Jump to content
inTank Media Baskets

Ratvan's Old School Pico - Rockwall Pico v2


Ratvan

Recommended Posts

So I decided that I would leave the Cabbage Corals in this tank over the weekend as I am actively running a HOB filter (and don't need a lid) and have today put some new carbon into the filter. 

 

Nice bright green

20190802_120413.thumb.jpg.3bb52666d3e2409517ccb012675aef53.jpg20190802_120418.thumb.jpg.e6dddba659340b7219dd3cb3ea3c77be.jpg

  • Like 7
Link to comment

Well I got a little bored today and found some water sampling tools that require testing so I thought I would test the tap water at both my house and at work. Considering the difference is 15 miles the difference between the water quality is quite substantial 

 

Water at Office

image.png.02f4bd0b94151647e8ebe98cc7def2aa.png

 

Water at Home

image.png.e6409155b6492da1d5fe6c1da301337c.png

 

No real reason for posting this except no real changes or developments in either tanks

  • Like 2
Link to comment

Well since my Mushrooms are doing mostly well (having an issue with a couple not wanting to stay on rocks) and popping out babies at a decent rate I have started to think about other types of coral that I would like to keep. So I am looking for idea's of "Easier" LPS corals to try. I am thinking semi aggressive at most due to small tank size and I don't want a lot of sweeper tentacles in the pico lol.

 

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
12 minutes ago, Wingy said:

How about some candy cane corals?  

Thanks, that actually is a pretty good shout as I have seen a variety of sizes and colour morphs locally. These would be suitable for the bottom of the tank? 

 

What are Pagoda, Blastomussa and Goniastrea like to keep? And would these be suitable for higher in the tank? Looking for a base, mid and top LPS for different levels in the tank

Link to comment
43 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

What are Pagoda, Blastomussa and Goniastrea like to keep?

I think any or all of them would be decent choices.  I doubt placement is going to be a problem, just give them ample room between other corals.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

Blastos are easy, beautiful, and have itty-bitty tentacles they keep to themselves. So do most proper "brain corals" (goniastrea, platygyra, favia, etc.), though the bigger ones can eat your snails, the nasty lps are acans (mostly echinatas), galaxia, chalices (ecinophyllia and mycideum mostly, pectinia tend to be pretty tame), and elegence. Most hammers and frogspawns get a bad rep but rarely actually produce sweepers and are super easy to keep around once established. You can always mount chalices up higher in the tank in their own spot to keep them from fighting. (Watch them for bleaching, keep them at a far end downstream from other corals and feed them often so they adapt to higher light and ime you're fine)

Fox/bubble corals are very pretty and not really aggressive either, fair bit of movement but a different kind. (Bubbles aren't *super* easy either and foxes have a reputation for sudden colony collapse iirc).

Fungia don't usually use their sweepers but will roam all over the bottom of your tank lol.

My reading and .02.

 

If you weren't so far away I'd offer you one of my baliensis euphyllia once it got a new branch, no sweepers and like an ultra-mini hammer...

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
18 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Thanks, that actually is a pretty good shout as I have seen a variety of sizes and colour morphs locally. These would be suitable for the bottom of the tank? 

 

What are Pagoda, Blastomussa and Goniastrea like to keep? And would these be suitable for higher in the tank? Looking for a base, mid and top LPS for different levels in the tank

MY candy cane is on the bottom of my tank and is doing well :) it took a while to adapt to being there but, once it did, it was happy :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
4 hours ago, afcajax73 said:

MY candy cane is on the bottom of my tank and is doing well 🙂 it took a while to adapt to being there but, once it did, it was happy 🙂

How much did you pay out of interest? Considering a day trip to pick one up off a not so local reefer

Link to comment
1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

How much did you pay out of interest? Considering a day trip to pick one up off a not so local reefer

In all honesty, I can’t remember. It was one of the first things I had in there. If I had to guess I’d say maybe £20, perhaps less. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
On 8/9/2019 at 2:33 PM, afcajax73 said:

In all honesty, I can’t remember. It was one of the first things I had in there. If I had to guess I’d say maybe £20, perhaps less. 

Ah cool that seems about right for what I'm looking at picking up, 5 Large Heads and 3 Small heads for £30. Just got to get to Wirral and also set up a temporary Coral storage box for home, alternatively I could of course set up a small holding tank at home so that I can purchase corals from Reefers on a weekend, 

77116ac9c668c2665d16a415f86e7828.thumb.jpg.5739ebe0384749fa9f81de9a1f19cc13.jpg

 

in other news, Yuma mushrooms are a pain in the neck. On Friday I had a single Yuma on the rock they originally came in on, the rest I had placed in a glass lid with rock rubble so that they could gain a foothold...... so arrived this morning to find they they're back on the rock......

20190812_094008.thumb.jpg.75b948b9a8eba6fdee09df9c17d0d657.jpg

Also that Mushroom has decided it likes it there and has attached itself...  🤷‍♂️

 

20190812_094010.thumb.jpg.54727f38e27ef0d13cab4438836cf689.jpg

Bastards

 

 

As a result of the mushrooms being wandering wankers and my Hermits loving decapitating stuff and fragging my corals I have officially given up on Aquascaping. I have a Torch to add tomorrow (DOA Order within 3 days) so i'll throw those in and leave the critters to scape for me 

  • Like 4
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
4 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I wish this Duncan would hurry the f#ck up and pop out that head already. Painful watching this

20190812_104220.thumb.jpg.948f9f611f24377fae88ed7e8bf9e0e4.jpg20190812_104234.thumb.jpg.7054bfb3842b2fd95c616f65c2dda644.jpg

 

Yeah may need to clean that Frag up a bit eh?

The baby head is cute! 😄

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
3 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

The baby head is cute! 😄

It is but I worry about this coral. It hasn't looked the same since I removed the sand bed. I've also not seen it fully expand in .... a month? Maybe more?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
6 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

It is but I worry about this coral. It hasn't looked the same since I removed the sand bed. I've also not seen it fully expand in .... a month? Maybe more?

What kind of flow is it getting?

Link to comment
1 hour ago, WV Reefer said:

What kind of flow is it getting?

It gets enough flow to move the stubby tentacles but not enough to rock the uncounted frag. Same "flow zone" as my Xenia. I can put it in stronger or weaker flow from here.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
48 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

It gets enough flow to move the stubby tentacles but not enough to rock the uncounted frag. Same "flow zone" as my Xenia. I can put it in stronger or weaker flow from here.

My Duncan’s like to blow in the breeze. 😄..... but there are several types of Duncan’s so maybe try moving it one way or the other and see if it changes. 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment

Well this is the most Polyp extension that I have seen from the Duncan in a long time, think changing positions helped. 

20190813_133537.thumb.jpg.66b569bcc8780784c4ebb443273e6f86.jpg

 

Also the replacement Hammer arrived this afternoon so have dipped and plonked in the tank. I need to mount this soon (no glue in the office, I forgot the damn Macro Algae as well)

20190813_133542.thumb.jpg.57458072d3cb2d77aeaa746ae27c4226.jpg

 

So this is the Algae that is at home currently floating in my Betta Tank (in the Jiffy bags)

7feae75cac557f581c864d5821ff1115.thumb.jpg.f3589ffa7dd8fd73955a072e186c3ccc.jpg

 

We have Red Birds Nest Algae (Gracilaria Vermiculophylla)

Red Bamboo Algae (Solieria SPP)

Blue Ochtodes 

 

And may as well show a FTS

20190813_133547.thumb.jpg.33b51633e86e3149ddf7e03eda021382.jpg

 

That mushroom that has attached itself to the glass coffee jar lid has really annoyed me lol.

Stuck in the Kenya Tree and Cabbage Coral as I cant do anything with the frag plugs at the moment 

Also water seems to be incredibly clear at the minute, not cleaned the tank for a while 🤷‍♂️

 

Might try feeding the LPS's today

  • Like 7
Link to comment

Right then, I added this yesterday. Left in gentle flow (so that it bobs gently) I have arrived this morning to find that it does not look so good.

I am assuming that this is normal after being shipped

20190814_094046.thumb.jpg.21bf78dbe082345bd82e77d73e2999da.jpg20190814_094115.thumb.jpg.6bc49a846e342790a98244a9c62af4a0.jpg

 

I have lowered lighting to a point where everything else is not closed up, I plan on an Iodine Dip at lunch time (as well as mounting it to a plug/rock) and adding my Macro Algae which is currently floating and waiting for me to pop out and grab some superglue 

Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix
2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Right then, I added this yesterday. Left in gentle flow (so that it bobs gently) I have arrived this morning to find that it does not look so good.

I am assuming that this is normal after being shipped

20190814_094046.thumb.jpg.21bf78dbe082345bd82e77d73e2999da.jpg20190814_094115.thumb.jpg.6bc49a846e342790a98244a9c62af4a0.jpg

 

I have lowered lighting to a point where everything else is not closed up, I plan on an Iodine Dip at lunch time (as well as mounting it to a plug/rock) and adding my Macro Algae which is currently floating and waiting for me to pop out and grab some superglue 

It appears to be melting. Can you suck up the goop using a pipette or baster? And an iodine dip sounds good.

 

I'm having a similar issue with my duncan btw - it came with two polyps (one reg./one baby) over a year ago and there's hardly been any growth. I'm not sure why. I've tried adjusting the flow, adjusting the lighting, adjusting the position of the coral - and *nothing works! Eventually I gave up and wedged the stunted thing below my cup coral, and left it there. 🙄

  • Like 3
Link to comment
MainelyReefer
2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Right then, I added this yesterday. Left in gentle flow (so that it bobs gently) I have arrived this morning to find that it does not look so good.

I am assuming that this is normal after being shipped

20190814_094046.thumb.jpg.21bf78dbe082345bd82e77d73e2999da.jpg20190814_094115.thumb.jpg.6bc49a846e342790a98244a9c62af4a0.jpg

 

I have lowered lighting to a point where everything else is not closed up, I plan on an Iodine Dip at lunch time (as well as mounting it to a plug/rock) and adding my Macro Algae which is currently floating and waiting for me to pop out and grab some superglue 

Don’t be surprised if this frag doesn’t make it, it looked receded in your first pic of it too.  Only buy euphyllia when their flesh extends down past the corallite onto the “stem”.  To some extent the poo it’s spitting out is normal behavior of it adjusting to your tanks zooxanthellae and expelling it’s own(Atleast that’s what I always think..)

  • Like 4
Link to comment
10 minutes ago, GraniteReefer said:

Don’t be surprised if this frag doesn’t make it, it looked receded in your first pic of it too.  Only buy euphyllia when their flesh extends down past the corallite onto the “stem”.  To some extent the poo it’s spitting out is normal behavior of it adjusting to your tanks zooxanthellae and expelling it’s own(Atleast that’s what I always think..)

This is a shipped replacement for the last one that did the same when I added it (DOA), might have to forget getting these shipped. If it goes the same I'll ask for a refund instead.

 

In other news, i remembered to bring the Macro Algae with me so

20190814_123815.thumb.jpg.21d158268c7e7fa606f04883d59afdbe.jpg

 

Also added some to the 5.5G

20190814_123824.thumb.jpg.4a87074644f779120b41536e0d65ed72.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...