# conix's nano reef tank



## conix67

Almost everyone I met through this site either owns one now or talked to me about it - nano reef tank. Although I had a desire to own a marine fish tank, I have not thought about starting one anytime soon, as I was too busy just keeping up with all the fish tanks I own now... Besides, all those setups I see at Big Als and cost of equipment scared me off badly, until I saw the nano tank threads by Tabatha on this site. Then it seemed like everyone was getting into it.. kind of made me to think about the marine tank again..

When I saw blossom's tank on sale, I just had to take that chance. So here it is now, my own nano reef tank...










This is 12.5G system from JEBO, I believe it is R550 which is identical to one I own already. It comes with configurable filter system that sits on top of the tank, similar to Eclipse systems. Unlike other HOB filters, this system also acts as powerhead although the direction is not adjustable. The filter output nozle is adjustable though.

Here's another shot, twin tanks - SW and FW, side by side.










Currently the tank is stocked with exactly what it came with. Many thanks to blossom for being kind enough to spend time and effort to provide everything inside the tank including small frags. I did not know that I'd have a complete tank running so quickly!

Here are some pictures of coral frags (sorry I don't know their names).. they all seem to be happy, opening up nicely..




























And today I discovered some of these guys










and these guys are found during and shortly after setting up this tank

Amphipods










also I saw few other types of insects, and few bristleworms. One of them bit me, and my hand went a little numb for a while! It felt almost like a Wasp bite.

Things I have added so far
- Jebo Power Filter - filled both compartments up with filter floss with Polyfiber and ammonia filter pads - mainly for mechanical filteration
- Koralia nano reef pump - currently on sale at Big Als, tried other power heads I already had but couldn't get it right
- Ebo-Jager 50w heater
- glass cover which now covers about 70% of the openings on top

I have not done water quality/parameter check yet. I will be ordering marine test kits soon.

Next step is to add a little more live rocks. I'll be checking out QB aquarium in few days, when i have time to visit.

Also, I'd like to add a little more sand, to 1.5". Not sure if I should look for live sand or just argnonite.

My thread will just be simple - what I've done and what I've observed. I do hope that this may be of help to someone else but mostly likely not. There are excellent threads by Tabatha and Ameekplec already. I found those truly informative and entertaining. However, I would like to hear from others on any kind of suggestions that would make this tank more successful.

Eventually I will be adding few fishes. There must be 2 clown fishes, that's already decided. As for other inhabitants, I'll check things out slowly (I'll try), except for few that would (hopefully) eat Aiptasias. Definitely I wouldn't want to overstock this tank, as it will be the only marine fish tank for a long time and I surely do not want to fail this one.

Thanks for reading, hope it was interesting!


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## ameekplec.

Great start Conix! I hope all goes well in the SW for you. 

Haha, how many tanks did you start this month? In the last two? 

I will eagerly follow your tank thread  I can't wait to see what Quang sets you up with. I got so many neat hitchhikers from his rock, I seem to discover one or two more everyday 

I bet your son must be really excited about the prospect of the clownfish!!


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## blossom112

AWESOME!!!!
What a great picture of the amphpod ...........
All corals look great !!!!
WTG 
Congrats !


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## conix67

Yes my son is very excited, yet he could not understand why there are no fishes yet when the tank appears to be ready and running.

This is the only tank I started this month. In total I have 10 tanks doing something today... it could have been 11, that being my friend's tank I setup for his family with the 3 year old Betta fish.

Of course 10 tanks is nothing compared to what some serious hobbysts or breeders have. However, it is getting to the point that daily feeding is becoming a labor 

I must stop looking at other people's fishroom... otherwise something will start growing in my basement before I have chance to finish it..


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## conix67

blossom112 said:


> AWESOME!!!!
> What a great picture of the amphpod ...........
> All corals look great !!!!
> WTG
> Congrats !


That amphipod was bigger than some of my red cherry shrimps..

What I realized is that in SW aquarium you can observe things you normally don't see in the ocean, even if they do exist everywhere.

I think I saw at least 3-4 large ones, some about at least 0.5 cm long. They change color too.. I think..

Thanks to you for good job done on fragging. Although I was watching it the whole time, I don't know exactly how it was done.

Many thanks to you again!


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## blossom112

I will have to let you practice the next time you come then 
That way you can learn that too .

I always loved the look of that tank and they look great side by side !!!


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## hojimoe

conix67 said:


> That amphipod was bigger than some of my red cherry shrimps..
> 
> What I realized is that in SW aquarium you can observe things you normally don't see in the ocean, even if they do exist everywhere.
> 
> I think I saw at least 3-4 large ones, some about at least 0.5 cm long. They change color too.. I think..
> 
> Thanks to you for good job done on fragging. Although I was watching it the whole time, I don't know exactly how it was done.
> 
> Many thanks to you again!


heeh I know what you mean about observing in the ocean, when I was in cuba I floated a long way away with my gf while we just observed the reef...

I'm not sure if the amphipods change color, but they definately are seen in different colors..

as for fragging, some fragging tips you can check out on youtube - VERY useful... I was watching one today, "fun with fraggin : _________"

it's a series, the guy does a few...inspired me to try to frag a mushroom, so I did! we shall see in about a week how well I did (i think i did good) I only cut in half, didn't have the guts to cut the largest into quarters


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## blossom112

awe chickenpoop lol
you can mash them in a blender  they will survive  
Good job!!!
goodnight all , got to get dogs to groomers tomorrow and its always a PITA lol


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## Tabatha

Congratulations!!! I saw that tank at Blossom's a few months ago, I love the shape, thanks for ID'ing it (Jebo)!

Get some coralined rock from QT and it'll eventually spread onto the other rocks (and glass) in your tank. Get yourself a scraper too, they're great for getting algae off the glass, especially around the gravel line.

There seems to be so much more life in a saltwater tank than in fw. We still have critters popping up out of nowhere!

Have fun!


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## conix67

Thanks everyone. Yesterday I went to QB Aquarium to pick up some LRs to add. Got just 10lbs but looks enough.


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## Tabatha

Your tank looks awesome so far! Rocks look a little tightly packed, you might want a little more water flow through them?


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## hojimoe

i agree, as good as the rock formation looks, they seem to be tightly packed, you need lots of water flow in there, or open it up more like a reef style


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## conix67

So the idea is to leave openings so that water movement exists on most surfaces in every rock?

I have smaller pieces sitting on a larger one (in previous picture), and I guess that's not recommended.

Is the concern mostly effectiveness of LRs as being biological filter or parts without much water movement will cause problems, such as inside of this rock pile - there are a lot of open space inside at the moment.

I should look at Tabatha's and Ameeks again...


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## conix67

http://www.aquariumhobbyist.com/articles/Aquascaping.html

Hmm.. less is more? Open architecture? Sounds like I need a bigger tank to make use of the amount of LRs I have now..

Maybe I'll have to break up bigger pieces and build a tower .. or a few..


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## conix67

Few questions - 

Live sand sold in stoes - can these be just added to the tank? It says rinsing not required. For various reasons I think I need more sand ....

Temperature control - with lights on, it's difficult to keep temperature under 82F.. is 82F ok or this is a big problem?

I do have a glass piece covering half of what's left open on top.. this is to block water drops poping out, because the filter does cause air bubbles

Maybe I need to abandon the pump/filter sitting on top altogether and get a HOB filter for water polishing.. and leave the top completely open...


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## UnderTheSea

Live sand sold in stoes - can these be just added to the tank? It says rinsing not required. For various reasons I think I need more sand ....

If you wash the "Live" sand you would be washing away all the beneficial bacteria

Temperature control - with lights on, it's difficult to keep temperature under 82F.. is 82F ok or this is a big problem?

Have a look at adding a fan and have it running while your lights are on

I do have a glass piece covering half of what's left open on top.. this is to block water drops poping out, because the filter does cause air bubbles

Having glass on top is not a good idea as it restricts the light penetration as well as traps the heat in your aquarium.

Maybe I need to abandon the pump/filter sitting on top altogether and get a HOB filter for water polishing.. and leave the top completely open...

You have a mechanical filter? Ensure you are cleaning it every couple of days. I would remove all filter pads and only run carbon. What skimmer are you running?

Oh and your tank looks really good, nice work


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## conix67

UnderTheSea said:


> Live sand sold in stoes - can these be just added to the tank? It says rinsing not required. For various reasons I think I need more sand ....
> 
> If you wash the "Live" sand you would be washing away all the beneficial bacteria
> 
> Temperature control - with lights on, it's difficult to keep temperature under 82F.. is 82F ok or this is a big problem?
> 
> Have a look at adding a fan and have it running while your lights are on
> 
> I do have a glass piece covering half of what's left open on top.. this is to block water drops poping out, because the filter does cause air bubbles
> 
> Having glass on top is not a good idea as it restricts the light penetration as well as traps the heat in your aquarium.
> 
> Maybe I need to abandon the pump/filter sitting on top altogether and get a HOB filter for water polishing.. and leave the top completely open...
> 
> You have a mechanical filter? Ensure you are cleaning it every couple of days. I would remove all filter pads and only run carbon. What skimmer are you running?
> 
> Oh and your tank looks really good, nice work


Thanks, I need to go back to the way Blossom's been running this tank i guess... leave the top completely open...

I'm running mechanical filter with filter pads hoping to remove things floating around after rockwork, etc.. I should stop it after things settle down..

Few more questions -

What does carbon do for SW tank?

I have a nano skimmer but not running at the moment.. I heard it may not be needed to weekly water change.

I have one Koralia Nano in this tank.. will it be sufficient for water movement or I need more after taking out mechanical filter?

Thanks,

I


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## UnderTheSea

Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) - Refers to a highly porous filtration media that is commonly used to remove pollutants from water. Organic molecules are removed from solution by chemical adsorption within the pores of the carbon. In reef systems, GAC is most often used to remove yellowing compounds from the water column that can interfere with light spectrum and intensity. There is an on going debate as to whether GAC should be used on a continual or occasional basis and whether it is best used passively or in a small carbon filter. Activated carbon becomes less effective when its surface is fouled by bacterial growth.

Source: Advanced Aquarist

The issue with depending on weekly water changes for water quality is there is a fluctuation in water quality. Even with water changes I would recommend having a skimmer.

As for flow you just have to watch for deadspots and depends on the corals you are going to keep. Some like high flow and others like low.

Hope this helps,
Chris


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## blossom112

I never had water temp issue with that tank ... no lid tho , theres a fan on the lights .
78- 80 kept constant with heater to keep temp the same at night when lights are off ,you have to tweek the heater tho .
You are learning and the stuiff you have now should survive while you are learning 
WTG!
d


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## conix67

How does the "bio cube" system control temperature with lid closed? Do they have a big fan or something?? I don't think they include chillers..


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## Tabatha

Nope, the BioCube doesn't have a chiller, there are fans in the hood which run while the lights are on. 

The temperature is very consistent.


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## conix67

OK. Now the filter is in FW 10Gal tank. Replaced with PenPlax HOB filter not being used. Top is completely open, light has been repositioned to provide maximum light to the entire tank. LRs are arranged such that it forms C shape from the top, and none touches glasses.










Probably I won't be rearranging for a while. It is so much work


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## ameekplec.

One thing that will help a lot I think is another pump for more water movement. I don't think the one koralina and the HOB will provide enough movement around the whole tank.

Like the rock work more than the first arrangement though


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## Sunstar

I am really starting to twitch now when I look at these salt tanks. I. Want. one.


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## Chris S

Just sounds like too much work for me


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## Tabatha

Chris S said:


> Just sounds like too much work for me


I personally find it so much more interesting than fw that it doesn't seem like work at all.

Love the new rock work, good job!


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## conix67

Wow.. so many replies while I was asleep  

Thanks for positive comments on new layout! I'm glad to hear that.


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## conix67

Sunstar, somehow I feel you're the next one in line...

The extra work in comparison to FW tank comes from the followings -

- needed to get RO water (Can't get more than 2G at once from my drinking water system), mix with precise amount of salt, run power head to throughly mix it while heating it up to 80F
- cover up floor more carefully to avoid dripping SW on the wooden floor, furniture, etc..
- carefully handling LRs to make sure the living things don't get crushed.. 

Hopefully, from now on just regular water change is all it takes...

Getting salt water ready could be an issue.. I plan to pre-mix them, possibly one month supply each time..


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## hojimoe

much better rock layout conix... 

as for more work with SW, i beg to differ, it seems to me that I do LESS than with my planted tank lol...speaking of which it's time for a trimming again....gotta post some plants this weekend


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## conix67

Just turn off your CO2 injector and take out a bulb.. problem solved.. lol


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## ameekplec.

hojimoe said:


> much better rock layout conix...
> 
> as for more work with SW, i beg to differ, it seems to me that I do LESS than with my planted tank lol...speaking of which it's time for a trimming again....gotta post some plants this weekend


lol, true. I spend more time tinkering, but certainly less time maintenance wise.

SW is pretty easy to set up. I've been a sucker and just bought all my SW (@$.99 a gallon), as the RO system I have is not up and running yet, and it doesn't have a DI cartridge.

All in all, I think it's the same amount of work as FW for me, except the apparent biodiversity in a SW tank is far greater thanks in large part to the live rock.

I think the only thing that might be more rigorous with SW is monitoring of parameters. There are far more of them to worry about in SW that aren't a concern in FW most of the time (sg, kH, Calcium, magnesium, phosphate, iodine, strontium, etc).

That being said, I think the biodiversity and the corals more than make up for it. The colours and textures of the coral, inverts, and fish are something else. You will love it for sure, especially since you seem to notice all the tiny little critters


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## conix67

I couldn't hold 2 clown fishes I wanted from QB aquarium. They had all sold out except one, but I need two. I'll be waiting for next shipment, probably next month.

I'll probably need to get a quarantine tank ready ahead of time...

Anyone have any opinions about "pencil urchin"? It's so cool, not expensive but not sure if it is suitable for nano-reef with fishes..


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## ameekplec.

I know it's a drive for you, but check out reef aquatica (http://www.reefaquatica.com/store/). They have lots of different clowns in stock (they specialize in them, I suppose).

I intend to get my mis/full bar black ocellaris from there.


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> lol, true. I spend more time tinkering, but certainly less time maintenance wise.
> 
> SW is pretty easy to set up. I've been a sucker and just bought all my SW (@$.99 a gallon), as the RO system I have is not up and running yet, and it doesn't have a DI cartridge.
> 
> All in all, I think it's the same amount of work as FW for me, except the apparent biodiversity in a SW tank is far greater thanks in large part to the live rock.
> 
> I think the only thing that might be more rigorous with SW is monitoring of parameters. There are far more of them to worry about in SW that aren't a concern in FW most of the time (sg, kH, Calcium, magnesium, phosphate, iodine, strontium, etc).
> 
> That being said, I think the biodiversity and the corals more than make up for it. The colours and textures of the coral, inverts, and fish are something else. You will love it for sure, especially since you seem to notice all the tiny little critters


Yes, I think it's the main attraction, somewhat more than those beautiful corals. At this point it looks good enough that I won't miss corals for a while..

I noticed few other critters, tiny starfish, snails, copepod or similar things, and the snail like critter you posted a picture about.. moves very fast..

My wife was telling me she'd never be able to touch any of these rocks, barehanded or with gloves, after seeing all these critters.. she freaks out when we have a fly in a house!

I feel like witnessing ancient history of earth in live! There are non-critter things i need to identify as well..

Maybe all these things do exist in freshwater too, but too small to notice..


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## ameekplec.

conix67 said:


> Maybe all these things do exist in freshwater too, but too small to notice..


A large part of why we see so few critters in FW is because we tend not to use substrates from other's tanks without washig, or substrate from nature. The exception is plants, if not completely quarantined, can garner some interetsing hitchhikers.

In my 75g, I have several types of substrate worms and other critters, thanks in large part to plants from other people. I think that for the most part, it results in a happier system, as detrivores abound in the substrate, and small pods and other microfauna exist in plants.

Yep, Quang's LR definitely has some sweet hitch hikers. But no asterina stars  Hopefully I can get a few as hitchhikers one day, or get a few from someone who has them


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## Tabatha

ameekplec. said:


> Yep, Quang's LR definitely has some sweet hitch hikers. But no asterina stars  Hopefully I can get a few as hitchhikers one day, or get a few from someone who has them


We seem to get quite a few hitchhikers from corals, especially corals that are attached to LR. With our bird's nest, we adopted a red crab and pistol shrimp!


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## ameekplec.

I saw some acros at BA, and almost every one of them had a acro crab with it


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## blossom112

OK you 2    
SaltWater for me was very hard and many tears were shed ,sleepless nights just trying to figure all the equipment out .
I had never had any fish tank in my life .....
I know why you think it is so very so easy ................ 
And when i finally came to gtaaquaria i only had wilson to try and help me figure this stuff out .
Now we are so fortunate to have so many more here and i have done my very best to give people gtaaquaria url when i have found them as i needed more help even  
But that seems so very long ago ...................
And my brain is somehow remembering all i have learned .
But dont expect me to even remember your names ,lololol

I would never do a FW dip with my SW stuff ........I just think thats a sin of the worst kind ...
Best thing to do is get a good mag glass and a good light and look in the middle of the night and just pick the bad stuff off ,make traps and be patient.

So laST night i was looking in the tank because im going to go through everything this weekend .................Low and behold.................
A MANTIS SHRIMP ..........it scruuied so fast i was only able to see the tail end one heck of a pretty creature ......
Not possitive it was a mantis ,but something along that line and about 2 to 3 ".
No way im going to FW dip and kill it , im going to try and trap it and post it as they are saught after by some people .
Hey i might even keep it !!!! but not in the reef with the anemone !


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## ameekplec.

The FW dips won't will it. It will stun it however. It will kill worms and pods though.

I got the gorilla crab out of my LR that way. The worms and pods died right way, but the crab dropped out after a bit, and then I scooped it up and threw him in SW.

I think provided any equipment doesn't fail (like an exploding heater.....), FW ansd SW, both can cause stress, but both are one and the same.

So what plans do you have with new additions Conix? More coral? Obviously the fish  Any others? Shrimp? Hermits? Snails?


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## conix67

Just snails and hermit crabs for now. But I really want to see if I can keep the pencil urchin, which is so alien! however, it doesn't look so fitting in nano-reef...

maybe a jelly fish if it's compatible

corals, definitely but not ready to spend $$$ yet.. I'm on budget mode


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## blossom112

Oh i did see a really neet anemone at big als and i so want it lol
It looks kinda like an urchin and green in the centre ..i had to resist the urge as i need to fix my tank .


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## ameekplec.

conix67 said:


> Just snails and hermit crabs for now. But I really want to see if I can keep the pencil urchin, which is so alien! however, it doesn't look so fitting in nano-reef...
> 
> maybe a jelly fish if it's compatible
> 
> corals, definitely but not ready to spend $$$ yet.. I'm on budget mode


I don't think you can keep jellies in a reef tank. They will sting or get eaten, or just die. They were popular in Japan quite a few years ago, but are hard to keep and require just about nothing else in the tank to compete with it.

I personally cannot wait to get fish. I love th motion and the personality of fish. Wel, I guess I have a fish, but I never see it...


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## Sunstar

sorry to hijack. Did that fish hitch hike, ameek?


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## ameekplec.

Nope, I bought him, but he's a hider for sure, and with so much space to hide, I never see it.


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## conix67

I would like to know if I have enough sand. It's currently very thin, but not sure what's enough or minimum required. Are there species that require deep sand bed? I heard gobys like to dig and require 2" minimum..

Any recommendation on sand?

I guess I should scrap the idea of keeping jellyfish.. but they are so cool..

Big Al's vaughan had a few before, but I didn't see any last time I checked

I like those fancy gobys, maybe a demsel or two to add some colors... probably that's about it for fish..

Maybe in 2-3 years I'll move to a bigger one... that one will need to be carefully and thorougly planned


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## hojimoe

i have a goby, and I have maybe 1" of sand, he never digs to the bottom, just builds up walls, he's funny to watch and quite friendly!


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## Tabatha

We have a rainford's goby purchased at Sea-U-Marine, beautiful fish, active and sifts the sand. We also have a firefish and a midas blenny who is quite interesting, very active and sits on rocks.


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## ameekplec.

Woow, what a beaut!!!

Rainforti:









So they have neat fish at Sea U Marine?...hmmm.......


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## conix67

I dropped by the sea-u-marine today after work.. damn !!!!

Ameek, don't go there... then again, your choices are rather limited until you upgrade your tank size so...

It's only 5 min drive from my workplace. Yet, I never really bothered paying a visit there.

I saw many species I did not see in other stores such as Big Als, Luckys, etc. Then again, this store specializes in marine species. 

I look around for only about 10 mins because I was in a rush but it was very interesting.. among the smaller species, I found needle fish, arrow crab interesting. I can't say prices are the best around GTA, but if they are of high quality, I think they are reasonable.

Most corals are priced at $40. They had some large ones as much as $199. Then I saw real huge one, which was not for sale.

Definitely worth a visit.

Update in my tank today -

- added another powerhead as per Ameek's recommendation, at half output
- replaced heater with Rena fully submersible one (50w, $18.99 I think, currently on sale at Big Als online).. hidden behind LRs now, out of sight
- added lunar light module (blue LED), I think I need 2 of these.. I ordered one from current-USA, then I did not realize there's one from coralife that includes special mounting for coralife light fixtures.. oh well. I'm going to need the coralife powerbar with reverse light control feature
- finally performed water quality test. This is the result

Ammonia : 0
Nitrite : 0
Nitrate : 5-10ppm
Ph : 8.4
Calcium : 420
Carbonate Hardness : 14dkh
Phospate : 2.0ppm

I guess I'll have to perform few water changes over the next few weeks.. or days...

now i want to keep that arrow crab. Not particularly pretty but very interesting...


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> I know it's a drive for you, but check out reef aquatica (http://www.reefaquatica.com/store/). They have lots of different clowns in stock (they specialize in them, I suppose).
> 
> I intend to get my mis/full bar black ocellaris from there.


Where is this place located? They do not have store location listed, just says east of Toronto.

As long as I can get health ones right away, I'd have no problem driving to east of Toronto on weekends.

Sea-U-Marine also had small ocellaris for $23 each..

Is my tank ready for a fish or two ?? I want to tell myself yes


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## ameekplec.

Nice parameters look pretty good 

Oh man, should I avoid going to Sea U marine??? Should I? Well, I guess I can wait on going.....

Keep up with the WCs 

The phosphate level, have you checked your premixing RO? Are you running a DI filter afterwards? If not, then you may not be eliminating all the silicates and phosphates. This can cause problems (algae) later, so watch out.


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## conix67

I haven't seen a better store for marine species in GTA area. The store is not very large but they had many species I did not see in other places. 

I currently do not have a DI filter, I'll check premixed water parameters tomorrow.

I saw many many tiny little critters running around the rocks today.. Not sure if they are just harmless critters or something to worry about.. 

These guys must have claws or something that makes them stick on the surface of rock or something.. I tried to pull one out using turkey baster but they held onto the rock pretty well..


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## ameekplec.

Those are probably little copepods. Your fish and shrimp and other things will feed on them, and they will eat detritus and other smaller organisms in and around the rock and sand. It's the circle of life


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## conix67

OK. Here's the test results on my RO water from home, and after mixing with Instant Ocean. Not sure if RO water results are accurate, since I only have nitrate/PH tests for freshwater. I used reef test kit for calcium, carbonate, and phosphate tests.

RO water

Nitrate - 0
Ph - 7.0
Calcium - < 20mg
Carbonate - < 1dkh
Phosphate - 0.5 ppm (  not sure if I read it wrong, see below )

Above RO water mixed with Instant Ocean

Ph - 8.4
Calcium - 480mg
Carbonate - 13dkh
Phosphate - 0 ppm ( so looks like RO water reading was not correct )

So overall, my RO water looks OK.


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## conix67

I picked up 5lb of live sand, I liked the sand I had already but sand bed was rather shallow.. didn't think 5lb was enough but I'm satisfied for now.. the tank was very cloudy after adding the sand but it cleared up after few hours (with HOB running)










Also added 2 red legged hermit crabs, 1 blue legged, 2 turbo snails. Blossom warned me the turbo snails may not live long enough, and I witnessed several of these lying on the sandbed unable to get up at Big Als tanks. Well, I took a chance and brought a couple home, so far they've been staying on rocks only. There must be something interesting on them.

Closeup of hermit










The hermits appear to be too large for nano. I should have asked for the little ones.

Here's a picture of new suction cups made out of LEE's airline holder suction cups. They are a little larger and stronger than one that came with the powerhead.










I think I have enough waterflow in the tank. There should not be any dead spots anymore.

Now, I'm posting many of hitchhikers I was able to spot in my tank. Some are identified but some are not, help me figure out what they are.

I found many of these at xtalworld.com Blossom provided.

1) Harmless Colonista Snails or not ?










2) nice but what is this? Some sort of coral?










3) another unknown










4) alive?










5) tiny star fishes, good or bad?










6) Stomatela Varia and tiny frogspawns ??










7) Brittle star legs?










8) tiny snails. Are those eggs on the glass?










9) red algae or something else?










10) lots of pods in one place, one Amphipod and 3 copepods?










11) hitchhiker mushroom










12) mistery leg coming out of a hole..










13) good limpets?










14) hairy stuff. not sure what it is..










15) tiny feather duster










16) hitchhiker brittlestar legs










17) amphipod caught something!


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## conix67

continued from previous post..

18) what is this ??










19) unwanted guy. Aiptasia. All gone now.


----------



## Tabatha

Wow, wow, wow! You have so much interesting and diverse life in your tank, it's awesome! You should have numbered your photos so people could help you id some of your hitchhikers. I could only identify your zoanthid, nice score!


----------



## blossom112

Sponge in a few pictures , but it seems you have named the rest right !!!
Congrats


----------



## conix67

A sponge? The red one? Wow, my son will be so happy. He saw Patrick (starfish) but haven't found Bob (Sponge) yet.


----------



## blossom112

2,4 ,9 look like sponge to me 
18 ,looks like tunacle (s/p)

The red is either sponge or foraminiferans.

14 i know what that is the name escapes me but it is bad i think !(some kind of hydroid)
I get them and take them off .


----------



## quangbui

2
that's mushroom bleaching
and those snails are all harmless
just don't try to eat them
wow there are so much hitchikers where did you these things lol


----------



## conix67

quangbui said:


> 2
> that's mushroom bleaching
> and those snails are all harmless
> just don't try to eat them
> wow there are so much hitchikers where did you these things lol


I believe most of them came from LRs you sold to me 

I think I can just enjoy this tank as is...


----------



## blossom112

I have to say this about your rock ..........
ITS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the good far outweight the bad and you can control the bad fairly easily ,and its so hard to get so many good hitchhickers ..............
I am going to grab a few peices at end of october when hubby rents a car for EOM .......you hear that quang  save me some AWESOME specimens please!
D


----------



## conix67

Got a surface skimmer for $5 off kijiji today. Hooked it up to my HOB and it got rid of all the floating stuff pretty quickly! I'm satisfied and keeping the surface skimmer in this tank.

The new frags from blossom and Tabatha are doing well too. 

Got 2 more Aiptasia. No more in sight. Found more sponges under some rocks. I love these rocks !! These rocks rock !!

I'll be doing water condition testing tomorrow.


----------



## findingnemo

Wow your tank looks so nice. The rockwork is nice.

What camera are you using the quality of the pics are so clear...


----------



## conix67

findingnemo said:


> Wow your tank looks so nice. The rockwork is nice.
> 
> What camera are you using the quality of the pics are so clear...


Hey it will be nothing compared to your 75G... I'd love a tank that large.

I'm using D50, and a magnifying glass attached in front of my lens. I wish I had a true Macro lens, it will be a while before I can find one...


----------



## conix67

blossom112 said:


> 2,4 ,9 look like sponge to me
> 18 ,looks like tunacle (s/p)
> 
> The red is either sponge or foraminiferans.
> 
> 14 i know what that is the name escapes me but it is bad i think !(some kind of hydroid)
> I get them and take them off .


14 doesn't seem to come off easily. This doesn't look like hydroid or coral thing. It looks like some sort of Algae, and some rock piece is growing several of these.

Can someone ID this? Blossom do you have the name you think it is? so I can look it up?


----------



## conix67

Today's water test result

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 420
Carbonate: 12dkh
Phosphate: 0.5ppm

I'm surprised Nitrate went down to 0. It was previously at 2.0ppm before 20% water change few days ago. Could it be because of the additional live sand?

Phosphate level is down as well, it's looking good so far.


----------



## conix67

More hitchhikers discovered today.. I would like to ID unknowns..

1) Unknown hitchhikers found on a frag from Blossom










2) looks like Bristleworm, longest I've seen in this tank










3) looks like Aiptasia or similar kind but not the same kind as ones I've killed










4) White zoaniths? A small colony, seems to be growing up. Althought not clear on this picture, there are at least 4 heads.










5) A colony of little unknown guys. Good or bad?










I probably heard from someone but did not believe it. It is very interesting that you can find new hitchhikers almost everyday. When will this end?


----------



## ameekplec.

Number 5 look like hydroids. Perhaps I am mistaken. They're not very welcome either, like aiptasia.

Full tank shot conix?


----------



## conix67

FTS update. Not much changed, but since there was a request 










I think those little guys Ameek pointed out are hydroids as he described.

I see bristleworms on rocks very often now.

Many people think I don't need to add anything anymore in this tank.

Coraline algae started to spread. All coral frags are alive and seems to be doing fine.


----------



## conix67

OK. I did promise I would bring in a pair of clown fishes this weekend to my son. He got up and began to remind me about it early morning, so I decided to check out Big Als Vaughan, since they also had the regular tent sale event going on.

They had a quite a few in stock. Small juveniles for $29 each. However, I noticed quite a few of them had visible imperfections, some looked sick - had stuff coming out of gills. eek. So I decided to stay away from that tank.

Came home empty handed, and while my son had gone to church, I decided to check out sea-u-marine just before the store closes. I called them up ahead of time, and I was told they had small pair available. They had them in a tank with green tip bubble anemone, and to my surprise both clowns were hosting the small anemone. So, I decided to take the whole team as a package. I was very hopeful that the clowns would host the anemone just like they were in the store.

Here's the picture while being acclimatized.










But once they were introduced, they kinda disappeared.










This is how they were hiding. Behind the nooks I created today.










Soon they were out and made themselves at home in GBTA.










They were hiding in that nook most of the time. I took some pictures when they decided to take a walk(?) around the tank again.



















The rocks were rearranged before the clowns were brought in. I was forced to rearrange because of the two pieces brought in yesterday, green star polyps and ricordea.

Anyway, I'm happy to see these guys in my tank. Finally my tank looks more complete 

Of course, my son couldn't be happier to see them in the tank, finally.

One thing I noticed - Water loss due to evaporation is very significant! I'm losing more than a litre a day.

Now off to water test again.


----------



## KnaveTO

All these tanks are so nice here. Looks great Conix. I have quite a bit to look up and into when I set mine up.


----------



## conix67

Today's water test result

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Ph - 8.2
Calcium - 420
Carbonate - 13dkh
Phosphate - 1.0 ppm

Other than the Phosphate level, other parameters look good.

I was thinking of getting the two spot goby while I was at Sea-u-marine. The only one they had left somehow did not look as good as Ameeks. 

I liked Mandarin Goby but I was warned that he would starve to death in 12G due to lack of food sources. He'd only eat pods in the tank, is this right?

More visits to Sea-U-Marine gave me an impression that I should not even bother looking at Marine animals sold at Big Als at all anymore. Most of them look much healthier and prices are better.

I guess I should consider myself lucky since this store is very close to my workplace. However, I won't be shopping for Marine animals much at all since my tank is almost full now.


----------



## conix67

KnaveTO said:


> All these tanks are so nice here. Looks great Conix. I have quite a bit to look up and into when I set mine up.


Thanks. I'd be very happy if my journal is of any use to you, or anyone here 

I'd like to thank many people here for my success(?) so far. It's been fun and very entertaining experience. However, there are more significant challenges ahead for me - how to make everything in the tank happy and healthy.


----------



## ameekplec.

conix67 said:


> I was thinking of getting the two spot goby while I was at Sea-u-marine. The only one they had left somehow did not look as good as Ameeks.
> 
> I liked Mandarin Goby but I was warned that he would starve to death in 12G due to lack of food sources. He'd only eat pods in the tank, is this right?
> 
> More visits to Sea-U-Marine gave me an impression that I should not even bother looking at Marine animals sold at Big Als at all anymore. Most of them look much healthier and prices are better.
> 
> I guess I should consider myself lucky since this store is very close to my workplace. However, I won't be shopping for Marine animals much at all since my tank is almost full now.


 I think I got a good one. He was trying to munch at stuff, and he was the biggest. And he's healing up nicely, and definietly a character 

I definitely will be making more trips up to Sea U Marine. Very impressed with everything there too. Maybe I'll see you there, like how I bumped into Tabatha and TDF.

The tank looks great, and I love the life that the clowns bring to the tank. I can't wait for my own pair


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> I think I got a good one. He was trying to munch at stuff, and he was the biggest. And he's healing up nicely, and definietly a character
> 
> I definitely will be making more trips up to Sea U Marine. Very impressed with everything there too. Maybe I'll see you there, like how I bumped into Tabatha and TDF.
> 
> The tank looks great, and I love the life that the clowns bring to the tank. I can't wait for my own pair


Yes. The tank appears to be more alive with addition of clowns. I woke up early due to stomach ache.. then I caught this










Definitely they found their home again. I'm happy for them. 

Are these really a pair? Since they seem to be so comfortable together, that seems like a strong possibility (clowns chases another male, don't they?).


----------



## hojimoe

wow, great looking clowns conix, they look great in that tank!


----------



## conix67

hojimoe said:


> wow, great looking clowns conix, they look great in that tank!


Thanks. I feel lucky to have them together with the Anemone they are hosting regularly. Clowns themselves are already very cute, but seeing them cuddle up in that Anemone is really something.


----------



## findingnemo

Mandarine is actually a dragonet. You would require a minimum of 30g and even that is too small from what I have read.

If you are lucky you will find one that eats mysid shrimp, but they mostly eat pods. They can wipe out your tank of pods in a few weeks if not days. So a very large and very established tank would be suitable.

Some people go further and actually have seperate tanks that culture pods for the sole purpose of feeding these fish.

All they do is graze on LR all day... each time they peck at the rock thats one less pod. 

But they are soooo beautiful and I really want one one day. Thats why Ive been reading on them.

HTH


----------



## conix67

Yeah, I did not understand the need for "Refugium" until I ran into this fish.

You've got 75G and LRs from Quang. There shouldn't be a problem in your tank.

It is slowly creeping into my mind - upgrading to a larger tank.

However, I want my next SW tank to be at least 75G, so I can keep Tangs. Or replicate one that was in Dentist's office in Finding Nemo.

I still love my planted tanks and shrimp tanks, but lately I have not been paying much attention to my other tanks...


----------



## findingnemo

Out of all the books and articles I read, when I did my studies prior to started off in saltwater, all recommend to go as big as you can in terms of tank size.

Cuz a smaller tank is a bit more challenging when it comes to water quality and stuff. A simple example is a little more saltmix in a bigger tank would not give as much of an impact in SG than the same amount in a smaller tank... I guess you can say a smaller tank is less forgiving? That and of course you can put more in a bigger tank  

But your tank looks so nice right now. Mine is just rocks and a few small frags here and there lol...


----------



## ameekplec.

conix67 said:


> It is slowly creeping into my mind - upgrading to a larger tank.


Haha, same here. Except it's kicked it's way in and now it's shouting in my head...


----------



## conix67

Yeah, it's a shout. I just don't want to admit it  

Unfortunately, that's where it's going to end. At least for a year or so. Unless my company's stock takes off or there's a big fat bonus.

I've had a salt water tank book (not reef) for a while, and it strongly recommends starting with a minimum 40G tank. That was one of the reasons I did not have a SW tank until now. When people in this forum started having success with nano, I decided to take a plunge. I also blame Blossom for having a complete package available.

I think I'm learning even with this nano. Although I'm frustrated with the limitations of nano reef, it's been fun and rewarding so far.

Currently I'm seriously considering building an Automatic Top Off system for this tank. The water loss due to evaporation is significant, and it's difficult to keep up with top-offs twice a day. Even then, I'm introducing significant fluctuation in salinity level, which is considered a really bad thing.

Anyway, there's a lot of advantages in nano as well - cost (LRs, LS), water/salt, no extra equipment (refuge, skimmer, etc), easy to rescape, easy to relocate, etc. I think it's a good learning experience to be more successful with a bigger tank later on.


----------



## findingnemo

I have created a DIY water top off. If you need help let me know.


----------



## conix67

I have turned off the second water pump, leaving only Koralia Nano running. I think the water circulation is sufficient with the Nano alone. 

My son fed clowns today. He threw some bits of omega flake food. Clowns are very shy or feel insecure away from the GBTA. They would dart toward the flakes when they get near them but immediately they would retreat, most of the time not successful in capturing a piece. My son enjoyed clown feeding for a while, it was entertaining to watch these little guys.

My cleaner shrimp went nuts of the flakes. He almost got sucked into Koralia Nano while trying to capture some flakes floating on the surface. 

Also, when I put my hands in the tank (to take care of one of the mushrooms irritated by green star polyps), the shrimp started picking at my hand. He's not afraid of my hand.


----------



## conix67

findingnemo said:


> I have created a DIY water top off. If you need help let me know.


I was thinking of ordering DIY kit which includes float switches, relays, power adapter, etc. not including reservoir or a pump.

Did you use off-the-shelf components from electronics and hardware stores?

Maybe you can show me your tank. I can bring starbucks coffee if you'd like


----------



## findingnemo

Hehe my tank is nowhere near ready for an audience  

But

here is some info on DIY Auto topoff

http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

Of course there are other ways (some more complex than others) but ya..


----------



## conix67

My frogspawn frag must be growing? Looks like budding?










That guide builds ATO to the sump system. I don't have that setup..


----------



## findingnemo

Hmm, 



The basic idea is you need some kind of mechanism to detect that you water is low. (float switch)

You can take his concepts and instead of putting in the sump have the switch goto your nano.


Cool your frogspawns are spawning...


----------



## conix67

findingnemo said:


> Hmm,
> 
> The basic idea is you need some kind of mechanism to detect that you water is low. (float switch)
> 
> You can take his concepts and instead of putting in the sump have the switch goto your nano.
> 
> Cool your frogspawns are spawning...


Yes, but his design for float switch holder isn't as pleasing to my eye as it can be, meaning if I had put it into the display tank, the whole setup would look ugly..

I do understand the float switch is used to detect water level and run pump to fill RO water.


----------



## findingnemo

Hmm,

Isn't there separate compartment in the back of your tank?

I was thinking you put the switch in the compartment in the back of your tank. If you dont have one what you can actually do is take the lid/cap of a hairspray/moose can (pick a color that blends with the tank) and put it over the switch.

This does two things.

1) people dont see the switch as well.
2) it stops water and other objects from disturbing the switch.



http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc06243no8.jpg

you can get a cap that is like purple so it blends with the live rock. (like one from thermasilk)

then hide it in the top left/right corner... The switch holder doesn't have to span across you tank. It can be vertical like mine.

Just a thought. Saves you money than spending it on a package.


----------



## findingnemo

Conix, what is the name of that coral you have in the middle of your tank that looks like grass waving back and forth?


----------



## conix67

Yeah my tank is nano and there's no compartment in the back. I guess some all-in-one packages do have a refugium in the back or something similar, but not this one. Pretty much anything you add will be seen, so you want to be a little careful about how it looks  

I think I can put one switch at one corner of the tank.

The one in the middle, and top right and bottom are all the same, green star polyps. 

I moved some mushrooms, one was getting irritated by green star polyps and two were getting stung by Anemone.


----------



## findingnemo

post #72 the last pic right smack in the middle. Looks like long grass...

That one.


----------



## conix67

Yeah that's the green star polyps. I have them in 3 places. They all look very different


----------



## conix67

Water test results of today :

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.2
Calcium - 420
Carbonate - 13dkh
Phosphate - 0.5ppm

All parameters stable, I fed corals about 3 times since last water change, so this looks good so far.

Not sure how to get Phosphate down to 0.


----------



## microvision

You have a nice little set-up there...I'd like to see more pics. 
I'm not sure if anyone else has commented on this, but if not. The last of the first pictures you posted shows a "little critter" that you found in your live rock, it is an Aiptasia Anemone. They are pests in the aquarium they sting fish and coral, and they multiply like crazy. If you want to kill them you can use a concentrated solution of Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide). Some fish will also eat them.


----------



## conix67

microvision said:


> You have a nice little set-up there...I'd like to see more pics.
> I'm not sure if anyone else has commented on this, but if not. The last of the first pictures you posted shows a "little critter" that you found in your live rock, it is an Aiptasia Anemone. They are pests in the aquarium they sting fish and coral, and they multiply like crazy. If you want to kill them you can use a concentrated solution of Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide). Some fish will also eat them.


Yes I had some Aiptasias and I took care of all I could find with Aiptasia-X. I haven't seen one last two weeks.

I've posted many pictures. Let me know if you'd like to see more...


----------



## conix67

My GBTA eating shrimp bits... I can't tell if something is wrong with my GBTA. Some tentacles tips look odd, but they've been that way since day one..










GBTA digesting food.










GBTA after feeding. Watch those tentacles funny tips, now visible.










I've added Chaetos in the main tank, since there's no refugium.

I also caught this. Clowns chewing Anemone tentacles. Is this normal?










Now, changes in the tank. Carnation tree coral frag apperas to be growing, base splitting.










Coraline algae spreading to sand. Nice.










Odd looking thingy. I believe this is some sort of sponge, it's been growing slowly and now has a hole in the middle.










I think this is a spionid.










Mystery hitchhiker. doesn't look like an aiptasia.










Hitchhiker white zoanthid(?) spreading.










Mandarin goby with ich. currently in QT tank.










FTS of today. Notice several changes since last FTS shot.


----------



## findingnemo

Cool did you buy the ausie dendro frag from ameekplec?


----------



## ameekplec.

findingnemo said:


> Cool did you buy the ausie dendro frag from ameekplec?


 Yep  I like them a lot...nice and plump and great polyp extension.


----------



## conix67

findingnemo said:


> Cool did you buy the ausie dendro frag from ameekplec?


Yes, I purchased several frags from Ameekplec. All very nice and doing well so far. 

My tank is so small, and had hard time looking for places to put the frags.


----------



## conix67

I think I have an answer to the odd looking tentacles in my GBTA. They must be damaged tentacles.

They are most likely bitten off by my clowns, as you can see clowns chewing on the tentacles in one of the pictures.

I did not realize clowns can be hard on hosting anemone. I thought they are always happier together.

Anyway, I hope clowns are not trying to look at the anemone tentacles as food bits. I'll try to feed clowns a little more. These guys accept flake food very well.

Other than the damaged tentacles, my GBTA looks healthy.


----------



## aaronc

im not sure but i have seen that with my set of clowns and anemone i had a while ago, it should be that it is "cleaning" the damanged tissue on the tentacles.


----------



## conix67

10/16/08 update

Salt water testing takes more time than FW and produces more color. Test tubes after testing.










I wanted to share this. Coral frag relocating by itself. How does this work? At some point I thought he was dying, he seemed to have fallen face down on the rock, so I tried to grab it up but didn't work.










Condition of my Anemone. Lost tentacles or just short?










today's water test result
Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate - 0/0/0
Ph - 8.2
Calcium - 420
carbonate - 13dkh
phosphate - 0.5

All looks stable, even after days of relatively heavy feeding.


----------



## Ciddian

I have had Xenia do that... I heard of mushrooms comming off and floating about. lol

<3


----------



## conix67

Couple of weeks passed by without updates. Really there's not much to update, there are no significant changes in the tank, which is a good thing but there are some changes. Here's summary of what's happened past 2 weeks.


Anemone was moved to its own quarantine tank, left there for about 2 weeks as I was afraid of it dying but it appears it's fine, just changed tentacle shape a lot (very short now) but it doesn't eat well (probably no need for frequent feeding). It's back in the tank with clowns now, just don't have enough time to maintain two SW tanks.
Ricordea mushrooms are all not doing well at all, except the one from Ameek. I think they are dying.
Carnation frag is growing, one of them completed a split few days ago. This frag also shows it has moved its position after it was mounted on a LR.
Purple coraline alge is spreading rapidly.
Lots of cope/amphipods are growing inside the Chaeto basket.
Water parameters are steady. Almost no need for frequent water testing, as the results are almost identical all the time.

Here's current FTS.. followed by random shots of interesting things/happenings.










Ricordea in trouble..










Do you see a large chunk of meat this shrimp is holding? It's the body of a STOMATELLA VARIA. You see it on the other picture below. It was taken off from glass by the shrimp. I didn't know exactly what the shrimp was trying to do, but the STOMATELLA VARIA cut itself off and ran away.



















I see tons of these little guys. Spirorbid Worms.










Carnation frag splitting. Also take a look at the spot where this frag was mounted at originally. I don't know how they reposition themselves just like where they are now.










Now, even after I returned the GBTA back in this tank, clowns began hosting the Green Star Polyps.


----------



## Ciddian

wonderful photos!

Geese i hope your ricordia makes it...

You guys and your updates. LOL I havent added much new to my tank in forever. I should soon!


----------



## conix67

Unfortunately Ricordeas look worse, althought their color is better  

On that rock I think I see lots of light-green sponges growing. The Ricordeas are shrinking by comparison, but colors have changed (bright green from dark brown).


----------



## conix67

I don't have much update, but today I added something new - a SPS coral. I don't know the name of this one, I still need to look it up 

I went to Sea-U-Marine today to ask Ken about my Anemone's condition, and was going to look for the popular sexy shrimp. Well, Sea-U-Marine never carries them for some reason. I began to look over the coral section, then I walked out of the store with a SPS coral Ken recommended.










Ken recommended it for its color when I asked him about SPS corals. There is a little acrocrab in it but he's very shy.

So here's today's FTS with my first SPS coral in it.










I also saw bright green BTA I liked very much. I'm not getting a new BTA until the current one dies or I get a new larger tank, so my clowns will have to live with tentacleless GBTA for a while.

Here's the coral frag from Blossom spreading. You can see they are branching off, separating bases and one of them have moved off to a bigger LR from the rubble it was on. Quite interesting.










Lastly, I need to ID this green stuff all over my GSP rock and ricordea rock. I thought it was just a sponge, harmless, but wanted to make sure.


----------



## Ciddian

Oohhh nice update! 

I am of no help IDing that yellow stuff but it is interesting...


----------



## UnderTheSea

Very nice pics


----------



## KnaveTO

Nice pic-ups there and pics too!


----------



## blossom112

Oh yes i only gave you the smallest peice and WOW ......... but you should see my tank they are everywhere now , i will have to give some away soon !
Wtg tank looks awesome!


----------



## conix67

Since my Anemone lost all its tentacles, I thought I'd add another to give my clowns a new home, so I picked up this bright florescent green BTA.










However, this guy is a wanderer. He likes to stay away from light, so he likes to stay in the back rather than where I want it to be 










Anyway, on last sunday I visited Big Als Vaughan. They finally added coral display tank with racks, rather than a big tank with corals scattered all over the place. It looks much cleaner and nicer.

While browsing through the tanks, I noticed this fish with an odd home and wild looking ricordea, so I picked them up together..










Here's how the tank looks like now










Notice the new Anemone is nowhere to be seen. It's actually in the back of the rocks, in the middle of the tank. Hopefully someday it will come out and make itself home at where it should be.

Changes since last update :

* florescent green BTA added
* added 3 bumble bee snails
* added a red star fish
* one turbo snail died, not unexpected though. Bumble bee snacking on this guy.
* a tiny head forming up on Dendro
* two new heads coming out on Duncan coral


----------



## blossom112

AWESOME tank !!!!!!!!!!!!!
You did a great job !!!!


----------



## conix67

Thanks Blossom. Your stuff got me off to a quick start and I appreciate the advices that helped me to get through this far without major problems.

Anyway, here's an update with lots of photos of frags purchased yesterday.

fragalot.ca had a boxing week special of frags, so I decided to take a look in person (located in Guelph). Came back with enough frags to overflow my tank.










Pictures of frags, most are SPS frags. This was a great chance to try out the SPS frags, since the frags were offered at very good prices ($10 per frag). Fragsalot had lots of variety, which made it difficult decide what to pick.



































































































































































FTS










My wife tells me it looks like a bunch of tombstones (/w white frag plugs)


----------



## conix67

A couple of more pictures for update -

Picture of my new Anemone, appears to have settled down now, fully open. Its body is hidden behind rocks, and tenticles disappear from sight completely when there's enough light.










Also, I got a good look at my Acrocrab.










I lost one hermit crab. Its body was out dead. Not sure what happened. So I got a couple of blue knuckle hermit crabs from fragalot.ca. They are pretty but very large!

My weekly maintenance and feeding -

half cube of frozen mysis shrimp and frozen brine shrimp - twice a week
Kent phytoplankton - twice a week together with above, 5-6 drops
Kent microvert - once a week
Water change - 15-20% once a week, Instant Ocean salt mix with RO water, salinity 1.025
Water top-off - daily about a litre /w RO water
Reef complete - 5ml with water change (once a week)
Omega Gold flake food - for fishes, once a day
filter floss in HOB filter - replace with water change


----------



## blossom112

great job ...
Im jelous on the frags ..........they are beautifull !!!!
your going to need a bigger tanks lol..........


----------



## conix67

I do like new frags a lot. They are all very nice, nicer than I expected.

I've been thinking of another twin setup (46G FW + another 46G SW), however sump makes it complicated.

I should visit BA's on boxing day and pick up few things for the new tank. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for next boxing day for a new tank...

How's BA's on boxing days? Crowded?


----------



## hojimoe

I agree, you need another tank now, looking great though!

I need frags, after xmas, boxing day is my frag day! any money I get it going to colonies/frags


----------



## ameekplec.

Nice pickups Yuri!! All the frags look great! Are you going to upgrade lighting now that you have all these SPS frags?


----------



## Sunstar

Okay, a few questions, I am a non salty... well a brackishy perhaps... I was wanting to know what do you do with frag on thier little tombstone markers. it doesn't really fit in with the rock types so do you move them off eventually or leave them on. How does one work with them. 

You have a smokin' tank, I tell you that. makes me want to start up... I need a bigger house.

Those frags just look marvelous.


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Nice pickups Yuri!! All the frags look great! Are you going to upgrade lighting now that you have all these SPS frags?


Well if it is necessary I might consider upgrading lighting. Currently I'm using 2x18w T5HO, the same fixture you have in your sump. It appears to be OK for now, all new coral frags appear to be happy.

I'd rather spend $$$ on my next tank though, including lighting...


----------



## conix67

Sunstar said:


> Okay, a few questions, I am a non salty... well a brackishy perhaps... I was wanting to know what do you do with frag on thier little tombstone markers. it doesn't really fit in with the rock types so do you move them off eventually or leave them on. How does one work with them.
> 
> You have a smokin' tank, I tell you that. makes me want to start up... I need a bigger house.
> 
> Those frags just look marvelous.


Yeah.. these frags are really nice, I love them. I think I'm on my way to slowly understand why Ameek's so into SPS corals.

I'm not ready to permanently mount these little frags to any rocks yet, so they'll be sitting on those frag plugs for a while. They are white, but I expect them to pick up some coraline algae and blend into the existing rocks better in few weeks. In the mean time I'll just leave them where they are. My tank is turning into a frag grow out tank.

Remember, this is still a 12G nano tank. You don't need a bigger house for that! 

However, I must admit, SW tank can get pricey, especially when it comes to coral/fish purchases. That's why I couldn't pass up on this boxing week special on nice frags.

Everyone visiting my house loves my nano tank. While there's no comparison to Ameek's little 10G reef wall, it does look quite decent. I'd like to thank everyone in this forum for my success so far. Merry Christmas everyone!


----------



## Sunstar

Its not the size of tank that is my concern, just the amount of tanks. I have 6 running and a hospital tank then various bowls.

So the coral will eventually grow over the plugs? Is that how it works?


----------



## conix67

Yes they will grow on the plugs, however the plug should be mounted on a bigger rock with glue or putty. This can only be done if you're fairly certain about your rockscaping. Right now I'm not, since I know my tank is now overcrowded I may not be able to find a suitable place for all frags until I move to a bigger tank.

Some soft corals they will move off of the plugs when placed next to other rocks. I've seen this occur on Xenia type of frag Blossom provided early on. To me this was a very fascinating observation, I've never seen anything like that before.


----------



## blossom112

lol i know what you mean , that same one spread to my front glass and took up the middle part of the tank glass .
funny when they do that .
now im woundering do i give it away or glue to rock cause i know it will be everywhere in no time .


----------



## Tabatha

The great thing about Xenia is, it doesn't sting other corals, it is however, invasive. Personally, I like it. If you do want it in your tank and don't want it to take over, it's probably a good idea to keep an island but this isn't always fool proof. I had a xenia which "melted" only to find small colonies pop up all over my tank. I don't mind, I quite like them.


----------



## hojimoe

if you don't want it, I'll take it lol


----------



## blossom112

sure i have tons lolol
whenever your this way gimme a holler 
anyone of you lol
but you cant have the blue tinged ones that dont seem to spread lol


----------



## conix67

Went to BA's today and picked up a clam. All clams were half price. 

Now question to Blossom, what should I watch out for? Can I place it close to other corals

I found the hermit crab I thought was dead. Funny how real the hermit molts look, I thought it was a dead body.

Also picked up two new small hermits and florida turbo snails ($1 each all) and a sexy shrimp (why is it called anemone shrimp?). I've been looking around for the sexy shrimp for a while, almost missed it at big Als as they normally don't have them and they are small.

So my tank now has a large group of clean up crews - 7 hermits, 8 snails.

I was debating whether or not to pick up a pail of reef crystals. Since I have more than once pail of instant ocean salt mix which will last more than a year for my nano reef, I decided to wait till next boxing week sale  Until then I'll be keep using instant ocean plus reef complete.

I plan to keep it simple and cheap. Will not consider other additives until I see obvious signs of lack of certain component.


----------



## blossom112

Clam should be fine just watch it for movement , some of them can move and knock everything around .
I use cyclopeeze but since i got golden pearls from UTC i havent used it 
cyclopeeze cost me 30 bucks and hard to find 
golden pearls 10 from UTC .
so if you dont have any get it my clam loves it I find mine stays open more with it .
if it has a foot dont take it off ,if it dont have a foot and becomes attached to a rock do not pull it off you will kill it for sure .
chances are it will attach to a rock so pick a smaller rock to place it on and hope it dont move lol
its funny to watch a clam move .or put it right on the sandbed .


congrats on your new stuff wheres the pics???


----------



## conix67

Here's my new blue knuckle hermit crab










And here's my new Tridacna Crocea clam from BA's


----------



## conix67

I just found my new sexy shrimp hanging out with its new friend.










I guess the sexy shrimp does have a symbiotic relationship with an anemone - BA's calls it "Sexy Anemone Shrimp".

I might pick up another one tomorrow.


----------



## ameekplec.

Anemone shrimp need to be kept in odd numbers. Get two more.

Also, I'd watch your kH and Ca very carefully the next few weeks. With the addition of all the SPS frags and the clam, it's likely that your Ca and kH will be used up very fast in your small system. After I added 8 frags, within a week of getting established, in my 10g system, I was losing 20 ppm Ca and 1 dKh of alkalinity a day. 

I saw two really nice clams at BA a while ago. I'm holding out for a while, but nice pick-ups Yuri!


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Anemone shrimp need to be kept in odd numbers. Get two more.
> 
> Also, I'd watch your kH and Ca very carefully the next few weeks. With the addition of all the SPS frags and the clam, it's likely that your Ca and kH will be used up very fast in your small system. After I added 8 frags, within a week of getting established, in my 10g system, I was losing 20 ppm Ca and 1 dKh of alkalinity a day.
> 
> I saw two really nice clams at BA a while ago. I'm holding out for a while, but nice pick-ups Yuri!


Hmm.. This makes sense. Now that tells me I'd better pick up a pail of Reef Crystals salt and stop using Instant Ocean. I should start monitoring water parameters frequently.

I've never had my tank's Ca level below 400ppm, I will take a look tomorrow before water change. Thanks for the warning!


----------



## Ciddian

awee I just love the new hermits. Adorable


----------



## conix67

Ciddian said:


> awee I just love the new hermits. Adorable


Yeah these guys look pretty cute. However, I think they grow very large. I did not realize I got blue knuckles, I was just trying to find a couple of hermits.

Yesterday I went back to BA's and got two more sexy shrimps.

Also, I picked up lettuce nudibranch hoping for better control of unwanted algaes (since I added few things recently), but it was cut in half shortly after.


----------



## pat3612

Wow thats awesome. Must have been a lot of work but it sure paid off. I cant wait till I save enough up for a marine tank.ps The puffers are doing really well.


----------



## Sunstar

The colours are just unbelieveable. That's something I enjoy, colours. Bright vibrant life colours.


----------



## conix67

Thanks everyone for comments! It's been a while without an update, so here it goes.

* lost the florescent green bubble tip anemone  Not sure the exact cause but this one didn't lose any tentacles like the GBTA I lost before. However, one thing you can certain is that if a BTA begin to move frantically after settling down at a spot for a while, it means it's in trouble, likely dying soon.

I'm suspecting I don't have enough water volume to keep the water parameters steady. One reefer I met a while ago insisted on having a minimum 40G tank to keep a BTA. Now I believe her.

* everything else pretty much hasn't changed much at all. There's some growth evident on bird's nest frag, but can't tell if other frags are growing too yet. A couple of them aren't doing very well, so I decided to add the wave maker attachment for my power head.

* with absence of GBTA my clowns were hosting, they began hosting the Aussie Duncan corals.



















Full tank shot










Need to clean glass frequently, some coraline algae began to grow on front glass too. I'm going to need a good scraper, any recommendations? The "pro scraper" big als carry seems overpriced. Looking for an alternative.


----------



## hojimoe

looking good conix! A good scraper sadly is just a razor blade with a blade holder - from canadian tire

something like this : http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/p...4443277287&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

or a smaller one, but I can't find it online - I have a yellow one, made by mastercraft


----------



## conix67

I picked up Richard's scraper that uses razor blade today. I need it to have a long handle so I don't have to get my hands wet just to scrape algae stuff off. I'll be drilling extra hole and attache the scraper to a scrap aluminum rail. I'll see how things go.

Thanks for the tip by the way!


----------



## pat3612

Looking good love your nemos .


----------



## conix67

Yeah, I'm grateful these guys are staying healthy in there. My son loves them!

Here's my new scraper. Works well so far!


----------



## conix67

Today I found my clowns hosting Ricordia.



















Poor guys need an Anemone 

My Blenny's belly appear to be bloated but he appears to be healthy. What could it be ??


----------



## Ciddian

He's full of happy.. :3

LOL Yay those ricorida look great!


----------



## Tabatha

The best anemone I got was from a local reefer who's anemone split. Super healthy and robust! The other 2 I received were from the wild.


----------



## conix67

It's good to hear that Anemone is doing well! How's others doing? Anyone splitting yet?  

I almost had a disaster last night. After feeding corals/fishes, I forgot to turn things back on, and heaters and fans were off overnight, for about ~9 hours.

The temperature was down to 72F, but things didn't look too bad. Clowns were breathing rather heavily before I left home. I hope I didn't lose anything over this. This never occurred to me before, stupid me!


----------



## ameekplec.

Oh, I hope everything is ok!

I usually leave everything on. Better let them swim after their dinner


----------



## ecoleshill

conix67 said:


> It's good to hear that Anemone is doing well! How's others doing? Anyone splitting yet?
> 
> I almost had a disaster last night. After feeding corals/fishes, I forgot to turn things back on, and heaters and fans were off overnight, for about ~9 hours.
> 
> The temperature was down to 72F, but things didn't look too bad. Clowns were breathing rather heavily before I left home. I hope I didn't lose anything over this. This never occurred to me before, stupid me!


Is it better to turn off your filters during feeding?


----------



## ameekplec.

It gives things that don't feed quickly a good chance to grab things, like LPS corals and slower fish. IMO, they really shouldn't need the help though.

Really though you should only turn off your circulation, not the filtration (sump or HOB) flow.


----------



## hojimoe

yeah sometimes, if I noticed a coral is lacking in feedings, I will turn off the circ pumps, so everything but my return line... usually that's enough, only once to help a suffering coral did I turn it all off...most of the time, everything stays going... except for golden pearlies lol, darn floating food!


----------



## ameekplec.

I soak the golden pearls for 5 minutes or so. My jawfish both love nabbing them out of the water as they zoom by.


----------



## conix67

I need to get some of these golden pearls.


----------



## conix67

Got some golden pearl samples! Now I need to see how my corals react to it, thanks Hojimoe!

Updates :
- still can't get phosphate level down below 0.5ppm, Ameek suggested Phosban and got it last weekend, measured Phosphate level after 2 days of use, and I think it's already down
- ATO added, the floater switches are little too large for nano, I'll see how things go
- one of the acro frag RTNed, lost for good
- my acro colony also showing some sign or RTNing, not good, pictures to follow
- the rest of inhabitants appear to be fine
- added hairy mushrooms, one green tip and two purple tip 
- added RBTA ! a small one but appear to be healthier than previous BTAs

pictures:

Green tip hairy mushroom close up










Blenny close up










RBTA, I think it doesn't like light much either. No bubble tips yet.










ATO, two large ugly white containers (snail/starfish guard). Water pump is the cheap aqualifter from Big Als. Works pretty well for ATO though, quiet with water in it, and flow rate is low










Purple tip hairy mushroom visible. You can also see blue knuckle hermit crab, RBTA, etc.










One of the clowns posing for photo beside blossom's xenia frag.










My acro colony, watch the lower middle part where the pale green color showing up, suspected RTN.










FTS before ATO was added










Plans:

Water quality improvement, espeically phosphate level. If it takes more frequent water change, I'll try water change every 3-4 days for a while, instead of current schedule of once a week,

Lighting system upgrade - trying to find a second hand unit.


----------



## ameekplec.

Conix, check for flatworms and nudis on your acros and montis respectively. That monti cap looks like it might be being eaten by monti eating nudis. 

Other than that, the softies and LPS are looking great! Hope this BTA works out for you.


----------



## pat3612

Great tank Conix great photos too.


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Conix, check for flatworms and nudis on your acros and montis respectively. That monti cap looks like it might be being eaten by monti eating nudis.
> 
> Other than that, the softies and LPS are looking great! Hope this BTA works out for you.


The monti cap was a piece that was broken off from mother colony by mistake when the owner was moving in and out all corals in his tank. It doesn't look very good now but I'm hoping it would recover soon.

I do not know how to check for nudis or flatworms. Are they microscopic or visible to human eye? I observe these carefully all the time and I haven't seen anything yet.

What do you think about my suspect RTN on Acro colony?

Yeah, this BTA is good so far (only few days in my tank). Clowns began hosting it today  I hope this one stays healthy.


----------



## conix67

pat3612 said:


> Great tank Conix great photos too.


Thanks. I wish I had a Macro lens though


----------



## blossom112

The flat worms are hard to spot ..... heres what you can try .
turn on the lights after at least 2 hours after they were out and look on the glass see if you see anything moving ...
Different types flatworms , and some are next to impossible , I had some purple and white and looked like coraline , some are clear with green ,red orange (one of those colors ) in the middle .
Some that are on rock are oval shape and seem to take the color of the rock (sneaky little buggers)
next to impossible to spot !
Best thing really is to do a flat worm exit dip and see if any come off !
1x a month or 2 I do a flat worm exit dip sometimes longer as flatworm exit is expensive and hard to find .
when you look in the dark use a LED light I find they are easier to spot with that light as opposed to the regular flashlight.

I think it is a great idea waterchange 2x week ... Thats what I do in my smaller SW tanks and it only takes me 10 min  
Good luck ... if you want to borrow my flat worm exit b4 you go buy some gimme a shout you know where I live! it only takes a drop or 2 but I wouldnt do the whole tank !

p.s I have dipped my monti and its fine !


----------



## conix67

Thanks, I'll watch out for those baddies, and if I do spot them I'll have to treat the monti.

Unfortunately, it does take some time for me to change water. This is what I do, nothing special though

1. collect enough RO water (~3Gal)
2. raise temperature to 80F (I leave the heater in for 1 hour)
3. mix with salt, stir with fish net (I found this works a lot better than using a powerhead), ensure salinity level is correct (may need to add salt/water to hit the target of 1.026)
4. Let stand for a while (~15min or so) to remove bubbles created by stirring, check salinity again
5. Once the salt water is ready, the rest is more straightforward. Siphon out tank water, then slowly pour in fresh salt water.
6. change filter floss, wash off carbon pack, etc

I also blast LRs with turkey baster few hours before changing water, so that detrious will get captured by the filter floss which gets replaced during water change.

The time consuming part is to prepare the salt water.


----------



## ameekplec.

For montipora eating nudis, look at the dead parts of the monti cap and see if you see tiny white tufts, especially active at night. Clos up, you're looking at something like this:









Close up, isolated:



























For damage from acropora eating flatworms, look for damage that looks like this (this is a frag I recently received - never even made it near my system  ):










And their eggs looks something like above the arrows - yellow blotches of eggs:


----------



## blossom112

Awesome pictures!!!!!!!!!


----------



## conix67

I've seen some of these pictures before  

Well, I spent some time looking for these yesterday. I haven't seen any, RTN on my acro is spreading but slowly.

How big are these monti eating nudis? I'm usually able to see anything over 1mm long using magnifying glass.


----------



## Tabatha

Are you 2 part dosing? (Sorry, I can't remember.) 

If not, you should, it did wonders for our one and only sps which was almost dead! It actually began to regenerate and spread over the dead part again, can't wait to see the colour come back when we put it in the new tank under MH lighting!!


----------



## conix67

No, I'm not dosing anything specificially for SPS. I remember you talking about it before, but I don't recall the details. What exactly is the 2 part dosing?


----------



## Tabatha

At work I'm using Kent Marine Part A and B, got both for $5.00 after Boxing Day!!! At home on the larger tank, we're using Bulk Reef Supply's 2 part kit with an automatic doser. Although the initial cash outlay for this kit is a little expensive, it lasts b/c you use so little.


----------



## conix67

Thanks, I should try the Kent one first.

Do you purchase from bulk reef supply regularly? How's the shipping and other costs?


----------



## Tabatha

I can't remember how much it was, the CAD$ was on par at the time. Get yourself a magnesium test as well, if you don't already have one.


----------



## conix67

Will look into ordering from reefsupply when I move to a larger tank.

Now, I'm planning fragging my Acro colonly to stop RTN from spreading. I have two problems.

1. I'll end up with 3-4 frags at least, I don't have enough LR rubbles or frag plugs, where's a good place to find these?
2. my little acro crab will lose its home. What can I do about it? I certainly don't want to lose it, as it was one of the reasons for purchasing that acro colony in the first place.


----------



## ameekplec.

LR rubble you can probably get at any store for really cheap. I bought a rock to smash it to pieces for rubble for mounting frags.

As for the acro crab, it will probably die without a host. I'd love to take it as I need one for one of my sps colonies.


----------



## ameekplec.

Tabatha said:


> I can't remember how much it was, the CAD$ was on par at the time. Get yourself a magnesium test as well, if you don't already have one.


Sea U Marine has 10% off all of their Salifert test kits right now.


----------



## conix67

I've not been to Sea-U-Marine for a while. I guess I should pick up a magnesium test.

While looking through classified ads on aquairumpros.ca, I came across a bunch of ads from my neighbor (literally walking distance). I went there tonight and picked up some zoas.

Green zoas.










Teal zoas from top, on my favorite LR, encrusted with red/pink/white coraline algae.










Called pink paly, pink centered polyps. Nice color.










Also picked up a tricolor acro frag. It doesn't look too interesting at the moment, so there's no picture of it.

Some more pictures - purple tipped hairy mushroom from last week, this is one mushroom, quite large.










Now, another picture of my clown.


----------



## ameekplec.

Conix, got a higher res pic of the clown? I love it. It's my desktop now  Looks like the RBTA is doing well.

Nice pick ups! I wish I knew someone walking distance from here to get frags from.


----------



## Tabatha

conix67 said:


>


Can I have a hi-rez copy of this photo too?


----------



## conix67

OK. Here it is for those who have requested full size image.

http://picasaweb.google.com/conix67/12GNanoReef?feat=email#

It's not quite the full size, but I haven't found a way to upload full size image. Please send me your email address, I'll send you the full size image.

I also like this photo a lot, but I wish it were a little sharper


----------



## Ciddian

OOhh I do love the new additions.. How awesome of that guy to be so close! 

Ya, i've even hand picked out my rubble before from al's. The one in Whitby i think it was. I was with tabatha at the time too


----------



## conix67

Ciddian said:


> OOhh I do love the new additions.. How awesome of that guy to be so close!
> 
> Ya, i've even hand picked out my rubble before from al's. The one in Whitby i think it was. I was with tabatha at the time too


I didn't know big als also sells LR rubbles. I know they sell variety of stones.

I still haven't decided if I should frag my acro. I've been watching carefully and I cannot really see the tissues falling off, and the current rate of bleach definitely indicate it's not RTN, so it must be either STN or just bleaching (losing zooxanthella). As long as I don't see skin/tissue falling off, it would be fine I hope.

I'm actively looking for an inexpensive way to upgrade lighting. Although it's a nano, I think 36W of T5HO may not be sufficient for SPS. I'm thinking of getting cheap 175MH second hand and retrofit it.

However, I'm seeing signs of things improving. At least a couple of SPS frags that lost original color are slowly regaining the lost color.

I'm not sure which one of Phosban or golden pearls is the main contributer. They were introduced almost at the same time.


----------



## ameekplec.

Look into the retro. I see a few good deals on Canadian sites, and some CRAZY deals on Reefcentral time to time (Like a full 8mo old Giesemann Nova II 250w HQI setup for $250USD).

With the STN, you might notice it recede from week to week. I had a frag that started to STN, and it was slow, but noticeable every few days. Didn't see any flesh coming off though. But a good sign that they seem to have stabilized


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Look into the retro. I see a few good deals on Canadian sites, and some CRAZY deals on Reefcentral time to time (Like a full 8mo old Giesemann Nova II 250w HQI setup for $250USD).
> 
> With the STN, you might notice it recede from week to week. I had a frag that started to STN, and it was slow, but noticeable every few days. Didn't see any flesh coming off though. But a good sign that they seem to have stabilized


Yeah, I've been looking through everywhere last few days, but I missed possibly the best deal there could be! 175MH retro kit with almost new bulb for $125.

Other deals I'm working on is 24" sunpod for $170 + shipping from US. This guy hasn't responded for few days though. It's always difficult to get sellers in US to ship to Canada.

I'm also considering other deals, there's a person in Hamilton selling 250W unit for $250, complete with external ballast, PC actinics, led moonlights, etc but it's 36" unit. Might be a good one for 65G tall or 46G, but way too large for my nano.

I'm also considering smaller units, something like 70w, should be enough for 12G I think.


----------



## ameekplec.

I've seen some great deals for Viper K2 clamp ons (70 or 150W) over at nanoreef.com too. But their classifieds are usually jumped on way faster than at RC.


----------



## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> I've seen some great deals for Viper K2 clamp ons (70 or 150W) over at nanoreef.com too. But their classifieds are usually jumped on way faster than at RC.


I almost had a Sunpod shipped from US but gave up, partially due to the current state of Canadian dollars.

I'm getting a coralife tank mount 150W MH instead.


----------



## conix67

I've looked around for sign of worms/monti eating nudis but couldn't find any. However, it shows a sign of progress rather well, here's a picture a week and half ago and now.

Feb 22










Mar 2










The white patches are disappearing quickly, and the edges being encrusted nicely.

Just like the owner said. Montipro Capricornis must be really hardy and easy to take care of, since it is doing well in my tank! 

Finally got Magnesium test (from Sea-U-Marine) today. Here's my water test result

Calcium - 460 ppm
Ph - 8.0 to 8.2
Phosphate - 0
Magnesium - 1380 ppm

Phosphate level is finally at 0 ppm. It was never below 0.5ppm until Phosban was added. It must be really working!

Both Calcium and Magnesium levels look fine. I'm dosing Reef Complete in between water changes.

My RBTA has been walking around every day looking for a better place to settle down at. It's doing OK so far, but I'm worried that it might be not happy in there.

Frags recently aquired are doing well, I really like them. My tank has turned into a frag display/growout tank but I'm enjoying it very much.


----------



## ameekplec.

Wow, looking good. Yeah, those white blotches were what prompted me to suspect monti eating nudis, but looks like it's all healed up!

That clam is looking good. I need a clam. 

Everything is going to colour up so much with that MH. Hope you're getting a good deal on it!


----------



## blossom112

Great job isnt it awesome what a waterchange can do !!!!
I just mix measure and pour 2x a week 5 gl bucket 
less then 15 min and everything always looks good 
I hate making it long and drawn out   
Where did you get the phosban? I should get some see if they will look better


----------



## conix67

I got my Phosban from BA's. I thought it was cheaper somewhere else but I was desperate and bought it. Glad it worked out for me. Thanks for the tip Ameek!


----------



## conix67

Update today -

Not good news. My clam is dead  

I'm 100% certain my new RBTA killed it. It's good that it has settled in one place now, but I think it was too close to my clam.

It was even closer to my Dendro frag from Ameek, and the Dendro hasn't shown polyps for days.

Also, Aussie Duncans are all shrieveled up, not showing polyps for days. Few days ago when my RBTA was travelling, it passed by Duncans and I think I haven't seen the polyps since then. I hope Dendros and Duncans are ok. We'll see.


----------



## ameekplec.

Yikes. I hope you caught the clam dying before it did too much damage to the rest of the tank....


Well at least the nem is settled in now.


----------



## conix67

Yeah I discovered it quckly enough that it didn't cause any damage at all in the tank. My Sexy shrimps were nipping at its flesh.

I think Dendro is ok, last night I saw it trying to open a little.

Aussie Duncan's still the same.

Anemone is still at the same place, been there for almost 3 days so I think it's staying.


----------



## conix67

Aussie Duncans finally opened up today, almost a week after!


----------



## conix67

My new RBTA finally settled in. It has not moved around for almost a week now. Its foot is attached to the back of LR piece in the back of the tank, and extends its oral disc just under my chaeto basket. Clowns used to take turns, but now they are violently hosting poor RBTA at the same time. Some pictures -



















This RBTA by far has been the most lively and healthy looking BTA I had. I hope I can succeed this time, and it looks good so far.

However, I wouldn't want it to clone 15times a year.


----------



## Ciddian

oohhh goodness. I am sorry about the clam!

I am so happy the BTa has settled down. It looks wonderful


----------



## conix67

Thanks Ciddian. Your sympathetic comments are highly appreciated 

Yes, I'm happy my BTA has settled down. I began moving things around to avoid further casualties. I moved my Acro colony right next to it though, and BTA is brushing on it time to time. I wonder if Acro will also be affected.


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## conix67

*Frags..*

Well, as you know I have a 12G nano. Full colonies of corals are nice, but that will limit variety in this small tank. My work on this nano has been mostly on experimentation and learning side, rather than trying to create a visual center piece (other than the two False Percula clowns and Anemone).

So obtaining coral frags have been a great way to experiment with many different kinds of corals, without putting down large amount of cash to own all these species.

Whenever I see a frag I don't own, instantly I'm interested. All of sudden I realized I developed a habit of collecting frags without much thoughts.

Well, space is limited in my tank, and without a frag rack, I had to constantly fiddle around with things in my tank to find space for new frags. Early attempt at setting up a frag rack failed, due to unstable frame with crappy suction cup mounts.

I decided to rebuild it, then lee's airline hose mounting kit came to rescue, which was a perfect fit for egg crate.










I decided to build a list of all corals/frags/anemones I have gone through in this tank out of curiosity. To my surprise the total count was 53 , and many of them are still in my tank.

Here's the list (green - healthy, blue - alive, dark red - not doing well, red - gone.. also includes source of the item)


Brown mushroom - oldest, haven't grown in size but healthy (came with the tank)
Xenia - spreading rapidly, very healthy (came with the tank)
Green Palys - healthy, growing well (came with the tank)
Frogspawn - very healthy, growing with some babies. Suspected of stining nearby corals (store)
Green Star Polyps - healthy, spreading rapidly (AP)
Brown Hairy mushrooms - *RIP*, these came with a rock, about 8 of them. was sold as Ricordeas but now I can be assured they were not Rics, just some hairy mushrooms. All died together, after shrinking slowly. Fell off the rock and disappeared (AP)
Brown/green mushrooms - very healthy, growing well and spreading (AP)
Pink tipped Acropora colony with Acro crab - some bleaching/STN observed, some growth, suspecting lack of proper lighting and flow (store)
Green Bubble Tip Anemone - *RIP*, lost tentacles within days after introduction, regained some while in QT for few weeks, but lost them quickly when reintroduced in 12G nano. Eventually died (store)
Florescent Green Bubble Tip Anemone - *RIP*, this guy was rather large for my tank to begin with. Always tried to hide under/behind rocks, did not last very long at all. Cause of death unknown, as with GBTA before. (store)
Dendrophyllia - just one head, very hardy and healthy, have been target feeding at least twice a week (GTAAquaria)
Aussie Duncans - started with 3 heads, now about 8 heads, doing well but polyp extension could be better (GTAAquaria)
Finger leather - *RIP*, was fine for many weeks, some days it would be up some days it would be down, eventually discovered some branches began disintegrating, had to pull out. Suspected cause is Frogspawn sting (GTAAquaria)
Toadstool - *RIP*, same symptom as Finger leather, suspected cause of death is again frogspawn sting. (GTAAquaria)
Chocolate/brown skirt Zoas - doing well and spreading (GTAAquaria)
Caranation - *RIP*, very nice coral but demanding. Cause of death is well known, requires constant feeding most reefers cannot keep up with. (GTAAquaria)
Small orange tentacle coral - I don't know the name, blossom may remember. Head looks like a tiny dendrophyllia. Cannot say much about growth but otherwise doing well. Polyp extension is very good, target feeding twice a week.
Chalice - *RIP*, wasn't mounted properly on frag mount, broke into several pieces and eventually die. Suspected cause of death improper handling of frag. (store)
Orange polyp Montipora digitata - polyps are not so ornage anymore, polyp extension not so good, had a section of frag damaged to begin with, still alive and looking for a cure (store)
Green Acropora - doing very well, good growth and colored up better (store)
Brown finger coral - forget what the original color was, doing fine and healthy but color have changed (store)
Green Monti Digi - doing better than orange one, showing some growth but still the polyp extension could be much better (store)
Blue Acropora - doing well, color's good and polyps always extended (store)
Teal Acropora - doing well, some growth and polyps always showing (store)
Acropora Monticulosa - doing ok, alive but not thriving, hope a better light will save it (store)
Birds Nest - doing well, growth visible (store)
bright green califlower coral - doing well, growing (store)
white Acropora - cannot remember original color, but not bleached. Looks healthy (polyps) (store)
green/brown zoa - healthy and growing well (store)
favia - lost few mouths, 4 still alive, not sure if it will live (store)
Montipora Danae /w bright green polyps - *RIP*, was doing fine until dropped few times while moving around, suspected cause of death - abuse, physical damage (store)
Montipora Danae /w orange polyps - *RIP*, dead on the next day of arrival, suspected cause similar to above, just can't remember (store)
Purple organ-pipe coral - doing well, not spreading but always fully extended and looks healthy (store)
Blue Crocea Clam - *RIP*, was doing fine until the death, suspected cause - RBTA rubbing (store)
Brown hairy mushroom on empty featherduster shell (Blenny's home) - doing very well (store)
Green plate purple tip hairy mushroom - doing very well, very large (AP)
Purple plate green tip hairy mushroom - doing very well, arrived with one side ripped half way, recovering well (AP)
Dark Orange Monti Cap - healthy and growing (AP)
Pink center Paly - healthy (AP)
Tricolor Acro - healthy (AP)
Teal center/dark brown skirt zoa - healthy (AP)
Green center/light green skirt zoa - healthy (AP)
Green center/brown skirt zoa - healthy (AP)
Orange center/brown skirt zoa - healthy (AP)
Bright orange skirt deep water zoa - healthy (AP)
Bright green skirt deep water zoa - healthy (AP)
Brown/Green Paly - healthy (AP)
Monti Digitata /w purple polyps - new, polyps still not fully extended (AP)
Florescent orange Monti Cap - small but healthy (AP)
Brown Monti Cap - small but healthy (AP)
Teal Candy Canes - healthy (AP)
Green/Blue mixed zoas - healthy (AP)

Well, except those in red, all others are still in this tank - FTS


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## FishyCracker

Great job putting that list together and your rack mod. Your nano looks great (all your tanks do lol) and you give me hope with my SW aspirations.


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## ameekplec.

Great idea for the suction cups for the rack. Looks nice and clean. Thanks for the great idea!

Wow, I think you've got me beat in diversity. I think. 

Where'd you get the M danae frags? Pics?


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Great idea for the suction cups for the rack. Looks nice and clean. Thanks for the great idea!
> 
> Wow, I think you've got me beat in diversity. I think.
> 
> Where'd you get the M danae frags? Pics?


Thanks.

Many of the corals on the list I may have them named incorrectly, this was my best effort but I don't guarantee correctness.

I thought they were Monti Danae but could be pocillapora or pokester monti.



















I did not have a chance to see the mother colony for these, so it's hard to tell what they are. They are definitely Monti family though.


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## conix67

FishyCracker said:


> Great job putting that list together and your rack mod. Your nano looks great (all your tanks do lol) and you give me hope with my SW aspirations.


Thanks for kind words. If my experience with my nano will help others, I'd be more than willing to share everything.

I'm just beginning to understand the difficult part of coral keeping....


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## Sunstar

I will be all over you like a wet sponge to dirt. Reading the nano logs now. I got in trouble with a friend, because I forgot what day it was and sat staring at the live rock.


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## conix67

Yeah I know what you mean - staring at the live rock... 

If you can learn a thing or two from my journal, I'd be very happy! Don't forget Ameek's journal which is 100 times more detailed than mine, and his recent Nano start up article. I'm not as great a researcher as Ameek, or as experienced as blossom.

Anyway, I got my coralife 150W MH tank mount lighting system today. It comes with 14K bulb, and I now miss actinics.. 

However, corals look better already. The polyp extension on one of the Monti Digi is far better already. Impressive.


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## ameekplec.

I've heard people rave about Phoenix 14K bulbs, as well as the Ushio.

I've been looking at the MH upgrade, but I can't pull the trigger, especially not after JUST having bought the dosing pump.

Pics!


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## conix67

I'm not sure if those bulbs will be that much better than stock coralife bulb I got. I should read up on about it.

Here's my tank today










Some zoas and Palys have closed up, I think it's due to the stronger lights.

You can definitely see the difference with my RBTA. All tentacles are pointing up toward the light. I see similar behaviour from GSPs. Weird.


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## cablemike

coralife bulbs have low par. not very good. if you want crazy actinic glow with halides get the 14k reefoptics from under the c. i recently upgraded to one from an iwasaki 15k and all i can say is wow. i cant tell when my actinics are on or off and the colour looks like it did with a 10k and actinic combo. and my corals glow.


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## conix67

Sounds good. I should definitely check out the reefoptics from UTC. Finally get to meet UTC.


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## conix67

*Light Acclimation*

Hmm.. I think I'll be losing few frags, after the new light (150W MH) was installed. The new light is substantially stronger (previous was 36W T5HO), and I can see some corals struggling under it. 

I've added layers of plastic covers /w thin layer of paper sandwiched in between to lower the intensity, and raised the arm as high as I can, but some SPSs look not good at all.

On the other hand, my green monti digi does look better than before, and so is the Aussie Duncans.

I guess I should have planned for more careful light acclimation of my tank as a whole. I didn't expect some coals would respond so negatively to brighter lights.

So, I'm learning the importance of light acclimation of corals, through experience.


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## cablemike

well they may bleach out but they should recover.. it may take a couple months.. but they should recover.


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## daking

man! tank looks awesome! I just wish I had the patience, cash and knowledge you all have to create an amazing centre piece like this! very inspiring!


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## ameekplec.

Agreed with mike. Usually they don't outright die...might take a bit to recover, but they will.

I bought this colony slightly bleached in the middle (Green guy top right):








You can see how it's pretty much white in the middle of the millie colony.

Now a few weeks later, back in full form and awesome (I really like this rescue..it's a super hairy millie...sometimes it's polyps extend over 3/4" and wave in the current ) - you can see it in the back ground to the top left:









I wouldn't give up on your frags yet


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## cablemike

ameekplec. said:


> Now a few weeks later, back in full form and awesome (I really like this rescue..it's a super hairy millie...sometimes it's polyps extend over 3/4" and wave in the current ) - you can see it in the back ground to the top left:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldn't give up on your frags yet


want to see a hairy one, this is mine, its insane..


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## conix67

Wow.. nice and hairy, both of them  

I think I have one of those too, but has become much less hairy last few days..

Anyway, I can now hope for the best! Thanks!


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## conix67

*Migration of little guy*

Today I noticed something very interesting.

I just picked up an Acro frag from Ameek and it's sitting on my frag rack.

This morning I saw something in it, to my surprise it's my Acro crab from the acro colony I have. Few questions came up -

1. How did he know that I have a new Acro frag ?
2. How did he get there? The only way I could think of is him climbing up and around Koralia Nano powerhead.
3. How did he know the new Acro frag is big enough for him to migrate to?
4. Was he threatened by RBTA Anemone which was brushing on one side of my Acro colony?

Very interesting ...


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## ameekplec.

Nice!!! I love acro crabs, and I'm glad he's trying out a new home. 

They do roam the tank away from their host colonies. Sometimes the one in my pocilliopora goes AWOL at feeding times, probably to get into a better feeding location.

I have no evidence to back it up, but I'm sure they can "smell" or sense corals the same way bees can sense flowers. Probably picked up on the new addition, decided to check it out and now is calling it home!


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## conix67

A friend of mine who got me started on aquarium hobby visited with his new toy (a very nice Macro lens), and took some pictures. It wasn't as easy as we thought, but some came out pretty well.























































The frags from Ameek are doing well under the new light. Zoas and mushrooms are responding well, but other corals still appear to be struggling. I have removed the shading already, but I'm going to cut down on photoperiod by few hours to see if they get any better.

A Lesson learned for sure - light acclimation is one of the most important aspect of coral keeping when upgrading lights or bringing corals from significantly different lighting condition.


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## Sunstar

Amazing. How do you light acclimatise?


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## ameekplec.

Generally speaking, when you bring a new frag/coral in, it's adviseable to start it at the bottom of your tank, and slowly (every few days/week) to move it up from the bottom until after a few cycles it reaches the preferred location. This way you don't shock them by providing too much light. 

It's generally only a concern when moving corals to really high light conditions, (ie under halides or lots of T5HOs).


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## Sunstar

Okay, thanks for the clarification. The march of the corals.... Tromp tromp tromp!


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## conix67

*Window Screen for light acclimation*

Although a little late, I decided to try "window screen" method for light acclimation. I did realize that under the T5HO light before, many SPS frags have bleached.

With the new 150MH light, some are bleaching quickly and some are browned out. This is getting tricky, as you need to avoid both bleaching and browning. I had a nice deep green acro frag that was doing well under T5HO, but now it has lost most of green color, and some part have bleached while most of it turned brown.

I built a frame using galvanized 18GA wire, glued the window screen, and put two more layers on top, and hung this under my Coralife fixture. It seems to be working well so far.

I've been reading up on SPS colorization. Very confusing..

Nutrient level must be finely controlled to the point that zooxanthelle cannot overtake color pigments?? Articles suggest providing SPS other means of obtaining nutrients besides photosynthesis by zooxanthelle..

I wish there's some sort of step-by-step guide on SPS coral keeping


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## conix67

*Mushrooms - can't kill it*

Not that I want to kill mushrooms, I have a lot of mushrooms now, they are multiplying. These guys can't be killed, when I was doing rescaping I accidentally ripped one of them because it was attached to both pieces of rocks. They are both now healthy and growing.

I needed to migrate one of the mushrooms to make space for other frags, so I tried to frag it, didn't go well and ended up scraping it off from the rock. Now the remains of it grew back...

I wish all my SPS frags would be as resilient as these mushrooms


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## ameekplec.

You can kalkwasser them to kill them. I have only a few little purple/blue ones, but as soon as they start to spread.....


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## Sunstar

you'll send tem to me, since purple and blue are my favourite colours


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## conix67

*Mystery Mushroom*

Same here, I wouldn't kill those nice blue or purple mushrooms. I have a lot of brown ones, kinda boring and I prefer coraline algae covered rocks.

Anyway, most SPSes are still suffering 

Even the large Monti Cap frag lost all polyps, so I had to cover up that area even more. The screen method is nice in that I can localize shade level to adjust amount of light just for certain corals.

Today I found a mystery slug, looks like a baby Nudibranch.... I hope this is not a pest










Then this mystery mushroom really got me puzzled. Where the heck could it have come from? It appears to be completely bleached out, yet it looks to be alive.










The only thing I can think of is the lost Ricordia few months ago. Maybe it got stuck under LR and bleached out. If so, what made it come out of it now even if it's true. Any suggestions on what might have happened on this one, or where it could have come from?


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## Sunstar

its lovely, if it breeds true... for lack of a better term, I'll be all over it.


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## Ciddian

Blossom had one like that and I asked her about it... But i cant recall what had happened to it


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## ameekplec.

Looks like ableached ric. I have a single one that looks like that too, and hasn't recovered yet (probably cause I don't do anything for it).


That nudi has me concerned. Have you checked over all your Montis? It loos to me a lot like a monti eating nudi. Is it really small (3 - 5 mm in length)?


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> Looks like ableached ric. I have a single one that looks like that too, and hasn't recovered yet (probably cause I don't do anything for it).
> 
> That nudi has me concerned. Have you checked over all your Montis? It loos to me a lot like a monti eating nudi. Is it really small (3 - 5 mm in length)?


Yeah, the more I think about it, it must be the Ric that has gone missing a while ago. The question is, how did it disappear and how did it reappear? This thing does not move by itself.

The Nudi was around 5mm in length, and it got me concerned too. I've been watching over all my monti caps carefully, and so far so good. I'll keep my on them carefully over next few days.


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## conix67

*Reef Optics 14K vs Coralife 14K*

Finally got a ReefOptics 14K to replace stock Coralife 14K. Not sure if things will change after break in period, but so far I'm impressed.

The color from RO 14K is much bluer, and there's hardly a need for Actinics at all. It almost seemed like a 20K bulb, rather than 14K.

With the color spectrum change, overall brightness seemed to be affected a little as well, and it's casting more pleasing light over to my nano and I have removed the screen shield now.

The corals appear to be responding much better now, even with the screen shield removed. This is what I expected to see when I switched over to MH from T5.

Also picked up a second hand Taams Rio nano skimmer, to replace HOB filter with filter floss. I figured I do need a skimmer now, with SPS in the tank. However, the choices for HOB skimmers are limited, so I decided to give Taams a try. I'll see how things go.


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## ameekplec.

Yuri, did you ever figure out where that nudi came from? Is it a monti eater or a zoa eater or something else?


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## conix67

No I have not seen it since. I suspected it was offspring of the lettuce nudibranch I had a while ago.

Zoas and Monti caps are ok, however my large brown Monti cap is bleaching...


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## conix67

*Recent aquisitions and current state*

I've done some minor rescaping today, and coralife 14K HQI is back in place of Reef Optics, as I find corals getting even more stressed out possibly due to another light change. I plan to keep it running for few months to allow corals have chance to settle down.

Other changes -

* aqua clear mini is back now, and is being used mainly to run activated carbon through it
* running Rio nano skimmer full time now, it is skimming but wish it was a little quieter. I hope it will get better over time.
* removed rotating wave maker/w power head, leaving just two koralia nanos but with two HOB filters
* ran water test, most parameters are good but Alkalinity is a little low (9 dKH). However, I found my salinity is way up at 1.027. Fixed it today with water change.

I recently aquired some SPS frags..

Some Monti frag, large.. it's got dark green cast but not obvious under current lighting










Acro frag, has light green tint to it under 20K lighting, looks brown under my current lighting.










Hydnopora frag. Interesting coral, has florescent green color under 20K light, but again the color looks washed out under my light.










One of the oldest frags I kept, from blossom. Can someone ID this?










My impluse(?) purchase of the day from Big Als Vaughan. I had a $10 fish coupon from my car dealer, so I thought I could use it. Big Als Vaughan actually had some corals to look at today. After much debate between this one vs an acro colony, I decided to try less risky one. It's got deep green color, and a small acro crab like creature in it (hope this one is harmless to the coral). Anyway, I liked the shape and color, and decided to make a room for it in my nano.










This was a risky purchase, as the way things have gone lately in my tank, I have a good chance to lose it too.

With the minor rescaping, my tank looks like this now.


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## conix67

*Monti digi and crabs*

I noticed that on my new monti digi there are crabs in them just like acro crabs. They are very small, difficult to capture in pictures, but two are about 6-8mm large (width) and one is tiny, about 3mm.

Should I worry about these at all? I've never heard of Monti digi crabs..


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## cablemike

probably just acro crabs.. i had them with montis and my birdsnest. should be called sps crabs really.. i did get a emerald crab with an acro once and i regret not removing it as its getting large and i see it nipping my sps tips.. but then again that make the sps grow more branches so may be beneficial.. natures way i guess.


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## ameekplec.

What do they look like? I've never heard of Monti crabs, but I'm sure they're all the same commensals.

If they have hairy legs or claws, I'd consider removing them. I know that's not a 100% characterizing trait, but AFAIK, safe acropora commensal crabs are "hairless", whereas the hairy ones are known to eat polyps more often than not.


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> What do they look like? I've never heard of Monti crabs, but I'm sure they're all the same commensals.
> 
> If they have hairy legs or claws, I'd consider removing them. I know that's not a 100% characterizing trait, but AFAIK, safe acropora commensal crabs are "hairless", whereas the hairy ones are known to eat polyps more often than not.


I couldn't tell much about hair on the tiny one, but the other larger one I saw seemed to have hair on them. I was thinking about polyp eating crabs, but it seems they've been there for a while, and polyps mostly look ok, so I thought they wouldn't be harming polyps at least.

When I get a chance I should take them out to have a closer look. What is the best way to extract them? I tried to blow it out by blowing water to it using turkey baster and only thing that happened was the polyps disappearing.. fortunately they reappeared after a while..


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## conix67

OK. I decided to pull them out to take a look. One of the tiny guy was fiddling with a polyp, so either its eating the polyp or things on the surface of polyp.

I thought I saw 4, but couldn't find the 4th one.










Definitely hairy, but kinda cute..

Should I leave them out, or put them back on the monti digi ??


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## cablemike

acro eaters.. there very cute and i would hate to kill them but flush em or throw em in your sump if you have one.


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## conix67

Hmm.. I have no fuge or sump

I need to find the other one as well... so these cute guys are no good for my tank after all


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## Sunstar

get a betta keeper and put tem in. I'd take them.. but I don't have a refuge... my mantis would love em.


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## Ciddian

I love them... O_O


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## conix67

You can have them if you're willing to pick them up 

I think I'll just have to flush them...


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## ameekplec.

conix67 said:


> Hmm.. I have no fuge or sump
> 
> I need to find the other one as well... so these cute guys are no good for my tank after all


I had one that looked very similar - I pulled it and delegated it to a cup.

You could always give it a little squish and feed it to your clowns....


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## conix67

ameekplec. said:


> I had one that looked very similar - I pulled it and delegated it to a cup.
> 
> You could always give it a little squish and feed it to your clowns....


I'd rather flush them down and pray for them that night. I cannot possibly squish these little cute guys to death to feed other animals...

I'm still not convinced that these guys are really that bad.. the monti digi looked fine to me, maybe they are harmless... but then I hear most of the hairy crabs are SPS killers..


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## Ciddian

Do they only eat polyps?? Or would they eat other bits of stuff too? 

I dont think i could crush them either LOL


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## Sunstar

I'd be so tempted to take them......give them to cid.


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## conix67

*Pokerstar Monti*

Not much update these days. Still waiting for Corals to adjust... or go back to T5 

Green Star polyps are slowly extending poylps, starting from shaded areas.

I saw a complete 65G long setup on sale at aquariumpros.ca.... but I may still upgrade to my existing 46G first..

In the mean time, I picked up a supposedly pretty rare frag - pokerstar monti. I thought I had one from fragalot.ca before, but this one is a little different.










Some acro frags show signs of burn... and I can't really move them further down


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## ameekplec.

ooo, is that the one from Wei? did you get to see his blue montipora cap? I'm suppose to get a frag of that from him too.


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## conix67

Yeah it's from Wei. I saw his blue monti when it was in one piece, beautiful monti. Lloyd had a similar one before too, a lot bigger.

He had two frags when I visited him. I was tempted but didn't get one, the other one was reserved, I guess that is yours??


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## conix67

*Flying Anemone !*

I caught my Anemone in trouble by accident. I wasn't able to capture the initial moment, but its feet were off from the rocks, and it was holding onto a tip of the rock by its body, then it couldn't hold onto it anymore, flew (float) around and landed on my monti cap face down.










Then I think it realized that it landed at a wrong spot, decided to move on



















Almost let go of the monti cap










Wee!! An anemone in mid air (water) !










In trouble again, now it's stuck between monti cap and frag rack










Had to grab it by hand place it back into its spot










It's doing fine right now. I was worried that it was in trouble (dying or sick), but appears to be ok.. whew...


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## ruffyruff

really really like your nem floating freely in water!! YAY NEM!!!


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## conix67

ruffyruff said:


> really really like your nem floating freely in water!! YAY NEM!!!


I'm glad you liked it  I still have no idea how it ended up doing that...


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## conix67

*Shutting down the 12G nano reef*

My nano tank has been shut down today, after 10 months of exciting development. I've learned a lot from my nano, but its limited space and inability to support SPS has forced me to look for a sufficiently large reef tank. My family, friends and visitors all loved my nano reef, and they were fascinated that such a thing could be had at home.

You'll see all the inhabitants of my nano in my 75G reef journal. Many thanks to everyone for reading my nano reef journal.


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## Ciddian

awee I totally understand that.. I look forward to seeing them in the larger tank!


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