5.5 Gallon Mixed Reef

[vlangel]

Definitely lookin' better! ?

[Lula_Mae]

After shipping, most corals just need some time to recover.  I do a Lugol's iodine dip on everything both as basic pest prevention (though admittedly it isn't the best for that) and to help the corals get over the shock of shipping (it's a great medicinal to have in your reef cabinet).  A couple of drops per cup of tank water for 3-5 minutes usually does the trick.  Sorry the peps didn't make it but it may be for the best, the only time I had them they ate my aiptasia and then had a grand time ripping skirts off my zoas...

[Lorekeeper]

I'll pick up some Lugol's, then!

 

And yeah, I was beginning to have second doubts about the peps as soon as I ordered them. Too many horror stories about them attacking polyps. I would like to eventually get some sort of ornamental invert, and right now I'm leaning towards a Skunk Cleaner, or possibly some sort of non-aggressive crab (I really like porcelains, I'd just have to figure out feeding them!).

 

Tank will probably get a rescape tonight, mainly due to a pretty massive dead-spot I found in the middle of the scape. Lots of mulm trapped in there. My fault!

[Lorekeeper]

New scape:

Should allow for more debris to float forward, instead of it all collecting behind the rock.

 

Moved around some coral and macro, and realized that I'm down to a single dragon's breathe trimming. If this stuff doesn't make it, it'll be a sad day! The branching macro is actually doing much better, and the caulerpa is doing decent as well.

[JBM]

I've found that candy canes, xenia, kenya, and gsp can all be whinny little babies. Give them time to do there things.  Thankfully this hobby is one of patience. 

 

Go slow, everything will be fine

[Lorekeeper]

Yeah, now that everyone's made it for a few days, I'm not so worried. Candy cane was looking really nice and inflated before I moved stuff around today, so I have high hopes. War Coral ate some mysis last night, too. The GSP is just pissed cause I fragged it, so it'll open up in a few days. 

 

Candy Cane, as of this afternoon:

 

War Coral:

 

As far as taking it slow, nothing should be added till next month, unless I see something at my not-so-local fish store when I'm out there this weekend. This tank has been a lot of fun, and problems have been pretty minimal. Still not nearly finished (my tanks never get finished), so I'm looking forward to adding to it and watching things grow! Gotta fill it up before I can convince myself it's time to upgrade to a 10 gallon

[Lorekeeper]

Quick pic dump, now that everyone's settled in!

 

Candy Cane:

 

GSP on the left side of the tank:

 

Orange Zoas:

 

War Coral:

 

Red Branching Macro:

 

FTS:

 

Some of the pics could be clearer, but it gives you a good idea of how everyone's doing. Both LPS frags took some mysis, and all of my softies are doing fine as well. The zoas seem happier in the lower flow, so I'm glad I switched them around. Most of the GSP is doing well, and the macros seem to be surviving. Not sure on health, though. 

 

Overall, I think the scape opens things up quite a bit. I like it, and it gives me more space for coral!

[vlangel]

Everything looks happy to me. ?

[Lorekeeper]

Added a ghetto ATO system this morning, made up of a couple pop bottles and some tape. It's pretty secure, but it's ugly. I'll redo it and make it look a bit more presentable at some point, but for now, it'll keep me from having to replace 2 cups of water a day. 

 

 

[JBM]

atleast you used the proper unilateral bonding strip

 

duct tape fixes everything

[Lorekeeper]

13 minutes ago, JBM said:

atleast you used the proper unilateral bonding strip

 

duct tape fixes everything

So glad that someone understands my reasoning!

 

Re-did the ATO with some smaller, but thicker, Powerade bottles. And a little less duct tape.

 

I've considered trying out some Kalk in the ATO, since my calcium has been riding a bit low (350 PPM by the end of the week on average). But, I'm not sure it'd be worth the risk in such a small tank. 

 

Candy Cane is looking pretty happy now as well. Really glad it recovered so quickly, as it's turning out to be one of the most colorful things in the tank. You can't glance at the tank without noticing it. Hopefully it'll split and grow pretty quickly, given it's feeding schedule.

 

War Coral seems to have repaired some damaged flesh from shipping, so I'm pretty happy with it's recovery as well. It constantly has feeding tentacles out, so I'm taking that as a sign that it's pretty happy with where it's at. This guy gets fed on the same schedule as the candy cane, every 3 days. I usually just take some mysis and lay a piece on 4-5 polyps, while I distract the damsel with my other hand.

 

 

Speaking of the damsel... He's shaping out to be one of the more interesting reef fish that I've kept. Even compared to my clowns, he has a lot of personality. He eats out of my hand, always comes up to greet me when I walk into the room, and is just really interesting to watch explore in general. The entire time I was setting up the ATO, he was in the corner staring up at me. I'd get a pic to show how he's grown, but I can't seem to get a clear picture of him. Even extracting frames from a video gives blurry results.

 

 

 

[Lorekeeper]

When I was feeding tonight, I noticed that there are a couple spots where my war coral has some discolored flesh. Top left of the picture. Two little irritated spots, kinda hard to see.

 

 

Anyone know what might cause this? The coral seems happy, accepted food, and has a couple of new mouths. Nothing else in the tank is showing any symptoms. Nothing that I'm aware of in the tank would pick at the coral. There is a brittle star that's set up shop an inch or two away from the war coral, but he's well fed and looks like a good guy to me.

[JBM]

350 isn't even all that low. So long as your calcium is back up to 420-450 with a water change. Even bi weekly changes. My old 5.5g aio required two w/c's a week to keep trace elements up. 

[Lorekeeper]

Calcium is hopping back up to around 400-425 with each water change, yes. All other trace elements are within range as well. I'll leave it be.

 

No one on the war coral? The discolored flesh seems to have healed up a bit, but it's still not looking too great. This weekend, during the WC, I'm going to chisel out a hole for it in the rock and make sure it stays there to keep it from getting knocked around. The snails keep on moving it, and it doesn't seem to adhere with this glue that I'm using. For now, I put it on a frag plug and moved it to a more dim area of the tank, just to make sure it isn't getting too much light. There's a bit of diatom algae growing on the white bits of the skeleton, so I brushed them off.

[vlangel]

That sounds like a good idea, what you are gonna do for the war coral.  I hope it colors back up for you.

[Lorekeeper]

Went to the LFS today, and came back with a zoa frag and an emerald crab!

 

The zoas:

 

They look pretty bad in pics, but I did my best! They're very pretty in person.

 

The emerald crab is about the size of a penny, but I haven't been able to get a pic of him yet. I did make pretty sure that he was an emerald, and not a gorilla. His claws are shaped more like spades, he's got hairy legs (but not covered in hair), and I saw him picking at some algae in the display. If he turns out to be evil, I'll toss him into my "lagoon" tank (a rubbermaid tub) and call it a day.

[Lorekeeper]

Ended up messing with the tank a bit during a WC (I can't help it!) and moved stuff around.

 

Popped the new zoas off of their plug since they're already encrusted to some rubble on their plug, and stuck them on "Zoa Rock", along with the other two colonies. They seem to do pretty well there, so whatever works! I did put them pretty close to the top to see if they'll color up any near the surface. 

 

Also ended up biting the bullet and moving the war coral to the back wall. If it doesn't do super well, I'll move it back to a rock. But, I think that a wall of war coral would look pretty awesome!

 

 

[Lorekeeper]

Candy Cane, who's currently puffed up after a meal, and almost resembles a watermelon:

 

The pink zoas, who kinda have a messy hairdoo thing goin on:

 

And the older zoa colonies, doing their thing down by the GSP:

[vlangel]

The zoas are looking so pretty.  I never had much luck with zoas but the ones in my 5.5g pico are doing pretty well too.

[JBM]

hurray for gsp

[Lorekeeper]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

The zoas are looking so pretty.  I never had much luck with zoas but the ones in my 5.5g pico are doing pretty well too.

Seems like zoas can be finicky, but I've had pretty good luck with them. I do wish that the "green" zoas would become a bit more green, and hopefully that'll come with my light upgrade. I need to check out your 5.5; I haven't really checked that thread lately!

1 hour ago, JBM said:

hurray for gsp

It appreciates the support 

[JBM]

31 minutes ago, Lorekeeper said:

Seems like zoas can be finicky, but I've had pretty good luck with them. I do wish that the "green" zoas would become a bit more green, and hopefully that'll come with my light upgrade. I need to check out your 5.5; I haven't really checked that thread lately!

It appreciates the support 

If you like really green zoas. Look into green palys. I have some in my tank, they are dime sized heads. Very very green

[Lorekeeper]

Yeah, I've been really staring down some Nuclear Greens for a while now. Tempted! I decided to switch around the plan for my next order. Was gonna go with a birdsnest, but I don't know if this tank is SPS-ready. Might be a bit too young. Those might take the birdsnest's place, if I can find a reasonable price for a small frag!

 

Found an asterina working it's way off of "Zoa Rock", thinking it came in with the new frag, along with a bunch of spaghetti worms and some pods.

 

Anyone ever experimented with angling their light to either side of the tank? I angled mine to the left, and I'm really diggin the zoas under this angle. I guess the tilt of the polyps causes the area around the mouth to color up a bit. The shadowing is pretty cool, too.

[JBM]

Start with a easy sps. Like a montipora. If it's showing polyp extension and hasn't browned or whited out after 2-3 weeks. Add a slightly more difficult sps like a stylo. If after another month both are doing well. Go get your birdsnest frags and grow them out. 

 

 

I would suggest you stay away from anemones, clams, acros, sponges and most nps till you've kept the tank for a year. 

[Lorekeeper]

The only nem I'd consider in a tank like this is an RFA, an I've usually had good luck with them. Anything bigger than an RFA and you run a high risk in such a small tank, IMO.

 

As for the SPS, I'm still considering it. A red cap monti has been something I've looked at a few times, so I might go in that direction. Definitely need to see how the new bulb lights the tank, but I'll get there.