Michika's 28g long nano-esque tank!

[Brent F]

Originally Posted by michika

Well I want to put the luminarc on a slider system, and maybe I can put the actinic down at the edge and tilt them like you suggested. I wonder if my actinics will even reach the center of the tank.

could work - Kind of like this?

________
Honda RC161

[michika]

That is awesome, and exactly what I was thinking. I'll have to make something to allow all the lighting to slide together on a slider. etc.

[michika]

This weeks update:
Parameters for January 13th
SG 1.025
Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia 0ppm
phosphate 0.05mg/L
Mg 1380
dKH 10
Ca 500

I'm still dosing daily. I've also added a few more SPS to my system, and I've started using filter socks again. The other change I've made, is that the skimmer has been replumbed so the output is no longer right above the imput for the pump. Between the filter socks and the replumb I've seen about an 80% reduction in microbubbles. However, the bubbles do return if I put my hands in the tank for any reason.

Photos
Re-plumbing the skimmer. This is it before with its metric plumbing.


Filing out the inside of a reducer


Reducer on the stand pipe.




The new plumbing isn't the most graceful looking thing, but it gets the job done for now.


Filter Socks after 2 days (yuck)


I still have a few more things to do to the system to get it to where I want it. I am excited to have a system again that will require little if any weekly maintenance (other then water changes, feeding, and dosing).

FTS and photos of my new aquisitions to follow.

[michika]

Today's FTS, it seems that the GHA is both spreading, and thickening. I am going to manually prune it later today. It seems like I have another GHA battle on my hands.



This is some of SPS I aquired this week. I need to re-mount one of them, and find permanent homes for them in my rockwork. However, I don't like my aquascaping so I'm really iffy about gluing anything down.

New SPS




Existing corals.

[Snappy]

Catherine that first new piece doesn't look too healthy. I recommend a whack of blue legged hermits to chow down the GHA. I could lend you 2 large guys that will eat that stuff.

[michika]

Actually this first new piece is supposed to be A. plana (http://wickedfrags.com/images/sps/Dec4_l_plana.jpg) Its bleached for sure in shipping. I already lost two pieces from my shipment, I'm waiting back on a reply about the losses.

You probably wouldn't know it from the photos but I have 35 blue hermits in the system, and I keep moving them onto the GHA. They have been pretty ineffective so far. Would you suggest more?

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by michika

Actually this first new piece is supposed to be A. plana (http://wickedfrags.com/images/sps/Dec4_l_plana.jpg) Its bleached for sure in shipping. I already lost two pieces from my shipment, I'm waiting back on a reply about the losses.

You probably wouldn't know it from the photos but I have 35 blue hermits in the system, and I keep moving them onto the GHA. They have been pretty ineffective so far. Would you suggest more?

Put some of them in your sump for a week or two so they are good and hungry and then place them where you want them to start eating.

[michika]

Okay sure. I'll try that today and see what happens.

[michika]

January 20th Update
Parameters today:
SG 1.023
Nitrate (Pinpoint monitor): Undetectable
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
phosphate (Hanna Colormeter) 0.01
Mg (salifert) 1190ppm
dKH 7
Ca (salifert) 420ppm

Things that are happening this week;

I noticed cyano forming last week in tiny patches, I siphoned it out. This week its back and its everywhere. Last time I delt with this was 2004 and I fixed it by correcting my then low dKH levels. This time around I don't really know what to do. I'm researching it again to see what new information has come out on dealing with it.

I am experiencing STN on my biggest colony of SPS. You can see in the photos below the fresh white skeleton showing through. In one photo there is cyano on the colony before I blew it off. I'm unsure if it is related or not to the dosing program I am on as it was fine prior to starting the program.

My surviving clams came back to me. Delphinius was kind enough to hold onto them while my tank settled back to where I wanted it. Its really nice to see them again. Both are open and the mandarin is happy to have his favorite hiding/hunting spot back again. I can't wait until I can add more clams in the future, I really miss my field of clams.

The tang that I was holding for a friend is now mine. I convinced him to trade the tang for a good meal. I am now the proud owner of a tang that EATS!! GHA. I'm planning a 6ft tank right now to move him to in the next month or so. The tang also taught my imperator angel to eat GHA, so I can't complain.

Speaking of the GHA its still proliferating. I manually prune about 1/4 cup every few days. Its not as thick as the GHA I delt with in my previous tank, so that is a bit of a relief. I'm slowly going to start moving out infested rocks so I can cook them. It is going to be a long and slow process, but I think it needs to be done.

I'm thinking that there are two possible sources that are feeding the GHA right now, a) my RO/DI itself, b) my rocks from my original first set up in 2004. The only rocks that do get covered with GHA are all rocks that I got in 2004 when I set up my first tank. I had to go back through all my photos to make this connection.

I did starve a bunch of my hermits in my sump as suggested, now that they've been returned to the tank I hope they start chowing down. My urchin has finally abanadoned the tank walls as his perfered spot. Instead he how hangs out on the rocks, sadly its the underside, rather then the tops with the GHA.

FTS from Friday the 17th


FTS from today, the 20th


The imperator angel.


Mandarin


Necrosis on my colony




Other corals in the tank






The clams, home at last.

[sharuq1]

Very encouraging to see you have your clams back. Hope all the corals come back. Lovely angel and of course love the mandy. Is it a male or female? (just curious)