Living Room Nano Peninsula

[monkiboy]

gosh, when I read the text of the last post without the image in my email, I thought for sure you had set up the 150 or a 180, haha. Still exciting!

[YHSublime]

10 minutes ago, monkiboy said:

gosh, when I read the text of the last post without the image in my email, I thought for sure you had set up the 150 or a 180, haha. Still exciting!

 

Hahaha, not yet! I'd love to combine them into a bigger tank tbh, but so much of the peninsula has been curated to show all sides of the rock, that would be lost unless moved into a larger peninsula style tank. 

 

[howaboutme]

Excellent photo above!!! Nice work.

[YHSublime]

20 minutes ago, howaboutme said:

Excellent photo above!!! Nice work.

 

Thanks, Jack. It's amazing how clear the water can be when you run carbon and clean the sides of your tanks! 

[howaboutme]

How are running the carbon in your sump? In a bag dropped into some chamber? I'm thinking of trying it out myself for no other reason then just to see how different in clarity it is.

[YHSublime]

3 hours ago, howaboutme said:

How are running the carbon in your sump? In a bag dropped into some chamber? I'm thinking of trying it out myself for no other reason then just to see how different in clarity it is.

Passively off a wrung in my sump in a filter sock. Teaspoon per gallon.

[YHSublime]

So a few months ago, I lost the blue channels on the LED that @AlanMbuilt. Not having any idea what I was doing, we trouble shot this weekend, and by we, I mean he, and I learned all sorts of things that I've probably forgotten already. 
 
Long story short, I do have the blue channels back, as well as the additional 4 Blue + T5 bulbs I've added with the Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture mounted on top. Is this insane for a 22 gallon tank, yes. Do my corals absolutely love it? Also yes. 
 
My alkalinity consumption has jumped, the SPS is looking more colorful and polyp extension is going crazy. Corals are growing, the CSB anemone is looking like nothing ever happened, and overall I am super pleased with how the tank is growing in.
 
There is one event that I don't really have an answer for, and that is my trachy is slowly dying. It all started after the CSB went through the powerhead. I moved it, because the acclimation box was shadowing it, but a hermit fell into a portion of it, and it started eroding away to skeleton. I thought it would heal up, but slowly the thing is withering away. I've noticed my hermits, and peppermint shrimp on it, constantly picking at it and eating it. I don't know if they are killing it, or if it's dying on its own. There are a variety of changes that happened, and I can't pinpoint which it is. I also don't know what to do because everything else looks so nice. Open to suggestions!

[howaboutme]

Man that's a lot of light! Just curious what PAR are you getting with all of that goodness?

 

Sorry about your trachy.

[YHSublime]

50 minutes ago, howaboutme said:

Man that's a lot of light! Just curious what PAR are you getting with all of that goodness?

 

Sorry about your trachy.

 

A lot of light. I actually have a par meter to test, will be doing that tonight/tomorrow. 

 

Thanks, I wish I knew what to do *shrugs in angst*

[YHSublime]

I've taken some par readings, I know what I'm getting, but I'll update with a picture and the levels. With both lights on and turned up all the way I'm getting close to 650 on the top of the rock!

 

Snapped some photos while everything was turned off for the testing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[howaboutme]

Amazing! That's some huge PAR. Excellent job.

[roni]

Tank looks great!   How is the trach doing?  Looks like you added a new torch?

[YHSublime]

30 minutes ago, howaboutme said:

Amazing! That's some huge PAR. Excellent job.

Thanks!

 

10 minutes ago, roni said:

Tank looks great!   How is the trach doing?  Looks like you added a new torch?

 Thanks, trachy isn’t doing any better. No new torches, had all the torches in there for about a year!

[JJKK]

650 PAR!?  Dang.  I was just watching the Homewrecker tonight and thinking that it had much more pink when I picked it up from you.  Makes sense now.

Wish my CSB bubbles up in my tank.  Maybe too much flow?  Dunno.  Looks great in your tank.

[YHSublime]

44 minutes ago, JJKK said:

650 PAR!?  Dang.  I was just watching the Homewrecker tonight and thinking that it had much more pink when I picked it up from you.  Makes sense now.

 

I didn't have the additional x4 T5 bulbs at the time, and this is with the light turned ALL the way up AND the T5 bulbs. However, the spot the Homewrecker was in is definitely the highest par receiving area according to my measurements tonight. Alan built a very powerful light! Don't be fooled though, I run the light at 75% and I've actually stopped using the T5 bulbs until I got some readings. What I'm getting in the nano compared to the frag tank (AI 16HD Prime) is shocking (highest par in my frag tank is 160)

 

47 minutes ago, JJKK said:

Wish my CSB bubbles up in my tank.  Maybe too much flow?  Dunno.  Looks great in your tank.

 

Now that I have the nem guard on there, I've turned the flow all the way up. I'm sure it restricts it some, but there is a lot of turbulent flow in such a small space. Honestly, I could probably use a little more if I want to continue with the SPS the way it is right now. 

 

I wish I could say I know the trick, but my anemones, no matter what variety, have always had bubble tips in this tank. I'm so glad it survived. If anything, I'd venture to say it's still on the mend, it's colors get more vibrant as the time passes. 

[YHSublime]

And here's some "frag tank" shots of the second tank:

 

 

 

 

[YHSublime]

And here are my par results.

 

Just with my LED's at almost max intensity: 

 

With the LED's almost at max intensity and the x4 T5 bulbs all turned on (x4 Blue +)

 

Here are just my LED's at 75% intensity (how I run them when they are on)

 

Here are my LED's at 75% intensity with the x4 Blue + T5 bulbs

 

And here is my frag tank W/ just an AI Prime 16HD

[YHSublime]

So I reached out to Reefdup to see if there was any suggestions on what to do about my trachy, when you have a coral rehabbing expert in your back yard you want to make sure you utilize the resources you have! 

 

There's some good news, and some bad news. The bad news is that she hasn't seen success with Trachyphyllia. The good news is I do have a few things I'm going to try other than just keep my fingers crossed. 

 

The biggest hurdle I have is not having a coral QT tank, or one that is void of hermits, which are constantly picking at the dying skin, and the skeleton. I have cut down 1" PVC pipe pieces and raised it up off the floor bed to hopefully keep it from being pestered. I have also started to baste it with food juices when I feed the tank. While I considered dipping, I have decided that because my water quality seems to be happily supporting literally ever other thing in the tank, it is what it is. 

 

Please excuse the VERY poor cell phone quick shots, but they're here for documentation purposes:

 

 

There are some things I'd like to note while I was fixing some things up. Back when I had a tank crash in March 2020, most of my SPS went kaput. This piece I was calling "The Hulk" was literally just skeleton. This was probably the largest piece in my tank prior to the crash, when the water was turned off, it was branched out of the water, and almost the tank, so i did trim it down to a nub.  Out of nowhere, some green started coming back, and in a really shaky couple of months, it grew back, albeit, it didn't look awesome. There was no polyp extension, the base was still dead, but it was growing. Fast forward to now, and it's started to push those fuzzy polyps out again, and I've even started trimming pieces to encourage new growth, which as you can see, is working nicely!

 

 

Here is another piece that I've had for years, Strawberry Shortcake. It has died back and come back to life more times than I can ever remember. I recently picked up a nice piece from jhOU a few months back, just before they lost their colony, and my original piece started to recover (pictured.) I know the cell phone photo doesn't capture what I'm trying to show, a lot of it is still skeleton, but the color that is returning is SO vibrant and bold.

 

 

Last is this chunky little frag of RR Pink Cadillac. This was the fastest growing acro in my tank prior to the crash. I cut a nub off (this is what that nub was pictured) and put it on the other side of my tank. It's now returning to it's former glory and growing VERY fast, with great color. The original base on the other side of the tank has also started to encrust again, another back from the dead piece. 

 

 

The point of all this is that things are starting to grow very quickly, as well as the color in most of my SPS is getting even bolder. I don't know what I'm doing that is different, but I'm very pleased. 

 

 

 

[roni]

Fingers crossed for the trach.  That was a great idea to check in with her :). 

 

I had a trach recover in the past years ago after having another coral fall into it and kill about half.  I think keeping scavengers away and treating if you have a secondary infection is probably prudent.  Great to see the sps come back from nubs.  Almost like getting great Walt smith Fiji rock in the past and seeing which corals arise in a year

[YHSublime]

28 minutes ago, roni said:

Fingers crossed for the trach.  That was a great idea to check in with her :). 

 

I had a trach recover in the past years ago after having another coral fall into it and kill about half.  I think keeping scavengers away and treating if you have a secondary infection is probably prudent.  Great to see the sps come back from nubs.  Almost like getting great Walt smith Fiji rock in the past and seeing which corals arise in a year

 

I'm glad to hear about your success with it, something similar happened here, a hermit fell into the middle of it, and I didn't think much of it at the time. I think coupled with some other things, it's gone downhill, but this will be steps in the right direction that are easy to take, and I'd be foolish not to try! 

 

That's a great analogy. I have a few other acros that sprung out of nothing that I didn't mention, sometimes I have to think reaaaaaal hard about what used to be in the same spot, lol. 

[YHSublime]

 

Feeling a bit better about the trachy now that it's been elevated. Hermits still seem to find their way up there, but such is life. I think it's doing better since I've been able to raise it. That is the only change I've made, other then directly basting it when I feed now. 

 

 

I captured this photo while I was taking a few shots, and I really enjoy how just about every inch of this tank is covered in coral:

 

 

And the 'frag' tank is just booming, it's amazing how little goes into it and how well it just does on it's own. 

 

[roni]

looking great and great to hear on the trach.  it's a beauty! 

[YHSublime]

14 minutes ago, roni said:

looking great and great to hear on the trach.  it's a beauty! 

 

Not out of the woods yet, it very well could be anecdotal. Here is a photo from November of 2021 

 

[YHSublime]

Well, Trachy is just about dead, I took it off stilts as hermits were still finding their way on. I suspect the peppermint shrimp may have been agitating it as well, I threw in 6 to tackle aiptasia, and they are all still huge, colorful, and I think breeding in the tank now. Unfortunately, the tank is too tight to pull them out with a net, so I'm thinking about putting together the small waterbottle inverted trick catcher. 

 

My alkalinity dropped down to the high 4's in dKH earlier this week, as the bubble magus doser requires that you exit the programing screen in order to drop into your regularly scheduled programing. This presents a big deal for me, as I have to get down on the floor to check my doser, mainly because it's mounted to the top of my stand because there is no room. 

 

I've turned it back on, and I'm waiting for it to level back out again (7.8dKH is about where I keep it normally) but it's been since Monday, and I've crawled my way back to 6dKH with 4 days time, I don't think I can wait another 10 days to level out, so I've upped from 30ml of each ESV solution to 50ml every 24 hours to crank there a bit faster. All the coral looks great, but I'm going to wait 2 weeks and make an assessment, there's an amazing amount of consumption in such a small space, I'm very close to getting an Apex and a Trident, as this is not the first time I've run into this situation. 

 

Anyways, both tanks are looking really great today, but the euphilia I have in the nano was looking almost rainbow, it's very difficult to capture with the camera, but I think I came close.

 

 

 

 

Just need a non blurry photo of these Grand Master Cracks

[roni]

Oh man, I'm sorry about the trach.   The issue with the doser is why I've become almost obsessive about double checking whenever I mess with electronics but at the same time, not being able to get to something easily makes that harder.  The other thing I now do is any "preventative maintenance" on my system before a trip is done at least 3-4 days before, as that's always when I end up messing with something I don't normally mess with and cause a problem.

 

That hammer looks really nice!  It's still amazing how much you pack into such a small space.  I'm already regretting how close some of the corals in my tanks are as they are starting to grow close.  I can't imagine trying to navigate that in a smaller volume.