[STOCK] tinyreef

[tinyreef]

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?

you're asking that like i know what i'm doing. thanks for the comments though!

 

originally, i had hoped to integrate an ato into the canopy so i could avoid daily/weekly/monthly(?) top-offs (i'm very lazy). so i originally designed this new canopy to be tall enough to include the ato switch. but after seeing it in there temporarily for my recent biz trip, it's just too fugly for my tastes.

 

i may do another canopy this weekend with a much lower clearance. i'm not too happy with the immense height of this one either (although it seems to be "functioning" well). i'm also critical of the slight warp that i accidentally glued into the canopy shape. <sigh>

 

below: updated side view fts, the moss coral's growing fast!

[tinyreef]

updates!

 

below: front-view closeup of zoanthids previously hidden by green sinularia. i removed the green sinularia. although it was doing great, i suspect it was adversely affecting the blue mushrooms right below it. checking back on my notes, ever since the sinularia was re-introduced into the tank the shrooms had been looking shrunken or inhibited in growth imo. with the sinularia gone, these zoos are much more visible now and hopefully the shrooms will kick back into "high gear".

 

below: noticed this sponge (white lattice work) growing among the tubes of this pipe organ coral. sorry for the blurry pic but i had to hold the camera by hand to get the picture.

 

below: ann asked for a comparison of the tank water for any evidence of phyto. i'm not sure if it's phyto but there's a slight coloration difference. the cup on the left is "old" tank water. the cup on the right is freshly mixed "new" SW for the weekly waterchange.

[dickie52]

i'm not sure if it's phyto but there's a slight coloration difference.

 

Just looks like dirty tank water......

[tinyreef]

Just looks like dirty tank water......

just looks like dickie dumas...

 

 

i wonder if there's a cream or lotion or something for you, dickie. kinda like a wart-remover, maybe just a simple fungicide?

 

go play in traffic, please?

[dickie52]

go play in traffic, please?

 

I am not falling for that one......

 

 

 

Last time you had me take a long walk on a short pier......

[Ann]

There does appear to be slight green tinge, if I screw my eyes up really bad. You know I may have to try this myself now, I bet there's no green in mine.

 

The green zoa pic is fantastic!

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

thanks again, ann!

 

below: fts of the new new canopy. i wasn't happy with the "tall canopy" i just put in last week to replace the two-piece canopy i'd been using since the start. the height was just too unsightly imo.

 

i sealed the left side up with saran wrap and the right side will just be closed with a separate piece of acrylic to allow easier maintenance. kalk bottle and feeding cup complete the picture.

 

below: side view of the new shorter canopy. the extra air volume of the "tall canopy" seemed to contribute to a greater evaporation rate (4-oz./day, previously <1-oz.). with the original two-piece canopy there wasn't that much headroom so most of the splash just fell back into the tank. with the "tall canopy" a lot of splash seemed to escape because it had the chance to stay airborne. i'm hoping this ultra-short version will hold down the evaporation.

[dickie52]

The old saran wrap trick......

 

I tip my chef's hat to ya.....

[tinyreef]

ty, dickie. i defer to you in all things regarding food.

 

updates!

 

below: finally seeing encrusting coralline form! i had branching coralline and padina sp. algae growing fine but encrusting coralline didn't form. i attribute the growth to switching to kalk-only dosing and upping my dosages (1ml/day to 3+ml/day).

 

below: bubble geyser! with the problem of the updraft tube of the ugf getting somewhat clogged, only about half the bubbles generated go up thru the tube. the other half randomnly appears as such bubble geysers, sometimes in the middle of the substrate, sometimes under a small rock, sometimes under the main rock which then bubbles throughout the reef.

 

below: again, couldn't get a panoramic fts of the front without massive glare and reflection from the sunlight. so i just cropped and spliced two halves of the tank shots. i had thought about that last week but just trying it now. you can see the gap on the left side where the green sinularia used to be. i took it out because of alleopathic reasons. the shrooms seem to be responding to that elimination very well. more body and better coloration/formation imo.

 

below: side view fts is much easier and cleaner to get as usual. you can see the clove polyps on the left of the pic aren't doing too well. only one or two polyps are opening. i'm not sure if it's a rot disease or irritation or an unseen coralivore.

[tinyreef]

macro updates!

 

below: closeup of one of three (or more?) brittle stars in the tank.

 

below: my sarco latum frag attached a couple of weeks back.

 

below: red shroom with flatorm (next to the mouth). i siphoned the flatworm out shortly afterwards. country critters (lfs) has always had flatworm issues afaik. even with mandarins patroling constantly, their frags tanks are full of them. i've passed on frags in the past because they were just too covered (their only negative imo). i thought i siphoned out all of them but i've had to pull a half-dozen in the past couple of days.

[tinyreef]

more weekend updates!

 

below: finally got a decent closeup of the sps hitchhiker i got from my last lfs purchase. giants pods are roaming my tank! those stoloniferan polyps are the "moss" polyp coral discussed before (this is the other end of that colony).

 

so far so good on the new low-profile canopy. still tweaking a bit on the 'saran wrap' side as that's where the air-tube, heater cord, and thermometer sensor cord are located. have to avoid salt creep buildup that may "wick up" more water/faster than just a simple hole.

 

i may have to do some more minor aquascaping on the right. some bubble algae is squishing some zoos into the glass by growing on the opposite side of the rock they're on. dammit!

[Zaraxus]

Got to love that bubble geyser. That is something you had planned on isnt it. Has me considering putting a UGF into my tank.

[tinyreef]

Got to love that bubble geyser. That is something you had planned on isnt it.

well, yes and no.

 

i was expecting some random bubbling. i just didn't expect it to be so violent in degree (half or more of the bubbles well thru these eruptions). the geysers really do shove some of the smaller rocks to an angle when it erupts underneath.

 

not sure what the mechanisms are affecting the bubbling changes (eruptions or geysers from one spot to change to another throughout the day). perhaps it's some of the sand grains that get sucked beneath the ugf grille and they form channels or pathways to sustain certain geysers and then shift after building up too much to another location(?).

 

while i like the randomness, the violent eruptions do disturb whatever it happens to be beneath and basically gets tossed into the water column (e.g. feather dusters, worms, coral).

[Ann]

Ahh, I like the lower profile hood.

 

What's the pink algae in the bubbling shot? Looks cool.

 

The tank is looking better and better as the weeks go on.

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

What's the pink algae in the bubbling shot? Looks cool.

thanks ann!

 

that's my branching coralline algae. i loooove branching coralline.

 

it might be amphiroa fragilissima. i like a. rigida more but i can't grow it anymore worth of crap. it's a thicker/coarser branching coralline than this type. much more massive and sturdy, similar to terrestrial briar.

 

it was just kind of existing for a while (probably low ca/alk situation). it started as a tiny sprig of coralline about 1/2" long. i'll root around for some early (fuzzy) shots of it.

 

its growth has taken off quite nicely since i switched off of b-ionic and went 100% kalk while tripling the kalk dose. i dose 10ml in the morning and at least 20ml at night.

[tinyreef]

branching coralline: before/after (two week span, 3/11 to 3/25)

 

below: this is the branching coralline (a. fragilisima) ann pointed out above. i didn't post it before because the shot was a little shoddy. too bright too, i forgot what time i took it but likely a (saturday) morning shot.

 

below: same shot but two weeks later, a little closer up though. but still noticeably "bushier" and more growth imo. this was taken just this past saturday, also not sure of the time but i did dim the picture a little, so maybe morning too.

 

so far, the kalk-only dosing (pickling lime) seems to be going well. encrusting and branching coralline are noticeably growing/spotting.

 

did re-aquascape the zoo rock that was getting "crushed" by bubble algae. i basically moved it to the vacated spot the green sinularia was in. i'll post updates this weekend.

 

isn't this contest officially over tomorrow? like in twenty minutes?

[Ann]

That's nice Tiny. I'm a fan of branching coralline too but don't have any in my Pico, can't keep them all I guess.

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[Zaraxus]

Your branching coralline looks great.

[tinyreef]

thanks ann and zarax!

 

i wish i taken a better pic when first started to see the dramatic difference but i never figured it would grow much. not sure what's different here versus my other tanks so that's a mystery to me too, ann.

 

i suspect it might be the phytoplankton though. i'm really thinking about trying dendronephs in this tank to see. i've noticed a number of "odd" animals flourishing in the tank where i didn't expect them to.

 

for example, i have a mini-explosion of ctenophores (aka comb jellies, similar but not identical species). they're the flycast line-type often found on sarcophytons, not the free-swimming type that look like UFO's. i've been trying to get a decent pic of them but they move decently quick (their casting lines) so pretty much i just get a blur.

 

just did a major re-aquascaping too. started out more of a "attack the bubble algae" chore but then it turned into "hmmm, i think it looks better here".

 

i also added a couple of things but i'd rather not even mention them since we're technically at the end of the contest and i don't want to seem like i'm "padding" the tank. i'll probably work up listings this weekend (sans new corals).

 

thanks for stopping by!

[Ann]

I thought that there was supposed to be a cut off time after which we weren't supposed to add any more stock? Since it appears that we haven't yet reached that point the contest can't be over, right? It must have a few more months to run at the very least Err, that's assuming that the contest is still on....

 

Best regards

 

Ann

[tinyreef]

I thought that there was supposed to be a cut off time after which we weren't supposed to add any more stock?

exactly, that's why i'm not even going to list the new corals i just put in. but whether they're there or not shouldn't make a difference on the tank health-wise.

 

but adding livestock for the purpose of showcasing them at this point would be in poor taste imo. so that's why i'm not going to show them or list them when the final tally is requested.

 

as far as i'm concerned, i'm going with what was in the tank friday morning as the "cut-off". the last coral addition before that date was the purchase from Country Critters that i noted. the last coral deletion was the green sinularia i removed the other week for alleopathic reasons.

 

i hope the contest is still "live". but i gotta think they have to determine the NC contest first, just for "face". chop-chop, guys.

[dickie52]

The dead line has been extended for one year.....

 

Keep putting stuff in, till there is no room for water!!!

[tinyreef]

last official update! (the contest is over, right?)

 

below: finally got a decent pic of one of the ctenophores in the tank. at least, i think they're ctenophores. at various points in the contest, i thought they were sponges (one acted/looked like one), worms, and now comb jelly-type thingys (aka ctenophores). anywho, they move so quickly that all i always got was a blur. some of them would extend the height of the tank! and then retract in a split second! so i spliced two shots together for an action shot (my ps skills are getting better at least! ).

 

i might post a couple of more macros and stuff but i kinda consider this the end of the run. i'm keeping the tank (gonna try some different corals) but i'm composing my livestock list and getting my final pics together. i guess there will probably be a requested "ending shot" just like there was a requested "starting shot" (aka 'DVD with sock' shot).

 

thanks for watching!

[Six]

Tiny- your tank is right up my alley! nice work! FYI i think your "moss coral" is blue anthelia. I recently aquired some and it looks very similar.... wait.....ahhhh.. there u go!

 

LOL. I love photobucket.

 

I'm PMing you as well

[Zaraxus]

I hope your going to keep this tank going after the contest. Its helmd my interest for quite some time now