Nick’s 10g

[nickkohrn]

I received my Trochus snails and a few corals from World Wide Corals this morning. I picked up a Cyphastrea and two Platygyras. This was my first experience ordering livestock online, and I won two of the corals through eBay, and the snails and other coral were purchased through their website. I will definitely be bidding on more in the future; it's an easy way to snag some cheap corals.

Everyone seems to want lunch as well.

 

[nickkohrn]

My chalice has had happier days. I found some bubble algae on it, and I didn’t catch it when I bought it. So, I had to take the Dremel to it and cut around the rim of the chalice to free it. I’m glad I did because the rock that it was attached to on the original plug was huge and awkwardly shaped. This looks much better. I’ll be keeping an eye on it as it heals, and I’ll be inspecting it for any remnants of bubble algae.

Sorry for the blues. I used my filter lens, but it’s the time of evening when the lights are almost all blues.

 

[Deiblerj]

How goes the tank? You receive your new waterbox yet?

 

[nickkohrn]

How goes the tank? You receive your new waterbox yet?

I have not received my Waterbox yet, so I have been compiling my list of remaining equipment and my livestock list.

I picked up my rocks for the Waterbox today from a local shop, and I started putting them together. Since I like low-profile rockwork, I came up with the structure in the pictures below.

I’m sure that I’m going to make modifications, but I like the separated islands and low profile. It will also make maintenance easier because I’ll be able to pick each structure up and remove them from the tank if I need. The flat bottoms help keep the structures stable, which will be nice if I end up going bare-bottom.

Here are some pictures of how everything is currently looking:

 

[Deiblerj]

Corals looks nice!

Just make sure you have plenty of places for your fish to relax and hide out. Not having enough places for them then to rest in or get away from other fish may stress them out.

Plus it’s fun to watch them swim through the rocks!

If your concerned with moving them for easy cleaning you could always make a larger structure and glue it together still allowing for you to easily pick it up

 

[nickkohrn]

Corals looks nice!

Just make sure you have plenty of places for your fish to relax and hide out. Not having enough places for them then to rest in or get away from other fish may stress them out.

Plus it’s fun to watch them swim through the rocks!

If your concerned with moving them for easy cleaning you could always make a larger structure and glue it together still allowing for you to easily pick it up

Yeah, that’s a good point. I’ll put my desire for a certain aesthetic behind me and come up with a better solution that’s more inviting and appropriate for the inhabitants. I appreciate the insight and advice. Also, after looking at it for longer, I think the current height of the rock work is a bit too low for all of the corals that I will have.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Yeah, that’s a good point. I’ll put my desire for a certain aesthetic behind me and come up with a better solution that’s more inviting and appropriate for the inhabitants. I appreciate the insight and advice. Also, after looking at it for longer, I think the current height of the rock work is a bit too low for all of the corals that I will have.

The other option is to hold off on most of the fish until the corals grow out. That would take massive patience though. Corals look great, BTW.

 

[nickkohrn]

The other option is to hold off on most of the fish until the corals grow out. That would take massive patience though. Corals look great, BTW.

Thank you! I will likely add some rock within the next couple of days. As I look at it, I don’t want my Trachyphyllia to be almost as tall as my rock-work when it’s expanded. I do want some depth to the structures, so I’ll dig through my boxes of rock and see what I can come up with. Having the flat bottoms of the base rocks will be a huge help for maintaining stability. I’ll post some photos after I incorporate the additional rocks.

Until then, here is a short time-lapse of my Trachyphyllia eating a small piece of shrimp. Enjoy!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Looking good even without the main tank!

 

[nickkohrn]

Looking good even without the main tank!

Thank you! [emoji5]

 

[nickkohrn]

I don’t know if this looks any better in the following photos, but there are a lot of crevices and nooks now. I’m trying to keep in mind that it’s not meant to look perfect because it will be covered in corals, and they will have their own growth patterns that hide the rock-work. I am more concerned about the general structure and with me trying to envision the look of it as everything starts filling it in.

I’m not sold on it, so any recommendations are welcome.

 

[Deiblerj]

What is the height of your tank? Maybe build up a little more so fish that swim in different levels of the tank have some rock work to move around in.

I struggled with my aquascaping and changed it all up one day. Made a sandstorm mess but it cleared up in a few hours. That’s the joy of it all. If you end up not liking it you can always change it up.

While we may all have our different opinions it’s important that YOU like it! You’re the one that’s going to be looking at it daily. I think the three islands is better than the original two in the sense that is provided more areas for fish to rest and gives you more surface area for your corals

 

[Deiblerj]

Here is a picture of mine before and after

 

[Deiblerj]

And that last one has actually changed a little more. Now that I look at it I moved some stuff around for my BTA

 

[nickkohrn]

I was out of town over the weekend, and I noticed a lot of brown, stringy junk in my tank when I arrived home. The glass is covered in a brown algae-like substance, and my corals have it on their skeletons. Is it dinoflagellates?

 

[Fudsey]

Is there bubbles attached to the strings? Can't tell in the vid

 

[nickkohrn]

Is there bubbles attached to the strings? Can't tell in the vid

I don’t see any. If there are, then they are too small for me to see with my eyes alone.

 

[nickkohrn]

I just checked my parameters, and it looks like I have some work to do.

pH: 8.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
phosphate: 0

This is the first time of having such “clean” water. Should I increase feedings for the fish?

 

[tsav87]

I just checked my parameters, and it looks like I have some work to do.

pH: 8.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
phosphate: 0

This is the first time of having such “clean” water. Should I increase feedings for the fish?

Yes, get your PO4 and NO3 detectable. And get you some nitrafying bacteria in a bottle like Fritz Zyme 9.

 

[nickkohrn]

Yes, get your PO4 and NO3 detectable. And get you some nitrafying bacteria in a bottle like Fritz Zyme 9.

I have added a couple of bottles of Fritz-ZYME Turbostart 900 over the recent two months as I started up my system. Should I add more? I assume that there is a lot of bacteria already present in the system. However, they are clearly consuming nutrients to a detrimental point. That’s likely why my corals are losing their coloration.