Sister Margarets School for Wayward Girls 13.5g Evo (June 2021 TOTM). Random Update with Foto

[ECLS Reefer]

So, the red cyano is back, which I knew was a possible risk when adding the second AI Prime HD puck over the tank. Last night I was able to literally scoop it out of the sand bed, it was that thick. It's not as bad as past infestations in this tank, but I'll have to watch it and do daily removals I guess. I also think I let the phosphates drop a smidge low, and the magnesium had started to be consumed. So I increased the magnesium dose a bit to get back up to 1500 and have been feeding the tank daily. The fish and shrimp especially appreciate the extra feeds. This should fatten up the animals and help beat back the cyano and prevent Dinos from creeping in.

 

 

PICTURES!

 

 

Blue Goni

 

 

Harvey and Katrina

 

 

So Katrina is a little ragged from their pairing 

 

 

 

Harvey

 

 

Sexy shrimp

 

 

 

FEMA the wheeler shrimp goby

 

 

 

Blenda Leigh Johnson

 

 

 

 

Sgt Gabriel the cleaner shrimp

 

 

 

 

Ike the tiger pistol

 

 

 

 

Some of that clown pairing I mentioned

 

 

 

Blue green goni

 

Lt Flynn having a snack

 

[debbeach13]

I like the names from the closer. Too funny. 

[ECLS Reefer]

3 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I like the names from the closer. Too funny. 

Oh that’s a family favorite. We seem to have lost the second harlequin and my husband is all sad we don’t have a Provenza now.

[debbeach13]

Are you planning on getting another harlequin?

[ECLS Reefer]

17 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Are you planning on getting another harlequin?

Probably not. It’s entirely possible they’re both alive, the problem is I only see one at a time so I can’t say for sure and they’ve been hiding in little caves or crevices, upside down, where I can’t find them unless they physically come out for lunch. But regardless while there’s a ton of asterina in there two isn’t necessary. 

[debbeach13]

I think you just may still have two. Sounds a lot like my sexy shrimp. I can only find two of them for a few days and then I will see all three.

[ECLS Reefer]

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

I think you just may still have two. Sounds a lot like my sexy shrimp. I can only find two of them for a few days and then I will see all three.

Now those guys- I have five in there and they for some reason all turn up in the evening in one spot where I can count them, so I know I still have five. But yeah the harlequins are hard to keep tabs on. I thought they’d both died one day and then one showed up. So it’s hard to tell. 

[ECLS Reefer]

So, the battle for clean sand still rages against the red cyano. Some days it seems like it's getting much better, and then some days it tries to take over the whole sand bed. I have been diligently blowing it around, or burying it in the sand with the turkey baster. I've refused to do any water changes while trying to keep the phosphates up a bit, and I've succeeded in growing some GHA on the back of my glass scraper, but so far the cyano is still stubbornly hanging on. Thankfully other than being ugly, it's not really bothering anyone in the tank. The magnesium levels had dropped a bit so I'm also bringing those levels back up to 1500 or slightly higher to try and combat the stuff. Mostly I'm just happy that this tank remains stable and all the inhabitants happy and full of personality. The wall and glass mounted montis and cyphastrea/leptrastrea are all encrusting so well! I can't wait for the day when they take over the entire surface area. 

 

 

PICTURES!

 

 

Sunset monti

 

 

Pink lemonade cyphastrea

 

 

Blue/green leptastrea

 

 

Rainbow monti

 

 

Battleship Nassarius

 

 

Harvey and Katrina getting their shake shake on

 

 

Blenda Leigh

 

 

 

Flavenza the harlequin

 

 

 

Dragon soul torch

 

 

Sgt Gabriel

 

 

Harvey the mocha storm clown

 

 

Katrina the orange storm clown

 

 

FEMA watching out for Ike

 

 

Sexy shrimp

 

 

Tubbs stellata

 

 

 

Blenda Leigh surveying her crew

 

Thank youuuuuu!! Thank you SO much!!

[ECLS Reefer]

Got my ATI results in for the tank today and I was mostly impressed- seems the RODI filter isn’t doing a terrible job after all. However this is the first time I’ve ever run one of these ATI tests and I’m not completely sure if I should take action on any of the out of range values. Please chime in if you see something I should correct!! 

 

 

If it helps, I dose: 

MB 7

Part 1 and 2

Magnesium

Vitamin C

Strontium

Nopox

Trace Elements

Phosguard and Carbon (once a month) for nutrients and impurity control

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, here are the RODI results

 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

Updates:

 

Put new filters in the RODI system and back to 0 TDS per the meter. Hope that took care of the contaminates listed on the ATI results. Not sure of any other way to get rid of them 🤷🏽‍♀️

 

Finally broke down and treated the tank with Red Cyano RX because I could not get the stuff to go away no matter the phosphates and nitrates being low or higher or with water changes or without. The red crap was gone IN ONE DAY following a dose. So huge win there. Unfortunately, the precipitating reason I ended up dosing the tank was because the cyano (I believe, as there was no other obvious reason) killed Blenda Leigh, Harvey and Sgt Gabriel in one night. At that point I saw no real reason to hold back in order to save Katrina, Ike and FEMA from dying as well. Thankfully I've had no recurrence of the red crap and the tank seems to be recovering with the GSP open more and less annoyed looking.

 

Rather than looking for another storm clown (which have proven to be the hardest to keep in my opinion), I rescued Boudicca the gladiator female clown from the 120g sump and moved her into the Evo. She and Katrina immediately got on and have formed a nice little pair. Will have to think on a new name for Katrina in the future, as there's just no way she's gonna stay a female with Boudicca already there. 

 

Some GHA has come back with the lack of competition and snails, so got a few margaritas and threw them in. They've been doing a great job so far. Also happened upon a baby canary blenny that had a strong, cute personality. Brought it home to the Evo (not sure it will be able to stay in there forever due to size but it's got a LONG way to go). So far it's been cleaning house on the GHA as well, more so even than the snails. 

 

The racks of SPS have been doing really really well in the Evo for some reason. Maybe it's the tank's age, and the low nutrients, maybe it's the two AI Prime HDs? Regardless, if it weren't for UPS delivering all the last few sensitive pieces so late, I'd have quite a bang up collection in there. Have a few replacement pieces coming next week from FarmerTy to round out the group. We've discovered that Millies don't do so well in there, but acros, birds nest and pocciloporas do. I'm excited to see everything doing so well after all this time. 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

October Updates:

 

Tank is looking good and has settled into a once a month-ish water change cycle, and that only for dirty sand. Nutrients and chemistry has been holding steady with nitrates 0-2 at max and phosphates 0-0.13 at most. Have started dosing NoPox via the dosing pump because I got tired of having to do it manually every other day or so, and now I have it set to give the tank 1ml per day. Seems to be working out. I also have been dosing Biospira bacteria rather than MB 7, which seemed to help bring about the end of the cyano outbreak along with the shot of Red Cyano RX. Since then I’ve had no problems, but I’ve continued the biospira since it seems to compliment the NoPox so well. 

 

There are four fish in the tank - Boudicca the gladiator clown, Katrina the orange storm clown, Mr No Name At This Time canary blenny, and FEMA the wheelers shrimp goby. At last count I had four adult sexy shrimps, one skunk cleaner and the tiger pistol Ike. The life in the tank has seemed to balance out everything as they tend to eat everything I give them now, there’s little detritus, and the cleaning crew in there gets the rest. There’s very little GHA thanks to the snails and the blenny. Over all this tank is performing at the top of its game at the moment.

 

I’ve developed a lovely frag rack known as the Altar of Please Don’t Die, containing all SPS. Mostly provided by FarmerTy Frags. They are all doing super well, as we seem to have nailed down by trial and error which types of SPS do best in there. Not millies and not torts, but seemingly other acros do well and are starting to put on growth. I’m proud of my little SPS rack now that it’s looking good and growing out.

 

 

Top down shot

 

 

FTS

 

 

Space Invader Pectinia

 

 

Vivid’s Blue Flame Favia

 

 

Baby Bounce Mushroom

 

 

Utter Chaos

 

 

Echinata

 

 

Hongry Donut

 

 

 

Skunk Cleaner

 

 

FEMA 

 

 

Boudicca and Katrina

 

 

Pincushion Urchin

 

 

Mr No Name Canary Blenny

 

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

I see Facebook is being a douche canoe again and not allowing Instagram links to embed, so here’s the Altar of Please Dont Die in stills

 

ORA Bellina

 

 

Irish Whiskey

 

 

Birdsnest

 

Orange Creamsicle 

 

 

Purplishious

 

FarmerTy’s branching cyphastrea 

 

Walt Disney

 

Disney Jr

 

 

Forest Fire digi

 

 

Bill Murray

 

 

Purple poccilopora

 

 

 

Crazy PE on birdsnest

[debbeach13]

Every thing is looking good. Sounds like you can just sit back and enjoy. I honestly do not see where you could put all those SPS frags if you didn't have the rack. Love the pictures.

[ECLS Reefer]

40 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Every thing is looking good. Sounds like you can just sit back and enjoy. I honestly do not see where you could put all those SPS frags if you didn't have the rack. Love the pictures.

I don’t have room for them, so I’m using it as something of an experimental grow out tank. SPS definitely won’t grow in the big tank at the moment, so I’m hoping when that tank finally turns around, these might be ready to move over. 

[ECLS Reefer]

This tank as usual is trudging along like a champion trudger. I’ve been able to move a couple of frags off the rack and onto the rock work, but embarrassingly enough I’m not sure I have a place for the other four on the rack in this tank. So, I think I’ll just keep growing them in there and see if they can be transferred to the big tank at some point. 

 

Nothing has changed in the day to day maintenance - it’s really settled into its stride. 

 

Dosing - Reef Code A & B, Magnesion and Redsea NoPox all set up on a doser to the    

                tank.

                Replenish trace elements weekly, as well as strontium weekly.

                Biospira every 3-4 days for bacterial replacement.

                Vitamin C every 3-4 days

                Small bag of phosguard and carbonit-P 

                Small square of filter floss changed every 3-4 days

 

I test water chemistry weekly to make sure everything is in line.

 

I feed every other day with mixed pellets, maybe once a week with frozen/Reef roids/selcon. I’ve switched the harlequin over to whole small chocolate chip stars once a month. 

 

Water changes maybe once a month to every two, and that usually due to a need to clean the glass at the sand line and to clean the sand up. 

 

So basically this tank is running smoothly and on autopilot with little fuss and a lot of enjoyment. It is two years, 8 months old, and really snapped into running smoothly at about 1 year and change. Over all very happy with my little dresser top tank!

 

 

 

 

Coral shots!!

 

Vivid’s Blue Flame Favia

 

 

Walt Disney

 

 

Blue green cyphastrea

 

 

 

Green rhodactus mushroom

 

 

 

Duncan polyps

 

 

 

Rainbow montipora

 

 

 

Boudicca guarding her scoly 

 

 

 

The scoly

 

 

 

Hellfire Torch

 

 

 

Green birdsnest 

 

 

 

Strawberry lemonade cyphastrea

 

 

 

Green birdsnest

 

 

 

Hellfire and Dragon soul kissing

 

 

 

Boudicca and Katrina

 

 

 

Sexy shrimp peeking

 

 

 

Flovenza the harlequin

 

 

 

Katrina 

 

 

 

Boudicca and Katrina

 

 

 

Moar sexy shrimp

 

 

And finally, Boudicca glamour shot

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Whatever you have done to get here with this tank was well worth it. 

6 minutes ago, ECLS Reefer said:

So basically this tank is running smoothly and on autopilot with little fuss and a lot of enjoyment. It is two years, 8 months old, and really snapped into running smoothly at about 1 year and change. Over all very happy with my little dresser top tank!

I cannot think, what more could a reefer ask for. The pictures show what a beautiful tank it is. 

[ECLS Reefer]

23 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Whatever you have done to get here with this tank was well worth it. 

I cannot think, what more could a reefer ask for. The pictures show what a beautiful tank it is. 

I know! It’s been SUCH a blessing while fighting with the big tank’s uglies for the last six months. I’m to the point where the only money spent on the little tank is chemicals (which really isn’t much since by comparison with the big tank, it uses very little), water made and the occasional purchase of SPS pieces from FarmerTy. So I’m very pleased with where it’s at and how it behaves. 

[kimdawg]

I love your tank, it has a lot of variety in it.  Your clowns are super cute also.

[ECLS Reefer]

Woot!!! Managed to repurpose some fish equipment today to make a cooling fan possible over the Evo without having to buy one. Sure hope this little InkBird controller keeps up-I haven’t had just 100% success with them but this time it’s a dual controller that will run both the fan and the heater. If it keeps the temp within the goal I might work on getting a chiller system of some type for the big tank as well to stop the temp fluctuations. 

 

 

 

The creatures within are all doing well, and I realized that most of my cleaning crew had disappeared, allowing annoying and unsightly algae to move in. I bought up several astrea turbos and margaritas, as well as a handful of bumblebee snails, and they went to work immediately. I also snapped up a Halloween hermit, but he’s still shy and hides. I love having a flashy hermit in there, such as a Halloween or electric blue.

 

Still pleased with my little Old Faithful for the time being. As I’ve been on an organizing and cleaning splurge, I’m waiting on some little desk top shelves to come in to help clean up the dresser around the tank. Disregard the wires hanging in the background - the hubs is in charge of putting wires in the wall and he’s falling down on his job.

 

PICTURES!!

 

Boudicca guarding her hammer

 

 

Sexy shrimp on his throne of Montipora

 

 

Katrina is the face of Utter Chaos

 

 

Katrina sniffing out her donut

 

 

Just a mouthful of hammer, nothing to see

 

 

New bumblebee snails at work

 

 

Not as colorful but still out working hard

 

 

Emerald crab peeking over the GSP

 

 

Some type of yellow sponge growing in

 

 

Ike the Wheeler Shrimp Goby

 

 

Kenya tree (born of @jack1978’s tank)

 

 

Utter Chaos

 

 

Strawberry Lemonade Cyphastrea

 

 

Green Birdsnest

 

 

Forest Fire Digi

 

 

Little Astrea working the algae

 

 

Pepe Le Pew hanging around

 

 

Boudicca says “THATS ALL, FOLKS!!”

[jack1978]

Nice shots as always!

-How much light do your UC get?

[ECLS Reefer]

1 hour ago, jack1978 said:

Nice shots as always!

-How much light do your UC get?

Honestly, not as much as you’d think- a lot indirect. They are in something of an overhang from both the rock and the GSP above and have kind of stalked out to reach the rays, but yet have multiplied, so they get whatever they need. 

[ECLS Reefer]

The Evo is still looking fabulous!!! I’m overjoyed to see the three torches I own growing new heads and getting some great polyp extension, while the SPS frags I’ve snagged off of FarmerTy are growing as well and have pretty good polyp extension! That’s a huge win for me as I’m still new to this SPS game if it doesn’t involve a montipora. 

 

The fish in there still consist only of Boudicca and Alfred (renamed from Katrina because she definitely got handed the male card), and Ike the Wheeler Shrimp goby. Pepe Le Pew II is doing well though he still struggles in getting volunteers for his cleaning booth. Captain Rayder the harlequin gets fed a whole chocolate star every 2-3 weeks and seems perfectly content, and thankfully it hasn’t deranged the water chemistry. There is a large red pistol shrimp in there that we hear every day but never see, and who has declined the watcher services of Ike. Mores the pity. 

 

I sent off an ICP test a few weeks ago and got the results today. They’re a bit confusing since they show quite a bit of elements I was surprised to see, and am not sure if they’re a problem or not. Any comments on issues you see with the results are welcome and helpful!

 

 

 

 

 

FarmerTy’s DragonFuit and Green Slimer

 

FarmerTy’s Merlin Staff

 

 

 

Full Tank Shot

 

Otherwise the tank requires little to no effort anymore. It’s coming up on 3 years old in June and I’m so proud of my little nano reef!

 

 

[debbeach13]

Great pictures, everything looks so healthy.

[WV Reefer]

8 hours ago, ECLS Reefer said:

The Evo is still looking fabulous!!! I’m overjoyed to see the three torches I own growing new heads and getting some great polyp extension, while the SPS frags I’ve snagged off of FarmerTy are growing as well and have pretty good polyp extension! That’s a huge win for me as I’m still new to this SPS game if it doesn’t involve a montipora. 

 

The fish in there still consist only of Boudicca and Alfred (renamed from Katrina because she definitely got handed the male card), and Ike the Wheeler Shrimp goby. Pepe Le Pew II is doing well though he still struggles in getting volunteers for his cleaning booth. Captain Rayder the harlequin gets fed a whole chocolate star every 2-3 weeks and seems perfectly content, and thankfully it hasn’t deranged the water chemistry. There is a large red pistol shrimp in there that we hear every day but never see, and who has declined the watcher services of Ike. Mores the pity. 

 

I sent off an ICP test a few weeks ago and got the results today. They’re a bit confusing since they show quite a bit of elements I was surprised to see, and am not sure if they’re a problem or not. Any comments on issues you see with the results are welcome and helpful!

 

 

 

 

 

FarmerTy’s DragonFuit and Green Slimer

 

FarmerTy’s Merlin Staff

 

 

 

Full Tank Shot

 

Otherwise the tank requires little to no effort anymore. It’s coming up on 3 years old in June and I’m so proud of my little nano reef!

 

 

Looks great. 😊

hard to believe it’s that old.