but she hadn't seemed to adjust as quickly as the other two. She hardly ate, never pecked at the rocks, and was confined to the corner of the tank the entire time.

 

I may try to add a third angel again further down the line, but certainly not anytime soon. Looks like I'm stuck with a pair.

 

On the bright side, the pair seems to be getting along very well. I witnessed some courtship behavior last night.

 

2. It looks like I've got some STN on the base of my pink and green milles. I don't see it on any of the other frags though.

 

I don't know what could have caused it. I would guess Alk swing, which is the usual culprit, but I haven't started dosing anything, and I haven't done a WC in over a week either (busy learning cardiology in school right now.. probably shouldn't be on this forum... I'll do a WC tomorrow after my quiz).

 

I'm a little skeptical that my angels might have pecked at it, because I have seen them nip once or twice at some of the other SPS. However, none of the SPS that I have witnessed them peck are showing any damage. Also, it's always been a single peck, nothing malicious. The usually polyps retract for a few seconds, and then they pop right back out. So I'm not really too worried.... but time will tell.

 

I haven't ordered any testing kits, like Ca, Alk, Mg, etc... because I haven't stated dosing... but maybe I'll get them now.

 

If it starts to get progressively worse in the next few days, I'm going to pull out the glue.

 

 

3. My pH probe and ALD finally came in today. I don't have time to test out the ALD right now, so I'll comment more on that tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately I forgot to buy calibration fluid for the pH probe... I don't know why I thought it would come with it... whoops. So I can't tell if pH (an indirect measure of Alk) is the culprit for the STN

 

 

4. At least the angels are finally eating the New Era consistently!

 

 

5. My skimmer is working great! However maybe this could be a cause of the STN too? The water is too clean? I don't know... I'll get the test kits sometime this week.

 

 

Oh well... now i need to go study ECGs for my cardio quiz tomorrow... (*sarcastically*) It's been a great day so far....

[Legendary Corals]

Those 3 flamebacks are adorable! They're my favorite pygmy angels. I had a bad experience with it and my LPS though... so he had to go.

[hey]

bummer on the loss man, it is almost assumed losses will occur when first experimenting with groups of fish that are normally housed solo though. The good news is you still got 2 which is better than 1. Cool to hear they are displaying courtship behavior too.

[CrazyCarl]

I had this happen on a maricultured piece where the base was completely shaded due to the point light source of the LED's. These corals were in natural sunlight, then most likely T5 before they were sold. If the rest of the coral looks good (as yours does) I would not be too worried. Are you noticing growth at the tips, or still too early? I would cut that base off and glue them right to the rock to get an angle where more light hits the base, but that's personal preference I guess.

[awpong]

I had this happen on a maricultured piece where the base was completely shaded due to the point light source of the LED's. These corals were in natural sunlight, then most likely T5 before they were sold. If the rest of the coral looks good (as yours does) I would not be too worried. Are you noticing growth at the tips, or still too early? I would cut that base off and glue them right to the rock to get an angle where more light hits the base, but that's personal preference I guess.

 

I thought about this, and I hope you're right. The pieces are in fact maricultured, and the stn is only in areas of shade. And yes, I do see growth tips. So I was kinda hopping this was the reason, but the speed at which it is occurring, bypassing the browning/bleaching phase, and jumping fit into tissue loss made me a little concerned.

[picoreef78]

I had this happen on one of my Acro's. Progressed so I dipped and cut the base of. Now I have a small 1/4 frag but looks to be doing well.

None of your other corals are showing it so not sure about the cause.

 

Don't wait, check your alkalinity.

Besides cardiology is easy. Just know your physiology.

[CrazyCarl]

Always air on the side of caution. Checking alkalinity is definitely a good idea, but I see you have an ORA green planet, which I had as well, and IME they are very sensitive to any swings in parameters, I would use that as your indicating coral. If you see diminished PE or color loss on that coral I would be checking all parameters.

 

My maricultured piece did the same thing going straight to tissue loss after about a few weeks or so, if I remember correctly.

 

Stop wasting time with cardiology, corals don't have hearts do they?

[DaveFason]

ALK, always the cause for me in the past. I had a Flame and I swear it picked on the "weak" looking acros. Then in return it would start to RTN or STN

[awpong]

Always air on the side of caution. Checking alkalinity is definitely a good idea, but I see you have an ORA green planet, which I had as well, and IME they are very sensitive to any swings in parameters, I would use that as your indicating coral. If you see diminished PE or color loss on that coral I would be checking all parameters.

 

My maricultured piece did the same thing going straight to tissue loss after about a few weeks or so, if I remember correctly.

 

Stop wasting time with cardiology, corals don't have hearts do they?

 

 

ALK, always the cause for me in the past. I had a Flame and I swear it picked on the "weak" looking acros. Then in return it would start to RTN or STN

 

 

I'll keep an eye out on the angels, but I'm pretty sure it's not their doing.

 

I came back home today and the STN still hasn't spread past the heavily shaded regions, so I'm thinking CrazyCarl had the right idea.

 

But I'm not going to rule out parameter swings just yet.. even though there is no reason why Alk should be high. So I went ahead and fueled my amazon shopping addiction by buying Alk, Mg, Ca, and PO3 test kits.

[Arkayology]

I doubt it is a result of the LEDs. There are parts of the corals in the wild that don't get direct light and they do not STN. I would look to alk swing or nutrient stripping.

 

Sorry about the angle man. Sucks.

[Steelen]

I love the flames. What size are they? They look tiny. Did you buy them juvenile?

[awpong]

I love the flames. What size are they? They look tiny. Did you buy them juvenile?

 

They're actually adults, and they're not that small. They're all about 2.5" - 3".

[CrazyCarl]

I doubt it is a result of the LEDs. There are parts of the corals in the wild that don't get direct light and they do not STN. I would look to alk swing or nutrient stripping.

 

Sorry about the angle man. Sucks.

Let me preface this by saying I am not an SPS expert and this is only my opinion. While I agree it could be a nutrient stripping or alk swing, the comparison to corals in the wild does not apply. The sun moves from one side of the sky to the other throughout the day reflecting off the sand bed, rocks etc. allowing the coral to receive direct and indirect light on more areas. When a coral in your tank grows over another and shades it, it will most certainly STN. I've seen this happen with large Monti-caps and birdsnests growing over themselves even. If you place the coral between the clusters of the LED's you can mitigate this to a degree as well, but there is a threshold where at some point a portion of the coral will STN if it is not receiving enough light. I believe that is the cause here, but testing for precaution is always a good idea.