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Ratvan's Old School Pico - Rockwall Pico v2


Ratvan

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This guy is extra salty
4 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Well, 11 days have past. The last 4 of those this tank has been 100% unattended. 

Got some nice algae growth, (Red Cyano? Green Hair Algae) so this lunch time i'm going to pop down to the LFS to see if i can pick up a CUC that eats Hair Algae

100% water change completed this morning, sadly I have lost the Grape Caulerpa and the other Caulerpa seems to be going the same way.

 

Starting to re-think how i want this tank to look, possibly rip out and redesign. Will see how I feel later this week

 

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Since you’re losing macros you don’t have  enough nutrients in the water. When you do “water changes” ask a local reefer or LFS for their dirty water. All of your macros will perk up afterwards 

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12 minutes ago, This guy is extra salty said:

Since you’re losing macros you don’t have  enough nutrients in the water. When you do “water changes” ask a local reefer or LFS for their dirty water. All of your macros will perk up afterwards 

Thanks, I will look into that. I'm still on the fence about the Macro's now to be honest. especially since I have found ridiculously cheap Polyp and Zoa Frags locally. I might use Xenia as my nutrient export and do something else. I still have time to make a decision

 

26 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Are those tiny duster worms on his shell? 

Managed a couple of closer shots, still not 100% certain 

I've also seen what looks like (to me) Stomatella's on my glass, they look like tiny half formed snails and lots of brittle worms and stars

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This guy is extra salty
1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Thanks, I will look into that. I'm still on the fence about the Macro's now to be honest. especially since I have found ridiculously cheap Polyp and Zoa Frags locally. I might use Xenia as my nutrient export and do something else. I still have time to make a decision

 

Managed a couple of closer shots, still not 100% certain 

I've also seen what looks like (to me) Stomatella's on my glass, they look like tiny half formed snails and lots of brittle worms and stars

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🤔kind of looks like GSP or a clove polyp..

 

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Quick question, where the f#ck has my Macro Gone? (except as gunk around my intake) - Found a small amount of Ochtodes and Gracilaria that i have thrown in my back up pico

Parameters are all good however

 

So it seems like back to the drawing board with this tank.... So I have until end of the month to provide a FTS?

 

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1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Parameters are all good

Looks to me that ammonia is still higher than it should be.  Also are you testing phosphate with a good low range phosphate/phosphorus kit?

 

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

So I have until end of the month to provide a FTS?

Yeah, but the pic that you just provided would suffice.

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36 minutes ago, seabass said:

Looks to me that ammonia is still higher than it should be.  Also are you testing phosphate with a good low range phosphate/phosphorus kit?

 

Yeah, but the pic that you just provided would suffice.

I have the API phosphate test kit, I am thinking of trying out another kit as I really dont like the API master kit all that much either. The hob is also bugging me. 

 

Measured at 0.05

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The API phosphate kit is a high range kit.  It goes up in 0.25 ppm increments, while most people, even with macros, will keep phosphate lower than 0.25 ppm.

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3 minutes ago, seabass said:

The API phosphate kit is a high range kit.

It's a little pricey, but the Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker is a decent low range phosphate kit.

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3 minutes ago, seabass said:

It's a little pricey, but the Hanna ULR Phosphorus Checker is a decent phosphate kit.

Thanks, I will have a look for that while i consider my next move,

 

Going to keep it bare until i am certain it has cycled this time

 

👍

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I use the Red Sea phosphate kit. 

Its low range but it’s too hard to differentiate between colors because it’s so slight. 

 

So I’d second Seabass’s recommendation based on others reviews and one i’ll go with next but it is a little pricey. 

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7 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

Those tide pools are incredible!! Where are you located?

I'm located in Leeds.  But me and my brother went to Walton upon the Naze. It's the Essex/Suffolk coast in England. Originally from Portsmouth so seeing sand on a beach is always strange for me lol

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1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

I'm located in Leeds.  But me and my brother went to Walton upon the Naze. It's the Essex/Suffolk coast in England. Originally from Portsmouth so seeing sand on a beach is always strange for me lol

Hahaha - well, if I ever get a trip to Essex I know I'll need to cut time out to visit the tide pools!

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10 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'm located in Leeds.  But me and my brother went to Walton upon the Naze. It's the Essex/Suffolk coast in England. Originally from Portsmouth so seeing sand on a beach is always strange for me lol

Very nice. Seriously, all those shark teeth...

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14 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

Hahaha - well, if I ever get a trip to Essex I know I'll need to cut time out to visit the tide pools!

Its definately worth visiting. Not in the Summer then it's full of screaming banshees. Next year is Lyme Regis for bigger fossils.

 

14 minutes ago, MetaTank said:

Very nice. Seriously, all those shark teeth...

No Mastadon Tooth though, would have gone straight in the Pico 

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5 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Its definately worth visiting. Not in the Summer then it's full of screaming banshees. Next year is Lyme Regis for bigger fossils.

 

No Mastadon Tooth though, would have gone straight in the Pico 

I have fossils here, but they're all dry and on top of a mountain. All kinds of cool aquatic specimens though, since the mountain is an old sea bed that has been pushed up a couple thousand feet above sea level by tectonic activity

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10 minutes ago, MetaTank said:

I have fossils here, but they're all dry and on top of a mountain. All kinds of cool aquatic specimens though, since the mountain is an old sea bed that has been pushed up a couple thousand feet above sea level by tectonic activity

I find it amazing, like I went to Kuelap in Peru. It's like Machu Picu but in the North and older. The mountains there had great fossils of fish, squid etc. It was amazing.

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PLAN B

I have put a fair amount of thought into what I am going to do with this tank, as you can probably guess I am not too great with patience. However I am going to stick to my Budget. I also want to upgrade the light at some point so am likely only to make very small additions to this tank over time.

I also want to play with different lighting effects, anyone know a good cheap supplier of Blue and Orange Acetate in the UK? (The OHP Type stuff) 

 

In my Backup Pico I have three Rocks that have a colony of Button Polyps on them, these have all come from the Sumps in my LFS so none of use are sure what they will turn out to be.  One has opened so far, the other two are still closed after a few days. I have not dipped these pieces as I want to discover as many Hitch Hikers as is possible. I have no other tanks apart from these and no other Corals or Livestock (except 2x Xenia Frags - currently) I am off tomorrow so will be testing on Monday. 

 

Once I am happy with my Cycle, water Change and then add the Frags of Button Polyps. 

 

I am aware of the Bubble Algae, currently i like the look of it in the tank

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Revised Goals

  1. Colours and Growth on Button Polyps
  2. Learn how to Frag Button Polyps
  3. Hitch Hiker Identification Checklist (so to speak)

 

Here is what the content of the tank is currently

 

Livestock – Clean up Crew

·         Nassarius Snail

·         Red Legged Hermit Crab (Miss Penny Pincher)

·         Turbo Snail (Pimped Out)

 

Livestock – Hitch Hikers

·         Asterina

·         Bivalve

·         Bubble Algae

·         Chiton?***

·         Copepods

·         Feather Duster

·         Flatworm Convoltriloba***

·         Micro Brittle Star

·         Pineapple Sponge

·         Spaghetti Worm

·         Stomatella

 

 

***I cannot take a Photo of these guys, my phone will not focus on them at all. I will try and identify and Photograph as many as I spot

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3 hours ago, Ratvan said:

 

I am aware of the Bubble Algae, currently i like the look of it in the tank

It will take over your tank.  Personally I would try to carefully remove the zoanthids from that rock.  Then, I'd probably pitch that particular rock.  I know that it's extreme, but that's the only way I could get rid of it.

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24 minutes ago, seabass said:

It will take over your tank.  Personally I would try to carefully remove the zoanthids from that rock.  Then, I'd probably pitch that particular rock.  I know that it's extreme, but that's the only way I could get rid of it.

Thanks, I've had a quick play with a cocktail stick and airline and removed most of the bubbles. A few left in really hard to reach places that I'll leave for the minute. Packed more floss in the HOB incase I dislodged any spores. Seems like the back of that rock has an Ulva growth...at least that's what I hope it is.

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