Aqua One 500 Nano Reef!

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More pics.

FTS

Closer FTS

Happy Torch

Hamlet!

 

[SkiFletch]

Lookin good

 

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Hmmm major algae bloom at the moment. I don't use RO water, as we live way out and collect rainwater, which is generally quite good, but with all the recent rain, the phosphates have gone up, and the algaes having a party. Right now I'm just keeping the front glass clean (it alges up in about 12 hours) and I've added in some of Aqua Ones phosphate pad, which I nicked off of Mum, and will see how it goes. Neither of the corals seem to mind the whole phosphates the torch is fully expended and seems to be trying catch Hamlet and eat him and the sun coral is still coming out at night looking happy.

Theres some cyno settling in places as well, but that'll just ahve to wait as the powerheads for this tank are currently in the big tank for those corals, but once those corals are sold which should be monday week I can move the powerheads across...

 

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Slight scare yesterday, got a nitrite reading of 0.5 took ages of looking at the tank to realise the little coralline piece of rubble was actually a hitch hiker crab that Hamlet had murdered. The bodies been removed and a large water change done and the nitrites dropped back to 0 overnight.

Still having algae troubles, and I was getting an aweful scum on the surface, so I dug out two more filter/powerheads to deal with it. Elite mini filters come with this little dohickey part for the output which makes the flow spread out, so I've put one of those in with doohickey pointing upwards to keep the surface moving, it adds another 220/lph an hour. The Torch also looked like it would prefer some extra flow, so have added in another powerhead aimed at a rock that had cyano and the rebound flow goes across the torch, it also adds another 200l/ph.

I've got one last powerhead to stick in, but will have to wait until the corals in the big tank go, then I'll add in the 600l/ph powerhead to ensure theres plenty circulation which will take it to about 30 times turn over and hour, though I can turn down some pumps so its not a total whirlpool...

 

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Well I got some more corals earlier then expected.

This weekend my fave LFS had a huge sale on, we didn't bother going as from what other reefers said the place was total chaos, but we went today and there were a heap of sales as they tried to move on the last of the livestock. The coral tanks were frag heaven, as bits of corals were everywhere, obviously broken off by some careless employee.

So I picked up 4 blasto frags, each with a few polyps for $5, and some random thing which may be blasto, or may be something else, will see when it extends. I also got a brandhing pink sun coral frag with 8 or so small polyps for $5, and a decent sized open brain, 5 cm across for $15 marked down from $40. Plus we had a $5 voucher so $20 for 5 frags and a brain, pretty cool.

Pics once their acclimated!

 

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FTS, the Blastos are dotted along the top rocks, tucked into holes so they look like they emerge from the rocks. The Sun coral is to the right of the large sun coral, tucked under the rocky overhand, and the open brain is in the bottom right

Brain

Blasto

 

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Well Hamlet took a dislike to the brain and tortured it mercilessly, so it's been removed and I'll be taking it back to the store on Monday.

Hamlet has also decided to redecorate his tank, he keeps moving the frags around, I guess I should just be glad he leaves them right side up LOL, though their never in the same place. Not sure if he'll harm them if I glue them down so right now he's just being left to reaquascape the tank, the frags are extending fine, their just never in the same place LOL.

I'm still waiting on conformation as to whether or not someone's bought the livestock from the big tank. If they haven't I'll be taking them to a petstore on Monday and trading them for some new test kits and frags.

As to what corals I want to add I'm not sure now, Hamlet obviously thinks the really fleshy corals are food, so the open brain I wanted is out. But here's the list I'm kinda sorta thinking of

Candy Cane Coral
Frogspawn Coral
Bubble Coral (Not sure, he may try to eat the bubbles)
Blastomussa Wellsi
Zoanthids
Mushrooms
Ricordea
Brain (closed brain obviously)
Acropora

Obviously those will be bought fairly slowly over time, and the acro probably not for a long while, but there's this particular spot in the tank where a piece of acro would just look perfect.

Any comments Welcome!

 

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I've done some more work on the nano, will post pics in a few minutes.

Since hamlet obviously does need entertainment I'm going to dig up some small pieces of rubble for him to move around, as his favourite two things at the moment are covering the sun coral in sand and moving my frags, neither of which I really appreciate LOL.

So anyway I've removed the two large shells, as now the tanks full of liverock it they just look kinda silly, I've also attached the blasto frags to a piece of rubble as it's Hamlet's interior decorating is getting irritating. I've also added a final powerhead a 450l/ph pump as theirs one last bit of cyano in an area I can't really aim a powerhead at, but we'll see how it goes. I've also syphoned off all the cyano and done another small water change.

I'm still having trouble with algae and it doesn't help Hamlet keeps pruning the macro that's in there, but because of the sun corals that tank is fed fairly heavily, a cube of frozen food every two days, and i don't really want to use chemicals so I think I'm just gonna have to pt up with the algae, its definitely slowing down though, and there is a piece of aqua one phospad in there which seems to help.

I've also been working out where things will go, so will post some more detailed pics in a few mins...

 

[nanocubeking]

Cool tank. What happened to the 42?

 

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FTS, I've kinda hemmed the Torch in to lessen the extent of its sweepers, though it hasn'ta actually put any sweepers out since I got it

Torch coral

Blasto Rock, It won't be staying on the sand, its just sitting there while the putty cures

Branching Sun Coral

Large Sun Coral

Hamlet

An enlarged version of the FTS, with my plan for corals

1. Torch Coral with 5 Heads
2. Large Sun Coral
3. Rock with Mushrooms on it
4. Blastomussa Wellsi
5, Small Branching Sun Coral
6. Rock with Blastomussa Frags on it
7. Candy Cane Coral with a few polyps
8. Small Bubble Coral or Small Frogspawn
9. Zoanthids
10. Ricordea or Zoanthids
11. Acropora
12. Closed Brain elevated on rock rubble

Well that's the plan anyway, what do you think?

 

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Five new corals, its starting to look decidely reefy..

I took my big corals and fish from my large tank in to a new pet store today who'd approached me about trading them in for credit, Since its quite far away i had to use the credit while I was there, HAVING to spend $100 at a store is an expereince I wouldn't mind having again LOL. The owner was really nice as well, and gave me two corals for free and another really cheap to see if I could do anything for it. I got a black sun coral and an orange sun coral for free and a goni for 25% of its normal price.

FTS with lots of annoyed corals. The new orange sun coral is the small sun coral to the left of the big colony.

Goni, it opened literally 20 seconds after being placed in the tank, I'd just cleaned the glass and it looks like its eating the algae that I cleaned off? the algaes some sort of microscopic green stuff that turns into puffs of green when its wiped off. I'm gonna try a few foods with it and see what it likes, I'd rather not buy more as I've read about people doing well feeding the juice from crushed brine shrimp etc, but think I might get some cyclopeeze as well. Will see how it goes, hopefully I'll manage to hit on something it likes.

A very very very irritated Frogspawn, it was fully extended at the store so I guess it just didn't like being bagged.

My absolute treasure the black sun coral, it means I'll probably be staying up really late to feed it but hopefully i can get it happy and get the polyps to fill out a bit. The guy gave it to me because the sun corals just weren't selling and he didn't have time to feed them

Duncan, I've never seen these guys before and from what I've read their pretty rare, and meant to be expensive? but then again they do come from here so obviously they'd be cheaper LOL. I got this for $30 though its not very extended at the moment.

 

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Well I finally have a buyer for the large tank, am just praying he isn't gonna back out LOL. So I'll get money from that. My parents think I've been going on to much of a spending spree and the line" so you'd prefer i spent it on make-up and drugs" no longer works, so I'm going to have to save most of the money, for a few months at least LOL. I will use some of it though to get a decent magnesium test kit and some bottled coral food.

Tested the tank today and params are now
Ammonia, nitrite are 0, nitrate has a small amount but on the low end between 0 and 5
Alk is 120ppm which is all good
Calcium is at 480, which is just from the salt i use, I don't have anything that would add calcium in thetank nor do I add any

Anyways I reaquascaped the tank and took some pics of corals extended. I also fed my two new sun corals, and although i got nil extension i did manage to get most of the polyps to take some brine shrimp.

FTS, corals still annoyed from the move

Duncan

Goniopora lobata (I think, can anyone confirm?)

Blastomussa

Frogspawn, still very unhappy I've gotten it to eat though so hopefully it'll settle and begin extending properly

And this is the new plan for the tank...

1. Torch Coral
2. Mushrooms
3. Blastomussa wellsi
4. Branching Sun Coral
5. Black Sun Coral
6. Blastomussa merleti
7. Goniopora
8. Zoanthids
9. Duncan
10. Frogspawn
11. Ricordea
12. Either Dendros or a closed brain elevated on a rock
13. Small Sun Coral
14. Large Sun Coral

What do you think? Or am i just talking to myself?

Cool tank. What happened to the 42?

Thanks. I'm selling it as my parents aren't happy with me having two marine tanks.

 

[SkiFletch]

Lookin good to me man

 

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The sun corals are being fed at the moment, floating around in a bowl in the tank, but once their done I'll take an updated tank pic. I've added some more LR just some random pieces from my big tank I like, which will be useful once I begin adding more corals.

Also moved the frogspawn lower down in the tank as it still isn't extending. Starting to get a bit worried about it, it was fully extended under the same lights as mine at the LFS, but it was bagged for more then two hours wrapped in wet newspaper, though there was plenty of water in the bag as well. So not sure if it'll make it, even though all the other corals seem to be doing well.

The two new sun corals are being fed three times a day at the moment, though their being removed from the tank when their fed so the extra food doesn't pollute it. The orange one seems to be doing better we're getting a small amount of extension and its definitely reacting to the food. The black one is slowly improving but not as fast as the orange. It eats like a hog though and looks starving a few hours later, I'm certain its not regurgitating just eating the food rather fast, no extension as of yet but I'm hoping they'll start to fill out soon instead of being hollow cylinders.

The goni is doing kinda okay I haven't seen it really feeding yet it seems to eat small amounts but not much, but I'll just see how it goes, I've made it a paste type food of minced then pulverised shrimp, squid, oyster and what looks like tiny octopus and it seemed to like that, the stuff looks gross though parts of it pools like an oil slick on the waters surface and it makes the skimmer go mad but all the corals really react to it.

Also an equipment/livestock update as things have changed heaps
Equipment
150w HQI Clip on Metal Halide
950l/ph filter, only used for things like phospad and when waters murky
450l/ph powerhead
200l/ph powerhead
250l/ph powerhead
Which gives 28 times turn over per hour
Skimmer rated for a 350l tank, pulls a fair amount of gunk out
2 x 25w heaters, just in case one stops working
11.5 Kg of rock or 25lbs
Gutted Aqua one 500 65l/17g tank

Fish
1 x Valentini Puffer Canthigaster valentini

Corals
1 x Small Sun Coral, maybe T. faulkneri
1 x Branching Sun Coral, probably T. coccinea
1 x Large Sun Coral, probably T. faulkneri
1 x Small Black Sun Coral T. micrantha
5 x Blastomussa merleti Frags
1 x Duncan Coral Duncanopsammia axifuga
1 x Torch Coral Euphyllia glabrescens
1 x Frogspawn Coral Euphyllia divisa
1 x Goniopora Probably Goniopora lobata

Pics once the sun corals finish eating.

 

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Pics, I'm sorry about the FTS's I just can't get the shutter speed/exposure right so that all the corals are seen, its either the Duncan and Torch are white blurs or the sun corals are invisible. Fluorescent corals are annoying to photograph LOL.

FTS

Duncan from the side

Duncan from the top

Black sun coral feeding

Black sun coral in the tank

Goni from the top

Torch from the top

Hamlet