simple low tech nano cube (1 year)

[Flameback Pair]

Thanks Mitchell! It has been relatively well behaved but sometimes it messes around with the others. It’s not often to be alarming so I haven’t rehomed. Could be right about it being a female one

@lil sumpin I’ve only had a couple of 6lines in all my reefing career and the first was a model citizen but the second was a terror and actually killed my Strawberry Gramma!!!

- Mitchell.

 

[lil sumpin]

“Only had a couple” :smiling-face-with-sunglasses:

 

[lil sumpin]

Leaving for Japan in 3 hours, back 9/23. This is the first extended trip away from my tank and I'm a bit concerned with how it'll do. Just did a 50% water change after running the full gauntlet of tests. Alk was a little bit lower than normal at 7.4dKh(Hanna showed 138ppm), normal cal 440ppm, mag 1300ppm, nitrate 20ppm and phos at .2

My friend will be over 3-4 times a week cat and tank sitting! Hanna salinity checker is recalibrated and a purchased a new Salifert alkalinity test kit. I showed my friend how to check the salinity and test alkalinity, w the Salifert kit specifically showing how to read the syringe and finally what kind of dosing to keep up.

I'm confident it will be fairly smooth to dose as I made the switch to ESV 2 part a few months back. The alk consumption in my tank has gone up in the last 5 or 6 months but not crazily, 5ml of the 2 part every other day is more than enough to keep parameters where I want them

Here's the plan:

1. Make sure SG is 1.026, the hanna checker has always fluctuated btwn 1.025 and 1.026 but I choose to rely on it because whenever I've tested it against a hydrometer I got similar values. ATO makes this very easy
2. Test alk at least 2x a week to keep an eye out for any potential swings, though I'm not as concerned about this since the dog days of summer are over, the rate of evaporation has changed.
3. Feed the fish 3-4 times a week. I've asked my friend to feed very tiny pinches of pellets and flakes. They should be able to subsist quite a bit on the copepod populations.
4. Finally, monitor and report back!

 

[ralquist]

Leaving for Japan in 3 hours, back 9/23. This is the first extended trip away from my tank and I'm a bit concerned with how it'll do. Just did a 50% water change after running the full gauntlet of tests. Alk was a little bit lower than normal at 7.4dKh(Hanna showed 138ppm), normal cal 440ppm, mag 1300ppm, nitrate 20ppm and phos at .2

My friend will be over 3-4 times a week cat and tank sitting! Hanna salinity checker is recalibrated and a purchased a new Salifert alkalinity test kit. I showed my friend how to check the salinity and test alkalinity, w the Salifert kit specifically showing how to read the syringe and finally what kind of dosing to keep up.

I'm confident it will be fairly smooth to dose as I made the switch to ESV 2 part a few months back. The alk consumption in my tank has gone up in the last 5 or 6 months but not crazily, 5ml of the 2 part every other day is more than enough to keep parameters where I want them

Here's the plan:

1. Make sure SG is 1.026, the hanna checker has always fluctuated btwn 1.025 and 1.026 but I choose to rely on it because whenever I've tested it against a hydrometer I got similar values. ATO makes this very easy
2. Test alk at least 2x a week to keep an eye out for any potential swings, though I'm not as concerned about this since the dog days of summer are over, the rate of evaporation has changed.
3. Feed the fish 3-4 times a week. I've asked my friend to feed very tiny pinches of pellets and flakes. They should be able to subsist quite a bit on the copepod populations.
4. Finally, monitor and report back!

Safe travels!

 

[Pico_Reefs]

Leaving for Japan in 3 hours, back 9/23. This is the first extended trip away from my tank and I'm a bit concerned with how it'll do. Just did a 50% water change after running the full gauntlet of tests. Alk was a little bit lower than normal at 7.4dKh(Hanna showed 138ppm), normal cal 440ppm, mag 1300ppm, nitrate 20ppm and phos at .2

My friend will be over 3-4 times a week cat and tank sitting! Hanna salinity checker is recalibrated and a purchased a new Salifert alkalinity test kit. I showed my friend how to check the salinity and test alkalinity, w the Salifert kit specifically showing how to read the syringe and finally what kind of dosing to keep up.

I'm confident it will be fairly smooth to dose as I made the switch to ESV 2 part a few months back. The alk consumption in my tank has gone up in the last 5 or 6 months but not crazily, 5ml of the 2 part every other day is more than enough to keep parameters where I want them

Here's the plan:

1. Make sure SG is 1.026, the hanna checker has always fluctuated btwn 1.025 and 1.026 but I choose to rely on it because whenever I've tested it against a hydrometer I got similar values. ATO makes this very easy
2. Test alk at least 2x a week to keep an eye out for any potential swings, though I'm not as concerned about this since the dog days of summer are over, the rate of evaporation has changed.
3. Feed the fish 3-4 times a week. I've asked my friend to feed very tiny pinches of pellets and flakes. They should be able to subsist quite a bit on the copepod populations.
4. Finally, monitor and report back!

That toadstool is amazing

 

[lil sumpin]

Our tank sitter (life saver) was very shocked to see this guy one night.. said I should've warned her about the creepy crawlies. It's just one of the overnight janitors :expressionless-face:

She assured me, besides this freakishly large worm, the tank is looking good. She was worried about the film algae that developed on the glass but that's pretty much normal at this point.

Japan's been incredible! Cant believe my trip's almost at its end.. but I'm also starting to get a little homesick.

 

[lil sumpin]

After 3 weeks away we’re in mostly good shape, patches of GHA and film algae throughout, nutrients a bit elevated and a couple snail deaths. The most concerning thing I noticed is some loss of tissue on my large toadstool. Judging from the mean mug, my goby noticed too.. will post an updated pic of tank later in the week following WC and a good cleaning

 

[lil sumpin]

Crossing my fingers and hoping whatever's going on with this toadstool leather isn't gonna spread. It's opening up as normal though it does seem to be a bit shrunken up. The white brown discoloration on the edge is something that I've witnessed once before but this time around there's a bit more of it. I know toadstools to be finnicky at times but this one's always been pretty hardy. I've shifted the red goniopora a bit higher so that it doesn't rest its polyps on the toadstool but I havent ruled that out as a cause. I'm just hoping it's not a bacterial infection or somethin

 

[lil sumpin]

Finally got 2-3 heads coming out of this dragon soul torch almost a year after getting it, good to see. The other torch coral I have has 7 heads now, it really took off..

Got home from running some errands the other night. Didnt see my sixline darting around at first and didnt think anything of it. Later I saw what looked like a leaf on the ground and upon closer inspection, it was my wrasse all dead and dry. Kinda heart broken about it and completely astonished how he managed to jump out the tiny little gap on the glass lid...

Other than that been a little lazy with maintenance, mostly cause I've been working a new post. Just keeping the tank topped off and dosing accordingly, WCs are every 3-4 weeks now. I've moved some coral, macros and snails to a pico build I'm gonna slowly roll out.

 

[Macbalacano]

Sorry to hear about your sixline :( Gorgeous tank though - will follow along! Was in Japan for a month too around the same time as you, was definitely hard leaving a tank when on vacation!

 

[lil sumpin]

Thanks for the condolence and the follow! I really liked having the sixline as a means of natural pest control.. maybe I'll look to get a springer damsel in the future. Did you check out any aquariums while you were in Japan?

 

[Macbalacano]

Thanks for the condolence and the follow! I really liked having the sixline as a means of natural pest control.. maybe I'll look to get a springer damsel in the future. Did you check out any aquariums while you were in Japan?

Yes we ended up going to the Osaka Aquarium and it was really great! The whale sharks were amazing.

Also went to the one on the island off Hiroshima (less impressive, and a little sad to be honest).

How's about you?

Yes, natural pest control is always the best. Wish I could have a sixline, but I think it would not get along with the clowns in a 15G. I have a pink streaked wrasse instead, they look somewhat similar actually!

 

[lil sumpin]

Yes we ended up going to the Osaka Aquarium and it was really great! The whale sharks were amazing.

Also went to the one on the island off Hiroshima (less impressive, and a little sad to be honest).

How's about you?

Yes, natural pest control is always the best. Wish I could have a sixline, but I think it would not get along with the clowns in a 15G. I have a pink streaked wrasse instead, they look somewhat similar actually!

I was at the one in Osaka as well! What a small world lol. Probably the coolest aquarium I've ever been to... Brooklyn's pales in comparison.

 

[lil sumpin]

Alk consumption has gone up. Makes sense as the all the LPS and softies have gotten bigger. It's still not high but I'm seeing a bigger range of consumption than what I observed 2-3 months ago (.2 to .3 a day). Over the course of the last few weeks I started raising the daily ESV 2 part dose slightly to see if it would help keep up the alk consumption. The tank now appears to be consuming .4 to .6 dKh everyday.

Purples and pinks are slowly but steadily taking over the liferock. When I had just started out, I was able to source some goodies (LR rubble)from an older reefer in my area. He told me that life rock was terrible and would never be able to support the kinda biome coral need to thrive. Wasn't sure what to make of the comment, everyone has pretty emboldened and contrasting views in reefing and as a beginner this was something I learned to just accept. Things were much much more complicated than what I remembered from about 10-15 years ago but then again Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and all that amazing rock was readily available then.

Little before and after of this torch, it's really growing out like a weed

Going to be lookin out for any interactions btwn the goni and the torch.. they occasionally touch..

Real estate is quite the issue. I've noticed the hammer coral is beginning to hang over the fuzzy mushrooms I have towards the bottom. Those mushrooms were the first coral I had to grow and split but the rate they started splitting was quite alarming so I'm kinda banking the hammer will keep that growth checked.

 

[lil sumpin]

Made some new additions after 6-7 months, a mushroom, favia, acan and blasto:

Tank is coral snowed in. Manually removed a bunch of GHA off the glass. Luckily theres not that much on the rock. The rock looks quite green still under daylight but there’s a nice bit of purple and pink on it too, “life rock” for you. The new frags are seemingly settling in quick, hoping to see growth in the next couple months.

 

[lil sumpin]

I'm a lazy reefer and it shows



What I mean is I regularly let the film algae go and in the process I also see other kinds of algae going on. I put a tiny smidge of flucanazole in recently to kill off bryopsis. There was an outbreak of it a few weeks back and some is still lingering. Took all the macroalgae out of this tank for now.

Wont have any time to work on the glass for a while! Busy time of year for me, for most I'm sure... I want to upgrade but the task seems daunting

 

[lil sumpin]

Torches were stinging the heck outta the toadstool so I had to move some stuff around. It’s been a little unhappy for some weeks now, not getting the best polyp extension.

How I’m trying to justify the tank upgrade :grinning-face-with-sweat:

 

[lil sumpin]

Alk consumption inching up more and more. Seeing better PE from LPS toadstool since moving it to the back, away from the torches. Tank is on its way into 18 months.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Alk consumption inching up more and more. Seeing better PE from LPS toadstool since moving it to the back, away from the torches. Tank is on its way into 18 months.

That is one huge toadstool!

 

[lil sumpin]

The toadstools were already kinda huge when I first put them in my tank a year ago.

Both toadstools have grown somewhat, certainly not by a lot. I need to get rid of some green hairy mushrooms. I don’t want to hurt the things so maybe I will just remove that whole rock.

When I see the coral in a sulk, usually alk swings are the cause. I try to keep the tank at or in between 7.7 to 8. Some days the alk drops .7 to 1dKh. Testing using salifert so could be an error somewhere. Most days it’s .4 to .5 degrees consumed.

Goal for 2025 is to upgrade to a bigger tank. Problem is my lease doesn’t allow for big tanks :grinning-face-with-sweat: