Bonsai Cube Mixed Reef Build

[thatsruff]

Good luck with light man! Love the rock work! It’s hard to believe that tank is only 7.5 gallons .

Thanks a lot! I am thinking about adding one more piece toward the middle to give a bit more hiding space for the eventual fish and to have a bit more coral placement options.

 

[thatsruff]

Water has cleared up, I temporarily have the fuge light on the dt while I work on getting the new fan.

 

[thatsruff]

Some tweaked phone pictures. Acan is puffing up nicely. Need to move the hammer somewhere with more appropriate flow. First fish should be coming this week from Blue Light Aquatics about 40 minutes north of here in New Hampshire, a barnacle blenny.

 

[thatsruff]

Both new inhabitants of the observation tank are sooo tiny...

Barnacle blenny:

One of our favorite fishes, green clown goby:

They both got ~1 hour h2o2 bath prior to going into observation.

The blenny got here Friday, isn't shy, and has been a voracious eater, chasing lots of pods and frozen food.

The goby just got in today and is much more shy but is eating and seems healthy.

I always try to catch fish with my hands because I feel like you can be much more gentle. These are both perching fish and both clung to my hand while transferring into the tank, it is adorable when they do that...

 

[thatsruff]

Also did a water change and added another small rock from the sump to the display. The hammer has been looking better since moving it before but is right at home now on this rock.

I have phone camera lens filters on the way so hopefully I can get some better shots.

Also did some testing.
Nitrate: 4
Phosphate: 0.064
Calcium: 390
Alk: 7

Now that everything seems pretty stable I will slowly start to bring up the alk and calcium. I have a Monti cap and a mint chip pavona in observation so I will want to raise the levels for them.

I made a lid, got an ato container, started wiring limit switches, and the new light fan will be here on Monday.

 

[Steven Garland]

Awesome build so far. Everything looks so crisp and nice.

 

[thatsruff]

Awesome build so far. Everything looks so crisp and nice.

Thank you very much! It really helps to have a plan, obviously. I have needed to change plenty of things on the fly but having a vision in advance makes a big difference. Our first tank was a mess because we weren't super thoughtful about it; we just wanted fish and coral and we slapped together a system that was more like the bare minimum.

 

[thatsruff]

Still need to play with the filters a bit more but it is much easier to get close to life-like pictures with them.

I dosed alk for the first time last night to start bringing it up from ~7. The corals already seem a bit happier. That could be my imagination though.

Made a gif of the blenny eating (2x speed), funny little fish.

 

[thatsruff]

Slightly strange test results. I am looking to raise my alk and cal a bit.

8/15: alk 7, cal 390 - before water change
8/16: alk 7.1, cal 420 - after 25% water change
8/17: alk 7.1, cal 410 - dosed up 0.25 dkh and 15 ppm cal after testing with aquaforest
8/18: alk 6.9, cal 400

Also had a big phosphate spike after feeding the corals, up from 0.064 to 0.598. Nitrate dropped a touch down to 3 though.

Going to pause any dosing/feeding and just keep testing. Will also gear up for another water change.

 

[thatsruff]

Hu, is it reasonable for my phosphates to drop from 0.598 to 0.089 in one day? I had fed the corals a day or two prior. And there is a little algae finally showing up, look like diatoms. Nitrate still slowly dropping, at 2 now.

Alk: 6.9
Cal: 430

Hammer has been behaving a bit odd. This happened last night right after lights out:

The today when I got home, closer to 'normal':

Doing my best not to over think it at the moment.

Something a bit more amusing:

 

[thatsruff]

After phosphates dropped from 0.598 to 0.089 in one day I wanted to see exactly how much affect feeding has.

So I added two drops of Phyto Feast Live that evening. The next night phosphates were 0.113. Thinking about how much I fed the days prior, I am not surprised how high it got.

I also got in my order of All for Reef, so I have started dosing it to bring up my Alk. Night before dosing - 6.9, night after adding 2.5ml - 7.3. I dosed another 2.5ml last night. I don't expect to need to keep dosing that much, once I am closer to 8 I will stop and track consumption.

I think that the behavior my hammer has been showing is it splitting, pretty sure you can see two sides emerging.

Before/After:

Moved the monti cap and pavona chip into the DT, the pavona is enjoying the new tank, its polyps are emerging nicely. Not in their final positions yet.

FTS:

 

[thatsruff]

Moved the fish into the display.

I like this ricordea:

 

[thatsruff]

Got a picture of the goby.

 

[thatsruff]

More testing:

Alk: 7.4
Phos: 0.037
Nitrate: 1.5

Dosed another 2.5ml of all for reef.

Glad to have the fish in the display, should help bring up my nutrients.

Top down shot while feeding:

 

[thatsruff]

Got the new fan in the light. Silent. Lovely.

Now the build of the exterior part of the display tank is pretty much finished. I think the only thing that might be left is putting a diffuser on the light so you can't see the bulbs.

This light is brighter for sure, and a bit less blue. I hope the corals like it. I will have to rent a par meter at some point.

Still have to finish the auto top off system. I have the container and pump in place. I still need to install a bracket for the float switches. But I can manage filling manually for now.

The hammer has almost finished splitting into two heads and the acan is growing back where it was fragged.

The pavona was getting happier and happier until yesterday, there was a hermit all over it for most of the evening and night and now the very shy goby has made it it's home.

 

[thatsruff]

Test report after dosing again and feeding the fish twice:

Alk: 7.7
Phosphate: 0.156
Nitrate: 2

If I can keep things around there, with a little lower phosphate, I will be happy.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Coming along great. Love the rhinos. The fish and corals are nice too, I guess . But clearly, the rhinos are the most important thing.

 

[thatsruff]

Coming along great. Love the rhinos. The fish and corals are nice too, I guess . But clearly, the rhinos are the most important thing.

Thanks! My wife's creations. One bronze, one aluminum, based on Durer's rhinoceros.

 

[thatsruff]

Who needs a cloud cover app?

 

[thatsruff]

Woah is me, I'm not an only pet anymore...