scolley's Big Little Nano – yet another build thread

[scolley]

NEW SKIMMER
The new little SC-65 skimmer's working out well. Got it tuned to pull skimmate that appears about as dark/thick as I was getting from the Tunze. But it's consistently pulling many times the volume. The only downside to that is having to clean the cup 2-3 times a week vs. once. It's not a volume problem, but the neck just gets nasty.

NEW FISH
And I got some Apogon parvulus - Redspot Cardinalfish. Two orders really. Both lots of five. Seven remain. One was DOA, two have disappeared. I'm not sure if that succumbing to long term stress from the shipping, victims of my tube anemone, or jumping. But the population's been stable for weeks now, so I was hoping that there would be no more losses.

However, I've noticed that two are noticably thin, and swimming with their caudal (tail) fins clamped. Not good. I'm feeding generously 3 times a day, so I'd like to think it's not starvation. Not really sure what's wrong.

NEW MP10 DRY SIDE
I tried to change the bearings on my oldest MP10 dry side. It was like sixth one ever made (really) and it was NOISY. But I made a mess of trying to swap out the bearings. Ruined the piece. You can read about it here.

But I bought a new drys side, and it is SILENT. Wow! What a difference.

NEW IN-SUMP RETURN HOSES
My original return hoses in the sump were 1/2", thick reinforced tubing. And clear. That was the problem part. You can see them (unattached to anything by the bulkhead) in this post.

Over time the light of the ATS has been shining on the leftmost one, and it has become almost totally clogged with algae. So I got some black silicone tubing from AvastMarine, and swapped it out. I assumed that I'd be able to reuse the clamps I had on the old tubing, but the AvastMarine tubing walls were so thin (too thin really), I had to swap them out. Fortunately I had just the right side on hand in my spare parts supply.

APEX TEMP AND PHOTO PERIOD CHANGES
The Apex has seasonal features that - depending on the day of the year - adjust your tank temp and photo period as if your tank was a typical tropical reef at 15° north latitude. And it allows offsets, so my lights can come on a desired time after sunrise (would be at 15° north latitude), and turn off a desired time after sunset - allows for night viewing. Same with temp - I keep my tank a shade warmer than said tropical reef, but it allows offsets. So while my tank is not quite as cool, its temp swings a tiny shade daily in tune with nature's ocean temperature cycles.

Which BTW, this actually changes my overall photo period very little most of the year, mostly just the on/off times. But over the course of a year the longest day will be around 45 minutes longer than my old photo period, and the shortest day around 45 minutes shorter.

VORTECH FLOW CHANGES
When I first put up the tank I had the Vortechs programmed (with the Apex) to alter their flow throughout the day. But I was using the Lagoon setting for most of the day, except for using the Reef Crest setting at the peak of the photo period. Now I've changed that to Reef Crest all day, and all night. Reef Crest is much more random. Plus I "anti-synched" one Vortech with the other. So if one is blowing hard, the other's blowing soft. Seems to be giving a much more random flow.

And I used to alter the flow dramatically from mid-day to night with flow rated changing from a peaceful 20% at night to 80% at mid-day. Now it slides from 60% to 80%. I'm trying to see if this makes my SPS happier. If so, I'll try 70% to 100% next.


So it's watch an wait on the Cardinalfish. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the SPS respond to these adjustments. Everything BUT the SPS is happy. SPS... the jury is still out.

 

[scolley]

Pics!

Pics!

Been a long time since I posted pics. And there's still SO much that I can't get a decent shot with on my camera (I need to work on that). But I had a few free minutes this afternoon (having a beer after yard work), and thought I'd snap a few quick shots. Sorry about the glare. Sometime soon I'll try to get some pics in the evening - less glare, and much better coral coloration because of less ambient sunlight and less off the white LEDs, so more blue - much nicer.

But here goes for now.

Starting... I hate seeing aquarium FTS's without out some context as in, what does this look like in the room? Well here you go.

A regular FTS, glare and all.

My Meteor Shower Cyphastrea has totally recovered from the damage done in the tank move, and is starting to move off the plug and onto the rock. JUST what I want.

And here's a Superman Monti I picked up. Always wanted one. It's clearly moving off the little square it came as and is beginning to cover its plug. Beside it is that killer acan (Acanthastrea echinata) that is growing. Seems to like that spot.

My Pink Stylophora is doing great - knock on wood. I was afraid it would begin losing it's pink, but far from it... it's deeper pink now than when I got it. Beside it MIGHT be an ORA Pink and Green Pocillopora damicornis. It looks so different in this tank (vs. my old one) I'm not sure.

And if that one was not the pink and green poly, this is (but don't think so). It came from my other tank, and I've lost track of what it is. It's growing like gangbusters. But it's got some problem with some of it's top polyps. You and see it in the next pic.

Here's a look at the above mystery coral's top polyps. This happens periodically to this coral. And it always recovers. I used to panic. But not anymore. Anyone know what that is?
And below it, way, way back in the background is Vivid's Neon Green Acropora Caroliniana. It is insanely bright. I wish I could get another pic. And I'm REALLY looking foward to it growing out. But it appears to be a slow grower.

Here's some of the Cardinal Fish. Sorry about the bad shot. They move a LOT. Under them is my wonderful that seems quite happy in its new spot.

I picked up some neon green Cany Canes, and by them you can see a tiny frag of Birdsnest, with a little Sunset monti frag that is beginning to encrust nicely.

And finally my acans. They seem to like their new spot. Growing slowly, but nice and healthy looking.

There's MANY more corals in there that I can't get a decent shot of. Will work on that and try to post more. Thanks for looking!

 

[tyler91913]

Looking good Steve. Thanks for posting these!

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[scolley]

Looking good Steve.

Thanks Tyler. It's grow out time now - the hard part, where patience is a virtue.

 

[scolley]

Couple of interesting developments... first sexy shrimp

Couple of interesting developments... first sexy shrimp

I got rid of most of my sexy shrimp last weekend. I'd had five. Now there's just one that I could not catch... a pretty crafty one.

In my last post with pic, I had that one shot of the SPS with the white tops, with no polys on the top of some branches. I think the Sexy's were responsible for that. They were definitely up there eating.

I've gotten shipments of coral that had necrosis underway when they got to my tank, and as soon as I put the coral in the sexy's would be all over them. So clearly they have a taste for necrotic SPS tissue. So whenever I saw them on an SPS, I assumed there was some necrosis happening, for some reason, and the sexy's were getting an easy meal. But lately I'm not so sure.

That paricular SPS has had die back on its tips several times over the last few months. And the sexy's were always there, at the problem location.

First time it happened, I panicked and hit the spots with super glue. But after they recovered then did it again, I waited it out. And sure enough they recovered again. Until - weeks later - I find the sexy's on them again, and more coral bone showing. But upon looking closely, it appears that's what's died back is just polyps. Not the flesh around the polyps. And that got me wondering... could the sexy's actually have a taste for new (fresh) polyps?

I certainly can't say for sure. But they're gone now, as I'm through taking chances. And guess what? The polyps on the top of that SPS are growing back - fast. I exepect that by this time next week, you'll not be able to tell anything ever happened.

 

[scolley]

Couple of interesting developments... next KZ Coral Vitalizer

Couple of interesting developments... next KZ Coral Vitalizer

As anyone following this thread knows, I'm not running a Zeovit system with Zeolites. But like such systems I have very low phosphates and nitrates. I can't detect any with my Salifert kits. I owe it to skimming and running an algae turf scrubber. Given that similarity, I thought Id give KZ Coral Vitalizer (CV) a shot. It's intended as a coral food, apparently supposed to be particularly useful/effective in a a ULNS tank. And mine seems close to that.

I began dosing 1 drop into my 40g system twice a week at night. KZ recommends roughly twice that dose daily. After a month things appeared unchanged/unharmed, so I moved to a drop every other day. I think - it is subjective - that my corals responded with better color. So after a couple months of that (a few weeks ago) I moved to the recommended 2 drops per day.

The result? Within a week I could see some colors on some of my corals that I've never seen. For instance I've got an acro that was all blue but within a week was blue and bright green. And my birdsnests that have been suffering in my care, are all mounting solid recoveries - previously bare skeleton being colonized by polyps again!

Can I attribute this with certainty to Coral Vitalizer? No. But it sure looks like it.

I also suspect it's the reason my pink stylophora from Vivid looks so good. It looked like the pic in the link when I received it. Amazingly, rather than browning out or fading, it's actually pinker now. I'm not an experienced SPS keeper, and I suspect CV may be the reason that I have not ruined that beautiful coral.

That said, it's all conjecture, based on my subjective observations. I'm sticking with it for now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[scolley]

All that nice equipment and elected to go with the tunze9002? Planning to upgrade? go with atleast the BM NAC3+. I can take pics of the skimmate I pull every 2-3days.

Great tank setup. Just knit picking on the skimmer!! lol

I finally found the skimmer suggestion post! Cool.

Just wanted to say nj_evoIXgsr, you nailed that one. Thank you. :thumbsup: That 9002 wasn't doing the tank justice. I just didn't know it.

And it so happens that the SC-65 I got is a clear knockoff of Bubble Magus skimmers, and it's kicking butt! Pulling so much skimmate I've got to wonder how I ever go by on the 9002. Great call, great suggestion nj_evoIXgsr!

 

[kaserpick]

The tank is looking great Steve! I love the cardinals; I've always been a sucker for 'em. Again, great job!

 

[09bumblebee]

Wow awesome tank. Love the acans.

 

[SaguaroSteve]

Congrats on your tank! I'm really considering trying out the Coral Vitalizer as well, I've been have trouble with PE on my Acro's for some time now. I take it you'd recommend this product?

 

[scolley]

Thanks for the kind words folks. I wish I had a better camera though. While the tank is still nothing special (there's some NICE tanks here on RC), it still looks better than these pics show. Maybe I can borrow a friends DSLR with a decent macro lens. But I'll give grow-out some time before I do that.

I take it you'd recommend this product?

Yes, but with hesitation. The fact is that I'm an inexperienced SPS keeper, so anything I say has to be taken with a grain of salt.

I shared my findings only because from forum searching I've concluded that use of CV is not exactly common practice. So passing along my findings seemed to be good information for the community. But my findings could be wrong. If we assume my observations are correct, there's another possible explanation - my new skimmer. But that does not explain why the pink stylo has been getting deeper pink for months. I've only had the skimmer a few weeks. And I find it hard to believe that a better skimmer's going to make the difference between birdsnests struggling and mounting a sudden, strong recovery. I've had birdsnests in my old tank, same water, same lights, same skimmer - and they did great. So IMO my old skimmer was adequate to birdsnest's needs. Why they were struggling in the first place is a different question. But I strongly suspect their recovery is directly linked to my adoption of KZ's suggested dose of CV.

Sorry - that was a long way of saying "Yes".

Oh... forgot to mention. The birdsnests mounting recoveries - that's TWO colonies. One high up with moderate-high flow, the other much lower with moderate-low flow. Both started regrowing base flesh on bare bone, and growing new polys, within days of upping that CV dosage. Likewise the acans are all putting out new polyps now. And I don't target feed them. If they can pull it from the water column, they don't eat. And I believe acans tend to like water a shade "dirty", so I don't think that's attributable to the new skimmer either. But who's to say?

 

[scolley]

Wow awesome tank. Love the acans.

Thanks!

But the acans are changing color on me, I'm afraid. Still good colors IMO, but different. There's a thread that discusses acan color color changes under LEDs. I suspect that's it. Thanks though!

The tank is looking great Steve! I love the cardinals; I've always been a sucker for 'em. Again, great job!

Thanks pal!

Got bad news on the cardinals though... I've been losing them one at a time. One every couple weeks. Here's a post from another thread where I provide lots more detail.

Bottom line, they'll all be gone in a month or so. Bummer.

My corals are doing well though. :thumbsup: Most of them anyway. Got killer PE on everything except my one milli and my only tri-color. Working on that problem now...

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[scolley]

Well, it's time for an update. I've gotten a number of new corals over the last few months. Mostly successful. A few not. Not much is growing real quickly. Most things seem to be throwing their energy into encrusting. But PE is generally good, so I'm encouraged. This is far more SPS than I've ever had - at least in terms of the number of different specimens. And as long as they keep good PE, I'll trust that growth (other than encrusting) is not far off.

FTS. Still can't get a decent picture. Sorry. Maybe the close ups below will be a bit better...

I've got a lot of pics, so I guess I'll be humble and start with the stuff that's not working so well...

Vivid's Ice Fire Echinata that is struggling. See the algae? Only other algae in my tank is a little on the MP10's and on my ATS. This is this coral's 2nd location. I had it high up, less flow, and it was suffering. Not much better here. I'm sure there's another move in it's future. But where?

In the bottom right is Tyree Montipora palawanensis from Copps - that's a wicked cool coral that I really look forward to seeing develop. It's doing just fine. But behind it is Vivid's Ultra Pink millepora that lost ALL it's PE when I first got it. it went from hairy to hairless in a few hours. I moved it a couple of months ago and is only just now starting to put out polyps again. And behind that one of my real failures; Vivid's Neon Super-Green Acropora tortuosa that I could not keep alive. That's it's 2nd location. Tried low flow, low light and high flow, high light. Neither worked. Bummer.

Tyree Idaho Grape Monti from Copps. It arrived purple as can be, but is lightening up under my normal light. Not sure why. Flow? Light? Growing like a weed though.

Same shot as above but under Royal Blues. So I guess it's purple some of the time.

And some stuff you've already seen...

Tube anenome. Had to throw this in... just because I've finally figured out how to take pics in the Royal Blues only. That's how I light my tank the first and last hours of the day. And under those it's such a lovely addition to the tank, and by all I can tell, not an issue with the fish. Eat's like a pig.

Spongides from my LFS for a song. You've seen this too. But in prior pics it was neon green. But now its PE is so insane, how would you know? Got it a few inches from an MP10. Maybe less flow would back off the PE...

My orange short tentacled Fungia from my LFS. I've posted this before, but I'm happy it's still so healthy, and very amused by the fact that it ALWAYS makes its way over to my Lithophyllon (undulatum?). I can move it away in any direction for several inches, and it will make its way back to the Lithophyllon. It was not until recently that I learned that they are closely related. Maybe that's the attraction... kissin' cousins or something. It's strange.

Long time tank resident, hoping all the camera action meant food. LOL.

A nice ORA Joe the Coral acro I got from RMTA, our local reef club president. Thanks Joe! (Not the coral, our club president. LOL)

 

[scolley]

Same ORA Joe the Coral as above. But this was the bottom half of the piece I got from RMTA. I accidentally broke it, and mounted this piece a few inches higher. I find it fascinating that this one is growing faster, and encrusting big time. The other one grows slower, not much encrusting. This shot also shows the Hulk Milli frag I got from Copps. It's my 2nd milli, and since the first lost all PE when I put it in my tank, I have been thrilled to see this one appear so happy.

Pokerstar monti from Dr Mac, and an ORA Stuber Staghorn that has some PE, but has been in the tank for quite a few months now with no growth except encrusting. But from even this partial picture, it's clearly encrusting well.

Atl Limeade, also from RMTA!

FHI LE California Tort from RMTA in the middle, and a Forest fire digitata from Copps on the left. You can't see it from this pic, but on the back side (closer to the light) the Tort is putting out bright green growth. I'm really looking forward until it's big enough for that to show from the front view.

Same shot as above, from above vs. in front, show Copps Solid Bright Green Efflo in back. A different Idaho Grape (from RMTA) that IS remaining purple on the left. Forest fire digitata from Copps in the middle. And a top view of the FHI LE California Tort, but you can see just a peek of the green I said is growing in back.

Sunrise Monti from Copps. I've got a couple more Sunrise Monti's that may be visible in other shots. I got one from Copps just because I wanted to compare. This one's growing fast, with really good PE. So I'm not sure if that's because of the source, the conditions I've got it in (high flow, high light), or both.

Atlantis Sunrise Aequituberculata (encrusting monti) from Copps. It was a freebie. Thanks Copps!

Tyree LE Bali Tricolor Acro from Copps on the left. And a frag of The Original $500 Efflo, also from Copps, on the right. This is an overhead shot that captures and edge of my Pink Stylophora from Vivid, that I'm happy to report is remaining pink.

Original Frag Farmer Red Hot Chili Pepper Monti from Copps. But with all the corals I was mounting (at one time) from Copps, I put this one in the wrong place. It's a plating monti, and I've got it flat on a rock. Will have to move it after it settles. Or move a piece of it anyway. It looks like it's busy making itself home where it is.

And I'll end with my Aussie Strawberry Shortcake from Copps. I LOVE this coral.

There's a few other corals that are either new, or somewhat new, that I've never posted pics of. But generally that's because they are in a tough place to photograph. Many things I've put in back of other things, precisely because I plan on them being taller and more visible, or growing out from around a corner... that kind of stuff. So there will be more to see.

The tank is almost fully populated now. There are a few spots that I'm looking to fill in. But not many. So it really is stabilize and grow out time now. Wish me luck! And thanks for looking today though!

 

[Aaron77]

Just saw this and could not stop reading until I got to the end. What a well thought out build. The results speak for themselves. Awesome build. Thanks for sharing.

 

[scolley]

Aaron WOW! Reading this whole thread? That's got to be a slog!

But thank you though. Happy to share.. just documenting successes and failures to help add to the community's knowledge.

 

[jmsalt1]

This is a great thread and a really nice tank too! How is the tank doing? Any thoughts on what you've seen lately?

 

[scolley]

Almost 1 year in: Lessons Learned

Almost 1 year in: Lessons Learned

Thank you! The tank's doing great!

Looks a tad rough at the moment though, 'cuz I just ripped out a bunch of frags for my local reef club's frag raffle. That plus some other factors that I'll explain. With nearly a year into this tank I've learned a few things, some the hard way.

Open Brains Need Light
My Trachyphyllia geoffroyi was an early casualty. I put it in a location half shaded by a rock, and the shaded side got that LPS jelly disease - can't remember what it is called. But I pulled it. Shame. Beautiful, beautiful coral. And thinking of coral deaths...

Acan Lords Do Not Like Anemones
My rock flower anenome has been growing and migrating. And recently it stung my largest Acan lord colony, which has not fully RTN'd, but it lost a LOT of tissue. And I had a mimi-maxi that went on a walk-about that nailed a number of my other Acans. They're looking rough right now. But I've given away the offending anemones, and am hoping for eventual recovery.

Anemones can be a PITA
As mentioned I had the rock flower anemone that has been threatening my acans for a while. But I could not move it because it was really, really dug into a rock that held up other rocks. I tried. But that was almost a year ago. Now the rockwork has "bonded" and I was able to pull the rock flower's rock out with out making the rockscape tumble. So patience and luck was on my side in removing that 'nem. And my mini-maxi that was in the bad spot could not me moved either. I was unsuccessful with the flowerpot removal method. But I did get it to at least shift a little putting a rock on top of it. But getting it to move was ultimately accomplished by starving it. Took about six months. And when it moved, it took out acans.

Duncans can get too big for a small tank
My two Duncan colonies have flourished. But visually it was too much. And one stung a bunch of nearby corals. So I sold it. Tank actually looks better without it IMO.

Submerged alk feed lines get clogged
I had problems with my alk values swinging too much for my liking. I use dosers with a submerged feed tube placed in a high flow are. Even then it got clogged often. So now cleaning that tip where the fluid comes out is a sixty second weekly maintenance task, and my alk values are finally stable.

Tunze 9002's are weak skimmers
I posted about it here, but the difference between the amount and quality of skimmate pulled out by my 9002, and the little SCA skimmer that replaced it are profound. I've had to start cleaning the cup twice a week vs. once. Could probably do more, as the neck get gummed up fast. And LOTS of grog too. And I've got fewer fish, so I feed less and still this thing is running circles around the 9002.

High corals need low corals to hide their "legs"
I've got some SPS that are growing like gangbusters. But as they grow they naturally shade their lower regions. So while they are beautiful when viewed from the top, the don't look so good from the front. The tops do, but lower down they are white. And if I had been more knowledgeable and was a better coral aquascaper, I'd have put lower corals in front of them to hide their less than attractive lower regions. Working on that problem now...
​

So I'm just a tiny bit wiser now as a reefer, almost one year into this new tank. Finger's crossed, things are going as well as could be expected by a reefer that's still learning some of the basics. :thumbsup:

 

[scolley]

One last change planned

One last change planned

I've got a three chambered sump. Inflow area, refugium area, and outflow area. My ATS is in the inflow, as is my skimmer.

I'd like to put a filter sock on my inflow. But there is no room. I've posted here how I am blown away by the corals I've gotten from copps. And he is a BIG advocate of keeping detritus at bay. And based on the evidence I've seen - his spectacular SPS - I'm willing to believe he knows what he's doing, and would like to follow suit.

To do that I'd like to add a nice "turkey basting" routine to my weekly maintenance schedule. But that needs a filter sock to get everything out of the water column. And the same sock would keep junk from getting in the sump the rest of the week too.

So sometime over the holidays I'm hoping to move either my skimmer or ATS to the middle "refugium" area of my sump to make room for a sock. For those of you that read my earlier posts as I was setting this tank up, you may recall that the plumbing that supplies the ATS water is tricky to wedge into such a small area. So what sounds simple is actually going to be tricky and time consuming. But I'll do it - I suspect my corals will only be better for it.

 

[KafudaFish]

I really like your tank summaries. Too often people only post the positives when it is the trials that can help others the most.

Good luck with the "easy" project.

Pics are great too.