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

[Frag Factory]

Standard Friday night, water change, reglue new frags down and a few pics.

 

I'm glad I got the goby, he has a lot of character and now recognises I give him food 😂 

 

I've moved a couple of the ricordea, fragged the Kenya tree coral and moved some zoa's. I few got knocked off, stung by other things or looked like they were reaching for light. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Frag Factory]

"DUDE WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? I need your Rics to decorate my cave..."

 

[Frag Factory]

I've had one gripe with this system since I set it up and it's been a kind of regret for not going with a sump and overflow, it's surface scum. 

 

This tank will develop a scum very quickly. I could probably fix it by adding more equipment like a powerhead or changing what I feed, but the whole idea of the tank was zero equipment and I like that. I've even considered ripping the ATO out and going and topping up manually so I can hang the AI Prime from the ceiling and you see nothing. The whole "design" and point of doing things this way was just seeing a beautiful box of water with no distractions, just like in aquascaping and the planted tank scene. 

 

Currently I have been using paper towel between water changes but after reading @Cannedfish's featured tank article and him mentioning daily water changes it got me thinking. Changing out 2 liters of water on a system like this would take about 5 minutes. 

 

So tomorrow, or the weekend or whatever I'm going to go to the hardware store and buy 2 plastic storage boxes and a bunch of plumbing and make a salt mixing station so I always have a supply of heated ready to go salt water and then I will swap my bi-weekly water changes of 5 liters to daily or every other day water changes of 2 liters. Plus a larger water change when I think the substrate needs siphoning or the filter needs cleaning...

 

Most pollutants are held in the top surface of the water. Proteins and fats break down into ammonia and these things float. It's why coast to coast overflows are so effective, it's nothing to do with style or anything like that, the larger the overflow the "thinner" the water is going down the overflow so the concentration of pollutants is higher so they can be processed more efficiently in your sump. 

 

If I can remove this scum with a daily water change it should help water quality enormously and even let me feed more without suffering algae, I hope. That's the theory anyway...

 

The more I have fed, the better the tank has looked so far but when I have to scrape the glass twice a day I know I'm overdoing it.

 

I try to adjust my feeding so I only have to scrape my glass every other day. It's a very crude way of measuring nutrients, I know my Nitrate hovers around 5ppm but I've never tested phosphate.

[teenyreef]

On 1/16/2019 at 7:14 PM, Frag Factory said:

I've had one gripe with this system since I set it up and it's been a kind of regret for not going with a sump and overflow, it's surface scum. 

 

This tank will develop a scum very quickly. I could probably fix it by adding more equipment like a powerhead or changing what I feed, but the whole idea of the tank was zero equipment and I like that. I've even considered ripping the ATO out and going and topping up manually so I can hang the AI Prime from the ceiling and you see nothing. The whole "design" and point of doing things this way was just seeing a beautiful box of water with no distractions, just like in aquascaping and the planted tank scene. 

 

Currently I have been using paper towel between water changes but after reading @Cannedfish's featured tank article and him mentioning daily water changes it got me thinking. Changing out 2 liters of water on a system like this would take about 5 minutes. 

 

So tomorrow, or the weekend or whatever I'm going to go to the hardware store and buy 2 plastic storage boxes and a bunch of plumbing and make a salt mixing station so I always have a supply of heated ready to go salt water and then I will swap my bi-weekly water changes of 5 liters to daily or every other day water changes of 2 liters. Plus a larger water change when I think the substrate needs siphoning or the filter needs cleaning...

 

Most pollutants are held in the top surface of the water. Proteins and fats break down into ammonia and these things float. It's why coast to coast overflows are so effective, it's nothing to do with style or anything like that, the larger the overflow the "thinner" the water is going down the overflow so the concentration of pollutants is higher so they can be processed more efficiently in your sump. 

 

If I can remove this scum with a daily water change it should help water quality enormously and even let me feed more without suffering algae, I hope. That's the theory anyway...

 

The more I have fed, the better the tank has looked so far but when I have to scrape the glass twice a day I know I'm overdoing it.

 

I try to adjust my feeding so I only have to scrape my glass every other day. It's a very crude way of measuring nutrients, I know my Nitrate hovers around 5ppm but I've never tested phosphate.

@micoastreefing just pointed out your thread to me - you have a great build! I was just thinking about ways to get a really clean look with the new UNS 60U I'm going to build, and we were talking about coast to coast overflows vs side wall bulkheads with strainers vs bottom drilled returns and drains. I love the clean look of your tank!

 

You did a great job in your previous post of explaining the main reason most people just use an overflow, and why the new coast to coast style works well. I've dealt with surface scum before in all-in-one tanks that didn't have enough flow through the too-small overflow, and it's not easy to control surface scum.

 

I have had good luck pointing the return flow upwards a little so that water breaks the surface just a bit. But you don't have that option with a bottom-drilled return. THe daily water changes should help, especially if you pull the old water out by dipping a cup or container so it's drawing in the surface water.

[Frag Factory]

On 1/26/2019 at 1:46 AM, teenyreef said:

@micoastreefing just pointed out your thread to me - you have a great build! I was just thinking about ways to get a really clean look with the new UNS 60U I'm going to build, and we were talking about coast to coast overflows vs side wall bulkheads with strainers vs bottom drilled returns and drains. I love the clean look of your tank!

 

You did a great job in your previous post of explaining the main reason most people just use an overflow, and why the new coast to coast style works well. I've dealt with surface scum before in all-in-one tanks that didn't have enough flow through the too-small overflow, and it's not easy to control surface scum.

 

I have had good luck pointing the return flow upwards a little so that water breaks the surface just a bit. But you don't have that option with a bottom-drilled return. THe daily water changes should help, especially if you pull the old water out by dipping a cup or container so it's drawing in the surface water.

I saw in your thread that I got tagged.

 

I really like what I did and feel it worked to achieve what I wanted to. If this tank was in the middle of a room or edge of a desk it would look so good 360 degrees. I still love the look of not having anything in view, but it comes at a cost as I've stated.

 

I also have less options, running a skimmer would not be possible. A dosing set up would be difficult so I have to manually do it (which isn't a huge deal). I think it suits small systems that wouldn't need this equipment, but a sump opens up a huge number of options.

 

I keep thinking of upgrading, I'm running out of room in this tank but I also want to see it fully grown in. I think it has potential to be the best looking aquarium I've ever had.

[Frag Factory]

Took delivery of a "few" frags.

 

Some select zoanthids, a lucky dip of 10 other zoanthids, an Aussie war favities and pumpkin lephastrea

 

So about 15 in total.

 

 

[Joevember]

32 minutes ago, Frag Factory said:

Took delivery of a "few" frags.

 

Some select zoanthids, a lucky dip of 10 other zoanthids, an Aussie war favities and pumpkin lephastrea

 

So about 15 in total.

 

 

The tank's about to be a lot more colorful 😁

Nice find!

[Frag Factory]

14 minutes ago, Joevember said:

The tank's about to be a lot more colorful 😁

Nice find!

I hope so, I'm sure there will be things that don't fit in this tank when I get round to gluing them down after they settle in.

 

I'll put those in my pipefish tank 😄

[mitten_reef]

Just a thought, have you considered extending the intake pipe up to the surface with surface strainer?  Or if you even have the room to go up...

[Frag Factory]

I have thought of that and even mocked up a pipe with an "adjuster" to balance flow between the surface and another intake below the surface but I haven't tried it yet...

 

To be honest daily water changes are working fairly well, it only take a few minutes. Old water goes into a copepod culture in my garage and they seem to be thriving from the daily harvest of surface scum 😂

 

Daily maintenance is feeding, 1 liter water change, dose Ca/Kh buffer (not dosing magnesium anymore) and dose Red Sea reef energy.

 

By the time my food has defrosted in a cup I'm done. I also suspect the surface scum was from the frozen food I currently have... I might change brands and see if it makes a difference.

 

Next tank though is 100% going with a weir, sump and a big fat protein skimmer so I can feed even more. The more I feed the better things look, I don't think it's a coincidence. 

[Frag Factory]

I just have no luck with fish. 😭😭😭

 

Despite running a D&D jump guard after my first clownfish jumped (and my snails kept escaping), I found my other clownfish behind the stand today.

 

I left a 3/4" gap in the back for my ATO tube to enter the system and the temperature sensor, the only place he could have jumped and got out is there.

 

I'm absolutely gutted. They were both beautiful fish and this one in particular was putting on size and looking very healthy. I was going to drive 50 miles at the weekend to fish shop that recently got some of those clowns in so I could have a pair again...

 

I don't know what happens during the night but they seemed to get spooked. I can't think of what else would cause this. The room is closed off from the rest of the house, no dogs or cats go in there unless we let them while watching TV or whatever. 

 

I still have the redhead goby which has grown on me, I don't think I want anymore fish (this tank seems cursed) but I'm not sure the goby eats enough to provide a large enough bioload for the corals to take nutrients from... I will see how it goes 😞 

 

[Frag Factory]

New corals have been here for a couple of weeks, I need to get some glue and I'm good but thought I would show some pics.

 

I neglected the tank about a month ago, my SPS felt it. They looked a little worse for wear but I'm on top of it. 

 

Since going to daily water changes OMG has my acro coloured up. It's a crappy phone picture but it's looking great. So happy to finally see colour in it, maybe even some growth might come next.

 

 

All the new corals are on an egg crate rack. 

 

 

My zoas are really settling in too. My utter chaos started at 3 polyps just a couple of months ago.

 

 

My Kenya tree needed to be fragged, every zoa it touched died but in my neglect period I never noticed. I lost some fire and ice zoas but I have some more on the rack. 

 

I will have to start keeping on top of the tank more now my business is settling down.

 

I've also been adding goniopower to my daily feed every few days, corals really like it. My singularia in particular is packing on size very quickly. 

 

 

That coral was barely an inch in August when I got it. It's doubled in size in the last 8 weeks.

 

I moved my acans to the corner where I sit. They are my favourites. I will be picking up more soon, @Christopher Marks green acan has inspired me. 😂

 

 

The other side under the rack is also looking pretty, a brown shroom I got in a lucky dip bag has really grown, picked up shades of green, blue and red and split. 

 

My Ric garden also is growing. I think I need to thin it out a little, a few of them grow really fast (but have not split yet) and some have not grown at all.

 

Finally, my yellow hammer and plate coral got in a fight. My plate coral lost... It lost some flesh but I've been dipping it weekly and it seems to be recovering. I've put the hammer in a makeshift prison.

 

 

Things are getting hectic. I think I need to really start thinking about coral placements before committing. I don't know where to put the yellow hammer at all. 

 

I'll report back in a few days when I've committed to gluing the new stuff down and worked out a plan.

 

[Christopher Marks]

Looking good @Frag Factory, you have a lot of gluing to do! 😂

 

Placing coral can be tough, so many decisions to make. What if you placed the yellow torch right beside the green one? Side by side they would be pretty striking.

[Frag Factory]

On 2/27/2019 at 9:37 PM, Christopher Marks said:

Looking good @Frag Factory, you have a lot of gluing to do! 😂

 

Placing coral can be tough, so many decisions to make. What if you placed the yellow torch right beside the green one? Side by side they would be pretty striking.

I tried that but it would give me limited room for growth before it would consume my monti cap.

 

Update

I've been super busy lately, doing a lot of traveling and been away for 10 of the last 14 days. The tank seems to have pulled through Ok though with 2 exceptions:

• The fungia died, it didn't recover from it's fight with my yellow hammer. It slowly lost flesh until it was bare. Totally gutted, to go from seeing it regularly spawn in my tank to this sucks.
• My emerald crab died too. It looked like it got stuck halfway through a molt. I tried easing it out when I found it but it was long gone unfortunately.

I seem to be in a little bit of a rut with the tank. Some things are not looking so hot and Aips are taking over.

 

Bad points:

• SPS look a little rough, pretty normal for when I neglect things.
• Some Zoas look unhappy, I think it's Aips that is doing this.

Good points:

• I glued a lot of things down

 

Plan of action is handle the aiptasia issue. I'm going to look for a peppermint shrimp over the weekend, possibly a filefish too.

 

I've tried Aip-X, kalk paste, lemon juice... They don't seem to kill the spores, you just end up breeding them.

 

I did a video tonight after a 70% water change. I'll recover the tank but in truth I think I'm probably being over dramatic. It doesn't look bad, just not as good as it was.

 

 

[mtgmichaelg]

I'd get a peppermint shrimp for those aiptasia. I got one for my tank and it worked great. That being said I would still try to kill the big ones if can get them safely without killing the zoas. 

[mtgmichaelg]

I'd also slow down on coral feeding if you are feeding them regularly. It just helps feed the aiptasia. 

[Frag Factory]

49 minutes ago, mtgmichaelg said:

I'd get a peppermint shrimp for those aiptasia. I got one for my tank and it worked great. That being said I would still try to kill the big ones if can get them safely without killing the zoas. 

I've been using a DIY mix of Kalk and Caustic Soda mixed into a paste for the larger Aips, it seems to be melting them on the spot!

 

Still lots of smaller Aips left, hoping to find a shrimp for them soon. Both my LFS's have been struggling to get them recently.

[Tigahboy]

Scape is 👌, and I love the overall minimalist set-up!  

[Christopher Marks]

I found my first aiptasia in my pico reef, I was thinking I'd try superglue to cover it over instead of trying to kill it directly. Have you ever tried that on yours @Frag Factory? I suppose that's probably a tall order for more than just a few...

 

Oh, did you ever start daily 2L water changes like you were considering earlier?

[Frag Factory]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

I found my first aiptasia in my pico reef, I was thinking I'd try superglue to cover it over instead of trying to kill it directly. Have you ever tried that on yours @Frag Factory? I suppose that's probably a tall order for more than just a few...

 

Oh, did you ever start daily 2L water changes like you were considering earlier?

I've not tried super glue, i been using some Joe's juice from 2012 or so that I found in my parents garage. That works well, I'm seriously thinking about pulling the rock and and blow torching the tough to reach areas. 🤣

 

I'm still looking for peppermint shrimp, hopefully find one this weekend if I get some time to get to my LFS.

 

Yes I've been doing the daily water changes. It's working really well for me. My acro has green on it for the first time ever. I think the stability really helps!

 

Weirdly though my Monti cap and setosa look awful since I started doing it but I'm not sure it's related. 🤔

 

Some corals seem to have responded well, others not so much. Can't quite figure it out. 

[Frag Factory]

I have more snail love action to report, my trochus snails are parents to what feels like 50 million 2mm babies!

 

[Frag Factory]

Finally found some peppermint shrimp 🙌, and picked up a new emerald crab as I found my last one eating Acans so he got rehomed. 

 

 

Also since the baby snail explosion I've not had to scrape my glass... This is 12 days algae growth 

 

 

 

I shall update more on my war against aiptasia!

[Frag Factory]

 

And within minutes they are eating bristle worms.

 

Hell yeah!

[Frag Factory]

I've not really done much with the tank lately, as always good and bad points to be raised...

 

First, my salt went bad. As I approached the bottom of my bucket things appear to have separated out. My parameters were all over the place (kh of 5, mg of 1600). My tank looked bad, I assumed I messed up dosing and kept doing water changed before I realised and bought new salt. Everything looked really poorly until I worked it out... Thankfully nothing died but I lost some heads on my Duncan and my SPS lost a little flesh. 

 

Mix your salt guys!

 

The war on Aiptasia has gone very well, the shrimp have done a great job but it was not at no cost. They also ate a bunch of zoa's, I have frags to replace them thankfully but a good 50+ of watermelons and rastas are gone. They have not discovered my utter chaos yet which is good... I think I have 3 aips left, when they are gone so are the shrimp.

 

A tank without zoa's is like a home without a dog.

 

Finally, I bought a clam. I always wanted one, I had the choice of a bigger crocea or very small but more colourful Maxima's. I figured the larger option would be easier for a noobie clam keeper.

 

[Frag Factory]

Update time!

 

So things have been going well, the clam has moved. Things have grown, Aips are dying (down to just 3 and I treated them with JJ today).

 

Good points:

• Everything is settled in, algae is almost not growing. I'm cleaning my glass once a week... I seem to have the balance of food and water changes nailed.
• Singularia is EXPLODING, adding goniopower to my food has really helped, it's feeding response is awesome to watch.
• Palythoa have also exploded.
• Mushrooms/Rics look super happy with colour that's popping.
• SPS are growing and recovering from me bleaching them.
• Aips are almost gone
• The red head goby is my absolute bro, he's like a water dog. Full of personality and loves to say hello when ever he spots me. 

Bad points:

• My peppermint shrimp has a taste for acans, both acans have been removed for the time being in my contest pico which I didn't start in time... so it turned into a temp holding tank while I de-aip things. I also have zoas in there since the shrimp also likes to eat those.
• My Duncans got brown jelly, these are also in my pico getting daily baths. They will pull through, I lost 3 heads though. I suspect the shrimp tasted them, leaving the flesh open to infection. 👿 I can't wait for him to be returned to the store, while he's doing a great job it's come at a cost.

There's nothing else to really note either, I've not added anything since my clam. I don't plan on adding much else either, the tank is settled and balanced. I'm in maintenance and growing mode right now and I want to keep it that way until the end of 2019 and see where I'm at.

Pics: