My slice of nature

[RomeoJuliet]

I still have a dosing pump to set up & perhaps a carbon reactor if necessary.

I've ordered more float switches from eBay - for ATO. That should be it.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Bro,

I think that's about all the equipments you need, Do share your dosing pump set up when you can.

I have to give you two thumbs up for your diy skills. V. Impressive.

Let me know if you need more cheato.. I have some with lots of pods given by a fellow reefer.

[SubzeroLT]

Love how clean your sump looks

Bro .. If u trying to create a deep sand bed in your refuge .. I dun think it's deep enough.

Ha thanks. The electrical mess is outside the sump cabinet

Yeah, I read that proper DSB needs to be 3"-6".

I'll probably stick to the current depth for now to try things out. The refugium is quite small anyway for a DSB to be effective. And I have other forms of biological filtration anyway.

In any case, from the Caribsea Mineral Mud instructions :

• For mud filters, empty jar into filter, then mix slightly, and add water (a "cap" of approximately 1/2 to 1 inch of live or dry aragonite sand is suggested).
• This substrate contains marine organics, and was created to mimic coastal marine mangrove environments. It is designed to reach anaerobic conditions within an inch of the substrate/water interface. Once established, avoid disturbing the bed.

[Edmund Koh]

Cool! That's interesting.

[SubzeroLT]

I added a 2nd market prawn into the tank last Saturday to generate more ammonia in an attempt for the bacteria population to grow.

Its been rotting away & covered with fungus.

Tested water parameters on Monday earlier this week -> and again today

Ammonia : 0ppm -> 0ppm

Nitrite : 0.5 -> 0ppm

Nitrate : 25 -> 10ppm

Phosphate 0.25 -> 0ppm

Seems like the bacteria kit (from Prodibio) is doing a good job with the ammonia & nitrite.

And that the NPX bio pellet & Rowaphos is controlling the nitrates & phosphates.

The Prodibio instructions say to perform a 100% water change. I assume that the purpose is to remove the built up nitrates but in this case, the nitrates seem under control. Not sure if a water change is still needed.

Feedback?

Other equipment changes to neaten things up :

Went to an acrylic shop & asked if they had any scrap acrylic to sell cheap. Got this nicely cut 10mm sheet to place the reactors for a good price.

[SubzeroLT]

Setup almost complete. First FTS

Installed 2 float switches on the spare slots of the probe holder

A word of advice for those using the acrylic glue/solvent seen in the picture.

I bought a bottle from Art Friend. I think its very volatile - the moment I popped open the plastic cap, the solvent literally popped right out splashing all over the place due to the built up pressure.

[SubzeroLT]

Got some corals & cleaner shrimp from Iwarna today.

My corals :

Fiji Zoanthids

Super Sun Coral

Is this a Goniopora :

[ahchris]

wow nice rock scaping and nice tank too.

[SubzeroLT]

wow nice rock scaping and nice tank too.

Thanks

[Guest]

Why dont you try Drip acclimatization directly from your main tank instead of from the mineral bottle ?

[SubzeroLT]

I placed the new life stock in a small plastic container placed in main display tank (to acclimatize temperature).

Just in case I forget to check on the drip, I didn't want this container to overflow & getting the LFS water into my tank - hence the mineral bottle with a fixed amount of tank water.

[SubzeroLT]

Was at Pacific Reef looking for clean up crew & came across a bag with a Diamond Watchman Goby & a Candy Stripe Randalls Pistol shrimp.

They started burrowing in the back corner of the tank. Figured I should grab a couple of shots before they disappear under the rocks later on.

Pick Bubble Tip Anemone hosting a White Spot Anemone Shrimp

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Crocea clam from Aquarist Chamber. Placed it on the rocks so it'll receive more intense lighting.

Open Brain

And equipment wise, I glued some scrap acrylic to make a mount for the dosing pump.

[SubzeroLT]

Seeking some advice.

I have a bubble coral that's with me for 2 weeks.

It looks quite full when the lights are off

But when the lights come on, it seems to shrivel up.

Bubble is placed at the far back corner of the tank with the least flow & light.

I've seen the bubble spit out brown stuff.

Does it mean that my light levels are too high? I've now put a netting above the coral to provide additional shade to see how it progresses.

Water parameters :

• Ammonia : 0ppm
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate : 0.2ppm
• Phosphate : <0.03
• Mg : 1350ppm
• Ca : 410ppm
• KH : 8.9
• PH : 6.4
• SG : 1.025

Dosing regime :

• TLF C-Balance 15ml -20ml per day
• TLF Sea Elements 1x per week
• Brightwell Microbacter7 : 2 drops per day
• Brightwell ReefBio Fuel : 2.5cc per day

Lighting regime:

Maxpect Razor

- 6am - 8am : Ch A : 0, Ch B : 5%

- Lights out 8am - 3pm

- 3pm : ChA : 0%, Ch B : 5%

- 3.30pm : Ch A : 50%, Ch B : 55%

- 9.30pm : Ch A : 55%, Ch B : 65% => About 6hrs of white light

- 10pm to 12am : Ch A : 0, Ch B : 20%

- Lights out 12am - 6am

Feeding regime :

• For Scarlet Skink cleaner shrimp & goby : Frozen market shrimp or mysis shrimp 1x per day
• For LPS : Frozen mysis shrimp or Continum Zooblast 2-3x per week
• For SPS : Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast 2-3x per week

Seeking inputs on the above regime.

Aside from the bubble, everything else is doing great. Here are a couple of new additions.

Red Zoanthids?

Acans from a fellow reefer :

Mandarin from a fellow reefer. Enjoying the colony of tigger pods.

FTS :

[ahchris]

wah bro, your photos really nice leh

[Edmund Koh]

Hmm.. Not sure if I'm getting it right. But the bubble coral seems to be stretching out to get light when your lights are on. Is it bigger in size when in that state then wen its in the full state?

[RocketBunny]

Nice and neat set up! taking it slowly too!

[SubzeroLT]

Hmm.. Not sure if I'm getting it right. But the bubble coral seems to be stretching out to get light when your lights are on. Is it bigger in size when in that state then wen its in the full state?

It seems quite sparse when the lights are on. Fewer 'inflated bubbles'. I can see the 'flesh' & mouth when the lights are on.

When lights are off, there seems to be more & bigger bubbles.

[SubzeroLT]

Thanks.

wah bro, your photos really nice leh

Nice and neat set up! taking it slowly too!

Still reading up about which fishes to get.

[SubzeroLT]

I have 2 anemones.

The green one has stuck to its crevice & has been there since.

The pink one moved 3x in the past week. Even moved to the back of the tank.

It loosened its grip today & I managed to pry it off (after seeing how Henry did it) & moved it back.

I'll need to make a deeper hole at the front of the rocks in the next days.

And typo in the previous post.

PH is 8.4 (not 6.4)

[ahchris]

i saw the pink anemone at Henry's shop too. I think it was 2 fridays ago. really awesome piece.

[RocketBunny]

why not get some wrasses to start? probably base on the look of your rock work, i think you are heading towards smaller fish species.

[Admiraltian]

It seems quite sparse when the lights are on. Fewer 'inflated bubbles'. I can see the 'flesh' & mouth when the lights are on. When lights are off, there seems to be more & bigger bubbles.

Have u try feeding it more? It having a reverse reaction. Usually less inflated bubbles and more sweeping tenacles when lights off but urs having it when lights r on. Less inflated bubbles means more sweeper tenacles searching for food, I guess it could be hungry?

[SubzeroLT]

why not get some wrasses to start? probably base on the look of your rock work, i think you are heading towards smaller fish species.

Yeah, its quite a small tank, so i'll need to choose smaller & less aggressive species. Thanks for the tip on wrasses.

[SubzeroLT]

Have u try feeding it more? It having a reverse reaction. Usually less inflated bubbles and more sweeping tenacles when lights off but urs having it when lights r on. Less inflated bubbles means more sweeper tenacles searching for food, I guess it could be hungry?

Starting to feed it more starting this morning.

Normally it gets a portion of about 1/4 cube of Hikari frozen Mysis shrimp each feeding (2x a week). I thought that bubble corals are photosynthetic & don't really need to feed much. Anyway, I'm trying your suggestion

[SubzeroLT]

Bubble coral :

I've tried a more shaded area & lower flow but the bubbles continued to look deflated.

The thing that helped was more food (thanks Admiraltian for the tip).

Fed it a market prawn over the course of a week & it seems to remain inflated all the time now. It does seem like excessive food though.