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[STOCK] tinyreef


tinyreef

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Wow tinyreef!! This tank is really an inspiration! I really like the simplicity and thanks for documenting the setup and progress.... and hope you win the contest on the way as well :)

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thanks for the kind words, baj!

 

the contest is more of an excuse for me to try things out that's been bouncing in my head for a while. i wanted to do this for the prior contest but it was nano-cube-only. win/lose whatever. i'm just as interested in the various ideas/designs coming out from everyone, e.g. tigah, grizzle, ann (foreign/overseas viewpoints), etc. i've never been a great coral grower so i just hang back. ;)

 

so the documenting is as much for me learning as showing the process. after this tank i may opt for one of the larger sizes anyway. one thing i'm trying to get around is "viewing of the tank". because of the light source angle the tank has to be situated a certain way, which makes viewing less than optimal.

 

there's an angled skylight i saw once that allows for a direct top/down drop of sunlight by bending the sunlight like along fiber optics. i'm thinking about that as a farther future project. that way viewing can be done easily anywhere, e.g. middle of the room, 180-degree viewing, etc.

 

i've been thinking a larger application of this (5.5g or 10g) might actually be more effective. i'm really feeling the cramped quarters of the pico, part of which is the available equipment to be able to apply (i.e. no mods allowed). i think the larger (more popular) sizes have more variety available to them versus the 2.5g.

 

Update pic

 

2005-1108-2.JPG

 

temps have stabilized from the heat wave of yesterday. i'm not 100% sure if it's the colder weather today or the fan though. but at least i've got a glimpse of what to expect come spring/summer.

 

all the corals seem to be ok, except the clavularia. but it may just be po'd that i was messing with it the other day. (cleaning some cyano off)

 

coloration still seems to be an issue. the palys i got from seacrop aren't looking like they did in the polybag (bright green). they're looking pukey-brown. bleah. but again, i think it may just be color rendering from the sun (supposed to be CRI 100, ain't it? maybe they mean tropical sun.).

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You know what would be interesting is if you suplemented that sunlight with 18w of actinic. That way you could have a more blue reef tank light color.

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But that would be cheating the spirit of the experiment.

correct!

 

but i had been thinking of just putting one up for pics or to check/gauge coloration versus a typical artificially-lit tank.

 

maybe i'll put a blue LED over it when i take pictures.

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Mid-week Update

 

2005-1110-1.JPG

took this pic from outside the house. most of the corals are showing a lot of expansion. i'm waiting to see if it's growth or light-deprivation.

 

the shroom looks like it's ready to split though (based on shape/form). it's the grey glob at the bottom. i gotta get a better camera. :angry:

 

the paly colony from seacrop is opened nicely. again, the color isn't as rich as it was when i first got it. i'm afraid the sunlight is subduing some of its emerald green coloration.

 

one zoanthid colony still seems ticked off though. gonna wait and see.

 

snails are doing a fine job and most of the zoanthids are taking hold/anchoring down already, couple of new polyps/buds showing. still waiting on the capnella to root but at least it has recovered from its illness from the other tank.

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I really like how this tank is turning out, it may not end up as the most beautiful tank in the competition, or even win, but I think it's going to be v interesting to follow. Hopefully we can all learn a few things about lighting needs and effect along the way. The idea of a reflected skylight sounds good for the future too.

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I really like how this tank is turning out, it may not end up as the most beautiful tank in the competition...

ouch!

 

thanks for the good comments at least. :P

 

yeah, i've really been thinking on improving my photo skills. one of the main problems i have is that when i'm around the tank is in "sleep mode" already. the brightly lit phase has already passed, whereas in artificially lit tanks we control the photoperiod for optimal viewing times.

 

but i also think the shabby look of the tank is my crappy camera and photo skills. there's just not enough resolution and clarity, not to mention correct lighting for photos. i'm starting to research that though (a la paradise's photo forum and friends).

 

the corals are actually beginning to grow nicely (i snuck around an extra hour today to peek in on it). when i come home (during "sleep mode") everything's closed up already and i can't really gauge it too well.

 

but looking at it today at 9:30AM i can see new polyp growth and richer color. not that i can capture it too well on the crappy pocket digicam i'm using. <_<

 

i'll try and get better looking pics. :D

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I love the tank and applaude you for havingthe motivation to try something so different. Only bad thing is now Im wondering if I can get that to work in NE ohio. :P

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thanks, zaraxus!

 

"thinking out of the box" is what started our niche of the hobby ("40g is the smallest you can have for a reef tank blah blah blah"). so constant challenges to the "norm or accepted" is what we're all about! ;)

 

perrin does greenhouse reefing in romulus, michigan. that's about the same as NE OH; in fact, probably a degree more northerly.

 

calfo did greenhouse reefing in western PA, right next to you.

 

go for it! lighting setup is cheeeep! :happy:

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you'd probably have to hang that (mirror setup) higher up and "parabolic it/reflectorize" (my engrish) to hit the tank.

 

i'd be very concerned about the heat generated though. right now for me, the issue isn't the amount of lighting. i'm actually thinking i'm going to have to move back to a north window in the spring/summer.

 

my main issues so far are the viewability of the tank (due to its placement to accomodate the sun) and flow rates. because it's a Stock competition, i didn't modify the ugf and it has cost me significant flow in the tank.

 

next-gen, i'll probably do some modifications and use perrin's methods of airtube waterflow. it's kind of a "C" pvc apparatus. designed to create a re-circulating flow.

 

maybe i'll incorporate a protein skimmer too. (just more ideas bouncing around in my head)

 

the ideas are telling me to buy another freezer too. :scarry:

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Blind Tree Frog

Your ugf doesn't point the water flow across the tank? From the earlier pictures I thought it did. How different is that from this "perrin" technique?

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Your ugf doesn't point the water flow across the tank? From the earlier pictures I thought it did. How different is that from this "perrin" technique?

the issue isn't so much the direction but the amount of flow.

 

perrin's setup allows for an unencumbered inflow, as it's basically just an open pipe inflow-wise (the bottom of the "C") and an open pipe outflow-wise (the top of the "C"). the bubbles rise along the back of the "C", creating the current that pulls-in/pushes-out the water.

 

with the ugf, the inflow is spread thru out the grille of the grating and somewhat restricted. besides, i don't really want/need the void of the ugf grating. i'm not trying for a plenum or similar setup. increasing the airflow just sucks in the granules, just like you experienced on your setup.

 

but by using the simple open pipe system perrin's using (btw these are just my dohickey names for his design), i can hold the C-pipe above the substrate and not suck in sand. i can also put in multiple units versus the one in this Stock competition. i've also been thinking of a possible manifold layout too but that's really in-depth and more suited for larger tanks imo.

 

in addition, i could also divvy up the outflow into multiple outflows in order to aim flow all around the tank. currently, i'm limited to just the one direction.

 

btw, the ugf's already looking a little scummy in the riser tube. another benefit of perrin's simple design is ease of maintenance.

 

i may mockup something again ('cause i know i'm not describing this concept very well). i did a unit a while back but never put it in water to test out. again, this contest gave me the perfect opportunity to put into practice these concepts i've been mulling over.

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Blind Tree Frog

Gotcha, The UGF I'm using is just a 5 inch disc (made for goldfish bowls) so it isn't like it covers the entire bottom. Pretty much little more then a stand holding the pipe. Wasn't sure how different yours was.

 

But since i had to add the elbow for whatever reason, I was wondering why yours didn't seem to be worked as well as mine is. I clearly see particles (white dots, either air bubbles or pods) flowly easily to the far wall. Since yours appeared to have a directed port i figured you'd be seeing similar.

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I clearly see particles (white dots, either air bubbles or pods) flowly easily to the far wall. Since yours appeared to have a directed port i figured you'd be seeing similar.

 

it's probably similar but i'm getting some dead spots here and there. i just wish i had another "tube" for more flow and more directional control. right now it's just bubble-gurgle-pop! -> flow. the bubble explosion is where the flow comes from. because of the tank/rock layout, the directional updraft is basically muffled.

 

where it's "high flow" it's decently fast (right by the bubbles' surfacing). but slow areas are basically stagnant. i've had to re-aquascape a bit lately to ease up restrictions to flow.

 

one good thing though, this pico's issues have made me re-aware of flow rates and directions in my larger tanks. funny thing because i've always espoused flow as one of the main aspects of reefing (for myself at least).

 

i've also re-aquascaped both of them as well recently and i've already seen a resurgence in the corals in each tank. i had just been lumping in corals and letting them attach where they dropped (literally), rock and coral. now i've tidied things up and everything's looking fine again.

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Blind Tree Frog

Yeah, too bad I think my main tank has excessive flow and simply has light issues.

 

But my little pico seems to be good on flow. Looking at it now, it looks like my bubbles blow the water against the long sides, it follows to the end of the tank and then loops back through the middle. It's actually interesting flow and should work well for me I think.

 

Now just if I can fix the lighting problem on my pico (it has none)

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things are going very well. i'll probably update with pics later today. i've been moving some frags around for better flow and added a couple of new ones (finally glued one down as it was zoanthid mat-only, i.e. no rock or rubble to anchor itself). i just put in a baby sarco elegans too (my fav coral), a 8 to 12 polyp pico-baby-frag.

 

i just noticed temps were up again today. again, it's only on sundays that can i really see the tank "perform". it was almost 84F(!) so i changed the fan back to "HI" setting. i had turned it down during the week when i thought it was too low (76F~77F) and the heater seemed to be on too much.

 

all the coral/polyps are growing well, either significantly enlarging or already shooting off daughter-polyps. coloration is beginning to settle back into them too. while i think they'd probably color/present themselves much better under actinic supps, i'm still quite pleased with their color rendering under the natural sunlight considering it's probably around 6500K for my latitude (tropics is around 5000K iirc).

 

still waiting on the shroom to split or something but i did notice something unusual about it today. it was "satellite dishing". i.e. it was actually tracking the sun's movement across the sky through the day and moving its crown to capture the optimal lighting.

 

it "stemmed" up (which could be a light deprivation symptom, so hence my caution still) and moved itself to greet the sunlight as the day wore on. i've never seen that before, i've heard of it for corals but being i've always used stationary artificial lights (like most people) i've never seen it. moving track lighting probably creates the same effect.

 

the palythoas also do this but less pronounced imo as they sometimes point in different directions due to other reasons. i had noticed the "satellite tracking" on them before but not as obvious as the shroom's movements so i wrote it off as happenstance.

 

anywho, thanks for the inquiry. i'll update pics soon. my digital photography practice is also limiting things. i'm not as satisfied with most pics i've been taking lately but i'll post something just for update sake. ;)

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Sounds like things are going really well with this tank, please do post some more pics.
as you command, milady.

 

2005-1119-5JPG.jpg

 

this shot is actually from yesterday (when there was still a little daylight left). the pics from today are too yucky in quality imo. :angry: stooopid pos camera.

 

2005-1119-3.JPG

 

another angle/viewpoint at the same time. you can tell the sunlight is past peak. iirc it was around 2~3PM (DST, it gets dark around 4PM).

 

post-1446-1132536679_thumb.jpg

 

this is one of today's snapshots (see? they were all of equally crappy quality). it's a pic of a sarcophyton elegans frag (next to a couple of zoanthids, murky round looking things to the left of the yellow polypy thing-i.e. the sarco).

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awww shaddup, dickboy.

 

i don't gots no fancy-schmancy canon d20 50-gigapixels up-your-kazoo digitamacal camera like some folks.

 

if you're so critical why don't you bring your purty lips and camera over to help me take some decent pics?

 

 

 

edit: that post was for dickie, not snoop. altho i fail to see snoop's post pertinence. :huh:

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