Aquaforest SPS Pico Work Tank (12 litres)

[chrismelb]

Some Pocci growth (10 weeks)





You can clearly see the change in zooxanthellae density from when I had detectable Po4 (first pic) to zero Po4 (second pic).

[kevinicus]

hi,

nice build coming along here with really neat hardware. Keep the updates coming!

[urbanrat84]

Looking good! Any updates?

Btw that link you posted about sand beds in pico's is absolutely brilliant. Thats the sort of problems I encountered in my tank, it just takes much longer to happen in a bigger tank. And I've come to the conclusion after 7 years of learning the hard way that keeping the tank very clean and having renewable biological filtration or biofiltration on a rotational cycle is the way to go. Just my thoughts.

[chrismelb]

Unfortunately, I have lost the Strawberry Shortcake and Green Stag. Suspect this is due to the 100% water changes resulting in a substantial shift in water parameters. Now swapping to 30-40% water changes, weekly.

Ive never run into nitrate problems in any of my sand bed tanks. I've always preferred it as it gives a more natural look and also like the benefits of the micro flora that come with it.
I entered into the hobby back when Deep Sand Beds where all the rage and this has stuck with me. So long as they are largely left untouched they have never posed a problem for me. But I agree they are a nutrient sink and can cause problems, but in my experience this occurs when the bed is disturbed. Having said that, I am having a problem with my Damsel as he has started disturbing the upper level of the sand bed, will check nitrate and phosphate levels.

[chrismelb]

Hi All,

Tested nitrate (<.05) & phosphate (.03)

Have started doing an actual aquascape now.

The visiting acan, fungia and torch, have been removed and placed in tanks at home.

This morning, attached three tabling acros frags to the upright rock piece, back right Plan on putting a small selection of zoas on a rock just in front of that piece and then on the left at the front will be a small bommie of cluster acros frags, including the ones in the sand now. Once that is done, just going to sit back and hopefully watch everything grow

Polyps just starting to come out of the frags glued this morning



Again, excuse the iphone photos, keep forgetting to bring camera to work. But will do once aqua scape is finished.

[chrismelb]

Some close ups of polyps extension. Frags doing well and colouring up. I am using a cheap magnifying glass infront of my iphone6+ (DIY macro lens )

[chrismelb]

Finished my SPS cluster island and zoa island this morning.

Pics taken with a better camera: Panasonic LUMIX FT5 in macro mode correcting for blue saturation using custom white balance (i.e., pic of gravel sand)

SPS Cluster Island. Frags taken from my home tank. Some colours are yet to come as they were previous lit under a PC lighting. Also some were not in the best condition but hope will improve .

Pink Pocci

What hopefully will be a Purple acro

What hopefully will be a teal/Aqua acro

Purple & Cyan acro

Hard to believe but hopefully will be a hot pink Stylo

What hopefully will grow into a purple acro


Zoa Island

Green Alien Eyes

Green Alien Eyes under blues

Bloody Valentines

Green something

Green somethings under blues

Fire n ice

Fire n ice under blues


FTS. Not much to look at yet. Cant wait till they start growing and hopefully colouring up. Will prune them down if any start to block/compete with other

[ClarityReef]

whats your filtration system like?
Im just setting mine up and finding the best way so I can keep sps.

[chrismelb]

whats your filtration system like?
I'm just setting mine up and finding the best way so I can keep sps.

Hi ClarityReef, what you see in the FTS is the filtration. It is purely biological with some help from the 30-40% weekly water changes. I don't run carbon, P04 remover, skimmer, nor do i have a reefuge with macro algae. I like to keep my nanos simple to avoid any mechanical/electrical malfunction, especially here at work. Nitrate and phosphate are absorbed by corals (more specifically the zooxanthellae and bacteria found in the corals), what ever microalgae grows in the tank (minimal), and bacteria in the water column and that attached to other surfaces (e.g., live sand, rock etc). I should warn that this doesn't work for everyone and it is a very fine balance to maintain - I can't just dump a cube of mysid/brine shrimp in and expect things to be ok, tank would probably crash. I am aware that the system can't handle a huge bioload so i'm careful with what goes in. I should also note that i don't dose any carbon sources (e.g., vodka).

[chrismelb]

One month on and corals are colouring up nicely. Unfortunately, lost the two purple acros shortly after fragging everything. But apart from that everything else appears to be going well.

Pink Pocci
Before


1month on


What hopefully will be a teal/Aqua acro
Before


1 month on


Purple & Cyan acro
Before


1 month on


Green Table
Before



1 month on


Pink Stylo
Before


1 month on


Misc. acro
Before


1 month on


Blue/green table acro
Before




FTS 1 month on. Not much to look at yet as corals are still small frags.