Orange Zoanthids

I moved some corals to the Nano tank from my refugium frag rack. The Aquaillumination LED unit went into moonlight mode and these orange zoanthids became highly fluorescent. The lighting unit was a little too bright during moonlight mode, so I decreased its output to 0% white and 1% blue.

The Nano build has become a little bit of a headache. The AI LED unit's mounting kit does not fit properly on the 10 X 20" frame of the tank. Luckily for me, Reefgeek's AI LED package had already discounted the price of the mounting kit without my knowledge. I'll have to build a canopy since I can't go with the suspension kit. Then, the AquaClear 110 Power Filter arrived with a crack in its return area. I can't have this breaking apart on me in the future. So, I'll have to exchange the defective merchandise.

But, on the bright side, one of the main reasons I've wanted a glass Nano tank is so that I could take crisp macro photographs of the creatures in residence. I'm getting a little better, I think. I had to adjust the images to reproduce the fluorescence I was seeing with my eyes.

GSP Coral

The Green Star Polyps (GSP) coral completely covers a foot long live rock and grows on the back wall of my reef aquarium. I tried scraping the coral from the back wall, but it started releasing some unknown white substance. I didn't want to challenge my reef as I had already removed a baseball-sized clump of zoanthids earlier.

I would rather take a hammer and chisel to this piece and separate the Devil's Hand coral from the encroaching GSP.

Nano Reef Chemistry

When I purchased the live rock from AquaSD, they mentioned that the rock had been cycling for about 3 weeks. So, if I add that to the time it has been in my Nano tank, I find that I have about 5 weeks of cycling time to date. All seawater added to the Nano comes from my 110 gallon main reef tank. So, by using established tank water, I may be able to speed up the cycling process. It's a gamble to add corals at this point, but I have Frogspawn coral frags in the quarantine tank that need better lighting than a standard fluorescent bulb. So, in they go along with an Emerald Crab. The three pieces will go in a shady spot for a few days, then they'll be positioned under the new Aquaillumination LED lights (more on THAT later) of the Nano tank. After they've healed and look presentable, I plan to trade them out.

I didn't detect any ammonia or nitrite spikes with the few measurements taken. Nitrate levels are at an acceptable 5 ppm. The rock is relatively clean with a few live fan worms. I've noticed a lot of copepods starting to populate the glass walls of the tank. Two other live rock hitchhikers include a small brittle star and a stomatellid snail. From the filter bag of my main tank, I've collected tiny Cerith snails to place in the Nano.

I'm using an API Freshwater Master Test kit which works just fine for the saltwater application.

RKE V2 - Temperature Trend

The weather has been getting hotter during the day. And, graphing out temperature on the RKE V2 shows the effect it has on my 110 gallon reef tank. The left part of the graph is about 77 degrees while the humps reflect rising heat during the day. It's time to move a small fan to the sump to avoid having the chiller turn on. It'll be interesting to see the fan's effect on this graph.

SeaWorld San Diego

I visited SeaWorld last Saturday and made use of my annual pass. I went looking for the free beer samples, but somehow never found them. Is this because of the sell-out? Hmph!

Orca upside down and underwater


The unicorn tangs were hard to capture with my less-than-stellar photo skills.

This fish kept still enough for me to get a decent pic.

Devil's purses (skate, shark or ray eggs?)


Giant green sea anemone
Anthopleura xanthogrammica

Double Vortech Maintenance: WARNING!

I cleaned off the encrusting coralline algae and other growth from the two MP40w Vortechs which operate in my main tank. I soaked them overnight in a diluted solution of white vinegar. I used an old toothbrush to help out and scraped at the coralline with my fingernails.

In an attempt to get them to pose for this blog, I inadvertently brought the two magnets too close together and WHAM! They got stuck! They almost took my thumb this time! When it happened yesterday, I at least had the protective backings on. This time, the magnets were in direct contact with each other.

I found nothing in the FAQ section at EcoTech Marine. So, a quick search on the internet (before I lose a thumb) advised: "If it is difficult to separate magnets , press one against the edge of a desk and slide the other one free."

I successfully used a 15 x 11" piece of 1/4" thick acrylic to help me slide these babies apart.

Et, voila! Here they are tempting fate once again. I just wanted to assess the status of the magnets. They're as clean as the day the company decided to replace the original rusting design. I was concerned about the area around the screw where the propeller shaft is attached. But, it looks like it's still in excellent condition!

It's a 5-star rating for this device! It should qualify as Ocean-proof!

Nano Reef Aqua Sculpturing

Today, I collected about 10.9 lbs of "shelf" and 8.2 lbs of "rubble" live rock at AquaSD. I was able to go through a vat containing various sizes and shapes. At home, the rock was drilled with a 1/2" drill bit and acrylic rods were inserted to help construct the aqua sculpture. I was confined to making the structure fit into a 20 X 10" footprint. Most pieces of the live rock were easy to drill through while only a few were impossible to drill.

Here's a look at how the acrylic rods go through the shelf rocks. To hide the acrylic rods, I'll drill more small pieces and insert them between the shelf rocks. I'm aiming to get the bottom shelf drilled at an angle so that the shelf slants. In this way, I can position the sculpture to display more surface area when the tank is viewed from the front.

I was able to carry the entire structure by grabbing the bottom "legs". Of course, the rocks rearranged a bit when I placed it into the tank and it took me some time to figure out how to adjust it. I found that the shelf rocks had to be chipped away further because I wanted to leave enough room for front glass maintenance.

I originally wanted to fit the filtration device on the back glass, but there wasn't enough room. So, I mounted it on the left.

Next, I performed a 10 gallon water change on my main tank and used the discarded water to fill up the Nano tank. The biologically active water from my main tank should help speed up the process of cycling the Nano tank.

I used a filter bag with an MJ1200 pump and tubing to speed up the filtration of particulates coming off of the newly drilled live rock. Note: using the clip on the top was a bad idea because the seawater wicks up the sides and drips out. I caught it just in time, though. I then placed the temporary filter bag in the middle of the tank.

After it cleared up a bit, I turned on the Subcurrent filter device and installed a 50V heater. Left over rock was placed on the bottom left side for future use.

Sweet.

Blue Flasher Wrasse Stuck in Overflow

(...and not mysteriously vanquished from the reef!)

I'm glad that I took a quick peek in the right overflow of my main tank because I found a fish staring back at me. The Blue Flasher introduction didn't go too well because Adebisis the Purple Tang is very dominant and sends all the little fish scurrying to their hiding places when he pulls up his fins (or when he does his weird dance).

The Blue Flasher Wrasse had taken a trip between the weir teeth of the overflow to hide. So, I was happy to know that he didn't go carpet surfing, get caught by the suspected Gorilla crab or get diced in the plastic egg crate positioned on the tank top (I've read that egg crate is a great "wrasse dicer" on ReefCentral). I spent quite some time searching for this little fish; he disappeared only hours after being introduced to the main tank while I rearranged Human furniture.

I'll have to move the lighting fixture and get access to the overflow box by removing the acrylic lid that covers it. Then, I'll pull on the Durso standpipe to pull it free from the bottom. The water in the overflow box will drain and the fish will either stay in the box area or go flowing down the return drain where he'll land in the sump.

Here's a close-up of the Aiptasia (or "glass anemone"). It is constantly sending out an invitation for dinner and certainly could accept a wrasse of this size. Although, I've never seen it happen in my tank. The anemone serves as a detritus feeder along with all those other filter feeders (sponges, fan worms, snails) in the "cryptic zone" of my overflow box. The anemone is also a pest which can rapidly multiply in numbers and create an uncomfortable environment for the other inhabitants of the tank.

Nano Bug

Oh, noooooo....

I got bit by the Nano Bug! For some reason, I've become compelled to put together a Nano Reef tank. Okay, so here are some made up reasons: (1) To grow extra corals apart from my main tank. (2) to set it up in case someone wants to display it at a certain class during a certain time of the year. So, it'll be set up for a mobile application.

It feels like reef tanks replicate on you by the process of budding: the main tank will eventually bud a quarantine tank, which buds a hospital tank, which buds a Nano reef tank. And, mixed in there is a budding of sump, refugium and frag tanks in the complex life cycle of the hobbyists' reef tanks.

I first started out with a 15 gallon glass tank. I stripped off the top, black bracing to give it that Euro "rimless" look only to discover the shoddy workmanship of the glass underneath. And then I found that the old tank had too many cracks in it to risk having it leak some day in the future like it happened here at this almost-inspiring thread at Nano-reefs.com. So, I tossed that idea and hid the tank in the garage.

Next, I selected a rarely used 10 gallon glass aquarium without removing the top black bracing. Here I am scraping away at the glass with a razor blade. This would satisfy anyone's hidden, inner OCD requirements. I kept wondering if I could use the same method on my car! It would be extremely clean!

During my research for internal overflows, I came across Current USA's "Subcurrent" model for Nano tanks while I was shopping online at MarineDepot. It sold for $30!

Here it is during a test run with tap water filled to the rim. It's a two-in-one device: a (1) mechanical/biological filter connected to a power head which (2) agitates the water column. The two loc-lines allow you to control the direction of the outflow. There was plenty of flow action within the constraints of this tank. I know where a frag of my torch coral is going to end up.

Fortunately (or unfortunately---depending on how you will now predict my future expenses), I came across an offer on SDReefs for an 18 gallon tank for a mere $10. I had been shopping around to see what tanks were available at the stores. They were all too pricey. It's the "brand new car?" or "used car?" situation; they both get you to your destination but one's more stylish than the other. I just couldn't pass up this offer as this was going to be a DIY project. Read "used car".

It turns out that the 18 gallon tank was formerly used as a "hospital tank" which involved copper treatment. So, I decided to send it through a sterilization step with some chlorine bleach for any disease causing microbes. I'll assume that the copper levels weren't too high to become associated with the seam materials in the tank. A few good rinses would help. But, it wasn't done before I scraped away at the glass with a razor! It was in pristine condition!

Nano tank build: to be continued...

Heater Malfunction

I avoided being electrocuted today.

Today's 12 gallon sea water change preparation was interrupted by sparkles. This 150 watt glass heater popped off a chunk and exposed the elements to the water. There were an unusual amount of gass bubbles on it before I plugged it in. Maybe I should have wiped them off to avoid a heater malfunction? Or, because I am constantly moving the heater before and after water changes, I might eventually cause a micro crack? I should invest in a "shatter proof" heater for the water change preparations.

I'm going to toss out the water preparation since the heater leaked out some ozone-smelling, black liquid. Why take a chance?

Blue Flasher Wrasse

I couldn't wait to post pics of my new Blue Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus cyaneus) that I purchased from LotsaFishies. But, rather than jinx this currently quarantined fish with a full body shot, I decided to post the details of his dorsal fin.

Okay, the truth is that he wouldn't sit still for a photo session!