Perseverance Reef

[tbrown]

I did another 40 gallon water change today. Things are looking great!

I’ve noticed some interesting changes since adding a little more PAR vis a vis the height adjustable lighting and third halide. First is the sudden proliferation of purple coralline along with the hot pink. Both are growing quickly. Second is the aiptasia….

That’s not an aiptasia! It seems I have 4 curlicue anemones instead. Two of them are growing like weeds. The other two have moved somewhere I can’t find them yet.

Here’s what the larger one looks like currently.

This is the smaller one.

The smaller one’s even started getting the curlicue look!

I suspected that they might be curlicues because their proportions didn’t match that of typical aiptasia anemones I’ve encountered in my reefing career. The size ratio of the oral disk to tentacle length favors the oral disk. The oral disk is much larger than in an aiptasia of the same size. The oral disk is held close to the rock while aiptasias don’t. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there have only been a couple of splits. Aiptasia would have found its way into places you wouldn’t believe. I don’t doubt they’d find their way into our beds at night…. Ok maybe not. Still, I’d have a crazy amount of aiptasia by now if they were the most common types of aiptasia found in our systems.

I suspected they were possibly a slower growing aiptasia species but even the slowest growing aips would have split more than these guys have. Seeing what I was seeing I researched aiptasia like anemones. Curlicue anemones were one of the first hits on my Google search. The problem was that I didn’t see the curls or the banding at the time. As a result I just figured I had some uncommon aiptasia species.

I started suspecting I might have had curlicue anemones a couple of months later when the oral disk grew to about 3 inches in diameter but the tentacles weren’t lengthening as fast. Also, I didn’t remember the coloring around the oral disk being present in the common aiptasia species.

Fast forward to the change in light. At first, I started noticing a bit of a green tinge to the off white coloring surrounding the mouth. Definitely not a characteristic of any aiptasia I’ve heard of. A couple of days ago (about 4 days after the lighting change) I noticed the curling starting in the larger nem’s tentacles. 2 days ago the curling became quite pronounced. I don’t see the bands on the tentacles yet but these nems can grow to a foot in diameter! Both of these guys have a lot of maturing to do yet!

I haven’t fed the curlicues directly like I do with the BTAs but now that I know what they are I’m going to try feeding them tonight directly. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

It turns out that there are two types of shrimp that are hosted by these anemones. Pederson shrimp and Spotted shrimp are the two in question. I’m going to see if I can get some.

Oh and the largest nem has been touching a Kenya tree yet it hasn’t caused it any harm. It turns out that while they aggressively sting, their venom isn’t potent at all. This system is definitely anemone heavy!

I know I wrote a book but it’s a pretty awesome discovery, at least to me. I’m glad I didn’t try to kill them. If you ever have an “aiptasia” that doesn’t spread, you just might have a curlicue anemone!

Not positive but the second picture sure looks like an aiptasia to me.

 

[Fishy888]

Not positive but the second picture sure looks like an aiptasia to me.

The big one looked just like the little one when it was that size. If you look you can see some curling on the tentacles of the smaller one.

If they were Aiptasia they’d be all over my tank, in my kitchen cabinets, in the neighbor’s house, etc. They have been with me almost a year now and only two splits so far.

 

[Fishy888]

Last night I target fed the curlicue anemones. They ate it with gusto! The food went down like the Titanic! Both look vibrant and happy. The RBTAs look great too. All my fish and inverts are doing very good.

 

[Fishy888]

I took a page from Paul B.’s playbook. I made a hurricane of sorts in the reef today. Actually the “storm” has been ongoing for 2 days now. One more day’s worth and I should be done. That’s wayyyyyyy longer than Paul B. does his for. Still it had to be done.

The rocks have been in need of deep cleaning for a while now. The black cyano seems way harder to deal with than the red kind. I grabbed some toothbrushes and got to work! Of course I used tank water to do the cleaning with. Crystal clear water before cleaning and absolutely brown, opaque water after cleaning.

First I had to clean the rocks, especially the largest ones. Then I had to wash the bucket out and start with more clear tank water and rinse them. The cleaning process took about 2 to 3 hours for the largest rocks.

There’s still an entire bommie on the right hand side that I have to clean. Once the rocks are clean, the sand is getting it. I’m about halfway done cleaning the rocks now.

I decided to go back to having a couple of bommies once again. In fact I might do three depending. They’re being arranged in such a way that you can see the enormity of the display. I’m only going to keep the larger flatter pieces one deep with a couple of exceptions that create caves while keeping a low profile bommie. There are only 12 inches of height between the floor of the tank and the euro bracing. Since I’m looking to have color sticks, I need as much height as possible. The bommies will be such that I can mount coral in and around them while having ample amounts of open sand.

This is meant to be like a very shallow patch reef. I’ve been watching as many reef documentaries and dive videos as I possibly could. I know I always say it, but I have huge plans for this system!

Of course, not all the rock in the display will fit into the new design. As a result I’m going to add almost all the rock that doesn’t make the cut for my idea to the sump. I’m going to add a colony of GSP to my 20 gallon system and possibly another rock or two from the main display tank.

I could already see a difference in the flow pattern as I started my re-scaping. I had a feeling that flow would be vastly improved by the new arrangement. There’s going to be a good amount of sand around and between the bommies, whether it’s two or three. That should keep dead spots to a minimum, while providing some hiding spots for fish and inverts alike.

 

[Fishy888]

Here’s a picture of the new left bommie (northern bommie) as one faces the display.

The right hand bommie will be similar in profile to the left. I’ll take more pictures tomorrow.

I know this is a big change but I don’t think it’ll have a huge impact on stability. Most of the corals will still be where they’ve been or extremely close to where they were.

This image shows what the right hand side looks like right now.

Of course there are still some black looking spots on some of the rocks I already cleaned on the northern bommie but you can really see how bad off the rocks on the right hand side (soon to be the southern most bommie). A lot of what looks like green algae is actually sludge that has accumulated for a year now due to insufficient flow. (Man oh man do I have a solution that’s going to be a dead spot destroyer! That has to wait 2 more months, possibly more depending on how the shutdown progresses.)

My wife just told me she wants me to move the system about 10 feet across the living room so there’ll be space for the Christmas tree to go in front of the window like we usually do. In light of this development I’m going to get my second trash can from storage that I use when I need to do huge water changes. I’ll fill it with tank water during the move, and I’ll drain the rest, filling my saltwater reservoir with fresh saltwater. I’ll also have some tank water in a tote. I’m going to move much of the rock, currently on the right hand side of the tank, to the tote. The sump will also get drained most of the way.

The lights will have to be detached as well during the move and the transformers will need to be taken down too.

It should be quite easy to move the system at that point and the moving the system itself should only take 15 minutes to half an hour to complete. Once done I can reattach the lights and continue on my merry way.

Admittedly the move might disrupt the stability of the system a little bit but the system should quickly stabilize again. If I hadn’t done what I’ve been doing (and I’m still doing) it’d be a different story entirely!

While I’m moving the system I’ll probably clean the sump a little. There are mats of black cyano down there too and more sludge. Thankfully there isn’t a ton of rock but I need to get that sludge out of there too because the cyano is feeding off of it and everything the sludge traps. Some of my chaeto and caulerpa has cyano on it too.

 

[Fishy888]

Well the first (and last) big tank move fest has finally wrapped up. Murphy, of Murphy’s Law fame, came a-knocking but I was prepared for him!

I was going to grab my second trash can that I use for saltwater. Well our lovely storage unit decided that they would lock us out of our storage unit. They never bothered to take the money from our account even though it was there.

Since I couldn’t get the second trash can I got three totes out that I stored reefing supplies in and one that had winter clothes in it. Between the new saltwater, and the tank water I filled the totes with, I had enough to make it work.

Unfortunately it meant having to move a tank that still weighed about 400 lbs when the sand and rock that I hadn’t already removed plus the water remaining in the display were taken into account.

I might have lost some coralline unfortunately due to the length of time the move took, which was about 6 hours. Fortunately though I believe most survived. I’ll know by this time tomorrow night.

The fish, inverts, and anemones, all six counting the four RBTAs and the two curlique anemones survived, as did the corals thankfully!

The time everything had to sit in totes was twice as long as it would have been had I had trash can number two to store tank water in. Although all the reef animals looked good tonight I will be watching them closely. I’d be much more upset about losing a fish, coral, or invertebrate than if I lost all my coralline.

The temperature dropped 8 degrees Fahrenheit over the 6 hour period the heat was off. It’s risen 4 degrees which is good.

I haven’t restarted the wave maker yet. I did restart the return however. I’ve also left the halides unplugged. Some of the plugs got wet during the move, and in the case of the halides I just want to give everything a slightly longer rest period.

One last item of interest. My fire shrimp decided to try and clean my powder blue even though there was barely enough water in the display for the powder blue to swim normally.

All my animals are indeed alive and accounted for. I thank you Lord for getting me through this despite the temporary setbacks and for keeping my animals alive and well! Sorry Murph. You lose!

 

[Reefering1]

Following

 

[Fishy888]

So far everything’s going well. The fish are all out, as well as the nems. I discovered something interesting though.

The goofy way this apartment is wired…. It seems the outlets my reef is plugged into are on the same circuit as the GFCI outlets in the kitchen. So the microwave is on the same circuit. Trying to balance the load between the two outlets I had available still resulted in knocking off the breaker. I unplugged the center halide and switched the breaker back on. It worked but I heard the microwave beep like it does when the power goes out and comes back on.

I’m going to have to buy some 14 AWG flexible wire and tack it to the wall and over the doorway of the kitchen, and down to an outlet I used to tap for the reef to balance the load. It’ll take about 25 feet of wire, possibly less but not by much.

The good thing here is that once I get the wire, all my cords and outlets will either be in the air or far enough away from the tank that if the sump or even the display were to spring a leak, the risk of saltwater meeting electricity goes way down. Later on I’ll take some pictures of the reef and post them. Here is an image I took as I was moving the system.

Here’s an image of it in its new spot. This was taken about 2:30 this morning.

This image was taken about 9:30 this morning. I filled the tank at about 3:30 AM and I started the heaters and the return, but I hadn’t plugged in the lights, the wave maker, the skimmer or the ozone yet.

I’m excited to continue working on the new scape but I’m also in a lot of pain today so I’m taking it easy for now. The rest of the rock is in water although that water is probably in the upper 60’s. I’m pretty sure any pods, worms or Collonista snails should be fine. All the rocks with corals or anemones are in the system already.

 

[tbrown]

So far everything’s going well. The fish are all out, as well as the nems. I discovered something interesting though.

The goofy way this apartment is wired…. It seems the outlets my reef is plugged into are on the same circuit as the GFCI outlets in the kitchen. So the microwave is on the same circuit. Trying to balance the load between the two outlets I had available still resulted in knocking off the breaker. I unplugged the center halide and switched the breaker back on. It worked but I heard the microwave beep like it does when the power goes out and comes back on.

I’m going to have to buy some 14 AWG flexible wire and tack it to the wall and over the doorway of the kitchen, and down to an outlet I used to tap for the reef to balance the load. It’ll take about 25 feet of wire, possibly less but not by much.

The good thing here is that once I get the wire, all my cords and outlets will either be in the air or far enough away from the tank that if the sump or even the display were to spring a leak, the risk of saltwater meeting electricity goes way down. Later on I’ll take some pictures of the reef and post them. Here is an image I took as I was moving the system.

Here’s an image of it in its new spot. This was taken about 2:30 this morning.

This image was taken about 9:30 this morning. I filled the tank at about 3:30 AM and I started the heaters and the return, but I hadn’t plugged in the lights, the wave maker, the skimmer or the ozone yet.

I’m excited to continue working on the new scape but I’m also in a lot of pain today so I’m taking it easy for now. The rest of the rock is in water although that water is probably in the upper 60’s. I’m pretty sure any pods, worms or Collonista snails should be fine. All the rocks with corals or anemones are in the system already.

My house is wired the same way.

 

[Reefering1]

So far everything’s going well. The fish are all out, as well as the nems. I discovered something interesting though.

The goofy way this apartment is wired…. It seems the outlets my reef is plugged into are on the same circuit as the GFCI outlets in the kitchen. So the microwave is on the same circuit. Trying to balance the load between the two outlets I had available still resulted in knocking off the breaker. I unplugged the center halide and switched the breaker back on. It worked but I heard the microwave beep like it does when the power goes out and comes back on.

I’m going to have to buy some 14 AWG flexible wire and tack it to the wall and over the doorway of the kitchen, and down to an outlet I used to tap for the reef to balance the load. It’ll take about 25 feet of wire, possibly less but not by much.

The good thing here is that once I get the wire, all my cords and outlets will either be in the air or far enough away from the tank that if the sump or even the display were to spring a leak, the risk of saltwater meeting electricity goes way down. Later on I’ll take some pictures of the reef and post them. Here is an image I took as I was moving the system.

Here’s an image of it in its new spot. This was taken about 2:30 this morning.

This image was taken about 9:30 this morning. I filled the tank at about 3:30 AM and I started the heaters and the return, but I hadn’t plugged in the lights, the wave maker, the skimmer or the ozone yet.

I’m excited to continue working on the new scape but I’m also in a lot of pain today so I’m taking it easy for now. The rest of the rock is in water although that water is probably in the upper 60’s. I’m pretty sure any pods, worms or Collonista snails should be fine. All the rocks with corals or anemones are in the system already.

If you're running a circuit, please use 12 guage wire(romex). You'll thank yourself later

 

[Fishy888]

So far everything’s going well. The fish are all out, as well as the nems. I discovered something interesting though.

The goofy way this apartment is wired…. It seems the outlets my reef is plugged into are on the same circuit as the GFCI outlets in the kitchen. So the microwave is on the same circuit. Trying to balance the load between the two outlets I had available still resulted in knocking off the breaker. I unplugged the center halide and switched the breaker back on. It worked but I heard the microwave beep like it does when the power goes out and comes back on.

I’m going to have to buy some 14 AWG flexible wire and tack it to the wall and over the doorway of the kitchen, and down to an outlet I used to tap for the reef to balance the load. It’ll take about 25 feet of wire, possibly less but not by much.

The good thing here is that once I get the wire, all my cords and outlets will either be in the air or far enough away from the tank that if the sump or even the display were to spring a leak, the risk of saltwater meeting electricity goes way down. Later on I’ll take some pictures of the reef and post them. Here is an image I took as I was moving the system.

Here’s an image of it in its new spot. This was taken about 2:30 this morning.

This image was taken about 9:30 this morning. I filled the tank at about 3:30 AM and I started the heaters and the return, but I hadn’t plugged in the lights, the wave maker, the skimmer or the ozone yet.

I’m excited to continue working on the new scape but I’m also in a lot of pain today so I’m taking it easy for now. The rest of the rock is in water although that water is probably in the upper 60’s. I’m pretty sure any pods, worms or Collonista snails should be fine. All the rocks with corals or anemones are in the system already.

If you're running a circuit, please use 12 guage wire(romex). You'll thank yourself later

If only I could make new outlets in the walls! I’d likely get evicted if I tried that! I’ve been using power strips but as you know they’re cheap junk. My solution was/is to install actual outlets on the back of the stand on the poles that hold the canopy. Because of the fact that they’d likely freak out if I used Romex (otherwise it’d be a no-brainer) and because I just need it to carry about 5 Amps I figured I could get away with 14 gauge. I might just go with 12 anyway!

 

[Reefering1]

I might just go with 12 anyway!

That works, they sell metal shielded 12 gauge... 33% more amperage capacity and probaly 10% more cost. The outlets themselves are 15/20a rated.

 

[fishguy242]

Definitely 12G ...

 

[Fishy888]

I got some more of the rocks cleaned up last night into early this morning. All the rocks I had in bins (and a bucket) are cleaned up. There are several smaller rocks and a larger rock that still need to be done. A little more elbow grease will take care of that though. The sand will be next. Once that’s done I can build up the right hand bommie.

Here’s how things look as of 12:30AM. I switched the timer to keep the lights on late but they’re off now and back on their normal schedule.

 

[Fishy888]

I got the last few rocks and the rest of the sand bed cleaned. Here’s what the new scape looks like.

It’s been somewhat stressful no doubt for the animals but so far no losses except for some of the coralline that was exposed to air for several hours during the move. Admittedly I was worried that things might not go so well. I suppose there might still be some issues. Still, with more open space and the corresponding increase in flow in areas that were dead spots I don’t think there’ll be any issues. All in all I would call the move a huge success.

Doing the move was a blessing though. I knew I had some dead spots but wowsa! There was so much mulm in the sand under the rocks. It’s no wonder I’m dealing with black cyano. I’m fortunate that the animals aren’t showing any issues. In fact they have good appetites still. I’ll monitor them and my parameters closely even I don’t expect a mini cycle or anything. I want to make sure they stay where I want them and that they stay stable, especially since I’ll be getting some new coral within the next few weeks.

 

[Fishy888]

Hurricane James has finally left Perseverance Reef. Miraculously there were no fatalities, save about half of my coralline. It’ll likely come back fast however.

The fish are frolicking in the new seascape. With the lower profile bommies and the wide open sand, I’ll actually be able to have some nice sized colonies of color sticks considering the shallow nature of my display.

This is the first tank that I have ever had that I have zero desire to upgrade from. It’s easy to do maintenance in, it has a large area. The shallow depth may seem like some to be a huge limitation but I love the challenge it presents! Corals are going to look awesome in here when they grow out! Plus, when I look at the display it feels like I’m right at the beach looking at a very shallow patch reef.

The lights came on about 10 minutes ago. Here’s the view from my couch this morning.

As for cable management, I’ll be working on that soon. I’m also going to make it so that the lamp cables that connect to the secondary coils of their respective transformers can be plugged in and unplugged in case there’s an issue with the sockets or if I ever find better reflectors. It’d make it much easier to maintain the fixture itself should it ever be needed. I’d be able to remove the fixture from the canopy without having to cut the cables, or to have to splice the cable when it’s time to reinstall the fixture.

It’d also make it easier to disconnect and reconnect the fixture from the canopy in case my wife and I ever have to move. I don’t anticipate we will ever move again but anything’s possible. I’d rather have my bases covered just in case.

 

[Fishy888]

It’s hard to believe that the rock we call home has made 55 revolutions around our sun since I was born. It’s been a pretty good day. My wife and I had some Olive Garden and we’re relaxing now.

I’m thinking about all the new coral I have coming soon. My system looks pretty good. I do have diatoms and still get a patch or two of black cyano occasionally but I have plenty of silicates so the diatoms are normal. Nothing a turkey baster doesn’t fix. The diatoms don’t smother healthy coral either.

I’ve mentioned the need for increased flow. It’ll be coming before long. I’ve been thinking about going with the Jebao SCP-180 which does 10,000 GPH. Of course, it’s likely an overestimate of how well the model performs, but it is good as a point of reference. Most brands, especially the budget brands, are going to overhype the quality of their products. Wave makers and pumps are certainly no exception. I digress however.

My thoughts are that I need to think about having that flow come from more than one or even two sources. Random flow is what we want at the end of the day. I know that many reefers run their wave makers such that they alternate on and off. That wouldn’t be so bad except for the stress it puts on the wave maker components. A slow ramp up and ramp down on one side then the other, so that as one side crests the other side ebbs and vice versa would be preferred. I’d also like to add some smaller circulation pumps to randomize flow and prevent dead spots within the bommies and the corals themselves, especially when they grow.

Considering how fast SPS can grow when happy and healthy, I want to start making some purchases starting in January. I have enough flow now to accommodate the frags I’m getting but I don’t want to wait until the last minute to get the ball rolling.

Jebao has been pretty reliable for me. I’m happy with their performance. I wish they sold parts to fix their wave makers but it’s all good. I’m probably going to still get the SCP-180 gyre in January and get several smaller wave makers to put on the back wall, and a second gyre to put at the opposite end of the display. The other wave makers will have to get purchased every second or third month depending on finances.

I’m excited about the new corals as well as the future of the reef! It could be that I’ll have some acros growing like weeds by my 56th birthday! I definitely intend to have clams in this system by then!

 

[Reefering1]

Fwiw, 3 scp180 gyres(on random "w1" setting) is the only circulation on my 300g pond. The sticks are happy. I expected to use/ have 2 more that I haven't found the need to install yet.

 

[Fishy888]

Fwiw, 3 scp180 gyres(on random "w1" setting) is the only circulation on my 300g pond. The sticks are happy. I expected to use/ have 2 more that I haven't found the need to install yet.

Good to know. I think 2 gyres will work in mine given how shallow it is (12” height). I’m glad the sticks are liking the flow! I need to get over to your build thread in a little bit.

 

[Reefering1]

Good to know. I think 2 gyres will work in mine given how shallow it is (12” height). I’m glad the sticks are liking the flow! I need to get over to your build thread in a little bit.