Diary of my LiL 16 Gallon Nano(Intense)

[FUA]

tank is looking great, is that as far as you are going with the live rock or are there more additions coming?? Also are you going to try and level the stand from the bottom to get your waterline level that would drive me nuts on a rimless tank!! tank looks great.

[InsaneClownFish]

I have a ton of updates to make, so I'll be doing so over a few posts.

erickrm- I didn't add too much of the sugar, and it seems to be doing the trick. I'm not entirely sure how accurate the claims of "living" bacteria are in the water when it hasn't been continuously aerated or temp controlled. But the combination of the water and sugar seems to be stabilizing the tank quickly.

I have noticed the water looks a touch cloudy. I'm not sure if it's me being paranoid, or if it really is. The water looks so crystalline at times- especially from the top. I'm thinking the bit of powder off the putty(even though I rinsed it as recommended) and the bit of detritus that got stirred up might have caused this. It might even be the sugar. Also, I had a heat issue I'll discuss shortly that might be the culprit. I do take back what I said previously about that Hagen vacumn device. I took the fitting off that it took two secs to remove two small det piles that collected dead center in the tank.

Haven't you guessed?!? Clowns my friend.. I've contacted two suppliers, East Coast SPS, and Rod's Reef. East Coast is checking into the availability of an ORA Picasso and an ORA naked Clown- http://orafarm.com/clownfish_species.html I thought it would make a neat contrast to have one naked and one looking like a jigsaw piece(and yes you can pair up true percs and oceallaris). I've spoken with Rod about a pair of Onyx babies- http://rods-reef.com/liveStock.php?pID=2

There's a fairly new batch of babies at Rod's. To be honest, I'm almost hoping the ORA ones aren't currently available because I think I'm leaning towards the Onyx.

I'm planning on adding more fish only as a supplement to SPS coloring. The next would be a Midas Blenny. I'm looking forward to Mike Palletta's talk regarding SPS coloration on Sunday.

cerreta- You're definately braver than I trimming silicone! Have you had any issues with your Solana and Sunpak? One time when I turned it on nothing happened. I shut it off, waited a minute, and turned it back on..the bulb fired fine. There seems to be nothing wrong with the soft start at all. Today I heard something that can best be described as a sound somewhere between a click and a pop and the bulb just went out. I shut the switch on the ballast, waited a few seconds and flipped the switch. The bulb fired up fine.

Anyone know what may be causing this? I thought it might be the GFCI reading stray current and cutting off power to that outlet, but I don't think it's that sophisticated and would shut off the whole strip so that the reset button would be needed.

FUA- Nah the waterline doesn't bug me. Everything came out so amazing I'm just breathing easy it's finally done. I like the look of alot of the Japanese tanks. If you look at Naka's 180g tank, which is not necessarily a Japanese setup, but has many Japanese elements, uhuru's 16g cube, and jcm2m9's 40g cube the idea of "less is more" translates to some unique beauties. What I may do is add very small pieces of LR as need be solely out of funtionality- in order to secure new frags to old rock via a small piece of new rock.

I really want the SPS to be able to grow up and out.

[cerreta]

Was the lamp previoously on? If so, that is normal. Ballasts won't fire hot lamps until they have cooled down a bit.

If the problem occured with a cold lamp, then I don't know. I have not had these issues, yet.
Cheers

[bpoore89]

I also use sugar in my tank and it makes the water cloudy, but after a day of skimming it turns crystal clear

[InsaneClownFish]

cerreta- That's good to know. I hadn't considered that it might be the hot bulb the first time, because I had been running the bulb previously. Maybe the second time was a random occurance. I took a quick look at the bulb and it didn't appear to be loose.

Now onto the heat issue. I left for a couple hours to run some errands and meet a local reefer for some frags... When I returned my bedroom felt like a sauna. The tank felt warm. I can immediately tell when a tank is too warm just by the feel. I took the glass t-stat from my quarantine and threw it in the sump. The temp read almost 82 degrees when I had been running the tank closer to 79ish. This is a huge concern.

Apparantly, after careful inspection, this "state" was caused by some mutally exclusive elements. First, the light. That alone doesn't heat the water, but ambient had increased because the heat had kicked on. Here's the issue. If everyone remembers, I usually don't turn the heat on till well into the year because I receive all the ambient heat from the furnace room. The other day I actually set it to 71 degrees because it had gotten quite cold out.
Now ambient was reading between 78-80 via two seperate t-stats in the room but the heat had still kicked on?!? I had left the doors on the stand closed and the heat from the radiator filtered right to the sump. Whoaaa was Mr. PL-Reef right on this one!

I'm working on getting the timer setup so that the fan comes on with the light. I need a grounded extension cord as the boxy timer won't fit in between the GFCI and the stand. Also, I'm never leaving the doors of the stand closed when I leave again. In time I may add a piece of plywood or plexiglass in the back to keep heat out. I also lowered the t-stat in my bedroom which is clearly kicking the heat on too soon.

I'm using old reliable from my last setup- a 150w Ebo-Jager heater. What I'm really concerned about is that the heater was continually on with the temp in the sump at 82 and the heater clearly set for 78.5. I adjusted the heater up and down, and it clearly turned off when I set it lower- so it didn't seem locked. Maybe the heater was just trying to keep up with the temp, but this is definately strange, and much like the t-stat in my bedroom, seemed to be overcompensating with heat. Jager's are exceptionally reliable, so I'm not sure if there is really an issue. Does anyone have any input on this? If I back the heater back down, and it cuts off, it's clearly not locking on right? Could it just be that the heater's calibration is a bit off..or has become less accurate over time, and that keeping it set a degree or two lower would solve the problem? What I'm concerned about is that it just didn't turn off with the temp a few degrees warmer than it was set. I discussed this situation with a fellow reefer and we both came to the conclusion that the heater is in the wrong spot and the return pump needs to be moved to the far right of the heater so as to receive more flow.
The heater really is sitting in a complete dead spot in the sump, so it's possible it's reading a cold spot?


I threw the fan on and lowered the heater to a setting of 77. It still stayed on quite a bit, but with the fan on, the doors open, and the light off the temp quickly dropped to 79-80ish. The glass thermometer is consistent, but that too never seemed very accurate as I believe it always reads things a couple degrees too warm.

bpoore89- That's good to know. I'm guessing that's what I was registering. Like I said it's barely perceptible.

[erickrm]

da sux about the heat man, one thing about heaters i have notices is that they might go out of calibration.... my wify's biocube heater use to be ok and now in order for it to stay at 77deg the t-stat on the heater has to be set to 72ish degs.

[InsaneClownFish]

Rich that sounds like the problem I'm having. I'm going to keep my eye on it. If I can't adjust it properly then I'll purchase two smaller heaters to replace this one.

So I did the unthinkable. I stopped in at the LFS to take a "peek" at what they had and possibly pick up a feather duster. Well I walked out with a baby crocea! Everyone start slapping me now...

The clam was sitting at the bottom of a tank under PCs.

I know I know...a bit too soon. Hopefully, with the cycled water, my original LR, and a nice stable setup I'll be ok. I had been looking at clams for 3 days online, and this was the nicest one I had seen. Also, I've noted some talk in the Tricand forum that surmises that smaller Croceas are alot more mature at smaller sizes than other clams because they only grow to 6 inches.

I fell in love with the markings on this beauty. It has baby blue spots across the inner part of the mantle and a few of the spots are actually a metallic green.

I measured it a 1 and 5/8" It has uniform color through its mantle, its foot is intact, and it shows excellent response to light stimuli. I acclimated it for an hour and 45 minutes. I inspected its foot for damage and any signs of PM or pyramid snails. None could be found

I purchased DT's at the time and am fully aware this clam will need daily, or every other day, phyto feedings. I put some of the acclimation water into an old sherbet container I use for tank chores, put the clam in, and gave it a 10 minute phyto bath. I'll post pics tomorrow.

I initially took a tiny piece of LR on the bottom to balance the clam but the flow was a too much. So I took the clam and put it directly on a larger piece of LR towards the back of the tank where it's alot more secure. I've been running the lights at 3 hour intervals to acclimate it slowly. The clam is opening up nicely and showing good mantle extension.

[uhuru]

Be careful with the sugar dosing, esp now that you have a more delicate inhabitant... A bacteria bloom (which will cause the cloudy water) can suffocate your clam and lower nutrients to dangerous levels.

[melev]

Moving the return pump to the far end of the sump is a good plan. You can probably insert your heater in between those baffles to force all water to flow over and around it.

It is not uncommon at all that you have to manually set the heater to the magic range, rather than trusting the numbers on the dial. I've never found one that I believed.

Thin paneling behind the stand will keep that wall heater out of the sump area.

[erickrm]

yea, i got tired of tinkering with heater dials so ended up with a ACjr control heat and much more

[InsaneClownFish]

uhuru- That's good advice, I don't plan on dosing anymore. I saw this as a one time deal.

melev- Hmmm well that's good to know. It's probable that a lower setting will take care of the problem- this puts my mind at ease. You definately called it the first time..my return pump is too close to the center of the sump. I'm stubborn sometimes..

erickrm- You and Jas with your expensive toys! Give me a call if you're still up. I have off tomorrow, and I might actually be out towards Meriden.

I took the time to do all types of tests last night. The numbers were very askew at first for the Alk reading and the Calcium. The Alk measured at 4.6, but I realized the x16 wasn't working and followed the chart. Also, the 1ml(salifert) syringe didn't have the tip pushed all the way up and didn't have the requisite air for the tip. The reading after I looked again, not taking into account the air would have been closer to the actual reading. So the second test gave me the correct reading of 10.4 dkh. I had also just dosed alk buffer because of what I had assumed was a very low first reading. I had suspected something was off because my ph was fine.

On the Calc test it seemed my Calcium was off the scale, but I was actually using the dropper of Calcium instead of reagent A So once I did the test correctly I got a reading of 350ppm. I accidently dosed the alk instead. Thankfully it was only a half dose. Once it cleared I dosed the Calc.

Everything is looking nice.
Here are the readings from about midnight last evening:
SG- 1.0265
Temp-79.5
PH- 8.0
Alk/dkh-10.4
Calcium-350ppm
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 7ppm
(All tests Salifert except Calc is Red Sea)

[InsaneClownFish]

Along with the powercord, I need to pick up more Wally world distilled in the morning. The one closest to me always runs out. I'm going to buy some every time I'm near a Walmart, because I never want to run into not having it around again. The evap is more significant than I realized with an open top and sump. I need to get a handle on this so salinity doesn't jump.

CTARS is great. I just visited staninct's beautiful 45 gallon mixed reef. He lives in the next town over, so it's only about 10 minutes from me.

I picked up 5 frags, all beautiful, all healthy, and all with nice color for $40.
A huge piece of unknown stag- peach with green polyps
An unkown table Acro with purply tips and polyps
A tiny piece of Oregon Blue Tort that had broken off
A stunning piece of metalic pink mille
ORA chips Acro

They all looked good in quarantine this morning with no signs of bleaching. Most of them had a good portion of their polyps out.

I took the frags home in tupperware and put 5 drops of Lugol's right in the contain. I swirled it with a turkey baster and let them sit for almost 4 minutes- I gently blew them off with the baster.

Next I transferred them into a small, white travel cooler that I had put enough of Stan's water to cover the frags. I began a drip here and continued for one hour.

I then took 4 capfulls of Revive coral cleanser and added it directly to the water. I basted it around and let the corals bath for 5 minutes. I basted them and shook them clean. I realized that I had used more than the recommended dosage because I only had about 1/4 gallon of water when it calls for 4 capfuls to 1 gallon. Finally they were added directly to the quarantine. The bottle says, "does not contain ammonia." But man does it smell like it!

None of the SPS seemed significantly stressed during these processes.

This should take care of any FW or AFEWs of which there were no signs of either.
There were also no signs of red bugs on his frags.

The Interceptor should be here soon. The third step will be treating the quarantine with all the frags in it. I'll post some pictures of these processes tomorrow.

[nUgZ]

Man what a deal!! We can't wait much longer on those pics though....

[cerreta]

Clown, how are you going to maintain Ca and Alk?

I am using Ocean's Blend 2 Part in my 15gallon Prop tank with sps. I am amazed at how much I use to maintain equal levels. The recommendation is 3cc/10 gallons daily.

I am dosing 7.5cc twice a day and still have a bit of a drop in Alk. Man these corals are pigs!

I have raised my dosing to 9cc (4pumps) twice a day. Hope that does it.
Cheers

[pbukow]

Pics! Pics! Pics! Pics!

[InsaneClownFish]

double

[InsaneClownFish]

cerreta- I use Kent Super Buffer Dkh and Bionic 2 part every week with water changes. These products served me well with my old reef. I will also start dosing ESV Magnesium soon. I'll dose the B-Ionic 2 part as needed as well.

In such a small reef this should be plenty to keep up for now. I also use Oceanic salt which is fairly element and Calc rich. If need be I'll start mixing Kalk as well. Is a doser in my future? Stay tuned.

Gentlemen, your wish is my command:










Note the weird oooz coming from the Trochus snail in these pics. He started right after I put the frags in the tank. Initially, I thought it was snail "pee," but he seemed to be going on for minutes. Some type of spawning thing?

I need to report one loss. My beautiful scarlet hermit was dead this afternoon. Everything else is fine. I wonder if this has to do with a lack of food on the rocks, or if he just couldn't deal with an environment with increased flow. I have no other explanation. All of my blue legs are fine, but they seem to struggle once they get onto the slick acrylic bottom.

I vacummed the two same spots of detritus. I took the return pump and moved it to the far right, and the heater I moved close to the center baffles.
I took my hand and wiped down the inside haze off the acrylic this afternoon. It would seem to be from the sugar dose. The water is crystalline.

[pbukow]

Very very cool crocea clam, I didn't realize how small it was. Are you planning on keeping the eggcrate in the tank permantly or is this just a means of giving your acros something to grow on. How is the skimmate lookin at this stage btw? Looking good so far.

[mr pink floyd]

for what tis worth, you dont have to give the clam a phyto bath, they dont need any other food besides light. trying to feed them can actually choke them if they get too much in their gills, plus its extremely stressful on them when you move them.

however, putting phyto in the water column wont hurt, as long as it isnt getting overdone

[tcmfish]

If the corals attach i have no idea how u would get the egg crate out but eventually it will get incrusted. It is a neat idea.

[10" Red Devil]

Originally posted by mr pink floyd
for what tis worth, you dont have to give the clam a phyto bath, they dont need any other food besides light. trying to feed them can actually choke them if they get too much in their gills, plus its extremely stressful on them when you move them.

however, putting phyto in the water column wont hurt, as long as it isnt getting overdone

Last time I checked which was pretty recently this is not true at all. In fact for baby clams that are under 3" which this most certainly is, the phyto dip is definitely necessary. They get 90% or more of their nutritional needs from filter feeding at this stage. Check out Daniel Knops book. There is a website dedicated to giant clams which I cannot remember the name of right now.

I like the tank, but worry your doing sps far too soon. There are lots of ups and downs that take place in a new tank that will bleach or brown sps. It is a good idea to wait at least a year before trying sps. I wish you luck though. This is coming from someone who has kept sps in a 20gallon long nano for 5+ years and only recently decided to do a mixed reef, but I was successful and had very colorful sps with good growth.

[mr pink floyd]

Last time I checked which was pretty recently this is not true at all. In fact for baby clams that are under 3" which this most certainly is, the phyto dip is definitely necessary. They get 90% or more of their nutritional needs from filter feeding at this stage. Check out Daniel Knops book. There is a website dedicated to giant clams which I cannot remember the name of right now

hmm, im pretty sure i saw mbbuna post in the clam forum that clams are supported by their mantles photosynthetic capabilities at any age...

[uhuru]

I've read both as well. FWIW when my clam was small I grew my own phyto and fed it daily because that's what I was told. After a while I stopped and saw no difference, except less algae in the tank. Also, RIP to my clam, who died a few days ago (not from starvation but from dino toxicity). His foot is still stuck deep inside my main rock, I'm going to have to pull out the rock and drill it out.

[InsaneClownFish]

pbukow- The eggcrate is only in my SPS tank.. I plan on superglueing or puttying them directly to the LR. The skimmer is not really pulling out anything, but it does now have a touch of gunk from the phyto feeding.

tcmfish- See above. All the SPS is currently in my quarantine tank...

mr pink floyd- If I'm not mistaken the "new talk" around the Tricand forum refers to clams in the 2.5" and maybe even the 2" arena. The thinking is that the original research was wrong about sub 3" clams needing feedings. I read the same thing mbbuna had written, but I am pretty postive it is still recommended for clams under 2".

10" Red Devil- Yes it is still recommended to feed phyto at smaller than 3 inches in many circles. I can't see it hurting either.. I appreciate any insight from SPS keepers that I can get. What I'm counting on is the combination of small amounts of cycled water from my quarantine which I've traded back and forth until I actually kept stock in the QT. Also, I used completely cycled and processed high element and bacterial rich processed NSW. Now I'm not positive about all of the claims, but from what others have reported, they didn't see much of a cycle with it at all. My tank is very stable already, but we shall see. Also, all the pics are of my SPS sitting in quaratine. All the SPS is aquaculture, and many of it has seen a few fraggings of aquaculture through my reef club. I'm trying to stay within the bounds of what I know to be very hardy, aquacultured SPS. If you have any suggestions and insights I welcome the experience.

uhuru- Sorry bout the loss of your clam- what exactly happened?

And now for some candid shots...
I had to shut off all the pumps to get a decent shot of the clam:

I couldn't see through this



I did a short acclimation of my Duncans. These Australians came DIRECTLY from Julian Sprung and could probably grow in a pile of mud. This will be the ONLY LPS added to my tank, and boy do they look happy to be out of the quarantine tank!




I really like the acrylic for taking pics!

I did have a minor issue of a high sg at 1.028 probably caused by evaporation. I like to run my tanks at the high end of 1.026-1.0265, but I think I may start mixing the water changes closer to 1.025 in order to keep it down with the high rate of evap.

My Interceptor arrived in the mail today, so the quarantine will be treated soon.
Everything is looking good.

[blackheart]