Gamin's Fluval Spec - Growth Pics

[GaminKWB]

I started the setup back in December. Upgraded most of the equipments since then. Started stocking mid-late January. I've lost a few along the way. Some to stupid mistakes, some to being naive.

 

FTS - Sept 19th

Feeding Time

 

Here is the current setup.

 

Equipment

Fluval Spec 2g - Modified the overflow with acrylic

Ecoxotic Pico Light with three strips - 2 12k and 1 Actinic LED per strip

Marineland MN606UL - 153 gph

Tetra 50w Heater - Preset to 78 (and it's pretty consistent)

Standard Timer for the light

 

Filtration

Removed all the stock Fluval Spec filtration

About 3-ish pounds of Live Rock. Most in the Display area, some in the refugium area.

About a 1 1/2-inch Sand Bed

 

Clean Up Crew

10+ Social Feather Dusters

5 Mini Brittle Stars

 

Stock (Most names are from LFS)

Zoa - Pink Elephant Foot - Nov'12 - Sept'12 - Jan'12

Zoa - Purple Death - Nov'12 - Sept'12 - Jan'12

Zoa - ??? (Brown/Red) - Sept'12 - March'12

Zoa - ??? (Green/Yellow) - Sept'12 - Aug'12 - March'12

Zoa - ??? (Purple/Blue) - Sept'12 - March'12

Green Clove Polyps - Sept'12 - March'12

Pink Pulsating Xenia - Sept'12 - Aug'12

Candy Cane - Sept'12

Green Birdsnest - Nov'12 - Sept'12 - March'12

Blastomussa - Sept'12 -

Prism Favia - Sept'12

 

Hitchhikers

Astrena Stars

Bristeworms

1 Mini Brittle Star

[GaminKWB]

[aquemeni5110]

Nice! I like the zoas.

[GaminKWB]

Thanks.

 

I updated some of the photo links in the main post.

 

Also, my Daisy Clove Polyps closed up yesterday and a couple of stalks look like they are missing. I wonder if my Emerald Crab has gone rogue. They weren't open when I left for work this morning but I will have to double-check when I get home. It may have just been the recent water change and them getting all sensitive-like.

[Islandoftiki]

Nice work. Looks like you've done your homework. That's a well set up Spec.

 

How do you have your rear chamber setup?

 

Do you have pictures of what you did to modify your overflow?

 

I'm re-doing my spec as a pest tank and I'm pretty sure I'd going to ditch the chaeto and just go with a big bag of Chemi-pure elite and filter floss on top of that. I did the chaeto thing before in there and found it regularly getting into the pump and clogging the output nozzle.

 

Have you thought about making a media rack for the rear chamber? I found it helps with the flow. I have pictures of it in the link in my sig. You could even do multiple tiers of media racks to keep everything organized.

 

Anyhow, looks awesome. I love the rockscape.

[GaminKWB]

Islandoftiki: I've seen your pest pico and its a neat concept and pretty cool.

 

No pics of the overflow mod or the contents of the back chamber. But here are the basics:

 

Overflow Mod: I copied other people ideas and glued a piece of acrylic onto the overflow to raise the display area water level and create a 'waterfall' into the rear chamber. Its not a dramatic flow but it breaks surface tension and keeps the front area at a constant water level. I also plugged the lower flow hole with epoxy, but it leaks a little, which is fine.

 

Rear Chamber: I completely removed the sponge (after too long imo) and the pellets and charcoal that came with the Fluval. I placed about a pound of live rock pieces that are probably about the size of a small computer mouse back there. I put some larger ones on bottom to prevent flow issues into the pump. Then some smaller ones on top. Then the bag of chemi-pure on top of that and the Cheato is above all else. No dedicated light back there and I just did all this a week or so ago, so I will have to see how the macro algae fares. I did this mostly because I was having nitrate issues and figured the sponge was collecting too much material.

 

I'll try to get some more pics and update the main post. The rear-chamber is tough because of the frosted glass. We shall see.

[GaminKWB]

Do you have pictures of what you did to modify your overflow?

 

I realized you can see the mod in this pic. You can see the acrylic piece glued over the lower half of the overflow. It looks concave but that is just the glue showing up more under the light. The acrylic is actually just below the water line. I think I did mine a touch too high. I had to adjust the pump output because water was splashing over at a slow rate. I might take a dremel and put a few grooves in the acrylic to lower it a touch.

 

[MGDMIRAGE]

I think i mighta started that acrylic over overflow mod and plugging the bottom hole hehe. Tank looks great.

[altolamprologus]

Hey there, just thought I'd share a couple tips with you. When posting pics, host them with a site like photobucket so you can post larger pics that don't need to be clicked on.

 

That hawaiian feather duster only eats live phytoplankton and needs fairly large quantities of it, so if you don't want it to starve and die in your tank, you need to go buy live phytoplankton and start dosing it a few times a day. The little social dusters will also eat bacteria and dead stuff so those should fare better, but in such a small tank, they may starve too.

 

I'm really interested in what plans you have for fish. Have you though about what you want yet?

[GaminKWB]

I think i mighta started that acrylic over overflow mod and plugging the bottom hole hehe. Tank looks great.

 

Quite possible. I noticed it in a couple of other threads and I already knew I didn't like the surface tension on the Fluval Spec.

 

you need to go buy live phytoplankton and start dosing it a few times a day.

 

I have PhytoFeast (Live) and am feeding daily. Having a little trouble with Nitrates will all the phyto, so I am doing weekly 50% water changes. It's also why I added the Xenia and Social Dusters. Hopefully they will help remove phyto from the water column.

 

I'm really interested in what plans you have for fish. Have you though about what you want yet?

 

Not sure if I plan on any fish. I considered maybe a neon goby. Again not sure. I'm going to wait a while though.

[GaminKWB]

I think I may have lost my Green Daisy Polyps to a Fire Worm and not my Emerald Crab as I first suspected.

 

See ID thread for further details

 

Also, I decided to finally trick my Candy Cane into eating. I have been having a hard time trying to do so with my schedule and them being primarily nocturnal. I defrosted some mysis and crammed one inside each of the bowls. I turned my pump and lights off and wrapped a towel around the tank. Left it for an hour and came back to most of the shrimp being engulfed. I think my Emerald Crab may have stolen one of the shrimp. I'll repeat next weekend, unless one them appears to be starving.

 

Some pics of the Candy Cane eating

[GaminKWB]

Here's an update on all my Corals:

Zoa - Pink Elephant Foot - Still hasn't grown a new head since I got it. This was one of my first.

Zoa - Purple Death - Stems has lengthened, still no new heads. Also one of my first.

Zoa - ??? (Brown/Red) - Had three heads when I bought it, up to 6

Zoa - ??? (Green/Yellow) - Had some trouble with placement, lost some heads and others have grown.

Zoa - ??? (Blue/Red/Green) - The 2 smalleest heads ended up out of the light and are shriveling, rest are good.

Zoa - ??? (Purple/Blue) - Originally this had 3 heads, but I lost 2 - literally. They broke apart and ended up under my rubble. Its back up to 2.

Green Clove Polyps - Seem to be expanding, but still not off the plug yet.

Xenia - Stem has lengthened significantly. No split yet.

Monti - ??? - About the same as when I got it.

Candy Cane - The 3-in-1 head is almost done splitting. so now its 4 heads with still two joined.

Green Birdsnest - Not good at telling if its grown much, I need to compare a then/new photo.

Feather Duster - Seems to be doing okay.

 

Pink Birdsnest - Lost this one, it was in poor shape when I got it (it was a freebie).

Green Daisy Cloves - Not sure what happened, found a bristleworm eating the remains.

[GaminKWB]

Here's an update on my tank:

 

-----Old Players-----

Zoa - Pink Elephant Foot - Started with 4 heads, currently has about 12, fragged 2 others. Large heads with long stalks.

Zoa - Purple Death - Still no new heads. One of my first corals.

Zoa - ??? (Brown/Red) - Started with 3, now has about 10. Small heads with short stalks.

Zoa - ??? (Green/Yellow) - Been pretty static. It's my lowest placed coral.

Zoa - ??? (Purple/Blue) - After mishap bringing it down to one, its rebounded quickly. Up to about 14 or so. Very prolific.

Green Clove Polyps - As others have said, grows fast and overtakes. Had to trim it back some.

Xenia - Fragged out about 75% of it. Still doing well.

Candy Cane - Very slow grower, seems to be happy though.

Green Birdsnest - I would say its about 4x its original size.

Emerald Crab - Doing fine. Def a female. She will have eggs in her pouch occasionally.

 

 

-----No More-----

Zoa - ??? (Blue/Red/Green) - It must not have liked its position. Detached one night and never say it again.

Monti - ??? - Covered by a Cyano outbreak while on vacation.

Feather Duster - Shriveled up, took him in.

Nerite Snails - Died during the cyano outbreak during vacation. May have been a salinity issue as well.

 

 

-----New Additions-----

Blastomussa - Added a Blasto to the very center of the tank. Very large and puffy (about half dollar sized). Starting to grow a new head on the side.

Prism Favia - Just added a couple of days ago.

Purple Maze Coral - Just added a couple of days ago.

[GaminKWB]

Green Birdsnest Growth - 6 Months (No fragging yet)

 

Pink Elephant (?) Zoa - 9 Months (Started with 4 Polyps - Fragged out 4 so far)

 

Purple/Blue Pally (?) - 6 Months (Started with 1 Polyp - Fragged out 3 so far)