jestep Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Got denied driving up north this afternoon, so took some pictures instead. Ricordea are growing great. Some have 3 or 4 mouths already.Here's the poor guy I bleached. Still hanging on though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Looks great, jestep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Lovin' all the red macro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 That red macro is so beautiful in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 FTS looks nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 That macro is really nice looking!! Great Job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 Final pictures. Going to keep this tank going, so will start different thread for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 That macro looks beautiful in there. Your tank sure ended up looking like a piece of art, I'm glad you're going to keep it going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Starting a new thread from my pico contest tank. This was originally started as a low budget 5 gallon pico. Tank was started at the end of January. Start:1.5 Months:~ 3 Months: 4 Months:6 Months: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Pictures at 6 month point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Added 4 zoa frags this weekend, Bam Bams, Eye of Rah, Green Bay Packers, and Dragon Eyes. Pictures to be added when they all open back up. 3/4 frags are open, waiting for the Bam Bam's to open back up. I think I'm actually too nutrient deficient right now. Some of the Gracilaria is bleaching. Possible that it's getting too much light. But I think it has used up most of the nutrients in the tank. Did my 4th water change when I got back from vacation last week. Haven't tested anything but salinity in months. Here's my total tank cost thus far. I'm proud of the result given how little I have spent on this tank compared to my other ones, including my freshwater ones. Spec-V tank: $80 Hydor 25W Heater: $13.99 Custom LED Fixture from Rapid LED: $71.25 About 2# of Caribsea Special grade: ~$5 About 3# BRS Pukani: ~$15 Dragon's breath and Gracilaria Hayi Macroalgaes: ~$15 10 Pack of ebay Ricordea (Actually received about 15): $84 Under $300 with coral. I wouldn't dare tally up my expenses for my main reef tank. I'd probably pass out considering an MP40 costs more than this entire tank by themselves. Upcoming plans. Hardware: Upgrading to a Mini Jet 606 if I can find one. InTank media rack if they ever get them into production for the spec tanks. Livestock: Purple Cespitularia Something green. I'm probably the first reef keeper to say they need more green corals... Possibly a pair of neon goby's. Still on the fence about sexy shrimp. Gorgonians if I can get more flow in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Thread merged from original contest thread. Thanks Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphoric Eulogy Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 That macro is amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 That macro is amazing! Thanks. Current cell phone picture, I'm bleaching the tips pretty bad. Maybe subsea or someone that grows hayi more than myself can comment on whether they think it's due to too much light, or lack of nutrients, or both. Although I did back it off considerably a week ago I'm still leaning towards light as I do have some light cyano appearing. But I've had cyano varieties that were fine in near zero nutrient environments so not sure on that either. Regardless, NO3 and PO4 are so low that I cannot detect them with normal testing methods, salifert and hanna respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 27, 2013 Author Share Posted August 27, 2013 Also got the mini jet 606 in there this past weekend. Did realize they were discontinued and they are very hard to find now without being completely gouged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 Backed off my lighting intensity and did a water change using my main tank water and it looks like I curbed the gracillaria hayi recession. I don't like making multiple changes at the same time, but was at risk for losing my hayi at the rate it was bleaching. You can still see the white tips but the bleaching has stopped as far as I can tell. Also had to add some GFO. No question my rock started leaching PO4 into the tank. Really bazaar having to intentionally add nitrates to a tank while having to chemically remove PO4. Dragon's breath on the right, hayi on the left: Bam bam's. One of the four zoa frags I added a few months ago: One more eye of rah zoas: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 The pico is looking great. That macro is so pretty in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 The pico is looking great. That macro is so pretty in there! Thanks. Seriously thought I was going to lose all the macro. Very thankful subsea suggested lack of NO3 was the problem and brian.srock suggested the easiest way to add some back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 Haven't updated the contest tank for some time. Had a massive red flatworm explosion in this tank which was really unexpected having no additions for more than 2 months.Saw this guy one day, and the tank was swarming about a week later.Ended up grabbing an awesome springer's damsel from aquadome and it literally eat several hundred or thousand red flatworms in a matter of hours. This guy is one of the best pico fish I've ever found. I have always really liked springer's for their flatworm eating and mild temperament, but he really works better than I was expecting in such a small tank. Very calm, just hovers over his rock and mulls around hoping for another flatworm. I'd even say he's more mellow than a clownfish. I could hand feed him after about 2 feedings. In a 5" wide peninsula style tank, I have been very surprised by how social he is with humans and foot traffic.The flatworm annihilator!Other pictures.Red Discosoma sanctithomae mushroom. Had to remove this guy from my main tank because he kept getting blown into a 10" hammer coral. He's about 1/3 the size of a few months ago but is looking pretty good. Was more like a shriveled a ball of goo for a few days.Interesting red macro that came on one of the original rics that I've added. Very slow growing across the top of the rock. Hoping I don't some day regret letting it survive. Would love for an identification if anyone has one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I don't know about that macro, interesting. I got one of those springer damsels too, after reading your recommendations. It was hard to tell if he ate any flatworms in my big tank with all the other things in there. That's cool how you could tell how many he ate in the pico since he's the only fish! Have you noticed needing to change your maintenance since adding it? Hey, we made it one year with our picos! You should post a fts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Nice looking fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted February 20, 2014 Author Share Posted February 20, 2014 I don't know about that macro, interesting. I got one of those springer damsels too, after reading your recommendations. It was hard to tell if he ate any flatworms in my big tank with all the other things in there. That's cool how you could tell how many he ate in the pico since he's the only fish! Have you noticed needing to change your maintenance since adding it? Hey, we made it one year with our picos! You should post a fts It was really cool in this tank. 100% confirmation on the flatworms for sure. I added him in the afternoon on a Saturday. He hid for about the first 6 hours, and by Sunday mid-morning probably half the flatworms were gone, by Monday I couldn't find a single one. He just sits there waiting for food now anytime someone is near the tank even more so that my tangs in the big tank. So far no changes. My corals look better probably because he's eaten the crazy amount of pods, and the macro's are looking better likely due to finally having a nutrient source. Will give it a few months to make a determination on how much it has changed. Crazy it's been a year already. I took a few FTS's but the glare was really bad. I'll try to get a better one to post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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