TeenyReef's 4g PicoParadise

[Elizabeth94]

Beautiful Teeny, as always

 

How is the duncan in terms of aggression? I know they are good feeders or meaty foods, but are they aggressive with those acans on the bottom?

[ReefWeeds]

that full tank shot, Teeny! O.... M.... GGGGGGG!

[drgibby]

Can this tank get tank of the month again it just gets better and better... great work teeny!

[teenyreef]

Beautiful Teeny, as always

 

How is the duncan in terms of aggression? I know they are good feeders or meaty foods, but are they aggressive with those acans on the bottom?

They aren't bad compared to euphyllia. They don't get long stingers, but they will sting whatever they touch if they get too close. The euphyllia usually win, but the duncans don't really care, their tentacles get stubby on whatever part gets stung, but that's about it.

 

I've never had one fight it out with the acans - they really aren't close enough to touch because the acans are below the duncan heads, and an inch or two away.

that full tank shot, Teeny! O.... M.... GGGGGGG!

Thanks! I really feed pretty good about how the tank is doing finally. It's not perfect but I've pretty much come up with ways to handle all the little things that used to cause problems.

 

Until the next surprise comes along, of course

Can this tank get tank of the month again it just gets better and better... great work teeny!

Thanks! There are way too many deserving tanks here on N-R already, though

[pgrVII]

So what kinda coral growth hormones you running in this thing teeny? It's super full. everything looks so vibrant in your tank man.

[teenyreef]

So what kinda coral growth hormones you running in this thing teeny? It's super full. everything looks so vibrant in your tank man.

Thanks my friend! But there's always room for more corals

[pgrVII]

Thanks my friend! But there's always room for more corals

You keep saying that... haha

[reefernanoman]

 

 

Thanks! One of the things I love about having a pico tank is that it's so easy to take macro shots. This one just used the kit lens instead of the macro lens, and it turned out fine.

I've been so happy that the tank is finally on solid ground. Nitrates stay between 1 and 3, and phosphates are finally under .1, and it really shows in the colors in the acros. Even the zoas are doing well, as long as I give them a few drops of peroxide when they start looking puny.

 

April FTS:

 

2016-04-24 Cadlights FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr

I can never get enough of this tank! Beautiful!

[teenyreef]

Here are a couple acros on the frag racks on the side. I think I can still find room for one or more of these

 

ASD Acro by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

ASD Acro by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

After almost two years, the favia has finally decided to start growing more heads. I haven't been able to get a good picture of this guy before, as he had been shaded by the stylo until I accidentally broke off one of the sylo branches.

 

Favia by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Here's a top down of the Oregon Tort. I still can't get the focus and color quite right on this guy - he's been a challenging photography subject. He also still doesn't have the coloration that I saw in the mother colony, but I think that's either my parameters, or my lighting, or just something that needs more time as things mature. Still, it's pretty now

 

Oregon Tort by TeenyReef, on Flickr

I can never get enough of this tank! Beautiful!

Thanks!

[jack1978]

[/url]2016-04-24 Cadlights FTS by TeenyReef, on Flickr

Wow.

[Spiderguardnano]

Hey teeny tank looks amazing bro so as far as dosing peroxide how much drops are you doing?

 

Do you do it to help control algea?

[ReeferBoo]

That FTS is jaw-dropping. Well done!

[teenyreef]

Wow.

Thanks, Jack

 

That FTS is jaw-dropping. Well done!

Thanks, Boo! Still not as amazing as your top down shots, though

Hey teeny tank looks amazing bro so as far as dosing peroxide how much drops are you doing?

 

Do you do it to help control algea?

I don't actually dose it, I apply it directly to the zoas during a water change. I just take out enough water to expose the zoas to the air, put a couple drops on each colony that needs it, and put the water back in. The key is to put the water back in, or at least rinse off the peroxide, in less than a minute, or the zoas get burned.

 

I don't really use it to control algae although it's easy to apply during the water change if anything needs spot treatment. I use it to treat whatever seems to bother my zoas every couple months, some kind of fungus or bacteria, or invisible pests.

[ReefWeeds]

Thanks my friend! But there's always room for more corals

 

I agree!

[NYfishies]

Thanks, Jack

 

Thanks, Boo! Still not as amazing as your top down shots, though

I don't actually dose it, I apply it directly to the zoas during a water change. I just take out enough water to expose the zoas to the air, put a couple drops on each colony that needs it, and put the water back in. The key is to put the water back in, or at least rinse off the peroxide, in less than a minute, or the zoas get burned.

 

I don't really use it to control algae although it's easy to apply during the water change if anything needs spot treatment. I use it to treat whatever seems to bother my zoas every couple months, some kind of fungus or bacteria, or invisible pests.

 

I just started dipping peroxide to help with cyano/algae/fungus on my zoas. Last night I took a cup of tank water, tossed the zoa frag in and started to add 1 capful at a time of 3% brown bottle peroxde (new bottle). I kept adding by the capfull until the zoa's started to produce bubbles then I stopped. The whole process lasted no more than 5 min. I then put them in clean tank water and then back into the tank.

 

I do not suspect them to open for days. Any suggestions? I do have the ability to drain my frag tank so that only the zoas show like you do I guess (have not followed your thread sorry!).

[teenyreef]

 

I just started dipping peroxide to help with cyano/algae/fungus on my zoas. Last night I took a cup of tank water, tossed the zoa frag in and started to add 1 capful at a time of 3% brown bottle peroxde (new bottle). I kept adding by the capfull until the zoa's started to produce bubbles then I stopped. The whole process lasted no more than 5 min. I then put them in clean tank water and then back into the tank.

 

I do not suspect them to open for days. Any suggestions? I do have the ability to drain my frag tank so that only the zoas show like you do I guess (have not followed your thread sorry!).

Dipping them outside the tank is definitely the way to go if you can When I dip my frags, I dilute the 3% peroxide 50/50 with saltwater, and leave them in the dip for 60 seconds or less. Or sometimes if I'm lazy, I just put the frag on a towel and put a couple drops of undiluted peroxide on it, leave it for about 30 seconds, and then pop it back in the tank. I stir the frag around in the water to help rinse off the peroxide when I put it back in.

 

OK, I confess, I do it the lazy way almost all the time

 

Either way, they almost always open and look a lot better within 24 hours. When they don't, it's either because I left the peroxide on too long, or because they were already so stressed from the original problem that they need a few days to recover.

 

Your approach is a very good one and ensures that you don't burn the zoas. But I don't know how long they should stay in the dip once you start getting bubbles because it's hard to say how concentrated the solution is. So it's a good process to use if you want to err on the side of caution, although you may have to do it more than once to get all the algae or whatever.

[NYfishies]

Dipping them outside the tank is definitely the way to go if you can When I dip my frags, I dilute the 3% peroxide 50/50 with saltwater, and leave them in the dip for 60 seconds or less. Or sometimes if I'm lazy, I just put the frag on a towel and put a couple drops of undiluted peroxide on it, leave it for about 30 seconds, and then pop it back in the tank. I stir the frag around in the water to help rinse off the peroxide when I put it back in.

 

OK, I confess, I do it the lazy way almost all the time

 

Either way, they almost always open and look a lot better within 24 hours. When they don't, it's either because I left the peroxide on too long, or because they were already so stressed from the original problem that they need a few days to recover.

 

Your approach is a very good one and ensures that you don't burn the zoas. But I don't know how long they should stay in the dip once you start getting bubbles because it's hard to say how concentrated the solution is. So it's a good process to use if you want to err on the side of caution, although you may have to do it more than once to get all the algae or whatever.

 

My #1 concern of course is killing the zoas. I am afraid I left in too long, but that is just me overworrying. I think next time i will do 50/50 for less than 60 seconds as that is also what Kat recommended. I followed a R2R guide.

[teenyreef]

 

My #1 concern of course is killing the zoas. I am afraid I left in too long, but that is just me overworrying. I think next time i will do 50/50 for less than 60 seconds as that is also what Kat recommended. I followed a R2R guide.

Yep, the Kat recommendation is what I was working from too

After I did it that way for a while and had more experience, I was a lot more confident about applying the 100% drops because I knew what to watch for.

[NYfishies]

Yep, the Kat recommendation is what I was working from too

After I did it that way for a while and had more experience, I was a lot more confident about applying the 100% drops because I knew what to watch for.

 

Awesome good to know! Thanks for the advice.

[DaveFason]

This is 100% one of the best picos that has ever been. Amazing work John.

-Dave

[teenyreef]

This is 100% one of the best picos that has ever been. Amazing work John.

-Dave

Thanks, Dave! I'm still running the old Gen 2 light over this one, with blues at 100% and whites at 50%. I'm going to try comparing with the new Gen 3 you helped me out with later this weekend. I'm curious to see if/how the colors change.

 

PS: thanks for the love over on Facebook

[teenyreef]

I've been posting about what I think are dinos in the frag tank in my 10g thread. I moved a few frags from the frag tank into this tank last week, and just last night I spotted what looks like dinos in this tank now.

The lights are out now. Nutrient levels are already low, so I can't do much to improve in that area. I'll post later today about what I've learned from my research. Hint: most of the advice on the web is contradictory. Of course.

[teenyreef]

Today is day 3 of lights out. No sign of dinos, but that's because the lights are out

Here's what I've found about dinos based on the wisdom of Google:

- Periods of lights out, three days or more, seem to help in every case, whether they are eventually eliminated or not.

- Remove as much as you can mechanically.

- I believe JedimasterBen had success using a massively oversized UV light.

- Raising Ph is broadly considered a good technique.

- Raising Ph doesn't work well for some type of dinos that actually like higher Ph, and may kill your fish and corals.

- Decreasing nutrients and practicing good general reefing hygiene helps.

- Others say you should increase nutrients so that other organisms will grow and outcompete the dinos.

- You should do carbon dosing to encourage better parameters and make dino competitors grow.

- You should never do carbon dosing because it will encourage the dinos to grow.

- You should do regular water changes to reduce excess nutrients.

- You should discontinue water changes because something (maybe trace elements) in new water will encourage dinos to grow.

- You should add pods because they will eat the dinos (this one doesn't even make sense to me since dinos are highly toxic to inverts).

- You can dose peroxide but be careful about killing your inverts.

- You can use DinoX, which some people say works great and other say didn't do a thing. Oh yeah, and be careful with your inverts with this stuff too.

 

And of course there are a million recommendations about how to do the lights out. Fully dark with no light at all by wrapping the tank in a blanket, just running actinics, three days, ten days, every other day...

 

In short, they're hard to get rid of and it appears that a good treatment for one variety only encourages a different variety.

 

I'm going to do three days with the lights off, keep up carbon dosing, activated carbon, and GFO, based on the good reefkeeping theory. I'll consider more extreme measures only if multiple rounds of lights off don't get rid of them.

[teenyreef]

The lights are back on today and everything looks fine, with no dinos in sight. Which I expected - if they are going to come back it won't be for a few days.

 

I pulled the frags off the frag racks and the racks are soaking in bleach for a while to make sure they're completely clean.

 

One pleasant surprise when the lights came on was that the Morphologics Vice zoas had a baby, at long last!!!

I've had these guys for about a year, and while they've done fine, they've never spread until now. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come!

 

Top Down Detail by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Here's a zoomed in shot of the baby

 

Baby Zoa by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[HarryPotter]

Your Ricorida are huge! Or is the tank small? Either way inspired me to get into Florida Ricordia. I have a small garden going now, planning on mounting them on a flatish rock and hoping to eventually get something comparable