Blndbunny's 40g shallow reef

[Wrangy]

+1 to Josh Take it slow, even with zeo time still needs to be taken with things. I had a mass diatom bloom the other day, everything covered and some zoa's closed up because of it even! I didn't do anything woke up a few days later and some of the zoa frags were spotless (snails had a good feed for a few days lol). It has now calmed down after the first stone change and there's minimal diatoms anywhere now, snails still have a good amount to eat though

Personally I would avoid using none-zeo products with the system as it can be quite fragile to outside influences due to it largely being bacterial cultures Good to hear that the chemiclean worked though, next time maybe try cyanostop or a bak and coral snow mix as that's meant to do wonders and the tank also enjoys those additives

Have you started dosing any other products outside the basics yet? Hopefully everything is going excellently when you get back still and it's awesome hearing you're already getting such excellent growth!

 

[Blndbunny]

Yes the system is still very new, and I'm trying to be cautious. At this point I'm just dosing the basics, I haven't moved into anything extra. I did two weeks mixing coral snow and bak as reccomended on the zeo forum. Sadly it did nothing, it just kept getting worse. I just got home and the tank is still looking good, no signs of anything red. I did pick up cynoclean and have it on hand if I see any red come back

 

[Wrangy]

Good to hear You're on the right track with the right mindset which is pleasing to hear It's also good to hear that your cyano is gone too Pity about the CS and bak not working though!

Who knows, maybe a zeovit tank spotlight is in your future

 

[Frankie]

How did I miss this? Love shallow systems. Very hard I am finding.
Looking forward to following along!

 

[Blndbunny]

Thanks Dom! The tank still has a lot of growth befor that can happen!

Anyways little update, cause I got new corals! I ordered replacement colonies from liveaquaria's divers den to replace the ones that didn't make it. Well plus one extra, I coukdnt help myself!

image[/url] by jessica_haering, on Flickr[/IMG]

Anyways they are in the bucket acclimating and then they will be dipped, however they are so happy, two of the three have polyp extension already.

More pics once they are settled into the tank

 

[Blndbunny]

Ok here's the pic

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Pretty, nice additions !

 

[Blndbunny]

I'm really happy with how these are settling in! They have been in the tank for about two hours. There is visible polyp extension on all three pieces, they are all looking good.

Sadly during the dip I lost an acro crab :-( he was red and white and very cute, but did not survive a dip in bayer advanced.

What is everyone's thougts on Acro crabs? I'm fascinated by them and I've heard that they are beneficial to the colony they host, but I've also read that they can be a nuisance and reduce polyp extension.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Not much of a crab fan here, except acro crabs sorry to hear you lost him !

 

[Frankie]

Crabs are evil! So I was taught long ago by member Wilful.
Always loved the acro crabs though!

 

[Blndbunny]

i tend to be very anti crab. Any I see immediatly come out. Right now I have a small ruby mithrax but I'm ready to catch her should she show any signs of evil. Honestly I'm just waiting for it.

I feel horrible about the acrocrab, I didn't know he was in one of the colonies, I'd been watching during acclimation, since many have gotten them from divers den colonies. However I'm still glad I dipped, who knows what could have ended up in my tank. Didn't see anything in the dip aside from a bristle worm, and the poor crabby. But you never know it's always better to be safe then sorry

 

[Oxylebius]

Sadly during the dip I lost an acro crab :-( he was red and white and very cute, but did not survive a dip in bayer advanced.

What is everyone's thougts on Acro crabs? I'm fascinated by them and I've heard that they are beneficial to the colony they host, but I've also read that they can be a nuisance and reduce polyp extension.

Sorry to hear this. They will not survive any of the dips.

Coral crabs are awesome little critters that defend their coral against any predator. I have two of them, one in a sylo and one in an acro. Next time take a tooth pick and scoot the crab out of the coral before dipping the coral. Then let the crab back in after the coral is rinsed and in the tank.

If the coral is large enough the coral crabs won't affect the health of the coral at all. In fact, they help the coral survive by defending it against fish picking at it and algae growing on it. Seriously these crabs will poke their tiny claws out of the coral when my coral beauty comes around nipping at the corals, to chase it away.



Lot of great reference and reading material here on them: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/coral-crabs-benefit-for-coral.92822/

 

[StirCrayzy]

Nice little.colonies, can't wait to see them in the tank! (Hint)
How's that rainbow bta doin?

 

[Blndbunny]

Sorry to hear this. They will not survive any of the dips.

Coral crabs are awesome little critters that defend their coral against any predator. I have two of them, one in a sylo and one in an acro. Next time take a tooth pick and scoot the crab out of the coral before dipping the coral. Then let the crab back in after the coral is rinsed and in the tank.

If the coral is large enough the coral crabs won't affect the health of the coral at all. In fact, they help the coral survive by defending it against fish picking at it and algae growing on it. Seriously these crabs will poke their tiny claws out of the coral when my coral beauty comes around nipping at the corals, to chase it away.



Lot of great reference and reading material here on them: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/coral-crabs-benefit-for-coral.92822/

Oh my goodness he is so very cute! I have always wanted to have a few of them.

I carefully inspected each coral after I had drip acclimated under an LED spot light. I saw no signs of the little guy, if I had I would have tried to pull him out. I am considering ordering a few, I have these three new good sized acro colonies, they are all 3-4 inches in diameter. I also have a few frags that I'd consider mini colonies, but not quite big enough or rather dense enough to host an acro crab

 

[Blndbunny]

Nice little.colonies, can't wait to see them in the tank! (Hint)
How's that rainbow bta doin?

I will post pics of them either tomorrow or sometime this weekend, they are happy and fluffy now but I can't get a decent pic on my phone under the blue lights

The mini split is doing great now. The nem that split went into a pouting fit for about a week after splitting, but it's now doing quite well. I will be attempting to get it off the live rock this weekend. I will try putting a piece of live rock to block is light and get him to move to it, or I will try covering with a tiny terra cotta pot and hope he moves into it searching for light. I'm hoping for good news by Monday so we can schedule a pick up

 

[StirCrayzy]

That's good news, No hurry .

 

[Blndbunny]

They are stubborn little guys, he just moved himself out of the shade of the rock. Hasn't moved his foot though, lol

That Nem didn't move till I got him into this tank

 

[Blndbunny]

Ok time for some updated tank shots. I really need to get a camera, that can handle these darn LEDs. Everything is hyper blue looking I'm sorry, my iPhone just doesn't cut it for pics :-(

Full tank shot

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Nems and clam

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New colonies

image[/url] by jessica_haering, on Flickr[/IMG]

image[/url] by jessica_haering, on Flickr[/IMG]

The colors are not showing true in the pic. The colony in the background is a beautiful shade of lilac, it's the same color that my lilac bushed bloom each spring, it is lables as Acropora scale. The darker one has a dark green/brown skin going towards purple at the tips with neon green polyps, it's labled as acropora nasuta. It will be moved up in the direct flow of one of the power heads, I know they like LOTS of flow. The third has creamy sking that floureces green under the blues, pale pinky/purple tips with big pale purple polls, and it was listed as acropora lorpies. This one has the best polyp extension so far, but I can see polyps on all of them

 

[Wrangy]

Might want to try the upload again The link hasn't come through properly, I'm keen to see how everything is going!!

 

[Blndbunny]

So I'm having zero ouch with post photos, nothing is coming through. I was using the bb code on flicker before the update. I moved to phototbucked and was trying the image code but it's still won't work. I also can't upload as a file it says all my images are too big