Banasophia’s Biocube 16 & IM Nuvo 10 ☀️

[banasophia]

Just as I was getting up from the floor to head in to bed last night after watching for suncoral spawning, I looked up at the tank and a lone knopia polyp caught my eye and inspired me to get some pretty nighttime shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this morning, tank is waking up so beautifully:

 

 

 

 

[Sancho]

Tank looks gorgeous...great pics 😍

[banasophia]

2 minutes ago, Sancho said:

Tank looks gorgeous...great pics 😍

Thank you, sancho 🤗😘

[banasophia]

Well it looks like the suncorals were indeed “spawning”... I put that in quotations because during the little bit of reading I just did,  I learned that what they are releasing are apparently motile larvae called planulae. Still need to do more research to learn more about this, but here’s a pic and a couple videos from last night. 

 

 

 

 

[yoshii]

So cool you were able to get a video! I commented on your IG post, but yes they are "brooders" and release planula which will settle into new sun coral babies (if your fish don't eat them all). If you ever catch some planula and put them in a little container you can see them swimming around

[banasophia]

19 hours ago, yoshii said:

So cool you were able to get a video! I commented on your IG post, but yes they are "brooders" and release planula which will settle into new sun coral babies (if your fish don't eat them all). If you ever catch some planula and put them in a little container you can see them swimming around

Yes, thanks so much for your replies yoshi! I think all the planula have been eaten or have already settled from this round, but I will try to scoop one up to look more closely next time.

 

The planula really looked like pieces of pellet food when they were floating around in the tank, so I was glad I observed more closely and realized what was going on and was able to get some video. It really highlighted for me how much is going on in our tanks’ ecosystems that we may not even know about. 

[Daniel91]

Looking really good. Wish I could keep sun corals but I cannot keep up with the feeding regimen. Maybe I’ll get a fat head dendro.

[banasophia]

27 minutes ago, Daniel91 said:

Looking really good. Wish I could keep sun corals but I cannot keep up with the feeding regimen. Maybe I’ll get a fat head dendro.

Thanks! Yeah my dendros seem easier, at least they are really open every night... guess it’s hard for me to say though since my tank gets so much food every day. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

It looks great so far! 

[lizzyann]

10 hours ago, banasophia said:

The planula really looked like pieces of pellet food when they were floating around in the tank,

That's what I thought too! Love that you were able to capture this on video! I'll have to keep a closer eye out on mine now.

[banasophia]

13 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

It looks great so far! 

Thanks so much, Snow! ☺️

[banasophia]

Some pics from today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sancho]

2 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Some pics from today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pics! 

 

Although what the hell is your mandarin doing to that snail? 

[banasophia]

11 hours ago, Sancho said:

Beautiful pics! 

 

Although what the hell is your mandarin doing to that snail? 

Haha 😂  Oh yeah it was so late when I posted those pics last night that I forget to add any comments.

 

My poor mandarin has seemed so lonely since we lost his buddy, the firefish. 🥺 He and the firefish didn’t swim around together too much, but they did like to chill out by each other on the sandbed during the day and often slept next to each other at night. Last night Finnick was snuggling the tiger sand conch... I felt so sad for him I went ahead and ordered a female captive bred Biota mandarin from Algae Barn... she will ship on 5/6.

 

Finnick with his buddy Trinket, RIP Trinket 😢

[banasophia]

[kimberbee]

I'm exicted to see how Finnick does with his arranged marriage!! 😆

[banasophia]

Biocube:

 

 

 

 

 

Nuvo 10:

 

 

 

[Sancho]

29 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Biocube:

 

 

 

 

 

Nuvo 10:

 

 

 

Beautiful pics,  those fat happy acans 😍

[Reef Rocker]

Tank looks so great! One question...are you still using the stock media basket? I'm trying to decide if the Intank basket makes enough difference to be worth it.

[banasophia]

13 hours ago, Sancho said:

Beautiful pics,  those fat happy acans 😍

Thank you, sancho 🤗

13 hours ago, Reef Rocker said:

Tank looks so great! One question...are you still using the stock media basket? I'm trying to decide if the Intank basket makes enough difference to be worth it.

Thanks! Yes, I am still using the stock media rack. I’m sure the Intank one is sturdier, but the stock one has been good enough to serve its purpose, so I stuck with it. I have the Intank ones in my daughter’s Fluval freshwater and they are very well made. 

[banasophia]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kimdawg]

Your tank is beautiful and your pictures really show it off.  Do you mind telling me what you use to get the great close up pics with?  My husband takes my pic and he can't get any really good close ups at all.

[billygoat]

Glad to see the sea hare is still in there! Have you tried feeding it, or has it just been eating algae on its own this whole time?

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, kimdawg said:

Your tank is beautiful and your pictures really show it off.  Do you mind telling me what you use to get the great close up pics with?  My husband takes my pic and he can't get any really good close ups at all.

Thanks so much! I usually take my pics using an iPad Pro... sometimes I use my iPhone 6 if I don’t have the iPad handy. I have a few clip on filters that have macro lenses - the ReefLens and the Polyplab Coral View set are especially good. But I often just use the clip on orange filter and then zoom in with the iPad. A couple tips are to be sure you press the camera/iPad all the way against the glass, and also be sure to hold it at a right angle to what you’re photographing to minimize distortion. Also, practice, and take lots of pics! 🙂

[banasophia]

10 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Glad to see the sea hare is still in there! Have you tried feeding it, or has it just been eating algae on its own this whole time?

Haha I wondered if someone would ask about him. I took him back to my LFS right before Aquashella because he had eaten most of the algae, and then I bought him again last weekend! I think he’s the same one!!! I need to find a local reefer to pass him back and forth with. I haven’t tried to feed this guy the algae sheets, but I should give it a try. They eat so much; they can pretty quickly eat all the algae in a tank and starve if you don’t watch very closely. I’m planning on moving him over to the Nuvo soon, to have him work on the hydroids in there; sea hares are one of the few things that eat hydroids.