Bill's Intro to the Reef - 5 Gallon Rimless

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Your tank looks really nice! Not ghetto at all, I really like it! Have you thought of doing an Aqua Clear 70 or 110 refugium mod? You can run your chaeto in there and still have room for some chemical media and filter floss or polyfil. Something like that would be more suitable on your size/style of tank than mine!

Thanks for the kind words. that's an idea. One of those two filters would work. did you ever find a good algae?? There's a Facebook page I really like called "Saltwater Aquarium & Reef Keepers." People there are quick to respond and I've found some of them to be very knowledgable.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Grizz

A dixie cup? Gotta love those nano's Im using 32 gal. trash cans

Well, I AM one gallon away from being a pico... :lol

Originally Posted by jmay33

Thanks for the kind words. that's an idea. One of those two filters would work. did you ever find a good algae?? There's a Facebook page I really like called "Saltwater Aquarium & Reef Keepers." People there are quick to respond and I've found some of them to be very knowledgable.

No problem j! Thanks for the tip, I'll check that out!

[Billbug68]

Small update after a trip to the LFS...

Picked up a few things...

Red tip hermit crab

Astraea snail

And a very poor quality frag with some fire and ice zoas, and another(orange center) kind... Maybe peanut butter cups or reverse gorilla nipples? That's the closest I could get on coralpedia...

Anyways, the frag has some hair algae and some red/purple macroalgae growing on it... Can I fix this? Or should I cut as many polyps off and put them on a new frag disc so the algae doesn't spread?

Also, here's my sad little candy cane... Still not doing well, it does puff up, but this is about as far as it goes... I glued it higher up on the rocks and it seems to be doing better than it was in the sand. Anyone think it'll eventually bounce back?

FTS

[jwh0818]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Small update after a trip to the LFS...

Picked up a few things...

Red tip hermit crab

Astraea snail

And a very poor quality frag with some fire and ice zoas, and another(orange center) kind... Maybe peanut butter cups or reverse gorilla nipples? That's the closest I could get on coralpedia...

Anyways, the frag has some hair algae and some red/purple macroalgae growing on it... Can I fix this? Or should I cut as many polyps off and put them on a new frag disc so the algae doesn't spread?

Also, here's my sad little candy cane... Still not doing well, it does puff up, but this is about as far as it goes... I glued it higher up on the rocks and it seems to be doing better than it was in the sand. Anyone think it'll eventually bounce back?

FTS

Awesome! Its looking very good. I think it will bounce back. Give it more time and remember patience is key!

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by jwh0818

Awesome! Its looking very good. I think it will bounce back. Give it more time and remember patience is key!

I dunno.... Part of the skeleton broke off...

Anyways, did my best to frag some polyps on to some of my rock rubble I had left over. Hopefully those bounce back and grow in to some nice little colonies...

[jwh0818]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

I dunno.... Part of the skeleton broke off...

Anyways, did my best to frag some polyps on to some of my rock rubble I had left over. Hopefully those bounce back and grow in to some nice little colonies...

Just give her time. I think it'll bounce back better than ever but either way something is bound to come alive! It all still looks great. Nemo looks awesome too!

[Brian_Nano12g]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

reverse gorilla nipples?

Wow... and here I thought that FW plants was leading the charge of bizarre names with "blood vomit".... LOL

Anyway... your tank is looking great, Bill! Nice acquisitions! I really like that clown fish.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by jwh0818

Just give her time. I think it'll bounce back better than ever but either way something is bound to come alive! It all still looks great. Nemo looks awesome too!

Thanks! It actually just got knocked off the rock... I'll glue it back in tomorrow and keep hoping for the best!

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Brian_Nano12g

Wow... and here I thought that FW plants was leading the charge of bizarre names with "blood vomit".... LOL

Anyway... your tank is looking great, Bill! Nice acquisitions! I really like that clown fish.

Haha! Seriously bro! Thanks man! Hopefully I can con you in to going salt soon!

[jwh0818]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Thanks! It actually just got knocked off the rock... I'll glue it back in tomorrow and keep hoping for the best!

Thats the best you can do!

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by jwh0818

Thats the best you can do!

Yup... It looked so good in the store, but never opened back up again... Shriveled up to almost nothing... Must have been to early for that specific coral... Live and learn. Hopefully the tank is a bit more stable now.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Yup... It looked so good in the store, but never opened back up again... Shriveled up to almost nothing... Must have been to early for that specific coral... Live and learn. Hopefully the tank is a bit more stable now.

I bought 4 polyps of the krypto candy cane myself. One has completely receded and another is showing tissue recession as well but I just upgraded my light and they seem to be doing better. I'm still expecting to kill it though

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Been doing some reading and found some sources say no more than 5... Hmmm... I haven't really vacuumed anything from the sand or rocks, and I have yet to clean the powerhead. I'm sure once I implement that in to my cleaning routine I might see some lower numbers. Reason being, I'm starting to see some hair algae, so I'd like to get trates down as low as possible. I've also been thinking of incorporating some kind of red macro algae in to the scape to hopefully suck up some of the excess nutrients.

At about the two month mark I had some hair algae show up in my tank. A little in my refugium and some in my overflow but it seemed like that was jut part of a cycle my tank went through. It was gone as soon as it appeared despite me not doing anything special to get rid of it. Some turf algae did the exact same thing.

[Billbug68]

Thanks Mebbid. I guess as long as there is green tissue and it puffs up, I'll still have a little hope.

On another note...

The most active member of my CUC seems to be dying... My margarita snail. He keeps falling off the glass and sometimes just sits in the sand with out moving for hours... He used to be all over the tank all day and night... I'm reading that they're actually a cold water species and won't last long at temps around 78... Anybody with experience on this subject? Such a shame... He really was an algae eating machine!

[Sniperhank]

I used them in my original setup. It's true that they like cooler water and don't last long. Did do a great job. I moved on to nar snails. I had others but all died off from pyramid snails.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I used them in my original setup. It's true that they like cooler water and don't last long. Did do a great job. I moved on to nar snails. I had others but all died off from pyramid snails.

Nar snail?

[Sniperhank]

Nerite and nassarius snails. Silly phone.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Nerite and nassarius snails. Silly phone.

Haha, I do have a nerite, he's always busy but doesn't make noticeable difference like the margarita. What about Astraeas, should I get more of those or nerites? I think my Nassarius ditched the tank and fell behind my dresser...

[Sniperhank]

I've had pretty much every snail possible with success.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I've had pretty much every snail possible with success.

Cool. Thanks, hank!

[Billbug68]

Oh, on a positive note, some of the fire and ice zoas have opened already after being fragged!