Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

Good afternoon #Frugalites! Since my reefing channel and this build are about budget reefing, I figured I should claim the name for us!

Being a Frugalite is a very cool thing. It saves a ton of money. It also means a lot of DIY, but it also means doing your homework and getting the best bang for the buck. Buying the cheapest possible equipment is actually the WORST choice a budget reefer (synonymous with Frugalite) could make most of the time. We need to balance cost with quality and longevity. That said….

I’ve built the ATO reservoir but there’s a problem I’ve been thinking a lot about. I can’t just run a line to my RO/DO unit, or even the RO/DI reservoir because the apartment won’t allow a permanent hookup so I have to use a faucet adapter and run it that way. As a result I need a better way to fill it. I also need to gauge when to refill it.

Enter my idea. A second bucket will serve as a reservoir. It’ll be used to siphon water into the primary ATO reservoir as needed. The second bucket will be able to access air and I’ll be able to see the water level. In theory the siphon shouldn’t break as long as the second reservoir gets filled before the water level drops too far and air starts getting pulled into the line. The pipe that’ll create the siphon will nearly touch the bottom of the second reservoir which will help. I’m going to resume working on this later this evening.

 

[Fishy888]

I decided not to go with the idea I had with the second reservoir. I figured out the siphon could actually be broken so I’m glad I didn’t try doing that.

I’ll figure something out to address the issues I mentioned yesterday but for now, it’s not as hard to deal with filling up the ATO as it could have been. It’s working so far as intended. The reservoir holds about a day’s worth of water.

 

[Fishy888]

Early this afternoon I noticed a yellow tint to the water in the display. A couple of weeks ago when I took my skimmer apart and cleaned it really well, I forgot to turn the ozone generator back on. It took about two weeks for the water to start visibly yellowing and just 6 hours to be clear again once I restarted the ozone generator.

I cleaned a little more of the sand bed today too. It’s needed it. Things have pretty much settled enough that I can start testing my parameters on a daily basis, watching for stability ahead of the arrival of my corals this coming Thursday. It’ll be interesting to see how much of a difference the ATO will make.

I’ve noticed that my coralline is coming back once again in the areas where it died off during the water change saga. It continues to expand on the rocks too.

The fact that this is happening despite the changes I’ve made and the sand bed cleanings is a sign of stability. Still, my numbers could be even more consistent. Now that my ATO has been consistently doing its thing I believe there’ll be a noticeable, perhaps even significant, improvement stability wise over my previous test results.

 

[Fishy888]

I wish I got video of this, but for the first time ever I got my fire shrimp to take food directly from my hand! I’ve been working to gain trust with him, and I’m trying to train him to eat from my hand. This was a step in the right direction.

So many people still don’t realize how smart these creatures truly are! Reefers know, but it isn’t brain size alone that determines intelligence, it’s the ratio of brain size to body size. Scientists once thought goldfish could only remember what they saw 3 seconds before. We know better now. People used to call others “bird brains” when they messed up. Now crows are considered to be as smart as a 7 year old child!

I believe shrimp are smarter than people might think. I’m quite sure they can recognize their keepers, especially by smell. The last time I tried to hand feed the shrimp I had to put the food in front of his cave but he immediately got it. This time he actually took it from my hand. Of course he made a hasty retreat but he does that even when catching food from the water column. The next time I try this I’ll video it.

 

[Reefering1]

I wish I got video of this, but for the first time ever I got my fire shrimp to take food directly from my hand! I’ve been working to gain trust with him, and I’m trying to train him to eat from my hand. This was a step in the right direction.

So many people still don’t realize how smart these creatures truly are! Reefers know, but it isn’t brain size alone that determines intelligence, it’s the ratio of brain size to body size. Scientists once thought goldfish could only remember what they saw 3 seconds before. We know better now. People used to call others “bird brains” when they messed up. Now crows are considered to be as smart as a 7 year old child!

I believe shrimp are smarter than people might think. I’m quite sure they can recognize their keepers, especially by smell. The last time I tried to hand feed the shrimp I had to put the food in front of his cave but he immediately got it. This time he actually took it from my hand. Of course he made a hasty retreat but he does that even when catching food from the water column. The next time I try this I’ll video it.

My cleaner shrimp used to climb all over my arm when I was in the tank. He liked picking at any cuts I had

 

[Fishy888]

My cleaner shrimp used to climb all over my arm when I was in the tank. He liked picking at any cuts I had

I’ve heard of them doing that. That’s something I think will happen with time as long as I keep working with him.

 

[Reefering1]

I’ve heard of them doing that. That’s something I think will happen with time as long as I keep working with him.

It feels weird with their million little legs...

 

[Fishy888]

It feels weird with their million little legs...

If it’s anything like having a praying mantis crawling on you, I think I have an idea. The weirdest sensation would be when they pick stuff off of me I would think. Watching them eat, sometimes it doesn’t even look like they’re actually eating as much as tearing at their food. Of course, I know they’re eating. It just isn’t quite like watching a fish eat. True crabs eat like shrimp do too.

Unfortunately I didn’t get around to testing today but I’ll be up early tomorrow so I’ll do my testing then. My corals ship out Wednesday and arrive Thursday.

Just looking at the tank tells me things are stable. Maybe not Tenuis stable, but Bali Green Slimer stable? It certainly looks that way! Because the corals I’m getting include some “easy” acros I’m admittedly a little nervous but every day that passes and there are no fluctuations or algae blooms, the more confident I feel about the long term success of the corals I’m getting.

Although I certainly hope they’ll keep their colors, I’d feel pretty awesome just having them thriving even if they brown. Some might argue that browning=not thriving but then again many corals, including Acropora, are brown in their natural habitats.

That said, I know that if they brown after being introduced but I maintain stable parameters, they should color back up. If everything goes well they won’t lose color at all. I think much of that in the short term is dependent on how different the conditions in my system are from the conditions of the tank they came from. As seen in my previous test results, my NO3 sits at about 65 ppm and my PO4 is around 0.2 ppm. As for the big 3, CAL is typically around 440 ppm, ALK is about 8 dKh, and MAG is about 1250 ppm. Salinity has been about 1.025. I did one day worth of carbon dosing before I decided to test daily.

Since I want to see just how stable my parameters are without dosing anything I suspended carbon dosing for now. After the new corals settle in, I’ll resume carbon dosing. Like, say, after I start seeing growth. Even then it’ll be on the light side since there’ll be a number of frags going into the reef and I’m not sure how much nitrate they’ll need. Once I figure that out I’ll figure out the exact amount of carbon dosing I need.

The next DIY project will be the beginnings of a dosing system. I’m a natural peanut butter fan so I get the big glass jars of it. I’ve saved three so far and I’ll be saving at least another ten. Some will be spares just in case one breaks.

 

[skey44]

I’ve heard of them doing that. That’s something I think will happen with time as long as I keep working with him.

I’ve found they’re much bolder when there are two. Just an observation I’ve made over time.

 

[Fishy888]

I’ve found they’re much bolder when there are two. Just an observation I’ve made over time.

I definitely plan to get more. They’re awesome shrimp. I hope sooner rather than later but it’ll have to wait a couple of months. I’m about to upgrade my wave maker and get some blue LED strips.

 

[skey44]

I definitely plan to get more. They’re awesome shrimp. I hope sooner rather than later but it’ll have to wait a couple of months. I’m about to upgrade my wave maker and get some blue LED strips.

I only have one as well, it’s been hard to add another one as they aren’t cheap and I love frags I do also have two skunk cleaners and they breed readily always releasing larvae into the tank. They are naturally more aggressive too, coming out to eat and clean your arm when it’s near them. My fire shrimp can be a bit of a recluse but I always know which cave to find him in, and every now and then makes a front of tank appearance. It’s almost always visible but likes the shadows.I think it would come out more in the light with a conspecific, from past experiences. My shrimp are also not completely dumb as I’ve added a few reef safe wrasses that I think are picking off my CUC one by one at this point. Can tell the shrimp are definitely wary of the new wrasses.
Yup, long post about shrimp behaviors. I’m there. Lol

 

[Fishy888]

I only have one as well, it’s been hard to add another one as they aren’t cheap and I love frags I do also have two skunk cleaners and they breed readily always releasing larvae into the tank. They are naturally more aggressive too, coming out to eat and clean your arm when it’s near them. My fire shrimp can be a bit of a recluse but I always know which cave to find him in, and every now and then makes a front of tank appearance. It’s almost always visible but likes the shadows.I think it would come out more in the light with a conspecific, from past experiences. My shrimp are also not completely dumb as I’ve added a few reef safe wrasses that I think are picking off my CUC one by one at this point. Can tell the shrimp are definitely wary of the new wrasses.
Yup, long post about shrimp behaviors. I’m there. Lol

I’m eventually going to get some skunk cleaners too. I love really studying the behaviors of all the creatures in my system. I find the micro life just as interesting as the macro life. Every creature big and small has a story to tell.

 

[skey44]

I’m eventually going to get some skunk cleaners too. I love really studying the behaviors of all the creatures in my system. I find the micro life just as interesting as the macro life. Every creature big and small has a story to tell.

Haha, preaching to the nerd choir here! I love shining a light through the water column at night to reveal all of the zooplankton drift. I have so many snails, crabs, hermits, shrimp in my tank it’s pretty cool. Life everywhere.
Not to mention corals and fish. It’s not a sterile environment by any means. All in balance in a tiny man made box of ocean.

 

[Fishy888]

I got a video of my shrimp taking food from my hand tonight.



Plus I ran some tests.

Salinity 1.024
NO3 58.6 ppm
P 65 ppb
PO4 0.199 ppm
ALK 7.5 dKh
CAL 425 ppm
MAG 1185 ppm

I’m going to try and get my MAG higher. In fact I’m probably going to do a partial water change tomorrow. I’ve got about 2.5 days to have things where they need to be. I want to get to a salinity of 1.026 which is what I normally mix my water to.

 

[Reefering1]

The tangs will eat from your hand also.. just hold the frozen food, with 2 fingers, in the water. Might take a little while to build trust, but they'll come around

 

[Fishy888]

The tangs will eat from your hand also.. just hold the frozen food, with 2 fingers, in the water. Might take a little while to build trust, but they'll come around

They already do. They were easier to train than the shrimp.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Love the video!

 

[Fishy888]

Love the video!

Thank you! It’s a twice daily ritual now. He comes right out when he senses the food touch the water.

 

[Fishy888]

So it looks like I’ll be getting my coral shipment tomorrow, including my first (easy) acros ever. I’m excited as anything!
I’ll post a link once I do the unboxing video.

Everything is as ready as it can be. I wouldn’t call my system Tenuis stable but slimer stable? It sure looks that way.

My ATO is doing an amazing job for the whole 10 bucks I spent to build it.

The fuge is doing nicely. My chaeto/grape caulerpa mix is growing nicely. I keep depleting the caulerpa though. Tangs and all.

Eventually I’m going to make a cryptic area in the sump. There’ll come a day when I design a better, external ATO. Once I get the in-sump space the ATO is currently using freed up I’ll make that area cryptic.

 

[Fishy888]

The package arrived today in perfect shape! Thank you @Fish Styx! I’ve placed everything for now. Most of the coral is on the sand bed for now since that’s where the least PAR is. I placed a couple of branchier frags midway up where the flow is higher.

I’m already getting some PE. I wasn’t sure if I could even expect that much today considering the corals have only been in there for a little less than 2 hours now. It’s not full PE by any means yet but it’s definitely noticeable! The color is coming into most of the coral little by little. This is highly encouraging! I was quite nervous, wondering how well everything would react to my system but things are looking great so far.

Once I finish the video, hopefully by tomorrow, I’ll post a link to it. I’ll take some pictures later today though. Hopefully there’ll be more PE.

In about 2 weeks my early Christmas present will be here! Let’s just say my flow will be approximately 90x when all is said and done. Random flow.

This has been (and still is) an epic day!