Blenwood's Reef - 1st attempts at focus stacking

[HarryPotter]

On 10/3/2018 at 12:06 AM, Cannedfish said:

Nothing quite like doing a water change with fresh water...

 I’ve done a bunch of stupid shit, but never that! Looks like the corals didn’t mind 🙂 

[teenyreef]

13 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 I’ve done a bunch of stupid shit, but never that! Looks like the corals didn’t mind 🙂 

Didn't you mount a frag on a monticap too, once? I vaguely remember something less-than-great happening as a result but maybe I'm just making that up in my head.

[Reefkid88]

How does that thing look under blues ? 

[ReefGoat]

Still my favorite tank on this site. Nicely done canned fish nicely done. 

[Subsea]

9 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I love how you are repurposing your monti caps. The cherry bomb looks nice on that green background 😄

 

Bright gaudy colors colors remind me of Mardi Gras and Christmas.  As a Cajun, I love the colorful display, it is somewhat surreal to know that this stuff grows, reproduces and has a personality

 

 

@Cannedfish

 

As a Cajun, I love the colorful display you have grown.  It is somewhat surreal to know that these gorgeous displays grow, reproduce and they have a personality.  As part of the coral holobiont, there is crosstalk between bacteria and coral.  From reading the dialogue on this thread, I can only imagine the crosstalk in your tank.  You provide much fodder for thought.  Keep it coming, it is very witty & entertaining.

 

 

[Cannedfish]

Wow, I’ve really dropped the ball on my tank updates recently. But honestly, it’s not my fault. First, the dog ate my homework, then I spent several weeks getting into twitter fights with local officials about the best way to rescue a soccer team that was stranded in a cave (obviously, I saved the day), and then I got lost hiking in canyon and had cut off my arm to use it as a sun dial to figure my way back to civilization, and then @micoastreefing & @tanacharison generously sent me a bunch of booze, and to be polite I drank it all immediately, and have only recently awoke to find my pants missing and my face decorated with sharpie so that I look like a SoundCloud rapper (lil dosing-pump).  Needless to say, the last few weeks have been adventurous. In reality, I mean, hypothetically, for most of the last three weeks the tank has been kind of on autopilot, and things have been doing as well as could be expected in a ten gallon cube that is fueled mainly by the potent mix of chaos and incompetence.

 

Unfortunately, however, because theses rivers and lakes weren’t exciting enough, I decided to pack my bags and go chase waterfalls last week. Seriously, this isn’t just another bad TLC joke, I really went chasing Iguaçu Falls (it was awesome... 5 stars). And while I have left the tank for a week before, in the other instances I wasn’t a moron and made sure the 2-part dosing containers were full.  So as expected sometime while I was gone I ran out of 2 part and when I got home yesterday, I found the tank with a bit of a cyano outbreak with and a DKH of 5.3... awesome. But because I Ike my glass half full, on the bright side it only looks like I’ll lose two acros. Neither of which were particularly expensive (WWC Plum Passion & Hawkins). The WWC After Party looks a little rough, but I have my hopes it will pull through. Also I managed to break my camera, so I’m a week and a half late on my monthly update, but I should be coming back from Nikon tomorrow, and I’ll do a mo’ better job, catching this tank thread up this weekend!

 

PS: thanks for the booze, boys!!

 

Tank just before leaving for Brazil:

 

Top down before Brazil:

 

Chasing Waterfalls (Iguaçu Falls lower section)😞

 

Evil Pectinia:

 

 Iguaçu Falls - Middle Section (flow rate 4.7m liters per second)

[spectra]

Dont drink the water...........................

[Reefkid88]

Spec.tac.ular brudda !!! I still see so much room for more sps in there lol. 

 

 Believe it or not,your tank actually gave me the umph and focus to get back into the hobby and go full sps again. I cannot wait and thank you. Its going to be a very slow journey but its gonna be awesome. 

[Cannedfish]

35 minutes ago, spectra said:

Dont drink the water...........................

Too late.........

30 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Spec.tac.ular brudda !!! I still see so much room for more sps in there lol. 

 

 Believe it or not,your tank actually gave me the umph and focus to get back into the hobby and go full sps again. I cannot wait and thank you. Its going to be a very slow journey but its gonna be awesome. 

Haha, I may be able to squeeze a frag or two in there... or I may have set up a frag tank on the sly to handle some overflow... who can say, really?!

 

I joke a lot on my thread, but honestly, I’m really humbled to hear that! Your tanks previously were always really amazing and the nano tank hobby and community is better with you in it! I can’t wait to watch your new build!!

[Reefkid88]

Or you could just set up a pico and go full sps with me !! But for real,the tank is looking amazing. I couldn't NOT mess with my tank and let it grow in lol. 

 

 I feel like threads like yours keep people like me laughing and interested in the hobby so I appreciate that. Well thank you,none of my tanks were ever anything close to what I want them to be lol. 

[HookedOnAquariums]

Great build, Great jokes, Great corals. Still need my chicken story tho...

[mitten_reef]

My wife is asking about the chickens since they sent me a beer.  She needs to know if she can trust them.  

[Lula_Mae]

59 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

My wife is asking about the chickens since they sent me a beer.  She needs to know if she can trust them.  

I'm fairly certain chickens are inherently untrustworthy. Enjoy the beer! 

[HookedOnAquariums]

11 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'm fairly certain chickens are inherently untrustworthy. Enjoy the beer! 

Its true. They burned my brothers house down in minecraft.

[Cannedfish]

23 hours ago, HookedOnAquariums said:

Great build, Great jokes, Great corals. Still need my chicken story tho...

Thanks... This chicken pressure is getting intense, may have to sharpen the pencil this weekend!

 

23 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

My wife is asking about the chickens since they sent me a beer.  She needs to know if she can trust them.  

I wouldn't trust these cluckers as far as I could throw them. Turn your back for a second, and they will steal your lunch money...

 

I have been documenting this tasty beer swapping and drinking experience. I really need to open a thread so we can "crow" about how cool we are. 

 

22 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'm fairly certain chickens are inherently untrustworthy. Enjoy the beer! 

100%

 

11 hours ago, HookedOnAquariums said:

Its true. They burned my brothers house down in minecraft.

Lucky it was only his house... 

 

——

 

Sun coral (had them for a week, time to frag? jk😞

 

Glo, beer quality control:

[Lula_Mae]

12 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

Thanks... This chicken pressure is getting intense, may have to sharpen the pencil this weekend!

 

I wouldn't trust these cluckers as far as I could throw them. Turn your back for a second, and they will steal your lunch money...

 

I have been documenting this tasty beer swapping and drinking experience. I really need to open a thread so we can "crow" about how cool we are. 

 

100%

 

Lucky it was only his house... 

 

——

 

Sun coral (had them for a week, time to frag? jk😞

 

Glo, beer quality control:

Glad the actual chicken owner confirms you can't trust those darn mother cluckers! 

[HookedOnAquariums]

13 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

 

 

Sun coral (had them for a week, time to frag? jk😞

 

 

It actually is time to frag, and send it my way. nps is the only coral i can do until i get my stupid light done

[teenyreef]

+1 chicken story.

 

Glad the tank is OK. It seems that alk drops are a lot less disastrous than alk spikes, especially if the alk is normally at or below 8 ish.

 

Those falls look incredible! Were you out and about hiking and getting sweaty or was it all about sitting around with cool drinks on the railing?

[Cannedfish]

I have been getting several questions both here and on IG about my daily schedule, and figured I would take a second to jot the current husbandry routine down, because 1) it’s probably over complicated and I know @micoastreefing will enjoy letting me know about that (you’re welcome), 2) I know personally, when @davefason did this awhile back it helped me alter my daily regiment for the better, 3) maybe it will help or give someone an idea or someone can tell me I doing it all wrong and I can improve something.  That being said, for anyone who has read any of this tank thread, you know I’m not an expert and certainly don’t hold my self out to be, as a result, use at your own risk. Also maybe one day I will get the motivation to do a quick video of this for people like me who “done don’t read good.”

 

Daily Routine (morning):

  • KZ Agroglow: 1 drop 

  • KZ Sponge Power: 2 drops

  • KZ LPS Amino Acids: 3 drops 

  • KZ Pohl’s Extra: 3 drops

  • KZ Coral Vitalizer: 3 drops 

  • Microbactor7: 2 drops

  • ESV 2-part: 7 ml

 

Daily Routine (evening):

- change filter floss (2-layers)

- Blow off rocks and quickly stir sand with acrylic baster (I slightly bent the tip to better be able to get around frags and rock work) 

- Do a roughly 10-15% water change (water change write-up below) (I skip a day quite often, is it’s more like “almost daily... kinda sorta”)

- Feed Lorp, Blen, & target feed NPS (diet is a changing combination of pellets, mysis, RN ROE, PE calanus, Larry’s, and Reef Roids)

 - Use the flipper nano to remove film algae on glass

 

Other daily notes:

- I auto-dose 7 mls of ESV 2-part (14 mls total) distributed over 12 dosings. 

- I occasionally add a drop or two of Vibrant when I’m feeling frisky

 

Weekly Maintenance:

- On Sunday’s (or randomly if the tank isn’t looking happy) I do a roughly 40-50% water change

- Before the big Sunday WC I do what I learned from the reef vase crowd and do a heavy feeding of reef roids and ROE and let the SPS feed for 20 or so minutes with out the pumps and then 20 or so minutes with only the wave-maker 

- I change out the carbon/phosguard Media Bag and blow out the rear sump chambers (I have 4-5 premade media bags ready to go)

 

Other: 

- Every five to six months I change out the Purigen bag with a new one (I don’t bother to recharge, I know it’s stupid but for whatever reason I don’t trust the recharge, $20 a year is fine with me)

- I occasionally add a nano bag of chemi-pure blue if I’m noticing more than normal film algae or I’m just bored 

- I have to fill the ATO reservoir several times a week (I use distilled water)

- Every month or so I soak and scrub the skimmer, return pump and wave-maker in vinegar 

 

Water changes:

- I mix five gallons at a time in a five gallon bucket that has a spout drilled into it, and contains a pump and a heater (I’ve pretty much got the mixture down so when I make a new batch it takes very little adjustment): total time: 5 minutes

- The bucket is elevated (in a creepy unused back stairway that had been converted into my fish... staircase) so when I want to do I water change I just place a gallon jug that I’ve cut the top off under it and open the spout, the jugs also serve as scoops that let me remove water from the tank quickly (though due to acro growth I’ve been using a second five gallon bucket with a syphon with markings on the side to let me know how many gallon scoops I’m removing) 

- I start the syphon and at the same time begin filling a jug or two with NSW, if done right the 10% takes about a minute and a half, ideally I can do it without turning off the return pump, and before the return chamber goes dry. 

 

Sorry about the lack of proofreading, I started, and quickly was like “this is too much to read.” Relevant picture below.

 

 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, Cannedfish said:

I have been getting several questions both here and on IG about my daily schedule, and figured I would take a second to jot the current husbandry routine down, because 1) it’s probably over complicated and I know @micoastreefing will enjoy letting me know about that (you’re welcome), 2) I know personally, when @davefason did this awhile back it helped me alter my daily regiment for the better, 3) maybe it will help or give someone an idea or someone can tell me I doing it all wrong and I can improve something.  That being said, for anyone who has read any of this tank thread, you know I’m not an expert and certainly don’t hold my self out to be, as a result, use at your own risk. Also maybe one day I will get the motivation to do a quick video of this for people like me who “done don’t read good.”

 

Daily Routine (morning):

KZ Agroglow: 1 drop 

KZ Sponge Power: 2 drops

KZ LPS Amino Acids: 3 drops 

KZ Pohl’s Extra: 3 drops

KZ Coral Vitalizer: 3 drops 

Microbactor7: 2 drops

ESV 2-part: 7 ml

 

Daily Routine (evening):

change filter floss (2-layers)

Blow off rocks and quickly stir sand with acrylic baster (I slightly bent the tip to better be able to get around frags and rock work) 

Do a roughly 10-15% water change (water change write-up below) (I skip a day quite often, is it’s more like “almost daily... kinda sorta”)

Feed Lorp, Blen, & target feed NPS (diet is a changing combination of pellets, mysis, RN ROE, PE calanus, Larry’s, and Reef Roids)

Use the flipper nano to remove film algae on glass

 

Other daily notes:

I auto-dose 7 mls of ESV 2-part (14 mls total) distributed over 12 dosings. 

I occasionally add a drop or two of Vibrant when I’m feeling frisky

 

Weekly Maintenance:

On Sunday’s (or randomly if the tank isn’t looking happy) I do a roughly 40-50% water change

Before the big Sunday WC I do what I learned from the reef vase crowd and do a heavy feeding of reef roids and ROE and let the SPS feed for 20 or so minutes with out the pumps and then 20 or so minutes with only the wave-maker 

I change out the carbon/phosguard Media Bag and blow out the rear sump chambers (I have 4-5 premade media bags ready to go)

 

Other: 

Every five to six months I change out the Purigen bag with a new one (I don’t bother to recharge, I know it’s stupid but for whatever reason I don’t trust the recharge, $20 a year is fine with me)

I occasionally add a nano bag of chemi-pure blue if I’m noticing more than normal film algae or I’m just bored 

I have to fill the ATO reservoir several times a week (I use distilled water)

Every month or so I soak and scrub the skimmer, return pump and wave-maker in vinegar 

 

Water changes:

I mix five gallons at a time in a five gallon bucket that has a spout drilled into it, and contains a pump and a heater (I’ve pretty much got the mixture down so when I make a new batch it takes very little adjustment): total time: 5 minutes

The bucket is elevated (in a creepy unused back stairway that had been converted into my fish... staircase) so when I want to do I water change I just place a gallon jug that I’ve cut the top off under it and open the spout, the jugs also serve as scoops that let me remove water from the tank quickly (though due to acro growth I’ve been using a second five gallon bucket with a syphon with markings on the side to let me know how many gallon scoops I’m removing) 

I start the syphon and at the same time begin filling a jug or two with NSW, if done right the 10% takes about a minute and a half, ideally I can do it without turning off the return pump, and before the return chamber goes dry. 

 

Sorry about the lack of proofreading, I started, and quickly was like “this is too much to read.” Relevant picture below.

 

 Damn.......Now that’s a schedule!

 

I’m too lazy for all that. My daily schedule is........................ nothing. 🤣

[spectra]

Yeah sorry that is just to much stuff to do..........you unemployed by chance hell I can hardly muster up enough time to do a water change once a year

[mitten_reef]

whatever it is that you're doing up there, it seems to work really well for your corals.  I'm with @WV Reefer and @spectra when it comes to tank maintenance, lazy does it.

 

2 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

Daily Routine (morning):

  • KZ Agroglow: 1 drop 

  • KZ Sponge Power: 2 drops

  • KZ LPS Amino Acids: 3 drops 

  • KZ Pohl’s Extra: 3 drops

  • KZ Coral Vitalizer: 3 drops 

  • Microbactor7: 2 drops

  • ESV 2-part: 7 ml

So, that is your secret sauce recipe in winning the grow-out contest....

[Cannedfish]

On 10/26/2018 at 9:05 PM, teenyreef said:

+1 chicken story.

 

Glad the tank is OK. It seems that alk drops are a lot less disastrous than alk spikes, especially if the alk is normally at or below 8 ish.

 

Those falls look incredible! Were you out and about hiking and getting sweaty or was it all about sitting around with cool drinks on the railing?

Hiking? Sweating? What am I a peasant?! The only hiking I like is when the cabana boy hikes over with my fresh drink, and the only sweating should be my iced pina colada glass sitting by the pool! Just kidding... no we actually did a fair amount of hiking both around the falls (on the Brazilian and Argentinian side) and through Rio (I would call that tour more of a death march). We were only there for five days and we packed in A LOT, so essentially we were on the move everyday from around 6am to 10pm. Vacations shouldn’t be that much work!

 

I have to agree about the alk spikes. Though weirdly this was the first time where I was able to save an acro that was RTN’ing. Half the Hawkins dies in about a 8 hour span and then after two big water changes it stopped. Weird. 

 

On 10/28/2018 at 11:53 AM, WV Reefer said:

 Damn.......Now that’s a schedule!

 

I’m too lazy for all that. My daily schedule is........................ nothing. 🤣

And that’s why I keep saying that this 10 gallon box of chaos, and that I’m the amateur ringleader of this circus! On one hand, you can do nothing and have an amazingly beautiful and healthy tank, in the other, I look at Blen-Daddy wrong, or a chicken sneezes and this whole charade starts to meltdown!! Woof. 

 

On 10/28/2018 at 1:26 PM, spectra said:

Yeah sorry that is just to much stuff to do..........you unemployed by chance hell I can hardly muster up enough time to do a water change once a year

You have the same, aforementioned, problems, as @WV Reefer has above! Mainly, you are able to do little and still hit the ball out of the park! Except your park is even bigger and full of stunning acro colonies (TOTM?)! I can’t imagine what I would do with all the extra time if I only had to do a water change once a year! I would probably have time for some self reflection... where I would self discover that I needed to find a new hobby! Or I would have time to find a job... shoot, it’s amazing how little time you have when you spend all day walking around the mall drinking vodka out of water bottles...

 

On 10/28/2018 at 2:03 PM, micoastreefing said:

whatever it is that you're doing up there, it seems to work really well for your corals.  I'm with @WV Reefer and @spectra when it comes to tank maintenance, lazy does it.

 

So, that is your secret sauce recipe in winning the grow-out contest....

Nope, my secret sauce was 100% pure unadulterated luck... with a hint of voodoo sabotage (you know, for taste)!

 

Bad picture time!

 

SC OP:

 

Oregon tort from CR:

 

Lepto in sun light:

 

WWC Slimeball:

[Reefkid88]

Mmmmm that OP is looking goooood !!! Blast it with light and get them colors to pop !!! 

[Cannedfish]

Welp, you know what today is? That's right, November 1st, which obviously means it time for the October tank update! Only a solid two weeks late... Not I big deal if this statement is referring to a tank update, another deal if this is a text message from your college girlfriend. Anyways, on to the show!

 

October, by-and-large, was a boring month.

 

Wait, that doesn't seem right, probably should check my notes.... (*pretends to checks notes*) Okay, disregard previous statement, a lot happened in October. I was hoping it was boring, because that takes a lot less energy to write about, and I'm lazy all about efficiency! Ergonomics is my middle name! Yup, Stanley Ergonomics Murdonkh, at your servce! Let's do a quick run down of what happened, in true crappy law school bullet point outline form:

 

• Added three acros: BradB's Drawjopper, Z's Prize, & TGC Cherry Bomb
  • Discussion topic for another day: Top Three Must Have Acros. My list would include the Cali Tort & the Cherry Bomb (still figuring out the third).
• Because of the potent combination of a lack of restraint (see stock list), the aforementioned additions, and a shortage of LR real estate (but...there is always room for one more, eh, @teenyreef?!), I had to do some pretty drastic frag rearrangment: 
  •  I moved the unnamed bali acro, WWC Slimeball, and the RR Pink Floyd (in addition to gluing the cherry bomb in the middle of the monti)
    • In other news, this the unnamed bali acro is kinda turning into the story of the ugly duckling: started off as a brown turn, grew fast & remained a brown turd, became even a browner after August's monthly alk spike, but now... now it's transitioning into a nice tri-color swan-ish beauty! If I was a snobbish wine-bro I would likely describe it as having a subtle green base with delicate hints of sage, a purplish body that reminds one of twilight on the prairie, and blue tips, not unlike a soft robin's egg... 
• Went chasing waterfalls in Brazil, and keeping in character, forgot to fill the dosing containers, as a result, alk dropped 3.0+ dkh, which was less than ideal. As a result, the Hawkin's Blue Echinata and the WWC Plum Passion started to RTN and the WWC After Party browned out hard. I was pretty convinced I was going to lose all three, but miraculously all have started to recover. 
  • This really demonstrates why the most smart reefers advise against having an acro dominate nano tank: currently, the tank is consuming between any where between 6.5 and 7.5 ml of alk a day (about 2.0- 2.5 DKH a day), which means the tank is constantly living on the edge, any hiccup in dosing really can send this thing into a tailspin. 
• Set-up a frag tank to handle over spill.
  • Finally, got rid of unloved zoa island (which in reality, had become aptaisa and bubble algae island)  from the DT.
  • Trimmed back the monti and birdsnest alot. (thinking of getting rid of the BN... thoughts?)
  • I have to give a huge shout out to @micoastreefing who hooked me up with not only some tasty brews, but also a Aqamai KPS for the frag tank! I owe you!

I'm probably missing somethings, but honestly, I got tired of writing. So there you have it, October! On to the shoddy monthly progress pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One year ago (Blen-Daddy is still chonky)!