Martin's CADE S2 1500

[martin.a]

Great looking setup and it's good to see another aussie reefer on here.!

Cheers Mate! Maybe I could ask you for advise on a good fish shop in Sydney. Ones which would properly quarantine the fish and be happy to work with the client?

 

[shadyraro]

Cheers Mate! Maybe I could ask you for advise on a good fish shop in Sydney. Ones which would properly quarantine the fish and be happy to work with the client?

Eastwood aquarium is really good, their fish and corals are always looking good and Sunni (she's the owner) is always happy to help out customers.

 

[martin.a]

I did not post anything for a while, but not much is happening. Cyanobacteria had their 5 minutes, but shortening of photoperiod, plus some water jetting and brushing took care of them for now. Rocks are covered in green microalgae, sand is practically spotless. Not bad for the ugly phase.

Coraline algae finally started making more visible progress:

I continue feeding the tank daily with 1 cube of frozen mysis and a cup of phyto. A dash or two of pellets from time to time. All inhabitants seem fine, still waiting for fishes.
Amphipods population exploded. If I had a wrass it would go amok. I only hope they are good citizens and they are grazers and detritivores, not copepod devourers.

 

[martin.a]

Nutrients hit the bottom. Nitrates are 1.3ppm, phosphates are 0 ppm. Not funny, I don't have anything at home to dose. Being down with flu I can't go to LFS to buy. For now, I put in a few cubes of fresh tuna and a good scoop of fish food. Peppermints went amok. Otherwise the tank looks good - no sign of dinos, touchwood. Even with those low nutrients green film re-formed on glass within few hours after cleaning.

 

[martin.a]

The tank got a new inhabitant. A large green wild-collected BTA.

Anemones are infamous for their wanderlust. This one did not like its dedicated location. After it slid from the rock, I helped it out to a similar location at the other end of the tank. It stayed there for a few days, looked happy and bold, had a very good attachment, but was still not feeling home-sweet-home, and so it went around. After visiting a few locations, this is where it is now:

Seems, I got a cave anemone. . Jokes aside, I know this is not good. For now, the nem looks fine. It's inflated, mouth closed, body column and the foot look fine. It moves actively reaching out with the foot. (I actually had no idea that nems can extend/contract the foot so much.) I tried, unsuccessfully to persuade it into some other 'perfect locations'. I will leave it in that cave, unless it start showing signs of deterioration.

Also, I got a decora goby. The goby is in observation tank for now. It was quarantined by the LFS, looks very healthy, eats a lot. What a facial expression! Bits my daughter when told to clean up. More about decora once its in the display.

Water params are fine except bottomed phosphates. I keep dosing, and feeding to keep them a hair above 0. Nitrates are ~5ppm. Coraline growing fast. Supporting with A4R. Feeding with frozen mysis and dosing quite a lot with phyto (Nanno, Tetra and Chaetoceros). Tank is full of amhipods and copepods. Sycon sponges started growing a few weeks ago. There are a lot of them now in the sump. One even grows on an astrea snail in the display...

 

[martin.a]

BTA news: The nem leaves the cave. Possibly annoyed by peppermint shrimps, or goes hunting:

 

[martin.a]

A drama of my own making: the nem hit a powerhead. I should have provided covers, I should have switched the powerheads off for the night... Gosh, so old, yet so stupid I am.

The nem looked like a goner when I detached it from the powerhead. There was a gaping hole in the centre, and the gastric cavity appeared to be gone. It looked like a sad doughnut. I put it on top of a rock and tried to wake myself up enough to start thinking properly - it was 4 am.

The nem about an hour after the accident:

I decided to put the nem into a glass dish and keep it in the tank, as I had no free hospital tank. In the meantime, however, the nem attached itself to that rock, so I decided to leave it where it was. I put the skimmer into turbo mode, maxed out the return pump and, of course, switched off the powerheads.

As I was sitting there looking at the mangled body, the nem started moving on its own, down and away from the top of the rock. It actively crawled down the rock and into a cave next to it. It attached itself to the roof of the cave and has stayed there ever since.

This is how it looked this morning, approximately 28 hours after the accident. It looks horribly mangled, but it is certainly alive. It has managed to inflate about 30% of its tentacles. The mouth is intact and partially open (not visible on the photo).

I don't know whether it has a chance. I can only hope. I was so stupid.

 

[martin.a]

The tank has its first vertebrate, a teleost fish: The Decora goby (which in fact is a dartfish, not a goby):

Decora seems to be doing fine, but likely getting bored being the only fish in the tank.

The injured nem seems to be OK-ish, according to the circumstances. I mean, it's still alive, with good foothold, partially inflated, nothing oozing, nothing dissolving. There are large wounds though . Not eating. I hope it can make it.

Nitrates 0.2 ppm, phosphates 0.02. I have no idea where all those nutrients are going. I am hesitant to spike anything not to upset the nem. Alkalinity is 8.4 dKH, pH 8.1. Dosing phyto, about 200 ml daily. Pods and Syconoid sponges like it.

 

[diggers]

Wow cant believe the nem survived. I really want one for my clowns to host but i am super hesitant because of this. Decora is looking great!

 

[martin.a]

Wow cant believe the nem survived. I really want one for my clowns to host but i am super hesitant because of this. Decora is looking great!

Cheers. I am printing replacement covers for the powerheads so it will not happen again. I'm using some filter sponge wraps for now.

 

[martin.a]

The nem showed its face for the first time since the accident:

And so from now on it will be know as Scarface.

That's insane how effective the tissue regeneration was. The disk looks more distorted than the wounds dictate as the nem is squeezed between rocks.

In the meantime Stromubs snails have some fun:

Maybe there will be babies? Should I switch off filtration?

 

[martin.a]

Replacement nem-safe cover for powerhead. Hopefully no more nem smoothies. This is only a prototype in PLA. Not all dimensions are perfect yet, but it already works fine. Collects some junk, but less than I expected it could.

Design created using Jebaon Jecod dmp 40 as start point.

 

[JonoH]

Tank is looking great, following along!

 

[martin.a]

Tank is looking great, following along!

Well, thanks. But right now the tank looks like a pile of feces. Dino outbreak. Again, my rookie error. On the positive note the nem is still with us. All non-dino creatures are currently unhappy from dinotoxins.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Replacement nem-safe cover for powerhead. Hopefully no more nem smoothies. This is only a prototype in PLA. Not all dimensions are perfect yet, but it already works fine. Collects some junk, but less than I expected it could.

Design created using Jebaon Jecod dmp 40 as start point.

What filament are you planning on printing it in?

 

[JonoH]

Well, thanks. But right now the tank looks like a pile of feces. Dino outbreak. Again, my rookie error. On the positive note the nem is still with us. All non-dino creatures are currently unhappy from dinotoxins.

There's a really good bottle bacteria product sold by Biotech Aquatica called Nitroplex NCOMP.
I use it from time to time just to add diversity, but i know others have sworn by it getting rid of their Dino issues before. (Gallery Aquatica sell it)
https://www.btaqua.com.au/products/nitroplex-complete-nitrogen-reduction-consortium

 

[martin.a]

What filament are you planning on printing it in?

PETG (in black)

 

[skey44]

Nice looking system. Don’t wish Dino’s on anyone. Following!

 

[martin.a]

Just a short update: Double dino outbreak. Sucks.

These are treating my sandbed like it was Copacabana. They mostly disappear after dark and came back with the first lights. My id points to a Amphidinium Large Cell sp. I would be happy to share my sand with them, but they are releasing toxins which are very, very unhealthy to all the other creatures in the tank. Snails got the worst.

As if this was not enough, the glass is covered in Amphidinium Small Cell sp. Allegedly for now, all I have is this rather crappy video showing them swifting among some immobile cells, diatoms maybe. They make a 'cloud of brown dust' when disturbed.



I put bags of activated carbon into the sump and today morning I jerry-rigged UV. It's Aqua 57W and is inline with the return. All water is treated.

Maybe at least UV will help with the small cells species. Or, save me from Ostreopsis.

I keep nitrates between 5 - 10 ppm and phosphates between 0.05 - 0.1 ppm by constant dosing (morning and evening). Nitrates come as sodium nitrate plus a bit of ammonium bicarbonate, phosphates as sodium phosphate (dihydrogen, dihydrate). The ammonium bicarbonate is dosed at 0.01 ppm in the mornings to provide small, extra boost to the photosyntheic creatures. Sadly, dinos benefit too.

Note to the newbe reefers of the future: Do not, I repeat: Do NOT allow macronutrients to hit 0. Do not get distracted, even with 6 beautiful fish in your q-tank. Measure at least twice a week and act immiediety when nutriens are low. They can crash overningt. Do not mistake diatoms for dinoflagellates, even if your snails love it like a student loves free buffet. This is the poisoned apple from a witch.

 

[martin.a]

Nice looking system. Don’t wish Dino’s on anyone. Following!

Cheers!