Jump to content
inTank Media Baskets

The Fools Reef ... The final 2.5 gallon long pico


TheRope

Recommended Posts

Started on the 27th of august 2017

Restarted post crash end of May 2019

 

Equipment: 

-2.5 gallon rimmed seapora tank

- Azoo mignon 60 gen 2

-50 watt heater (aqueon mini)

-par 38 tuna blue led by abi (12w)

-Ikea desk lamp (it's 13w so be sure to use a stand that works well with your bulb's wattage for safety)

-Abi Refractometer 

-Inkbird thermostat (temp controller)

 

Other: 

-live carib sea sand

-live rock (pre cycled at lfs) from indonesia + caribsea life rock

-Red Sea Coral Pro (love this so far, mixes super well, never problems with parameters, corals accilmate instantly and do great with 1-2 water changes a week) 

   

    Lps Coral:

  • Leptoseris

  • Hammer coral

  • Warcoral favites

  • Kryptonite caulastrea 

  • Blastomussa merletti

  • Hollywood stunner chalice

  • Micromussa lord

  • Lobophylia

Soft coral

· various zoas   

Inverts

  • Black foot trochus x2

  • Pom Pom crab 

  • Blue leg dwarf hermit crab x4

  • Bristle worms

  • Copious amounts of pods

Maintenance: 

-Water changes 1x time a week (between 50% and 90%) 

-10 hours of lighting 

-test specific gravity every other day

-top off with a drip system when necessary 

-closely monitor heating (fluctuates between: 77.3 - 78.0)

-scrape and 3% peroxide any unwanted algae growth (do with caution and research before hand)

-remove bad hitchikers whenever i spot one (harmful nudibranches, flatworms, other worms. Important to see what is beneficial in your tank, but if ever youre not sure remove it anyways. If theres one theres more, so youre better off getting rid of it while you can)

-stare endlessly into a 3 gallon bowl because you cant help yourself.

 

I have an instagram: fools_reef

 

August 28th ...the beginning:

 

IMG_20170831_191306_177.jpg

 

 nov 24th 2017

IMG_20171124_142123_948.jpg

 

Dec 13th 2017

IMG_20171211_204934_474.jpg

 

January 17th

 

IMG_20180116_210317_640.jpg

IMG_20180116_210534_266.jpg

 

April 21st

 

IMG_20180401_170250_153.jpg

 

 

IMG_20180421_185943_910.jpg

May 31st

 

received_1966706300306435.jpeg

20180517_194609-01.jpeg

 

July 7th 

 

20180708_133356-02.jpeg

20180708_133401-02.jpeg

 

Dec 27th 2018

Screenshot_2019-01-01-01-28-24-01.jpeg

 

Jan 3rd 2019

20190102_180346-01.jpeg

 

Jan 27th 2019

20190125_173151_HDR-01.jpeg

20190215_190811-01.jpeg

20190315_183700-01.jpeg

20190315_183449-01.jpeg

 

Post crash: 

May 19 2019

 

20190519_135615-02.jpeg

20190519_135710-01.jpeg

20190519_135727-01.jpeg

 

Partial reset, same rocks...different coral (and vision)

June 27 2019

received_2751871314827568-01.jpeg

 

July 11 2019

received_2290060357922561-01.jpeg

received_2620096198008864-01.jpeg

 

November 3rd 2019

received_2686217864735058-01.jpeg

  • Like 9
Link to comment
1 hour ago, TheRope said:

Started on the 27th of august 2017

 

Equipment: 

-Walmart 2 Gal Cookie jar

-Air pump 50 gal (with check valve and and flow regulator)

-50 watt heater (Via aqua quartz with heater guard)

-China ebay par 38 LED bulb (recieving a better one soon  ... par 38 6 blues 3 whites)

-Ikea desk lamp (already had, also a slight fire hazard *caution*)

-Zoomed digital probe thermometer

-Api Refractometer 

 

Other: 

-live sand (not sure what kind came in a bag with water, gave a little rince with distilled water and plopped it in)

-live rock (pre cycled at lfs) from indonesia

-aquaforest REEF salt (love this so far, mixes super well, never problems with parameters, corals accilmate instantly and do great with 1-2 water changes a week) 

 

Current live stock:

-Porcelain crab (white) 

-infinite hitchikers 

Frags: (keeping it simple, no sps, and not too many corals)

-Red acan 

-"Christmas" favia 

-Orange discosoma mushroom

-"Predator" favia 

-Green star polyp

-Utter chaos zoanthid

 

Maintenance: 

-Water changes 1-2 times a week (depending on feeding and how the aquarium is doing) 

-10 hours of lighting 

-test specific gravity every day

-closely monitor heating (fluctuates between: 79.6-80.1)

-scrape and 3% peroxide any unwanted algae growth (do with caution and research before hand)

-remove bad hitchikers whenever i spot one (harmful nudibranches, flatworms, other worms. Important to see what is beneficial in your tank, but if ever youre not sure remove it anyways. If theres one theres more, so youre better off getting rid of it while you can)

-stare endlessly into a 2 gallon jar because you cant help yourself.

 

PICS BELOW!

 

IMG_20170831_191306_177.jpg

20170907_184304.jpg

IMG_20170910_130709_237.jpg

Will be adding current pics (going to take them tonight, as well as an over tank shot) but for now some closeups of my corals frags!

IMG_20170912_150051_431.jpg

IMG_20170912_150051_430.jpg

IMG_20170912_150051_432.jpg

IMG_20170912_150051_429.jpg

IMG_20170909_192037_493.jpg

It's hard to 'scape a jar but you did it!  I like it a lot. :) 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
30 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

It's hard to 'scape a jar but you did it!  I like it a lot. :) 

Haha it took me some time, but thank you! I wanted to optimize space to let the corals respectively cover their own sections undisturbed, youll see their placements in the overhead shot im going to take tonight. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

agreed all this is sharp. its clean, guided jar farming of the high order. that crab looks different than the ones we have access to they usually had fan claws its neat looking not sure of species. I would keep one too

  • Like 1
Link to comment
1 minute ago, brandon429 said:

agreed all this is sharp. its clean, guided jar farming of the high order.

Thats probably because its highly influenced by your methode haha. I think i should mention I recently had a small diatom bloom, but a good scraping and a water change afterwards did the trick, well see if they come back. If they do, just gonna do more water changes :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Heres a video of the crab feeding with his fans 

 

4 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Do you have a picture of the jar sitting on it's stand? It's hard to get an accurate idea of how big/small a 2 gallon reef really is! 

And heres a pic of the pico (pre corals) on the stand (ikea stand 15$) for size 

 

 

 

IMG_20170915_144218_408.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment

you could easily demonstrate an invasion free setup here.

 

I never did that, I demo'd the recovery from the invasion lol. farm not

 

I farmed red mushrooms/bad when there's 200 inside a pico. those diatoms you wiped, all normal for this phase in reefing. Doesn't indicate bad anything, indicates rock that is reflective of strong light, some early nutrients from sand and rocks all coming together with the right natural contamination modes for that organism, you wiped it out regardless of etiology.

 

It doesn't matter why anything pops up in our tanks, it only matters we can leave them in place or not. Turns out the key to having an invasion free tank all along was simply willing that action, such as see a spoon, pick up a spoon type of action. we've spent our decades as a hobby trying to move the spoon any possible way other than touching it. To those who never have to clean, kudos on ideal balance attained. Ours looks just as good, work varies. outcomes wont just don't elbow it heh

 

 

anyone who studies the last two decades of the reefing hobby will see that our boundaries have been allotted: you set up a tank as best you can, best college effort possible, you do not touch it, you react and hopefully wind up clean at the end and full of coral

 

-not good enough-

half the tanks are algae ridden by month 12 in that approach. too much loss %

 

2017:

kill anything you don't want in the tank you will never be invaded case closed. no apologies to the killed organism.

 

oftentimes, the invader itself isn't as bad as coincidental invasions that can set in, right alongside or on top of, the prime invader all because we weren't going to touch a certain spot. keep an eye out in the algae challenge threads you read in big tanks across forums, you'll see dual invasions. cyano -and-some hair algae, intermixed. When I see that, I see lack of grazers as the cause, but I also see my arm and hand which make the best grazers along with some cheat to boost things. Its not about natural or unnatural, its about take a chance or don't.

 

Pico reef cleaning tends to be the whole tank, all at once, not just a target spot. I can tell your tank is clean top to bottom its sharp./

 

we force tanks to grow coral and accept no alternate outcomes, you are on that path its sharp tank!

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Yup i figured the light was causing some problems (too much white) cant wait for the new bulb to come in next week (also gonna make the corals look incredible). By your "method",  i was pinpointing the aggressive removal of unwanted life in the space, the whole recovery demonstration would be too scary for me to attempt! ?? but yes, seeing how small the space is here, it wouldnt be logical to dose the water in attempt to remove algae, when there are much more effective guarranteed methodes :o

Link to comment

Heres the update vid! I CANNOT wait for these corals to grow in, and see them claim their respective spots.

 

Also heres the best possible over head shot i could get (i despise this obnoxious light bulb) 

ALSO the porcelain crab molted! (Holds back insane excitement)

IMG_20170915_181802_749.jpg

IMG_20170912_232904_319.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment

I forgot to mention feeding...

 

I use Reef roids once a week (3 hours prior to water change sunday)

 

Vitalis aquatic nutrition LPS coral pellets (for my acans only, on wednesday) 

 

Frozen misis shrimp to alternate with pellets for my acans, though i will try and feed on to my Orange Rhodactis and see what happens. (Be careful with misis. They are often frozen in tap water, so be sure to thaw them out then rince the pieces with salt water from your tank to reduce contamination AND PREVENT ALGAE GROWTH)

 

ALWAYS ALWAYS water change after a feeding of powdered plankton or powdered food in general. The only food i dont water change after is the lps pellets because I drop 1 into each mouth carefully. 

 

1505578014938188337594.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment

I decided it was time for a very uneventful update. (No pics included, sorry haha)

 

So ive noticed a COPIOUS AMOUNT OF COPEPODS! There is an insane amount of these guys rushing around on my glass, swimming, running on the rocks. They seem to be enjoying themselves. Hey, an abundance of beneficial creatures is always good in my books. 

 

After the 2x water change this week.. the diatom bloom ... or what would have been a diatom bloom if i did not spend timr actively scrubbing my rocks, swishing my sand and water changing, is no more... 

 

Algae and other pests are non existent (for now, i did peroxide treat/ scrape whatever i did not trust). Though I do have a steady growth of green corraline algae. I absolutely cannot wait for purple coraline and there is some on the little rocks the frags came with, though unfortunately not spreading. 

That being said, im wondering if I should begin to C dose in order to boost my coralline growth (to reduce areas that algae may grow on) and if so, what brands do you recommend?

 

Other than that, corals are doing great (though my light may be a bit strong, i cannot wait for the new bulb to arrive)

Growth is very prominent with my corals, my christmas favia already grew 3 new polyps! And my porcelain is doing great! 

 

This is all happening at a specific gravity of 1.025. Loving my aquaforest salt! 

Also a couple of pics of how the airline stuff is set up. (Everything is suction cupped in, and fits neatly between the cover as ive placed a piece of clear acrylic tubing on the lid and jar's rim, for airtight sealing. A 2 inch section is cut out at the rear to allow a small bit of air and a passage for the wires)

1505774963951-1095261114.jpg

1505775179059-1589181136.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, TheRope said:

I absolutely cannot wait for purple coraline and there is some on the little rocks the frags came with, though unfortunately not spreading. 

Coralline comes with time and the right parameters - especially alk and mg and enough light. It's good that you already have a source of it in your jar. I don't think you need to dose, just be patient. 

I introduced coralline into my bowl by scraping it off the shell of some snails and dispersing it into the water column. I do this occasionally after a water change when I have easy access to the snails! After 8 months, Im finally starting to get some on the glass and airline tubing in my bowl and there are only small purple spots on the rocks.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Oh thats a good idea! I also have some red coralline on another frag! 

I may try to propagate it then :)

50 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Coralline comes with time and the right parameters - especially alk and mg and enough light. It's good that you already have a source of it in your jar. I don't think you need to dose, just be patient. 

I introduced coralline into my bowl by scraping it off the shell of some snails and dispersing it into the water column. I do this occasionally after a water change when I have easy access to the snails! After 8 months, Im finally starting to get some on the glass and airline tubing in my bowl and there are only small purple spots on the rocks.

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Hey everyone, wanted to thank you all again for the help, and compliments on the jar! 

 

So... im thinking of adding one last coral frag. Definitely not sps, something in the soft coral section, give me some of your favorite soft corals or what youd think would go good in here or simply what youd like to see! Ill decide based on sugfestions

  • Like 1
Link to comment

So heres some negative news:

 

The lighting has been proving to be the most annoying thing, as i cannot directly change and or calibrate its intensity (thats what i get for cheaping out) so i had to make shift (out of clear blue plastic) a shield which i suspended infront of the light to reduce the intensity of the whites until my new bulb comes in. Though some damage has been already done and im hoping the corals will recover. 

 

My zoanthid frag (9 polyps) has slowly discolored into a browner color (as opposed to the vibrant orange) and are not opening to their fullest. 

 

My acan discolored from being a deep blood red with minimal blue fringes to a green/bronze with heavy blue fringes. Though this one is very visually healthy and taking food readily. 

 

Everything else is fine. 

 

So other than creating a make shift light dimmer (that also added more blue) I changed the placement of the rock the zoa is glued to so that as opposed to being in the top 3rd of the tank, it is in the middle 3rd on the side of the rock face. So hopefully ill see a steady recovery frm this point on. Im also thinking the insane amount of copepods might be tickling them and keeping them closed. Hopefully they die down as well. I might skip this weeks feeding of reef roids to starve the copepods and end their cycle for a littlw while. 

Heres the bulb that im recieving. 

 

Screenshot_2017-09-21-14-45-41.png

Link to comment

Can you raise the light up a few inches?  I think a lot of people with the 12w ABI bulbs have them 18" or so above the waterline.

 

Re: soft coral--zoas, ricordeas both stay smallish and won't take over like, say, xenia, gsp or other mushrooms.

Link to comment

Unfortunately my light is at its max height. Unless I modify it, but for now everything seems to be recovering well, especially the zoas their color has returned quite quickly and everything has opened up (3 days of purple and blue plastic shielding).

Wait arent xenia, gsp and mushrooms all soft coral? :o

Link to comment
On 9/22/2017 at 1:06 PM, TheRope said:

Unfortunately my light is at its max height. Unless I modify it, but for now everything seems to be recovering well, especially the zoas their color has returned quite quickly and everything has opened up (3 days of purple and blue plastic shielding).

Wait arent xenia, gsp and mushrooms all soft coral? :o

They are, they just tend to be rather prolific. ;)

Link to comment
1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

They are, they just tend to be rather prolific. ;)

Ah i see, i misunderstood what you were saying ?

I personally dont mind prolific species because often the prolific ones are fairly easy to frag or remove. 

Speaking of prolific i just added 3 polyps of "clove polyps" and a single purple discosoma mushroom!

I wont post any pics of those since theres not much to show, until they grow into the space. Now im just going to sit back and keep the maintenance up and watch the corals grow ever so slowly. Meaning i wont be doing any huge updates or anything unless i have a ridiculous bloom of who knows what haha. 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment

In my experience Acans will change color depending on the lighting conditions. Under radions that my LFS uses over their frag tanks my frag was deep red and green with sky blue accents  to a now purple and green with gold accents. My water is the exact same as theirs, same salt, dosing, and roughly same flow. If the coral is happy and is eating anytime you feed it then it should be fine.

Link to comment
6 hours ago, TheRope said:

Ah i see, i misunderstood what you were saying ?

I personally dont mind prolific species because often the prolific ones are fairly easy to frag or remove. 

Speaking of prolific i just added 3 polyps of "clove polyps" and a single purple discosoma mushroom!

I wont post any pics of those since theres not much to show, until they grow into the space. Now im just going to sit back and keep the maintenance up and watch the corals grow ever so slowly. Meaning i wont be doing any huge updates or anything unless i have a ridiculous bloom of who knows what haha. 

 

 

 

Those are two nicely prolific softies! :lol:

  • Haha 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...