Reefing 9to5 Keke's first nano reef contest

[debbeach13]

Geez sounds like you really had to hustle to save that tank. I hope everything that is alive makes it, and the new frags. 

Reefing really is a fun and relaxing hobby.   Until it isn't! 

[kekke1082]

17 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Geez sounds like you really had to hustle to save that tank. I hope everything that is alive makes it, and the new frags. 

Reefing really is a fun and relaxing hobby.   Until it isn't! 

I did! I hustled like crazy! I always do my best to give any animal i care the best quality of life that i can so as soon as i noticed something was wrong I jumped to fix it. I'm constantly watching the tank im just kinda ticked that it took me as long as it did to realize my mistake. It was a weird series of things that led to the mishap. I've been trying to teach my fiance more about the tanks as well so that if theres ever a time when something happens and i am not around she can try and fix the issue if she feels comfortable. On top of that we had our furniture delivered a week earlier then expected and i had to put it together. So the week i thought i had to move my tanks became less then a few hours to get some things moved to give me enough room to put the furniture together and set up. 

 

I think we are almost in the clear noe though. I found my calibration liquid for my refractometer and checked my salinity last night and its down from 1.040 to 1.030. Still a little high but at least its not at almost 60ppm anymore. Funny enough an order i got from gulf coast ecosystems with the gorgonia and one of the ricordea mushrooms came in at 1.031ish and at the time my tank was at 1.026 or 1.027 i dont recall exactly. It made me so ecstatic to have the gorgonia open up within just a few minutes after adding it to my tank. I'll be doing another water change today, possibly a large one. Most of my water changes are about 50% once a week or 75 to 80% every 2 weeks. Ive been sticking to that pretty good for the most part and testing when i change. And of course the one time i dont all the problems 😬😅. On top of that I've been using tap water for everything too which probably isnt helping but I've used treated tap water from all over the place usually without issue. I think I'll be investing in an RO buddy in the near future and also picking up some RO/DI from the LFS until i do. 

[debbeach13]

You are that saying "busy people get things done".

 Without doing any testing of the tap water. I ran an evo5 with tap treated with prime I always advise against people doing that even though I feel that was a very successful reef tank.  

[kekke1082]

44 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

You are that saying "busy people get things done".

 Without doing any testing of the tap water. I ran an evo5 with tap treated with prime I always advise against people doing that even though I feel that was a very successful reef tank.  

Haha i wish i could say i actually got things done! Honestly, I do get SOME things done but if you ask my fiance all I've usually done is make a heck of a mess 😅.

 

I'm totally feeling fail-o-riffic right now though. I tested the salinity again just about an hour or so ago and its back up to 40ppm. My fish, a few cuc and peppermint shrimp are all still trucking along with me and i want to keep them happy and healthy. I had to pull the plug on my gorgonia that i was so proud of. The flesh was literally coming away from its tiny skeleton, i added a huge bag of carbon to the sump and changed the floss pad, added some prime and stability. Although this tank is somewhat experimental for me i do not enjoy loss of life and this has been hitting me right in the feels. Since the official start date for the contest was technically December 1st, i may be pulling everything salvageable from this nano, moving them to the frag tank (i want to keep them alive and well and as healthy as possible) and completely redoing this as a macro algae only tank, i may not even add any live rock directly to the tank except for small rubble like pices for macro anchors and add some bio bricks or something similar to my sump. In my head i am already back to the drawing board. 

 

If not the frag tank, then the 40 breeder is getting set up as a sumpless reef since if hasnt been drilled yet and all of my current stock will get moved into it with as much live rock as i can find locally for a decent price. 

[Maas101]

Sorry to hear this, the livestock has to come first of course but don't give up. Reduce the salinity slowly and things will come back. Reef tanks can be cruel masters, one slip and things go sideways very quickly but when they work they are so rewarding.

 

Keep the faith!

[kekke1082]

1 hour ago, Maas101 said:

Sorry to hear this, the livestock has to come first of course but don't give up. Reduce the salinity slowly and things will come back. Reef tanks can be cruel masters, one slip and things go sideways very quickly but when they work they are so rewarding.

 

Keep the faith!

So true! I'm trying to keep my head up and not lose faith. It will be a long road but I'm committed even if that means having to reset. The focus has still been on the macro algae but now that there is higher life forms involved i want to make sure i dont lose anymore. And i hate coral deaths/losses as well. It sucks a lot. 

[kekke1082]

Finally figured out what was really causing so many issues. My heater was being constantly exposed to air in the sump causing it to malfunction even with daily or every other day top offs (of course the salinity issue was not helping either). Chalk that up to a lesson learned. I thinned out some macro, and changed up the scape to give Eek some more swimming and hiding spots. Mr. Peppy the peppermint shrimp stays in his hole and pretty much never comes out at a time that i can see him not even for food but has molted twice now and i see him moving around in there every now and then so he must be doing fine. I have taken all of the coral out of the tank. I'd rather keep the focus on meeting the needs of the algae. Now that I've thinned it out some and made space i plan to add some other macros in the space I've created. Probably one other green macro to balance the amount of red algae still hanging in there. Idk yet. Since I'm not planning to add any more coral to this tank I'll be changing this lightning to a freshwater planted light (on the way from amazon now 😁). 

 

I'm really not happy with a sump on this tank and the canister wasnt cuttin it either. Any time i have to do any type of maintainence on the tank i have to flip the over flow pipe so that the elbow faces up to keep from causing another flood.  I'm considering a closed loop and just putting the pump inside the same container as the current sump in case of leaks. Or capping odd the overflow and return and just running an HOB. Suggestions or thoughts? 

 

Other then the things mentioned above its in pretty good shape now that the salinity issue has been fixed. 

 

Pic time! I'm letting the algae just do its thing. If it dies completely i pull it if it thrives i leave it..if it over crowds i trim it. Its very much a set it and forget it system except for water changes and top offs. I need to clean my pump again. 

[Maas101]

What is the purpose of your current sump? I think I can see that you have the heater in there. I don't see any mechanical filtration but that could be because it's not apparent from the photo's. it isn't deep enough to run a skimmer so you'd need to go hob for one of those if you wanted one anyway. If you're not intending to grow difficult corals then I don't see the need for a sump or a circulation pump at all. You have a powerhead in there which should give enough movement, good CUC and frequent water changes should take care of the rest.

[kekke1082]

4 hours ago, Maas101 said:

What is the purpose of your current sump? I think I can see that you have the heater in there. I don't see any mechanical filtration but that could be because it's not apparent from the photo's. it isn't deep enough to run a skimmer so you'd need to go hob for one of those if you wanted one anyway. If you're not intending to grow difficult corals then I don't see the need for a sump or a circulation pump at all. You have a powerhead in there which should give enough movement, good CUC and frequent water changes should take care of the rest.

Honestly the only reason i attempted the sump was to get my heater out of the main display and to be able to add chemical or mechanical filtration if it became necessary. I actually have a bag of carbon and filter floss in there right now which was to help remove any toxins that may have occurred when i had some coral die off when the salinity went too high. Outside of that you're right i really dont have a need for the sump. Originally i had planned to use this same tank with something like a 5 gallon or 10 gallon sump beneath but when the contest came up it gave me an opportunity (and an excuse 😅) to get it set up way sooner then i had planned to do so. 

 

Without the addition of the circulation pump i have in the tank the flow from the output was good but not quite where i needed it to be. I was seeing way more build up on my sand without the additional power head. Some of the macros i have in the tank seem to prefer areas of higher or direct flow so i wanted to have some area in the tank that not only would reduce any dead spots but also provide that high flow in certain places for specific macros. 

 

I have considered a skimmer and do want one for this tank since i have to keep nutrients a bit higher for the macros. So far a skimmer hasnt really been necessary though, which makes me kind of want to just add one of those HOB filters with the skimming function on the filter intake. There are so many things that could be or can be done woth this tank the only question is SHOULD it be done which i struggle with sometimes 😆. I feed sparingly, just a small pinch twice a day since there is just the one fish and peppermint shrimp plus a few cuc, although I'd love to add a goby of some kind like a green clown goby or a citrine goby.

[kekke1082]

HAPPY NEW YEAR! So hard to believe this reef is already almost a full 3 months old! I'm going through a bit of the uglies and unfortunately i haven't been able to tackle ANY of my planned diy projects *yet* but they are still in progress. With work being absolutely hectic, holiday traveling, a brush with the Omicronic (😅) , and trying to get furniture and other house wares things have been a little nuts! 

 

All coral was pulled completely from this tank and it's strictly macro algae now. Eek the remaining black darwin clown has been thugging it out through all of the ups and downs! Had a catastrophic heater malfunction that could have burnt the house down thank goodness i caught it and prevented it from catching fire. Luckily i had it placed in my little make shift sump and i was fortunate enough to catch it before it melted through the plastic sump walls. 

 

I have seen some flat worms and also noticed an increase in the amphipod population and tons of copepods. Also a little feather duster on my live rock. Got the hermits some new shells. 

 

Here's some photos for tax! I'm truly loving the way some of this algae is growing any and everywhere including my wave maker. (SN i really need to clean the glass and the pump 😅)

[kekke1082]

Some how I am still in this thing! This little tank has already been through many iterations and phases and I think I'm to the point of being happy with it and truly not changing anything besides the water lol. It is far from gorgeous but I'm finally seeing the good things about it and fewer of the challenges. The analytical part of this tank is now just speculative simply because with my increased workload over the last few months (lots of personnel changes at my job causing staff shortages of course), plus other projects that I have in mind and have been actively working to accomplish, I have not been diligent in documenting my progress in a cumulative way. I test when things look weird, I top off, I feed, I water change, I dose twice a week with just cheato grow, and I enjoy the tank. I now have the Duncan, goniapora, pulsing xenia (two types apparently) and a huge and very well established paly colony in with the macros! Some macros seem to be thriving more than others and I think it may be due to having so many types kind of crammed all into a tiny space and in rather large quantities (if you need macro Gulf Coast Ecosystems is your best bet hands down!!). 

 

That being said I am very very proud of and happy with the growth I've had from my blue hypnea!!! 😁 It's a slow grower but it went from bits and pieces of half dead purplish brown sticky looking algae to this semi lush mini garden at the top of my rock closest to the light (I did not get this piece from GCE, but from a farm in Sarasota off of eBay. Decent quantity received but the piece definitely took a hit during shipping and had some significant die off). Even the fishing line I used to wrap it onto the rock has almost completely come detached but the hypnea is hanging in there! Today was the first day I was truly able to see the amount of growth it's experienced since I added it to my tank. 

 

I'm inclined to to add a small blenny or a small female molly to the tank to help control the pest algae but I also don't want my pretty algae to become food for the fodder. 

 

Ok time for pics 

[kekke1082]

Update: no changes made yet. Did a little trim on some of the macros and removed some c. Mexicana that was growing on EVERYTHING!

 

Got some close ups of a few macros while manually removing some hair algae. 

 

 

I am loving how the blue hypnea is growing 😁

 

Took a while but I finally found some codium and it's gorgeous! Most of it is being used in another project but I did shave a piece off to my use in the mini Macro Mansion

 

This piece is growing really great as well. Right up the side of the tank wall and I am inclined to let it stay there. I'm hopping it goes a little crazy so I can trim it back and use in other tanks. 

 

If you look real close you can see me peppy the peppermint shrimp doing his thing! 

[kekke1082]

Some changes so far, culerpa mexicana and the feather culerpa have really taken off! There are runners all over and tons of new growth. The blue hypnea is also growing slowly but very well! I've been manually removing any hair algae, dismantled the frag tank and moved my surviving frags back into the main display. It's official that me and some hard corals just aren't meant for each other. I completely lost the fungia and the favia (I have no clue what the main cause for this was although I suspect it has something to due with improper levels of trace elements or any number of things), and also lost one Duncan frag.

 

The goni and other Duncan frag are pretty happy and seem to have even grown a bit.

 

Goni after lights have been on for a bit 

 

 Same goni right at lights on for the day 

 

I added two types of xenia and a leather to the tank along with the gorgoeus paly colony I got from a local hobbyist.

 

The leather gets a little moody here and there and seems to shed regularly at least once every 2 weeks or so. 

 

Eek (black Darwin clown baby) and Mr peppy(the peppermint shrimp) are still hanging in there! I hardly ever see Mr peppy but he is there doing his cleaning thing!  Photo dump! And here's the link to my YouTube channel as well. I'm terrible at updating it regularly but I'm working on it!

 

https://youtube.com/channel/UCOI6i_7bGfVT8_QAu_NnqXQ

[kekke1082]

Got rid of some of the nuisance algae with a 3 day black out. Going to have to do another one at some point but the macros are finally starting to really take over this rock the way I had hoped.  

[kekke1082]

Things have happened! So I got my first RFA ordered it from Gulf coast Ecosystems. It's a beautiful neutral color nem and it settled in right away! On the other hand my sun coral is not doing well at all unfortunately. I think my foray into lps, sps, and NPS coral taught me a very valuable lesson. I hate that the lesson came at the expense of my gorgonia and my sun coral 😓. I've learned a lot on this contest journey that's for sure I'll be sure to include all the lessons in my summary. 

 

Here's some pics! 

 

so my nicrew light died unfortunately. I really loved the color and spectrum it provided. my diy projects were temporarily postponed due to some life changes (fiance was diagnosed with MS at just 31 😓 and increased work responsibilities due to a promotion 😊)   That means the diy mount I was building for my AI prime has hit a snag  I'm going to go ahead and just buy the gooseneck one of these days. Eek the clown is still doing well, and peppy the peppermint shrimp is hanging in there as well  so far they are still the only stock besides clean up crew 

 

 

I also didn't get an opportunity to build a better stand for this cube tank and after the contest I'll be moving this tank and all it's contents into a different tank. I'm debating between moving it all into my shallow lagoon style tank, the empty 20 long or the empty 40 long...so many choices 😅 my fiance wants a box fish and I want a frog fish so idk yet how that will go. 

 

Photo of the nem just after a light dusting of brine shrimp followed by amino soaked pellets. I am absolutely addicted to these now and I've already started looking for more for another project 😉

 

Quick snap of some of the culerpa. It grows in intermittent spurts. Sometimes the mexicana will overtake the feather and other times the feather will overtake the mexicana. Some of my red algae have either died back or been eaten by my hermits there's still a few bits in there somewhere. 

 

Little GSP frag looking happy next to my leather 

 

This blue hypnea is my pride and joy! I can not believe how well it's grown. I know it's supposed to be a slower growing macro but it always seems to be expanding. I untied it from the piece of rubble it was attached to and pushed it gently into the crevice at the top of my main rock structure and it always seems very happy. 

It may or may not be clear from the photo but this tank has begun to bow (which was expected over time) that being said after the contest it will be completed decommissioned until I can decide what to do with it. 

 

thank you for coming to my Ted talk 😂 

[kimdawg]

I got most of my RFA from GCE as well.  Can't wait to see a full tank shot.  Good Luck in the contest.

[kekke1082]

8 hours ago, kimdawg said:

I got most of my RFA from GCE as well.  Can't wait to see a full tank shot.  Good Luck in the contest.

Thank you so much! My mini fish room has been getting a make over this week I'm still in the middle of moving everything 😅 hopefully I can get a niche FTS today and get my summary written too!