William's Red Sea Reefer Nano - The Final Countdown

[Christopher Marks]

Congrats, that’s must be a big relief! Keep up the good work!

[William]

New pics/fts 

 

 

[William]

[William]

My autotopoff.com ATO finally crapped out (after almost 10 years), so i replaced it with an XP Aqua ato (now have one on all of my tanks) 

[SeaFurn]

Wow! That's amazing it lasted that long.  I've been thinking about the XP Aqua for my pico.  Do you think it's small enough?  I'm assuming it is if you have it on yours.

[William]

7 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Wow! That's amazing it lasted that long.  I've been thinking about the XP Aqua for my pico.  Do you think it's small enough?  I'm assuming it is if you have it on yours.

It about the diameter of a Nickel, very small. And I have very few complaints (the only being that sunlight can trigger it) 

[William]

Did a water change today (first time in a while) and did some minor adjustments on the rockwork. 

 

I also went went ahead and used some aptasia-x on some aptasia that has started to pop up. 

 

Photos taken with the polyplab lens v2 

(still getting the hang of it, and may buy the v1 version as this tends to yellow out everything) 

 

 

[William]

 

[A.m.P]

You have the most crazy-long tentacled duncan-strain I think I've ever seen, I grabbed a few heads of a really-pretty neon-base animal today but its' extension is pitiful enough to convince most it's just a pissy-zoa on-a-stick.

[William]

16 hours ago, Amphrites said:

You have the most crazy-long tentacled duncan-strain I think I've ever seen, I grabbed a few heads of a really-pretty neon-base animal today but its' extension is pitiful enough to convince most it's just a pissy-zoa on-a-stick.

I agree, some of them have 4” tentacles.... I have never seen it before, I got my strain from s local NY reefer about three years ago. Some of the largest heads are 2” across 

[A.m.P]

Rare gem man, awesome to see.

[William]

So I impulse bought a fuzzy dwarf lion fish which should be here Tuesday. It’s been a long time since I have Attempted to add a fish to this tank. Hopefully it goes well. 
 

*** to be fair, I have been looking for one for a while and got an “in stock” notification***

[William]

The lionfish is in, its much more black than the image online. I’m not sure if this just because it is stressed. It is also smaller than I realized, only about 1”. 

[William]

[William]

 

[Pjanssen]

Wow! Just skimmed through this thread (Well, the first page and the last 2 pages anyway), and I am impressed. I can't imagine having all of that livestock in my 29 bio cube, and yet you seem to have no issues with them. How is the new lion fish working out so far? I've been looking into setting up a predator reef tank, but assumed I would need a much bigger tank than my 29-now you've got me wondering!

[William]

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

Wow! Just skimmed through this thread (Well, the first page and the last 2 pages anyway), and I am impressed. I can't imagine having all of that livestock in my 29 bio cube, and yet you seem to have no issues with them. How is the new lion fish working out so far? I've been looking into setting up a predator reef tank, but assumed I would need a much bigger tank than my 29-now you've got me wondering!

I would never recommend keeping this high of a bioload, but for me in this instance it works. To be fair, I have two marine pure plates, and 2L of maxspext spheres providing extra biological filtration. I run biopellets and skim heavy. I haven’t checked my nitrates and phosphates in about a year bit the only algae issues i have are occasional bubble algae outbreaks (treated with vibrant, when they occur) and film algae on the glass. 
 

if you take a look at my TOTM page from last December you can get a good synopsis of the history of the Tank, though some things have changed since I moved the tank In June. 
 

the lionfish is doing well, I saw him eat frozen mysis yesterday which is a good sign. 
 

my eventual goal (which I have put off twice) is to upgrade to a waterbox 70:2 (24x24x22). As soon as I find a permanent Anesthesiology/Pain Management position in NYC I’ll buy the upgrade but I’m currently still in the early stages of looking for a job. 

[William]

I think you would have a more difficult time in a bio cube, but you could IMO, have a GDM and single Dwarf lion or small waspfish and potentially some small “swimming fish.” The issue is the biocubes lack of a sump and the added space/options it provides. 

[Pjanssen]

3 hours ago, William said:

I think you would have a more difficult time in a bio cube, but you could IMO, have a GDM and single Dwarf lion or small waspfish and potentially some small “swimming fish.” The issue is the biocubes lack of a sump and the added space/options it provides. 

Yeah, I wasn't really planning to keep the bio cube, maybe a similar footprint if I decide to keep the stand. I can go a couple of inches wider and of course taller. Then add a small sump underneath. But more likely going bigger. 65-75 gallons. My question would be whether I can house my current livestock (2 true percula clowns and a tile hawkfish) with lion fish, eels, and the like.

[William]

9 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

Yeah, I wasn't really planning to keep the bio cube, maybe a similar footprint if I decide to keep the stand. I can go a couple of inches wider and of course taller. Then add a small sump underneath. But more likely going bigger. 65-75 gallons. My question would be whether I can house my current livestock (2 true percula clowns and a tile hawkfish) with lion fish, eels, and the like.

My current stocking list:

percula clown

long nose hawk fish

flame angel 

golden dwarf moray eel (GDM) 

Fuzzy dwarf lionfish. 
 

so yes, I think can certainly keep your current inhabitants with a GDM and a fuzzy dwarf or a fu Man chu lionfish. 
 

when i upgrade to my Waterbox 70:2 I plan to add another GDM, a small tang, and potentially another dwarf lionfish.  

[Pjanssen]

I love the DGM, but It has a pretty steep price tag. I'd be nervous.

[William]

40 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

I love the DGM, but It has a pretty steep price tag. I'd be nervous.

IMO they are pretty hardy and do well. 

[William]

So had a water leak in my bathroom that required me to move my tank across my apt so the wood floors could be replaced. I will hopefully be able to move the tank back later today or tmro. Moving the tank was much easier than I thought it would be. I just had to drain about 15 gallons out of it (leaving about 4” of water) and slide it across the room. 
 

in other news, it looks like I’m going to be adopting an 8 year old Abyssinian cat. Hopefully she won’t try to eat my fish... 

 

 

[Pjanssen]

She looks like she is going to rule the house!

[William]

Well I came home today and noticed that my PH was reading 8.51 .... and my katopora is completely RTN ... 😞 

 

I’ll need to get another frag from @metrokat or someone else who has a frag (ideally in the NY area)