[STOCK] tinyreef

[dickie52]

he was crawling back under the rock.

 

 

What we would like to see you do.......

[tinyreef]

What we would like to see you do......

Oooh, what i'd like to do to you...<mumblebamzoom!mumble>

[sandlot13]

as always tiny, keep up the good work...... this pico is one of my biggest interests on this website! keep the updates coming, they are awesome!!!

 

tanner g.

[tinyreef]

thanks for the encouraging comments as always, tanner! they're very appreciated.

 

updates from chicago! (i took a bunch of pics before i left, figured i needed something to do on the biz trip )

 

below: sunny zoos! this colony has doubled since the beginning. from two polyps to four polyps! ok, it ain't exactly a monstrous growth spurt but the coloration still looks good to me. picture taken early morning 3/11/06.

 

below: same sunny zoos but pic was taken later in the day, mid-afternoon (just before i left). the zoos show a slightly greener coloration in the afternoon sun. you can see the polyps are reaching for fading light, i.e. "trumpeting", versus the first pic where they're enjoying the more intense direct morning sun.

 

below: the "moss" polyps i described before in six's posts. these stoloniferans are growing pretty fast, they're already taking "root" in the sandbed from their introduction exactly two weeks ago. this is a closeup of the "rear" of the colony too, i.e. away from the front glass pane and light source.

sorry for the crappy pic on the stolons but it was a super macro/closeup in order to get the tiny polyps. plus, i was rushing out the door to catch a plane.

[CGNano]

Your pictures are good every-once-in-a-while?

[tinyreef]

Your pictures are good every-once-in-a-while?

depends on the lighting (which changes throughout the day and weather).

 

and it depends on the angle of the shot (glare, reflection, lighting, and subject/target).

 

also to some extent, my patience in getting the shot. the last couple of shots were actually without a tripod, just lens butt up against the glass (the stoloniferan shot).

 

but the lighting is probably the biggest factor in the pictures. some days (weekends only) at such-and-such time it's really sunny, others overcast/cloudy, and others darkened (season change).

 

some of the settings on the camera are also whacky at times. it seems to lose my settings memory if i don't use the camera for a while (even if there's power left in the battery). so sometimes i've taken the shot with the wrong settings but by the time i've figured that out i've lost the "light".

[pillow]

Very interesting idea. Kudos to ye

[Tony]

The tank is looking great but I have to tell you I'm a little jealous with you taking all the attention. I'll warn you now that if you continue steeling all the glory I might dispatch my Ninja Monkey to destroy your tank.

[aquaman7]

...below: this one's not really sexy or anything. it's more unusual/uncommon. i have a couple of uncommon stoloniferans and clove/briareum-type corals. they're my 2nd favorite type after sarcos. it's fugly though (looks like moss or algae from a distance) but i kinda like it...

 

^Not really sexy??? You kiddin' me??? That's some sweet lookin' stuff... does it stay kinda short and, well, "moss-like"?

[dickie52]

^Not really sexy??? You kiddin' me??? That's some sweet lookin' stuff... does it stay kinda short and, well, "moss-like"?

 

 

You mean Tiny's hair doo........

[tinyreef]

thanks for the comments!

 

tony, my daughters' must be working for you as female ninjas then. they've almost toppled the tank a couple of times already. the couch that protects the stand and tank almost tipped over onto it! good thing i was there at the time (for both the tank and the wee-ninja).

 

aquaman, yeah i like the look of the "moss" coral but i'm a soft coral freak. most people go for the sexy stonys. i agree with six that they're pretty boring other than their color (but i've seen fake that look the same). can't fake the softies.

 

the "moss" stays short and squat. there's a couple of other types of polyp corals mixed in though (the bigger"giant" polyps, which are small in relation to typical corals) but the "moss" stays low. in fact, it's shooting runners under the substrate. there's noticeable growth (maybe 1/4") from the last pic i took saturday to this morning, four days! this coral's a bona fide weed but i like the fuzz.

 

You mean Tiny's hair doo......

dickie, y'know you really shouldn't be throwing "tiny" words around.

[Tony]

I'm with you on the softies bit. Softies RULE over SPS.

[tinyreef]

worked too much today, gotta balance it out with some goof off time.

 

more update pics taken from saturday (3-11-06).

 

below: feather duster central! these guys have really exploded with the abundant phyto generated by the sunlight and the steady dosings of ca/alk (b-ionic and kalk). the tunicates i was worried about in a previous post turned up on the UGF tube (big monolith looking thing on the left). the tunicates are the whiteish blurry things on the upper left.

 

i'm planning on taking the AZoo hob and ATO offline this weekend. gotta work tonite, sux. finishing up the final touches on the new canopy so i expect to make the switch to the new canopy at the same time. i'd like to keep the ato but i can't really work it out "look-wise".

 

i'll probably put a little more thought into the temp situation this weekend too. the average daytime temp (75F) is actually lower than the average nighttime temp (79F) due to the huge fan i have in place. but i haven't really bothered with it because of personal time constraints and the obvious photoperiod constraints.

[Ann]

So the tank survived OK while you were away then? Out of interest how much freshwater do you have to top off with when the hood is in place? I wouldn't have thought that it was that much considering that the condensation can run back into the tank.

 

The mossy stuff looks cool.

 

Oh, and looking forward to some more shots at the weekend hopefully.

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

thanks ann! yeah, it seems like it came thru ok. the new green clove polyps' mat seems to be flaking and deteriorating though but we'll see.

 

with the old hood in-place, weekly evaporation was probably around 200~300ml, probably not even that. i basically squirted water from a tiny syringe/dropper (test kit dropper type) everyday to clean off whatever salt creep formed in the seams/cracks of the hood/canopy.

 

but with the canopy half-open like it is now to accomodate the hob and ato, i've seen about two-gallons (1000ml/day) evaporate for the week so far!

 

but the old canopy still evaporated more than i was expecting it to but i attribute that to the poor workmanship. just who made this poc?! the window is actually splattered with very faint water/salt marks from the airborne splash from those tiny imperfections.

 

the new canopy is basically going to be hermetically sealed (i hope ). i'll be checking that evaporation rate in the future but i've already noted a possible problem with the new design. but i won't know for sure until i actually put it in place and use it though.

[Ann]

That doesn't seem so bad, my lil tank loses approx 240ml every day. Your hood must make a big difference even if the, err, workmanship is a bit iffy.

 

The 1000ml/day seems a lot by comparison when the hood is half off, must be down to the big fan running huh?

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

yeah, i the fan and the evaporative cooling made it jump from the couple of ml's a day to the hundreds of ml's a day.

 

240ml for an open top is pretty good. is it covered? i thought your fuge/sump was but the display was open.

 

the evaporative cooling also has the odd effect of making the tank too cool during the day. the heater can barely keep up with the cooling. i don't want to overshoot the setting because at night it's already at 79F or so from the heater.

 

you're right, the hood does make the world of difference. it's the critical element for being able to push the pico envelope further down imo.

 

it's the key (imo) to how brandon429 could push the limits of picodom to the point where he can realistically call it femtoreefs by making another quantum jump and not just our commonly accepted picoreefs (1g~3g). btw, i define that cut-off point around <0.5-gallon. i'm not sure where/what point he ultimately hit though, 0.25-gallon?

[Ann]

Well technically both my pico and refugium are open topped. There is no piece of glass/acrylic sitting on the top of them but there is a hood of sorts which must count for something. The hood is open at the back with small fan blowing in trying to keep things cool, there is an acrylic sheet protecting the lights from splashes etc which does collect quite a lot of condensation during the lights off period, some of which must drop back into the tank at some point but it's not a superior design like your carefully thought out masterpiece.

 

It's good to hear that you still have your tunicates btw and the tube worms look to be doing fantastically too. Is it possible to see any phyto in the water column, as a greenish tinge perhaps or is the water just completely clear? That sunlight must be good stuff eh.

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

...but it's not a superior design like your carefully thought out masterpiece.

ha! that made me laugh! thanks for the compliment though.

 

Is it possible to see any phyto in the water column, as a greenish tinge perhaps or is the water just completely clear? That sunlight must be good stuff eh.

sorry, the water's pretty much crystal clear but i have to guess that significant phyto's being generated.

 

edit: i think there might still be a difference in the water from freshly mixed. i posted that once but probably didn't take a pic. frankly, i'm not sure itf the slight difference would show up. but to the naked eye there's a slight difference when compared with a white background, the dixie cup i use for waterchanges.

 

i was worried about greenwater and still am but i can't "see" anything directly. the pod population and dusters and tunicates kinda point indirectly to it though imo.

 

yes, i think the sunlight is very helpful for these. in fact, i've been thinking of trying dendronephthyeas to really test that theory out. i'm hoping that's the missing link/ingredient for that coral.

 

i've been subscribed to dr. matthews' RC thread in their Advanced forum (one of only two threads i'm subscribed to anywhere, period). they've been discussing phyto but no one's suggested sunlight yet. the other thread, coincidentally, is a sunlight thread in the same Advanced forum.

[tinyreef]

Update: New Canopy!

 

below: fts shot of the new canopy in-place.

 

below: closeup of the new canopy.

 

below: closeup of side view of the new canopy.

 

i was concerned the height of the peak may allow salt creep to form versus condensate only (continually splashed from the bubbling). so far it seems to stay wet and condense back into the tank. i'll be keeping an eye on it though.

[melbourne]

yeah, i the fan and the evaporative cooling made it jump from the couple of ml's a day to the hundreds of ml's a day.

 

240ml for an open top is pretty good. is it covered? i thought your fuge/sump was but the display was open.

 

the evaporative cooling also has the odd effect of making the tank too cool during the day. the heater can barely keep up with the cooling. i don't want to overshoot the setting because at night it's already at 79F or so from the heater.

 

you're right, the hood does make the world of difference. it's the critical element for being able to push the pico envelope further down imo.

 

it's the key (imo) to how brandon429 could push the limits of picodom to the point where he can realistically call it femtoreefs by making another quantum jump and not just our commonly accepted picoreefs (1g~3g). btw, i define that cut-off point around <0.5-gallon. i'm not sure where/what point he ultimately hit though, 0.25-gallon?

 

Tiny, tank is looking great. I've been thinking about trying a .2 gallon reef to see if it can be done. I also wanted to try something very untraditional in terms of tank size / layout - its a curved tank 6.5"x 5.5"x 1.25".

 

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/6fd6/images/1162/

 

The tank dimensions are very challenging but I might be able to make it work.

Need to find the time to remove the gel they pack in there and figure out how to make a micro airlift that doesn't look terrible in tank, etc.

[CGNano]

Psh. Tiny, I think you ought to invest in a real cooling system

[tinyreef]

thanks, mel! that tank looks cool. the gel should just flush out with water i'd think, considering it's a toy category item.

 

for an uplift tube you might want to try modding either a tiny hob intake tube or small diameter pvc (like a small-sized version of what tropicorium uses). what kind of corals were you thinking of in such a tight/narrow layout though?

 

cg, you think i need more fan?

[melbourne]

thanks, mel! that tank looks cool. the gel should just flush out with water i'd think, considering it's a toy category item.

 

for an uplift tube you might want to try modding either a tiny hob intake tube or small diameter pvc (like a small-sized version of what tropicorium uses). what kind of corals were you thinking of in such a tight/narrow layout though?

 

cg, you think i need more fan?

 

Hi,

 

Yes I plan on cleaning it out with hot water - should remove most of that stuff. I'm planning on LR formations on both sides and the middle being open/clear. I'm going to try another type of gorgonian that is thinner more tree like. Its very hardy and I've kept it for years. I also plan on trying a few mushrooms but thats probably it until I get a feel for how stable the tank is. I ordered 30 lbs of LR rubble from http://www.toofishy.com/ since they had a sale at $1 a lb, most of it is tiny stuff perfect for a pico tank, although they included tons of snail shells also But it was cheap so I can't complain I plan on using just a few select pieces and the rest I will use to mount frags/fuge material.

[Ann]

The new canopy looks well smart. For that finishing touch you could of smoothed the ends bits off though. Was there a reason why you designed the top bit so high, gas exchange or something like that?

 

Best regards

 

Ann