3 Gallon Picotope!- Clean Slate

[JoeR]

Southwest from Raleigh- Columbia is only slightly further away from me than Raleigh, it's just over 2 hours away. I live in Rockingham, and we always say that we're 2 hours away from EVERYTHING here. Charlotte-2hrs, Raleigh-2hrs, Myrtle-2hrs, Columbia- 2hrs, Carolina Beach- 2hrs, Etc. Roughly at least.

 

The problem is that we never go that way towards Columbia. I'd have to make a specific trip of it, so I'd have some convincing to do lol

[Weetabix7]

Ok, you're 3 hrs from me. 

Columbia is a 1.5 hr drive from me, and TOTALLY worth it for a trip to Fishy Business. 

You can get nice, healthy frags from them for 3 for $60 or $25 each. Pretty stuff too.

[JoeR]

10 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Ok, you're 3 hrs from me. 

Columbia is a 1.5 hr drive from me, and TOTALLY worth it for a trip to Fishy Business. 

You can get nice, healthy frags from them for 3 for $60 or $25 each. Pretty stuff too.

How big are their $20-$25 frags? The place I've been going to has great sales IMO. Last time I was there they had $5 frags on sale buy two get one free so 3 frags for $10. Pretty good I think. Look them up on Facebook; "Fintastic aquariums of wake county". They're having their 1 year anniversary sale and have serpent stars for $2!! Sadly I have to work...

[Weetabix7]

If you look at the pics I've posted recently on my tank thread (linked in my Sig) you can see the stuff I got from them. 

I got the Maze Brain frag, the Favia/War Coral frag and the RFA from them. 

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, JoeR said:

Southwest from Raleigh- Columbia is only slightly further away from me than Raleigh, it's just over 2 hours away. I live in Rockingham, and we always say that we're 2 hours away from EVERYTHING here. Charlotte-2hrs, Raleigh-2hrs, Myrtle-2hrs, Columbia- 2hrs, Carolina Beach- 2hrs, Etc. Roughly at least.

 

The problem is that we never go that way towards Columbia. I'd have to make a specific trip of it, so I'd have some convincing to do lol

Small world, I used to live in Hamlet for several years as a kid lol. 

 

I used to visit a little store in north Raleigh called The Fish Room, I think, nice little store.  Was across from one of the malls, Triangle Town Center maybe?  No idea if the shop is still open though.  Used to have some nice frags and I got my first ever corals from there.

[JoeR]

38 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Small world, I used to live in Hamlet for several years as a kid lol. 

 

I used to visit a little store in north Raleigh called The Fish Room, I think, nice little store.  Was across from one of the malls, Triangle Town Center maybe?  No idea if the shop is still open though.  Used to have some nice frags and I got my first ever corals from there.

It definitely is a small world, I lived in hamlet for a few years as well. Yep the fish room is still open, but I haven't been there yet as I think I read a couple bad reviews about it. Not that they mean anything though.

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

If you look at the pics I've posted recently on my tank thread (linked in my Sig) you can see the stuff I got from them. 

I got the Maze Brain frag, the Favia/War Coral frag and the RFA from them. 

I use my smartphone to browse the forums so I don't see signatures; is it the zen experiment one?

[Lula_Mae]

19 minutes ago, JoeR said:

It definitely is a small world, I lived in hamlet for a few years as well. Yep the fish room is still open, but I haven't been there yet as I think I read a couple bad reviews about it. Not that they mean anything though.

It's possible it's changed, when I went it was newly opened.  Haven't been in at least 6.5 years (has it been that long? ).

[Clown79]

Starfish starve in most tanks unless its a large and mature tank 

Brittle star and serpants can grow very big, some can go after fish, and once again most small tanks can't provide enough food for them.

 

As for urchins, you can try smaller urchins.

[Weetabix7]

7 hours ago, JoeR said:

I use my smartphone to browse the forums so I don't see signatures; is it the zen experiment one?

 

Yep, here ya go: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/380474-weeties-zen-learning-experiment-tank/?page=8#comment-5479693

 

The frags pics in that last page are lit by sunlight, so they aren't as "glowy", lol.

 

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Starfish starve in most tanks unless its a large and mature tank 

Brittle star and serpants can grow very big, some can go after fish, and once again most small tanks can't provide enough food for them.

 

As for urchins, you can try smaller urchins.

 

I agree that can happen with bigger ones, but I was thinking more of Mini Brittles, like the ones that are about the size of a quarter with all legs extended. 

[JoeR]

14 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

It's possible it's changed, when I went it was newly opened.  Haven't been in at least 6.5 years (has it been that long? ).

I'm not saying that they're bad at all, I've never been, I was just saying they have bad reviews. Which, again, don't mean anything

11 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Starfish starve in most tanks unless its a large and mature tank 

Brittle star and serpants can grow very big, some can go after fish, and once again most small tanks can't provide enough food for them.

 

As for urchins, you can try smaller urchins.

I think I'll try an urchin and a micro serpent IF they come in colors other than brown/grey lol. 

[JoeR]

7 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Yep, here ya go: https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/380474-weeties-zen-learning-experiment-tank/?page=8#comment-5479693

 

The frags pics in that last page are lit by sunlight, so they aren't as "glowy", lol.

 

 

I agree that can happen with bigger ones, but I was thinking more of Mini Brittles, like the ones that are about the size of a quarter with all legs extended. 

Thanks for the link! I've never seen a coral tank lit only by natural sunlight before, really cool. You could get a cheap blue LED strip off amazon for like $1 just to give it some color.

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, JoeR said:

Thanks for the link! I've never seen a coral tank lit only by natural sunlight before, really cool. You could get a cheap blue LED strip off amazon for like $1 just to give it some color.

 

I actually have a PAR38 LED bulb that I also use, but only from about 12 noon to 5 or 6. 

That bulb wasn't on yet in the sunlit pics. 

Truthfully, I haven't gotten all that great yet at taking decent pics under the LEDs so a pic under that right now might not have done much good. Working on it!! 

[Clown79]

I have the same issue, can't get good pics under led.

[JoeR]

Just thought I'd add this picture to show how large the apparently Kenya tree is in relation to the tank... clearly way too big lol. When I get some live rock rubble I'll frag it. It looks like most people just take them out of the water, cut them off and super glue them to the rock/plug. You can also see the cyano issue I'm having. It's growing significantly slower, but is still a problem. This is about 3 days worth of growth. The nitrates are less than 5ppm, but other than lowering nitrates I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

[fishfreak0114]

Wow that is one big coral!  No wonder you want to frag it.  It'll be pretty slimy, chances are superglue won't hold.  I prefer to use a rubber band to loosely hold it to a rubble piece.  After a week or two they attach themselves.

[Clown79]

Corals that slime don't glue very well if at all.

For the cyano

 

How often is filter media changed? Filter floss should be changed at least 2 times a week. Carbon bags rinsed weekly and changed every 3 weeks.

 

Do you vacuum your sandbed? Use a turkey baster on the rocks?

 

You can take a turkey baster and suck out the cyano in between waterchanges.

 

Getting more flow to the tank/area helps as well.

[JoeR]

8 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Wow that is one big coral!  No wonder you want to frag it.  It'll be pretty slimy, chances are superglue won't hold.  I prefer to use a rubber band to loosely hold it to a rubble piece.  After a week or two they attach themselves.

That's just what several YouTube videos showed, and it looks like it worked for them. But I can try both ways for sure.

[JoeR]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Corals that slime don't glue very well if at all.

For the cyano

 

How often is filter media changed? Filter floss should be changed at least 2 times a week. Carbon bags rinsed weekly and changed every 3 weeks.

 

Do you vacuum your sandbed? Use a turkey baster on the rocks?

 

You can take a turkey baster and suck out the cyano in between waterchanges.

 

Getting more flow to the tank/area helps as well.

I don't use filter floss, It's just got the foam block the filter comes with and then the carbon/charcoal the lfs recommended. I rinse it at least weekly, after vacuuming. I just started to vacuum the sand bed better and I do use something to blast the rocks.

 

i think the tank could probably use more flow but the corals I have don't like a lot of flow, do they? Zoas, shrooms?

[Weetabix7]

Different Zoas respond in various ways to high or low flow. 

Mushrooms generally prefer lower flow, but it doesn't hurt to experiment with it and see how they respond. 

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

Different Zoas respond in various ways to high or low flow. 

Mushrooms generally prefer lower flow, but it doesn't hurt to experiment with it and see how they respond. 

That could actually be why my pink and black zoas aren't opening- not enough flow? They're really small zoas, less than half the size of 'normal' ones. Oddly, two days ago I found a random single zoa head laying in the sand.. I wasn't sure it was actually a zoa since it was closed, so I dug a hole in the sand and set it in there. It began to open and show neon yellow, so yesterday i superglued it to a plug. I hope it survives, at a really nice color. But WHERE does this stuff keep coming from?

[Weetabix7]

Which stuff?

 

Also, if some things don't open well you sometimes have to try them in different locations in tank, lower flow, higher flow, lower light, higher light, gotta experiment a bit. 

Don't let that frustrate you, that's how you learn and become a better Reefkeeper. 

Also, sometimes Zoas are weird and won't open no matter what you do. 

[JoeR]

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Which stuff?

 

Also, if some things don't open well you sometimes have to try them in different locations in tank, lower flow, higher flow, lower light, higher light, gotta experiment a bit. 

Don't let that frustrate you, that's how you learn and become a better Reefkeeper. 

Also, sometimes Zoas are weird and won't open no matter what you do. 

I was talking about the random hitchhikers (starfish, worm, and zoa) that have randomly showed up in my tank weeks after starting it lol. Like where did the zoa come from? None of my zoas are neon yellow so I have no idea. 

 

I tried moving them closer/further from the light, into more/less flow, etc. still won't open. It's been a while since I tried moving them so maybe I'll give higher flow/light a try again.

[Weetabix7]

Starfish and worm are typical hitchhikers, not surprising to see them pop up. 

The Yellow Zoa polyp...... heck if I know. 

The Reef Gods like you?? 

[JoeR]

When I upgrade the light, I was thinking I'd use the old one and turn the filter into a fuge... but I've been reconsidering as it would probably not look so good...

 

If I added one of these in the back of the tank, would it serve the same function as a fuge? I think it looks really good, and will fill up space in the back. If it helps clean the water that's even better! Thoughts? Does anyone have one of these? Is it comparable to chaeto?

 

http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3468+490+3570&pcatid=3570