Occ_motorcycles 2.5 nano build

[alberthiel]

Ok better update then.


I want to add to the 2.5 gallon. The issues I was having were in my 40b show tank.

This is the 40b today.

And this is the 2.5 today

Both looking alot better.

So I want to move from my 40(photos in album) to the 2.5

Indeed ... a big difference ! Looking a LOT better ...

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Well today was a good day. I moved some more corals from the 40b to my 2.5 build. I moved a mini colony of acans. And also moved a small favia (red and green).

After moving things around I went to pick up a nice size clam. Got a good deal on him and he looks good.

The clam came attached to a chunk of soft rock with a few purple green mouthed Yuma. So I broke off a corner that had a baby Yuma on it and tossed him into the 2.5 also.

I will post photos of clam and also the 2.5 tomorrow.

Btw no food has gone into the 2.5 build so far. Also nothing growing on sand and all corals looking good. Baby orange acan I put in it is regularly open and getting better.

 

[alberthiel]

Well today was a good day. I moved some more corals from the 40b to my 2.5 build. I moved a mini colony of acans. And also moved a small favia (red and green).

After moving things around I went to pick up a nice size clam. Got a good deal on him and he looks good.

The clam came attached to a chunk of soft rock with a few purple green mouthed Yuma. So I broke off a corner that had a baby Yuma on it and tossed him into the 2.5 also.

I will post photos of clam and also the 2.5 tomorrow.

Btw no food has gone into the 2.5 build so far. Also nothing growing on sand and all corals looking good. Baby orange acan I put in it is regularly open and getting better.

Following and yes pics pls ... sounds like a nice clam you got

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Been busy these past few days. Haven't had time to take a photo.

Was thinking about this build and what I could do to make it better and one thing was to remove the skimmer or should I say the evaporation accelerator. Any reasons why I shouldn't?

 

[alberthiel]

Been busy these past few days. Haven't had time to take a photo.

Was thinking about this build and what I could do to make it better and one thing was to remove the skimmer or should I say the evaporation accelerator. Any reasons why I shouldn't?

It is always a good idea to use IMO whatever we can and have available to us to polish the water in our tanks and remove algae spores, some DOC, small particulate matter, etc, The proof IMO is in the color and smell of what ends up in the skimmer cup. Whatever dark and smelly matter that is there is no longer part of the tank's water.

Even wet skimmate contains lots of "nasty" looking stuff. Here is a pic. of what my small HOB skimmer removed in less than a day ..... FWIW

I transferred it to a glass container to take the image.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

It is always a good idea to use IMO whatever we can and have available to us to polish the water in our tanks and remove algae spores, some DOC, small particulate matter, etc, The proof IMO is in the color and smell of what ends up in the skimmer cup. Whatever dark and smelly matter that is there is no longer part of the tank's water.

Even wet skimmate contains lots of "nasty" looking stuff. Here is a pic. of what my small HOB skimmer removed in less than a day ..... FWIW

I transferred it to a glass container to take the image.

Unlike your skimmer mine has yet to pull anything out because I have no fish or real waste being produced.

Thoughts again?

 

[alberthiel]

Unlike your skimmer mine has yet to pull anything out because I have no fish or real waste being produced.
Thoughts again?

If you have any life forms there will be waste.. you may not see it but there is. Maybe you need to adjust your skimmer to produce more foam ... what do you have in the tank now if I may ask ... you may have posted it but I may have missed it ...

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Just corals. One small thing of zoa. Small colony(12 heads). Single orange acan. Green and pink chalice. And small favia frag(8heads)

 

[alberthiel]

Just corals. One small thing of zoa. Small colony(12 heads). Single orange acan. Green and pink chalice. And small favia frag(8heads)

IMO those would justify using a skimmer as they do produce waste + you have to feed some of them which produces waste also so the skimmer would help but if it is not removing anything right now you may need to adjust the bubble formation and the water level inside the skimmer .. FWIW

 

[occ_motorcycles]

I have never had to feed chalices or acans. Always done great with feeding.

 

[alberthiel]

I have never had to feed chalices or acans. Always done great with feeding.

That is true, it may not be necessary if you provide the right conditions BUT ... extra feeding will promote growth and health. Here is an article on Chalices and the same applies to Acans :

The Allure of Chalice Corals — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

FWIW, and whether you do so or not is up to you of course but IME when you feed you will see better growth.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Hmmmm nice read.


As I now have time to post a photo .... I will now

Thanks for reading

 

[alberthiel]

Hmmmm nice read.
As I now have time to post a photo .... I will now
Thanks for reading

Indeed not much in the tank so you may not be able to skim a lot but I would think that once you do start feeding that the skimmer will "work" a lot better for you and remove a lot of what it can remove.

And on skimming here is a good article (note that most articles have been posted to my thread (see sig) and I add new ones every day .. and you may or may not have seen them .. This is a good article on what skimming is ...

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/rhf/index.php Note that at times reefkeeping articles will not come up but then if you try later they will

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Didn't work ill try again later

 

[alberthiel]

Didn't work ill try again later

I have no idea why that happens but I had the same happen to me for quite a few of their articles ... odd ... sometimes I kept cannot connect to the Server and sometimes a 404 error. But I am sure if you do a search on the Net that there are other articles on skimming marine tanks.

Here is one that has a small section on it and deals mostly with how to remove unwanted algae ..

Saltwater Aquarium Algae Control: The Elimination of Nuisance "Algae"

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Yeah I got the 404

 

[occ_motorcycles]

This is what I thought and looked to be just water from skimmer.

Seem something is happening so ill leave it as is

 

[alberthiel]

This is what I thought and looked to be just water from skimmer.

Seem something is happening so ill leave it as is

Good, is this a fairly new skimmer maybe as they sometimes take a while to start working properly. But sometimes it is the size of the bubbles that determines how well it will work, the smaller the better of course and if it is not a venturi maybe the airstone needs changing ... not sure what kind of skimmer you have actually.

 

[alberthiel]

Yeah I got the 404

That's what I got as well when I tried it a while ago ... not sure what is going on with them but it happens quite regularly lately which was not the case a few weeks ago. Hope nothing is going on with them ...

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Good, is this a fairly new skimmer maybe as they sometimes take a while to start working properly. But sometimes it is the size of the bubbles that determines how well it will work, the smaller the better of course and if it is not a venturi maybe the airstone needs changing ... not sure what kind of skimmer you have actually.

It's an oceanic biocube skimmer. It's driven by air not venturi. It's a new airstone so that may be part of it