Girlfriend's 10 Gallon

[Fisker]

Hello! I've recently set up a 3 gallon pico that I plan to turn into a mixed reef. The idea is to focus in on softies and macroalgae, with a few LPS later on in the tank's life. No fish, but I've decided that I do want to keep an ornamental invert or two.

Equipment List:
3 Gallon Candy Jar from Walmart
Walmart 50W Desk Lamp
Ebay PAR 30 Reef Bulb (may replace with an ABI bulb at some point)
Top Fin "powerhead" (AKA an internal filter from Petsmart)
Tetra preset heater (may replace with an adjustable heater soon)
2-3 lbs of cured rock
5 lbs of aragonite

Stock List (as of 11/2/18):

Inverts:
Scarlet Hermit Crab x1
Florida Cerith x1
Dwarf Cerith x15

Macroalgae:
Dragon's Breath
Codium
Caulerpa Prolifera

Now, that's not really the invert selection I would've chosen, but they sort of came in a package that I got a great deal on. The macros did as well. Not everything looks great, but I think everything can be brought back.

As far as stocking plans, I'd definitely like to try to get my hands on an RFA for a main attraction in the tank, and I also plan to keep a pretty wide variety of softies and macros. As for inverts, I'm planning on picking out a couple of Bumblebee Shrimp. I'm still researching them, but they look promising!

Here's a FTS as of today:

Thanks for the read! I'm going to attempt to simulate Brandon's reef bowl maintenance schedule. Deep sand bed, large weekly WC's, and deep cleans every few months.

 

[Oscaror]

Hello! I've recently set up a 3 gallon pico that I plan to turn into a mixed reef. The idea is to focus in on softies and macroalgae, with a few LPS later on in the tank's life. No fish, but I've decided that I do want to keep an ornamental invert or two.

Equipment List:
3 Gallon Candy Jar from Walmart
Walmart 50W Desk Lamp
Ebay PAR 30 Reef Bulb (may replace with an ABI bulb at some point)
Top Fin "powerhead" (AKA an internal filter from Petsmart)
Tetra preset heater (may replace with an adjustable heater soon)
2-3 lbs of cured rock
5 lbs of aragonite

Stock List (as of 11/2/18):

Inverts:
Scarlet Hermit Crab x1
Florida Cerith x1
Dwarf Cerith x15

Macroalgae:
Dragon's Breath
Codium
Caulerpa Prolifera

Now, that's not really the invert selection I would've chosen, but they sort of came in a package that I got a great deal on. The macros did as well. Not everything looks great, but I think everything can be brought back.

As far as stocking plans, I'd definitely like to try to get my hands on an RFA for a main attraction in the tank, and I also plan to keep a pretty wide variety of softies and macros. As for inverts, I'm planning on picking out a couple of Bumblebee Shrimp. I'm still researching them, but they look promising!

Here's a FTS as of today:

Thanks for the read! I'm going to attempt to simulate Brandon's reef bowl maintenance schedule. Deep sand bed, large weekly WC's, and deep cleans every few months.

I love picos, like tiny slices of life Have you considered sexy shrimp?

 

[Fisker]

I love picos, like tiny slices of life Have you considered sexy shrimp?

I have! Honestly, I don't see the attraction the them. I've heard a few horror stories (which is a possibility with any creature), and I'm not as big of a fan of them as I am some of the other tiny inverts. Maybe I'll get some one day!

 

[Oscaror]

I have! Honestly, I don't see the attraction the them. I've heard a few horror stories (which is a possibility with any creature), and I'm not as big of a fan of them as I am some of the other tiny inverts. Maybe I'll get some one day!

I was considering them for my next build until I heard they can chew on zoa skirts Bumblebee shrimp are IMO some of the coolest inverts there is. I love unique little critters, they add a ton of life to a reef. People are always stuffing their tanks with big fish but I've always preferred the things you have to look closely at.

 

[Fisker]

I was considering them for my next build until I heard they can chew on zoa skirts Bumblebee shrimp are IMO some of the coolest inverts there is. I love unique little critters, they add a ton of life to a reef. People are always stuffing their tanks with big fish but I've always preferred the things you have to look closely at.

Fish are definitely fun, but it's definitely the smaller life that keeps me interested. Can't wait to get this tank going with some interesting stuff!

 

[brandon429]

So happy to see your new addition thanks for posting! That looks clean. Evaporation controlled, cycle already set it seems and nice blue lighting. It will work great. I tried keeping those red macros but they wilted in my setup and I'd like to try again next time lfs has some

 

[Fisker]

So happy to see your new addition thanks for posting! That looks clean. Evaporation controlled, cycle already set it seems and nice blue lighting. It will work great. I tried keeping those red macros but they wilted in my setup and I'd like to try again next time lfs has some

Thanks bud! I've been out of the hobby for a long while, but I've always followed your threads. Always interesting to read!

Yeah, I've had trouble keeping red macros alive too. Seems like they're a lot more picky than their green counterparts. Hopefully the little bits I have now will rebound! They're truly beautiful additions to a reef.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks cool! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Fisker]

I noticed a bit of cloudiness to the water today, so I added in a bit of carbon. Wow! The tank is a lot more clear 12 hours later. Already got some new growth out of the caulerpa, as well!

Codium isn't doing so hot, though. It appears as if parts of it are starting to fall away from the inner portions of the branches - almost like flesh melting away from a skeleton. Only a portion of the algae is doing that, though. Any thoughts? I can't really capture it with my camera. I've currently got it sitting on the sandbed in relatively high flow.

 

[TimothyTran]

It’s cool how reefers setup these jars!

 

[Fisker]

Alright, so the girlfriend thinks a sexy shrimp might be the way to go... I don't completely disagree, and it'll make her happy. The things we do, eh? I'll make sure to keep an eye on it around any zoas.

Things are looking good in the tank, parameter wise. Looks like we've got no ammonia, no nitrite, and about 2 PPM of Nitrate with a full CUC in the tank. Granted, I haven't been feeding, but this seems manageable. Evaporation has only increase SG by 0.0005, so the lid is working pretty well.

The Codium has continued to degrade a bit, so I'm at a loss here. If it begins to fall apart, I'll cut off any unhealthy-looking bits and see what I can do for the healthy tissue. The Caulerpa just keeps on spitting out new "stems", so we'll see if it starts to pretty up soon. It's already attached to the rock I glued it on, so I don't think it'll be long.

 

[Fisker]

Okay, so, this tank actually got moved into a 5.5 for a few reasons. I moved all the equipment, sand, rock, and livestock in the 5.5 in order to maintain my cycle. Not quite what I had planned, but I'm happy with the result so far!

I changed the bulb from the cheap EBAY PAR 30 to an ABI PAR 38, and it lights the tank very well. I'm thinking about some more LPS and some of the hardier SPS now - exciting! The dragon's breath is definitely enjoying the extra blue light, if the intensity of the red tells you anything.

This is now my girlfriend's tank - she wanted to take over a saltwater tank, and I offered her the 3 gallon. She wanted fish, though, which is understandable. She went out and bought a 5.5, and here we are! She'll be taking over maintenance and will be making most livestock choices (with good research). She ended up choosing a false percula clown. She's about 1 1/4" or so, so she's pretty tiny. Once she gets too big for this tank, she will get upgraded. For now, this tank should be just fine for her. She's in QT right now, and doing great.

Currently I have a bacterial bloom going on in the tank, and I think I've found the root cause. I used vinegar to clean some of the new rock I'm using for this tank, and I'm not sure I soaked it in water long enough afterwards. I think I essentially OD'd my tank on vinegar. Nothing changed in the tank other than that rock getting added, so that's the only thing I can think of. I removed the rock, and am soaking it in water now. I also did a 75% WC in the DT, to try and get rid of some of the leeched vinegar. We'll see if this makes things better!

This is a pic of the tank with the rock I just had to remove. The bloom is very, very light. Still working on getting good pics, so sorry about quality!

 

[Fisker]

Added another Top Fin internal filter I had to increase flow. They're both putting out around 60 GPH, and both are pointed at the front glass in an "x" pattern. Seems like it might keep dead zones out of the way a bit more.

 

[Fisker]

Looks like I hit the nail on the head with the rock leeching vinegar. After removing the rock, doing a large WC, and waiting 24 hours, the tank is crystal clear. I'll take note of that for the future, for sure.

The clown accepted some mysis, and seems to doing rather well, considering how new she is. She's still timid, and isn't the aggressive monster that I'm sure she will be one day soon (female clowns are vicious!), but she's looking fantastic, even in QT.

 

[Fisker]

Alright, so I've made a few changes to the tank over the past few days, and we've sorta hit a milestone in the tank's life: diatoms.

Yes, my friends, we've hit the nasties. I've been ghost feeding to keep the cycle and the CUC fed, and I've been keeping the light on for the macroalgae. So, I guess it was just a matter of time anyway. No big deal, as I was going to be dealing with it at some point anyway.

I ended up removing one of the internal filters and exchanging it for an AquaClear 30, that I had been using on my 10 gallon freshwater tank. The plan is to convert this into a fuge, and try to use that as my main phosphate/nitrate export. The other internal filter will handle any chemical or mechanical filtration I need, including keeping some cycled media and maybe some carbon.

No new additions to the DT yet, although what's in there seems to be doing well. The snails are all active and grazing, the hermit seems to be doing well, and the macros are starting to turn around, especially the dragon's breath. The clown seems to be perfectly healthy so far, and has been accepting foods pretty well. She's been grazing a lot on algae in the QT tank, and I was wondering if that's a sign of a deficiency or just clown behavior?

 

[Fisker]

Here are a couple of quick pictures I took of the macros to try my hand with editing the blue out of them. I got the picture of the Caulerpa a bit too yellow, and the Dragon's Breath picture ended up a bit blurry, due to the fact that I used multiple shots to get closer to real colors. I'll figure it out at some point!

Dragon's Breath:
https://i.imgur.com/peRuMgJ.jpg

Caulerpa:
https://imgur.com/dQ2Eg9k

 

[Fisker]

This tank was upgraded into a 10 gallon last weekend, since we got a bit impatient and decided to switch tanks around on a lazy Saturday. Everyone made the transition, and both my betta and my clownfish have enjoyed their new homes - the betta no longer has issues finding food like she did in the 10 gallon, and the clown has much more room for activities.

An issue I had been running into was that all of my macros were struggling. The Dragon's Breath was turning pale, the Caulerpa was barely growing, and the Codium was getting fuzzy and falling apart. After some help on a few different forums, it was decided that the underlying issue was a nutrient deficiency. The tank had been registering low on Nitrates, but I had thought the macros would still find enough food to survive. Guess I was wrong!

I decided to tackle the issue directly, and started dosing potassium nitrate. I dosed the tank up to about 5 PPM of nitrate, and in the past 2 days, we've had a diatom bloom, and the macros have started improving quite quickly. The dragon's breath has turned back into a deep scarlet color, the Codium has stopped looking so terrible, and the Caulerpa... still isn't growing very much. We'll give it some time. Maybe it's like GSP - virtually unkillable, but very cranky?

Regardless, things have been doing pretty well. We've decided that we want to do a macroalgae-dominated tank, with a bunch of LPS and gorgs scattered throughout the scape. Should be pretty interesting!

FTS:

The color difference with the Dragon's Breath is stunning! Camera settings were slightly different, but the difference really was this noticeable:

Nov. 17:

Nov: 22

 

[Fisker]

Quick update!

The Potassium Nitrate has been working wonderfully. All macros have been recovering, showing great color, and even growing. The Codium is still being plagued by what I suspect now to be hair algae, but it's also showing good color and growth. So maybe it's not too harmful? I can't manually remove it, whatever it is. It's my fault for overdosing, but I'll be scaling back in the future.

I've found nitrate uptake to be sporadic, often showing no patterns. One day, I'll lose 1 PPM. The next, I'll gain 2 PPM, and the next, I'll lose another 4 PPM. I suspect it has something to do with microalgae uptake rather than macroalgae uptake, but I don't have anything to back that up. I'll be dosing to around 3 PPM every week, and I'll see if that gives me a sustainable amount of Nitrate with starving any macros and without causing nuisance algae to run rampant.

Here are some pics I took earlier today.

FTS:

Dragon's Breath:

Codium:

Caulerpa:

 

[Fisker]

Alright, so - I received a bunch of unplanned additions on the 26th. I received a box in the mail that morning, and it was labelled "live fish". I hadn't ordered any live fish - at least not any that should be here until next month. Ugh.

I opened up the box, and pulled out the following creatures:
1 Orange Firefish
1 Green Bubbletip Anemone
1 Torch (?) Coral Frag
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Gallon of Caulerpa

I couldn't just leave the stuff in the bags, so I filled up a rubbermaid tub with saltwater, a heater, and a cycled sponge filter, and in went the firefish, shrimp, and most of the caulerpa. The rest of the stuff got acclimated into the 10 gallon. I e-mailed the vendor, and they got back to me the next day - pretty much, they printed out all of their shipping labels at once, and mine got mixed up and put onto this box. They apologized, told me to keep everything, and sent me a $50 off coupon. They handled it well!

As for the stuff I received... it wasn't planned, but things are going okay. I've been receiving help on other forums, and the only thing I've really had doubts about was the BTA. It sat in a box all day on the 24th, all day on the 25th, and then got to me around 10 AM on the 26th - that's a long, long time for a nem to be in a bag during winter.

It came attached to a rock, and seemed to acclimate well.

A few minutes after that picture was taken, it started to expel zooxanthellae. It then deflated to nearly nothing, and detached from the rock. I turned off all of my flow, and tried to get it to reattach to the rock work with no luck. After around 4 hours of just letting it try to attach with no flow, I gave it up and put it into a container with some rubble overnight.

The next morning, it looked absolutely terrible. I let it be, and went to eat breakfast. When I came back, it had crawled out of the container, and was laying on the sandbed. I turned off the powerhead, and it slowly inflated and started moving around the tank. It made laps around the tank yesterday, and I've pretty much left it alone, other than moving frags and perils out of it's way. It hasn't attached yet, but has spent most of the day in the same area and has been inflated for nearly the entire day. No more zooxanthellae are flying out of it, either. Once it settles in, I'll be following the "unhealthy nem" guidebook - AKA, feed it a meaty food every few days until it colors back up, and then slow down to once/twice a week, or whenever it's visibly hungry.

Picture dump!

 

[Fisker]

Wow, it's been a hot minute since I've updated anything here! Okay...

So, first off, I've had massive algae issues. Brown hair algae - not sure what the cause is, as nitrates and phosphates both test near 0, but it's an issue. Possibly just a case of the uglies, as my rock/sand leaches phosphates that are immediately taken up by the algae? Regardless, I've upped water changes and have installed a janky DIY skimmer to try and combat the algae.

A DIY skimmer? Yes! I pretty much copied the DIY MAME designs you used to see floating around. So far, I've been getting a very, very wet skimmate. It started off pee-colored, and has slowly darkened to an iced-tea color. I'm still messing with it and trying to get it to not drain my tank of 100 mL of saltwater per day, but so far, I haven't had any exceptional ideas.

I did eventually introduce the firefish in here, and he's been doing great. Beautiful fish, and he's chased the clownfish off during feedings before. Very strong fish, and I'm glad to have him!

The tank also got "re-scaped" and had some corals moved around. I removed the Codium, some of the Caulerpa, and some of the Dragon's Breath out into a 5.5 gallon along with the peppermint shrimp (who became a menace). Fun tank! The "disease" on the codium cleared up almost immediately once it was out of this tank, so I'm not sure what that's about.

Growth has been fine in here. The Caulerpa is growing, of course, and I think the dragon's breath has continued to bush-out and grow. The colt coral has grown more polyps, and nearly doubled in size. The hammer, while it isn't growing new heads, it IS looking better every day and seems much bigger than when I first got it.

The anemone is... okay. It did eventually attach, and has stayed attached. It seems to be doing okay, but has been turning a pale red, and still has short, stubby tentacles.

Pics!

Skimmer:

Individual critters:

FTS:

I think that covers it! Sorry about all the pics, but it's been a while.