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60 gallon to 10 gallons--YEAR UPDATE!


IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

I thought I'd do another update. I was away for a while, and had a GHA bloom :(. My GSP took a beating and they never really recovered, along with the feather duster. I'm still trying to remove all the GHA from the tank, but the coralline algae is starting to spread nicely. 

 

Would really love to upgrade the light, but don't think it's possible. 

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  • 4 months later...
IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

Almost a year running! No casualties besides my GSP and feather duster 😞 (knock on wood)

 

A little murky because I just cleaned it a few hours ago. I'm thinking to move the rock around and create more of a center piece. But how feasible is this? Especially in such a small tank? Also, thinking about updating lighting... but we'll see. 

 

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On 12/9/2019 at 5:12 PM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

I'm thinking to move the rock around and create more of a center piece. But how feasible is this? Especially in such a small tank?

 

The cool thing about having your own slice of the ocean in a glass box is that you can create whatever you can dream of within the limits of reality.  In both of my 10 gallons, I ended up creating a "rock bridge" for my cleaner shrimp to hang upside-down under... for some reason they love that spot.  Although, when I design my next 33 Long, I'm thinking of having 1 large rock with just GSP isolated all by itself, and then a rock bridge in a different area that will be covered in Pom Pom Xenia and Neon Green Trumpet Corals at the peak.  Let's make our dreams become reality! 🙂

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 hour ago, Seadragon said:

 

The cool thing about having your own slice of the ocean in a glass box is that you can create whatever you can dream of within the limits of reality.  In both of my 10 gallons, I ended up creating a "rock bridge" for my cleaner shrimp to hang upside-down under... for some reason they love that spot.  Although, when I design my next 33 Long, I'm thinking of having 1 large rock with just GSP isolated all by itself, and then a rock bridge in a different area that will be covered in Pom Pom Xenia and Neon Green Trumpet Corals at the peak.  Let's make our dreams become reality! 🙂

I'm more nervous about all the gunk in the back being stirred up and killing everything 😞

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26 minutes ago, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

I'm more nervous about all the gunk in the back being stirred up and killing everything 😞

 

Use the Baby Step Method:

  1. Choose 1 rock to move.
  2. Remove any gunk off the back.  Use tweezers and also siphon anything visible.
  3. Move the 1 rock to the desired position.
  4. Siphon any gunk that got stirred up into the water column.
  5. Return to Step 1 once the water clears up again.

And before you know it, with each Baby Step completed, you end up finishing the marathon and get to claim your dream aquascape!

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 minute ago, Seadragon said:

 

Use the Baby Step Method:

  1. Choose 1 rock to move.
  2. Remove any gunk off the back.  Use tweezers and also siphon anything visible.
  3. Move the 1 rock to the desired position.
  4. Siphon any gunk that got stirred up into the water column.
  5. Start back at Step 1 once the water clears again.

And before you know it, with each Baby Step completed, you end up finishing the marathon and get to claim your dream aquascape!

i gotta make up my mind haha! i DO like how it is now, but i also want it more streamlined. ohhhh, i don't know. i'm still looking up this light haha

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

GSP came out 🙂 very happy because the last frag I got took a few days to open. I have it under ~moderately high flow right now, but it doesn't seem too mad (the parts getting directly hit are fully open) so I'll see how it does over the next few days. 

 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 minute ago, Seadragon said:

Awesome, now it's starting to look pretty cool.  Imagine that GSP spreading all over that rock.

that's what i'm hoping D-: and I really hope my mushroom starts to split with the upgraded light. It's so big, it just wants tooooo but it just hasn't lol.

I do wanna pick up some xenia, but all the frags I've seen are $30+ and this is supposed to be a budget tank ahaha.

then maybe a frogspawn, and that'll be it. 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

So the GSP hasn't been FULLY open since the second day I got it. I'd say it's 80% open now. The hermit crabs/urchin may have touched it, but should I try moving it at all? Or give it a few more days

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2 hours ago, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

So the GSP hasn't been FULLY open since the second day I got it. I'd say it's 80% open now. The hermit crabs/urchin may have touched it, but should I try moving it at all? Or give it a few more days


Do you have the light over it and really good flow?  I have the circulation pump basically pointed right near it and it always seems to be open and waving in the current.  Also, what’s your salinity, calcium and Alk test at?

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 minute ago, Seadragon said:


Do you have the light over it and really good flow?  I have the circulation pump basically pointed right near it and it always seems to be open and waving in the current.  Also, what’s your salinity, calcium and Alk test at?

The light is basically above it and the flow is pretty much directly on it. It opened up a bit more, so I think something may have hit it.

 

As for levels, I don't really trust my test kits...... salinity is a little high at 36/37 but i'll bring it down next water change. 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

Finally ran some numbers on the tank. Everything is within range of what it's supposed to be, besides the high salinity. GSP took a ride on the urchins back for several hours today... I had to find a place to hold it down better with some rocks, so hopefully it will blossom  and start to grow. 

Picked up some xenia and they seem to be doing good 🙂 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

Sadly, I lost the two clowns yesterday morning. Just found them on the bottom of the tank 😞 with no visible injuries/illnesses. This community was lovely in suggesting possible reasons for the sudden death, and accounting for the facts that all the inverts in the tank were okay. The goby is still kicking around, and he looks good from what I can see; he's eating and swimming around. So I truly don't know what it was. I did a 75% water change and will do one after Christmas. 

 

GHA is starting to grow a little more. But I don't want to upset the tank too much by getting aggressive with it. So I'll just have to really keep up with the changes for now. Very sad but also kind of excited to see what direction the tank goes in with 2 less fish. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
5 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

@IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut Any update?  You need to start a Journal for your tank so that we can all follow along!  I want to see new pictures! 🙂

!!! it's been 2 weeks! I need to do a good clean after my mini GHA outbreak--I've seemed to have found the perfect photo period right now (as in there isn't too much new growth in new places, and the places where there is growth, the growth rate seems to have decreased), or my CUC picked up the slack. Still have the xenia, mushroom, goby, and gsp. The gsp... I don't know, I've just never had luck with them. It doesn't look the best it could. Some polyps haven't opened in a while/seems a little smaller. The mushroom, I actually thought that I saw new growth, but it seriously looks different every day. 

 

I'm looking into getting more accurate test kits. And I also want more snails. And more corals........maybe a toadstool... 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

Found an aiptasia (95% sure it was) on the xenia. Tried treating it outside of the tank with boiling water and taking a pocket knife to it. Will be keeping a close eye out the next few weeks. Saw that the GSP was receding a bit, so I moved it up in the tank and fastened it with a zip tie. Hoping that it gets more light and starts to take over like it's supposed to!!!!

On the look out for a snail sale and a toadstool ;-). 

Just cleaned/water changed a few hours ago: 

 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 minute ago, Seadragon said:

Happy to see the YWG there.  Still have any of the other fish?  If not, getting anymore clownfish?

Yeah I'm so happy that he survived 😞 he's my favorite. And no. It's just him and the inverts. For fish... I do want more eventually. But I'm honestly trying to get the tank back on course kind of and focus more on the corals for right now. If I were to get more fish, I don't know that I'd do clowns again. I've never had too much luck with firefish though. Never tried a gramma 

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3 minutes ago, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

Yeah I'm so happy that he survived 😞 he's my favorite. And no. It's just him and the inverts. For fish... I do want more eventually. But I'm honestly trying to get the tank back on course kind of and focus more on the corals for right now. If I were to get more fish, I don't know that I'd do clowns again. I've never had too much luck with firefish though. Never tried a gramma 


Take a look at Tailspot Blennies when you get a chance.  So full of personality, it makes it a pleasure to just watch the tank because of him.  And because he’ll stare back at you as you stare at him, but he usually gets shy after too long and swims away.

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut
1 minute ago, Seadragon said:


Take a look at Tailspot Blennies when you get a chance.  So full of personality, it makes it a pleasure to just watch the tank because of him.  And because he’ll stare back at you as you stare at him, but he usually gets shy after too long and swims away.

those are awfully cute!! i honestly haven't taken notice of any LFS carrying them though. but maybe just cause i wasn't paying attention.

 

Seems like you successfully asserted your dominance 😉

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1 minute ago, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

those are awfully cute!! i honestly haven't taken notice of any LFS carrying them though. but maybe just cause i wasn't paying attention.

 

Seems like you successfully asserted your dominance 😉


They may just be getting sold out fast.

 

Maybe it’s just me, but when I’m typing away at my desk and I look over, it’s always staring at me. Like 99% of the time... I think it’s trying to get my passwords or see what I’m looking at.

 

But, the moment I look at it for awhile, it’ll stop making eye contact and eventually swim away if I keep staring.  It’s funny and weird at the same time.  I bet you’d love one, I wonder if anyone else experienced the same behavior as me.

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WilliamBowman

I think when using lights for the aquarium to note the following factors:

Spectrum (wavelength)
Lighting output
Lighting time
Color temperature (degrees Kelvin)

 

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

mushrooms are very strange... IMG_4878.thumb.JPG.d97026eb4b4f2546eafb53537da5ff54.JPG

and the GSP is looking more consistent.. opening up every day in full

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heading to the LFS soon 🙂 hoping to come back with at least one thing new

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IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut

I know I've been asking a lot of questions, but my tank just isn't sitting right. The GSP seem to really be struggling and I still have GHA.

I haven't gotten the test kits, but I think I may give in and buy a phosphate one, at least.

 

Right now my API kit is testing:

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: not exactly 0, but definitely no where close to 5 

Calcium: 400

Phosphate: 0.25

Alk: 11

Salinity: 35

 

I only have the goby, so I feed pellets once a day, or every other day. 

 

Does anyone know what could be going on? Could my built up sand bed really be releasing that many phosphates?

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