It’s jarring... 2g jar SPS Pico!

[revhtree]

Such a cool little tank!!

 

[hart24601]

Guess what I noticed tonight?

Baby rock nem!!

 

[DeniseAndy]

That is great!!! I cannot seem to get mine to multiply. Cannot wait to see it grow up!

 

[hart24601]

A better shot under more whitish lights hat I run sometimes.

 

[hart24601]

 

[hart24601]

Pretty impressive for an air powered skimmer on a 3 gallon tank with a 1inch footprint! Has been running under two weeks.

 

[hart24601]

Little petco clam still rocking around! Being so small I hope it’s a sign he is tough as most little guys die fast if they are not ok. It looks like some growth (fingers crossed) but can’t tell 100% yet

 

[hart24601]

I have noticed at least 3 more baby rock nems. One is on the heater, I just saw the tip of it and thought it was a nudi but I touched it and it retracted and has stayed in the same spot.

Another baby is on the cube of gfo! The cube shifted during the wc so I hope it didn’t end up on the bottom of the cube.

 

[hart24601]

Got icecap salinity checker, wow it’s nice. No more refractometer for me! Turns out the tank was 1.024 so brining it up to 1.026 this evening.

 

[hart24601]

Dino’s... ick. They had always been under control, past couple days they just exploded and I have no idea why, but I do have an oxydator aka peroxide dosing which clearly doesn't work here, so I added an HOB uv filter. Just 5w uv but it fits well and is small. The surface skimmer is nice as they like to clump at the top. 60gph max, but adjustable so I have it at just a trickle. Plus with UV I often hear about single pass sterilization, however in our little systems the waterborn microorganisms are passed though the UV quite frequently. Even at 30gph that’s roughly 10 times per hour and each pass undoubtedly does some amount of damage however I don't see that talked about much - only single pass effects.

But anyone I put it on today and it's knocked down the strings greatly already. Looks like I'm gonna have a HOB on the cube. Lucky the filter looks quite nice and doesn't bother me.


Aquatop PF15-UV Hang-On Filter with UV Sterilization https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005G034FC?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

 

[DeniseAndy]

Interesting little contraption. Good luck. I hate dinos!!!!!

 

[hart24601]

Interesting little contraption. Good luck. I hate dinos!!!!!

Thanks, I do like the little filter and this morning things are looking better. Just goes to show never out of the woods. Things look perfect, 0 changes, boom.... 2 days later it's a mess! The SPS are not happy, the rock nems don't seem to care however if left unchecked I assume they would be harmed at some point. Nice thing with the HOB, although the UV takes up 90% of the room I can fit chemipure nano and my resealed gfo bags in there if I take out the mechanical filter.

I have been eyeballing AIO tanks for fun. The IM10 is just a bit too big for me I think, but waterbox 7 looks nice if they ever offer them.

 

[cpschult]

This is amazing. I need to read through it all. Do you have your schedule of maintenance in here?

 

[hart24601]

Not sure if I do!

Pretty much I do a 100% waterchange on the weekend - 3 gallons. Feed tank daily, clean skimmer when needed. That's about it.

Oh and fill ato jug with limewater when empty which is 3 weeks or so.

 

[hart24601]

Dino's are almost if not completely gone. UV is good stuff!

 

[hart24601]

So for some reason one of the nems detached. I saw him floating around and put him on the rock and turned the wavemaker for a while. Well I guess he didn't get attached well because when I turned the wavemaker back on he (or she) got sucked in!

Got caught in the bars so didn't make to the blade, but was really stuck in there. I pushed with my finger for quite a few min to try and free him and eventually had to push quite hard. I was thinking about tossing him, but then decided to use a specimen cup I got a frag in before, put a couple holes in it and attach to the rim with a nano mag to see if he will recover.

It's too early to tell, but once he expanded back out there appears to be only damage around the edge, the mouth is ok. I will try and get a pic up later, but I will keep him in here for a while until he eats and looks good before I try to put back on the rock.

And the clam is doing well and it's been over a month! White new growth on the shell.

 

[reynaldoramon]

So I'm still trying to get a handle on my 2.5 jar. Looking for advice. I've been trying to do the weekly water changes, but I cant seem to make it even a full week. I did a 100% water change. Monday immediately post-wc pH 8.3 alk 8.6. Wednesday pH 8.3, alk 8.4. Friday pH greater than 8.6, all 5. Been doing this for a month now. I tried something different and put chemi-pure blue..stabilize pH..blahblah...didn't work. It's currently in my office, and lights off for the weekend. Thought maybe it was the lid and no air exchange. But last weekend left lid off...same issue. Thought it was the weekend (when it's not being checked on), but not I discover it's happening between day 4 and 5 post water change.

So equipment and livestock
2.5 gallon jar
A80 kessil
Koralia 180 pump..dialed down of course
2 lbs live rock
About 1 inches of live sand donated from an established tank
2 head hammer
Small 4 polyp acan frag
Small 2 polyp scan frag
3 zoa frags
1 polyp blasto frag
And a small burning leptrasea frag

No sps

Any suggestions?

It just seems like such a drastic drop in 48 hours. Could it be the sand. I've dosed alk and it helps a little.

Or is this completely normal?

 

[hart24601]

How does the livestock look?

With these small systems I wouldn't get worked up about any water chemistry numbers. I don't test a single thing! I should get an alk test using kalk, but livestock looks good then it's good!

If things are not going well what specifically is it? Look good right after w/c then close up or never have looked ok or algae or???

 

[DeniseAndy]

What I find with my 6g and 5g is that it takes just the right mix. What that magical mix is I have no idea yet. For instance, my 6g that has been running for 2.5yrs (except that darn silicon issue) needs glass cleaning every 3 days or so and water changes can go for 1-2 weeks with no issues. Now my 5g is dirty after a day or two and needs water changes weekly at minimum. What the balance is, not sure. But once it is found, it works without effort.

Is it more live rock, certain corals, flow, fish, cuc, a balance of everything. In both I simply use a carbon (nano bag of chemiblue) and sponge and live rock for filtration. Nothing else. I think as it matures, things will balance out. Just keep algae at bay with water changes.

 

[hart24601]

Funny. So I have that UV HOB.

Look what I found growing on the black UV shield.

Baby rock nem!