teenyreef Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Since several people have asked if they have vermetids, I pulled the old rock out of the trash and took a macro shot of one. This rock was covered with them This one is about half an inch long. In the water, they are a dark red color, almost black when the lights are blue. When they dry out, it turns out they are a very unfortunate flesh color. Eeek Vermetid Snail by TeenyReef, on Flickr If NR runs another Halloween photo contest, this one is definitely going in! Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Tanks looking great! Those fts are SWEEET! Full of color Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Tanks looking great! Those fts are SWEEET! Full of color Agree, lovely tank! What's wrong with the vermetid snails, just wondering? Never had to worry about them in my (so far) short reef career. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Tanks looking great! Those fts are SWEEET! Full of color Thanks! I'm still waiting to see what some of these corals turn out to be when they grow up, but your thread has definitely inspired me to be more liberal in my feeding. So far, it seems to be working Agree, lovely tank! What's wrong with the vermetid snails, just wondering? Never had to worry about them in my (so far) short reef career. Thanks! The vermetid snails are OK when there's just one or two, but if they are left unchecked they multiply out of control. Their snot trails aren't very pretty, although I could live with that. But once they get into the zoas, they really irritate them, and it's almost impossible to get them out without removing the rocks they are on. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Thanks! The vermetid snails are OK when there's just one or two, but if they are left unchecked they multiply out of control. Their snot trails aren't very pretty, although I could live with that. But once they get into the zoas, they really irritate them, and it's almost impossible to get them out without removing the rocks they are on. +1. I had some zoas that came with vermetid snails. For a good 6 months, it didn't grow at all. I snapped the vermetid snails off, glued the opening shut, and the zoas popped out babies within the week. Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Thanks! The vermetid snails are OK when there's just one or two, but if they are left unchecked they multiply out of control. Their snot trails aren't very pretty, although I could live with that. But once they get into the zoas, they really irritate them, and it's almost impossible to get them out without removing the rocks they are on. Ah, so more of an aesthetic problem, not like they actually eat the corals. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 +1. I had some zoas that came with vermetid snails. For a good 6 months, it didn't grow at all. I snapped the vermetid snails off, glued the opening shut, and the zoas popped out babies within the week. Exactly! Whenever I got them out of the zoas, they'd start spreading again. Ah, so more of an aesthetic problem, not like they actually eat the corals. True, not like zoa eating nudi's or other really bad pests, but more like aptasia. Just something that takes over your tank and bothers everybody else. Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Tank is looking really awesome. It's pretty crazy how long sweepers can be. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks - I really appreciate it Your tank is so awesome and has been an inspiration for me for a long time now Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 One of the limitations of the CAD Lights 4g design is that there's no provision for any kind of media basket. It comes with the world's biggest filter sponge that goes the entire height of the first chamber instead. There's no place to put carbon or floss. So I had cut down the sponge to about an inch high to cover the bottom of the chamber, and piled a bag of carbon and some floss on top of it. That worked OK, but it was hard to get the water to flow through the carbon, and if I wanted to broadcast feed I had to remove the floss, the carbon, and the sponge just to keep the food from getting filtered out. So I checked with StevieT at InTank - he confirmed that he doesn't make a media basket that fits this tank. He suggested I take some measurements and see if any of the existing baskets might fit. So I ended up ordering the basket that he makes for the IM Fusion 10/20 and making a few modifications. So far, I'm really happy with the results It arrived today, and fit in the tank fine, but the top of the first chamber in the basket was about 3/4" above bottom of the water inlet. So I trimmed about 1/2" off the bottom of the basket, and took off about 1/2" from the front of the first chamber. So basically I lost 1/2" of capacity in the top chamber, and reduced the potential flow through the bottom of the basket by 1/2". Since this is only a 4g tank the reduced capacity isn't a problem. After I trimmed the basket I smoothed the edges and called it good enough. They aren't glass smooth like StevieT's edges but it works for me Here's a view of the re-worked top part: InTank Media Basket Mod by TeenyReef, on Flickr I used one of the leftover scrap pieces to made a tiny overflow edge to direct the flow into the basket, and another was just the right size to make a spacer to hold the basket in place under the flow. You can see the spacer in action here: Media Basket Installed by TeenyReef, on Flickr Finally, the far left overflow slot was flowing straight onto the edge of the skimmer bracket instead of going into the baskket. So I took one more piece of scrap and glued it over that slot. Now the flow runs perfectly into the basket, and I am a happy reefer Water Flow by TeenyReef, on Flickr Link to comment
kimberbee Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Nice work on the media basket! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks! Nitrates have been a little higher than I would like, and I get just a touch of cyano every week before the water change. I've been blaming that sponge in the bottom of the chamber, which never got cleaned out as often as it should. Hopefully this will help get the tank completely clean again Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 I took a good look at the corals last night and decided that in my quest to improve the color of the corals I got carried away. The acans have been morphing into a solid, less vibrant, color, the zoas aren't as big and aren't spreading like they were, and the duncans are more of a pale green than the deeper green they used to be. So I reset the lighting back to a level not too much higher than it was when I first started with the Nanobox (160/80). I'll leave it there until next weekend and see how things go. And I'm a little afraid of jinxing myself, but Houdini hasn't escaped any more! I hope he's decided to stay put for a change Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 16, 2015 Author Share Posted February 16, 2015 Well, it looks like I jinxed myself. I think Houdini must read my screen or something, because less than an hour after my last post, Houdini jumped out of the tank while I had the cover off. I found him on the desk still in a puddle of water and put him right back in. He swam around for a minute and then disappeared in the rocks and I haven't seen him since. I checked the back chamber since that's where he usually is, but he wasn't there. Short of taking out all the rocks there's no good way to tell if he's OK, but since he's usually out and about I don't have a lot of hope In more positive news, my blue acan has been recovering well since being stung by the Evil Favites. He now has tissue all around now and is filling back in. I think the reduced light is already helping with color, too. Blue Acan by TeenyReef, on Flickr Link to comment
owenj Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Houdini is a little stinker hope he's alright after the latest escapade. Link to comment
kimberbee Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Hopefully he's just resting after this recent escape! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 Still no sign of him. I think he went too long without breathing in his last trick. At least he went out doing what he loved Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Sorry to hear Houdini is still MIA. Hope he turns up. Link to comment
cindyp Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 don't give up hope! and i have not see my gbg for 24 hours! i hope he is just hiding. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thanks, everyone. Cindy, I sure hope yours turns up! I'm out of town for the rest of the week so no more pictures for a while I'm getting tempted to try that 5 gobies for $15 deal on Ebay again Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I'm getting tempted to try that 5 gobies for $15 deal on Ebay again Me too, just gotta keep the little buggers away from my trigger when I first put them in or they'll be a snack. One of my coworkers also just started a 6g Fluval Edge so I would give a couple to her since she thinks they're adorable. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I took a good look at the corals last night and decided that in my quest to improve the color of the corals I got carried away. The acans have been morphing into a solid, less vibrant, color, the zoas aren't as big and aren't spreading like they were, and the duncans are more of a pale green than the deeper green they used to be. So I reset the lighting back to a level not too much higher than it was when I first started with the Nanobox (160/80). I'll leave it there until next weekend and see how things go. You have to be careful with NanoBox lights. They are crazy powerful. If I set my Duo to 160/80, I will toast all my corals (shallow tank). I have my Duo set to 125 / 30 right now and slowly ramping up the whites. I really shouldn't reveal his true identity but Dave is really Superman. He harvested the power of the sun into his NanoBox lights. Without proper acclimation, the cosmic energy from the lights will overwhelm the zooxanthellae in corals. NanoBox is not simply a hobby for Dave. It's part of his master plan to save our world. In the days of the Apocalyse, when the sky goes black, Dave will call upon his legions of NanoBox owners to unite and turn our lights to the sky to bring back the sun. This is the truth. Link to comment
jeremycee Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 You have to be careful with NanoBox lights. They are crazy powerful. If I set my Duo to 160/80, I will toast all my corals (shallow tank). I have my Duo set to 125 / 30 right now and slowly ramping up the whites. I really shouldn't reveal his true identity but Dave is really Superman. He harvested the power of the sun into his NanoBox lights. Without proper acclimation, the cosmic energy from the lights will overwhelm the zooxanthellae in corals. NanoBox is not simply a hobby for Dave. It's part of his master plan to save our world. In the days of the Apocalyse, when the sky goes black, Dave will call upon his legions of NanoBox owners to unite and turn our lights to the sky to bring back the sun. This is the truth. Lol ^ I didn't get the memo on that but I think I believe it. I'm runnin 160/100 on my mini tide over the pico and everything seems to be growing ok but not as quick when I had it dialed back a bit ! Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 One of the GBGs in my Nuvo 8 went missing two days ago ...surprise surprise--she's taking a vacation in the back chamber! So my little sponge-in-the-overflow trick didn't work. Has anyone tried making a tiny trap to catch really small fish? I have a feeling this isn't the last time I'll have to deal with this, and I'd love not to have to remove all the equipment (traumatizing the fish in the process) every time one gets in there. Link to comment
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