my reef GARden frenzY: 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

48 MONTHS

Today is the last day of 2016 and it also marks 4 years of me returning to reefing. I guess, in a way, I have come a long way and things have changed a lot since I re-started on 1 Jan 13. I have also decommissioned Aquarium 1 as reported earlier, so the updates are on aquarium 3 only. It is the first time I am posting the year end update at 1 am.

Here are some past photos as a form or recap.

FTS of my 56 litres aquarium on 31 Dec 13

FTS of my then new 250 litres aquarium taken on 31 Apr 14

FTS of the same aquarium on 31 Dec 14

FTS taken on 31 Dec 15

FTS taken on 31 Dec 16

The purple glow seen in the earlier FTS photos were from the Maxspect lights and since changing to the AI Hydra 52HD, I must admit the photos do look much better.

Some of the things I learnt, some the hard way, in these 4 years are:

a black background looks better in photos;
a bare bottom is definitely easier to maintain than a sand-based tank but it is not aesthetically pleasing and provides no media for fishes that burrow into the sand when they sleep;
stacking rocks to create height is silly and is not the right way to do it because air circulation is poor and there are limited spaces for fishes to swim through;
there is no need to fuzz with a lot of additives every day but it is essential to maintain right levels of kH and Ca;
choosing a good light and adequate wave action are important but it doesn't mean it has to be the most expensive;
a chiller is essential if SPS are kept; and
it is better, more fulfilling and easier on the pocket to keep stuff that are within our means than to keep forcing oneself to keep difficult stuff.

The following is the last update of the year.

Aquarium 3 (3 x 1.5 x 1.5 feet and sump - 250 litres)

I lost all my shrimps in last month's operation and I am not too eager to replenish them just yet.

I found out that there was nothing wrong with my Aqua Illumination Hydra 52 HD lights at all. It blacked out every night at midnight for half an hour because I clicked on the lunar effect previously and didn't turn the effect off.

Interestingly, my existing big and smaller Royal Grammas get a long fine from day one of introducing the smaller one and I am keen to introduce more, if possible.

So anyway, the final livestock is as follows:

Fishes

2 Blue-yellow Damsels
Flame Angel
2 Royal Grammas
Yellow Clown Goby
Yellow Tang
2 False Clown Fish

Invertebrates

Turbo and Nassarius snails
3+1 Sea Urchins

Corals

Horn Coral
2 green Poccillopora and 3 frags
orange Cyphastrea
red Acropora digitata and 4 frags
2 green Poccillopora frags
red Montipora
red/brown Poccillopora
2 pink Birdnest
green branching Stylophora
beige/purple Montipora plate
blue Acropora browned out
Acropora valida
2 Radioactive Birdnest frags
red Montipora plate

Hammer Coral (purple green)
green Candy Cane
Duncan Coral
yellow Torch Coral with one head left
Bubble Coral
green Goniopora
green/brown Frogspawn Coral
green Elegance Coral with blue tip
red Brain Coral that bleached
green Frogspawn Coral
green Plate Coral
orange Plate Coral

Mushrooms

green Ricordea yuma mushrooms
red mushroom
green mushroom

Soft Corals

Chilli Coral
Toadstool Leather Mushroom with luminous polyps
luminous green Tree Coral
pink Rose Bud Tip Anemone
green Tree Coral

Polyps

purple Zoas
Fiery Red Zoas
5 assorted Zoas
2 green Palythoa
4 types of green Star Polyps and
3 gold Clove Polyps
pink Zoas
green base purple skirt Paly
green base brown skirt Zoas
orange Zoas
Sympodium
Organ Pipe Coral with sea squirts

Macroalgae (in sump)

red Bamboo
green Bubble algae

The technical details are:

Jecod Marine DC Pump DCS-7000 return pump
Aqua Illumination Hydra 52 HD
Sanrise Aqua Pro (without wifi) 30 cm
Hailea HS-66A chiller
Skimz SN143 skimmer
Two Little Fishes Phosban Reactor running Phosguard
Two Little Fishes Phosban Reactor running NP reducing biopellets
Jebao Cross Flow CP 25
Jebao WP 25 Wavemaker
Tunze Nano Osmolator
Marine Magic Triplet Dosing

top view with wavemaker on

top view with one wavemaker off

Aquarium 4 (30 x 23 x 20 cm - 13.8 litres)
I changed the crystal shrimps tank to this new tank but the red and yellow shrimps eventually died out. So now I am left with these plants and an Otocinclus. I do not know the names of the aquatic plants other than Water Lettuce, so no names are listed.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

47 MONTHS

It is almost the end of the year soon. Today is an important day because I spent 6 hours tearing Aquarium 3 apart so that I could net a few fishes that I intend to give away and eventually decommission Aquarium 1.

Aquarium 1 (1 feet cube - 27 litres)
I don't intend to post anymore embarrassing photos of this aquarium since I am decommissioning it soon.

I finally found the problem that caused the Sea Urchin to drop its spines and the severe algal bloom after I changed more than 50% of the aquarium water. Apparently, the big snail died and it polluted the water with the high ammonia, which in turn caused my 2 Camel Shrimps to die. The spike in ammonia and nitrite resulted in the tank crash which probably stressed the Sea Urchin and Tree Coral so much that they almost died too.

The 2 Clown Fish, Royal Gramma, Cleaner Shrimp, Zoas, Tree Coral and a Nassarius snail survived and I transferred the 2 Clown Fish and Royal Gramma to Aquarium 3. It now housed the 3 inch Blue Tang, the 2 inch Tomato Clown, a Blue Damsel which I will give to a LFS tomorrow. The bigger Royal Gramma from Aquarium 3 was also temporarily housed here so that when I put it back to Aquarium 3 together with the Cleaner Shrimp and snail, hopefully it wouldn't go after the smaller Royal Gramma.

The tank glass is so badly covered with algae that I don't intend to keep the tank after I decommission it.

Aquarium 3 (3 x 1.5 x 1.5 feet and sump - 250 litres)
This will be my default aquarium for the next 2 years until the big move comes along. Today's massive cleanup and rescaping ended with one casualty and two stowaways that I found.

Although the Blue Tang brought along a beautiful blue with it, it pooped so much and I was worried about how I would net it someday, so I decided to part with it. The Tomato Clown was so aggressive that it wouldn't tolerate the 2 smaller False Clown Fish, so it had to go.

My Orange Striped Prawn Goby that I had for months was the casualty that got sucked into the siphoning tube. I didn't know it until I poured away the pail of brown dirty water and found the fish struggling in my sink. It was a sad thing but I don't wish to dwell on it further.

To my surprise, I found a 2 inch Mantis Shrimp and a 2 inch hairy Crab. Even as I am typing this, the crab is attempting to escape from the trap I put it in.

I realized my Chaetomorpha completely died out after I started running the NP reducing biopellets.

Sadly, my Jebao Marine Aqua DC-6000 return pump died on me when I was doing the makeover. Looks like I have to head out to get a replacement pump tomorrow. By the way, since about 2 months back, my Aqua Illumination Hydra 52 HD lights blacked out on me every night at midnight for half an hour before resuming the lighting. I checked and reset the settings but it didn't help. Since it is for half an hour only, I decided not to pursue the matter.

So anyway, the final livestock is as follows:

Fishes