Softie garden: Dandelion's 6.25 Arc

[dandelion]

Thanks for the advice! Yea they look pretty happy. Only catch is that the base is bleached, though polyps are still extended and the rest looks pretty happy. It doesn't appear to be spreading. I've read sometimes when poci shade itself the shaded part may turn white.

 

The poci is a light lime green. I don't have a better camera to get a clearer picture. I've tried adding another pump on the right side of the back glass but it didn't look like the monti liked it. Right now it's polyps are all extended so I suppose I won't disturb it further for now. Today is the last day of the acclimation mode of my AI prime. It will go back to full strength of 17W at peak. Will adjust if they look like they can use more light!

 

I'll have to trim the frag plugs sooner or later though. Would a small garden shear work?

 

Both SPS look really happy IMO. I can't really tell from the picture but if that Poci is darker green look out, it will lose polyps (look to be dying) and they will spring up everywhere. On pumps, other rocks, the back wall, you name it. I think they're fun, but just something to be aware of.

[markalot]

I have use the coated shears that came with this kit: http://www.marinedepot.com/Boston_Aqua_Farms_Stony_Coral_Propagation_Starter_Kit_Coral_Propagation_Tools_for_Saltwater_Aquariums-Boston_Aqua_Farms-BA1511-FIMTCP-vi.html

 

As long as i rinse well and store opened up rather than closed they seem to be lasting.

[dandelion]

Just got back from the Lansing Swap! I got $150 worth of frags from hobbyists and vendors. I've just finished dipping them and placed in the tank. Will probably remove plugs and glue them to place later on. These are pictures right after they went in my tank. Will take some more pictures tonight when they (hopefully) open up!

 

This guy still hasn't opened up yet.... I love its blue polyps

 

Red Digitata and Seposa. I just noticed the black part on the digitata when I got home. Should I cut it away?

 

Orange birdnest

 

This is supposed to be a pink zoa.

 

Some acans

 

Flowerpot

[ajmckay]

Awesome update! I was cool to meet you at the swap - looks like you got some pretty sweet stuff. Post an FTS!

 

Ballsy move on the flowperpot - j/k, I really really want to get one sometime and it probably should have been today since there were some awesome ones there for way cheaper than I've seen many places but I ended up with a torch. I'm a little wary of what LPS I'm adding to my tank lately based on a recent experience almost losing a really nice specimen. I do want to get a nice goni/alv someday though. I also saw some extremely nice elegance corals there.

 

Also, post a room shot here if you get a chance: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/370310-reef-room-decor/

[dandelion]

I'll post a room shot after I tidy things up a bit! Haha

 

The green goni actually looked white at the vendor's station. I was thinking oh let me get something that fluoresce white because I have nothing like that! The other pink Zoa turned out to be dim brick red too in my tank. I have all the whites turned off at my "viewing period" so it's not just because it's washed out by white light. Anyways they're only $15 and $10 a piece.

 

I have to strike a balance between feeding them vs keeping water clean. I may have to increase my water change frequency. But I'm pretty lazy LOL.

 

Awesome update! I was cool to meet you at the swap - looks like you got some pretty sweet stuff. Post an FTS!

 

Ballsy move on the flowperpot - j/k, I really really want to get one sometime and it probably should have been today since there were some awesome ones there for way cheaper than I've seen many places but I ended up with a torch. I'm a little wary of what LPS I'm adding to my tank lately based on a recent experience almost losing a really nice specimen. I do want to get a nice goni/alv someday though. I also saw some extremely nice elegance corals there.

 

Also, post a room shot here if you get a chance: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/370310-reef-room-decor/

BTW any idea what the black burned of area on my digitata is? Will it spread? Do I have to cut it away or can I leave it be?

 

Awesome update! I was cool to meet you at the swap - looks like you got some pretty sweet stuff. Post an FTS!

 

Ballsy move on the flowperpot - j/k, I really really want to get one sometime and it probably should have been today since there were some awesome ones there for way cheaper than I've seen many places but I ended up with a torch. I'm a little wary of what LPS I'm adding to my tank lately based on a recent experience almost losing a really nice specimen. I do want to get a nice goni/alv someday though. I also saw some extremely nice elegance corals there.

 

Also, post a room shot here if you get a chance: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/370310-reef-room-decor/

[dandelion]

Have been slacking off posting updates to my Pico for the past 6 months! I have had some trouble with the tank. Once some sort of pollutant must have gotten into the water and my corals crapped out. Luckily it's a pico so a near 100% water change was done and they recovered, although one of my acans lost most of its green color. Anyhow here are the latest pictures (with comparisions!)

 

8/4/16 FTS

 

Rainbow(?) zoas and encrusting monti

 

old

 

 

Digitata and Setosa

 

old

 

Alveopora and Acan

 

old

 

Birdnest

A couple three weeks ago. Look at the tips you'll see the growth.

 

old

 

Goniopora (hasn't been too happy lately. Been retracted most of the time. Maybe I didn't target feed enough)

 

 

And lastly a top-down view

 

Anyone knows why my birdsnest only has the tip green? the body is like all brown....

[hinnenkm]

This is a cool little tank! Those rainbow zoas are rastas and your setosa looks incredible. Thanks for sharing!

[dandelion]

Thanks for ID-ing! I should have asked when I bought the Zoas. I also have a zoa that looks like pink little eyes but the pink is fading for some reasons. My favorite ones are my digitata and setosa. They have a very beautiful red/pink color when look from afar. It's just difficult to keep both softies and hard corals in a pico. (That said my Zoas are still growing new polyps, albeit slowly.)

 

This is a cool little tank! Those rainbow zoas are rastas and your setosa looks incredible. Thanks for sharing!

[Nixperience]

Looking awesome! Crazy setosa and your acan really came a long way! I need to get me some acan. Birdsnest is only green where it is new growth. At least that kind.

[dandelion]

The setosa really came a long way. I liked the original frag a lot because of its color and antler-shape. I honestly didn't know it grew so much until I looked at the old pictures!

 

Looking awesome! Crazy setosa and your acan really came a long way! I need to get me some acan. Birdsnest is only green where it is new growth. At least that kind.

[ajmckay]

Awesome update! You've gotten some really great growth shots there! I should take some - though I mostly got LPS at the swap and a new head or 2 isn't nearly as exciting or visible as the growth from say - that birdsnest! Makes me wish I would have gotten some - actually it's always been on my list of corals to get but for some reason I still haven't gotten any....

 

Anyways the tank looks great.

[dandelion]

I was kind of getting bored with the tank and then I looked at the old pictures in like holy crap!

 

I'm thinking about getting some amino acid supplements as well as a different fish food. I'm thinking acropower over bright well because it is more dilute and this easier to dose in the pico. Food wise I'm thinking reef roids over reef chilli or coral frenzy for the smaller size (150-200 micron) which should make it easy for the flowerpot to consume. Any thoughts?

 

Awesome update! You've gotten some really great growth shots there! I should take some - though I mostly got LPS at the swap and a new head or 2 isn't nearly as exciting or visible as the growth from say - that birdsnest! Makes me wish I would have gotten some - actually it's always been on my list of corals to get but for some reason I still haven't gotten any....

 

Anyways the tank looks great.

[fishyj]

Nice looking tank. Any updated pics?

[Clown79]

Looking good.

 

Your pics are great! The colours really pop.

[dandelion]

Sorry for the lack of updates! My stupid hermit killed all my snails and my tank started to look dirty. I finally removed the hermit and tossed it into my QT and added 4 Astrea snails. Man those are hard workers! But I think I'll need to do a light out for a day or two to help them out. Anyways here are some pictures. I'm stunned by how much my bird nest grew again!

 

FTS 11/30/2016

 

 

 

 

This acan doesn't have spectacular colors but it's my very first coral! It only had 3.5 polyps when I bought it. How much as it grown!

 

 

 

 

[dandelion]

Time for some updates. I fragged some SPS because they are getting a little too big. I actually broke off the red montipora digitata accidentally when I was removing the return nozzle for cleaning. Hopefully my new tank will get cycled soon and I can repurpose this into a zoa garden!

 

 

This was my first coral. Went through a lot as I was learning the hobby. Lost some color but has grown into a huge colony.

 

 

This guy didn't seem to have grown at all but it seems to be happy so far.

 

My candy cane finally split into 3 heads

 

I fragged some of my seposa off and glued them onto frag plugs I won at a local frag swap. Maybe I can sell them as they grow bigger.

Just before fragging:

 

Home made magnetic frag rack:

 

 

 

Lastly a full tank shot:

[dandelion]

Went to the Michigan annual frag swap and came home with lots of new corals! Dropped about $200 and got 2 pairs of designer clowns along with many zoas and a few SPS. I have a Fluval Evo 12 that is still cycling (been since December!) Plan is to convert this into a zoa garden and move my SPS and LPS over to the bigger tank. Oh and did I mention I rehoused my clownfish here?

 

 

 

 

I know the tank is getting really cramped with all these DIY frag racks. Hopefully my new tank will be up and running soon!

[dandelion]

I'm hoping this is not old tank syndrome but just a temporary imbalance with nutrients. I am starting to lose the battle against nuisance algae. My chaeto in the second chamber doesn't seem to be growing much. At the same time I have having GHA pop up everywhere - in creeks nooks and on the sandbed. I was able to control them with almost daily tweezing and direct peroxide injection, but the algae seems to have an upper hand now. Tried dosing API algaefix and it did nothing. Probably made it worse because I had to remove my carbon and phosguard.

 

After reading about fluconazole and bryopsis, I figured I have nothing to lose from dosing it to see if that will help with GHA. I removed purigen and carbon, crushed up a 100mg pill of fluconazole, and dissolved that into the tank. I have seen no ill effect so far. People suggest that it takes a bit longer to kill GHA than bryopsis. I'll wait a few days and report back.

 

Zoa frags still have a lot of GHA even after a strong peroxide dip.

 

Back of tank where I really could get to.

 

[dandelion]

Doesn't look like fluconazole is working for me against GHA. Worse yet not being able to run carbon/purigen/phosguard seems to fuel their growth faster.

 

Day 1:

Day 8:

[dandelion]

Just a record of the state of the tank currently, just before a major transformation that's about to happen.

My corals have been outgrowing the tank. Last November Dr Fosters and Smith has a really good deal that I couldn't pass up. I ended up buying the Fluval Evo 13.5. My plan is to move all my hard corals over to the new tank and turn the pico into a zoa garden.

 

Now that the new tank is up and running, I finally can move all my newly acquired zoas onto the rock. However, I don't know if my tank is going through old tank syndrome or what, but I have hair algae popping up like crazy. I tried dosing fluconazole and API Algaefix, but that did nothing to help. I even pulled one rock and scrubbed it real good. One week later it is covered with algae again.

 

Tomorrow when I move the hard corals over, I will be treating all rocks and frags with peroxide, dump the sand bed, and wash the tank real good in the sink. If this doesn't take care of the algae, I don't know what will.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dandelion]

After getting pissed with all the nuisance algae, I decided to give my tank a good scrub down. I needed to move a lot of my frags and corals to my new tank anyways, so I figured it would be a good time to do some deep cleaning.

 

1. Made a temporary tank out of some sterilite box with heater and pump.

2. Cut and move all corals and my one fish into the tote.

3. Scrubbed all rocks with a toothbrush to remove as much algae as possible.

4. Gave rocks a peroxide bath.

5. Scooped out sandbed.

6. Rinsed and scraped the shit out of the empty tank.

7. Ran tank with tap water and vinegar.

8. Peroxide dipped all corals. Soft corals back to the 6.25 and hard corals to 13.5.

 

Nonidea how it took me an entire day to do this. Anyways I swear I'm not having a sandbed any longer. This is how it looked when I was scooping the sand out.

 

 

I cant believe there's so much gunk in it. My tank was fishless up until a couple of months ago. Where did all that yuck come from??

[Nano sapiens]

^^ I've seen a lot worse, but that is nasty nonetheless.  Shallow sandbeds do require routine and thorough maintenance for a small system to remain in good shape over many years.

 

 

[dandelion]

11 minutes ago, Nano sapiens said:

^^ I've seen a lot worse, but that is nasty nonetheless.  Shallow sandbeds do require routine and thorough maintenance for a small system to remain in good shape over many years.

 

 

I already vacuum my sandbed when I do water changes. Didn't do much apparently. Im thinking it's because there is a "net" in my water changer that prevents me from sucking out the sandbed. I have a 29G system which I suck out a large amount of sand every time during water change. I would pour out the water and then run the sand under scalding hot tap water a few times, and then finish with a RO/DI rinse. Haven't had much trouble with algae in the sandbed in that tank.

[J-Ranko]

I had a similar problem with my previous tank's sandbed. When I cleaned it out the trapped gunk looked and smelled like $#!&.  I went bare bottom for my new tank and I am loving it!  

I was able to keep a clean sandbed in the past, but that's with several sand-sifting inverts who kept it well maintained. I couldn't do that in 11g with the aggressive elegance coral who feasted on any snails that wandered into its tentacles.

[Weetabix7]

See, THIS is what makes me really paranoid about having sand in my tanks!!!

Sounds like rinsing the sandbed is a good idea. 

 

You obviously were doing something right cause you had happy corals and great growth on all your SPS, can't wait to see the new setup!!