Tiny derasas grow fast

[dansyr]

Thanks. I wish the corals in here were growing as good as the clams but I'm just glad clams are happy.

Phosphate varies but is usually undetectable to 0.04ppm, I add like 100 ul of phosphate stock (i forget concentration) every few days or week. no fish in here, just 1 hermit so feeding is low so most nutrients are inorganic.

Alk is usually around 6 with both clams (there's a small maxima in there too now, since around Oct). It's on about 20ml / day of half-strength kalk on a dosing head. Recently I've been also manually adding ~2.5ml of Randy's DIY 2 part every 2-3 days since I'm planning on finally setting up hourly dosing so I'm trying to nail down alk usage to make the dosing transition smoother. Alk has been a little more variable than I would like lately, bouncing from just above 5 to 7 so that's my current goal to improve. It's a 5gal pico so it's a bit more complicated than my 20g :)

 

[Miami Reef]

Thanks! Is the maxima also growing?

 

[dansyr]

Thanks! Is the maxima also growing?

Yep, slower but on track for maxima. New scute every 2 months maybe?

not the best photo but you can see the growth band. This is a pretty relatively high light pico, PAR on bottom is in the 300s.

 

[dansyr]

8 month update, still growing! Mantle color is really starting to pop now, the muted lines are coming in more. I caved and gave it a bit of sand in a cup, but it hasn't detached from its rock yet.

As best as I can tell, 4 months ago was around where that large vermetid is.

10 months and still growing! It had set wonky in the sand dish but now that its fully larger it's balancing out. Growth has slowed a little bit, 2 part dosing (vs kalk only) came online about 1 month ago and it definitely appreciated that.

 

[FMF0331]

 

[dansyr]

+1 month later and another few mm growth this month. 11 months total with me and the increased growth is sustained after 2part (and slightly boosting photoperiod ~3 months ago).

The vermetids make pretty good landmarks for tracking growth, glad they're good for something.

 

[minus9]

+1 month later and another few mm growth this month. 11 months total with me and the increased growth is sustained after 2part (and slightly boosting photoperiod ~3 months ago).

The vermetids make pretty good landmarks for tracking growth, glad they're good for something.

Vermitids suck!

 

[dansyr]

Vermitids suck!

Agreed. But honestly I'd take them over other pests like aiptasia or colonial hydroids or such. I have 2 bumblebee snails in my other tank and that really took care of the vermetids. But too many cool little feather dusters popped up in this tank that I can't stomach adding a bumblebee. I might eventually, but hoping the micro dusters take over enough first