dgphelps' 5 gallon Marineland Portrait pico

[dgphelps]

Ohh good idea, I should try that. I noticed some in their tanks last time i was there.

[dgphelps]

Any tips on decent corals to add to this? I'm thinking a few small sps frags and maybe Duncan or daisy polyps?

 

I may want to wait a month or so since I am seeing a touch of diatoms dusting the sandbed.

[brandon429]

I think both of those would work, and with the feeding and wc work you do I think a non photosynthetic like tubastrea could do well

[dgphelps]

Watching the tank start to slowly change - this week the diatoms are fading but I am noticing unwanted algae pop up (small bubbles and strands of hair like algae on the rocks and frags). The corals are all stable, and the zoanthid polyps appear to be coloring up and are opening nicely regularly. The feather dusters (fan worms) are very happy looking and peeking out all over the rock work - I have seen at least 3 different colors/patterns to them.

 

This weekend I plan to try and remove or kill off all of the algae when I do the water change. I also saw one pesky aiptasia in a nook in a frag who needs to go. If I can, I will chisel it out so I can use it in my jar Wheaton experiment, posted elsewhere in this forum.

[dgphelps]

I noticed heavy cloudy puffs coming up from some of the live rock today and noticed the stomatella snail diligently pushing its eggs/sperm into the water. Hope I have two, I'd love a bunch of these little guys in my tanks.

[brandon429]

Hey thats neat I don't think my tank ever did that try to catch pics of micro ones if they show

[dgphelps]

I fragged the star polyps and moved a small bit to the smaller tank. I also picked up a small frag of green Scolymia - heard it grows slowly which is probably a good thing in this tank.

 

I'm trying to get a few cerith and nassarius snails for each tank to move the sanded a bit.

[dgphelps]

I was able to get 2 cerith and 3 nassarius snails locally today and they appear to be doing well so far. They moved most of the sand already enough to obliterate the light dusting of algae on the surface. I also removed all the visible macro algae that had grown manually and put it into the pest tank (check that thread for my reasons). I skipped last week's water change and have been dosing Reef Energy every 2 to 3 days for the past three weeks. I did a decent sized flurry feeding yesterday and another today. After I did the feeding today I thoroughly basted the rock multiple times and the top of sand bed (and put filter floss in the "sump" to catch what I can). Water change day is tomorrow and I will do a few more bastings before then.

 

Despite the 'neglect' of having skipped a week and heavier feeding everything looks good. All of the corals have been open wide, I see bright pink growth on the star polyps as they attach to the rock work, and the dusters are open nearly all the time. The number of pods is noticeably higher from tiny copepods to larger isopods. I haven't seen many amphipods yet. I see plenty of bristle worms and other odds and ends as well.

 

At an LFS today several pieces of their live rock was almost 100% covered in feather duster worms. It was a thing of beauty. I hope I can get some coverage like that, even 1/4 of what they had.

[dgphelps]

So... life got a little crazy these past few days and I pushed the water changes back. Have the SW all mixed and heated so it is just a matter of grabbing some time tonight and doing it. That said, everything looks even better and I watched a beautiful clear tunicate push up from a tiny little speck to about the size of a small marble with its two openings prominent in the last week.

 

I don't want to push my luck since I know parameters can go wonky fast in such a small tank, but things seem to be going strong. The new snails have laid about 50 eggs across the glass - I assumed it was the cerith snails given I know they do that but I caught the nassarius actually laying them the other day. And by nassarius I mean what I hope are nassarius but wonder if at least a few aren't whelks instead.

 

I also have what I thought were just normal tiny mussels that are actually small greenish bivalves that move around. One has decided it likes the top intake and has been there for the last two weeks, the other moves around from the rock, to the sandbed, to the back wall of the tank. I noticed a few in the smaller pest tank too. One has gone to the sand and pulled larger grains around itself to make a little bed. They are pretty cool. I'll get some more recent photos up soon and try to capture some of the smaller stuff to share.

[brandon429]

Those bivalves can live a long, long time. I had just one on the very tip top of my tank that lasted about 5 yrs until I had to use peroxide harshly to fight some invasion. Your tank can indeed take some breaks from feeding and wc if needed, its usually spot on.

[dgphelps]

Haven't taken any breaks from feeding though! Maybe I should. :/ I will do a good water change today and I have been running filter floss since Saturday or Sunday to catch debris.

[dgphelps]

I waited till lights out to sneak some photos (I'll post those up tomorrow). Main goal was to get some close ups of the snail eggs and a large fan worm that doesn't stop to put out new egg clumps on a regular basis. I got the eggs, fan worms (but not the one with fresh eggs), snails, etc and then there on the sand bed about 3mm long I saw what appeared to be a larval mantis shrimp. Snapped what I could through the curvey glass and I am nearly 100% sure it is. It kept moving its front claws like a mantid into the sand and even leapt at one point from the light. There is a tiny hole to a small cave down at the sand bed and I am betting it holes up in there during the day. Not sure if I will ever see it again though if it lives at some point I imagine it will make itself known. I'll be sure to do my heavy feed tomorrow night before the lights go out in the hopes it grabs some grub to fatten up. Did water changes two days ago so the tank is nice and clean again.

[dgphelps]

I know that photos run circles around words describing this stuff so here you go!

 

Tiny Mantis Shrimp:

 

 

Duster/Fan Worms:

 

 

 

Moving bivalve recently buried in the substrate:

 

Sponge?:

 

Collonista snails (several are fused together like this - only one of this darker snail type):

 

Nassarius snails:

 

Nassarius snail eggs on glass:

[dgphelps]

Tank update photos.

 

Two tanks side by side:

 

 

[brandon429]

just noticed above you have micro fanworms attached to the snail shell in micron sizing

[dgphelps]

I can't claim credit for that, the snails have only been in the tank two weeks. That said, I believe I am noticing new micro fanworms on the rock work from the two spawning events I watched a few weeks back. I'm seeing both white, and red tiny, tiny fans spread around the tanks.

 

I have watched several pineapple sponges and tunicates pop up almost overnight in several places which is nice.

[dgphelps]

First white calcium worm tube in a little spiral on the back wall. Shows that the dusters are breeding successfully. The large female has put out 4 egg clutches since the tank was set up. They hang out for about a week then go away then the next week or so a new one appears. I started dosing phyto and in the past 4 days am seeing more and more pods on the sand and glass. No sign of the tiny mantis shrimp though despite several night visits. I'm 50:50 with my hopes either way. If it does live I will need to get it out at some point.

[dgphelps]

Neglected water changes for 17 days but kept up with regular feeding including dosing phyto and reef energy every other day. I have seen significant polyp extension in the new flowerpot coral and scolymia, the star polyps are over an inch long and growing across the rock more each day, saw my first patch of corralline algae on the glass and noticed in the photos the significant coverage on the rocks not previously there. Since I started dosing phyto the pods have gone crazy!

 

Really enjoying this tank.

 

100% water changes have not been detrimental, in fact everything seems very healthy. Today before changing the water I tested: 180 GH, 120 KH, 8.0 pH, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate, and .25 phosphates (if the API test is accurate). You'd think that a sudden water change after draining the tank completely and exposing the corals to air would make them upset. Instead, the pH jumped back up to around 8.5, KH jumped up to around 180; nitrite, nitrate, and phosphates all went back to 0 and the temp was about 5 degrees C different. Within 30 minutes everything was wide open including the Goniopora.

 

[dgphelps]

More photos taken an hour after 100% water change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[brandon429]

More clues emerge from ultra high res pics, very nice! Those coralline spots are the bio indicators of your nice ion params, your postings are illuminating the reefing by pic/no test required eyeball technique, where there is active coralline deposition sps and friends will grow. Fun clues from borrow as desktop worthy shots.

[aviator300]

thanks for your contributions, your pic and documentation quality is well done. this specifically helps others do quick cycle tanks

 

all my tanks are done as yours is, only it involves the trip home from lfs to my tank for the same outcome. not only can you switch rocks among a new and old tank with no cycle, but you can easily bring home cured lr from the pet store and never have a cycle, every time. moving old live sand among tanks can cause a cycle, its the first thing I looked for here in your new 5

 

cycles appear specifically when details show they will, and they dont otherwise, as long as we can account for all higher organisms. a dead wrasse in anyones rock sure might leak a decent .5 but as you can see with nanos and pico reefs, we can control the variables well and do something reliable.

 

 

There is a time where API is helpful, not during cycling. there are many reports of good tests, but there are enough bad ones to constitute the search terms we see, and this thread here. enough to warrant the use of pics and live rock historical details instead. api is useful for indicating fish death or something really big, its not as helpful for low level readings, color interpretation issues are likely at play.

API are cheap testers but they have their place. I bought API when i didn't know any better and now realize that they are way less than accurate in the low ranges but just like Brandon said, i use mine to check for high Ammonia spikes when i'm looking for missing livestock, etc.

[dgphelps]

Have patches of coralline on the glass now, lots of micro worm tubes on the rock, and the rock itself it taking on more color. There are a fe patches of macro algae on a few of the frags. I have been scraping off what i can with my nails, hopefully can keep in in check. Surprisingly the ball of Chaeto looks nice, but hasn't really grown. A micro brittle star has been nesting in it.

 

 

Sea Foam Favia frag: (it opens feeder tentacles after lights out nightly - they are surprisingly long!)

 

Green slimer frag: (the tip was bare when I got it but it quickly grew in and is now spreading at the base as well)

 

Goniopora sp: (nice polyp extension and movement)

[jaynkeel]

I love it. These little tanks from Marineland are pretty nice for the price. Not impressed with the silicone on the back wall as it should be black but not too bad. I am using mine for a project with my 11 yr old son, gotta start a build thread yet. My mission is a foam back wall that wraps around the sides to form viewing holes. Looks like you have a good combo going on there with yours, well balanced and looks healthy.

[brandon429]

its just perfect and makes me remember how much i liked my tank when it wasnt jacked invaded by mushroom corals, i mean this tank looks dang nice. dang clean, its simply aging into perfection.

[dgphelps]

Thank you both - I love these things too and agree about the silicone. I did notice the first coralline algae and worm tubes building over it though so it won't be long before I don't have to look at it as much!

 

The funny thing is I have an old freshwater ADA 60P in the garage I absolutely LOVE. It's roughly 17 gallons and I have considered moving things to that but there is something about the smaller tanks that keeps me from doing it.

 

I should update the livestock list now that I have added some new frags. I don't have any mushrooms in this tank and don't plan to. But I am starting to feel that way about the GSP. And once the corals start growing the light will be blocked out. What to do?!