MrAnderson Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 My 6g eclipse recently crashed but I was relieved to find some nice bits surviving. Because last week the lights were on the whole time, all the coraline (rocks and a LOT of glass) bleached, Xenia wilted (the SPS went way before that, when 2 powerheads seized), and the tank looked cooked in general. I don't think I could salvage the tank itself, when I scrape the acrylic it gets very bad fast (maybe vinegar). So I got out a 6" cube (0.8 gal) I got a while back from F2B (First Class Aquatics) and set it up, and put the refugees in. They're doing OK. Luckily I found really nice coralline on the dark sides of rock and most zoas survived. Also, my gorgonian is bulletproof, it's survived everything, and I trimmed the tips to fit it in. GSPs went in too, as well as 2 Astreas and 4 or 5 Stomatellas. However, what you see really is most of what survived, there are only one or two really small colonies of zoas I still want to get. sorry the pics are poor nice colored rock though... small my favorite zoas survived I'm trying to get better pics, more to follow... Link to comment
mushroom head Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 WOW! Very nice! Sorry to here about the eclipse though Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted August 20, 2005 Author Share Posted August 20, 2005 The rocks were badly coated with a variety of macroalgae. I picked off as much as I could, and the snails just got them reasonably clean, except for the rock in the lower left, they're just getting around to that, lazy bastages. The newly revealed coralline is gorgeous. I should've taken before/after shots, it's unbelievable how bad it looked before. This has been set up for two days, and things are settling down. Creatures are emerging like this tube worm with a funny horn-like appendage. What is that thing?? corner shot Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted August 20, 2005 Author Share Posted August 20, 2005 So here's my crashed tank. This is after salvaging the above, so it's a bit tossed around. As you can see though, it doesn't look good. Most of the rock bleached, there's tons of dead coralline on the glass, brown kelp macro all over everything, and the only corals that made it are above. BUT, all the stuff above came out of this tank 2 days ago, so at least it isn't a complete loss. I'm really happy with the pico so it doesn't hurt so bad... until I think of the green, purple-rim Ly Seng Monti cap I lost... ugh. Did I make lemonade or what? Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted August 20, 2005 Author Share Posted August 20, 2005 thanx shroomhead Link to comment
davinaster Posted August 20, 2005 Share Posted August 20, 2005 Wow - you're lucky your zoas survived! I bet a lot more stuff will grow out of the rock you salvaged - beyond that cool worm-thing :-) Link to comment
gfox Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 lemonade for sure on this one. zoas are actually suprisingly tough, they are often found at the top of reefs and get exposed to air during low tides often. harty little guys, which is why they're a great starter. I like the variety they come in though, I'm trying to let a garden grow inside my 45g cube. (mac daddy size of Anderson's =) Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted December 7, 2005 Author Share Posted December 7, 2005 Latest Pico pics, it's been about 3.5 months since I set it up with surviving rock and softies from the crash of my 6 gallon eclipse. The corals have been growing slowly but still look good. Although I have 18w over it, it's still lacking intensity. Pterogorgia has grown a bit at the tips, and the star polyps have probably doubled. The zoas are growing slow though. I've had some banana-bubble algae that I've pruned some, but the bit in the front is staying for now, I like it. I have yet to do a waterchange, just topoff so far; sort of a little experiment. I'll probably try a constant change totaling 50% soon, just to see if it perks up growth. The pics aren't reversed, I moved the pico to a different corner and moved the rock to the other corner, also to hide the powerhead on the bottom. No heater, powerhead supplies plenty. Thanks for looking Link to comment
Rene Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 It's looking very cute. You mentioned in the beginning that you had a few more zoo colonies you wanted to pull from the 6 gal. Were they worth saving? Link to comment
onthefly Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Makes me wanna set up one on my bench at the lab! Paul does great work! Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted December 7, 2005 Author Share Posted December 7, 2005 It's looking very cute. You mentioned in the beginning that you had a few more zoo colonies you wanted to pull from the 6 gal. Were they worth saving? Thanks No more zoas, I had most of my strains covered. When I originally pulled apart rock I left a few polyps behind here and there and gave the rock to my cousin. I don't think anything else survived. Makes me wanna set up one on my bench at the lab! Paul does great work! Doesn't he? The little cube is so neat. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Thats nice,it looks way bigger than it is.I'm a cube guy and i always pile the rock into a corner. Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted December 8, 2005 Author Share Posted December 8, 2005 BTW otf, I also got perfect fitting black acrylic for the back, or I could partition and drill it for a sump. Right now it's flush against the back for a black background. It fits so well, very nice work. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 12, 2006 Share Posted March 12, 2006 cool what lighting? and where did you buy it Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 LOL - that's what you were talking about! Thanks for asking- It's a coralife mini-aqualight with one 10K bulb and one 03 actinic, total 18W. The light sits on a wire clotheshanger bent into the shape above, with some black electrical tape wound around the wire for grip. It's a little "springy", but I like it because it allows a little peek into the tank from above. Link to comment
Carinya Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 definitely lemonade. nicely done. i really like the little tank. Link to comment
travisurfer Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 at leas you stil have a cool little pico Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted March 25, 2006 Author Share Posted March 25, 2006 definitely lemonade. nicely done. i really like the little tank. Thanks Carinya... I guess I'm not on your ignore list! Link to comment
kiltboy1675 Posted March 25, 2006 Share Posted March 25, 2006 i just got my tank from first class aquatics, is 2 inches bigger than yours. hopefully with a lil work mine will be looking like yours in no time Link to comment
Argent Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 What lighting did you have over the Eclipse? Link to comment
SaVeThEeELs Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 good save! i wish mine didnt crash either.....lost most of my snails, hermits, i got almost no coraline left....just a bunch of calurpa..... i keep a 3 gal pico "hospital" now for just such a disaster... why were the lights on for so long?? Link to comment
FryedFish Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 wow Im about to buy one of these babies (compulsive online buyer, plastic roxs!) Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted October 27, 2006 Author Share Posted October 27, 2006 oh hey! wow. i took down this tank a few months ago, it didn't grow much but didn't crash either. i just got sick of the intensive topoff schedule. I'm selling the pico tank, it's pretty clean with a few minor scratches from the rocks, but a vinegar soak got it spotless, I had an ad in the classifieds recently. I had a coralife mini-aqualight (2x9W, 10K and actinic) on the pico, and a coralife 96W quad over the eclipse. I went on vacation and for some bizarro reason the timer got stuck on... hence the fried tank. If anyone's interested the powerquad is for sale too... make an offer, i don't want it anymore. thanx for looking everyone. i'll be setting up a new tank this spring or summer. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.