24G Nano Cube DX Nano Reef Setup

[steelhealr]

Thanks "M8"...lol. Ok ..now for something really different. I've been doing a lot of reading and I wanted to add a sea star. This can be tricky because many of them are not reef safe...some can eat inverts...etc. Well....I found a species (I hope) that should work in a nano and it just happend to be at the lfs this weekend. It's a fromia milleporella. The only problem is....I'm not 100% sure that is what I got. The color and size are good, but, doesn't match as far as spots go. I have an I.D request in at another invert area. Here it is:

Hope this guy makes it. SH

 

[jive_bunny]

Hi SH,

It's taken me 3 days to read this entire thread - You are a natural born writer. I'm sure this could be a mini paperback book LOL.

Words cannot sum up how important this thread is, its certainly helping me and I'm sure will be beneficial to others. Well done!

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P.S - I'd be interested to know how that star turns out.

 

[steelhealr]

Thanks Jive.....I've been slow to post re: the star, but, I typed from the beginning I'd be honest with my trials and tribulations. I came home the other night and the star was torn to shreds on the substrate...arms gone. It was goo when I got it out. I don't normally skim my tank but I am tonite in case any bad organic stuff is in the tank. SH

 

[steelhealr]

Jive..you inspired me. Here are updated tanks shots. They are starting to look the same to me, so, I never want to be accused of overstaying my stay. So....I'll just photo new additions for awhile. SH

OOPS..sorry..wanted to get my clown and sixline on the marquis here, lol:

 

[Opcn]

oh I really love your polyps, Great, now I wanna get my hands on some, thanks alot SH

 

[jive_bunny]

Oh that poor star, what do you think might of happened to it, inverts attacking possibly? Are sea stars hard to keep, I thought you brought an easy one?

I LOVE your photos, so vibrate and bursting with colour. What's the yellow one called in the first picture to the right of the ill-forgotton sea star.

How are the goby and pistol shrimp getting on?



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[steelhealr]

Not sure what happened to it, but, in all likelihood, although the sea star survived acclimation, it probably succumbed first, then was probably eaten. It also could have just dissolved. Things break down quickly in SW.

The yellow/orange corals are Orange Cup Corals, or Sun Coral, tubastrea aurea. They are not photosynthetic and must be fed several times per week. When they are open, as you see here, they are hungry. Pistol and goby are doing great....fortunately they created a cave/tunnel in the front of the tank. SH

 

[steelhealr]

Some new shots and a new addition:

Fungia sp., Orange Plate Coral

Blue ricordea, splitting (fission)

Dying brain, recovered

Before

After

In addition, my fan worm, which had dropped it's crown and disappeared, reappeared in it's original tube and seems to be growing a new crown now. LA lists it as an 'easy' to keep animal. My lfs says in most cases, they starve and drop their crowns several times before they succumb. Others here have said they can be tough to keep. We'll see. SH

 

[Nethius]

Thanks for all the info steelhealr! I've been on and off about setting up a small SW tank. I'm going to read this thread over very carefully, and try to make a decision. If I do, I know I'm not using a JBJ tank (I saw the topic at nano-reef)

 

[steelhealr]

It's not an unwise choice. The 12G and 6G are pretty safe. I think a 30G Oceanic is solid. However, you just can't beat the 10, 20, etc AGA tanks for versatility. SH

 

[steelhealr]

Hi... Take time planning out your corals. Read up on them. Know their compatibilities within your planned reef aquascaping.

Below is a pic of what happens when two corals come into contact with each other. Although the two corals were spaced very well apart from one another, they have grown tremendously and now need 'fragging'. The two corals are a Yellow Fiji Leather, sarcophyton elegans and cladiella sp. One of the tentacles of the cladiella is now sweeping in the water flow and contacts the Fiji....see the burn/sting area. You can actually see the 'imprint' of the tentacle on the Fiji.

Keep spacing in mind when choosing corals with sweeper tentacles or if two species are known to be incompatible when they come intact. Hope this helps.

Also, here is a pic of my recovering Hawaiian Feather duster.SH

 

[steelhealr]

Just a few new pix. New addition to the tank are three green ricordea. Here is a pic of one of them:

Couldn't quite catch it but my clown was trying to host in an hammer. Can anyone tell from this pic if it's a true or false perc?

Updated side shot...the cladiella needs fragging. It is getting huge:

It's almost six months from setup and the system seems to be reaching a partial state of maturity....I think. I may have room for one more small fish. Room for more corals is becoming scant. Note the coralline algae now on the back walls and starting to begin on the glass itself. Scraping is now becoming necessary. SH

 

[Navarre]

You have corals to die for there SH


Keep up the good work!
As for the Clown ID... Sorry cant be sure. However the large amounts of black do suggest that its a true perc. I have seen many true percs with small amounts of black (like in my sig) but i have never yet seen a false perc with large amounts of black.

 

[steelhealr]

Thanks Navarre..this padawan learned from the Jedi Master. I think you are right. It was sold to me months ago as an ocellaris, but, it has been getting progressively blacker in areas, a characteristic of true percs, right? Obviously, it's tough to count the spines. This guy is doing really well. Interesting how everyone wants to purchase them in pairs. SH

 

[steelhealr]

Unfortunately, one of my fellow nano-reefers here from LI keeps telling me about new stores to check out. He's killing me (and my wallet). I caved..new tank additions:

Fox Coral, Nemanzophyllia turbida ..still not open and acclimating

Open brain (?trachophyllia?), not fully opened yet

Banggai (Kaudern's) cardinalfish

SH