My Slice of Nature (Part 3)

[SubzeroLT]

Its been a year since SRC's Stay Home, Stay Safe Reef At Home contest. This was the 12th prize courtesy of Suprem Corals. (Thanks!!)

July 2020 :

 

I left them on a frag rack together with 2 frag plugs of Captain America Zoanthid. This is what the rack looks like now. Hopefully my fav zoanthid, the XC Arnold Schwarzenegger, is still alive & hidden between the others. Gonna check it soon.

July 2021 :

[SubzeroLT]

Soaking the wavemakers with Aquatic Exclusive's citric acid based cleaner. Product is called "AE Cleanse".

Citric acid is less harsh on rubber & seals compared to vinegar. Particularly important if you are using wavemakers with attached power chords. At least there is peace of mind when leaving it to soak for longer periods - it just makes it easier to remove the coralline algae.

 

Original condition. 

 

Can see the coralline algae bubbling away

 

After about 2-3 hours of soaking, I just gave it a quick brush scrub & scrape (with an old credit card). Good as new now.

[SubzeroLT]

Found this pest crab in one of the SPS colonies. They seem to survive coral dips. Need to inspect the colonies more carefully in future.

Hairy crabs are known to eat the tips of SPS slowly causing the tissue to die off. This crab has been there for about 2 months. Coral looks OK with the naked eye but I just noticed from the picture that the tip of the SPS in front of the crab looks chewed up. 

 

Love the Christmas Tree worm. Plan to get a bigger rock if budget allows.

 

Hosting this Looney Tunes Stylocoeniella for a friend. Pic taken with iphone

 

Interesting tip on these polyps

 

[Guest]

Love all this pictures! Keep it up!

[Maipian80]

Love it tooEspecially the crab.
It might be a situation of being at the wrong place at the wrong timeAll should be innocent until proven guilty

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[SubzeroLT]

Did some quick inspection/maintenance of the UV sterilizer today. Last bulb change was in October 2020. While the bulb will last 14 months with 24/7 usage, its probably good to check to make sure its running efficiently.

Specifically, I'm looking out for quartz sleeve totally caked with dried salt - this can happen if the water stops flowing (accidentally switch off water pump?) but UV light is still on. Or hazy quartz sleeve - if moisture seeps into the seals.

 

Checked the bulb. Looks ok. Bulb is clear.

 

Checked the quartz sleeve. The main body of the sleeve is clear (good). Only the top part which is above the water line is crusted with salt. This is normal since that portion is above the water line & hot.

 

Did a quick scrub down with some acid to remove the mild calcification and its good to go.

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Close up pics of the money cowrie.

It came as a tiny hitchhiker on a coral colony many years ago. Grown a lot.

It was crawling above the fiji pipe organ this morning.

 

This is what the underside looks like

 

This is what the top looks like. Interesting to see the shiny shell.

 

And if it feels safe again, the feathery tentacles appear through the shell within a couple of seconds.

Top view

[SubzeroLT]

Side view tonight

[alexcyf]

Is that a new prata? Looks like something that will burn a big hole in the pocket


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[SubzeroLT]

9 hours ago, alexcyf said:

Is that a new prata? Looks like something that will burn a big hole in the pocket


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The one on the left is a prata (from Seasonal). The one on the right is a lobo (from Oceana). Both places  gave very reasonable prices. 

IMO, Lobophyllia seem very under rated. They have lovely colors but not many rush for them.

[SubzeroLT]

Random shots from today :

A frag from Alex (Thanks!!)

 

Divaricata growing quite fast. Need to relocate some other corals around it.

 

New hammer addition in the middle

[Mr. Tay]

On 7/3/2021 at 9:49 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Its been a year since SRC's Stay Home, Stay Safe Reef At Home contest. This was the 12th prize courtesy of Suprem Corals. (Thanks!!)

July 2020 :

 

I left them on a frag rack together with 2 frag plugs of Captain America Zoanthid. This is what the rack looks like now. Hopefully my fav zoanthid, the XC Arnold Schwarzenegger, is still alive & hidden between the others. Gonna check it soon.

July 2021 :

Wow, very nice Zoas collections !

[weewowwow]

On 7/3/2021 at 9:49 PM, SubzeroLT said:

Its been a year since SRC's Stay Home, Stay Safe Reef At Home contest. This was the 12th prize courtesy of Suprem Corals. (Thanks!!)

July 2020 :

 

I left them on a frag rack together with 2 frag plugs of Captain America Zoanthid. This is what the rack looks like now. Hopefully my fav zoanthid, the XC Arnold Schwarzenegger, is still alive & hidden between the others. Gonna check it soon.

July 2021 :

solid zoa garden there◡̈ 

[SubzeroLT]

Did some housekeeping on the table next to the tank in prep for new equipment to come. Made a stand to mount the Mastertronic above the Alkatronic. 

Fabricated a small stand with aluminum profiles from Prestech. And used some scrap material around the house to finish it up.

 

As it was sitting on top of the table, i wanted to secure the new rack to the lower table frame (below the wood table top that was wider than the table leg). Hence a couple of 3D brackets were printed for this purpose.

 

Much neater now. 

 

[SubzeroLT]

The current light setting & dosing regime seems to be running quite well. Corals are doing OK. In the process of sourcing a larger capacity calcium reactor.

Some pics from today :

Aussie SSC. 

 

Bali Shortcake (with yellow filter)

 

Royal Blue Millie

 

Overgrown candy cane. This is just part of the colony

 

Hammer garden

 

 

 

[Maipian80]

love the candies

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[SubzeroLT]

Sometimes Birdsnest Corals are under-rated. Love the pink and also the lime green round tip variant 

 

This palm sized tabling acro started out as a single stem a few years back. Grown too big & blocking the other SPS below it. Lovely blue base with blue/purplish polyps. Will be posting the colony in pasar malam soon

 

 

Got this from Reefing Reality. Thought it was a blue stag but turned out to be a green stag with bluish tips in my high nutrient tank.

[chitoge]

The current light setting & dosing regime seems to be running quite well. Corals are doing OK. In the process of sourcing a larger capacity calcium reactor.
Some pics from today :
Aussie SSC. 
 
Bali Shortcake (with yellow filter)

 
Royal Blue Millie
 
Overgrown candy cane. This is just part of the colony
 
Hammer garden
 

 

 

really nice gigas

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[nornicle]

Hi amazing tank still, can you let us know your settings for your flow? i run two neptune wav and 2 mp40qd and i find the flow is almost too much for my hammers and torches, but doesn’t see  enough for sps as detritus is still being trapped under rocks. 

my tank is the same dimensions as yours!

Edited August 27, 2021 by nornicle

[SubzeroLT]

 

On 8/27/2021 at 10:12 PM, nornicle said:

Hi amazing tank still, can you let us know your settings for your flow? i run two neptune wav and 2 mp40qd and i find the flow is almost too much for my hammers and torches, but doesn’t see  enough for sps as detritus is still being trapped under rocks. 

my tank is the same dimensions as yours!

I have a total of 3 wavemakers in the tank. On the left wall is an MP60 & MP40 what's just in front of the SPS & hammers. On the back wall near the right side is an MP40 that provides flow to the torch.

 

Left view

 

Each wavemaker runs on a different schedule so it provides more random flow (supposedly less chance of detritus gathering at one spot). But in reality, it does not really matter since the sand bed is full of corals & rocks. Some will surely get trapped anyway.

Nevertheless, the following are screenshots of the setting at various times of the day.

MP40 Left

 

 

MP60 Left

 

MP40 Back/Right

[SubzeroLT]

I brought my CO2 tanks for top up the other day @ Lim Yew Siong (22 Woodlands Link #02-66). Got this link from fellow reefer & was also shared in SRC Whatsapp chat group earlier.

They topped up the CO2 tanks on the spot. $25.68 for 2x 5L tanks. 

 

 

A small saving compared to LFS but not exactly worth the effort to drive all the way there. Not easy to transport 2 CO2 tanks in the car too.

 

[nornicle]

Wait are you telling me you run your mp60 at 14% power MAX? I must be doing something wrong I have two mp40s running 100% reef crest and two wavs running 80% random. And I’ve just ordered an mp60 because I saw you had one…!

[SubzeroLT]

You'll be amazed at how much broad flow the MP60 can provide compared to other wavemakers. Crazy powerful. I used to run it at higher 50% speeds but it shifts the large 3mm grain sand from the middle of the tank till the bare glass bottom can be seen (unsightly).  20-30% speed would probably be OK for the sand. But I've just set it a lower speed as I find there to be sufficient flow for my particular rockscape & layout.

I'd choose the MP60 any time over an MP40 or any other wavemaker.

This is a quick video taken around 11am this morning showing the flow in the tank. Still get sufficient flow at the SPS.

 

 

[SubzeroLT]

Some pics taken tonight.

 

Blueish chalice with orange/gold patches. Not sure of the ID

 

Must always check for fish in the wavemaker before turning it back on.

 

 

[samcyc]

beautiful pictures! thanks for sharing ️


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