Jesse's 30 gallon reef + 10 gallon planted dorm tank

[jesseatam]

I just turned the intensity for both the blues and whites down to 80%, sticking with the 10 hour photo period though followed by 4 hours with the moonlights.

[jesseatam]

Not sure how many of you would be interested in this but it’s somewhat reef related so I figured might as well post it here. This year I’m in an Advanced 2-D art class each student is required to put together a collection of pieces for the annual advanced classes art show, me being the huge nerd I am decided to paint stuff from my fish tank . The painting of the blenny and the candy cane coral are based off of pictures I took of the tank. The painting of the gramma was meant to honor my first saltwater fish george but I didn’t have any photos without a terrible blue hue so I based it of off a picture I found online. Anyways, I hope you guys like them!

 

 

[jesseatam]

I just realized I haven't taken an FTS in ages, I'll try to get on that tomorrow as the moonlights are currently on.

[jesseatam]

Here’s a current FTS, not even close to where I would’ve hoped to be at this point but considering everything that’s happened I’m proud of where the tank is at. The corals still haven’t recovered fully but most are improving slowly over time. I’m trying to mostly just focus on maintaining a healthy ecosystem and making sure all my other livestock is healthy and I’m hoping the corals with continue to improve and become healthy again as a side effect of that. Also lowering the light intensity and using carbon seems to be helping in limiting whatever growth was returning, it’s still there but drastically reduced.

[Subsea]

On 2/24/2018 at 9:34 PM, jesseatam said:

Also turns out that gorilla crab I had is still alive, that damn crab is unkillable! Maybe he’s earned his stay at this point.

Do not allow gorilla crab to remain in your tank.  It will easily kill and eat small fish.  I have seen puncture marks on larger fish which became infected and killed the flame hawk.  

 

Don’t  give the gorilla a pass.

 

 

[jesseatam]

3 hours ago, Subsea said:

Do not allow gorilla crab to remain in your tank.  It will easily kill and eat small fish.  I have seen puncture marks on larger fish which became infected and killed the flame hawk.  

 

Don’t  give the gorilla a pass.

 

 

I actually haven’t seen the gorilla crab in a while, if it shows its face again though I’ll definitely resume the hunt.

 

Anyway sorry for the lack of updates, there hasn’t been much happening in the tank things are just chugging along which is actually great. Corals are getting healthier and healthier by the day, the only thing that hasn’t opened back up is the branching GSP which I don’t even know if it’s alive at this point but it hasn’t melted away or anything. The clowns are doing excellent in QT and I think I might put them in next week, I’m just a bit worried about the bioload imcease since everything has been going so smoothly. The only real negative thing happening is that I’m  having bubble algae growth, the 2 emerald crabs I have don’t seem to touch the stuff so I might try to pick up 2 more. I’d rather deal with bubble algae though than the cyano/dinos I had anyday. All the fish and inverts in the display are healthy too, the porcelain crab and the cleaner shrimp have molted for me multiple times now, the goby seems to be sustaining itself well and is maintaining its weight, and the blenny is a little pig. The blenny still ocassionally flashes but I never spot anything on him and appears healthy otherwise so I’m not worried.

[jesseatam]

So I made some purchases today, got two more emerald crabs, a green hammer coral that my dad liked, a green ricordia, and a peppermint shrimp. I’m a little iffy on the peppermint shrimp but I figure if if doesn’t pick at anything it’ll make a great scavenger .

[Christopher Marks]

Hopefully those emerald crabs take to the bubble algae soon, you might have to start some sort of manual removal process to help out 😅

 

Do you start your marine biology program this fall? That's exciting! Hopefully you can take your tank with you too?

[jesseatam]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Hopefully those emerald crabs take to the bubble algae soon, you might have to start some sort of manual removal process to help out 😅

 

Do you start your marine biology program this fall? That's exciting! Hopefully you can take your tank with you too?

I hope they do too but yeah I'm definitely going to have to take out a bunch manually I've just been lazy 😅

 

And yes I start college in August, I ended up deciding to go to stony brook which is in Long Island and is closer to home. Sadly I wont be able to take my current setup with me as they have a 10 gallon limit at the school but that just means I'll have to start a new tank in the dorm 😁. I plan on keeping this tank running while at school though and since I wont be too far I can come back to do maintenance. 

[jesseatam]

So good news, clowns are in the display tank!!! The misbar took a floor dive while trying to net him but he’s no worse for wear. There hasn’t been any aggression between the fish that I’ve seen yet, they’re all just a little unsure of each other so far. Now to the bad news, I’ve spotted the illusive gorilla crab menace again. He rotates burrows every once in a while and has again. When I spotted him I took a stab at him with the tweezers but I had no luck. Once schools over and I have more free time I’ll start trying to set traps again but with volleyball, AP exam week, and senior final exams coming up I’m not sure how much time I’ll have in the near future. I managed to snap a pic of the crab though, for reference the emerald crab pictured is like quarter to dollar coin size. The gorilla crab also took a jab at the emerald crab when it got too close, that might explain some of the damage and missing legs on the smaller emerald crabs...

Excuse the quality of the pics, the moonlights were on and I snapped them quickly in case it decided to hide again quickly.

[jesseatam]

So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything but dont worry all is well. The tank has pretty much been on auto pilot and I honestly don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve done a water change 😬. I’ve been busy with finishing up school but I’m now anofficial high school graduate as of friday! Since I’m finished there’s no excuse for neglecting the tank anymore. To make up for my absence I took a bunch of photos with my phone in its current state, It actually doesn’t look terrible but I do have quite a bit of bubble algae growing and you’ll see some of the monster bubbles in the pics but enjoy 😁.

 

 

[jesseatam]

So yesterday was reefapolooza and I may have went over board and came home with 9 frags 😬 but hey it’s for my birthday plus I want to just finally fully stock the tank so I can leave it in a good place to go on auto pilot while I’m away for college. Speaking of college I still need to work on the dorm tank plans so for all I have kinda figured out is the tank will probably be and IM 10 and for lighting I’m thinking a kessil a80. It might actually be a good idea to run this tank in college so I can take the LPS I have with me so in case my parents miss a water change or if I can’t come home for some reason for maintenance they won’t suffer from a drop in like alk or any other trace elements. Anyway enough with rambling time to spam some pics 😁. Please excuse all the bubble algae I haven’t gotten around to remove most of it yet and also nothing is permanently placed yet just put everything on the sand bed to get adjusted.

Unamed zoas I loved the big Polyps on this frag

Some rastas, was deciding between these and some scrambled eggs

Some organize clove polyps, still not fully opened yet and kinda pissed from the crabs knocking it around and checking it out.

A nice little red acan frag who got covered in sand thanks to the Links goby 

Red gorg with white polyps, was told that its photosynthetic.

Another beautiful gorgonian, was also sold as photosynthetic. 

Purple galaxea came as a freebee with the gorgonians, also had a little hitch hiker brittle star on it which was a pleasant surprise.

These cute little golden mushrooms, rhodactis I believe?

And this pretty mushroom who I was told is called a superman mushroom, I don’t really care I just like it’s pattern lol

Also unrelated but the fugitive el crabo has come out of hiding once again, bigger and bolder. I knew he was still kicking around somewhere as I saw a molt last week, think he’s mainly been living off the pellets that the current takes under that crevaice  when I try to feed the peppermint shrimp. This crab is really pretty but I don’t like how big it’s gotten so still gonna try to remove it if I have the chance.

[jesseatam]

Well I caught the crab and threw it in the freezer, I feel bad cause that thing lived through everything but it killed my snails and was getting big enough to take out fish. I’m pretty sure the thing actually killed and ate my first emerald crab actually. When I caught it it was out in the open with no where to go and a dwarf cerith snail in its claws so I put on a glove and just reached in grabbed it. I really do feel terrible about killing it but it was a safety risk to the other live stock so it had to be done.

[tanacharison]

Nice pick ups! The gorgonian looks happy. 

[1891Bro]

3 hours ago, jesseatam said:

Well I caught the crab and threw it in the freezer, I feel bad cause that thing lived through everything but it killed my snails and was getting big enough to take out fish. I’m pretty sure the thing actually killed and ate my first emerald crab actually. When I caught it it was out in the open with no where to go and a dwarf cerith snail in its claws so I put on a glove and just reached in grabbed it. I really do feel terrible about killing it but it was a safety risk to the other live stock so it had to be done.

Well, I’m no Chef Boyardee but, I’m pretty sure that ####er would be a bit tastier boiled and buttered. 

[jesseatam]

19 hours ago, tanacharison said:

Nice pick ups! The gorgonian looks happy. 

Thank you! I’m pleasantly surprised how quickly they and everything else opened up. Before I had a piece of grubes gorgonian and that took like two weeks to open up fully, sadly that piece was a fatality of the chemiclean incident.

[Skeeterific]

Great haul! I wish I was close enough to go to Reefapalooza. And congrats on graduating!

[Christopher Marks]

Awesome new additions @jesseatam, I particularly like the gorgonians! How was RAP NY?

[jesseatam]

On 6/25/2018 at 10:56 AM, Skeeterific said:

Great haul! I wish I was close enough to go to Reefapalooza. And congrats on graduating!

If you can find a way to make it I’d say it’s definitely worth it even just for the experience itself and not to buy anything. And thank you! It’s surreal to think that I’m actually done and will be attending college.

21 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Awesome new additions @jesseatam, I particularly like the gorgonians! How was RAP NY?

Thank you! The gorgonians are really cool and I’m happy with how quickly they opened up. RAP was great, I went the first day so I could see Joey speak. Last year was the first year I attended and I’m going to try to make it a tradition to go every year now. Its such a nice atmosphere to be surround by fellow hobbyists, especially since no one I know personally is really into aquariums.

[jesseatam]

So I just returned from my first vacation longer than a weekend from the tank and everything made it!!! Some corals got displaced so they’re a bit upset (one of the gorgs is now bent?), the grape caulerpa is now  VERY overgrown, and the links gobys tail looks a bit beat up on but besides that everything is fine. Also in good news the branching GSP now has a nub and it’s noticeably bigger than it was before I left!!!

overgrown caulerpa

GSP branch

gorg that got bent over

[jesseatam]

Sorry for sparse updates, there’s been some stuff that I haven’t mentioned like another reef cleaners order a while back and just a LOT of macro algae trimming. But anyways the gorg I mentioned previously actually become dislodged from the super glue it was mounted with, I believe the porcelain crab is to blame as he would always push against it to get in the flow. Also there is sad news, as of typing this the links goby appears to be on his way out, ever since going in the display the little guy has slowly lost weight. Having the other fish made it more difficult to spot feed him too, I believe that if I would’ve kept him in a super simple bare bottom set up like the QT where I could just dump food in for him to eat at his leisure that I would’ve been able to keep this fish long term for sure. Anyway not sure if I’ll add anymore fish at this point now since I move into college the 24th and I don’t feel like I could do a proper QT. If I did though I’d probably just do like a pair of mollies or some other easy hardy fish.

[jesseatam]

So I moved into my dorm yesterday so here’s the most recent FTS I have, I’ll update this thread if my parents notify me of anything major or when I get the dorm tank all sorted out and together.

[jesseatam]

sorry no updates guys but I will be heading home this weekend, can’t wait to how overrun my tank is with bubble algae and trap caulerpa LOL. Also wanted to share news on the dorm tank, sadly I will not be doing a reef but I am doing a low tech planted set up! I can delve into details in another post if you’d like for but now I’ll just leave it here 😁

[Christopher Marks]

Haha, be sure to snap some photos of all the growth!

 

Are you sticking with saltwater for your dorm planted tank?

[jesseatam]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Haha, be sure to snap some photos of all the growth!

 

Are you sticking with saltwater for your dorm planted tank?

I’m doing freshwater, mainly due to the fact that I also have a betta at home who’s currently in just a 2ish gallon container and I can’t justify to myself doing a whole new setup for other fish while he’s still in that tiny container. Also want to limit my expenses at this point so I didn’t want to have to deal with buying an ato, salt, and distilled water. I also want to keep it as low maintenance as possible and I felt salt would be a little more demanding from me, plus I want to try out a freshwater planted tank anyway as my reef is basically half macro at this point 😂. I’m actually using my qt tank for this set up since I don’t plan on adding other fish to the reef maybe besides a molly or two which I don’t think I’d need to qt anyway.