Mirya's Mini Garden (Nuvo 8) - Yasha Love Shack

[Mirya]

Awesome stuff! I should be receiving more this week too.

 

Curious, what are you feeding them?

 

I'll be looking forward to an update on your tank, Dave!

 

I predominantly feed them from a frozen mix I got from one of the members of my local reef group. This isn't a feasible recipe for me to mix up for myself, but he sold me a ziplock baggie of the stuff for $3 back in February that I am only about 1/3 of the way through. The ingredients are:

 

• 2/3 lbs. shrimp

• 1 package frozen oysters

• 1 package frozen mussels

• 5 Live Clams with the juice

• 1 container fish eggs

• 1/2 brick of Cyclopeeze

• 1 tsp. Spirulina powder

• 2 tbsp. of ground Golden Pearls or other quality pellet.

• 2-3 squirts of Selcon

 

He tosses it all in a blender together and chops it into a paste.

 

I target feed the nems with a chunk each of the stuff about 2x weekly. (It is fun target feeding them, they are piggies! Sometimes I can barely get the tweerzes out of the way before their tentacles start sticking to it.) They occasionally catch stuff from when I feed my fish and shrimp too, which is every 2-3 days. My Yasha goby doesn't eat pellets -- he just doesn't seem to understand them at all -- but the he and his pistol shrimp gobble up this frozen blend. I feed the tank with frozen rotifers occasionally too, that elicits a feeding response from the nems as well even though I don't target them.

 

Dave, where do you have pictures of yours? I must've missed them somewhere. Do you have a thread?

 

 

 

Dave's thread is here: Nano Box Flower Garden.

 

In unrelated news/updates...

 

The tissue recession has stopped on the trumpets, but there is hardly an tissue on them now. One of the heads is even showing the skeleton around the mouth. They have been putting out their tentacles at night, but during the day they aren't inflating at all.

 

Yesterday my reef club went on a field trip to Tidal Gardens for our meeting. It was a beautiful day for a road trip, and Than's greenhouse was gorgeous as always. I picked up two polyps of Palythoa grandis. I'm still waiting for them to open fully. Yesterday whenever they tried, it elicited the attention of the Sexy Shrimp who would vigorously investigate them. I personally am pretty ticklish, so I felt bad for the Palys!

[FlowerMama]

Thanks for the link and if I was a fish or mantis or rock flower I'd think that mix was divine!

[Mirya]

Well, I wanted to get a picture of my new P. grandis today, but the Sexy shrimp jut won't stop tickling the polyps! So, maybe in a few days...

 

I did get to finish up my screen top DIY. I had puzzled over how to keep the clean rimless look with a screen top. This is the solution I came up with. I used some scrap pieces of the screen frame to make brackets. It's aluminum so should be non-reactive:

 

I superglued the brackets to the frame:

You can see I also burred down the plastic corners that hold the frame together so it can fit into the bent corners of the Nuvo tank.

 

Then the whole thing was spray painted with black Krylon Fusion. Here is the new top being demo'd on the tank. I'm going to let the paint cure overnight before actually using it on the tank. But, you can see that the lid sits flush with the top of the glass. I'm happy with how it turned out:

 

 

You can see my DIY skimmer in the back is making lots of foam. I need to adjust the height on it since the skimmate it is putting out is pretty wet, but it is definitely producing!

[natalia_la_loca]

Very nice work!

[FlowerMama]

Nice! I like the way your screen turned out, was it a kit from BRS? And that's awesome about your skimmer doing so well. Now I'll be thinking about a skimmer for my 1 mantis tank since the girls are roomies now. No longer divided.

[gena]

Nice work!!!! I hope those trumpets can pull through...they look so nice in your tank.

[Mirya]

Nice! I like the way your screen turned out, was it a kit from BRS? And that's awesome about your skimmer doing so well. Now I'll be thinking about a skimmer for my 1 mantis tank since the girls are roomies now. No longer divided.

 

Nope, not BRS. I bought the frame, corners, spline, and spline tool from Home Depot. The netting was something I had laying around -- it had been a bag holding a bunch of sponges (kinda ironic) I bought for faux painting with from Michael's. Worked out cheaper than buying the kit from BRS. If I didn't have the netting on hand, I had contemplated using tulle. I had seen some netting in the tulle section at JoAnn Fabrics that I thought could work. Now, how durable the netting I used will be remains to be seen. If it starts to break down from UV exposure from the lights, I'll just order some from BRS.

[Stussi613]

Yesterday my reef club went on a field trip to http://www.tidalgardens.com/'>Tidal Gardens for our meeting. It was a beautiful day for a road trip, and Than's greenhouse was gorgeous as always.

 

So jealous, I've been trying to find a way to get his stuff up to Canada...but they're not set up to ship international.

[Mirya]

So jealous, I've been trying to find a way to get his stuff up to Canada...but they're not set up to ship international.

 

I feel for ya... I lived on PEI for 5 years. Needless to say, I did not keep an aquarium when I lived there. It was hard enough getting supplies for my chinchillas. It always sucked ordering anything off the internet from the US -- either you pay through the nose for shipping or you find out they don't deal with international shipping.

 

Its a small consolation, but here are a few pictures my husband took of Than's greenhouse while we were at Tidal Gardens.

[Mirya]

I started a thread in the General discussion today -- "Expansion planning." I'd love to hear any feedback on the topic either here or on that thread! In short, my future is lookin' up. For the past several years my job situation has been... let's call it tenuous. I work for a state university and so funding for my position has always been patchy. (I've been working under 3 or 6 month non-renewable contracts.) But, it looks like I'm about to get a 1 year, renewable contract! I've had a daydream for awhile of setting up a second tank. I'm actually going to seriously start planning it now. (I will hold off on making purchases until I get to sign said contract, of course.)

 

Question 1: Which tank? (Wants: long profile, curved corners, AIO)

I really like the curved corner look of my Nuvo 8. I'd like to get a longer display like the Nuvo 16 or 24. I'm concerned about the stories of the 24s cracking though. I realize that the 24s have thicker glass now and so cracking shouldn't be an issue, but I'm leery and leaning towards the 16. Any feedback on the new version 24s? Any other brands of AIO with a long display and curved corners?

 

Question 2: Expanding my controller?

I currently have a Apex Jr. The two tanks are going to be set-up next to each other. Can I control both tanks from one controller? What would I need to control the other tank? I'm thinking a PM1 ($85), a temp probe ($30), and an Energy Bar ($120-160)? That seems to equal the cost of just buying another Apex Jr ($240). Should I expand my Apex Jr, buy a second Apex Jr, buy an Apex Lite or full Apex for future upgrading ability (i.e. I own an house and get a big tank), or get something like the Bluefish?

[Azedenkae]

The Nuvo 24s now are fine. Since the fix, no more horror stories. Plenty are imported to here (Australia), and working for a fish store, I can say that we sold plenty without issues.

[hypostatic]

I plugged my skimmer in this morning. Its bubbling away now with nice fine bubbles. I'll give it a few days to break in before I do any tweaking, but I suspect I may need to play around with the height of the tube.

 

The trumpets are looking worse, but still hanging in there. I'll keep giving them time and see what happens, but I'm worried they aren't going to make it.

 

Zed decided to move today. I think he finally got fed up with being in the partial shade of Borneman. I've been hoping Gimp would move though since he is in even more of Borneman's shade. We'll see, maybe by tomorrow night Gimp will be in a new location. If not, then there is space on the rockwork now for another nem. (Time for another VIP Reef order! ) I kid! I'm just going to wait and see how the musical chairs plays out.

 

Anyways, Zed is no longer shading the rainbow so I got a nice picture of him:

 

And here is a top down view of Borneman and Zed, being buds with their shrimp friends:

 

sooo are these two anemones the same species? the tentacles look so different

[gena]

Congrats! That's wonderful!!!!! I know nothing of the nuvo tanks so I'll let others give you opinions on that.

 

What were you thinking of stocking?

[FlowerMama]

I'm excited for you for your job first, that news couldn't be any better; I couldn't imagine living contract to contract, I'd feel so unstable too.

 

I know I'm thrilled for ya. More rock flowers!!!

[Mirya]

The Nuvo 24s now are fine. Since the fix, no more horror stories. Plenty are imported to here (Australia), and working for a fish store, I can say that we sold plenty without issues.

 

Glad to hear that! Especially since shipping was one of the theories implicated in the cracking... if they are being shipped to the down under just fine, then they should be a-okay in the US.

 

sooo are these two anemones the same species? the tentacles look so different

 

Same genus, different species. The one on the left is from the Indo-Pacific, Phymanthus buitendijki. Common name is the Borneman Anemone. The one on the right is a Rock Flower from the Caribbean, Phymanthus crucifer. They play well with each other and have relatively similar habits. Other than appearances, the only differences I've noticed is that the Borneman likes to stretch its column more than the Rock Flowers, and I can just barely feel its sting (whereas I don't notice any sting at all with the Rock Flowers). Supposedly the Borneman's reproduce asexually via pedal laceration. They aren't prolific though so I haven't have that happen yet.

 

Congrats! That's wonderful!!!!! I know nothing of the nuvo tanks so I'll let others give you opinions on that.

 

What were you thinking of stocking?

 

Florida biotope in the new tank -- which means the Rock Flowers will get transferred over to the bigger tank and the softies (and trumpets, they are hanging in there are starting to look better!) will stay behind in the 8. Photosynthetic gorgs, rics and some blue zoas will also go in the new tank. (VIP Reef has a

of them collecting rock flowers and they show these really pretty blue zoas at the beginning of the video.) Have you seen the new thread that was started, "The 40B Caribbean gorgonian forest!"? Here is a teaser to make you want to jump over there right now if you haven't seen it already:

 

 

They've gotten the majority of their gorgs from KP Aquatics, which is who I figure I will also order from for Floridian livestock.

 

Speaking of KP Aquatics... I'm contemplating going with aquacultured live rock in the new tank, either from KP Aquatics or from Gulf Live Rock (both companies ship nano-sized orders). While I liked not having to worry about nasty hitchhikers in the 8, I have missed the biodiversity that live rock provides. Plus aquacultured live rock from either of those vendors will come with some free Florida wildlife. It also isn't "real" reef rock, so I feel better about the ecological impact. Any opinions on the live vs dead rock or those two live rock vendors?

 

I'm excited for you for your job first, that news couldn't be any better; I couldn't imagine living contract to contract, I'd feel so unstable too.

 

I know I'm thrilled for ya. More rock flowers!!!

 

Thanks Annette! And ya, I should be able to eventually get more Rock Flowers!!!

[gena]

Just came from the gorgonian thread . Love that tank so I LOVE your plans for the new one!!!! Definitely go with LIVE Florida rock. It's the best. I've only ordered from KPA but I'm sure any of the Florida live rock vendors will send you some great stuff!!!!!!

 

Forget the dead rock. I've used it and was not impressed at all. I had algae problems when I used that too. No issues with the live rock, except for some bubble algae.

[hypostatic]

Same genus, different species. The one on the left is from the Indo-Pacific, Phymanthus buitendijki. Common name is the Borneman Anemone. The one on the right is a Rock Flower from the Caribbean, Phymanthus crucifer. They play well with each other and have relatively similar habits. Other than appearances, the only differences I've noticed is that the Borneman likes to stretch its column more than the Rock Flowers, and I can just barely feel its sting (whereas I don't notice any sting at all with the Rock Flowers). Supposedly the Borneman's reproduce asexually via pedal laceration. They aren't prolific though so I haven't have that happen yet.

 

Hmmm.... I have my doubts that the one on the right is really P. crucifer. Like, if you look closely at the tentacles, you'll notice that they're completely smooth. Whereas I feel like P. crucifer's tentacles are typically ruffled. This makes me highy suspicious that it might be a different species. As a biologist, I know that different classfications can be given based on even smaller differences.

 

Mostly I ask because one of my LFSs have this pink RFA that I've been dying to get my hands on. Unfortunately it's not for sale.... It's a beautiful shade of pink, and looks like these guys:

 

 

[gsgentry]

 

Mwahahaha, I'm glad we have gotten another addicted!

Make that 2 more!!! As mentioned previously, was taking a visit to Reef A Palooza this weekend. I made a bee line for VIP when we got there and was drooling. Ended up picking up 2 about brought them home last night!! They have some beautiful nems and they must have had 50 of them on hand. I'm totally changing my tank to make the right side the rock flower island!! I'll post pictures tonight on my build thread.

 

Got to finally meet Dave too!! Great guy who built my amazing light!! Good times!!

[gsgentry]

Mirya... The Nuvo 24 issue has been resolved now. They are going to continue making them but it was hinted to me that they will be phased out and replaced by the Fusion 30. Tunze 9002 won't fit it the Fusion though if that's a concern and it doesn't gave rounded corners. Nuvo 24 would be your best bet based on your description of wants.

 

As far as the Apex, you can simply run a cable over to the new tank and control them both. Yes, if you went with an EB8, it would be about the same price but you would get 4 extra plugs. I go back and forth if it would be better to have it controlled by one brain or have them seperate. I have a ton of lines in my app already on mine, but also have a ton of devices and things going on with it. I think this is just personal preference.

 

Feel free to shoot me a message if you need any help with the Nuvo or Apex.

[Mirya]

Forget the dead rock. I've used it and was not impressed at all. I had algae problems when I used that too. No issues with the live rock, except for some bubble algae.

 

LOL Well, I have bubble algae in my tank started with dead rock currently. Even though I thought I had cleaned all incoming frags of it before putting it into my tank... oh well it is just an inevitability. So long as it isn't overrunning things (which it isn't) I kinda think it looks neat, actually. I guess my biggest fear with the live rock is getting something like a mantis. While mantis are cool, I don't want one in this tank.

 

Hmmm.... I have my doubts that the one on the right is really P. crucifer. Like, if you look closely at the tentacles, you'll notice that they're completely smooth. Whereas I feel like P. crucifer's tentacles are typically ruffled. This makes me highy suspicious that it might be a different species. As a biologist, I know that different classfications can be given based on even smaller differences.

 

To the best that I have been able to find in the literature, the smooth and the ruffled RFAs are considered the same species. I haven't found anyone that has used genetics to classify these anemone however... and you know how genetics tends to turn phylogenetic trees on their heads!

 

Hartog, J C den (1987). "Notes on the genus Amphiprion Bloch & Schneider, 1801 (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) and its host sea anemones in the Seychelles". Zoologische Mededelingen 61: 405-419.

A comparable situation exists with regard to the Caribbean Epicystis crucifer (Le Sueur, 1817) (cf. Cairns et al., 1986: 179, col. pl. 6 figs 9-10), a species accommodated in the family Phymanthidae, which in several respects is closely similar to Heteractis aurora, and ecologically vicarious. This species too is usually characterized by tentacles with swollen cross-bars, but there is also a smooth-tentacled form. However, these two forms of E. crucifer, as well as more or less intermediate individuals, may be found side by side throughout the area of distribution (I have found them in localities as far apart as Curacao and Bermuda), whereas in the Seychelles the smooth tentacled form of H. aurora seems to replace its widely distributed cross-barred counterpart.

 

That pink one you have your eye on sounds nice. Maybe Splash Corals or VIP Reef will show up at a local swap near you. I've seen both with pink ones, though not quite like the ones you posted.

 

Make that 2 more!!! As mentioned previously, was taking a visit to Reef A Palooza this weekend. I made a bee line for VIP when we got there and was drooling. Ended up picking up 2 about brought them home last night!! They have some beautiful nems and they must have had 50 of them on hand. I'm totally changing my tank to make the right side the rock flower island!! I'll post pictures tonight on my build thread.

 

Got to finally meet Dave too!! Great guy who built my amazing light!! Good times!!

 

Sooooooo jealous you got to go to Reef A Palooza!

 

Mirya... The Nuvo 24 issue has been resolved now. They are going to continue making them but it was hinted to me that they will be phased out and replaced by the Fusion 30. Tunze 9002 won't fit it the Fusion though if that's a concern and it doesn't gave rounded corners. Nuvo 24 would be your best bet based on your description of wants.

 

As far as the Apex, you can simply run a cable over to the new tank and control them both. Yes, if you went with an EB8, it would be about the same price but you would get 4 extra plugs. I go back and forth if it would be better to have it controlled by one brain or have them seperate. I have a ton of lines in my app already on mine, but also have a ton of devices and things going on with it. I think this is just personal preference.

 

Feel free to shoot me a message if you need any help with the Nuvo or Apex.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'll shoot for the Nuvo24 once I sign my contract. Considering the contract is still in the process of being written up, I still have time to decide what to do regarding the controller.

[Mirya]

And... now for some pictures and tank updates!

 

The picture I took at the beginning of the month won my local reef club's picture of the month contest!

 

Here is the P. grandis I picked up at Tidal Gardens last week:

Finally found a place that it likes -- not shaded or getting stung by Borneman or Zed. Unfortunately, that place is down on my sandbed. Why do I say unfortunately? Because my pistol shrimp has been extremely busy today. Lots of new excavations and burying of frags! My two Capnella frags and one of my Zoanthid frags disappeared. I was able to find one of the Capnella and the Zoanthid. Alas, the green Capnella (my favorite of the two, naturally!) is still MIA. I'm a little afraid the shrimp might have dragged it into his burrow. This just proves why I need to set up another tank! I like softies, but have them on the sandbed to keep them clear of the RFAs, but then they get rearranged/buried by the pistol... The shirmp hasn't tried to move the P. grandis though. Yet.

 

My ghetto-fabulous skimmer is bubbling away:

The skimmate is not the darkest, nastiest green stuff, but it is still pulling gross stuff out of the tank. I think I'll keep the skimmer going. Sometimes it blows microbubbles into the tank, but I'm assuming that will pass as it breaks in.

[FlowerMama]

Well, hey, mine's a store bought skimmer and that's what I get and at times I get more water because the suction cups will come undone and the skimmer will fall into the sump. So I say you're doing most excellent!!

 

And that is a perfect pic.

[Steensj2004]

And... now for some pictures and tank updates!

 

The picture I took at the beginning of the month won my local reef club's picture of the month contest!

 

Here is the P. grandis I picked up at Tidal Gardens last week:

Finally found a place that it likes -- not shaded or getting stung by Borneman or Zed. Unfortunately, that place is down on my sandbed. Why do I say unfortunately? Because my pistol shrimp has been extremely busy today. Lots of new excavations and burying of frags! My two Capnella frags and one of my Zoanthid frags disappeared. I was able to find one of the Capnella and the Zoanthid. Alas, the green Capnella (my favorite of the two, naturally!) is still MIA. I'm a little afraid the shrimp might have dragged it into his burrow. This just proves why I need to set up another tank! I like softies, but have them on the sandbed to keep them clear of the RFAs, but then they get rearranged/buried by the pistol... The shirmp hasn't tried to move the P. grandis though. Yet.

 

My ghetto-fabulous skimmer is bubbling away:

The skimmate is not the darkest, nastiest green stuff, but it is still pulling gross stuff out of the tank. I think I'll keep the skimmer going. Sometimes it blows microbubbles into the tank, but I'm assuming that will pass as it breaks in.

Hey, you have a instructional link to build one of these? Thinking about throwing one together tonight!

[Mirya]

Hey, you have a instructional link to build one of these? Thinking about throwing one together tonight!

 

My inspiration to make the skimmer came from this Reef Builders post. I ended up just doing a bunch of Googling, looked at a bunch of different mame skimmers (check out the Japanese Mame and the Gnome Glass in particular), and threw together my own thing. You can search YouTube for "DIY Mame Protein Skimmer" as well. If you check out post #114 of this thread I do have some build pictures. The supplies I used included:

- wooden airstone

- airline tubing

- a little bit thicker tubing, I think it's 3/8 inch for the drain line

- an old empty bottle to collect the skimmate

- check valve for the airline

- airpump

- gravel vac part from a siphon hose

- silicone

 

 

I drilled a hole into the side of the gravel vac tube, up at the top right underneath the cap. I squished the drain hose into this hole -- I made it a tight fit and ended up not needing to silicone it, but you could if you wanted. The other end of the drain hose goes into a collection cup under my stand. You do not want a tight fit where the drain hose goes into the collection cup, just use an old bottle and take the cap off.

 

The airline goes through the hole at the top of the gravel vac tube that the siphon hose would have originally connected to. This ended up not being a tight enough fit, and I had to seal this end with silicone. Run the airline down the length of the gravel vac tube and put a wood airstone on the end. Inside my gavel vac I designed a plastic baffle to help direct the foam to the drain hose, but this isn't necessary, I was just trying to be fancy.

 

Essentially, you want the gravel vac tube to be airtight. As the airpump blows bubbles through the airstone, the pressure inside the gravel vac tube increases. The only outlet for the pressure is going to be through the drain hose. So, that is how the bubbles are going to get pushed out into the drain tube.

 

To adjust the skimmer, I just raised the height it is out of the water. I have the gravel vac tube velcro cable tied to the strut for my light. I think you could also install a valve in your airline and dial back the airflow to also adjust the skimmer. You don't want bubbles falling down the drain tube constantly -- your skimmate will be too wet then and might mess with your salinity if you also have an ATO. You just want it to produce a small amount of fluid, the darker brown/green the better.

 

My understanding is that the airstone will need to be changed out roughly monthly. That will be the one kinda annoying thing about my design, I will have to pop the black top off and pull out the airline and baffle I made to get to the airstone. Initially, I had just planned on pushing more airline through the black top to push the airstone out the bottom of the gravel vac tube whenever I needed to change the airstone, but since I ended up needing to silicone things that will no longer be an option.

[Steensj2004]

My inspiration to make the skimmer came from this Reef Builders post. I ended up just doing a bunch of Googling, looked at a bunch of different mame skimmers (check out the Japanese Mame and the Gnome Glass in particular), and threw together my own thing. You can search YouTube for "DIY Mame Protein Skimmer" as well. If you check out post #114 of this thread I do have some build pictures. The supplies I used included:

- wooden airstone

- airline tubing

- a little bit thicker tubing, I think it's 3/8 inch for the drain line

- an old empty bottle to collect the skimmate

- check valve for the airline

- airpump

- gravel vac part from a siphon hose

- silicone

 

 

I drilled a hole into the side of the gravel vac tube, up at the top right underneath the cap. I squished the drain hose into this hole -- I made it a tight fit and ended up not needing to silicone it, but you could if you wanted. The other end of the drain hose goes into a collection cup under my stand. You do not want a tight fit where the drain hose goes into the collection cup, just use an old bottle and take the cap off.

 

The airline goes through the hole at the top of the gravel vac tube that the siphon hose would have originally connected to. This ended up not being a tight enough fit, and I had to seal this end with silicone. Run the airline down the length of the gravel vac tube and put a wood airstone on the end. Inside my gavel vac I designed a plastic baffle to help direct the foam to the drain hose, but this isn't necessary, I was just trying to be fancy.

 

Essentially, you want the gravel vac tube to be airtight. As the airpump blows bubbles through the airstone, the pressure inside the gravel vac tube increases. The only outlet for the pressure is going to be through the drain hose. So, that is how the bubbles are going to get pushed out into the drain tube.

 

To adjust the skimmer, I just raised the height it is out of the water. I have the gravel vac tube velcro cable tied to the strut for my light. I think you could also install a valve in your airline and dial back the airflow to also adjust the skimmer. You don't want bubbles falling down the drain tube constantly -- your skimmate will be too wet then and might mess with your salinity if you also have an ATO. You just want it to produce a small amount of fluid, the darker brown/green the better.

 

My understanding is that the airstone will need to be changed out roughly monthly. That will be the one kinda annoying thing about my design, I will have to pop the black top off and pull out the airline and baffle I made to get to the airstone. Initially, I had just planned on pushing more airline through the black top to push the airstone out the bottom of the gravel vac tube whenever I needed to change the airstone, but since I ended up needing to silicone things that will no longer be an option.

Sweet, hooking one up tonight, Seems some pretty positive progress and I love DIY projects! Jsut looking for something to polish off my water quality, I don't need a skimmer all that badly. I might switch the tubes around so that I won't need the cone to channel bubbles..... also gonna try the air valve, if it doesn't work then no biggie. Thanks!!!