2.5 Gallon Pico Reef

[LadyS]

Get you some ricordea!

I’ve always found them slow to settle in, and taking 8-9 months before they start dividing. Once they start, it’s like fire! I have one from November 2018 that was basically just being a dope until about October 2020, but since then has divided into 3 separate caps.

if you’ve got the patience, they will eat pellets, which seems to help

 

[Fishproblem]

Get you some ricordea!

I’ve always found them slow to settle in, and taking 8-9 months before they start dividing. Once they start, it’s like fire! I have one from November 2018 that was basically just being a dope until about October 2020, but since then has divided into 3 separate caps.

if you’ve got the patience, they will eat pellets, which seems to help

I'm gonna! Gotta make sure I'm making this zoa happy first though lol.

That's awesome! I've got a free sample of reef roids, but are there any coral foods you recommend for softies?

 

[LadyS]

They have LPS soft food pellets.

You can also make the reef roids into a paste, and feed with a syringe. Zoas will still grab it out of the water column, so no big whoop.

 

[Fishproblem]

They have LPS soft food pellets.

You can also make the reef roids into a paste, and feed with a syringe. Zoas will still grab it out of the water column, so no big whoop.

That's right, I'd seen somebody making it into a paste in a youtube video once! I'll try that when I'm ready to try feeding.

I had mixed up saltwater to do a WC today. I haven't done one since the 2 gallon change I did on Saturday right before I added the CUC. I didn't test afterwards because I'm lazy! But also because I had tested immediately prior and knew that a 2 gallon change was going to get me in a very low nitrate area.

I tested before I doing the WC today, and... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 2-5ppm nitrate. I'm not sure I want to change the water now! I've heard that zoas prefer it when the nitrates are around 10ppm, but there are a lot of mixed messages out there about it. Do they actually prefer high nitrates, or do they just like having nutrients in the water, and "dirty" tanks usually have both higher nutrients AND high nitrates?

Maybe I'll do a wc and feed some reef roids to get stuff into the water column for them?

The one polyp is closed up tighter than it was before, but I also might see a new one growing beside it. Could that be why it's grumpy?

There's a lot of snail poop accumulating in some places on the rocks. I still need a turkey baster! I should grab one at the supermarket today.

 

[Fishproblem]

Still haven't gotten any shipping confirmation from Gulf Live Rock, and still no charge on my card... I don't want to call again and be a pain, but I do want to know when my rock is showing up. jkkgron2 when you ordered, did they email you when the rock shipped?

 

[LadyS]

I’m not so smart-like with zoas. I’ve never noticed them closing up while budding off. At least mine don’t seem to do that

Have you dipped it? Looked closely for aiptasia/ball anemone?

 

[Fishproblem]

I’m not so smart-like with zoas. I’ve never noticed them closing up while budding off. At least mine don’t seem to do that

Have you dipped it? Looked closely for aiptasia/ball anemone?

Hmmm me neither lol

I dipped in Coral RX for about 8 minutes, but not iodine. Salinity is at 1.025 SG. I've looked really closely at it and don't see anything that I can identify as not part of the zoa. A couple people have said to wait it out for over a week before I start to worry, so I guess I'll do that!

 

[LadyS]

I definitely second the waiting a week!

I have yet to have a goniopora that took less than 5 days to settle in, and look normal. I can imagine that some zoa are just as big a prima donna

 

[Fishproblem]

Shoot. My zoa worries appear to have been well-founded. Anyone want to take a look and advise? Zoa polyp closed tight turning brown | Zoanthids and Button Polyps Forum | 485000


On the other hand, I finally got an email that my live rock is shipping today, so that's great. I'd be more excited if my coral wasn't sick.

 

[Fishproblem]

Got some good advice about the zoa, so I figured I'd share here! Under whites, it looks like there's algae growing on it, but some more zoa savvy folks have said the other polyps look healthy. I'm going to take their advice and try to blow the algae off it with a pipette and see what happens.

Meanwhile, I've also been advised to keep nitrates and phosphate well above 0 for these guys, so I'm considering my feeding schedule. I fed reef roids once a few days ago, but I might have to start feeding every other day or so. If I keep doing water changes and don't change anything else, I'll never get those readings up.

I'm setting up my live rock QT tonight. Already started, actually. It's an 11 quart clear food bin from IKEA with an airtight lid. I've drilled holes all around the lid, and have to cut a little notch in it to let the power cords for the heater and water pump pass through. My pump for it will be here tomorrow. It's just a cheapo one from amazon that was $9. It's rated for 60-120GPH so I'm sure it'll move enough water around. Now I just have to figure out where I'm gonna put it while the rock is in QT. It's not awfully pretty, but I haven't really got anywhere to hide it away. Hm.

Now I just have to keep obsessively checking my tracking for the rock. Fedex says it's scheduled for Wednesday. I can't wait. It looks like the weather won't be tooooo cold, so fingers crossed for any critters!

 

[Fishproblem]

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!

 

[Fishproblem]

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.

 

[jkkgron2]

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?

 

[Fishproblem]

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.

 

[jkkgron2]

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.

 

[Fishproblem]

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!

 

[jkkgron2]

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

 

[Fishproblem]

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.

 

[jkkgron2]

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?

 

[LadyS]

*shakes this post for an update on the stuffs*

 

[Fishproblem]

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!

 

[Dechi]

Any updates Fishproblem ?

 

[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.