2.5 Gallon Pico Reef

UGH fedex tracking has updated to the original ETA of Thursday. I'm going crazy!
Might lose that polyp, but trying not to sweat it. Gonna break the stem off the plug tonight and place the zoas in a better spot. Turns out they're in the deadest spot in the tank rn. Wish me luck!

 

Some fun stuff's been going on! My live rock is in QT, two of my zoa polyps died, and two more have fallen off the frag plug lololol. They seem to be in good shape though. I bought gel superglue to reattach them - maybe directly to the rockwork? My canister filter is leaking at the connection between the hoses and the canister because the OD of the replacement tube is less than the stock tube. I turned it off, which stopped the leaking, and have a little pump in the tank until I can add some hose clamps to the canister and get things sealed up tight.

Still feeling good, and glad this goofy stuff is happening now and not later. I have the time tonight to course correct, so I'll be tinkering all night, and hopefully posting a bigger update afterwards.

My blue eyed girls zoas should be arriving on the 2nd, which I'm amped about. I'm a little worried about acclimation, but I think they'll be fine. Gonna dip in coral rx AND peroxide this round.

 

Some fun stuff's been going on! My live rock is in QT, two of my zoa polyps died, and two more have fallen off the frag plug lololol. They seem to be in good shape though. I bought gel superglue to reattach them - maybe directly to the rockwork? My canister filter is leaking at the connection between the hoses and the canister because the OD of the replacement tube is less than the stock tube. I turned it off, which stopped the leaking, and have a little pump in the tank until I can add some hose clamps to the canister and get things sealed up tight.

Still feeling good, and glad this goofy stuff is happening now and not later. I have the time tonight to course correct, so I'll be tinkering all night, and hopefully posting a bigger update afterwards.

My blue eyed girls zoas should be arriving on the 2nd, which I'm amped about. I'm a little worried about acclimation, but I think they'll be fine. Gonna dip in coral rx AND peroxide this round.

What’d you get on the rock? Any coral or mantis shrimp?

 

What’d you get on the rock? Any coral or mantis shrimp?

UGH, no super cool critters that I've been able to find. A ton of worms for sure, but no shrimp or crab sightings. When I got the delivery I just grabbed the two smallest rocks and tossed them into QT, and delivered the rest to the guy who bought them off me without even looking at them. So I might have missed out! But that's ok.

I do think I've got a tiny acan! I'm thinking I might break off the bit of rock it's on and move it into the display tonight so I can take better care of it.

 

I do think I've got a tiny acan! I'm thinking I might break off the bit of rock it's on and move it into the display tonight so I can take better care of it.

Nice! I got a blushing star coral, and a orange cup coral. The orange cup coral looked dead at first, so if you got any coral skeletons you might want to move them over too.

 

Nice! I got a blushing star coral, and a orange cup coral. The orange cup coral looked dead at first, so if you got any coral skeletons you might want to move them over too.

That's awesome! Have you taken any pics? I'm trying to figure out what's skeleton/coral and what's not lol. But I will look when I pull the rock out tonight. So far I've been doing an 80-100% water change on the QT every other day, and dosing prime daily, so it's been pretty stable in there. The one coral I know is alive was totally white when the rock came in!

 

That's awesome! Have you taken any pics? I'm trying to figure out what's skeleton/coral and what's not lol. But I will look when I pull the rock out tonight. So far I've been doing an 80-100% water change on the QT every other day, and dosing prime daily, so it's been pretty stable in there. The one coral I know is alive was totally white when the rock came in!

Here’s a pic of the skeleton (not a skeleton anymore!). It’s in the bottom right circle. I can’t get any pics of the coral how it looks right now, but I’ll get some later.




Here’s a blushing star coral pic

 

Here’s a pic of the skeleton (not a skeleton anymore!). It’s in the bottom right circle. I can’t get any pics of the coral how it looks right now, but I’ll get some later.

oh wow! that's way more than I have lol. I've got like two little polyps, one of which is all skeleton. I can't get even sorta good pics in the QT bin (blurry plastic) but I'll take pics when I get it into the display.

 

oh wow! that's way more than I have lol. I've got like two little polyps, one of which is all skeleton. I can't get even sorta good pics in the QT bin (blurry plastic) but I'll take pics when I get it into the display.

That skeleton might come back eventually. Did you get any sponges?

 

*shakes this post for an update on the stuffs*

 

WOW it's been nearly a month since I last posted here. To recap in brief:

Blued Eyed girls zoas arrived and were added to the tank. Theyre not happy! even after about two weeks (weather meant they got here around the fifth instead of the 1st). they're not stretching, but not fully opening. My nitrate and phosphate are undetectable, and i think i have a small dino outbreak as a result, in addition to unhappy zoas. cloudy water, brown film, bubbles, etc. I've been managing it with manual removal and water changes, but it's not ideal. I'll post pics of the supposed dinos soon, and a pic of my sorta sad tank!

I've decided to start dosing for nitrate and phosphate until the tank matures and can maintain some on its own. I'm using the brightwell aquatics neonitro and neophos. Just dosed today for the first time, so will test levels tomorrow to gauge any effect. I hope i did my math right! dosing stuff like this for miniscule tanks is a matter of drops.

Live rock is still in qt, as I let it go without a wc for a minute and got myself some ALGAE. A sweet little emerald crab is acting as a devoted lawnmower and has made a serious dent in it. Hopefully in a week or so I'll be able to add a piece of the rock to the main tank. I'm loving the crab even though I don't see it often. I have moved the rock to a tiny one gallon acrylic all in one that's ready to accept my mexican ceriths, too. it's a cute little budget setup.

The mystery coral seems to be doing great! All grown back in over the skeleton, has some tentacles? and is eating every time I feed it. I just have no idea what it is lol.

That's all for the moment, but I'll elaborate (with pics) soon!

We're moving next month, so that's gonna be fun with eight tanks!

*shakes this post for an update on the stuffs*

hahahah I think we both came back at the exact same time!

 

Any updates Fishproblem ?

 

Any updates Fishproblem ?

Stasis! Just stasis. Been completely and utterly overwhelmed with a big move, work from home, and then... a blown engine on my car. I've been sinking all my time and money into furniture, home projects, and restoring my "new" '02 Volvo wagon to like new condition.

The 2.5 pico is going fine, with no real changes to it. I broke the canister filter and replaced it with a skimmer as I was in a pinch. I've made no other updates and changed nothing in my husbandry. The utter chaos are growing very slowly. The blue eyed girls are not happy enough, but doing fine. Mystery coral is thriving. I'll be finished with the new stand for this tank soon, at which point the setup will be totally up and running again. Currently there are no timers and the ato is off the tank. Real low tech right now. As soon as I've got the stand finished, I'll be posting a more comprehensive look at where this tank is. Meanwhile, my live rock QT tank has become a whole setup of its own, and is flippin' thriving. Updates on that to come as well.