Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef

[Kenneth Wingerter]

Further musing to Ken over at Hydrospace LLC's comments...

After rereading this I realized that there is a way for small polyped NPS corals to receive the benefits of Symbiodinium DHA, namely through ingestion.

This small reef aquarium has a rather dense assortment of various coral and other photosynthetic organisms for it's size, which regulate the density of their symbiotic partners via expulsion into the local environment. I've noticed that this Scleronephthya is often retracted during most of the light period (even though it is not in high light), but then typically expands prominently when the light cycle is ramping down and then for a many hours thereafter.

So perhaps the coral is not light shy, but simply saving energy by not expanding it's polyps until the photosynthetic organisms start to expel their excess zooxanthellae towards the end of the light cycle.

Totally makes sense to me. The one Dendronephthya that I ever had for any length of time opened and closed quite regularly, and the rhythm definitely appeared to be driven more by food availability than by light exposure. And your comment also had me thinking about the many dendronephthiid coral photos I've seen taken in the wild under full sunlight. But yeah, regarding the expelled zooxanthellae in your tank... Do you have a fairly high powered microscope? Would be interesting (and relatively easy) to test diel density flux by looking at some morning and evening water samples.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Totally makes sense to me. The one Dendronephthya that I ever had for any length of time opened and closed quite regularly, and the rhythm definitely appeared to be driven more by food availability than by light exposure. And your comment also had me thinking about the many dendronephthiid coral photos I've seen taken in the wild under full sunlight.

Yes, I've noted that, too. If these small polyp NPS are regularly consuming excess released zooxanthellae from photosynthetic corals/organisms, then they would be found in locations where these are abundant and flow brings them this form of nourishment.

But yeah, regarding the expelled zooxanthellae in your tank... Do you have a fairly high powered microscope? Would be interesting (and relatively easy) to test diel density flux by looking at some morning and evening water samples.

Unfortunately, no, I don't have a microscope. However, I may be able to turn my SmartPhone into a microscope using a 3rd party product/application that will have sufficient magnification to see a Symbiodinium cell.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Came back from a 2 week emergency absence and found the tank at 1.0285 SG and 5.6 dKh (would have been worse if my son hadn't filled the water bottles after the 1st week). Surprisingly NO3 was at 10 ppm even though the tank had been lightly fed only once during the 2 week period. Glass had a nice coat of brown algae, as expected.

Surprisingly, all the corals except the Duncan (heads withdrawn) and the A. echinata (STN, severe brown-out) looked just fine. In fact, most corals had grown noticeably which mirrors what happened the last time I left the tank for an extended period.

Parameters were brought back to 1.026 SG and 7.8 Alk gradually over 24 hrs. along with a 10% WC/light gravel vacuumming and things are back to near normal.

Unhappy Duncan (found a digitate hydroid in it's midst):

Scleronephthya looking fine without feeding for 2 weeks:

Pink Stylocoeniella nearly healed a dime sized gap in 2 weeks (lighter brown area):

'Creeping heads' Blsatomussa merletti:

Ponape Birdsnest Twisty Growth. I'll need to start this one over again from saved frags again.

Spreading Heads Bowerbanki (from 2 to many):

Top Center Coral Grouping. After 13 years the Pavona maldivensis is finally sending up projections and the BOP Birdsnest just won't grow upwards (the direct flow is likely keeping it horizontal).

All-in-all, quite relieved that things didn't get too far out-of-whack. Shows that a simple-running mature system made up of mostly hardy corals can take a lick'in and keep on tick'in

 

[Aqua Man]

All-in-all, quite relieved that things didn't get too far out-of-whack. Shows that a simple-running mature system made up of mostly hardy corals can take a lick'in and keep on tick'in

Happy that all is well after your absence! Also illustrates that sometimes leaving the tank alone (besides regular maintenance) is better than tinkering with it all the time.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Happy that all is well after your absence! Also illustrates that sometimes leaving the tank alone (besides regular maintenance) is better than tinkering with it all the time.

Yes, this can certainly be true. In this case the lack of water changes/maintenance temporarily benefitted the corals. So I think it's a matter of degree in that letting the aquarium get a little dirtier was good, but continuing down this path over a longer time period would ultimately result in a deteriorating ecosystem.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Something New, Something Old, Something Amiss

Got the itch to fill in a few gaps in the landscaping with coral and turned to an online vendor that has always been a safe bet in the past. Well, something is certainly amiss these days (name withheld until issues are hopefully resolved...multiple emails and a phone conversation over the last 2 weeks). Long story short, I placed an order for a very nice centerpiece Trachy plus an Ultra Button Scoly and was informed a few days later that the Trachy was 'not doing well'. Ok, fair enough as animals can become sick or injured. I was then asked to 'pick another Trachy', but didn't like any of their then current selection. So, I placed a 2nd order for a bunch of other corals with notes in their order page 'Special Notes' section that this 2nd order replaces the 1st order (all order numbers provided). And then they proceed to fill and ship both orders; the 1st order with a replacement Trachy that I never picked plus the original Button Scoly and the full 2nd order (Button Scoly and a bunch of nice 'Clearance' corals). Holy boat load of corals for a 12g and nearly full nano!

Without further ado, the 'Good, the Bad and the Ugly'


The highlighter green on the right was the original quite nice Ultra Button Scoly from my 1st order and the rather dull one on the bottom left is actually not the one that I ordered:

Moving on, unfortunately I didn't save a pic of the original Trachy (multicolored), but this is what was chosen by the vendor (color challenged for sure, but at least it's healthy):

In some ways I had better luck with their 'Clearance' corals.

Nice little standard orange rim/aquamarine disk Blasto:

Not really true to the vendor's pic Lord (missing a lot of the blue), but they typically change color on a whim anyway:

A few more small Blastos in quite low light under hang settings:

And lastly, a pic of my three little 'mystery polyps' all nice and plump, but very slow growing (now the size of Rasta zoas):

 

[JulesH]

Gorgeous, what more can you say.

J

 

[Nano sapiens]

Gorgeous, what more can you say.

J

Glad you like it. Thank you!

Ralph.

 

[CrazyDuck959]

Dec 2021 (30 degree angle from horizontal shot):



Humble beginnings (Aug 2008):

Simple little 12g Cadlights AIO nano...pump, heater, DIY 'Complete Spectrum' wide-spread LED array, live rock/live sand (no mechanical/chemical filtration), DIY gravity-fed ATOs, 10% weekly water changes (3/4g, 2x/wk). Only additives are Kalkwasser (added to the ATOs), magnesium and a few drops of Iodine/wk. Easy-breezy to service and maintain.

CORAL:

• Turquoise/Blue Echinata (Acropora echinata) - Aquatic Collections (2021)
• 'Bird of Paradise' Birdsnest (Seriatopora caliendrum) - Diablo Corals
• 'Ponape' Birdsnest (Seriatopora denticulate) - Diablo Corals
• 'Sunset Monti' (Montipora danae) - Neptune Aquatics
• 'Mystic Sunset Monti' (Montipora sp.) - Aquatic Collections (2021)
• Metallic Gold Pavona (Pavona maldivensis) - Neptune Aquatics
• Mint-Green Pavona (Pavona frondifera) - Sacramento Frag Swap (2009)
• 'Fallen Horizon Leptoseris' (Leptoseris mycetoseroides) - Legendary Corals
• Pink Stylocoeniella (Stylocoeniella sp.) - CA Reef Co.
• 'Strawberries & Cream' Stylocoeniella (Stylocoeniella sp.) - CA Reef Co.
• Green/Red Leptastrea (Leptastrea pruinosa)
• Rainbow Acans (Micromussa lordhowensis) - Legendary & Aquatic Collections
• Orange Bowerbanki (Homophylia bowerbanki) - Diablo Corals, Oct 2020
• Ricordia Mushrooms (Ricordia yuma, Ricordia florida) - Coral Morphologic (2009), Diablo Corals, Legendary Corals
• Assorted Zoanthids - Unique, Legendary Corals, CA Reef Co., Aquatic Collections, AquaSD
• Fat Tentacled Variety Duncan (Duncanopsammia axifuga) - Aquatic Collections., Jan 2020
• Blastomussa merletti - Aquatic Collections, Jan 2020
• Blastomussa wellsi - Unique Corals, June 2020, Aquatic Collections
• Blastomussa vivida- Aquatic Collections, Jun 2021
• Fox Coral (Nemenzophyllia turbida) - Aquatic Collections, May 2021
• Orange/Green 'Lobo' (Acanthastrea pachysepta) - Diablo Coals, Oct 2021
• Scleronephthya sp. - AquaSD, Aug 2021
• 'Button Scoly' (Micromussa maxima sp.)
• Trachyphyllia geoffrey

Fish:

• Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny (Ekemblemaria myersi) - 1 (Live Aquaria, Sep. 2017)
• Azure Damselfish (Chrysiptera hemicyanea) - 1 (Aquatic Collections, July 2021)

Inverts (CUC):

• Collonista snails (Collonista sp.)
• Stomatella snails (Stomatella sp.) - 1
• Bristleworms (Eurythoe sp.)
• Blue-legged Hermit Crab (Clibanarius tricolor) - 1
• Halloween Hermit Crab (Ciliopagurus strigatus) - 1
• Limpet snails (unknown genus/species)
• Small Serpent Sea Star (unknown genus/species)

Thanks for visiting

Great tank! I have one question though. How do you manage to keep the substrate so clean, if you don’t mind me asking. Is it just the CUC that does that or do you help with it?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Thanks! Right now I'm down to one lumbering Hawaiian Hermit and a single Stomatella snail for the CUC, so not much help there. A few Bristle worms and a bunch of Spaghetti worms do help a little.

I vacuum a bit each time when I do my 2x/wk water changes, which seems to be enough to keep it relatively clean.

 

[CrazyDuck959]

Thanks! Right now I'm down to one lumbering Hawaiian Hermit and a single Stomatella snail for the CUC, so not much help there. A few Bristle worms and a bunch of Spaghetti worms do help a little.

I vacuum a bit each time when I do my 2x/wk water changes, which seems to be enough to keep it relatively clean.

Sorry for not responding. I'm guessing your using crushed coral or aragonite a substrate right? Cause whenever I vacuum my tank clouds up. Ty for telling me that though, been having my own issues with keeping my substrate clean (Which is why I ask). Are Bristle worms and Spaghetti worms useful?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Sorry for not responding. I'm guessing your using crushed coral or aragonite a substrate right? Cause whenever I vacuum my tank clouds up. Ty for telling me that though, been having my own issues with keeping my substrate clean (Which is why I ask). Are Bristle worms and Spaghetti worms useful?

The substrate is a commercial mix of many different sizes (coral sand with a bit of small coral rubble mixed in).

Having a 'cloud' after vacuuming is rather typical and in a well maintained reef aquarium it's mostly whitish in color. If it's a yucky brownish/grayish/blackish, then it very likely hasn't been disturbed in a good long while (one shouldn't try and clean the whole sand bed all at once in this instance, but rather cut the cleaning into multiple sections each cleaning session). In a mature/seasoned aquarium (even without mechanical filtration), the cloud should be cleared up in a few hours due to capture by many different filter feeding organisms (coral, sponges, fan worms, periphyton, etc.).

Most organisms that keep the substrate turned over are welcome additions (some Gobies that deposit sand all over the corals/rockwork might be an exception for some). The small creatures such as Hermit Crabs, worms and various 'Pods' help break-down organic matter into material that bacteria can more easily process.

 

[Nano sapiens]

14 th year FTS:

Side shots:

Experimental bits'n'pieces of a H. bowerbanki glued on a rock (doing well, so far):

Anyone like Button Scollys?

Started a 2nd B. merletti colony (left) after a bunch of polyps fell off the main colony:

And so there it is: a simple puddle of salt water doing it's best pretending to be a reef

 

[lubeck]

Impressive. So cool to see such a mature reef.

 

[Aqua Man]

Anyone like Button Scollys?

The one on the left has some neat color and designs! I also see a fish poking out in between the two! Photo bomber!!

 

[Wiskey]

Beautiful!!! It's amazing how many large corals you are able to display in that tank.

Whiskey

 

[Nano sapiens]

The one on the left has some neat color and designs! I also see a fish poking out in between the two! Photo bomber!!

That's an 'Eyebrow Barnacle Blenny' (Ekemblemaria myersi). Quite the little character!

 

[Nano sapiens]

Beautiful!!! It's amazing how many large corals you are able to display in that tank.

Whiskey

Thanks. Kind of a departure from most reef keeping goals; the main mission here at this point is to keep growth limited while still keeping the corals colored up and healthy.

 

[Wiskey]

Thanks. Kind of a departure from most reef keeping goals; the main mission here at this point is to keep growth limited while still keeping the corals colored up and healthy.

That's an interesting way of looking at it! I just finished a 25 for the bedroom that I took the time to custom design all the cabinetry and such, its really nicely done and I plan to keep for the long haul. I might be right there with you in a couple years.

Whiskey

 

[Nano sapiens]

That's an interesting way of looking at it! I just finished a 25 for the bedroom that I took the time to custom design all the cabinetry and such, its really nicely done and I plan to keep for the long haul. I might be right there with you in a couple years.

Whiskey

Excellent, glad to hear that. Having a system setup that you enjoy and have put some sweat equity into makes it easier to keep it going over the long term.

I think it's universal that we all enjoy the challenge of getting corals to grow quickly. But when the system becomes mature and the corals start to battle aggressively for space, that presents it's own set of difficulties. There are a few common ways to deal with this (frequent pruning, letting just a few species dominate, upgrade to a larger aquarium).

I choose to manipulate parameters to slow down growth. Beside the obvious reduction in physical space issues, it also has the very important side benefit of reducing aggression (corals redirect available energy into more life sustaining functions instead of sweepers, mesenterial filaments, etc.). This reduces the need for reef keeper interference and also keeps the coral diversity higher over the long term.