Rick_Dixie's IM 10

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

Hey, Guys! 

 

Last spring I had a little reef running for a frogfish that I had to take down due to a cross country move. 

After getting myself settled in SoCal I was finally able to get my IM Nuvo 10 up and running with a new frogfish!

I figured that I would create this thread for myself as well as for anyone that would like to tag along.  

 

Here is a link to the old tank thread: 

 

Here are the details!  

 

Tank: IM Nuvo 10

Lighting: AI prime HD 

Heater: Tetra HT 50w

Flow: Sicce Syncra 1.5 with RFG

 

Filtration (In Order of Flow):

• IM Filter Sock
• Seachem Matrix 
• Purigen (if needed) 

Rock & Sand: CaribSea Life Rock with Fiji Pink Arag-Alive

Corals/Inverts: 

• 1 Green Frogspawn/Hammer Hybrid
• 1 Head of Purple/Green Tip Torch   
• 1 Green Caulastraea Colony 
• 1 Purple Caulastraea Colony  
• 1 Maroon/Red Caulastraea 
• 1 Duncanopsammia Colony 
• 1 small Red M. lord 
• 1 small Orange/Blue M. lord 
• 1 small Orange/Green M. lord 
• 1 Purple/Green/Orange A. echinata
• 1 Colony of People Eaters 
• 1 Colony of Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas 
• 1 Colony of Pink Krakatoa Zoas 
• 1 Colony of Radioactive Hornet Zoas
• 1 Colony of Clementine Zoas
• 1 Colony of Unknown Pink Zoas
• 1 Meteor Shower (?) Cyphastrea
• 1 GSP patch
• 1 Green/Red Trachyphyllia
• 1 Blue/Green Leptastrea Colony 
• 1 Orange Leptastrea Colony 
• 1 Unknown Chalice
• 1 Blood Red Fire Shrimp 
• 1 Astraea Snail
• 1 Turbo Snail
• 2 Nassarius Snail 
• 1 Blue Legged Hermits

Fish: 

• 1 Yellow Wartskin Frogfish  - RIP to a real one
• 1 Snowstorm Clown
• 1 Flurry Bullethole Clown 

 

I've decided to keep the coral stocking in this tank simple.  Nothing that is crazy expensive or difficult to maintain.  The green candy cane, acan, frogspawn/hammer, and duncan colony made the move with me.  All haven't been quite as extended as usual but as time passes they're looking better and better.  The frogspawn has been considerably smaller but is continuing to split so I'm assuming it is working on reproducing instead of just hanging out and looking fluffy.  The green candy cane seems to be doing fine but again, isn't as extended as I'd like.  The acan was doing phenomenally in the 2.5g tank and after a heater broke it began to recede.  It has been very slowly making a comeback and is starting to show some oranges I haven't seen before as it continues to grow new heads.  The duncan has been considerably retracted since the move but is all around doing fine.  Corals take time to recover after traumatic events so all I can really do is be patient and let them grow.  

 

Originally started the tank out with a frogfish but after a few freak accidents I decided to hold off on buying another until I get a tank set up in my classroom.  I found some fantastic clowns at LAX Aquarium on Black Friday and couldn't pass em up.   

 

Anyway,  hit me with any thoughts, suggestions, or questions you may have.  I'm always looking for coral and placement suggestions!  

 

Most Recent FTS: 12/13/19

 

Tank Startup: 9/20/19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

Here are pics of the frogfish! 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

24 minutes ago, Capt_Rick_Dixie said:

Here are pics of the frogfish! 

 

 

 

 

he’s cute!

[Tired]

Aw, I love frogfish. Somehow they manage to be ugly and cute at the same time. 

 

I've never kept frogfish, but I've always read that you shouldn't put them with anything as big as they are, because they might try to eat it. Are other frogfish an exception to that rule, or do they just not tend to be as voracious as people say? 

[OldManSea]

Great to see new angler fans.  I have had a few in larger tanks, have one in a 30 now.  A few weeks ago I got a little one, 1.5 inches, and put it into an IM10. This little bugger is a much bigger pig than any others I have had and is growing fast.  I am changing 7 gallons twice a week.  Sounds like you have had great success with smaller tanks.  I will be following along.

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

16 hours ago, Tired said:

Aw, I love frogfish. Somehow they manage to be ugly and cute at the same time. 

 

I've never kept frogfish, but I've always read that you shouldn't put them with anything as big as they are, because they might try to eat it. Are other frogfish an exception to that rule, or do they just not tend to be as voracious as people say? 

They definitely are interesting fish.  The fact that they have the fish equivalent of elbows is probably my favorite part lol. 

 

But I would say that if you have any fish or invert in the tank that is their size or smaller you should expect it to be eaten sooner or later.  With other frogfish they seem to be relatively indifferent as long as they're the same size.  For example, I would keep 2 or 3 frogfish together provided they were all within 0.25" of one another in length.  Any size difference greater than that and I think you would just be asking for trouble.  You would also just have to keep an eye on them for a bit.  Some fish have more aggressive tendencies.  If you were to see one stalking another froggie it would be time to separate.  

15 hours ago, OldManSea said:

Great to see new angler fans.  I have had a few in larger tanks, have one in a 30 now.  A few weeks ago I got a little one, 1.5 inches, and put it into an IM10. This little bugger is a much bigger pig than any others I have had and is growing fast.  I am changing 7 gallons twice a week.  Sounds like you have had great success with smaller tanks.  I will be following along.

Awesome!  It's always fun to connect with others who are keeping the same fish.  I'm stoked to hear that you're having success with yours! Do you have pics up in a thread anywhere? 

[SURVEYMAN46123]

How is the fit of the 1.5?

 

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

59 minutes ago, SURVEYMAN46123 said:

How is the fit of the 1.5?

 

 

It fits perfectly, actually.  As long as you don't have anything else in the back that needs to sit on the bottom you'll have no issue.  It's pretty versatile as far as flow goes.  I was able to turn it waaaayyy down but if I ever decide to take a different route or use it elsewhere I can crank it back up.  

[SURVEYMAN46123]

15 hours ago, Capt_Rick_Dixie said:

It fits perfectly, actually.  As long as you don't have anything else in the back that needs to sit on the bottom you'll have no issue.  It's pretty versatile as far as flow goes.  I was able to turn it waaaayyy down but if I ever decide to take a different route or use it elsewhere I can crank it back up.  

 

Awesome!   Thanks for the heads up.   Have been wanting to possibly add a RFG nozzle to my tank and would like to up the flow rate in my return pump.   Running the 0.5 right now, but I may contact Steve over at Sicce and get me one of those 1.5's

 

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

2 hours ago, SURVEYMAN46123 said:

 

Awesome!   Thanks for the heads up.   Have been wanting to possibly add a RFG nozzle to my tank and would like to up the flow rate in my return pump.   Running the 0.5 right now, but I may contact Steve over at Sicce and get me one of those 1.5's

 

 

I don't think you would regret the upgrade.  It would definitely be a pretty significant improvement for relatively cheap.  I'll let you know how the RFG nozzle works in the tank once I get it in.  

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Just a question, is that euphillia growing on a mag float?

Or am I high?

[SURVEYMAN46123]

50 minutes ago, Capt_Rick_Dixie said:

I don't think you would regret the upgrade.  It would definitely be a pretty significant improvement for relatively cheap.  I'll let you know how the RFG nozzle works in the tank once I get it in.  

Please do, cause I think that is the route I'm heading.

 

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

49 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Just a question, is that euphillia growing on a mag float?

Or am I high?

Well, you may be high but it was actually growing on a mag float lol.  When I moved I needed a good way to make sure the polyps didn't hit the sides of the container so I glued it to the float.  When I got settled I didn't take it off because I wasn't sure where I wanted to place it.  I actually just attached it to the rock a day or two ago.  If you ever have a coral without a plug that needs to be up off the sandbed use one of the tiny floats.  It works surprisingly well lol. 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

I picked up a few new corals this past weekend.  

 

A little frag of gsp, a maroon/green trumpet, and two small zoa colonies.  One is Pink Krakatoa and I'm unsure of the other.  The owner seemed positive that they were some type of Dragon Eye but I'm not sure.  Any ideas? 

 

My colony of people eaters is pissed though.  The Frogfish knocked them off the rock before I had a chance to glue them down and since they haven't open. Probably about 5 days.  Any advice? 

 

Here are some pics! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wonderboy]

Strange that they haven't opened back up yet - but it happens; something must be irritating them. If you didn't glue them to the rock - try a 30% H2O2 / 70% system water dip for 15-20ish seconds, let it air dry for 15-20ish seconds, put em back in. If you did, micro dose some H2O2 directly onto them in tank. Everything else is looking very nice!

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

On 10/1/2019 at 12:02 AM, Wonderboy said:

Strange that they haven't opened back up yet - but it happens; something must be irritating them. If you didn't glue them to the rock - try a 30% H2O2 / 70% system water dip for 15-20ish seconds, let it air dry for 15-20ish seconds, put em back in. If you did, micro dose some H2O2 directly onto them in tank. Everything else is looking very nice! 

I did end up gluing them down but I'm thinking that while they were closed and annoyed from rolling around in the sand and whatnot that diatoms had started to grow on top of them, which is what is annoying them more.  If I applied Hydrogen Peroxide to the coral how do you think that will that effect other corals in the tank?  

 

Here is closer view of them. 

[Wonderboy]

Other corals will be fine - make sure not to dose over 1mL per gallon of actual system water volume - you can half that maximum rate and then even use much less to be safe. You can use straight 3% H2O2 from a pipette. I would go ahead with ~2 mL slowly injected onto the closed polyps.

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

3 hours ago, Wonderboy said:

Other corals will be fine - make sure not to dose over 1mL per gallon of actual system water volume - you can half that maximum rate and then even use much less to be safe. You can use straight 3% H2O2 from a pipette. I would go ahead with ~2 mL slowly injected onto the closed polyps.

I did a bit of digging and ended up treating them last night.  I went ahead and brushed them lightly with a soft toothbrush and then applied .8ml of 3% H202 to the polyps.   I cut flow and let it do its thing for about 10min before getting the water moving again.  Planning a 25% water change when I get home from work today and I'll give them a day or two to see how they're doing.  It's funny though,  some of my other corals seemed a little happier after I applied the peroxide.  They could have just puffed up and extended feeders from the lack of flow though.  I'll let you know how they're doing in a couple days!   

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

Ended up taking them out and doing a Coral Rx dip.  They look considerably better but definitely are not opening.  Healthy looking, just closed.  My other Zoas had been somewhat closed as well.  I caught the camel shrimp my Frogfish decided to make friends with out chomping on them.  So instead of waiting for him to eat it I think I'll give the good ole bottle trap a go.  Hopefully things turn around after that.  

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

Managed to get the Camel Shrimp out.  I ended up having to remove the biggest rock but it was way less of a hassle than I thought it would be.  Zoas are slowly starting to come back out and color up.  

 

I picked up a nice little orange plate from LAX Aquarium.  It's loving its new home.  

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

I may have a problem, guys...  I picked up a kick-ass looking Blue/Green Leptastrea the other day while checking out another frogfish the LFS brought in for me.  I couldn't say no for $20.  This thing has literally encrusted all the way around the frag plug.  I had to place it between two rocks so it will receive flow to the underside.  Wild stuff.  

 

 

 

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

Took a few fun shots of the frogfish this weekend. 

The People Eaters are starting to make their comeback after I removed the Camel Shrimp a week or so ago.  

I'm fairly happy with how things are coming along.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lizzyann]

Love the frog fish pics, so cute!

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

3 hours ago, lizzyann said:

Love the frog fish pics, so cute!

Thanks!  They're fun little fish for sure.  I'd highly recommend them for a fun little species tank.  A bit more demanding than other fish as far as feeding and whatnot goes but definitely rewarding to keep.  It would be awesome to have a few in a macro algae tank.    

[Capt_Rick_Dixie]

So I thought that my People Eaters were bouncing back from their diatom/algae infestation but apparently they've decided otherwise. 

 

There is no visible diatom, algae, or pest on them. They were partially open for a few days after treatment but have since been looking like this. 

 

I haven't made any changes to the tank and everything else is doing really well. Any idea what's going on?