Matt's 17 liter mixed reef

[MeLLeR]

Nice

I'm still fiddling with my thermoelectric chiller....

[matt_95]

Well my endlers were slowly disappearing and I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't remove them though as my other tank has not finished cycling. It turns out my shrimp were killing them. So I now have no shrimp and no endlers. I wanted something blue in here, I did some researching and I found a few people recommended yellow tail damsels, I found at least one person who had kept on in a jbj picotope which is around 12 liters. I went out and got one today to add to the tank. If it does end up too big or looks cramped in the tank, I'll pull it out and put it into my larger tank.

My water change schedule is currently 50% once a week and 100% once a month. In my research a lot of people recommend 100% water changes to "reset" the parameters and help maintain a pico long term. I am having a bit of a problem with detritus so I think I need to add a small power head. Any recommendations?

[matts20891]

Detritus on the sand or rocks? Would the tank be too small for a strombus?

[matts20891]

Although if you want a powerhead maybe either of these:
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/cata ... 9&catID=13
http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/cata ... rodID=5812

[matt_95]

I'm getting detritus building up on the sand and rocks. I'm not sure how much help the storm us strombus would be as my problem is that the HOB isn't sucking up the detritus unless I stir it up. Thanks for the links, they look perfect for what I need!

[matt_95]

I've added some snails to the tank to act as my CUC now I have removed the shrimp, the sand bed is looking better already. Hopefully the new power head will help as well. I may make the sand bed a little deeper for the stromb, it doesn't go over the really shallow areas.

I'm also getting very good growth from all of my LPS, I have many new heads on the acans and the hammer is splitting. Aptasia damage to the blasto is healing and vinegar damage from removing Aptasia is also healing very well. I have some spots of coralline appearing and the rock looks like it is maturing well, it's a lot darker than when I started. I am considering getting rid of the Acropora, they have yet to show any growth so my conditions must not be optimal for them.

I've also had a small pair of gobies show up. No idea where they have come from, they're always out in the open so I assume they haven't been hiding this whole time. I will have to rehome them.

I'll try for a FTS tonight.

[matt_95]

I was playing around with my camera, trying to figure out how to take good photos of the tank. Haven't really succeeded so far. I've figured out how to prevent the corals in the top half of the tank from over exposing, but now it looks too dark.

[matt_95]

Disaster struck last night, I helped a friend move into their apartment last night and I ended up staying over. At some point in the night the outlet for the chiller pump came out of the aquarium. I walked into my room to smell the unmistakable smell of dead coral and I saw the tank was half empty. I lost the sps, along with some new acans, new hammer and a few others. Looks like the green hammer will make it along with a few acans that were on the bottom. Although some have started to recede, hopefully they recover.
It appears that the chiller and pump are fried, the screws in the chiller have rusted and there are rust stains on the carpet as well. Skirting boards are absolutely ruined and I am trying to dry the carpet out as we speak.

[Kah]

Ah that looked like it would be a good chiller
Hope your tank bounces back!

[matt_95]

I think I have found where the problem is in the chiller, getting a replacement part this afternoon, hopefully that should do it!

Thanks I may have to withdraw from the competition, I don't think I'll be able to restock in time, but oh well, I'd rather a healthy tank