OP
OP
Thanks. This one was definitely a character!
I've heard these little gobies and blennies called 'The Potato Chips of the Sea'. They get gobbled up all the time, but they reproduce like crazy to compensate.
Nano Sapiens 12g - Ye Olde Mixed Reef
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Thanks. This one was definitely a character!
I've heard these little gobies and blennies called 'The Potato Chips of the Sea'. They get gobbled up all the time, but they reproduce like crazy to compensate.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Ah, I am sorry for your loss. Barnacle blennies for their small size have big personalities and I am sure you will miss him.
OP
OP
Thanks. The 'Eyebrow' type apparently live a lot longer than the little Hancock (Panamic) ones.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I have a Panamic barnacle blenny. I have had it for probably 4 years. It's my second longest kept fish and one of the first I got when I was leaving from keeping seahorses.
Do you think that you will get another Eyebrow barnacle blenny?
OP
OP
Wow, 4 years is a really long time for a Panamic!
For the foreseeable future I don't plan on adding any additional fish. As I see it, this small aquarium is just about minimum size for the quite active resident Azure Damsel and the corals (LPS especially) are multiplying and getting larger which is cutting down on swimming space. I may add an invert or two if I find something of interest, though.
kevgib67
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Wow great thread, sorry for your blenny loss but sounds like it had a great life in your nano tank. I really enjoyed your break down of nano corals and your ratings! This thread will be my referral go to for those asking for nano tank coral suggestions. Keep up the good work.
OP
OP
Compared to medium and larger reef aquariums, there's not a whole lot of detailed info about which corals tend to do best (and why) in really tight quarters like a small nano or pico over a long period of time.
Glad you found the write up useful
OP
OP
End of year FTS:
Left side:
Right Side:
Only new coral this quarter was a Blastomussa vivida (trade for a few of my extra R. florida). Looked a bit off at the store and looked worse when I got it home. Had a lot of perimeter algae and even a small Aiptasia, so the base was dipped in H202 (not the polyp). A silk creating worm then crawled on it and caused the wedge of destruction. It then sulked for a good month before showing any signs of expansion and is now finally putting on a bit of color (blurry photo, but the best I could get):
Bizarre worm with no markings whatsoever (not even eye spots):
Looks like some type of gastropod's long proboscis, but there is no visible body attached to this snout...so I'm calling it a worm at this point.
I keep feeding any Hermit Crab molts I find to this guy (nom-nom)
I lost one of my two Button Scollys to a Digitate Hydroid. I stopped feeding all powdered foods and BBS which has really helped to knock down the DH population. Surprising my lone NPS Scleronephthya is still alive and kicking, just not growing.
In the last couple months I've dropped the temp down to 76 (from 78/79), dropped the blue channel a little, upped the white channel quite a bit along with Red and Cyan. I may still minimally increasing the violet channel and call it a 'done deal'. A bit slower growth (about 20% less Kalkwasser consumed than before) but some improvement in non-fluorescent pigmentation...which is what I was after. For those thinking that white light = algae, not necessarily the case as the system remains as virtually algae free as before. One additional side benefit to the warmer lighting is that very little image post processing is needed.
Left side:
Right Side:
Only new coral this quarter was a Blastomussa vivida (trade for a few of my extra R. florida). Looked a bit off at the store and looked worse when I got it home. Had a lot of perimeter algae and even a small Aiptasia, so the base was dipped in H202 (not the polyp). A silk creating worm then crawled on it and caused the wedge of destruction. It then sulked for a good month before showing any signs of expansion and is now finally putting on a bit of color (blurry photo, but the best I could get):
Bizarre worm with no markings whatsoever (not even eye spots):
Looks like some type of gastropod's long proboscis, but there is no visible body attached to this snout...so I'm calling it a worm at this point.
I keep feeding any Hermit Crab molts I find to this guy (nom-nom)
I lost one of my two Button Scollys to a Digitate Hydroid. I stopped feeding all powdered foods and BBS which has really helped to knock down the DH population. Surprising my lone NPS Scleronephthya is still alive and kicking, just not growing.
In the last couple months I've dropped the temp down to 76 (from 78/79), dropped the blue channel a little, upped the white channel quite a bit along with Red and Cyan. I may still minimally increasing the violet channel and call it a 'done deal'. A bit slower growth (about 20% less Kalkwasser consumed than before) but some improvement in non-fluorescent pigmentation...which is what I was after. For those thinking that white light = algae, not necessarily the case as the system remains as virtually algae free as before. One additional side benefit to the warmer lighting is that very little image post processing is needed.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
Very nice update. I always enjoy seeing this tank. And yes, that worm is a bit freaky!End of year FTS:
Left side:
Right Side:
Only new coral this quarter was a Blastomussa vivida (trade for a few of my extra R. florida). Looked a bit off at the store and looked worse when I got it home. Had a lot of perimeter algae and even a small Aiptasia, so the base was dipped in H202 (not the polyp). A silk creating worm then crawled on it and caused the wedge of destruction. It then sulked for a good month before showing any signs of expansion and is now finally putting on a bit of color (blurry photo, but the best I could get):
Bizarre worm with no markings whatsoever (not even eye spots):
Looks like some type of gastropod's long proboscis, but there is no visible body attached to this snout...so I'm calling it a worm at this point.
I keep feeding any Hermit Crab molts I find to this guy (nom-nom)
I lost one of my two Button Scollys to a Digitate Hydroid. I stopped feeding all powdered foods and BBS which has really helped to knock down the DH population. Surprising my lone NPS Scleronephthya is still alive and kicking, just not growing.
In the last couple months I've dropped the temp down to 76 (from 78/79), dropped the blue channel a little, upped the white channel quite a bit along with Red and Cyan. I may still minimally increasing the violet channel and call it a 'done deal'. A bit slower growth (about 20% less Kalkwasser consumed than before) but some improvement in non-fluorescent pigmentation...which is what I was after. For those thinking that white light = algae, not necessarily the case as the system remains as virtually algae free as before. One additional side benefit to the warmer lighting is that very little image post processing is needed.
OP
OP
Thanks. I plan to keep it going until it's 15th year anniversary next July...and then decide what it's future will be.
OP
OP
1st Quarter 2023 FTS:
The aquarium as a whole is doing okay, but I've had some issues with specific corals recently due a sudden bloom of digitate hydroids:
LPS wall:
Banki and Pachysepta doing great (and the Ponape doing very well where it hasn't been attacked):
The hydroids just seem to come and go at random (I haven't fed particle foods in months and I'm careful not to overfeed (so says every reef keeper). I do have a sizeable benthic pod population and the hydroid population is undoubtedly closely tied to their abundance/scarcity. Interestingly, the Merletti, Bowerbanki and Pachysepta have never been affected by the hydroids (possibly they're just in spots that the hydroids don't frequent).
I started a small 'Mussid Refugee Rock' away from the main rock structure where the hydroids like to hang out to try and save some of the different strains:
Next time I go to the LFS I'll be looking for some small gobies to control the pods since my single Azure Damsel isn't a benthic pod eating specialist.
Anyway, so goes life and death in the glass box...
The aquarium as a whole is doing okay, but I've had some issues with specific corals recently due a sudden bloom of digitate hydroids:
LPS wall:
Banki and Pachysepta doing great (and the Ponape doing very well where it hasn't been attacked):
The hydroids just seem to come and go at random (I haven't fed particle foods in months and I'm careful not to overfeed (so says every reef keeper
). I do have a sizeable benthic pod population and the hydroid population is undoubtedly closely tied to their abundance/scarcity. Interestingly, the Merletti, Bowerbanki and Pachysepta have never been affected by the hydroids (possibly they're just in spots that the hydroids don't frequent).I started a small 'Mussid Refugee Rock' away from the main rock structure where the hydroids like to hang out to try and save some of the different strains:
Next time I go to the LFS I'll be looking for some small gobies to control the pods since my single Azure Damsel isn't a benthic pod eating specialist.
Anyway, so goes life and death in the glass box...
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Is it possible to super glue the spot of hydroid when you see them? Would that mixture that SunnyX puts in his tank help?The hydroids just seem to come and go at random (I haven't fed particle foods in months and I'm careful not to overfeed (so says every reef keeper
OP
OP
I've tried using glue and epoxy, with limited success. Since they are mobile, they often just pop out another hole in my original porous Fiji live rock.
Any that I find I remove with a tweezer. Problem is, there's always one of two that bury their foot deep in the rockwork and can't be removed. Right now I'm down to one that I can see, but I can't get to it's base.
Keeping the food supply as low as possible so that they have difficulty reproducing as well as manually removal seem to be my best options to minimize the damage. Besides the affected corals' direct injuries, they become stressed which often results in secondary bacterial infections (especially Blastos and Zoas). Nasty pest, for sure!
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OP
OP
.
vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
I wonder if a strong slurry of kalkwasser shot right into them with a syringe (without a needle of course) would burn them. When I was a maintenance tech for a lfs, I used a strong slurry to kill aiptasia. You would have to keep an eye on your PH and alkalinity. The tank I used this in was a 90 gallon.I've tried using glue and epoxy, with limited success. Since they are mobile, they often just pop out another hole in my original porous Fiji live rock.
Any that I find I remove with a tweezer. Problem is, there's always one of two that bury their foot deep in the rockwork and can't be removed. Right now I'm down to one that I can see, but I can't get to it's base.
Keeping the food supply as low as possible so that they have difficulty reproducing as well as manually removal seem to be my best options to minimize the damage. Besides the affected corals' direct injuries, they become stressed which often results in secondary bacterial infections (especially Blastos and Zoas). Nasty pest, for sure!
OP
OP
Trouble is that they bury their foot deep in the rock. On top of that mine have learned to only extend at night, so they aren't easy to spot (selective pressure adaptation at work).
The more worrisome part at this point is the slow proliferation of a bacterial infection as I'm starting to see it now on LPS (Blastos/Acans) that I haven't seen near any hydroids recently (could still be a sneaky DH hidden nearby, though). There is a possibility that an opportunistic pathogen may have come in with my latest coral, a B. vivida, that looked rather tightly drawn in when I first got it, but looks much better now. If this keeps progressing I may try an AquaBiomics report as there have been no other changes/additions to the system in over 6 months.
OP
OP
'Well, that was 'fun'...'
Boo, a 21 hr. power outage (Tues 1:30 pm - Wed 10:30 am . But yay, everything survived!
This ranks high on the list of every reef keepers' worst nightmares. The two most important parameters I consider in this scenario are oxygenation and heat. And here's how I dealt with this (low-tech fashion).
Oxygen/flow: Way back-in-the-day (talking Victoria era, here), it was fashionable for the cultured well-to-do ladies to have an interest in science and many kept sea creatures such as native cold-water anemones. In order to provide oxygen, they would instruct their maids to 'swish the water' with their clean hands on a regular basis (hourly, bi-hourly, couple times a day?). Anyway, it worked and anemones could be kept alive and healthy for years this way along with weekly feedings. So, in my case I grabbed a large plastic fork and every 2 hours or so I 'swished the water', vigorously for a minute or two. (since I don't sleep 8 hrs. solid, I managed 2x during the night).
Now some might say, 'Why not use a battery powered pump and air stone'. And this legitimate question ties nicely into heat retention over extended periods.
Heat: The big problem with a power outage is it's total unpredictability. Could be 20 minutes...could be 2 days or more. I think a lot of people get caught taking the 'This'll be over soon' hopeful approach and then get caught in a bad place when the outage lasts a lot longer than expected. At any rate, the first thing I did was bundle up the aquarium in it's usual night time covering and then wrap it in a thick towel:
Next I periodically checked the temperature and watched the rate of the temp fall. In ~6 daylight hours the temp went from 77 to 72F and that's where I started to take action. I remembered that my son had given me two 'Hot Hands' hand warmers a while back, so I activated these and placed them into ziplock bags (leave the bags open since air is needed to activate them, just make sure water says out) which then went into the aquarium (clipped to the aquarium sides so they wouldn't wander):
Every hour or so I'd shake the Hot Hands to reinvigorate them. In this small nano, this was sufficient to keep the temp stable at ~72 for another couple hours. I then went to sleep and awoke to find a rather chilly 67 in tank. That was getting too far down there, so at that point I bailed out a quart or so of tank water and heated it up enough to be quite warm to the touch. And then from there, I very slowly add the heated water back into the tank while vigorously stirring with the plastic spoon for even distribution. Before long the temp was back around 75. I then had to go to work, but luckily the power came back on in about 4 hours.
Now air pumps are fine for short outages and supplying sufficient oxygenation, but for longer outages they tend to release the heat too rapidly out of the aquarium due to the constantly disturbed surface boundary layer. And since the length of the outage is typically not known, I opted not to use this method even though I do have a battery operated pump.
A bit of a rough ride, but still alive and kicking:
Boo, a 21 hr. power outage (Tues 1:30 pm - Wed 10:30 am . But yay, everything survived!
This ranks high on the list of every reef keepers' worst nightmares. The two most important parameters I consider in this scenario are oxygenation and heat. And here's how I dealt with this (low-tech fashion).
Oxygen/flow: Way back-in-the-day (talking Victoria era, here), it was fashionable for the cultured well-to-do ladies to have an interest in science and many kept sea creatures such as native cold-water anemones. In order to provide oxygen, they would instruct their maids to 'swish the water' with their clean hands on a regular basis (hourly, bi-hourly, couple times a day?). Anyway, it worked and anemones could be kept alive and healthy for years this way along with weekly feedings. So, in my case I grabbed a large plastic fork and every 2 hours or so I 'swished the water', vigorously for a minute or two. (since I don't sleep 8 hrs. solid, I managed 2x during the night).
Now some might say, 'Why not use a battery powered pump and air stone'. And this legitimate question ties nicely into heat retention over extended periods.
Heat: The big problem with a power outage is it's total unpredictability. Could be 20 minutes...could be 2 days or more. I think a lot of people get caught taking the 'This'll be over soon' hopeful approach and then get caught in a bad place when the outage lasts a lot longer than expected. At any rate, the first thing I did was bundle up the aquarium in it's usual night time covering and then wrap it in a thick towel:
Next I periodically checked the temperature and watched the rate of the temp fall. In ~6 daylight hours the temp went from 77 to 72F and that's where I started to take action. I remembered that my son had given me two 'Hot Hands' hand warmers a while back, so I activated these and placed them into ziplock bags (leave the bags open since air is needed to activate them, just make sure water says out) which then went into the aquarium (clipped to the aquarium sides so they wouldn't wander):
Every hour or so I'd shake the Hot Hands to reinvigorate them. In this small nano, this was sufficient to keep the temp stable at ~72 for another couple hours. I then went to sleep and awoke to find a rather chilly 67 in tank. That was getting too far down there, so at that point I bailed out a quart or so of tank water and heated it up enough to be quite warm to the touch. And then from there, I very slowly add the heated water back into the tank while vigorously stirring with the plastic spoon for even distribution. Before long the temp was back around 75. I then had to go to work, but luckily the power came back on in about 4 hours.
Now air pumps are fine for short outages and supplying sufficient oxygenation, but for longer outages they tend to release the heat too rapidly out of the aquarium due to the constantly disturbed surface boundary layer. And since the length of the outage is typically not known, I opted not to use this method even though I do have a battery operated pump.
A bit of a rough ride, but still alive and kicking:
OP
OP
Thanks.
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