Tank Journal Archive
Nice looking fish mate, what species of watchmen is he?
Yup :D
Under some better lights:
Also some of the zoas I got from Oceanarium recently:
Wow at them zoanthids mate, I'm gonna need a frag of that once that piece becomes a colony. :)
Yeah the blues spots are cheaper but they're still heaps nice. Just like the yellows with blu spts obviously just without the yellow. I'm grtting mine from reeflections for $50 so pretty cheap as single yellow males cost $120 and females $80
Shotgun first frag of this lolYup :D
Under some better lights:
Also some of the zoas I got from Oceanarium recently:
Might have to come past one night soon and have a look at the progress this tanks had in the last 6 months
It's looking really good mate
Firstly on a sad note, my stromb died recently. It hadn't moved for a while, hanging out in the shrimp's cave ... I guess it wasn't getting enough food from my substrate or feedings :( L
Looked in the tank yesterday to find 3 bristle worms all fighting over its eye. At least they were doing their job I guess ...
The other major update this week was that I pulled out one side of the central arch, the zoa rock. It has always had some caulerpa growing on it which I was staying on top of with tweezers, but recently I noticed that the caulerpa was winning over the zoas so decided to take some drastic action.
I first of all pulled what caulerpa I could from the rock while also closely examining for critters. I was surprised to come across these ... baby cucumbers! I had known of one or two in the tank but not this many on one rock. They went straight back in and are hopefully hanging out in another rock.
Having a small tank means no option of introducing a fish to tackle the algae like you could in a larger tank, so I decided to turn to hydrogen peroxide. This is a known to work really well on hair algae, not so well on some types of caulerpa ... but apart from removing and completely boiling/cleaning the rock I thought it was worth a shot.
So after removing any beneficial life I could find, I soaked the rock in a 20% or so H2O2 solution for a few minutes. The next step was to remove as many of those zoas as I could, reducing the risk of die off on the main rock as I soaked it further. As you can see, I had as much algae as zoa, but after pulling a bit more from them stuck these to frag plugs, algae and all.
Once I removed as much zoa mat as I could (and it was bloody tough given the rock, which is extremely textured/nobbly), I soaked the rock some more, and the zoa frags, again pulling as much algae as I could with tweezers. This is what my solution looked like by the end.
I rinsed everything twice in separate tubs of fresh tank water and placed back in the tank, a little fearful of the knock on effect/mini cycle I was going to cause.
Thankfully I have had no signs at all that this has happened, and the rock and zoas both have recovered well. Even the zoas remaining on the rock are opening up again despite having been soaked in H2O2 for quite some time.
As you can see, the frags are pretty much algae free, but there is still a bit on the rock so I think I will re-treat it again before leaving it be.
(bottom right two and top ones here)
So while I wouldn't recommend jumping into using Hydrogen Peroxide without lots of research first, it is a great option for nanos or where you can remove the infested rock easily for treatment. Some people have dosed their tank with it but I don't feel confident in going that route myself given potential knock on effects (eg snails die, some corals badly affected).
I'll also be utilising some of the newly zoa-free rock space for more SPS :D
Looked in the tank yesterday to find 3 bristle worms all fighting over its eye. At least they were doing their job I guess ...
The other major update this week was that I pulled out one side of the central arch, the zoa rock. It has always had some caulerpa growing on it which I was staying on top of with tweezers, but recently I noticed that the caulerpa was winning over the zoas so decided to take some drastic action.
I first of all pulled what caulerpa I could from the rock while also closely examining for critters. I was surprised to come across these ... baby cucumbers! I had known of one or two in the tank but not this many on one rock. They went straight back in and are hopefully hanging out in another rock.
Having a small tank means no option of introducing a fish to tackle the algae like you could in a larger tank, so I decided to turn to hydrogen peroxide. This is a known to work really well on hair algae, not so well on some types of caulerpa ... but apart from removing and completely boiling/cleaning the rock I thought it was worth a shot.
So after removing any beneficial life I could find, I soaked the rock in a 20% or so H2O2 solution for a few minutes. The next step was to remove as many of those zoas as I could, reducing the risk of die off on the main rock as I soaked it further. As you can see, I had as much algae as zoa, but after pulling a bit more from them stuck these to frag plugs, algae and all.
Once I removed as much zoa mat as I could (and it was bloody tough given the rock, which is extremely textured/nobbly), I soaked the rock some more, and the zoa frags, again pulling as much algae as I could with tweezers. This is what my solution looked like by the end.
I rinsed everything twice in separate tubs of fresh tank water and placed back in the tank, a little fearful of the knock on effect/mini cycle I was going to cause.
Thankfully I have had no signs at all that this has happened, and the rock and zoas both have recovered well. Even the zoas remaining on the rock are opening up again despite having been soaked in H2O2 for quite some time.
As you can see, the frags are pretty much algae free, but there is still a bit on the rock so I think I will re-treat it again before leaving it be.
(bottom right two and top ones here)
So while I wouldn't recommend jumping into using Hydrogen Peroxide without lots of research first, it is a great option for nanos or where you can remove the infested rock easily for treatment. Some people have dosed their tank with it but I don't feel confident in going that route myself given potential knock on effects (eg snails die, some corals badly affected).
I'll also be utilising some of the newly zoa-free rock space for more SPS :D
I already knew my tank is home to a shitload of bristleworms ... fantastic CUC that I am sure contribute massively to the low phosphate levels in the tank. The are obviously comfortable with no predators too as they often come out during the day when I feed.
Anyway ... here is the Queen of the tank. I could actually see a good 30cm out in the open but could not see the end of her tail hidden in the cave so who knows how long she really is ...
My tank has also become home to a lot of frags as you can see ... both racks full end every square inch of substrate ... will be selling the majority as soon as a few of the zoas settle in.
Anyway ... here is the Queen of the tank. I could actually see a good 30cm out in the open but could not see the end of her tail hidden in the cave so who knows how long she really is ...
My tank has also become home to a lot of frags as you can see ... both racks full end every square inch of substrate ... will be selling the majority as soon as a few of the zoas settle in.
Just realised looking back through this TJ how much the SPS has grown over the last couple of months!
Jan 13 2013 (different angle to the ones below but you can see the general size and shape)
April 27th 2013
June 16th 2013
That pink tabling acro has changed quite a bit in colour over the last month, but looks to be going great. I think the white tip area in the centre could be slight bleaching from the lights? Originally thought new growth, but the centre is actually sunken like the area around it has grown instead.
May 17th 2013
June 16th 2013
Also got a few more frags thanks to Reeflections (basically the broken bits on the last couple of acro deliveries!).
You could say I have the SPS bug :p
Jan 13 2013 (different angle to the ones below but you can see the general size and shape)
April 27th 2013
June 16th 2013
That pink tabling acro has changed quite a bit in colour over the last month, but looks to be going great. I think the white tip area in the centre could be slight bleaching from the lights? Originally thought new growth, but the centre is actually sunken like the area around it has grown instead.
May 17th 2013
June 16th 2013
Also got a few more frags thanks to Reeflections (basically the broken bits on the last couple of acro deliveries!).
You could say I have the SPS bug :p
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