Nowell's Reef Savvy Pastel Peninsula/Black Widow factory

[nickkohrn]

Nowell,

I noticed that you mentioned Reef Systems Coral Farm earlier in your thread. I live in New Albany, OH, and I was just at a Reef Systems Coral Farm yesterday. Is it the same one?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Nowell]

Nick, yes--Reef Systems in NA. I visit once or twice a month. Good people.

We'll have to take a peak at each other's reefs sometime.

 

[Nowell]

The trochus and astrea snails continue to be free of pyramid snails. Either my sequesteration basket away from the glass prevented pyramids from accessing the good snails or theses pyramids do not eat my snails. I didn’t see any pyramids on the glass last night.

I removed my skimmer 7/18 on the eve of the sump transplant and will see how I can do without it. I was only seeing few milliliters of skimmate every 7-10 days. Today I removed the carbon.

I’ve been letting my Chaeto grow out and have been experiencing record high day and night pH (8.23, 8.06) with shifts of less than 0.2–a great benefit of the refugium. The other goal of this is to allow my nitrates to rise to a healthier level as the Chaeto crowds and internally shades itself. I’ve heard people say that small refugia are pointless. Not in my experience.

I’ve been replacing Br, V, and Li with the ATI supplements. I used an old bottle of Kent Lugol’s to do the initial replacement of iodine prior to the arrival of the ATI “iodine” solution. Carbon and Chaeto suck up iodine. I will replace iodine weekly (I calculated 3 gtt/wk to maintain the I level).

 

[nickkohrn]

Any updates?

 

[Nowell]

@nickkohrn here are some growth shots:

Feb 12th, one Black Widow:

July 29, we celebrated the arrival of the 4th:

Anemone came from a darker LED, higher nutrient tank. At this rate we should have 10-12 black widow BTA by 2019. Clockwise from upper right: Michigan (original), Findlay (newest), Bonaire (second), Manhattan (third). They appear when pH spikes when we’re out of town.

Montipora setosa Feb 15th:

Today—pale and total horizontal growth in a ULNS:

I love this growth pattern!

 

[cancun]

I just checked out your build thread! Very nice tank and stand! I love how you put all of your controllers all in one place and easy to get too! I would love to do that with mine!!! What kinds of fish do you have?

 

[Nowell]

@cancun thank you for the kind words.

3 A. percula clowns
1 Lawnmower blenny
6 Fire fish
1 Bangaii cardinal male (he’s starved two others I’ve put in that were unfortunately also male. I have a female coming soon hopefully which is in a tank which will be torn down at LFS).

 

[cancun]

@cancun thank you for the kind words.

3 A. percula clowns
1 Lawnmower blenny
6 Fire fish
1 Bangaii cardinal male (he’s starved two others I’ve put in that were unfortunately also male. I have a female coming soon hopefully which is in a tank which will be torn down at LFS).

Sounds like a great set up and great fish! [emoji3]

 

[Nowell]

I’ve seen this type of worm enjoying my Sinularia and Capnella.

I caught one off of a Capnella frag a while back during dip/acclimation:

These worms need to try to taste the anemones. Man, I need a Mandarin/File fish/wrasse.

 

[Nowell]

What is this thing? It’s sessile and barnacle like. It sends out a mucus web. It has 4 segments.

Update: it’s definitely a barnacle and it’s awesome.

 

[Nowell]

Two worms caught munching on Sinularia and removed.

Dosing stopped due to KH creeping up to 9.75. Growth is slow. I did a 20g WC of Fritz today, added back the skimmer. Last week I removed 90% of Chaeto and still have no detectable nitrates, unfortunately. Following the Chaeto removal I experienced a mild bacterial bloom and a light Dino coating. Popped my UV sterilizer into the sump.

The no WC idea was optimistic. My plan now is to get things growing enough that I can restart dosing and perform water changes when I the dosing requirements decline (KH creeps above 9ish).

 

[Land Shark]

I like your comment about dropping in your uv. What uv are you using? Any pics?

 

[Nowell]

@Land Shark the UV unit is some small thing that I purchased from a big box pet store. It’s just dropped into the sump. Water remains gin clear and really compliments the low Fe glass.

Updates:

The best thing about this reef is that my kids are becoming increasingly captivated by it. They mention seeing the pom pom crab or courting behavior of the clowns....or a new bunch of Valonia.

I dropped the Chaeto. The sump (and only the sump) had become a Dino factory due to ULNS. This made the Chaeto float into a Dino covered mat. A week later NH3 is up to 0.2 . Since then the reef appears more vibrant. I still believe the Chaeto was useful for rapidly cycling my tank and would have a role in a higher bioload tank.

I haven’t seen a pyramid snail since the last time I posted about them leading me to believe that species was an obligate Tridacna clamivore. Also, we’ve had a six line wrasse for about a month and I have not seen the soft coral eating worms for a while. I was able to remove a couple worms with forceps as well.

Dosing has been off for weeks. I do add 3 drops of ATI iodine weekly.

We have exciting news: we’ve welcomed Black Widow #5 to the aquarium. I suspect the mother is about to split off another daughter (right side of pic 3). Mickey Mouse (pics 1-2)? Once we are up to our ears in Black Widows I could turn the refugium into a nursery and start spreading these critters to others.

 

[mrpizzaface]

Updates?

 

[Nowell]

Updates?

January 2020. Bare bottom. Gross.

 

[Nowell]

April 2020. Peak Sinularia.

 

[Nowell]

October 2020. Screen grabs from a walk around video.

Since that time the tank has become overrun with 20+ Black Widow RBTAs. The anemones have encroached and stung the Sinularia and the yellow Fiji leather. I tear away and toss several each month.

I just did the first water change in 19 months. Once things settle down I'll post some current pics of the sea of incredibly happy RBTAs.

 

[Nowell]

December 2021. The RBTAs take over. Cespitularia removed. I can only deal with so many species of weed at once. Stand and sump continue to be bullet-proof with all seams intact. No skimmer. No UV. No filter socks. Just Chaeto and carbon. Dosing Aquaforrest 3 part. Fritz salt.

The splitting of anemones I've noted during pH rise (when we go on vacation and take our CO2 with us) is fascinating to me. A couple things I noticed early on is that previously growing SPS withered away as the soft coral biomass increased. I thought I would be successful with a "mixed reef." I need to learn more about this. Perhaps more carbon and increased frequency of water changes is a factor here? Has a specific toxin been identified which caused this? I definitely noted a decrease in need for calcium and bicarb dosing as the Cespitularia took off which suggested an inhibition of carbonic anhydrase. I haven't tried any stonies since. As I try to fight back the RBTAs I wonder if the predominant soft coral produces more of its toxin which reduces the growth of the competition.

 

[Nowell]

In the Fall of 2019 I acquired a young male and female Bangaii cardinal. Eventually. With Reef Systems' help, it took a few months to find an actual female. Some of Todd's fish were bred on site in a huge green house tank full of Chaeto and long spine urchins.

Such elegant fish with the morning sunlight illuminating their silver, starting to refract the light into color as they turn away. In the evening the white spots looked resplendent. The black bar vertically through the eye as part of their camouflage.

Like juveniles, they stayed close to the long spine sea urchin when startled. I was impressed by what they could fit in their gaping maw. It was perfectly sized for smaller than average peppermint shrimp. Normally in the shadows, when walking past the tank after the lights were out, the cardinals were front and center, in charge of the nocturnal reef.

Over the past week I have noticed the four year old gal looking pale. She was less active during feeding. Her love worn pectoral fins were slightly more ragged. The little extension on her aft dorsal fin bent.

During coffee yesterday I watched her and her mate hanging out with the yellow tang between the islands of the peninsula. When I returned home from work I noticed some unusual straight tentacles from a mid size anemone. I looked closer and quickly realized that was a cardinal. We all gathered around to see. A teen raised their phone to capture the macabre sight. The male was off by himself, his expressionless face unchanged.

I have only kept anemones for the last five years. Until yesterday I had never seen them doing that--being a piscivore. Nature has little time for the weak and dying. I only keep a handful of fish and I have not had a new addition since before the pandemic. This is the first fish to die from old age in this tank. The Bangaii live brief, beautiful lives.

 

[Nowell]