Bonsai Reef..starting to stock

[Ramblin Rose]

After about 10 years out of the hobby, I caved a couple months ago and started up a nano-reef:

Aquaeon 15g column
20 lbs Reef Rock
AI Prime HD
Koralin Hydro 425
Coralife Aragalive Indo Pacific Black
Ghetto Egg-crate hood for air exchange

2 ORA Ocellaris Clowns approx 1 1/4"
2 Scarlet hermits
3 Blue legged hermits
2 Cerith snails
1 Skunk Cleaner

Just added last night 2 frags: 1 unknown acro and 1 that appears to be a chalice, both were kept under Radion LED's and have encrusted the plugs quite well. The arc is starting to extend polyps which are neon green.

Chalice?


Unknown Acro


Tank shot


Looking forward to sitting back and watching things grow as well as adding more corals. Right now I have enough movement in the tank to keep me occupied for when I have surgery on the 29th for my ACL after a motorcycle accident on July 4th. Once my 6 weeks of sitting on my butt is over I will order some more frags for the tank. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good frag supplier?

Thanks in Advance,

Ramblin'

 

[DopeCantWin]

That first coral is a cyphastrea

 

[ken1977]

Nice setup

 

[CanadaChop]

I have the same tank and I like it a lot. subscribed

 

[royy13]

I really like the black sand. I may have to set up a tank with it one day. Cool tank too.

Roy

 

[Ramblin Rose]

Thanks guys, sorry I was MIA for a bit..was away working and then came home and had ACL surgery from my motorcycle accident on Fourth of July.

Royy13 - The black sand is nice but a PIA, I use a turkey baster to move it around in the back corners where I have a small 1.5 inch dead spot.

DopeCantWin - Thank you, I think the coral hates me, just can't find a good placement for it in the tank.

We just added in 3 more corals, a frogspawn, a birds nest frag, and a small colony (sold as a frag) of stylophora.

The unknown acro is taking on a nice blue/purple color now.

Rose

 

[Ramblin Rose]

Short update, I really wanted to keep this updated as much as possible, but between ACL surgery on August 29th and traveling on the weekends for work...life has been busy. The tank decided to hate me for about 2 weeks, just under. Went through an algae bloom even though the tank was cycled. Finally this past weekend I had to travel to Virginia to work and just through my hands up at the whole thing. Figured I would deal with everything when I got back last night. Well, came home and the tank was crystal clear, glass was clear and all inhabitants were throwing a party.

Today I decided to do my normal tank maintenance of a gallon and a half water change after blowing off rocks with the powerhead. Before I did all of that I fed the tank and did a thorough once over checking on the health of everything in there. I must say, the tank is doing much better then I had given it credit for. Lets see, I have a red legged hermit who is sporting a small father duster, the original acropora that was placed in the tank early on is not starting to encrust on the rock, color up to a deep purple in spots and on one branch I am seeing hints of deep blue. I wish I could get a good picture of it because I think I might be going crazy truing to figure out what it is eventually going to do. Oh, and the green polyps are starting to make an appearance again and deepen. The second coral that was placed that day was a cephastra and it also looks like it is starting to encrust. They stylophora is going strong and hasn't missed a beat. The birds nest has polyps out and some hint of color showing up, but I am thinking of possibly moving it a little lower in the tank. And finally, the frogspawn is loving it's placement and flow. The only thing I found that did NOT belong nor was welcomed was a frigging aptasia anemone, just one, and I boiled his little arse. I will be keeping check on any new ones that may pop up.

I will try to post some pictures that I took later tonight when I finally settle down.

Ramblin'

 

[asting]

photos?

 

[Ramblin Rose]

Todays Photos...

Todays Photos...

Here are todays photos...very quick snapshots. I will post better ones at some point...

Featherduster



Original Unknown Acropora - I have to get a better picture of this one because the tips are starting to turn a blue green and it is a deeper purple then shown here.



Stylophora



Original Cephastria



Frogspawn



Birdsnest




And a now dead Aptasia....



I will try and take more shots tomorrow night while the light is on if I get home early enough.

Ramblin'

 

[asting]

Acro is looking good. Hope that aptaisa hasn't spread.

 

[Ramblin Rose]

I only found the one and boiled it. I wasn't home all day so I didn't get a chance to check today to make sure it is really gone. Tomorrow I am going to do another thorough search.

Today we added a 2 head torch coral, a orange montipora cap and 2 bangai cardinals. Hopefully, my cleaners will not attack them...seriously the one cleaner killed one of my baby clowns. I don't know if he was just over zealous in his cleaning duties or what, but he would not let go of him.

I am also going to run the battery of tests tomorrow...

Alk, Ca, Mg, Phos, and Nitrate...I want to keep them monitored weekly now since corals are encrusting and being the tank is only 15 gallons, I want to make sure everything gets what it needs.

I will also be removing the birds nest and stylophora from the plugs so they can be mounted how I want them. I won't remove them from the plugs, but I will cut as much of the plug away that I can so that it fits in the rock crevices properly.

At this point, the tank is stocked other than for corals. I think the only other thing we may put in is a small RBTA when my LFS gets one in.

Lights are off for the night but from what I can see, the bangai's have settled in.

Ramblin'

Acro is looking good. Hope that aptaisa hasn't spread.

 

[Ramblin Rose]

Just tested the following parameters on the tank and I am quite happy.

Ca - 420
Mg - 1320
dKh - 9
PO4 - 0.02
NO3 - 0.25
Salinity - 1.025
Temp Range - 79.9 - 81.6

Not sure if I should lower the dKH since everything is looking good, extending and active.

Feels good to be on the right track with this nano.

Ramblin'

 

[asting]

Did it kI'll the clown? Or help break down a decaying clown? Often the latter gets confused with the former.

 

[Ramblin Rose]

Did it kI'll the clown? Or help break down a decaying clown? Often the latter gets confused with the former.

No he killed him, as in the clown was trying to get away and the little B*astard wouldn't let him go. I got him away from him once and the clown swam away, then he grabbed him again to clean him and by the time I saw it...the clown was a goner. I think the clowns were just way too small and not strong enough to get away. The bangai's seem to be holding their own so far and the cleaners are just ignoring them and going about their business of clowning around in the tank.

I removed the plug mounts from the stylophora, birds nest, and montipora and glued them into the rock work. The cyphastra is starting to encrust the rock work now that it has completely covered the top and sides of the plug and I saw a new mouth on it. Need to get a long syringe to target feed the torch and frogspawn. I can say this much, I will never get a deep tank again!


Ramblin'