2(+) Year Retrospective of a 12g Nano

[goldenmean]

Thanks Daniel for stopping by and for your enthusiasm.
I am looking forward to seeing your tank at the 1 year mark.

After loosing all the zoanthids to Wasting disease I was very leary about adding more zoas. During the crises I did small daily WC and I started running carbon for the first time. I did add a new rock of cool mushrooms about 6 weeks after I got the death to stop. Then Several months later I added a toadsttol leather. Those were the only new additions for the first 6 months of the 2nd year.
For a while The red Brain was hosting Enom but this did not last very long.
You can also see that I put together a little frag corner. The red zoanthids are survivors of The Wasting.

 

[goldenmean]

Here are a couple of shots of the tank at about 18 months.

 

[Royalscott]

Looks great. Your open brain looks huge!

 

[goldenmean]

Thanks!
He has always been the star of the nano.

 

[goldenmean]

At the 19 month mark I set up my second tank - a 55g with a 15g tall sump.
So for the next couple of months the baby got most of the attention and camera time. Here are a couple more pics of the Red Open Brain.
You can also see the Red Spaghetti worm that lives in the substrate. He is behind the red zoas

 

[Royalscott]

Very Cool!!!

 

[goldenmean]

Thanks Janetta!

Here are a few more pics from last fall.

The frag corner is becoming a ricordia corner.
The blue spot and blue stripe Mushrooms - seem to be losing their color intensity. My surviving zoanthids are doing okay. They are not really growing although the red ones in the pics in the post above are starting to do well.
The toadstool leather is slowly fraggin itself

 

[Dentoid]

That is one sweet, little nano my friend!

 

[goldenmean]

Awwww Schucks Dr. Scott. Thanks.
These pics are from December. I am almost caught up with this retro look back.

 

[tippMANn98]

Looks nice, that orange yuma is just REDICULOUS!!! I have a green FL ric that i got when I first started my 29 last year that is getting CLOSE to that size at least 3-4" across VERY VERY NICE Jeff!!!

 

[goldenmean]

The Ric corner is doing well.
The orange yuma has dropped a baby and the green ric has split.
I noticed last week that there is another baby under the Yuma but it is well protected by Mama. I caught a glimps of it but couldn't get a pic.
The FTS is at 23 months.

 

[goldenmean]

Daniel Some days when I get home from work I cannot believe how large that Yuma is. She is huge!

 

[AQTCJAK]

Very nice Jeff

 

[michael_cb_125]

Definately one of my favorite nanos....SWEET

 

[hma]

:lurk:

 

[goldenmean]

Thats everyone. My nano appreciates the loce!

I early December I decided to move the blue spot and striped shrooms to the 55g as I was not happy with how their colors were fading. The shrooms are much happier now under the MH. They are opening big and brightening up.
I had also bought some Green Star Polyps for the 55 and a couple of pieces broke off the colony so I decided to put them in the nano.

During this time the nano also started to get a small batch of green hair algae. It was always just a small patch, front and center of the tank by the Trachy. Using the hands of god (chop sticks) i would remove it and do a WC but a week later it would be back. This went on for several weeks - always just a small patch in the same general area. It was not spreading.
Then I noticed the GSP were not opening up and the fungia was pale, thin, and her mouth was gaping open all the time. That concerned me enough to test. Ammonia and NitrItes were 0 but NitrAtes were at 30. Yikes!
I am sure it is my overfeeding my seafood slurry.
I do a couple of big (30%) WC on each of the next couple of days followed by daily 10% WC for the rest of the week. I cut back on feeding.
A week later the GSP started to come back out and the fungia was looking plump and getting some color back. TrAtes are back to below 5.

I got the Water quality issue corrected just in time for the Nano's 2 year birthday. This led me to starting this retro look back. 80+ pics later we are caught up. I also realized that i felt my tank look its best at the 1 year mark before the Zoanthid wasting episode. Today the nano needs some TLC - a little punch - to light a spark under it.

I decided to do some major reworking of the rock. I emptied about 3g of water into a bucket with a power head and removed all the rock and corals except for the rics, fungia, and the two biggest pieces of rock. The fish, shrimp, and the rest of the CUC also stayed. I then rebuilt my lil reef.
Here is a FTS of the new reef along with the part that I am happiest with. The home of the Baracle Blenny is now front and center in the tank. Bibo was amazing during the move. He stayed in his home the whole time and I even removed his rock from the water for about 30 seconds. I kept watching for him to jump out of his hole.
Play Wheres Bimbo with the 2nd pic.

This post has greatly exceeded my word/pic ratio rule.

 

[goldenmean]

There he is.

By the cleaner shrimps whisker. I mounted that mushroom room there by Bimbo's front door.

 

[goldenmean]

After the new aquascaping I also added the first new zoanthids since The Wasting - 1 year ago. I have finally started to see growth from the surviving zoas. I did a fresh water dip of the colony but I did not QT them.

Enom was trying to be a bit of a camera hog

 

[kathywithbirds]

wait, wait... I just got this... Enom is an anagram of Nemo, right?

Ok so I'm not that quick on the uptake.

 

[goldenmean]

Thats it Kathy!!
The female is Enom. The male is Omen