Pico Tank Diary

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, today i decided i was finally going to spend some money to get some coral from the lfs(first sw tank too). I got 2 frags, a 50/50 actinic 10w bulb, and a scarlet hermit for less than 20 bucks. I put it all in the container and filled it with half moon bay water. The temperature is 70 degrees, i know its low, but i couldnt find a heater this small, and this area is starting to get pretty warm. They are starting to open, but unfortunately, i forgot my powerhead at home I can probably manage giving the water a little swirl every hour. Hopefully they survive until i get my equipment(this weekend). How long do you guys think zoos can survive without good flow? I am in the dorms right now, so driving home isnt really an option.

I know it seems stupid that i did this with all these mistakes, but hopefully it will work out. Any advice would be appreciated (except for bring it back to the lfs immediately because home is an hour away and these are nice pieces )

Here are some pics of it as of now

 

[robbhp]

you will have to be fast , water can go stagnant in 4 hour of none movement. that is your big problem, heat is your next and then the third is the yellow spong on the side of the rock, if you let air get to this you will find that it wil start to rot away, thus playing with your water chem. sorry to say this but it was a bad move

go get your self and air pump at the very least , just to get some water movement.

rob

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Hrmm, now that i think of it, i just made like a really stupid mistake I just remembered im not at the lfs so i dont have a refractometer to use Hopefully, they last the week and i get this sorted out. I got distilled water to top it off and premixed water for a water change just incase anything does start to rot though. I guess water movement is my biggest problem right now.

Edit: im going to have to deal with this tomorrow afternoon, in the meantime, i put a fan right above the surface to agitate it a little bit. I guess experience can still cause people to go overboard.

heres a pic of my crazy method of getting some movement at the surface.

here are some of the zoos

 

[Musho3210]

dont worry about it, ive left my tank pumps off overnight before with no visable problems. And i got zoas and brain corals and torch corals and candy cane and clownfish and shrimp etc etc.

Corals get shipped around all across the country and world in bags with no water movement, its not good, but a few hours or something isnt much to worry about.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

They seem to be doing fine without water flow right now, they were all opened a few moments ago before i did a top off and a 1/4 water change. I might get a refractometer next week, but im thinking i wont really be needing a refractometer as long as i keep the water up to the mark and make sure its topped off before i do water changes. I will just check it every weekend at the lfs for now. I might come back with some shrooms next time and maybe some more small little frags of zoos I will bring home some aragonite and some more live rock next trip though for sure.

For my powerhead, i already have a pump from a whisper 10 internal filter. I was planning on using this, but do you think a rio 50 would be better or would it be like super overkill because its almost 70x turnover?

Im starting to like saltwater better than fresh already

 

[Musho3210]

for those corals, yes it would be overkill.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

It seems like my small colony is doing a lot better than the bigger one because they are opened up all the way and only take about 6 minutes to open up. The bigger colony on the other hand is like opened up 3/4 of the way and some of the polyps arent even opening at all. Why do you think this is?

 

[Musho3210]

stress probably, again, nothing to worry about unless tehy start to bleach, rot, and/or die, my colony survived close for about 3 1/2 weeks, granted that the colony shrunk a tiny bit....

Get it into a properly working tank ASAP and everything would be fine. How much longer until pump and stuff again?

 

[Dorkhedeos]

I leave for home Friday night, and i get back Sunday night. Zoas are pretty tough, so I am hoping they will be fine for 2 days without light and the occasional stirring.

 

[Musho3210]

light would be fine, hopefully flow will be as well...... Corals are a lot more hardier than what people give them credit for, mother nature is no where as forgiving and nice as us lol.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, im back now, im just about to do a 100% water change(salinity, ph, and temperature is exactly the same) because the stupid sponge is white now. Im not really sure what i should do with this sponge, should i cut it away or should i just leave it there? The tank has a little over 1 ppm of NH3 right now. The zoos are still opening, weird thing is that they are opening faster than before Well, i got my powerhead now, and i got some aragonite. Hopefully itll be seeded before the end of this week.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, everything is working out good now, most of my zoos are opening up all the way now. I added a cerith snail and its doing fine too. I will post some pics after i get out of class like at 7.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

A week late, but better late than never

 

[Lynden]

Looks really awesome. What are your long-term plans for it?

 

[Dorkhedeos]

I was thinking about figuring out a way to make a sump for it so maybe i can make it more stable. My other plan was to see how long well it would do in the long run. If it does fine after about a year with weekly 15oz water changes, i might think of giving one to my little cousin to get him into fish keeping.