And so it begins

Thanks guys.

Good: polyps up to 37 last night so they continue to spread.
I got my PAR 38 LED light from Rapid last night and got to plug it in to see if it works and how it will look on the tank.
I am excited about it and I hope that the color improves on the frag. I just now have to mount it and begin the light acclimation process.

Bad: I found my one Mexican turbo snail about 5 feet from the tank a while back and I am now seeing some algae crop up. I will have to pick up another one soon.

Future:
Now that I have my lights that should go the distance I want my mini colony to get to 48 polyps so I can begin my little experiment. I may let my PC lights continue just so I can get to the number then deal with the LEDs.
If my algae becomes an issue I may build a small ATS and test that out. I figure a bread box container would be perfect for it.
Later I may start the write up on my experiment and post it if I get time.

It was good to see the growth thread pop back up since everyone regardless if they are trying to grow a reef or grow out to frag colonies deals with this issue.

Thanks for stopping by.
 
Sounds good, I got the par30 version of yours and it is doing well on my 3g. I have ordered a pipette to start vodka dosing my system, have you thought about it at all?
 
Beaun said:
Sounds good, I got the par30 version of yours and it is doing well on my 3g. I have ordered a pipette to start vodka dosing my system, have you thought about it at all?
Click to expand...

Howdy.

That is good to hear about the 30 on yours. I figured if it was good enough for you it was good enough for me so basically you are my measuring stick. :D

I simply went with the 7 leds for some color so we shall see. Also being on sale it was the same at the 5 normally.

I wish I had a way to measure par readings. When I first turned it on one of the whites looked more dim than the others but figure that was the warm light LED. Eyes are just a poor meter.

I had it on maybe 3 minutes yesterday so it may have been warming up too.

I was impressed with the bulb and the shipping but was suprised at the weight of it. I have taken apart my old school desk lamp and am trying to get the hood off of it so I can suspend the light.


As far as vodka I have dosed my other tank with it and had good results over time. With this tank I could but wonder about the lack of a skimmer being an issue. I could always build one I guess.

How much are you dosing? By the drop? Off the top of my head I want to say something like 17 drops = 1 ml but I could be wrong.

Posts some pics (sponge) when you get a chance. Also was this a sponge from his "non-traditional" nano that looked like a picture from the ocean vs. a candy store shot?
 
The sponge has taken up residence on the back of the rock, its impossible to take a picture of without taking the rock out, and that wouldnt really be a nice picture. It was from his non traditional looking mangrove tank, with the huge mangrove growing out of the top with all sorts of cool life in it. I am getting a pipette ($10) in order to get exact doses because the system is so tiny. I'm starting with 0.015 ml for the first 3 days, 0.03 ml for days 4-7 and then adding 0.075ml each week till NO3 is 0 and then dropping the dose by half.

My par30 whites did brighten up a little as well, it was much more blue looking the first day. I am getting a good amount of hair algae since switching to the new higher power light which is making me think of doing vodka/vinegar and also doing more water changes.

I am also thinking of doing a water holding system in the basement so I can get 20 gallons of water at the bay each time instead of just 5, but thats for a different thread.
 
Ok thanks I would hate for something to happen to the sponge if you took it out. It is still cool that you got it.

I will keep the vodka idea and maybe get my wife to grab a glass pipet or I could find one with some digging since the amount needs to be exact.

I may leave work early and hit the fish store just to see what is around.
 
2100 posts, Friday the 13th, taking the page claim of #6.

I really like my PAR 38 LED from Rapid. I would buy from him again.

I need to do some DIY work and attach a socket to the light fixture but have not had much time.

The zoas are pretty much acclimated and have changed to a darker purple. My only concern is if the frag really is a purple hornet one or not. If not I will be disappointed since I like the color of the correct morph. Maybe I have not given it enough time to make the swich so we shall see. Not sure what I will do regardless.

Later on I will do a 2 gallon water change (past due) and I blasted the rock the other night to suspend and collect the detritus. I also cleaned the PH for the first time in a few months but it was not too bad.

I do have some algae, even a patch or three of hair, on the rocks. I have not decided if I am going to let things run their course or if I am going to go on the offensive.

The other day I was reading one of Brandon429's posts on the history of pico tanks and those pre 2000 and longevity.

My plan is to let this one go as long as I am able without adding additional stock except another fish I believe.

Thanks for stopping by and reading.
 
Howdy guys.


Got the WC finished and tweezed off some algae while watching Starship Troopers 3. It has been cheese movies for me these last two days.

At least they got the MI right in this movie though it was worse than the first one.

It is a great read though.

Mikey I know there are some "Panamaian zoas" that have sort of come up. Maybe one of the guys more in the know can comment on where they are from as well as if they are something really new or another deepwater craze.

Or are they from somewhere else?

Oh and I hope the Midol worked for you today.

Snickerol.
 
Hope everyone is doing well.

Updates:

I left the algae alone and it seems to be minimal so I am just going with that. I have no problem with algae since it is a normal part of any healthy system.

I did add 3 tsp. of activated carbon to my filter to clean up the water.

I am happy with my LED but still need to DIY the socket to my lamp. There is shimmer so that is good and I now understand better why people obsess over MH shimmer.

Life:

More pineapple sponges are appearing and I had pods on the glass for the first time. I had at least a hundred and I watched them run around for a few minutes.

My frag is around the 50 polyp mark so I need to sit down and start figuring out how I am going to frag it.

As far as the morph goes I don’t know what it is nor do I really care. I purchased it from a reefing friend and she figured it was a brown out of purple hornets. Now I am not so sure and as I said I really don’t care.

SO my plan is to run an experiment to look at growth rates and fragging.

I plan to have one group that is not fragged after the initial cut. After I glue it down that is it. This will be my control.

I will have 2 experimental groups and each time a frag reaches a specific polyp count I will frag that.

I will keep records of time between fragging events as well as total number of polyps at the end of the experiment.

I will record the dates of when a new polyp appears and that will be defined as one that has opened up regardless of size.

Basically I am seeing which has faster growth and which will have the greater number of polyps at the end of the experiment.

I plan to go for 1 year (52 weeks). I will randomly place the frags throughout the tank vs. all on a frag rack.

The next generation frags will be observed but I will not include those in the data set. Basically it would be as if I was giving those away or migration away from the site.

As far as frag sizes I plan on having these sizes: 1, 5, and 10.

Why?

Because over the last 5 years the size of the frag has gotten smaller.

10 polyps: was a common size 5 years ago and a frag plug was pretty and had nice growth vs. I hope the glue holds.

5 polyps: this became common and people still wanted a guarantee of success.

1 polyp: seems to be the trend now and all you have to do is go under the livestock FS section and see.


I feel like these sizes are different enough so there should be a difference.


Thanks for reading and if anyone has any suggestions on how to make this better please post.
 
Hello Kamao.

I will try and get one ASAP. My photo skills are lacking but I will see what I can do. It maybe next week so don't think that I have forgotten.
 
6611010.jpg


6611015.jpg


Sorry for the poor images. The led light and my skills (lack there of) make it hard to get a good picture.

Tank needs some attention too and I have to move it somewhere soon.
 
It has been a year since I started this thread so I think that is pretty cool. I wanted to thank everyone who has viewed it and especially to those who posted.

I have enjoyed this tank very much and one of my sons likes to look at it every night with me so I may have another salt water nut in the family. I have tried with my daughter but goldfish are just too important to her to switch.

Equipment:
Tank 5.5 gallon
Rock DIY hydaralic waterstop and Southdown sand weight 25 pounds but only displaces 20% of the tank volume.
Light Par 38 from Rapid on a swing desk lamp that I have had for 8 years waiting for a project just like this one.
Circulation: MJ 1200 pointed downward
AC 30 with a mesh bag of carbon (a few teaspoons changed out monthly)
Thin foam insert for mechanical filtration
75 watt stealth heater set to 75.
Manual top off with 20 oz of water, 65 ml of kalkwater and 10 ml of Mg solution from BRS.
Nimble nano glass scraper used once a week.
2 gallon WC twice a month.

My frag reached 60 polyps and I decided to frag it. On Monday I made 10 frags and glued 8 down to the rock work. The other was on a shell I can move and another 10 to 15 polyp frag that I can cut from later on.

I decided not to run my experiment. The reasons are:

It is a pain to work in a tank this small.
If I had to cut into the rock each time I would be worried I would damage it and break pieces off.
I decided to spend time enjoying the tank vs. worrying about having to frag again.


Maybe someone else can do it though. I will still keep track of the 8 frags and record their growth over time but once they are glued down that is it. Over time I will frag the two free ones and attach additional frags.


Overall I am happy with how it turned out and would only change one or two things so for reef standards that is pretty good I think.


With any luck the next annual post will talk about 1200 polyps instead of 60.

Future plans:
Finish the wiring for the desk lamp.
Find another fish.
Frag when I feel the need.
I may come up with something to hide the equipment since I moved the tank to a table and the AC is now eye level.

Thanks again.
 
keep up the good work. It is always good seeing people dedicated to our hobby.

By the way the tank looks great.
Rui
 
Rui,
Thank you very much for the words.


At some point I will learn to take better pictures.

Please stop by again.
 
I guess it it time for an update. I did not realize that I had gone 1.5 months without one.

The tank is still up and running including being a week vacation and everything did well.

I had been keeping track of polyps each month but "someone" decided that my notebook would be perfect for coloring on so I have lost the counts for the last two months.

I can sort of remember a few but sadly I don't know if I will be able to do even this part.

I am getting new polyps on each of the frags so that initial stress is probably over now. I have some that are beginning to move off the plug and onto the rock.

One interesting note is the size of the polyps. On the left side of the tank they are larger than the ones on the right.
Why? Maybe light and/or flow.

I went to the LFS yesterday for the first time in months and their shipment was late so no clue if something had been there for me.

I still need a fish!

Overall this is still an easy tank and it is closer to a freshwater one than a saltwater tank. I did a 100% WC before my trip and change the carbon at the beginning of each month. When I got back I blasted everything with the MJ and rinsed the sponge each night until things were clear. I have cleaned the glass only once this month as well. Again I enjoy the tank instead of worrying about it.
 
I found one of the sheets of paper with my count from last month but I do not have the original frag counts from June.

23-Jul-11 23-Aug-11
Left wall 9 11
Top off 5 6
Left rock 14 23
Right rock 10 19
Lower rock 3 5
Left floor 22 27
Shell 8 3
Center floor 2 15
Right rock 8 9
Powerhead 6 6


Totals:


June 60
July 87
August 124


I have had zero growth on one frag and I lost some on another but the others are doing their thing.
 
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