mcarroll's 100 Gallon System

[mcarroll]

This system has been up since the mid/late 2000's, has gone through some rough transitions in the last couple of years, and is now looking up again. It's also very ripe for a re'scaping, or if I can muster it replacement with a bigger tank.

Until that happens, I thought I'd start posting some tidbits about the tank and pictures and videos as well - past and present. This thread will be a nice place to collect them.

So to start with, my Barnacle Blenny (one of three) says, 'Hi!"
(prolly best to fullscreen this...Barnacle Blennies are small!)



-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Dusting off my old (c. 2000) Casio QV-2000UX for this effort, BTW.

Takes much better tank shots than my iPhone.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

My current drip system:

 

[Mike J.]

Well, hi, barnacle blenny. Waiting to see more.

 

[mcarroll]

An XL Nassarius snail cruising around my bare-bottomed tank after a round of feeding.

One of my favorite snails, though I typically go for the standard size (preferred in almost all scenarios).



-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

I don't think Asterina Starfish can eat live, healthy coral.

Older (iPhone):

Newer (Casio):

(It's hard to get a good photo due to the white washing out! Need to refresh myself on using the shutter- and appeture-priority modes I think.)

Anyway, I watched over the course of a couple weeks or so this Asterina dissolve/get eaten by this plain Orange Montipora cap. to the point there's nothing left of him but a hole in the coral (from being covered for two weeks+) - which will recover in days-to-weeks now that the carcass has blown away.

Not an aggressive coral or any special shape - just a mostly-flat plate - and this starfish was completely unable to right himself or navigate in any way, let alone eat himself free.

Hardly the marks of a coral-killer....but I guess there are 30+ special of Asterina out there to be different.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Day One - Original Tank (39 gallon)

Not actually quite Day One, as I didn't get my lights right away and they in this phtoto, but it was before my drain boxes so it's pretty early!

Dated June 4, 2008 and that might be right, but that camera didn't hold dates between battery changes, so it's also possible that was a best-guess.

I'll roll with that date....making my system today about 5-6 years old, overall.

Notice the classic flow solution -- Penguin 550 power heads! Those and the heater were leftovers from my last freshwater system back in the 90's. Even after putting them back in duty - in saltwater, no less! - one of them is still working. Not serving in daily duty anymore, however.

-Matt

 

[powers2001]

subscribed

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I'll be tagging along!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Steviereefs]

Older (iPhone):


Newer (Casio):


(It's hard to get a good photo due to the white washing out! Need to refresh myself on using the shutter- and appeture-priority modes I think.)

Anyway, I watched over the course of a couple weeks or so this Asterina dissolve/get eaten by this plain Orange Montipora cap. to the point there's nothing left of him but a hole in the coral (from being covered for two weeks+) - which will recover in days-to-weeks now that the carcass has blown away.

Not an aggressive coral or any special shape - just a mostly-flat plate - and this starfish was completely unable to right himself or navigate in any way, let alone eat himself free.

Hardly the marks of a coral-killer....but I guess there are 30+ special of Asterina out there to be different.

-Matt

Look out for flully looking little white creatures especially if the spot gets larger. They are as small or smaller than a polyp on a montipora,just to give you an idea.

 

[Steviereefs]

They exist right on the edge of the living tissue so the blend in with the white skeleton.

 

[mcarroll]

The spot is healing/getting smaller....will post some photos.

Not worried about the Asterinas obviously. Did you mean some other kind of critter?

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Cleaned about four gallons of coral skeleton from the system today to improve flow.

Makes perfect frag mounts. Would like to sell some to some other fraggers.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Just wanted to post an update of healing progress. This is the spot where (over the course of a week or few) he digested an Asterina.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

Did some major housecleaning, so the coral has been moved and had a few spots - including the "wound" - covered in sand for a couple days. Still looks nearly healed to me now. The crappy iPhone pic ultra-boosts the whites (and blues), so you can see what's left of the wound much better in the pic than in real life. For example, those multiple white dots are blooms of light off tiny grains of sand still on the coral.

 

[ritter6788]

4 gallons of coral skeleton? That sucker must be packed. Let's see the full tank shot!

 

[mcarroll]

It was packed...not much left now though. 90% of this was the purple and red M. Caps that had died off the main rock on the left. Just doing the final cleanup now...

-Matt

 

[powers2001]

How bad are you inconveniencing the nassarius snail with your bare bottom? I'm upgrading from a sand-bottomed tank to a bare-bottom tank and have to take my nassarius snails to the new tank. I guess your's is proof they can survive that way.

 

[mcarroll]

Well, a couple thoughts...

Even though my tank is bare bottomed, there's still a reasonable amount of debris/rubble and other hiding places. Even without sand I still never see him unless I've just fed the tank.

Also, your luck may depend somewhat on the kind of tank you set up....mine is 99% coral, three tiny little fish, a single hermit crab, one sexy shrimp and NO OTHER SNAILS. No real predators for him either.

So even if the Nassarius isn't 100% happy with the lack of sand (if so, I can't tell), he's in a pretty nice zero-competition environment regardless.

-Matt

 

[revhtree]

Following along!!