Kat's Fabulous Red Sea Max

[MetroKat]

After Hurricane Sandy, my power was out for 36 hours, it just came back on a few hours ago. I've lost a cleaner shrimp, a sexy shrimp. I have yet to see one of my shrimp gobies emerge from his burrow.

I had a battery operated airstone which I found out only lasts 3 hours on 2 D batteries. I ran out of that the first night, and my entire area is sold out of D batteries. I was manually heating wate ron the stove (thank god for gas) and pouring in the tank, manually oxygenating the water.

When the Apex cam on line earlier today it recorded the temperature at 73, I was under the impression it was 75 based on the glass thermometer and the digital one I have on the tank.

I am watching one of my pocillopora colonies RTN, I did a lugols dip, not sure if the remaining polyps will survive or I should remove it from the tank right away.

Amazing !

Thank you

Beautiful tank! What kind of nudibranch is that?

Thanks, it is a lettuce nudi, not really a nudibranch but that is what it is called.

Tank looks awesome! I'm a big fan of the zoas also, that and rics! Keep the photos coming, you have talent.

Thank you. I don;t have any rics, those are Yumas. I have some rics coming next week but traditionally I have not been able to keep them alive.

Oh my gosh! That is so amazing! I'm definitely want to use your pic for reference and inspiration for a future 16 gallon nano tank! I've been pulling my hair out these last couple weeks trying to model my coral placement on paper. Never can visualize on how it would look. Wonder if there's a nano tank CD program you can try and build from. LOL!
How many pounds of LR do you have in there? Again, that tank is awesome! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you. I'm honored that you think it is inspirational. The coral placement is a matter of research and some trial and error. A general guideline is that SPS at the top, LPS and softies mid level to low level in the tank. You can go to Live aquaria or google to find specific placement guidelines. I have repositioned corals many times. I believe this tank has 40 or so pounds of LR. I used uncured rock from gulfliverock.com

Nice tank! I recognize the pic from the Ecoxotic post on FB. Awesome job!

Thanks a lot.

 

[sahin]

Very nice. This is a very healthy looking tank. Keep up the excellent work.

 

[Forrest3320]

That is pretty much amazing

 

[FTDelta]

I have a question for you MetroKat - you said you got uncured LR from the supplier you mentioned. Did you cure it separately or in the tank itself?

My first nano tank most likely will be a 16 gallon Nuvo Nano tank by Innovative Marine.

 

[reefscape15]

Thanks for the paylight pic! It looks even more full than it did under just actinics

 

[louie310]

awesome tank!

 

[MetroKat]

Amazing shots under actinics. Good luck with the tank ramping back up after the power loss.

Thanks. I've lost one of my pocillopora colonies, some inverts, some of the other SPS look stressed but I think I've pulled through.

Very nice. This is a very healthy looking tank. Keep up the excellent work.

thank you so much. I have a lot of macros, some in the display and a lot in the sump. Not your caulerpa and Chaeto variety but sargassum, blueochtodes, red titan, halimeda, dragons breath. I believe they do for nutrient export which GFO and Carbon do not, and naturally. It may be a reason the corals look happy. I have progression shots where corals came back to life and it's a wonderful thing.

That is pretty much amazing

thank you.

Thanks for the paylight pic! It looks even more full than it did under just actinics

It is pretty packed. I routinely frag and sell off corals. Sometimes I find I have bought corals but a unable to find a proper placement for them, rather than watch them be unhappy or die I sell them off.

awesome tank!

Thank you.

 

[MetroKat]

I have a question for you MetroKat - you said you got uncured LR from the supplier you mentioned. Did you cure it separately or in the tank itself?

My first nano tank most likely will be a 16 gallon Nuvo Nano tank by Innovative Marine.

I wanted to reply in detail to this. I've bought rock twice from the same vendor, for two different tanks and the results on the curing process were different both times.

For my bio cube, the tank was already up and running for about 2 weeks with live rock from and established tank before I added the uncured rocks. The biological filter was already established before I introduced the uncured rock and my cycle was pretty non existent.

For the red sea max, I did not have e tank running before adding the rock, I panicked because I could smell the die off and made my rock scape in a huge hurry, cemented everything down, non stop 8 hours of work and poured in the water. Then began the harshest cycle I have even seen.

I've been actually writing an article on uncured rock and why a soft cycle is important. A soft cycle is done with lots of water changes, and with a skimmer on line. The purpose is to preserve as much life on the rocks as possible which is hard to do if not impossible when ammonia spikes. My Mmonia test showed a crazy dark green, almost black. My ammonia was off the charts. I lost much of the life on the new rocks like corals, but the macros survived and even a cute little warty anemone.

So my suggestion, if you are to use uncured rock is to start your tank in advance of adding the rocks to establish a biological filter, or have old tank water from someone's tank, take their skimmate, take their water change old water. Jump start your cycle so that by the time you add the rocks, your cycle is softer and shorter, and you will love the life that is on these rocks.

Another way to cure these outside of the tank is in buckets or brute containers. Be sure to add a light, and oxygenate as well as heat because you basically want the rock to finish with its die off before you put it in the tank.

Good luck, let me know if you want more info.

 

[MetroKat]

New babies

 

[Spirofucci]

New babies

Cute little clammies!!!!

 

[MetroKat]

New Pictures.
Fruit Loops

Red Hornets

Tyree Space Monster omgomgomg

Very tiny zoanthids, not sure what they are. Don't kill me y'all but I got this from Mr. Coral when I paid him a visit. They were glued in a spot that was hard to get in pictures, I moved stuff around and here they are. They really are very pretty, and very tiny.

Speckled Fire & Ice

Reverse Sunset Montipora

 

[MetroKat]

I love this picture

 

[MetroKat]

FTS December 2012

 

[FTDelta]

Wow!

 

[MetroKat]

The Fuge

 

[FTDelta]

MetroKat - where did you get your zoas from? I love the Tyree Space Monster zoos.

Wow! That's a fuge?! Almost looks like display tank #2. LOL!

 

[JCKoenig]

Tank looks amazing!!

I know you said you use 2 panoramas and a stunner, but which ones are you using?

 

[MetroKat]

MetroKat - where did you get your zoas from? I love the Tyree Space Monster zoos.

Wow! That's a fuge?! Almost looks like display tank #2. LOL!

:lolspin:
My zoa collection is from many sources. The space monsters are from cultivated reef along with Bam Bams. Good vendor. I got rastas, LA Lakers, my Clementines, Blondies, fruit loops and many more from hobbyists.

The fuge wasn't intended to be another display but I had extra corals and rock so it just happened.

Tank looks amazing!

I know you said you use 2 panoramas and a stunner, but which ones are you using?

The PROs are the 10K/453 and the stunner is an all blue. This is my supplemental lighting to the stock T5s that come with the tank. I refuse to give up my T5s.

 

[JCKoenig]

8222 - 12 x 12,000K White
8223 - 8 x 12,000K White / 4 x 445nm Royal Blue
8224 - 12 x 445nm Royal Blue
8225 - 12 x 8,000K White
8226 - 8 x 445nm Royal Blue / 4 x Magenta
Sorry I am still confused on which Pros you use, these are the only ones that I see.

 

[MetroKat]

8222 - 12 x 12,000K White
8223 - 8 x 12,000K White / 4 x 445nm Royal Blue
8224 - 12 x 445nm Royal Blue
8225 - 12 x 8,000K White
8226 - 8 x 445nm Royal Blue / 4 x Magenta
Sorry I am still confused on which Pros you use, these are the only ones that I see.

Sorry for the confusion. I use 12K White/445nm Blue PRO's and the 453nm stunner strip.