Teenyreef's Teenycookie Jar - Retired! ☠️

[JBM]

So, I'm back with a few Q's. 

 

Are you having temperature swings?

 

any alk or ph swings?

 

is it possible that you have a voltage leak in your tank?

 

those seem to be the top 4 causes of rtn, stn would generally be a sign of lack of nutrients

[vlangel]

I am very sorry teeny, that stinks!

[Clown79]

On 27/02/2018 at 5:58 PM, brandon429 said:

hey this looks great

 

also

 

did Martiza talk you into going straight bubbles without an airstone?

 

She tried to get me to do that for five years and I hesitated, then one day I had to try it since I was out of airstones and mine had clogged lol. 10 mos, no look back, no airstone is indeed better I shoulda listened in 2013. its a tiny bit louder but that's the only downside, I can pump twice the amnt of air through the system now and there is zero splatter, its amazing in fact lol.

That sounds interesting.

 

Do you just rub the hose into the jar with the stone?

[Clown79]

Sorry to hear about the sps loss.

 

I find getting the lighting just right is the hardest thing with the Pico jars and wonder if that's why some corals are very happy and others don't make it.

 

 

[teenyreef]

Thanks everyone! I've been out of town for a week, and everything has been stable while I was gone. No further coral losses - the ones that were left are doing fine, as are a couple test frags I threw in right before leaving town.

 

@JBM, no parameter swings that I know of, but I don't check anything other than salinity since I do 100% water changes every week. No stray voltage either, as I'm pretty sure that would have affected more than just the corals that STN'd.

 

Salinity had gone up when I checked it, from 1.0245 to 1.026, but that's only a little bigger than the normal swing after a week, right before the water change.

 

After thinking it over, the problem may have been with the "smart" outlet strip I'm using, which is controlled via an app on my phone. Over a week or two prior to the problem, I remember noticing that the light wasn't always turning on and off according to the schedule that was set in the app. I eventually fixed it by unplugging the outlet strip and forcing it to resynch with the app. And when I first noticed the problem, I also noticed that some of the corals looked a little bleached, like they'd gotten too much light, so I just moved the light a little higher.

 

In hindsight, I think maybe when the scheduler got wonky, it may have left the light on overnight on a nigh when I wasn't home, causing the bleaching. I do know that STN events usually occur a week or two after whatever caused the problem in the first place, so having them STN a couple weeks after the light was on overnight would make sense. Still, it doesn't explain why the event didn't affect all the sps, including some that are closer to the light. Maybe they were just less sensitive? I don't know.

 

I'm just glad things seem to be stable now. Hopefully this will be a one-time mystery 

[Felicia]

The contest is coming to a close!  March 31st will be the official end of the competition and then the voting will begin.  In order to help the community decide what tanks to vote for, each remaining contestant will need to do the following:

1. PM me three (3) final photos that you think summarize your container reef.  The composition for two of these is up to you, but one of them should be a final FTS taken sometime during the month of March.
2. PM me a written summary of your container reef build and experiences throughout the competition.  This should be no more than 250 words.
3. These items must be private messaged to me by midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on March 31st.

[teenyreef]

One week left in the contest! Over the past few weeks I've cleared out the dead sps and put in some new frags from the other tanks. Everything seems to be doing well, but some of the corals have lost a little color - probably from reducing the light after the bleaching event.

 

I'm gradually increasing the light, and hopefully everything will color back up a bit before the end of the month when I take the final pictures for the contest.

 

2018-03-23 Top Down:

 

2018-03-23 FJS:

 

[brandon429]

It's wonderful color

[fishfreak0114]

I love those rastas  they really pop!  Your tanks are always full of bright colours, and your pico is no exception!

[debbeach13]

Great color and so full.

[teenyreef]

17 hours ago, brandon429 said:

It's wonderful color

 

14 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

I love those rastas  they really pop!  Your tanks are always full of bright colours, and your pico is no exception!

 

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Great color and so full.

Thanks, everyone! It was a little discouraging when I bleached out the frags that were doing so well, but putting in new frags always makes things better 

I'm pleased everything is doing well, because that indicates my theory that the bleaching was due to a timer malfunction was correct, and the fundamental conditions in the jar are still ok. 

 

The main thing that's missing in the colors are the additional highlights that appear under intense light. For example, the bubblegum montipora has reds and greens but has lost the blues. 

[debbeach13]

Looks good to me. I think you will be in the running. Less than a week to go. 

[JBM]

definitively one of my favorites

[teenyreef]

On 3/25/2018 at 1:46 PM, debbeach13 said:

Looks good to me. I think you will be in the running. Less than a week to go. 

Thanks! It will be interesting to see how much things color up by the end of the week

[teenyreef]

On 3/25/2018 at 7:06 PM, JBM said:

definitively one of my favorites

Thanks!

[Sunstar]

How high would you recommend setting a lamp (such as a par 38 (rapid led) from the corals?

[teenyreef]

6 minutes ago, Sunstar said:

How high would you recommend setting a lamp (such as a par 38 (rapid led) from the corals?

Mine is 10" above the water line (measured from the bottom of the bulb). I've got it on 7 hours a day, just bumped up from 6 last week.

[JBM]

6 hours ago, Sunstar said:

How high would you recommend setting a lamp (such as a par 38 (rapid led) from the corals?

 

It all depends on optics,desirable coverage and depth. For example. Two par38's with 90* optics 10-12" off the water would be perfect for a 20 long. But one par38 with 30-45* optics 10" off the water would be perfect for a 30-60 cube. 

 

[Felicia]

Just a friendly reminder that your write-up and three photos are due to me by private message by midnight (PST) tomorrow night (3/31).

[Clown79]

Your jar looks beautiful.

 

I found lighting to be a trial too. It's so very easy to bleach the corals. I figured with how thick the glass and lid are, that 24w would be ok. Nope. 12 watts is ok but I think still on the higher side.

[teenyreef]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Your jar looks beautiful.

 

I found lighting to be a trial too. It's so very easy to bleach the corals. I figured with how thick the glass and lid are, that 24w would be ok. Nope. 12 watts is ok but I think still on the higher side.

Thanks! I agree, with the water being so shallow, small differences in height can make a big difference. 

[teenyreef]

8 hours ago, Felicia said:

Just a friendly reminder that your write-up and three photos are due to me by private message by midnight (PST) tomorrow night (3/31).

I cleaned the glass, picked off some algae with tweezers, spot treated with hydrogen peroxide, and did a water change last night. Hopefully everything will be ready for school pictures day today! 

[vlangel]

1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

I cleaned the glass, picked off some algae with tweezers, spot treated with hydrogen peroxide, and did a water change last night. Hopefully everything will be ready for school pictures day today! 

O yeah!

[fishfreak0114]

I can’t wait to see the pics!

[teenyreef]

I can't believe the end of the contest is here! This has been so much fun trying something different and other than the unfortunate bleaching event when the light stayed on overnight, I've been amazed at how well a two gallon jar can grow corals with no filtration, no skimming, no ATO, no dosing, no reactors, no fancy lighting, and practically no effort.

 

As always with photographing the jar, I'm still not as happy as I would like with the way the pictures turned out. In addition to the usual problems with the blue lighting and the distortion from the glass, I had a little algae growth with some bubbles on it, which fuzzed things up a bit. Nonetheless, I think these pictures are a decent representation of what the jar really looks like.

 

2018-03-31 FJS: 

 

2018-03-31 Top Down (top half):

 

2018-03-31 Top Down (bottom half):

 

These zoas, rics, and favia are in the very front of the jar. I don't think I've ever gotten a decent picture of them because usually the camera blocks the light. There's also a little sps (I think probably montipora) growing there that came out of nowhere!