icenine's nano

[icenine]

The sun coral opens after lights out... or when the tank is being fed. Unless there is food in the water there is no polyp extension while the lights are up.

Lighting is stock... the addition to the tank is koralia #2 that is not in the tank shot there.

[icenine]

I hate thread pages without pictures, so I'll post a couple more crappy ones to fill this one up.

 

Things are starting to fill in again and the tank is not looking as "fragish" as it did after the transfer.

I also had a pencil urchin in here for a bit as a another local said it worked wonders in clearing out pesky Valonia, which I've had some issues with in the past few months.

 

The downside is that they also will strip rock of coraline as well.... but I decided that is not such a bad thing and in general worth the trade off if it clears off the bubble algae.. which it appeares to have done it fairly short order.

 

This skimmer went microbubble crazy for a couple days for a reason that remains unkown to me. I tinkered, cleaned and adjusted it to no avail... then it just stopped spewing them without me noticing what if anything I had done to help that along... go figure.

 

I hosed one of the monti frags. I had left one on a frag plug instead of mounting the frag straight to rock... plug got knocked out and fell deep down in to the rockwork... just a day before I was able to retrive it... but a day too late. It was white sps toast by then already.

 

The other new additions are doing just fine.

 

The only other bad news is the sun coral has taken a sharp and sudden turn for the worse. I had changed it's location in the scape.. to get it out of the higher flow... that may have also cut back on it's ability to feed some though. It could be a combo of more flow, light and stress from a new location... but I don't have high hopes for it atm.

 

 

The new fish are doing very well.. always out and about, eating and pooping like pigs.

 

Couple pics:

 

 

 

[The Ultimate DanK]

Man, this is making me want to upgrade my 20H to a RSM. Would you reccomend that, icenine?

[Diskusting]

I wish I could get my hands on that kind of macro.

 

How fast does it grow?

 

 

, What kind of anename (spelling lol) is that in the bottom front of your tank. That thing is beast.

[c est ma]

Oooh, love the new pics! The composition in that first one is so nice, and I love the variety of shapes and textures in the second. And the lighting in the third makes it really pop!

[icenine]

Thanks....

 

I'm very happy with the tank. No plumbing to worry about, no top off issues, temps stay stable and it's a nice glass box. If you were looking to upgrade it's a nice system to consider.

 

The macro? Hamaeldia.... PM me your address and I'll send you some when I trim it. I throw it out by the fistful every couple weeks.

If I damp wrap some with a bit root I bet I can get it to you regular post... I'll send you some for free to see if it works.

 

The anemone is an Epicystis Crucifer, sometimes referred to as a flower or rock anemone.. and frankly just about the largest of it's kind I've seen. It's never budded or split, it just keeps getting bigger.

To think I originally intended to keep that in a 2.5 gal pico when I acquired it a couple years ago.

It's crossed my mind to try and cut propagate it... it's a really nice color morph but honestly I don't think I could bear to slice it up.

[travisurfer]

your tank is an inspiration as always

[icenine]

Bummer to report... I lost the female Cirrhilabrus exquisitus this week.

 

She was eating, but still got rather thin and progressivly less active over several days. No one was picking on her, so I'm kinda at a loss as to what was wrong.

 

The male is fat and very active.

 

I won't replace her.... I fear trying to add (much less locate) another female is probably a futile effort.

 

Everything else is just fine. The SPS are doing well... nice polyp extension and coloring up or even showing signs of growth. The clam is healthy and everything else is filling back in after being busted up for the move.

 

The skimmer has had a few days of microbubble maddness which I've yet to identify the cause of. Nothing major and it goes away before I get the chance to toy with anything in order to pin a problem down... I'll chalk it up to new skimmer break in since it's not run for much more than a month.

[land_lubber]

So how is everything going? how is the clam and the anemone? I'm looking at getting a bubble anemone what do you think? i still have the stock lighting as well.

[travisurfer]

i forgot if you've said this before, but how do you like the skimmer? it is after a prizm knockoff but i'm just curious as this tank really does seem impressive. nice and clean

[icenine]

The anemone is pretty much bullet proof, if anything I simply hope it does not get any bigger than it is. I've considered going with a BTA. I gave the aquapod to my father... who I know would like a Epicystis Crucifer in a similar color morph.... I might give him the one in this tank and try a red bubble tip. I don't know if I wanna push my luck any more than I have though.

 

The clam is one of the best looking things in this tank. I've had it for what? seven months or so now and really stopped worrying about it. I think the upper regions of the RSM with stock lighting is more than suitable for it.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it but I had the calm on a smallish piece of LR so I could move it around if I had to. It had outgrown that rock, so I let it attach to a larger rock on top of the display.. some zoas and gsp are now growing in the shell... but it does not seem to mind at all.

 

I kinda wanna add a gold maxima now.

 

The skimmer is alright... it still throws micro bubbles randomly which is the only thing that bugs me. I also forgot how bad skimmate smells. phew.

I never really looked at the prizm, so I don't know if it's a knock off of that... I'll take a look at one to compare and let you know.

 

I got a new SPS frag... green monti digi. The rest of the SPS are are still looking good.

 

As for params, I seem to be able to keep calcium and alkalinity stable with just 10 gallon water changes every seven to ten days. I had been changing more in the pod.... but since I'm skimming now I figured I can tone it down a little in terms of removal. I may bump it back up to 15 or 20 if calcium gets too depleted. I bought a two part and was ready to drip kalc... but have not used either yet in spite of all the calcium sucking animals and plants the system is sporting. In the end though I would like to never dose anything in this tank if it turns out to be possible.

 

P.S... I'll try to get some new pics up next week.

[travisurfer]

cool thanks. i was just curious since i don't have a skimmer running. anyway, skimmate doesn't smell bad at all. we have a CSS at work that pulls out a dark but wet skimmate and it doesn't bother me at all. i guess you just get used to it when you live on a salt marsh. lol. low tides can get kind of nasty some days.

[land_lubber]

After following your progress I have added a BTA and some SPS to my tank and they all seem to be doing fine next on the list is a clam but I have to find a good one first. Here are some pics.

 

First my BTA

 

And my SPS

 

And last but not least a FTS

[ReadyReefer]

icenine, how big was the crucifer nem when you first got it

[icenine]

The crucifer was 'bout two or three inches when I got it.

 

Looks very nice land_lubber! I was not sure about adding a bta, the crucifer is not very light demanding and extremely durable. It did well under much less lighting in the pod. I was uncertain as to how a BTA would do in this system.... I'll be watching to see how yours does.

Nice montis too!

 

..just remember stability is a major part in keeping animals alive. New tanks tend to swing unexpectedly while we figure out what maintenance regime is going to be needed. While I have a very crowded RSM at the moment, the reef has really been running for over two years, it just gets a little bigger and a little brighter annually.

[land_lubber]

Thanks Icenine I'll let you know how it goes but so far so good he has even stayed in the place that I picked out for him so thats a good sign. How did you get rid of your micro bubbles?

[icenine]

Oh dangit.... the other Cirrhilabrus exquisitus died.

 

It was fine...then all of a sudden, as in the space of two days he started looking gaunt and emaciated, but still active. ...then dead as a door nail in less than 48 hours from when I first noticed him less than chubby.

 

Everything else is fine, the other three fish look OK and all.

 

Well... I guess it's time to find a six line like I had first thought to.

[BigByrd]

holy crap...never knew a tank could look so good...and never knew u were from chicago

 

seriously, awesome tank...i think it could use some plastic though

[icenine]

I gave the aquapod to my father... his 12 gal JBJ had crashed (probably because he overstocked) but a few things pulled through.

 

So, here is the ap reborn:

 

[icenine]

SPS frags have been doing well... I may be jumping the gun but at least in the upper third of this system I see no problem growing some sp of sps at all.

 

Here is the Monti Digi back when I got it in June:

 

 

And now in the upper center of this pic, it's doubled in size in the first almost two months.. not bad I think:

 

 

In back of that is a green digi (which I thought was a goner when I first got it. It was shipped to me and was bone white with no polyp extension, I decided to leave it an seen if it could recover. It has and is already showing some growth)

 

I've also discovered that SPS break easy... as you can see in the frags just below the red monti. It's an unidentified "stag horn" kinda pink with greenish/brown polyps. Left is the original, right the "new" frag or the frag... oops.

 

There is also a new green slimer below that next to the red and blue eye zoas I picked up at IMAC.

 

Here are a few other SPS:

 

 

'scuse the crappy pic.. micro bubbles are present because I had just cleaned out the skimmer and skimmer pump.

 

 

Left is a orange polyped yellow skinned monti I think is just awesome, I've had it for over a month or so and it is doing well... oh so bright.

 

I just added the pink stylophora yesterday.. hope it takes off.

 

In the back is a "blue" monti that just does not photo well but looks much better in person. To the right of the picture is a purple monti digi that was part of the same botched shipment the green was. Much worse shape but if you look real close to the far right lowest branch it is starting to come back a little.. lets see what it looks like in another month or two. I have high hopes for it.

 

Last but not least, the dendro frag I got from Dave Fasson. I've got it trained to stay out all day now, at first it only opened at night.

 

 

I'll get a new FTS up soon. I had no time to attempt one this weekend.

[ReadyReefer]

beautiful, you're tank was one of the ones who inspired me to go broke

[BelowH2O]

Nice tank evolution. What happened to the flower anenome...wasn't that in the pico contest tank?

[c est ma]

Love the new pics!

 

--Diane

[icenine]

Thanks for the comments.

 

Nice tank evolution. What happened to the flower anenome...wasn't that in the pico contest tank?

 

 

Hey... long time no see 'round here.

 

Oh, it's still in this tank... it's in the FTS on the last page, big green and purple mouthed thing on the bottom. (it was a bit bleached when I first got it... more yellow than green) Still hard to believe I was thinking to keep it in a 2.5 gallon. Also on page 16 you can see the one my father just picked up and placed in the 'pod (same tank from this thread... I gave the tank to him so he could upgrade from his jbj 12 gallon). You can compare the size of his new one with the one I've had for almost a couple years now. I'd say the original was actually a little bit smaller than his is now when I first acquired it.

[icenine]

The tank made it through another vacation.... am I twisted for being ever so slightly disappointed that the reef does just fine for a week without me? No top off... no testing, just timers and things looked great when we came back.

 

Anyway... this page needs pics. Here are some:

 

Here is the growth for August from that first monti I added:

 

 

The clam, I need to get a growth shot of this guy too... it's gotten big.

 

 

Random:

 

 

Some red and gray micro's I've had for a while.... hard to tell from this shot, but it's 'round about 30 polyps now.

 

 

SPS mountain:

 

 

Chalice that has been around for a year or so now..... neat blue and red:

 

 

Here is what it looked like when I first picked it up:

 

This is a unusual bubble algae that has been present for the last few months. It's fairly easy to control and just about any coral seems to be able to push it off of space it occupies... so I'm not worried about it.

 

Here it is on a powerhead:

 

 

I also have gotten some hair algae on the back wall.... nothing on my rock... I actually like the look so I'm letting it be for the meantime. In general I'm very happy with the way the tank is filling in. It's looking lots more like a reef and less like a frag box every week. I'll get a fts up after I get the chance to give the glass a good cleaning.