Don't bother me...I'm thinking***Nano-Reno***

[Harrisonbored]

October '22 Tank Shots

 

 

Equipment

 

Mr Aqua 22 gallon

Lominie LED (x3)

MP10 (x2)

Jaebo Doser

Micro ATO

AquaClear 30

 

Backstory

 

     This tank was started back in January of  2017.

At it's zenith it was a thriving mixed reef with a massive amount of bio-diversity ( sadly, all my pictures of it died with an external drive )

When I start a tank I always have a picture in my mind of how it will look when grown in.

Sometimes that image will change as I come across unexpected livestock opportunities, but for the most part the aesthetic remains the same.

But here's the rub... Once that picture perfect image comes to life as the tank matures and grows in... I lose interest??

When this happens I really should sell off or give away the livestock and start fresh, but I rarely ever do. 

     By the time Covid hit the nation the tank was in auto-pilot. The Lockdowns happened and then disasters started befalling the tank.

On March 24th, 2020 -2 Red Spot Gobie, 2 Red Stripe Gobie, 1 Green Banded Gobie, 1 White Spot Gobie and 1 Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel all died

in 1 night.  Cause(s) still unknown  2 Gobie survived and are still in the tank.

Then in April my Calcium doser timer stayed open and dumped my whole Calcium Reservoir into the tank...luckily it wasn't the Alk, but it still

pissed all the SPS off.  2 weeks later 1 of my NanoBox Tides died. We were in Lockdown and I was only able to get Amazon so I ended up with the

Lominie light as ( what I thought at the time ) was a temporary fix.

Then a month later the doser timer froze again. After this time I bought the Jaebo doser on Amazon but ultimately it was too late

and I lost a few sensitive SPS.

Then in July 2020 my second NanoBox Tide died as well. The tank was cursed. I bought 2 more Lominies for replacement and wrote the tank off

and just waited for the glass to crack or some other disaster to strike...none did.

I still performed water changes, dosed 2 part and fed the fish but I didn't enjoy the tank or spend any time looking at it.

    And so here we are now.

What was once a very small rock of Xenia has now spread wildly and covered/killed most of my corals.

Aptasia have also spread throughout the tank.  There is cotton candy algae everywhere, and Grape Caulerpa has gone rogue.

 

 

I had been thinking about just salvaging what coral and fish I could and then just ditching all this pest rock for new.

But then this contest thread came up and I had an idea.

There really was a great amount of bio-diversity in there and probably still is under that mess. I"m going to try and resurrect this rock and tank.

 

The PLAN

 

I have a few empty tanks laying around.  I will transfer everything over to a 29 gallon except the sand. The sand i will rinse thoroughly and keep in the

22 show tank.  I also have a little 8 gallon tank that will act as my quarantine tank. I will take a piece of rock from the 29 and pull, cut, Kalk paste and

Aptasia-X the hell out of it before placing into the quarantine tank for observation and repeat process as needed. Once satisfactorily clean it will go into

the show tank. Then repeat for all rocks. I have a box of small dry rock to use as fillers if needed.

Every coral is engaged in warfare at the moment and most are growing into each other. I will try to salvage larger colonies but most likely will frag into many pieces to sell off and then keep a few to start again. I will not put any money into livestock into this tank, I'm just going to keep what i find in there and also just see what grows back.

EDIT:  I actually will eventually add some more snails and possibly some Peppermint Shrimp

 

I'm gonna try and keep this thread updated with pictures as it progresses.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Harrisonbored

[debbeach13]

This is great. Another tank saved! Good luck in the contest.

[Harrisonbored]

January 23' Tank Shots

 

 

 

"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light"

 

So this tank continues to be a project.

 

I'm still playing a game of "Wack-a-Mole" with Aptasia.   Aptasia-X works great on them, BUT I keep finding a new baby one in some rock crevice every few days.

I had purchased 3 Peppermint Shrimp from ReefCleaners that did a great job for a week or so, but then they moved onto eating my struggling SPS instead.

They now reside in my holding tank with a large piece of rock that has a Flower anenome that refuses to release and join the others in the new tank,

Surprisingly the Peppermints keep breeding. I've found a few juveniles in the tank plus the female is currently berried. Who knew?

 

For the Xenia I pulled each rock out and held it upside down while taking freshwater pruning scissors and cutting all the heads down as far as I could.

Then I painted them and the rock area with Kalk paste. Let it sit for a few minutes then tossed the rock into the holding tank.

A few days later I would pull the rock back out and use a toothbrush to scrub the dead flesh off. Toss it back in the holding a wait for a few days to see if anything sprouted.  If it didn't it went into the new tank.

That method seems to have worked pretty well. I still have the occasional tiny baby polyp spring up but Aptasia-X seems to work on them.

The only caveat is that the Kalk paste swings the tank chemistry so be mindful.

 

I used Peroxide on the Cotton Candy Algae. I still have a small patch on the Squamosa so I'm gonna pick up a Turbo.

I manually pulled as much of the Grape Caulerpa as possible.  It's still in the new tank but I'm keeping under control through pruning.

    Pruning it helps me search and find Aptasia.

 

The Bad

 

I had a heater fail on one of the holding tanks and didnt notice it for a few days.

Sadly my Forest Fire Digi was in it and is currently on life support....outlook not good.  I tried fragging a few pieces for the  new tank but RTN is taking hold.

All of my SPS are looking like hell, but everyday they perk up a bit more.

 

The Good

 

Without the oppression of the Xenia and its tendency to smother everything, some of the other corals have started multiplying,

The Duncans have added at least 1o heads in the past 2 months.

 

 

 

The Rhodactis have split so many times I'm running out of room for them.

 

 

The Toadstool Leather doubled in size and then split and dropped 8 minis.

 

 

All in all this has worked out.  I've seen a ton of worms, Micro Brittle Stars and other life that I wanted to keep in the new tank.

Yes I had moments of giving up. I questioned just chucking this rock and buying new a few times, but I'm glad I didn't.

 

I will update again in a few months to show what else has popped up.

 

 

 

 

[Tamberav]

Looks like you are doing a great job although if I have to be honest, I have a soft spot for Xenia and thought it looked great as a untamed jungle too lol

 

I also get bored sometimes once the tank is looking good… like seriously! I think I just happen to enjoy the building process the most. Then I achieve my goal and I am like welp.. that is done.. meh. Now what? This has caused me to have 100 different builds and tanks. 

[ml86743]

Looks great!

[Harrisonbored]

I too have a soft spot for Xenia which is why, against my better judgement, it seems to end up in my tanks. I always think "this time will be different" but the problem is is that

it just doesn't play nice with others.

Through the years I have experimented with Xenia, and for me, a cool show sump is all that really works.

When I do a stand alone with only Xenia it doesn't grow. It needs competition to thrive.

 

I once setup a 10ga tank with only Xenia, GSP and Blue Cloves in opposite corners to see what would happen. The Cloves land grabbed first but then GSP gained that

territory back. Around the year mark the Xenia finally grew. It laid in wait to see which of the other two would be victorious and then made it's move. It covered everything

within 4 months.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[Tamberav]

Have you ever tried ruby red xenia? I don't think it pulses like the more invasive stuff but I have found it to not be nearly as invasive. 

 

Pic stolen from google

 

 

Source: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ruby-red-xenia.925746/

[Harrisonbored]

Many, many years ago I had a few types of Anthelia- red, blue and a purple if memory serves, and you are right, they weren't as voracious.

I don't really see those variants available much anymore.  Of course when I had them mushroom corals were basically being given away free so... times change.

If you look at the first picture in this thread you can see that there are Anthelias (got from Indo Pacific Sea Farms)  they were close to that ruby red color for

a while, then went brown and finally matched the Pom Pom.

 

 

 

[Tamberav]

1 hour ago, Harrisonbored said:

Many, many years ago I had a few types of Anthelia- red, blue and a purple if memory serves, and you are right, they weren't as voracious.

I don't really see those variants available much anymore.  Of course when I had them mushroom corals were basically being given away free so... times change.

If you look at the first picture in this thread you can see that there are Anthelias (got from Indo Pacific Sea Farms)  they were close to that ruby red color for

a while, then went brown and finally matched the Pom Pom.

 

 

 

 

Does  Anthelia does pulse? this red one pulses. You can find them online at a few places as they are gaining popularity as designer xenia. It grows into little xenia trees on stalks. 

 

 

[Harrisonbored]

Can't say for certain on the older colorful versions I had but the IPSF Anthelia definitely did that "lazy, slow" expand/contract with low/no flow like in the video.

Nothing compared to the "rapid fire" pulsing of the normal varieties though.

[Harrisonbored]

[schgr.cube]

Great shots, and loving this tank!

[Harrisonbored]

22 hours ago, schg said:

Great shots, and loving this tank!

Thanks man.

I'm still learning how to photo.  I hope to one day have your skills. 

One thing is certain:  Either I need to learn how to photo-stack, or I need to up the magnification on my reading glasses.

[Harrisonbored]

My continuing battle with Xenia- "You gotta be f***king kidding me!"