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ADA Zero Equipment Build - Life got in the way but I'm updating again!


Frag Factory

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Not updated anything in a few weeks, I've largely just been letting things settle and I had a small issue with dinos which I seem to have won at this point... 

 

It was very localised to a few Zoa's so a hydrogen peroxide bath seems to have fixed it, as did removing the substrate, giving it a soak in RO and putting it back in.

 

It was water change day so forgive me if the corals look a bit pissed, some of them had only just been glues down too.

 

I've also started using photoshop for photo editing rather than doing it on my phone, it's SOOOOOOOOOO much better. Admittedly I've probably been a little heavy on colour balancing, I'm still getting the hang of it.

 

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I'm probably not going to purchase any new livestock before christmas, too much to organise -.-

 

In the new year I don't know what to do with the tank. I love this one, I really do but I feel like It's full (or will be once things grow in). So do I either get a second tank, or do I get a bigger tank and plumb this one into the same system... 

 

I would love another frogfish, I'm playing with the idea of a biotope in the 20g-30g range but that would break my no more wild fish rule. Bangai cardinals have also peaked my interest and would look very cool in a planted/lagoon tank.

 

I've got a 30x12x15 tank I use for a quarantine system set up with 30+ xenia frags (and even more Aiptasia)...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Is it bad to buy yourself christmas gifts... 

 

Because santa possessed me today, I bought 5 new Rics, an awesome Forest Fire Monti and a rock of the greatest red/blue mushrooms I've ever seen. Most of the rock is now in my 2nd tank (rock was too big for this tank so I chiselled some shrooms off for this tank. 

 

This might be it for this tank, once I get these glued down I'm not sure how much room I will have left. We are in the growing phase 🤪

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2 hours ago, Frag Factory said:

Is it bad to buy yourself christmas gifts... 

 

Because santa possessed me today, I bought 5 new Rics, an awesome Forest Fire Monti and a rock of the greatest red/blue mushrooms I've ever seen. Most of the rock is now in my 2nd tank (rock was too big for this tank so I chiselled some shrooms off for this tank. 

 

This might be it for this tank, once I get these glued down I'm not sure how much room I will have left. We are in the growing phase 🤪

If it is, I am in BIG trouble. 

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Big yikes... My husband gave up years ago and just silently accepts the cost of fish stuff. He doesn't even ask anymore when a fish package arrives. He just brings it in and tells me stuff arrived.

 

I did get kinda mad get spent 23 dollars on some cookies though...I mean I can make cookies so much cheaper! 

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9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Big yikes... My husband gave up years ago and just silently accepts the cost of fish stuff. He doesn't even ask anymore when a fish package arrives. He just brings it in and tells me stuff arrived.

 

I did get kinda mad get spent 23 dollars on some cookies though...I mean I can make cookies so much cheaper! 

I think I have surprised myself at times on the amount of money I've spent in the last 6 months. 

 

I should have set a budget 😂

 

My tank is looking awesome though, I really get a lot from it. Watching it with a whiskey is one of the only ways I have of winding down and getting my business out of my head. Worth every penny for this alone.

 

I wish I got a bigger tank now, should have gone straight to the 18" cube... but until the fish outgrow this tank this will do me fine!

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Can we get a pic of the new stuff and some more tank shots? This is one of my fav tank builds on here! 😁 

 

Can't really blame your wife here. Nobody that's not in the hobby knows how expensive the whole process is. All of the money I put into the hobby I have made back from fraggin, selling old equipment, and buying people's very cheap stuff locally then reselling it somewhere else. I'd say I'm breaking even, or I hope I am. 😬

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4 hours ago, Joevember said:

Can we get a pic of the new stuff and some more tank shots? This is one of my fav tank builds on here! 😁 

 

Can't really blame your wife here. Nobody that's not in the hobby knows how expensive the whole process is. All of the money I put into the hobby I have made back from fraggin, selling old equipment, and buying people's very cheap stuff locally then reselling it somewhere else. I'd say I'm breaking even, or I hope I am. 😬

Thank you for the kind words! 

 

I'll try and get some photos today, I've been busy with christmas. 

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Another set back today 😞

 

Found one of my clownfish carpet surfed during the night. Absolutely gutted.

 

I'm doing a water change later and cleaning the filter out. I'll get some pictures tonight of the new corals.

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Frag Factory

So, first real update for a while. Here goes!

 

Good things:

  • Things are growing pretty well, in particular zoas and my green Ausie Singularia
  • Any trace of diatoms have gone, tank seems to have matured past that stage!
  • I'm really happy with livestock.
  • My "yellow" hammer seems to be colouring up since I moved it to the sandbed and actually looks yellow under blue light now... I'm hoping it looks yellow under all light soon.

 

Bad things:

  • My Goniopora has not opened properly in a while, I suspect it's because hermit crabs climb on it so much. Tissue is beginning to shrink around the edges. I don't know if it's phosphates either, but I've been using large amounts of rowaphos to try and help this.
  • Snails keep knocking over corals from the rocks, I need something better than superglue.
  • As stated, one of my fish died. I need to work out what to do to stop it happening again. My luck with fish seems to be really shit.
  • The kenya tree is stinging Zoas, it needs fragging but I was so tired tonight I forgot.
  • Forest fire lost it's green, but it's brand new in the tank so not that unexpected.

 

Notes on the photos below:

  • I have two more rics to glue but no glue to do it with...
  • One of the 8 superman shrooms came off from where I glued it and ended up in my filter for 5 days over Christmas, it's recovering in the plastic cup!
  • I suck at photos.

Photos are below, I need to stop doing them after water changes but I'm running short of time at the moment.

 

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Tank is looking great!! 

 

Goniopora, as the lore has it, prefers “dirtier” water and also prefers to be fed directly with fine-particle food. My personal experience is that it’s also a canary coral for alkalinity level fluctuations. Might wanna look into feeding and checking your alk level. 

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Frag Factory
6 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Tank is looking great!! 

 

Goniopora, as the lore has it, prefers “dirtier” water and also prefers to be fed directly with fine-particle food. My personal experience is that it’s also a canary coral for alkalinity level fluctuations. Might wanna look into feeding and checking your alk level. 

If you go back through my threat the Goni was absolutely thriving in October after Ike died (who loved to walk on it), and since adding more hermit crabs which like to climb on the Goni it's looked a little sad. I might pull the crabs out and put them in my frag tank for a week and see what happens.

 

I feed red sea coral nutrition daily, and acropower weekly. Along with 1/8 to 1/4 of a cube of brineshrimp. I feed big amounts.

 

I think it just hates being touched. It seems to be super sensitive. I've seen it close up when I shut the door on the stand and when the cat jumps off the table next to the tank. It's crazy.

 

I might just have the worlds most annoyed coral 😂

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3 minutes ago, Frag Factory said:

If you go back through my threat the Goni was absolutely thriving in October after Ike died (who loved to walk on it), and since adding more hermit crabs which like to climb on the Goni it's looked a little sad. I might pull the crabs out and put them in my frag tank for a week and see what happens.

 

I feed red sea coral nutrition daily, and acropower weekly. Along with 1/8 to 1/4 of a cube of brineshrimp. I feed big amounts.

 

I think it just hates being touched. It seems to be super sensitive. I've seen it close up when I shut the door on the stand and when the cat jumps off the table next to the tank. It's crazy.

 

I might just have the worlds most annoying coral 😂

Here’s a comprehensive overview for keeping Goniopora. 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

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Frag Factory
1 hour ago, vlangel said:

Tank and coral look purdy to me!

Thank you!

 

36 minutes ago, alpinestar said:

Fantastic!

Thanks!

 

21 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

Here’s a comprehensive overview for keeping Goniopora. 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

That's super helpful, thank you 😎

 

9 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

Looks great! I love that ric garden :wub:

Same! I'm really hoping it fills out nicely. Still a few colour morphs I'd like to find and try and blend it into a patch of Superman shrooms to fill in the bare rock. I tried to go with the ombre effect @Lula_Mae suggested earlier in the thread but I'm kind of bad at that kind of thing and i think they need a little more space to grow and split into. I might rip them up and rearrange. 

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Frag Factory

Woke up this morning, not played with the tank for nearly 2 days as I got in late to find 5 of my 8 hermit crabs in the plastic tub with my loose shroom 😂

 

I'm a huge fan of these, watching them scale my tank and get in all sorts of crazy places is hilarious. 

 

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This afternoon I got bored and took a trip to the LFS, they have sadly had a small fire and lost a couple of coral tables which is sad but their fish were fully stocked. They had a huge crosshatch trigger for £650 and a Gem Tang for £1300. I'm blessed to have this store 8 miles from my door, they are genuinely brilliant.

 

I got the wallet out and picked up a redhead goby 

 

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He seems fairly skittish but I'm sure he will settle in. Looks like a lovely fish, I had one on my wish list earlier in the thread and felt it was an ideal fish for the system. 

 

I'm hoping to also pick up another clown when I see the right one, this is a bit much for a 12" cube. I might be forced to think about a bigger tank 😭

 

I don't like the idea of a social fish like a clown living alone. Plus a peninsula tank next to my sofa in the same place could look awesome. If I stuck to the 12" x 12" height and width and maybe 3 foot long moving things over without losing anything in terms of looks or scape. If I stuck my singular rock structure in a reefer 170 for example it would look very lost.

 

I also need to move my green hammer, it's about 1/2" from touching my Rics when fully expanded. 

 

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I went to the LFS to pick up some epoxy to hold my corals down, I forgot.

 

I also fragged a couple of small pieces off my kenya tree coral, it's killed a couple of zoa polyps so had to be dealt with.

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