Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[BMWZ4M08]

Wow 11 years...great job..very nice..

 

[Nano sapiens]

Wow 11 years...great job..very nice..

Thank you. Time flies when you're reef'in

 

[Nano sapiens]

Happy Holidays Update:

FTS: 12/31/19:

After taking care of a corroded bolt in the back chamber issue and elevated nutrients, this little system is now back into shape for the holidays

I've whittled the system down from 4-5 fish down to just one, an Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny. As a result of the much reduced predation all the little critters are starting to repopulate the system again, so it feels more like an ecosystem vs. just a collection of corals and fish.

My old cell phone got a bit creative with this pic

Thanks for dropping in and Happy New Year!

 

[ramona]

Gorgeous litlle tank. Happy New Year!

 

[flchamp89]

Every coral looks so healthy. Legendary tank.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Gorgeous litlle tank. Happy New Year!

Thank you and Happy New Year to you, too!

 

[Nano sapiens]

Every coral looks so healthy. Legendary tank.

Thank you!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Beautiful tank!

 

[Nano sapiens]

Beautiful tank!

Thanks!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I need to step up my game! Once I get the frag tank up and running, half my zoas are getting kicked out for sticks LOL

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Is that birdsnest the Ora ponape?

 

[Nano sapiens]

I need to step up my game! Once I get the frag tank up and running, half my zoas are getting kicked out for sticks LOL

I love Zoas!

Acropora in such a small system such as this were a pain as they were aggressive and grew too darn fast, but the 'Ponape Birdsnest' (Seriatopora dendrica) is just about the perfect SPS for a smaller nano (colorful, compact medium growth rate with small compact branches). I also have a 'Bird of Paradise' that has those amazing flowing polyps, but needs to be trimmed often if given too much light...so I keep it in a more moderately lit location.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Is that birdsnest the Ora ponape?

Good question! I obtained the original frag from the grunge bottom of a LFS frag tank and it does indeed look quite similar. Considering that there are no other regularly available Seriatopora that look like it, I'd say it most likely is.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I love Zoas!

Acropora in such a small system such as this were a pain as they were aggressive and grew too darn fast, but the 'Ponape Birdsnest' (Seriatopora dendrica) is just about the perfect SPS for a smaller nano (colorful, compact medium growth rate with small compact branches). I also have a 'Bird of Paradise' that has those amazing flowing polyps, but needs to be trimmed often if given too much light...so I keep it in a more moderately lit location.

I love my zoas too. But I need more stony corals. I think it just adds a much more established look. I was looking at the ponape, birds of paradise, and some pocillipora. I’ve got a purple tip stag that’s doing well so I figure the “easier” ones would do well also

 

[Nano sapiens]

I love my zoas too. But I need more stony corals. I think it just adds a much more established look. I was looking at the ponape, birds of paradise, and some pocillipora. I’ve got a purple tip stag that’s doing well so I figure the “easier” ones would do well also

Pocillipora are beautiful corals, but they are known to have 'polyp bailout' and little colonies can pop up all over. Sounds nice at first, but they are powerful stingers so need to be moved/removed if the new colonies settle near other corals (common occurrence in small nano tanks).

Seriatopora often look like crap for a few months when transferred to a new system, especially if the lighting spectrum is quite different. Both my frags bleached and lost over 50% of their tissue (my DIY array has a lot more white light than the LFS had under Kessils). If that happens even though the coral is under similar light intensity to where it came from, probably best to just wait it out and let the frag eventually adapt rather than constantly trying to move it to a 'better' location.

A word of caution regarding SPS encrusters around Zoas. IME, if the Zoa colony is really healthy and fast growing, it can usually resist most encrusters and shade enough to slow or halt further intrusive growth into the colony. But sometimes the encrusters just barge right in displacing the Zoa colony if the colony is not robust.

Good luck!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Pocillipora are beautiful corals, but they are known to have 'polyp bailout' and little colonies can pop up all over. Sounds nice at first, but they are powerful stingers so need to be moved/removed if the new colonies settle near other corals (common occurrence in small nano tanks).

Seriatopora often look like crap for a few months when transferred to a new system, especially if the lighting spectrum is quite different. Both my frags bleached and lost over 50% of their tissue (my DIY array has a lot more white light than the LFS had under Kessils). If that happens even though the coral is under similar light intensity to where it came from, probably best to just wait it out and let the frag eventually adapt rather than constantly trying to move it to a 'better' location.

A word of caution regarding SPS encrusters around Zoas. IME, if the Zoa colony is really healthy and fast growing, it can usually resist most encrusters and shade enough to slow or halt further intrusive growth into the colony. But sometimes the encrusters just barge right in displacing the Zoa colony if the colony is not robust.

Good luck!

The zoas will be only in the bottom 1/3 of the tank so the sps encrusting shouldn’t be a problem. And if they start gettin close, the zoas will get moved

 

[reef-rc]

i was inspired by your tank and still am. awesome to follow-up on the progress.

 

[Nano sapiens]

i was inspired by your tank and still am. awesome to follow-up on the progress.

Nice to know

 

[Nano sapiens]

I just received a bacterial microbiome report from Aquabiomics for this 12g nano reef. The main take-away points are:

1. Diversity & balance higher than 50th percentile of tested reef tanks
2. Balance Score (Correlation with Typical Abundance) shows similarities and differences compared to the 'typical' reef tank
3. Huge relative abundance of Pelagibacteraceae (Gram-negative, rod-shaped, free-living Bacteria (Alphaproteobacteria), aerobic & chemoheterotrophic, previously called SAR11, thought to be the most abundant bacterial group in the ocean worldwide. Well-adapted for life in the low-nutrient waters of the open ocean. Require reduced sulfur compounds, glycine, and dissolved organic carbon for growth). Distant runner ups: Hyphomicrobiaceae (Gram-negative Bacteria (Alphaproteobacteria), mostly rod-shaped, some free-living, Mostly aerobic & chemoheterotrophic, some photoheterotrophic, Extremely diverse, widely distributed and highly abundant in marine habitats including open ocean, sediments, and algal biofilms. Degrade sulfur-containing compounds (e.g. sulfite, DMSP). Many use methylated amines (MA) as primary nitrogen source) & Rhodobacteraceae (Gram-negative Bacteria (Alphaproteobacteria), mostly rod-shaped, some free-living, Mostly aerobic & chemoheterotrophic, some photoheterotrophic, Extremely diverse, widely distributed and highly abundant in marine habitats including open ocean, sediments, and algal biofilms. Degrade sulfur-containing compounds (e.g. sulfite, DMSP). Many use methylated amines (MA) as primary nitrogen source)
4. Typical ammonia−oxidizing microbes (with the exception of Nitrososphaeraceae (0.00026), which apparently is not typically registered in samples).
5. Nitrite−oxidizing Nitrospiraceae lower than typical
6. No Cyanobacteria species found
7. No Fish pathogen species found
8. No Coral pathogen species found

From the test reports I've seen online, there appears to be a general trend of decreasing diversity with age. This tank actually has a higher diversity (66%) compared to the 50th percentile. This is interesting because the only additional bacteria are from occasional new specimens (~ once a year, perhaps), Red Sea Blue Bucket salt (has ocean bacteria) and weekly feeding of live earthworms from the compost heap.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Some pods+phyto would probably bump those numbers up