40 Gallons with a few Soft Corals

[FindinNemo]

Did you make that lid yourself?

 

[EricR]

Did you make that lid yourself?

Yes.

Back plank is just acrylic that I have a bunch of from other stuff so just made cutouts around the HOB and another spot for cords on the other side of the tank.
*used to use two smaller HOBs so cutouts in the acrylic were originally for those and have just enlarged one and patch-jobbed the other with the intention of cutting a new plank but haven't cared enough to do it (yet)

Screen top is just DIY window screen kit from Lowes but I bought clear mesh on Amazon.

 

[EricR]

I think my clownfish finally stopped ripping tentacles off of my duncan (that I assumed was done for after a couple of months of harassment).

Seems to be recovering now over the last couple of weeks:

 

[EricR]

Current state of things = cyano problem (first time) going on for about 4-5 months = not horrid, but annoying:

 

[EricR]

Had a bunch of micro brittle stars out and spawning last night -- got a kick out of it so posted here:
Micro Brittle Star Spawning Event

 

[Tahoe61]

Current state of things = cyano problem (first time) going on for about 4-5 months = not horrid, but annoying:

Despite the Cyano the tank looks great.

When ever the pH changed in my tank the Micro brittle stars always spawned. You're lucky to have such a nice population.

 

[EricR]

Went for first try dosing calcium carbonate (DIY coral snow) yesterday to see if it'll have any effect on my continuing cyano issue. (Plan to dose maybe once per week and see how it works out).

Super scary how cloudy it is at first but nothing was bothered by it:

I have a Marineland Magnum polishing filter that I threw in for a few hours:

*everything cleared up after about 4-5 hours

 

[EricR]

My 6 month long, irritating but not horrible, cyano problem seems to finally be subsiding:

Could've just burnt itself out but the following are the active things I did against it:
-- lots of plain old manual removal
-- DIY coral snow (calcium carbonate) a few times
-- PNS Probio dosed weekly (not daily)

The calcium carbonate did seem to help but I think I wasn't really consistent enough with it.
Maybe just coincidence but once I started dosing PNS Probio, the cyano seemed to really start to clear up pretty quickly.

 

[Huskereef]

My 6 month long, irritating but not horrible, cyano problem seems to finally be subsiding:

Could've just burnt itself out but the following are the active things I did against it:
-- lots of plain old manual removal
-- DIY coral snow (calcium carbonate) a few times
-- PNS Probio dosed weekly (not daily)

The calcium carbonate did seem to help but I think I wasn't really consistent enough with it.
Maybe just coincidence but once I started dosing PNS Probio, the cyano seemed to really start to clear up pretty quickly.

Glad to hear of a victory against cyano! I’m about month 4 of battling it. Did you add the PNS probio into the calcium carbonate/coral snow?

 

[EricR]

Glad to hear of a victory against cyano! I’m about month 4 of battling it. Did you add the PNS probio into the calcium carbonate/coral snow?

I didn't.
*I have seen the recommendation to mix bacteria into the calcium carbonate but I never did it that way

 

[EricR]

Just some pictures of my duncan coral since it's been doing well and sprouting new heads consistently...

Bought as single head for $25 about 1.5 years ago -- first shown in post#60 here:
New Duncan

Nearby GSP seems to irritate it a bit as you can kind of see in the photos but I've since trimmed the GSP and moved it a bit farther away,,, so we'll see.

 

[Rhetoric]

Nice nano, everything is spaced well and clutter free.

 

[Blue Ring Octopus]

Ahhh man,,, blenny blender -- this sucks!
Tailspot blenny that I've had for over a year was my favorite fish.
Don't understand -- perfectly fine and swimming around happily a couple of hours ago.

I don't take too many pictures but happened to snap a shot last night when my conch was vacuuming out the blenny's barnacle cluster:

...bummer

I found that you cannot turn those pumps off because the Bleeny will get in there.

 

[EricR]

I found that you cannot turn those pumps off because the Bleeny will get in there.

Pretty sure it didn't happen during a pump OFF then ON event but definitely a good point.

 

[Oldsman]

Beautiful tank! I really like how your mushrooms have split and spread around

 

[EricR]

Found a tiny (maybe 2mm across) hydroid stuck to the glass.

Only additions in AGES is a recent quarantined fish (tailspot blenny) and some quarantined inverts (urchin and snails) from known vendor.

Sucked it out but looked pretty cool on the glass through 10x loupe:

 

[EricR]

New little tuxedo urchin from Dr. Reefs:
*replacement for pincushion that recently passed away after 3.5+ years across two tanks

 

[EricR]

Getting a little crowded right here:
*can't really tell from the picture but the duncan and zoas are touching and both getting a bit irritated in that spot

Probably time to move things a little -- we'll see.
*hoping the duncan just wins and the zoas retreat but I doubt I'd get that lucky

 

[EricR]

Got this new little tailspot blenny from Dr. Reefs a couple of weeks ago:

*my last one I had for 2+ years was my favorite fish until unexpectedly killed in a powerhead -- bummer

 

[EricR]

Current FTS -- gotta remember to close window blinds to kill reflections next time:
*don't like this angle either but oh well