Ratvan's Old School Pico - Rockwall Pico v2

[Ratvan]

Also Where the actual f#ck did you reappear from Benny? My rock must be very very porous?

 

So Benny and Hantu........

[debbeach13]

Enjoy your vacation.

[Tempestas]

16 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Also Where the actual f#ck did you reappear from Benny? My rock must be very very porous?

 

So Benny and Hantu........

 

Yay!!! Benny's alive!!!🎉
 

[seabass]

Wow, was Benny abducted by aliens?  I'm glad they returned him; must have been a shock and a relief to see him back.  Maybe they'll find the answer when they storm Area 51.

[Ratvan]

12 minutes ago, seabass said:

Wow, was Benny abducted by aliens?  I'm glad they returned him; must have been a shock and a relief to see him back.  Maybe they'll find the answer when they storm Area 51.

I'm wondering what else is inside that rock now.......... I'm glad he is back.

 

I thought it was loose Gracilaria when I first spotted him on the rock

 

Hantu doesn't seem to have noticed if she has she isn't bothered, which is a relief

[Ratvan]

I finally have a Clean Bottom thanks to @Tigahboy

Pump arrived and installed, keeps everything suspended nicely so the HOB can deal with it, leaving for the evening now so hopefully the noise subsides over night (like they usually do)

Will see how things look in the morning

[Tigahboy]

9 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I finally have a Clean Bottom thanks to @Tigahboy

Pump arrived and installed, keeps everything suspended nicely so the HOB can deal with it, leaving for the evening now so hopefully the noise subsides over night (like they usually do)

Will see how things look in the morning

Nice!  But yes, hopefully you won't have noise issues.  Mine didn't have any noise at all in the beginning but later developed a rattling sound that eventually went away on its own.

[Ratvan]

Well then it has been a buy morning for me, I managed to catch all three Gobies and get them to their correct tanks. As I was doing the morning feed they all came to the surface for food so I could scoop them up. Suspiciously easy that was. 

 

 

[Ratvan]

So they're cleaner gobies. Have seen Hantu let them pick at her when she is under the Eggcrate and rockwork (I assume this is the Goby Cleaning station)

 

All three together, also Duncan is looking much, much better since I installed that Pump

 

 

 

I have decided that that are a couple and I have a male and female, for no other reason than I hope so 😄

 

So Trillian and Arthur 

[A.m.P]

Lol, I honestly love the stocking of that pico, it sounds fascinating to watch, hopefully you won't run into nitrate issues with so much livestock (I'm starting to have the opposite problem and my tank is processing nitrate faster than it's being produced >_<)

[Ratvan]

10 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Lol, I honestly love the stocking of that pico, it sounds fascinating to watch, hopefully you won't run into nitrate issues with so much livestock (I'm starting to have the opposite problem and my tank is processing nitrate faster than it's being produced >_<)

Thanks, It is playing on my mind, However the corals seem to be doing better at long last

[Ratvan]

Well Instagram doesn't seem to want to work for me here in Germany. I also need to clear space on my phone so. My trip today includes the German town of Konstanz. On the border with Switzerland. During WW2 this town kept all its lights on at night to fool the allies into thinking they were flying over Switzerland. It worked, not a bomb fell on the town.

 

Might see if I can "disappear" for an hour and get a tattoo while I'm here. 

 

[debbeach13]

Nice pictures. Have a blast. I have only been to Italy and Switzerland but would love to see more of Europe. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Yay, Benny is alive! Those cleaner gobies look adorable too. Have a nice vacation! 🙂 

[Ratvan]

Both tanks are smothered in a dusty red algae. Blows right off the glass, rocks and corals. Assuming its diatoms. All 3 fish present and accounted for. 

 

Will spend the day cleaning them down and buy more floss.

[Ratvan]

3 Hours later I have clean-ish tank and water

So not lost any Corals, I have moved the Hammer to the rear of the tank as it doesn't seem to like direct lighting. Sadly this means that I cannot see it in the tank. I think I need to either rescape or put it in the 5.5G

 

The GSP also fell off the Barnacles and has encrusted the rock under it, starting to grow on the glass as well now

 

Hantu is Hungry and Puppy Like as usual, seems that she is also now hosting the barnacles.

 

Apparently there were a few fallings out last week with feeding time (Pretty much everyone wanted to feed the tank) so am fairly certain that the fish and the tank was overfed for a week. 

 

The Gobies are very active this morning and hoover down any food left over that Hantu doesn't take 

 

Task for the afternoon is to clean up the 5.5G 😞

[Snow_Phoenix]

3 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

3 Hours later I have clean-ish tank and water

So not lost any Corals, I have moved the Hammer to the rear of the tank as it doesn't seem to like direct lighting. Sadly this means that I cannot see it in the tank. I think I need to either rescape or put it in the 5.5G

 

The GSP also fell off the Barnacles and has encrusted the rock under it, starting to grow on the glass as well now

 

Hantu is Hungry and Puppy Like as usual, seems that she is also now hosting the barnacles.

 

Apparently there were a few fallings out last week with feeding time (Pretty much everyone wanted to feed the tank) so am fairly certain that the fish and the tank was overfed for a week. 

 

The Gobies are very active this morning and hoover down any food left over that Hantu doesn't take 

 

Task for the afternoon is to clean up the 5.5G 😞

Love the goby pics! I think the tank looks good overall. I worry a lot whenever I leave the house for vacation. Usually I just turn off all the lights but keep the rest of the pumps running. I've been trying not to stay away for more than 10 days - I once came home and found my 30G cichlid tank had crashed due to the major pump failing. Ever since then, I've been extra cautious. Glad everything in your system pulled through. 🤗

[Ratvan]

8 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Love the goby pics! I think the tank looks good overall. I worry a lot whenever I leave the house for vacation. Usually I just turn off all the lights but keep the rest of the pumps running. I've been trying not to stay away for more than 10 days - I once came home and found my 30G cichlid tank had crashed due to the major pump failing. Ever since then, I've been extra cautious. Glad everything in your system pulled through. 🤗

Yeah looks good, corals look a bit pale so not sure what is going on.

 

More sure that I have a Male and female Goby. If the compare the first two pics you can see different head shapes. Also one has a larger and longer first top fin than the other. 

[Ratvan]

Well then, since everything has scrubbed up nicely and I have not lost anything (other than Xenia...again. Cannot keep this alive for more than a month 🤷‍♂️) I decided to pop into my LFS and have a look in the "Bargain Bin" the frags in this area are typically either really bland, "beginner corals" or generally just do not look as good as the main Frags. 

 

Today however, I picked up a couple of nicer Frags. A "Maze" Coral and a "Trumpet Coral"

 

 

Originally thought this was a Blasto when i picked it up, very pleased with the Candy Cane? Trumpet coral?

 

Not sure what Type of Maze Coral this is? Is this even a LPS?

Not Polyp/Sweeper extension already 

[A.m.P]

Looks like a platygyra or a goniastrea, because it is so small it's difficult to tell whether those are going to be separated or joined valleys, I'm not good enough to even tell if its' not a favites at this stage lol.

 

My money is on platygyra.

[Ratvan]

10 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Looks like a platygyra or a goniastrea, because it is so small it's difficult to tell whether those are going to be separated or joined valleys, I'm not good enough to even tell if its' not a favites at this stage lol.

 

My money is on platygyra.

Would a side on photo help?

[Ratvan]

Any excuse for a Photo dump really lol

[Snow_Phoenix]

16 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Any excuse for a Photo dump really lol

I have no idea what type it actually is, but it kinda looks cool. Love the grooves. 

[A.m.P]

I love the close-ups but these are some of the hardest corals in the hobby to tell apart lol, to say I'm not good enough is almost giving myself too much credit.
That said, my bet is still either platy or goni.

[Ratvan]

On 9/2/2019 at 4:38 PM, Amphrites said:

I love the close-ups but these are some of the hardest corals in the hobby to tell apart lol, to say I'm not good enough is almost giving myself too much credit.
That said, my bet is still either platy or goni.

Thank you, I'm leaning towards a Platygyra myself, mainly because I like the name. Saw this last night in my LFS "Spiny Brain Coral" but I do not believe that it is a Tracy or a Lobo. Infact I think that this is a type of Favites? Anyway if it is still there today i might make a cheeky offer on it due to the condition of the frag.

 

Shop Blues

 

Lights off in Shop

Doesn't look particularly inflated and has a line of death around the bottom of the "Frag" it is up for sale at £25.00 but I want a bit more knocked off it.

 

Anywho, September Full Tank Shots

 

I had to move a few corals out of the 5.5G, firstly the GSP didn't open regardless of the placement, so i have decided to try the old GSP Carpet look in the Pico. 

My mushroom glass is coming along nicely, they haven't released their grip since I stuck them in there. Duncan I s looking better but still not great

Finally I have small chunks of GHA growing on my rock work, the Gobies seem to "eat" this? They tear at it and thrash around, unless of course they're hunting tiny pods that I cannot see. 

Blue Ochtodes Macro has gone, the fish literally destroyed it. I can see a small amount floating around in the water column still