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aclman88

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FTS 4/12/2020 - Last Picture in it's full glory before ugrading to 20 g tall.

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FTS 1/30/2020

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Tank:

  • Petco Imagiatrium 3.7 AOI
  • Removed the sump area entirely to make more room for rock and coral.

 

Livestock

 

Fish:

Frank the Green Clown Goby 

 

Inverts:

1 Cerith Snail

2 Nassarius Snails

1 Trochus Snail

 

Coral

 

Softies:

  •  Green Star Polyp
  • Green Leather Coral
  • Variety of Zoas
  • 3 Random Mushrooms
  • Green Ricordia
  • Kenya Treef

 

LPS:

  • Acan Colony (started as 2 heads and now about 6)
  • Hammer (Two heads)
  • Torch (Almost two heads)
  • Duncan 
  • Green Candy Cane (5 heads)

 

SPS:

  • Random from Frag Swap (no clue what kind)

 

FIltration:

  • Aquaclear 20 running Filter floss, chemipure elite and purigen
     

Lighting:

  • Lumini Asta 20 

 

Heat:

  • Cobalt Neotherm 50W

 

Cooling:

  • Small USB Computer Fan set up over the Aquaclear Filter

 

Flow:

  • Small 80gph submersible pump

 

Feeding:

  • Spot feed mysis to LPS (2-3 x per week)
  • Target Feed reef roids once weekly

 

Maintenance:

  • Stare at tank daily
  • Pick bubble algae and scrape glass every other day
  • Weekly Water chance of 1 gallon
  • Change filter floss during water change
  • Replace Chemipure bimonthly
  • Replace Purigen when exhausted

 

This tank started off as a planted betta tank but I soon found the size to be inadequate as well as ugly.  I tried and failed to use aquasoil and the mopani wood I bought was leaching sap and was therefore unusable.  I quickly grew tired and took down the tank and decided to try my hand at running a reef tank.  I had a FOWLR in highschool but never made the jump to coral.  Huge thanks to @TatorTaco who responded to a post I made asking for feedback and was instrumental in getting the tank setup by being kind enough to send me sand, rocks, heater and a ton of other extras.  Some other people I need to thank are @Clown79, @Lula_Mae, @ninjamyst, @ksadam, and @tgore for all their advice and experience!

 

I hope to keep this journal up to date as a record for coral growth, triumphs and any failures I may (will) come across.

 

Currently battling an infestation of Bubble algae and some red cyano as well as green algae that are both growing on the sand and the walls of the tank.  No way to test for phosphates, so I am planning on getting a Hanna ULR checker soon so I can stay on top of those numbers.  I theorize it coincided with reduced nutrients when stopping all feeding to try and kill off hydroids that were starting to spread.  The hydroids are under control, but I think it allowed the algae to start and take hold.  I am slowly sucking out the sand during water changes and that is helping to stop the spread of algae on the sand bed and might eventually try going no sand bed to allow me to crank up the flow a bit.  I won't be adding emerald crabs since I have hear mixed reviews on wether they are reef safe.

 

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2 hours ago, jservedio said:

Looks like a good start. The mystery SPS looks like it's a Pocillopora - they are easy to keep so long as alkalinity isn't bouncing all over the place. That toadstool is really nice.

Thanks... the leather coral is actually from petco... was definitely a good deal smaller when I bought it so pretty happy with how it is progressing.

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So glad I could be of some assistance! I really like your tank. I just revamped my 2.5g pico been running a month now and just taking it slow. You may notice that you don’t need the chemipure and purigen after a while especially if doing weekly water changes. I like to mix up 5 gallons at a time and then I can do a bunch of small 1/2 g water changes during the week if I’m getting too much algae growth.

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I'm glad I could help! You're off to a good start. Phosphates can definitely contribute to algae, I suspect I've got some because I think my DI filter needs changing lol. My tank is happily growing tons of algae on the glass right now.

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Time for an update!

 

I purchased a few more additions to Frank's Dominion; a green tipped torch, some pulsing Xenia, and a goniopora frag.  I have always loved the way the pulsing Xenia looks, but never found it locally until the other day at my LFS.  I know it can be invasive, but I plan to keep it isolated on the sand bed or a small piece of LR.

 

Picture of Frank chillin' on a toadstool leather:

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FTS after latest additions:

 

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I grew tired pretty quickly of the cramped cube as well as the rounded corners which, look great when empty, but make it really difficult to view the tank from certain angles due to the way it drastically distorts the view.  On top of that, the corners were next to impossible to keep clean of algae.  I found a great deal on a used AI Prime HD and found a really nice low iron 5 gallon tank at another LFS near me.  So, following instructions I found on @Clown79 laggon thread and posts by @seabass, I made the switch this morning.  

 

Empty Tank:

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New FTS:

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Everything seems happy and open after the switch (except my lone duncan head) so I am considering it a success!  I am also loving the AI Prime HD.  This is my first move into higher end leds and definitely see the difference in both quality of lighting and controllability.  I also used this as an opportunity to secure the stand to the wall (I have a little one running around) as well as mount the power strip to the wall for easier access to plugs as well as incorporating a drip loop into all electronics. Overall, I am pleased with the scape and increased floor space to play around with coral placement.  Definitely much less cramped than it was before and overall it will be easier to maintain.  

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Wanted some feedback and advice about lighting schedule. Currently I’m running 8:30-6:30 with 2 hr ramps. UV and Violet are at ~5% for a couple hours in the morning so I can see the tank before work. Lunar runs 6:30-9:30, RB channel only and at 5%.  I included a screenshot out of the max day setting. Currently, I am running everything at 50% of the max shown through the AI accclimation mode. It seems on the low end but I don’t want to risk shocking the coral with a huge jump in lighting.
 

So far things seem open and happy. I have considered running pirates or saxby (tried it but too much white for my liking), but am not sure the point or need for the peaks and valleys. My old light was the asta 20 which ran an a simple  wall timer from 8:30-6:30, which is why I am currently trying to emulate that as much as possible for now. 
 

Tank is a five gallons. 9.5” deep with the light about 8” off the surface. Mostly softies and LPS. thoughts on my current setting? Does it seem too high or low for my tank based on what others are running? 


Are there any researched benefits to the respites included in the saxby or pirates settings?

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  • 1 month later...

Tank Updates:

 

I have been laying off of tinkering too much with the tank.  I went on a tear of trying different pumps, filters and skimmers to see what might improve the tank, but I realized that I was trying to do too much and that stability was key.  If things are happy, why bother spending money on something that could potentially throw off the balance that is starting to be created?  

 

The one piece of hardware I ended up keeping with an AC surface skimmer attachment that has really cut down on the film that used to plague my tank.  I was a little unsure, since it looks a little janky but it works really well.  After adding it, I don't notice any more film, bubbles building up at the surface, and as an added bonus, my Kenya tree doesn't get it's branches caught in the filter intake.

 

I also recently acquired a quantum PAR meter for classroom use and decided to try it out at home with my AI Prime to see what kind of readings I was getting.  Turns out that eyeballing things and running AB+ at about 50% was giving me perfect PAR for the corals.  80-150 on the sand bed (depending on whether I was near the corner or directly under the light) and Mid level was getting around 180.  SPS near the top were right in the 200-300 range.

 

Top Down Shot I used to mark PAR Data:

 

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Shot of my PAR Reading Setup:

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The process involved taking a picture and labeling each coral/PAR reading site with 1-18.  I set the meter to measure every ten seconds and then recording it in excel.  I did this three times and averaged the numbers together.

 

Coral Updates: 

 

- Newest additions are a Hollywood Stunner Chalice, purple bird of paradise coral and an orange ricordia (I think).  I really like the splash of orange in an otherwise very green/blue tank.  The Chalice is banished to a the side of the tank after I observed it spitting out multiple 2-3" sweeper tentacles.  This was my first time seeing sweepers, and I definitely do not want this single frag wreaking havoc in my otherwise peaceful tank.  

 

-  My Acan (which started as a two polyp frag) is now 6 full size polyps and 3 new ones growing.

 

- My duncan finally is growing and has sprouted three new heads as well.  I attribute this to the increase in flow it is receiving and upgrading to the AI Prime from the Asia 20 (I have had it since August with zero grow until I upgraded the light.

 

- My Kenya tree self fragged so I glued one on a frag plug to grow out and hopefully give away along with a Xenia that I fragged as well.  First time fragging, so even though they are easy corals, it was still exciting.

 

Salt:

 

I am switching to Tropic Marin Pro Reef due to all of the great things I have heard.  I was nervous at first, since my tank has been doing really well with Reef Crystals, but I am almost out and wanted to try something different.  My Alk is testing in around 6.5-7.0 after water changes, which is what TMPR mixes up to.  I was using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals with great success, but even though this is supposed to mix up at a much higher Alk, the batch I recently mixed and tested is only hitting high 7s in Alk.  So I am not sure I like the inconsistency I am seeing in this batch.  I also realize that if I continued using Reef Crystals for my usual one gallon water change, and it is mixing up at advertised 13 alk, my tank would jump from 6.4 to over 8 in a single water change, which I think is too much.  The switch might lead to dosing, so I will have to continue changing with Tropic Marin and see how things adjust.  

 

 

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Wanted some help with coral placement and aquascape.  I wanted to try and do something with the mini-arch on the right of the tank.  There are two small zoo frags (on the main rock on the left) that I thought about pulling off and placing them on the arch to let them eventually fill in. @jservedio @mitten_reef

 

Any ideas for what to place on the arch, or other LPS corals that would mix well with everything else in the tank?  Thinking I should avoid green since that is the dominant color in the tank right now. 

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Also was curious if anyone has thoughts about my candy cane... it seems a little unhappy recently and it looks to be white/translucent around the base.

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35 minutes ago, aclman88 said:

Wanted some help with coral placement and aquascape.  I wanted to try and do something with the mini-arch on the right of the tank.  There are two small zoo frags (on the main rock on the left) that I thought about pulling off and placing them on the arch to let them eventually fill in. @jservedio @mitten_reef

 

Any ideas for what to place on the arch, or other LPS corals that would mix well with everything else in the tank?  Thinking I should avoid green since that is the dominant color in the tank right now. 

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Also was curious if anyone has thoughts about my candy cane... it seems a little unhappy recently and it looks to be white/translucent around the base.

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Candy cane looks like it's getting a little to much light. Can you post an FTS of what it looks like now under white lights for scaping?

 

You should ask @Clown79 too, she's way better than me at scaping!

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40 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

An encrusting coral on the arch would be cool or even a ricordea garden. Many color options with both. Rics are super colorful

Definitely like the ric garden, can do an acan garden too with similar effect. Lords always did incredibly well in my pico and just as many colors.

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mitten_reef

I think an acan garden will be perfect for that arch. a lot of nice colors to choose from. Same goes for rics. 
 

re: the candy cane. It does look like too much light, but upon further look it seems to be under something else next to it.  So based on the placement shown in photo, I wouldn’t say light is the issue. Could it be shading? Also, if other corals around the tank are showing less intense colors (specifically, the acan and red zoas look a bit muted in colors), you may be having low nutrient issue.  

If you want more movement on that arch, you might also consider a red goniopora. 

 

 

Edited by mitten_reef
skimmed thru your posts; added a few extra thoughts
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20 hours ago, Clown79 said:

An encrusting coral on the arch would be cool or even a ricordea garden. Many color options with both. Rics are super colorful

Any specific types of encrusting corals you would recommend?  I have a Hollywood stunner but I think I will be rehoming it since there isn't really a place I could put it and feel comfortable since it was sending out 3" sweepers almost immediately.

 

Ricordia garden sounds cool.  Thanks!  Do you think zoas might also be a good option?
 

19 hours ago, jservedio said:

can do an acan garden too

I guess I am unsure if scans can be near other acans due to aggression.  Not sure what types of corals generally can't be near others.  Also, for reference, the arch is about the size of my hand, so not very big.

 

18 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

the candy cane. It does look like too much light, but upon further look it seems to be under something else next to it.  

I think it might be shading since it is directly under a Kenya tree and I measured par in that area and it is around ~120 PAR.  It seems to be the heads nearest the rock, which are the ones to experience the most shading.  The Kenya tree sometimes droops on the candy cane so it could be getting annoyed by that as well.   If you recommend I move the candy cane, any spots look like they could work?

 

The colors for everything else look good, but I know for a fact my tank runs low phosphate and very low nitrate (not detectable with salifert test kit).  I am currently running perigean and chemipure nano elite, so might pull one or the other so I get get detectable nitrates.

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As long as the "acans" are the same species, they can all be touching. When people refer to "acans" they are generally talking about Micromussa Lordhowensis (aka lords) - just like the ones you have in the front of your tank. NOT echinata - those things will lay waste to anything they touch.

 

Micromussa Amakusensis (aka micros) can also be touching acan lords without fighting. I loved those in my pico as well and definitely one of my two favorite corals in my tank right now.

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10 minutes ago, aclman88 said:

Any specific types of encrusting corals you would recommend?  I have a Hollywood stunner but I think I will be rehoming it since there isn't really a place I could put it and feel comfortable since it was sending out 3" sweepers almost immediately.

 

Ricordia garden sounds cool.  Thanks!  Do you think zoas might also be a good option?
 

I guess I am unsure if scans can be near other acans due to aggression.  Not sure what types of corals generally can't be near others.  Also, for reference, the arch is about the size of my hand, so not very big.

 

I think it might be shading since it is directly under a Kenya tree and I measured par in that area and it is around ~120 PAR.  It seems to be the heads nearest the rock, which are the ones to experience the most shading.  The Kenya tree sometimes droops on the candy cane so it could be getting annoyed by that as well.   If you recommend I move the candy cane, any spots look like they could work?

 

The colors for everything else look good, but I know for a fact my tank runs low phosphate and very low nitrate (not detectable with salifert test kit).  I am currently running perigean and chemipure nano elite, so might pull one or the other so I get get detectable nitrates.

Ya my Hollywood stunner destroyed 3 corals in my pico jar. The sweepers on it, were long.

 

My other chalice doesn't have long sweepers so maybe another type of chalice would work.

 

An encrusting monti like rainbow or superman would be cool.

 

Zoas would work too.

 

Acan lords are fine next to each other, acan enchinata is aggressive.

 

 

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42 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Micromussa Lordhowensis (aka lords) - just like the ones you have in the front of your tank. NOT echinata - those things will lay waste to anything they touch.

Yea I remember you constantly referring to the echinata in your tank as straight murderers of everything.  Good to know.  Are lords and echinata easy to tell apart?

 

40 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

An encrusting monti like rainbow or superman would be cool.

 

Zoas would work too.

Ok cool, I will look in to the encrusting montis.

 

Parameters:

Just tested my params (after two back to back ~40-50% water changes)

Alk - 6.7 (Up from around 6.2 after two huge water changes.  Might have to start using the ESV B-ionic or do a 100% water change).

Cal - 415

Mag - 1335

Nit - <0 (not detectable)

Phos - 0.16 (high, but doesn't seem correct since I performed two large water changes yesterday and this morning).

 

Low nitrates are definitely something to address I am guessing increasing feeding could help?  I was thinking about removing the purigen (not sure if its exhausted, its been running the tank since July) and just running a chemipure elite nano with the filter floss.  Thoughts?

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30 minutes ago, aclman88 said:

Yea I remember you constantly referring to the echinata in your tank as straight murderers of everything.  Good to know.  Are lords and echinata easy to tell apart?

Very easy - they look nothing alike. You've already got lords in your tank, so just get more of those in pretty colors if that's what you want!

 

Both my echinatas have an extensive body count, but it isn't their fault, they aren't that aggressive - they don't attack things from very far away, they just never lose a fight. Pretty much my wrasse or clowns knocking things into them or being jostled around during a move. In a pico I definitely wouldn't want one though since they need some space - same with anything capable of killing at any appreciable distance.

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1 hour ago, aclman88 said:

Yea I remember you constantly referring to the echinata in your tank as straight murderers of everything.  Good to know.  Are lords and echinata easy to tell apart?

 

Ok cool, I will look in to the encrusting montis.

 

Parameters:

Just tested my params (after two back to back ~40-50% water changes)

Alk - 6.7 (Up from around 6.2 after two huge water changes.  Might have to start using the ESV B-ionic or do a 100% water change).

Cal - 415

Mag - 1335

Nit - <0 (not detectable)

Phos - 0.16 (high, but doesn't seem correct since I performed two large water changes yesterday and this morning).

 

Low nitrates are definitely something to address I am guessing increasing feeding could help?  I was thinking about removing the purigen (not sure if its exhausted, its been running the tank since July) and just running a chemipure elite nano with the filter floss.  Thoughts?

Enchinata are mean! 

 

You can tell them apart easily. The acan pic is more smooth with no division between heads whereas the lord has division between heads.

 

Your phos isn't that high. The elite already has media to reduce phos.

 

Purigen is exhausted when it goes brown and it does reduce nitrates. I used only small amounts of it and stopped using it because it stripped the nitrates from my tank.

 

I struggle to keep nitrates and I over feed my tank.

 

I only use 1 tbsp of carbon(changed every 2-3 weeks) and floss

 

 

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Moved some things around today to make room for some incoming ebay orders as well as some gracileria macro that came in this morning. Space is getting tight!
 

Decided to go with an acan garden. 
 

Seller pics:

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FTS:

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Moved some things around.  Mushrooms are in the front left corner not to give the can some more space.  I mounted the macro algae on a magnetic rock and was thinking about having that on the back glass.  If I do that, it shades the hammer; I  was thinking about moving the Xenia in the back and placing the hammer in it's place. Flow is pushing the Xenia onto the arch (soon to be "Acan Arch") and I already had to frag it and remove some of the Xenia which had attached to the arch (it has already started to grow back).  

 

Curious if anyone has ideas for other places for coral.  I also thought about moving the small zoo frags off of the main rock and place the hammer there.  Not shown is my duncan which is laying on its side between the GSP and hammer bc some hermits bulldozed it over.  I really need to mount that sucker somewhere.

 

Also including shots of the Acan from when I first got it in July/August to now.  It has gone from two heads to nine.

 

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GSP: Playing with the macro setting on my Olympus TG-4IMG_7347.thumb.JPG.ae0969c7973aa2e814485b6a81d4665c.JPG

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  • 3 months later...

It has been a while since I updated the thread.  I had some major changes happen, namely I was able to adopt a nice 20 gallon setup with ATO, tidal filter, Nero 5, rock, sand and some nice zoas, shrooms, and a hammer coral.  A local reefer was moving back to his home country and could no longer have his tank.  As a result, I decided to shut down the pico and transfer the corals to the large tank.  Pleas excuse the potato quality photo.

 

IMG_8104.jpg.08d7973a77421f8242c6618b33b45247.jpg

 

There were a few other contributing factors which included the following: 

  • My GSP mat grew into my Acan when I was away on vacation and pissed it off.  The acan was losing heads and looked terrible.
  • I could no longer maintain acceptable alk levels due to consumption and realistically I was not ready to begin testing and dosing regularly.
  • Over time I didn't like my aquascape.  The main rock was too large, shaded also below it, and made coral placement really difficult.

 

Currently, I am thinking about keeping the pico as a min frag tank to grow our some corals I fragged recently but I have also toyed with the idea of setting of a softy dominant tank, a pest pico, or even a theme tank.  I have toyed with the idea of setting up a Nickelodeon G.U.T.S. themed tank where I use the large rock. as the agro-crag.  I would place highly invasive species along the bottom (yellow polyps, green plays, Xenia, and gap) and see which could grow to the top first.

X1080-Fvk.jpg.d96a30a864bb325fb789cbe27b261f46.jpg

 

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Update time.  Seems like I can't keep things without changing them for too long.  I realized that I didn't want to dose in a pico and since I came into a 20 gallon decided to move most of the coral into that tank.  I also moved the ai prime over and bought a hipargero led for the pico.  I checked the light with a par meter it can easily get over 100 par on the sand bed with very little whites and blues running about 70%.   The filter, pump and ATO all are now hanging off the side to give the tank more of a peninsula look with the back of the tank clear of hardware.  I set up the tank with one large piece of caribsea life rock and have thrown in some easy corals; gsp, kenya tree, pulsing xenia and a frag of toadstool leather coral.

 

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The plan moving forward is to turn this into a tank for N Wenerrae mantis shrimp with easy (pest?) softy corals and some display macro algae.   Looking for a lower maintenance tank coral-wise, and I have always loved Mantis shrimp since I first learned about them years ago.  Since there is one large rock, I will most likely just let things start to run wild once the gsp and xenia take off.  I will probably also through the green palys from my 20 gallon in here as well.

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