Barney's 58l Modified Marine Nano

[xxBarneyxx]

Well there have been a few updates over the last couple of weeks.

My LFS got some really nice LPS corals and after talking it over with a few people I decided to give them a go. I got a short tentacle plate coral (apprently but Im not sure this is what it is) and an Alveopora (flower pot coral).

The alveopora is supposed to be pretty difficult to keep so i'm keeping a very close watch on it. So far both are doing really well (opening up well, not losing colour, etc) however its only been a couple of weeks so way to early to tell yet.

I have been watching the water chemistry closely as well and they seem pretty stable.
Ph around 8
Calcium: around 380
Phosphate: between 0.1 and 0.2
Nitrate: around 3ppm

I'm adding a 10g fuge and have everything now for it except some cheato and the drill bit to drill the tank (should have this tomorrow).

Couple of photos:

Plate coral..

Crabicus Mysterio... who after posting on here saying he hadnt hurt anything was found this morning eating my turbo snail. So my CUC now consists of him and my hermit crab and between the two of them they have killed 3 snails (this guy is going to go in the fuge when it is set up).

 

[Redstratplayer1]

How do you plan to drill a tank filled with water?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The fuge is going above the display tank so the fuge will be drilled and all I need to do to the display tank is remove and modify the hood for the pipes.

something like:

 

[chrissaysyes]

I wish you the best with that Alveopora man, I'd read as much as possible.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sure that's an alveopora? Polyp stalks look more like the longer goniopora. Same difficulty keeping it though

 

[chrissaysyes]

actually ski is right, that is goniopora. You can tell because there are way more little tentacles on each head than there are on the heads of Alveopora.

Goni:

vs

Aleveo:

ooo and this may be helpful, good goni food recipes I found:

"1 part crushed brine shrimp cube to 2 parts crushed Cyclop-eeze flake,1-2 parts frozen rotifers, and 5-6 parts phytoplankton/ Cyclop-eeze juice/ DT's oyster eggs."

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks for the photos. Looking at them it definetly looks more like Alveopora then goniopora (not as many tentacles). I will try and get a better picture of it later.

I have been trying to find more information about it but it seems pretty sketchy at best. Most sites seem to recommend medium light/flow, some recommend feeding some dont. Most of them say that they dont do well in high light conditions and pretty much all of them agree that it is difficult to keep. Other then that though there doesnt seem to be a whole lot of detailed information on keeping them.

So far at least it seems to be ok but it is still way to early to say for sure. I'm watching the water parameters very closely and I do have a backup home both the LPS can go to if they start to look like they are having problems.

Edit: It looks a lot like the link below and is supposed to be the same species (was sold as a flower pot coral):
http/www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/alveopora.htm

 

[chrissaysyes]

I still think that's Goni but I guess you would know best since it's in your tank Just FYI, this site gives a LOT of great into on keeping Goni and identifying which species you have. Viola

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I still think that's Goni but I guess you would know best since it's in your tank Just FYI, this site gives a LOT of great into on keeping Goni and identifying which species you have. Viola

Thanks for a link. Only just scanned it quickly but much better then anything else I had found so far. Will take a proper look when I get home.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I still think that's Goni but I guess you would know best since it's in your tank Just FYI, this site gives a LOT of great into on keeping Goni and identifying which species you have. Viola

ahhh crap. Just got home and had a closer look, it is a goni. Ok I'm NEVER listening to my LFS again or trusting any of their labels. Next time I buy something I will post about it here first...

 

[shibby]

yeh flowerpot corals are usually gonis, there also sold as pom pom corals. and very very hard for some reason to keep alive. asked at tmc how to do it and they said, lowish lighting and lowish flow apparently.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

yeh flowerpot corals are usually gonis, there also sold as pom pom corals. and very very hard for some reason to keep alive. asked at tmc how to do it and they said, lowish lighting and lowish flow apparently.

Yeah thats what I have been reading as well. Also magnisum, calcium and possibly even iron levels have a big effect on them. I really should have known better then to buy something without knowing more about it first, doesnt help that the people I did speak to about it mis-identified it and said that as long as the calc/mag is kept up and it isnt under very heavy flow/light it would be fine.... Also everything I had read before hand had said they are not easy to keep but none of them mentioned exactly how hard it was (though again I was looking at the wrong species ).

 

[chrissaysyes]

It's not so much "hard" to keep them as it is challenging. There probably isnt going to be any real work involved and unless you completely ignore them, they will last for a nice while atleast. Put it on/in the sand for one. The next step is to identify which species you have to determine the correct lighting and food.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well Barney, at least you learned your lesson that sometimes even the LFS' that try to do things right can get it wrong. Doesn't help the issue that often times wholesalers sell them improperly marked.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Well Barney, at least you learned your lesson that sometimes even the LFS' that try to do things right can get it wrong. Doesn't help the issue that often times wholesalers sell them improperly marked.

Yeah, it doesnt help that it is the first bunch of hard corals they have had in as well (which was why I got them because they didnt know if they would get anymore in again in the future). Its not like its a fish that they get 2000 of in every week. (IE I do blame myself for buying something I'm not sure of more then the LFS).

Not sure if its just me but it seems that no matter how much you learn about the salty side of things you still end up not really knowing anything at all With fresh water tanks even if I dont know the specifics of every fish I at least have a pretty good idea about most of them. I have been reading up on marine tanks for close to a year now and still feel like I know nothing. Actually having a tank over the last couple of months though has made a lot of the theory a easier to understand though.

I was thinking of giving the Gonis away but after reading up on them it seems that my tank (medium light/flow) is probably actually better for it then the tank it would go to (very high light and flow) so I will keep with it at the moment and see how it goes.

I do really appreciate all the feedback and help though that everyone here has given