UNS 30A (Dual) AIO Forever Evolving

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Coral looks great today, temp is now around 77. I received the @INKBIRD_official ITC-306T. But the heater is dangerously on the low end of where water level should be. Ill be ordering another heater.ill have more pics once I get the cord mess straightened out.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Also just got my other delivery from buceplant for the UNS filter sock conversion.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Coral is rocking today. We finished off putting the temp gate and barrier up for our dogs surgery march 4th. Maple Bacon (bigger girl) is getting the surgery and peaches Dixie is the smaller girl. They are both litter mates. Will be getting the wires situated in the tank shortly but will be a mess since just a temporary location.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Just dug up my old jbj ato. I may try and fit or just manual until I get around to ordering a new one later in the year. I also just ordered 3 inch frag disk. Plan is to cut between the disk and coral skeleton carefully with dremel and reglue. 3 inch disc should be stable to weigh down and allow hopefully for elegance to open more.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I swapped the coral dry rock out for a 3 inch frag disc from USA Reef Aquatics. I wanted the elegance to be closer and more facing up than angled. I also adjust the flow speed.im wanting the oral disc to show more and shall see what happens. I dont want to low of flow as when I add the gonipora they will like some turbulance. But these currents will also change when added.

The disc I washed with ro/di water and then rinsed in a bit of fresh saltwater. There was still loose dust even after rubbing lightly with fingers and swirling around. A couple water changes will take care of this as I do maintenance.

I also noticed today we have pods running around and quite a bit.

 

[ralquist]

Very cool build, beautiful elegance! Following a along!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Very cool build, beautiful elegance! Following a along!

Thank you. Should be adding another coral this week. We shall see.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Today will be the day I hopefully get tge red or pink gonipora. If not, i will have to see about next week. I updated the thread name from pico to nano since this isnt a pico build. I an ebtering big boy territort. .

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

So I bailed on the large goni and go with a smaller colony later on. I dis however snag a nice Frogspawn colony. It is currently acclimating in tank as I raise temp before putting elegance back in.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Ok so not a gonipora but will still add a small red or pink frag up front in the future. The pink or peach or orange frogspawn just happened to fut the bill and was sitting at my LFS for a couple months. It will provide the movement and probably be much happier.

I also plan on covering the elegance coral base to blend it into the frag plug with putty (reef safe of course) ill also eventually be ordering a different lid to seal better.

This image is just a few hours after a water change. Corals arent fully open yet but close.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

So today corals have opened up more. I adjusted the placement but having issues with the random flow nozzle where it only works when the flow is high. I want a more slower flow so ill either add on tgeir directional nizzle or look at other options.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Decided to take some night shots and see whats hiding in the corals. Some pretty interesting things. Cant seem to identify but created a thread. Here are some pictures.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

So was able to get help identifying a syllida worm from first set. Today I ended up turning my frogspawn and giving more space by pushing elegance back. This thing got really lerge today. Still issues with random flow nozzle. But here is some more pics of night shots. Looks like there are a few flatworms and other things.

 

[ralquist]

First I’m still learning every day so don’t hold me to this. Is that a mariculture piece? I ask because of the tag where the frag meets the plug. From my understanding can hold some critters and need to be dipped aggressively/scrubbed. Def eggs of some kind, I wouldn’t let them live long enough to find out! It’s odd if it came from the LFS and sitting in there system for months and didn’t cause issues. Def some vermited snails on there I would remove, they will irritate the coral with their mucus web and spread. Big boys on the 1st and 3rd pic. That almost looks like a sponge of some kind on your elegance? have you tried scrubbing it? Please don’t feel like I’m attacking you, those aren’t cheap coral and only trying to help

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

First I’m still learning every day so don’t hold me to this. Is that a mariculture piece? I ask because of the tag where the frag meets the plug. From my understanding can hold some critters and need to be dipped aggressively/scrubbed. Def eggs of some kind, I wouldn’t let them live long enough to find out! It’s odd if it came from the LFS and sitting in there system for months and didn’t cause issues. Def some vermited snails on there I would remove, they will irritate the coral with their mucus web and spread. Big boys on the 1st and 3rd pic. That almost looks like a sponge of some kind on your elegance? have you tried scrubbing it? Please don’t feel like I’m attacking you, those aren’t cheap coral and only trying to help

My LFS orders stuff from every where so no idea. All their corals look great. If They notice things, they take action.

Vermitid snails can ittitate if there is enough. Only 2 I have seen but not sure as they have not sent out typical weebing yet but not to worried. They only become a nuissance when there is to many. So will keep eye and may remove next water change.

Sponges are great to have and rarely cause problems. So definetly dont want to scrub. The eggs I will probably remove next water change. The flatworms i am keeping an eye on. I dont think these are the coral eaters but possibly mucus eating. I will just need to watch. As treatment for them will also kill the featherdusters as well as other beneficial things.

Definetly cause for concern and definetly understand. My next water change is around thursday, or when elegance tells me. Since I do 100 percent changes, ill be able to look over and see what I need to do. With. Coral being at fish store for months and happy with these, i am just watchful.

Most people when they get corals automatically dip and treat to prevent things and kill bacteria. Since I am relying on my corals for bacteria, dipping would not be a good way. Now that the coral is in and been a week. Dipping can be an option if needed.

I look at what ypur saying as trying to protect things from happening.. definetly not opposed to anything you mentioned. May even come to treating.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I took a couple more pics and now think what I am seeing below is either sponge or some kind of film as it did not move from last night. Which is a bit of a relief. Also noticed some spinoid worms this morning which was pretty cool.

 

[ralquist]

My LFS orders stuff from every where so no idea. All their corals look great. If They notice things, they take action.

Vermitid snails can ittitate if there is enough. Only 2 I have seen but not sure as they have not sent out typical weebing yet but not to worried. They only become a nuissance when there is to many. So will keep eye and may remove next water change.

Sponges are great to have and rarely cause problems. So definetly dont want to scrub. The eggs I will probably remove next water change. The flatworms i am keeping an eye on. I dont think these are the coral eaters but possibly mucus eating. I will just need to watch. As treatment for them will also kill the featherdusters as well as other beneficial things.

Definetly cause for concern and definetly understand. My next water change is around thursday, or when elegance tells me. Since I do 100 percent changes, ill be able to look over and see what I need to do. With. Coral being at fish store for months and happy with these, i am just watchful.

Most people when they get corals automatically dip and treat to prevent things and kill bacteria. Since I am relying on my corals for bacteria, dipping would not be a good way. Now that the coral is in and been a week. Dipping can be an option if needed.

I look at what ypur saying as trying to protect things from happening.. definetly not opposed to anything you mentioned. May even come to treating.

Right on, I wasn’t putting those pieces together. Very cool pics!

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Right on, I wasn’t putting those pieces together. Very cool pics!

Great ideas though and definetly notging wrong with anything you stated. Thank you.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Just as I was getting ready to walk out the door with wife to drop our dog off for surgery, I looked at the tank real quick realising I had forgotten to put the lid on back chamber from topping off last night. I noticed there was no flow and a hot smell. The wall plug for the pump's usb port was not working. This was the 2nd time this happened. I grabbed the backup plug and it was running again. The middle chamber with heater was warm at about 80 while tank was at 75.

I have also ordered the jbj random flow rotary nozzle as the UNS seems to continually stop.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

So I received the @Innovative Marine spinstream today. I did some modifications and may need a bit more to sit back. Mainly cutting the rubber connectors. I replaced the UNS version that came with the tank after many failures.

It is much quieter right off the bat. It also seems to move a lot smoother as I believe the gear ratios are done better. Another issue wwith design is it takes more power to turn the UNS vs innovative marine as well.