Australia's Spiciest 34 Litre Nano: DIY frag rank (bottom of pg 6)

[RollaJase]

I hope the move went well mate.

[pappadumplingz]

An update to the current situation. Firstly I must say a belated Happy New Year. Got a huge par38 bulb and stand to replace the stock led that kicked the bucket. Everything's looking pretty decent. Been using the Red Sea Coral Pro as opposed to the Blue Bucket now, so with the new salt and light I hope to see some results sometime in the near future. Weather has been very hot so have had a bit of bleaching on the pavona, but it has gone through this wear and tear before and come out on top, so I'm sure it can do it again. Picking up a Jebao Rw4 tomorrow, dumping off some more Xenia, and might try and get a clownfish to spice the tank up, so will put up those photos tomorrow as well. Also have some more diving vids I made for Facebook lying about, spo I can put those up on that thread I made too if you guys want. Honestly though, the tank looks horrid compared to what it used to look previously.

 

Photos:

 

 

 

 

 

[RollaJase]

A word of warning with the Coral Pro salt, it mixes in at a very high alkalinity. Can be 10-14dKH depending on the salinity you are mixing at. This generally isn't a problem if you are consistent with water changes etc. but if the depletion between water changes is high you can cause damage with Alk swings. I pretty much crashed my tank using coral pro and not dosing. Alk would swing from 12dKH to 8dKH over the course of the week.

[pappadumplingz]

2 minutes ago, RollaJase said:

A word of warning with the Coral Pro salt, it mixes in at a very high alkalinity. Can be 10-14dKH depending on the salinity you are mixing at. This generally isn't a problem if you are consistent with water changes etc. but if the depletion between water changes is high you can cause damage with Alk swings. I pretty much crashed my tank using coral pro and not dosing. Alk would swing from 12dKH to 8 over the course of the week.

So just keep up with the weekly water changes and I should be okay?

[RollaJase]

1 minute ago, pappadumplingz said:

So just keep up with the weekly water changes and I should be okay?

You should be, just keep an eye on on your alkalinity and see how much it falls during the week. I'd test the Alk of your mixed water (at tank temp) to see what you are adding to the tank, then test the difference the day of or before water change to see what the difference is. If it's more than say 1dKH you could stress out the corals, particularly the LPS. One thing to keep in mind with Alk testing is to test at the same time of day every time, this ensures accuracy with your testing (obviously wont matter with the newly mixed water but for regularly testing).

[pappadumplingz]

Went in to get the water tested and saw a coral croucher that I havent noticed in 2 months. Scooped it up will grab photos later. Water quality is also top notch which is a bonus.

[pappadumplingz]

 

 

[pappadumplingz]

It’s eating! Gobbled down the mysis like a champ. This is a good sign.

[spectra]

That's a coral cruncher...............get it right  

[pappadumplingz]

Was woken up early this morning, so when I went to check the tank, and found the croucher at the front of the tank in sleep mode. Got some pretty decent shots with it that I have just colour corrected, if only I had a dslr they would look a lot more crisp. Was also looking on the Liveaquaria profile of the fish, and it notes that you should feed a croucher multiple times a day if it is on a bare bottom tank. Should I take this advice with any weight? Should also note that this fish was only $25 bucks, which is the second cheapest salty fish I've ever gotten.

 

Photos:

 

 

[teenyreef]

The cuteness is overpowering me 

[pappadumplingz]

Okay guys, tank has gone through some big things since the last update. Was using H202 to kill hydroids a few weeks ago, and long story short, went overboard and lost the last 2 maze brain frags, plus the xenias and the chalice. Not particularly upset, because none of the frags  except the xeina were doing very well, hence why they hit the bucket, but its a shame that they are gone. On the plus side, the incident burnt the goniastrea to the point where its gaining its colour back again, also with some pellet feeding, which is great. The first trachy I got two years or so ago (the red and purple one) is also gaining it its colour back, again through pellet feeding.

 

Also bought a colony of stylopora for $20, mainly for the croucher, which has happily taken up residence in. And finally, what I feel is a major milestone, I got my first Acro frag. Purchased it from Eastwood aquariums for $10, and its this really nice dark green/ mid tone green. Might not look great to all you designer acro'ers, but I think I got a decent deal (looks a bit crummy in the photos). So far its doing great, since being purchased on Saturday, with great PE. If this piece does well, might wanna get some more of the cheap frags they had to grow out for the new tank. And anyone got names for the croucher? He's been doing great so far, and is on pellet food, taking it directly from the pippet.

 

Photos (sorry for the crummy images, if only I had a DSLR hehe):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YHSublime]

What are you using for bio bacteria? Anything? Or just doing water changes and keeping this like a "QT" tank kind of?

 

[pappadumplingz]

15 hours ago, YHSublime said:

What are you using for bio bacteria? Anything? Or just doing water changes and keeping this like a "QT" tank kind of?

 

Got marine pure in the back that does all the nitrifying/denitrifying. That plus the water changes is all I need. And yea this is just the remaining live stock from when my tank was fully set up, along with bits and bobs I’ve collected on the way

[pappadumplingz]

Grabbed some ReVive dip and another acro frag 2 days ago, this one straight off a wild colony for a fiver. Also saw a wicked lepto that I might pick up (for investment purposes ). In other news, the other acro is definitely growing, which is a plus. Also need a name for the croucher, any suggestions? He's super active at times, and is like a little dog. He basically knows he's king of the tank.

 

Photos (they're all crummy, colours are a lot better irl)

 

 

[teenyreef]

If he's like most little dogs, something like "Killer", or "Hulk" or "Thor" 

 

Looking good!

[pappadumplingz]

10 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

If he's like most little dogs, something like "Killer", or "Hulk" or "Thor" 

 

Looking good!

Speaking of Thor names, just watched Ragnarok, maybe I call him Korg 

[pappadumplingz]

Picked up a dallas acro (the aussie version of the green slimer) and a teal acro with purple polyps, from a local reefer today. Everything else is doing well, with the acro from last week settling in nicely. I should probably mention that I'm going to try and start fragging sps, to fund my hobby, so I'm investing in some coral out of my own pocket.

 

Dallas

 

teal w/ purple polyps (probably needs a bit of time to colour up)

[pappadumplingz]

Made a frag rank with some spare eggcrate and a spare freshwater glass cleaner, zip tying it all together. Turned out decently I think...