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Sleeping with the Fishes [a pe(s)t project]


holy carp

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Putting together a build thread on the Mr. Aqua 12G Long in my bedroom.

I'm going to keep editing this first post with progress, so I apologize in advance if it gets long...


Tank Map:

January 2016:
FTS%20Labeled%20Map%202016-01-10%2014.10

Reverse Chronological FTS log :D :

 

April 2018:

w8sz88.jpg
 

Prior FTS:

Spoiler

October 2017:

2dlkzep.jpg

 

July 2017:

20170802_095238.jpg&key=54dbaa6d1f0278ed

 

April 2017:

k0sehj.jpg

 

January 2017:

23tjwa1.jpg

 

October 2016:

30jmwxe.jpg

 

June 2016:
w2hrp5.jpg

March 2016:
24nky6c.jpg

January 2016:
FTS%202016-01-10%2014.10.47_zpsrjkyfkpo.

October 2015:
FTS%202015-10-24%2010.22.59_zpsmwxoojtc.

August 2015:
FTS%202015-08-23%2013.18.16_zpsrbahx88u.

July 2015:
FTS%202015-07-14%2009.10.45_zpspeywguzp.

June 2015 (Launch):
FTS%202015-06-21%2020.33.09_zpsgs49sd2k.



YouTube video tours:

2017-01

 

Prior Videos:

Spoiler

2015-11

 


2015-07

 


And the full view:
2015-11-21%2013.22.05_zpsrocrobjw.jpg

20151211_194010_zps5s2lxup2.jpg

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Build details:

Mr Aqua 12G Long

on section of white countertop

on Craigslist credenza (probably homemade, but not by me)

Aqueon 10G sump

Baffles cut from regular glass 9" deep at drain and 8" deep for fuge

Current USA Orbit Marine 36"
Aqua Medic DC runner 1.2 return pump

Reef Octopus VarioS 2 with Apex Control added 5/21/16

75W NeoTherm heater
8W PAR20 5000K LED grow light over sump

Tunze 9004 skimmer

Topoff using Aqualifter running on Apex timing

Apex Controller added 5/15/16

BRS 1.1ml/min dosing pumps for 2-part


Plumbed with:
1" bulkhead drain - skimming with elbow
1/2" bulkhead drain - full siphon
1/2" bulkhead return
reinforced vinyl tubing



Filtration Contents:
Pukani rocks
CaribSea Ocean Direct sand (~5lbs)
Marinepure 8x8x4 ceramic bio block

Rox 0.8 Carbon and Phosguard in media bags


A clump of chaeto from LFS

[EDIT: chaeto got infested with pink cotton candy algae, so it's been replaced by a Tunze 9004 skimmer]

Added poly filter to manage the phosphates and algae

Carbon and Phosguard in media bags

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  • 3 weeks later...

Current Residents:

Fish:

  • 1 Ocellaris Clown
  • 1 MochaVinci Ocellaris Clown
  • 1 Orchid Dottyback
  • 1 Randall Shrimp Goby

Corals:

  • Purple Bonsai Acropora
  • Green Slimer Acropora
  • Elegance Coral
  • Purple Torch Coral
  • Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris
  • 2 Ricordea Yuma with babies
  • Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas
  • Green Protopalythoa
  • GSP
  • 2 Acan Micromussa Lord
  • Bam Bam zoas
  • JF Red Hot Setosa
  • JF Spit Fire Leptastrea
  • Optimus Prime Acro
  • Red War Coral
  • Dendrophyllia
  • Jingle Bells Cyphastrea
  • Green and Blue Maze Brain
  • Sunset montipora
  • unknown green acro
  • Oregon Blue Tort
  • unknown pink polyp monti
  • Darth Maul Porites
  • 2 RFA's
  • Tangerine Juice Leptoseris
  • Orange/teal plate coral
  • Rainbow Monti
  • Utter Chaos palythoa
  • Blue Hornet Zoas
  • Blue Hornet zoa
  • Jason Fox My Miami Chalice
  • Pink Boobies Chalice

Other Inverts:

  • 1 Randall's Snapping Shrimp
  • 1 Porcelain Crab
  • 2 Scarlet Hermit
  • 2 Pom Pom Crabs

Resident Chronology:

06-15-15 Bruce Jenner the Clownfish purchased at LFS as Perculia (sic) but definitely Ocellaris

06-16-15 Red Shrimp the peppermint shrimp (found half eaten on 12-14-15)

06-16-15 Sammy the blue coral banded shrimp (dead on 06-19-16)

06-16-15 Astraea and Margarita snails from LFS

06-28-15 Bandido the Orchid Dottyback, jumped 07-31-15

06-28-15 corals from Reef-A-Palooza (elegance, purple torch, green slimer acropora, purple bonsai acropora, and jack-o-lantern leptoseris)

07-03-15 dwarf ceriths, nerites, nassarius, and DOA florida ceriths from the internet

07-17-15 Snuggles the emerald crab - found dead and smelly 08-02-16 no tears, that asshole attacked 2 fish

07-24-15 Tail Spot Blenny - jumped to his death same night or morning of 07-25-15

07-26-15 Randall's Goby - jumped to his death through the egg crate lid on 09-03-15

07-26-15 Hector's Goby - hid 24/7 and found dead/half-eaten 07-29-15

08-13-15 Randall shrimp for hopeful pairing with goby

08-13-15 Lenny the clownfish boyfriend for Bruce (now Caitlyn?) jumped 7/14/17 RIP little dude :(

08-13-15 Bandido 2, because such a beautiful fish had to be replaced

08-14-15 Ebay purchase:

Eagle Eye Zoa (eaten by Emerald Crab on the first night)

Radioactive Green Zoa

Emerald Green Protopaly

purple Ricordea

pink Ricordea (pink Ric was unattached and never was able to reattach to rock or rubble RIP)

10-24-15 Picked up 3 little Acan Micromussa frags at the Reef Shoppe:

1 green/blue (spontaneously covered in mucus and melted)

1 bright orange

1 purple/dark orange

11-08-15 Manhattan Reefs Frag Swap

JF Red Hot Setosa

JF Spit Fire Leptastrea

a green and blue maze brain

fathead dendro

sunset montipora

Optimus Prime Acro

Bam Bams

Utter Chaos Paly (single polyp, didn't survive)

Jingle Bells cyphastrea

and some other unknowns.

01-17-16 frags from a Manhattan Reefs local in Brooklyn.

Oregon(?) Blue Tort

unknown acro

Plus FREE RED BUGS!

03-17-16 a half dozen nano-conchs

03-26-16 porcelain anemone crab last seen 11-13-17

04-11-16 birdsnest and pink polyp monti

05-06-16 Darth Maul porites

06-26-16 Reef-a-Palooza

2 Rock Flower Anemones

Tangerine Juice leptoseris?

Utter Chaos paly

Purple Hornet zoa (dying...)

Rainbow montipora

tiny orange and teal plate

10-24-16 Manhattan Aquariums

Tail Spot Blenny became dendrophyllia feast on 10-27-16

scarlet hermit

banded trochus

12-11-16 Manhattan Reefs Frag Swap

Jason Fox My Miami Chalice

banded trochus

01-15-17 Manhattan Aquariums

1 large nassarius

3 large ceriths

2 banded trochus

03-11-17 Connecticut Frag Farmers' Market

Pink Boobies chalice

06-20-17 Reef-a-Palooza

Yellow Acan

Some LPS

08-19-17 Manhattan Aquariums

Name TBD the Randall Goby

03-03-17 Connecticut Frag Farmers' Market

Red Hornet Zoas

Scrambled Egg zoas

Katropora - Atlantis Raspberry Limeade Acropora

04-01-18 Manhattan Aquariums

Bialetti the Mochavinci Clownfish

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Really like the white pedestal, really sets off the tank. Although it would drive my nuts that the tank wasn't centered on it. OCD showing, but love the tank so far, these are one of my favorite tanks.

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Putting together a build thread on the Mr. Aqua 12G Long in my bedroom.

 

 

Here's a quick view on YouTube

 

 

And some photos:

 

Display

2015-07-11%2013.41.22_zpsb4illosj.jpg

2015-07-11%2013.40.57_zpsyefq9utr.jpg

 

 

Sump

2015-07-11%2013.39.12_zpsgc5h2jpe.jpg

2015-07-11%2013.39.00_zps1trqmqfy.jpg

Beautiful tank and build. Long tanks are so cool.
  • Like 2
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Hey, thanks to everyone for the interest and positive feedback!

 

 

How do you like your orchid dotty... I'm thinking about one

Bandido (the orchid dottyback) is really a great fish. He adds the most incredible color to the tank. I've heard dottybacks can be territorial and aggressive, but this one is really friendly with the two clowns and is roommates with the blue coral banded shrimp. The fish are often all hanging out as a trio. The one hiding in the cave in the video jumped (RIP) and I got another one. The personality is genetic, and this one immediately made friends. I don't think the clowns can tell the difference. (They were both Sea & Reef orchid dotties)

 

Really like the white pedestal, really sets off the tank. Although it would drive my nuts that the tank wasn't centered on it. OCD showing, but love the tank so far, these are one of my favorite tanks.

Thanks. I needed that pedestal so my beer wouldn't obstruct the view... Trust me, though, the offset is no accident. I've built a little wooden box to enclose the plumbing, and with that the margins are all exactly symmetrical.

 

Very beautiful looking tank, post more pics!!

I'll get some more pictures up soon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was entertained this morning when Lenny the juvi/male clownfish was trying to manage with a 1mm pellet that was intended for his wife. Sorry about the focus going in and out...

 

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I was entertained this morning when Lenny the juvi/male clownfish was trying to manage with a 1mm pellet that was intended for his wife. Sorry about the focus going in and out...

 

Haha that's how my little guy is
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OK, time to get back to updating this thread...

 

Since this was for the bedroom, I wanted it to be small, clean, and quiet, with minimal obstruction from hoses and wires. I came across Scorched and lou99's similar tanks, but I wanted all the plumbing on one end.

 

Initial feedback wasn't entirely encouraging, but I decided to give it a go. It turned out pretty quiet at moderate flow, but when the flow was increased, the water level would elevate above the top of the drain and then it would slurp air. Also, the surface skimming was less effective than I hoped by having the drain at the top, so I made 2 adjustments.

  1. I replaced the low profile screen on the 1/2" drain with an elbow facing upward to give it some surface skimming. A valve on this drain allows me to ensure it's silent, and a small piece of eggcrate prevents the fish from having an amusement park ride
  2. I added a snorkel to the 1" drain. This allows it to breath air like a hole in the elbow, but can still go to full siphon if the level rises and has a cleaner look than a tube from the elbow coming over the glass. For this I used a low profile Lifegard Aquatics bulkhead screen, drilled a hole roughly in line with the top of the inner diameter of the pipe, added a 90° airline elbow, and just enough airline tubing attached to the inside to reach past the elbow on the exterior of the tank.

post-87676-0-42837900-1443921331_thumb.jpg

 

I'm pleased to say the result is completely silent. The pump is an AquaMedic DC Runner 1.2, which has 8 DC speed settings. I usually keep it running around 6. Settings 5-8 all put out enough pressure to raise the water in the tank high enough to run through the skimming elbow on the 1/2" bulkhead. Settings 1-4 run only through the snorkeled 1" bulkhead.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been taking regular photos of my green acro and decided a little time-lapse would be interesting to see. This is from mid August. I wasn't diligent about the timing and missed capturing most of September, but the photos for the most part are weekly.

 

Can anyone identify this guy for me? I got it at reef-a-palooza at the end of June. It wasn't doing well for the first month, so I moved it in early August, and now it seems to grow noticeably every week.

 

8/16-12/13

 

Animation_zpsqx0glsds.gif

 

 

For those curious, the photos are all spaced a week apart, except I missed 3 shots in September.

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Current Residents:

Fish:

1 Ocellaris Clown

1 DaVinci Ocellaris Clown

1 Orchid Dottyback

 

Corals:

1 Purple Bonsai Acropora?

1 Green Slimer Acropora?

1 Elegance Coral

1 Purple Torch Coral

1 Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris

1 Ricordea

1 Radioactive Zoa

1 Green Protopalythoa

 

Other Inverts:

1 Emerald Crab

1 Blue Coral Banded Shrimp

1 Randall's Snapping Shrimp

1 Peppermint Shrimp

 

Resident Chronology:

06-15-15 Bruce Jenner the Clownfish purchased at LFS as Perculia (sic) but probably Ocellaris

06-16-15 1 peppermint shrimp

06-16-15 Sammy the blue coral banded shrimp

06-16-15 Astraea and Margarita snails from LFS

06-28-15 Bandido the Orchid Dottyback, jumped 07-31-15

06-28-15 corals from Reef-A-Palooza (elegance, purple torch, green slimer acropora, purple bonsai acropora, and jack-o-lantern leptoseris)

07-03-15 dwarf ceriths, nerites, nassarius, and DOA florida ceriths from the internet

07-17-15 Snuggles the emerald crab

07-24-15 Tail Spot Blenny - jumped to his death same night or morning of 07-25-15

07-26-15 Randall's Goby - jumped to his death through the egg crate lid on 09-03-15

07-26-15 Hector's Goby - hid 24/7 and found dead/half-eaten 07-29-15

08-13-15 Randall shrimp for hopeful pairing with goby

08-13-15 Lenny the clownfish boyfriend for Bruce (now Caitlyn?)

08-13-15 Bandido 2, because such a beautiful fish had to be replaced

08-14-15 Eagle Eye Zoa, Radioactive Green Zoa, Emerald Green Protopaly, purple Ricordea, pink Ricordea (pink Ric was unattached and never was able to reattach to rock or rubble RIP) (Eagle Eyes were eaten by Emerald Crab on the first night)

 

Way late, but Bruce/Caitlyn... lmfao.

  • Like 2
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Way late, but Bruce/Caitlyn... lmfao.

 

Ha ha. I got a kick out of it when I bought that fish and named him/her. Glad it didn't go unnoticed.

 

 

Tank looks fantastic! I like the rockscape and I can't wait to see it start filling in with corals. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks!. I'm trying to take it slow so I don't crash my first tank. I'm still trying to figure out how to optimize the maintenance / cleaning/ water change routine. The rockscape has been slightly modified - I have to get up some new FTS. Next month is the Manhattan Reefs frag swap, so I'm hoping to make improvements soon. :D

 

 

That said, I'd really like to get some coral recommendations before I go on a shopping spree. Right now, my corals fluoresce nicely, but mostly green, so I need some color balance. I've been thinking some encrusting montis near the top, maybe an orange setosa, an Acan to bring in some nice reds or blues in the middle (but I'm still confused if I should go Acan, micromussa, favia, favites... They all seem so similar). Also been considering getting a dendrophyllia (will it eat my little clown?) and a rock flower anemone. The tough part is I've never seen another reef tank in person except at the real aquarium (which is a totally different scale), so the perspective (not to mention color) on these corals is challenging when all you see are photos online or tiny frags at a swap.

  • Like 1
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theleftcoastguy

I have limited first hand experience with corals, but I'm partial to zoanthids because they are typically more forgiving of tank parameters than other more sensitive types of corals and I think they can look really good when they grow into large diverse colonies. I can't speak to any of the particular types you've listed as I've never owned them. In your tank since you already have some sps maybe you could shoot for a mixed reef with sps up top and lps and softies filling in the lower parts of the rocks... and maybe fill the tank in with hardier, cheaper corals first so if you have any mistakes you learn on cheaper corals that might be able to live through said mistakes :)

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Thanks. I finally got around to getting some FTS images up on the original post.

 

Things seem to be going relatively well so far, except I keep having some rust-brown algae(?) in the top 3-5mm of sand. It's not on top like the diatoms were, but actually is binding the top of the sand together. Doesn't seem to grow on the glass or rocks, though. While it does prefer the low flow corners, it seems to form almost everywhere. Its color becomes visible after a few hours of light, but after the lights go off, the sand turns white again. I'll try to get a good picture of it tomorrow, but by the time I get home from work, it's usually fading again.

 

Anybody know if that's cyano? (I was under the impression that cyano grows over / on top of the sand. Over the last 3 weeks, I've increased water changes to 20%/wk. The corals seem to like the fresh water, but the algae seems unaffected, even though I siphon a lot of it out every time. Anybody have recommendations for this? One of the LFS guys told me reducing the light period from 12-10 hours might help - just not sure if that would have detrimental effects to the corals.

 

Right now, I'm not running any equipment, trying to keep everything as simple as possible. But at this point I'm wondering if I need to add a skimmer or some kind of reactor to clear it up. Or perhaps some type of additive? I may need to buy some new chaeto, since mine seems to be largely ineffective ever since the cotton candy took over the sump...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Really like your build- looks a lot larger than it is nice having all the plumbing on one side

 

Thanks. I'm still pretty happy with the build, and I love that the plumbing takes up so little space in the tank, but I'm starting to wonder if the plumbing on one side will continue to provide sufficient flow without power heads. I've been having some cyano issues for the past few weeks. It still retreats at night, but it's growing pretty fast during the day. Today when the lights went down, my GSP retracted and I noticed cyano on the purple mat. That was first time I actually saw it on a coral...

 

I don't really know why, but I sort of feel like I'm trying to minimize/avoid equipment that isn't necessary, but I'm not sure if the cyano is a nearly-6-month-old-tank phase or if I really need to change something to address it. All my searches turn up 'find the source of the problem' which isn't necessarily helpful advice if you don't know how to find the source of the problem.

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Usually in my experience, these types of algae come from 3 things. Too much light, too high of nutrients or too high a bio load i.e too many fish.

 

Cyano that I have encountered is red by the way, not sure if it grows in brown...


Just noticed, your drain or drains go into a sock. Maybe try splitting one off and let the fuge do it's thing. Some water can go through the sock and some through the fuge. It will all go through the sock eventually.

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My cyano seems to come in red, brown, and even black...

 

Cyano%20Collage%202015-11-21%2016.33.08_

 

The sock had been in for 24 hours at that point. The lower middle is in a corner of the tank, and was previously red. The lower right shot shows another patch turning brown/black after being red.

 

These photos were from this morning - I did another 5 gallon water change and siphoned the sand - I actually sucked out a good amount of sand, but I might just replace it with new instead of adding it back.

 

Before doing the water change, my parameters were

pH 8.2 (handheld electronic)

Mg 1360 (Red Sea)

dKH 7.3 (Red Sea)

Ca 415 (Red Sea)

NO3 0.00 (Red Sea)

PO4 0.00 (Red Sea)

sg 1.025 (refractometer)

 

Things look pretty good after the water change. I just posted another video in the original post of this thread. Of course, that won't last long before the cyano is back in bloom.

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Well, the cyano is slowly getting back under control with more aggressive sand vacuuming. The sand still turns yellowish brown, but not red anymore. The sock is still growing mucus strands, but not as quickly.

 

But of course, this tank is a hydra, so now the latest is bubble algae. I think I may get to experience every challenge in this tank.

 

At the Manhattan Reefs Frag Swap I picked up some bam bam zoas among other frags. I dipped them all and inspected the bases before putting them into the tank. I didn't inspect closely enough between the polyps and then found one 2mm diameter bubble algae ball in the zoa polyps about an hour later. I took it out and carefully removed the offender and scraped the area gently with tweezers. Another dip in ReVive and back in the tank.

 

Bubble%20Algae%20on%20Elegance_zpspvs4fv

10 days later I found these bubble algae on the catalaphyllia's skeleton and assumed that's where it originated. But now I've gone back to some older photos and I think it was already forming about a month earlier, so I have no idea where it could have been introduced.

 

In any case, there were a good number growing inside the skeleton, and I even found one on the base of the torch coral where the superglue is holding it to the rock. They've been carefully cleaned and bathed in straight 3% hydrogen peroxide. The corals didn't seem to mind it at all and were back to normal polyp extension after about an hour.

 

Fingers crossed...

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