PizzaOven '25 Budget Build

[PizzaOven]

Why? Worried about exploding population?

Yeah, I had an explosion a while back in my main tank (all of this rock came from that tank). I was feeding reef roids a couple times per week which I think contributed to the problem.

 

[richiev]

I have some in my display or at least did before I moved everything into a holding tank. I am not sure I'll move them back in given how quickly they can spread. I had a central rock that I still have no idea how they got onto (I think one detached and floated onto it) and even after scraping with a bush + peroxide I couldn't get it permanently gone.

 

[PizzaOven]

I have some in my display or at least did before I moved everything into a holding tank. I am not sure I'll move them back in given how quickly they can spread. I had a central rock that I still have no idea how they got onto (I think one detached and floated onto it) and even after scraping with a bush + peroxide I couldn't get it permanently gone.

They’re very stubborn and annoying. I did the following to get them under control:
Filter floss changed weekly
Added Bumblebee snails
Coral snow 1x per week
Feed fish small amounts with turkey baster, no broadcast feeding

I did the shotgun approach, which worked well over time.

 

[PizzaOven]

April Update:

Overall things are good. I've noticed slow growth from zoas/mushrooms. LPS seem healthy, but I haven't noticed any significant growth. I think I need to spend some more time dialing this tank in.

Changes:

• Added another $10 "wavemaker" but removed a $10 chalice coral. No change to budget.
• Added a green hairy mushroom from my main tank ($0 PIF from myself)
• I've been noticing some strange photosynthetic stuff appearing on the rockwork (see 2nd picture). I sort of think it's some kind of photosynthetic bacteria (just a guess). Anyone know what this stuff is?

 

[Darkxerox]

Dinoflagellates growing on the rocks would be my guess if it doesn't have a red or green color when you look at it. Tank looks great though!

 

[PizzaOven]

Dinoflagellates growing on the rocks would be my guess if it doesn't have a red or green color when you look at it. Tank looks great though!

Oh no, not the D-word . Hopefully I can manage if it's indeed dinos.

 

[Darkxerox]

Oh no, not the D-word . Hopefully I can manage if it's indeed dinos.

They're in every tank really, it's more what's out competing them.

 

[PizzaOven]

May Updates:

• The 3 hermit crabs all died (RIP). Maybe there wasn't enough food for them.
• Some stuff is surviving rather than thriving (purple favia, toadstool, candy cane).
• Still experimenting with N and P dosing.
• Trying fewer water changes while riding out the dino (?) wave.

Tank pics:

 

[ReyDeFarts]

The 3 hermit crabs all died (RIP). Maybe there wasn't enough food for them.

If it's ostreopsis, that can be toxic and fatal for some inverts. If you can get a sample of it under the microscope, then at least have a better plan on how to combat it. If you can confirm ostreopsis, then some carbon and UV will really help battle it. Also, a healthy dose of AquaForest Life Source will also help a lot.

 

[PizzaOven]

If it's ostreopsis, that can be toxic and fatal for some inverts. If you can get a sample of it under the microscope, then at least have a better plan on how to combat it. If you can confirm ostreopsis, then some carbon and UV will really help battle it. Also, a healthy dose of AquaForest Life Source will also help a lot.

Interesting… I’ll buy or borrow a microscope to take a few pictures. Thanks!

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting… I’ll buy or borrow a microscope to take a few pictures. Thanks!

@Srt4eric has one in san jose i think.

 

[PizzaOven]

June Update

I ordered a cheap $20 handheld microscope from Amazon to try to ID the snotty stuff in the tank (dinos?):

I didn't have high hopes for image quality, given the price. I grabbed some snotty tank water and sandwiched it between two 1mm glass coverslips using a pipette. Below are some pics I took:

Mystery brown stuff:

Stringy algae?

Weird green blob:

From what I gathered online, I'm looking for oval shaped cells between 30-80um. The closest thing I found is in the photo below (sorry I can't increase the magnification more).

Digital zoom doesn't reveal much extra detail, but they seem very irregularly shaped (unlike dinos from photos I've seen online):

@Darkxerox , @ReyDeFarts (or anyone else) any idea if these are dinos or not?

Out of caution, nothing I brought to the swap came out of this tank.

-Andrew

 

[Srt4eric]

June Update

I ordered a cheap $20 handheld microscope from Amazon to try to ID the snotty stuff in the tank (dinos?):
View attachment 70550

I didn't have high hopes for image quality, given the price. I grabbed some snotty tank water and sandwiched it between two 1mm glass coverslips using a pipette. Below are some pics I took:

Mystery brown stuff:
View attachment 70552

Stringy algae?
View attachment 70553

Weird green blob:
View attachment 70554

From what I gathered online, I'm looking for oval shaped cells between 30-80um. The closest thing I found is in the photo below (sorry I can't increase the magnification more).
View attachment 70555
Digital zoom doesn't reveal much extra detail, but they seem very irregularly shaped (unlike dinos from photos I've seen online):
View attachment 70557

@Darkxerox , @ReyDeFarts (or anyone else) any idea if these are dinos or not?

Out of caution, nothing I brought to the swap came out of this tank.

-Andrew

The next time I turned on the microscope after you gave me that sample the bulb went out. I need to replace it and then look. Its weird, I still have you sample and the brown stuff is still in it. Id figure if it was dinos they would of died by now.

 

[MarcosD]

June Update

I ordered a cheap $20 handheld microscope from Amazon to try to ID the snotty stuff in the tank (dinos?):
View attachment 70550

I didn't have high hopes for image quality, given the price. I grabbed some snotty tank water and sandwiched it between two 1mm glass coverslips using a pipette. Below are some pics I took:

Mystery brown stuff:
View attachment 70552

Stringy algae?
View attachment 70553

Weird green blob:
View attachment 70554

From what I gathered online, I'm looking for oval shaped cells between 30-80um. The closest thing I found is in the photo below (sorry I can't increase the magnification more).
View attachment 70555
Digital zoom doesn't reveal much extra detail, but they seem very irregularly shaped (unlike dinos from photos I've seen online):
View attachment 70557

@Darkxerox , @ReyDeFarts (or anyone else) any idea if these are dinos or not?

Out of caution, nothing I brought to the swap came out of this tank.

-Andrew

Not zoomed in enough to be able to ID. When I had dinos I used a kids toy microscope and surprisingly I got some pretty clear images. This is what my dinos looked like under a microscope and got ID’d as ostreopsis by Mack’s Dino group on FB. Very helpful guys over there

 

[ReyDeFarts]

Hard to ID. But from what I have seen, it doesn't appear to be dinos to me.

I'm dealing with some slimy brown stuff in one of my systems too. I need to stop being lazy and bring out the microscope.

 

[divewsharks]

Looks similar to what i have in my new LPS tank (and had before in my SPS tank when it was new). Not dino's based on what i could find. I beat it by feeding heavy and siphoning it off the rocks weekly. Had some on the sandbed, that has already cleared up.

-rob

 

[MichaelB]

Maybe look at the smallest uv u can find they sometimes can work miricles. Sometimes even overnight making you feel crazy for not doing it sooner.

 

[PizzaOven]

Looks similar to what i have in my new LPS tank (and had before in my SPS tank when it was new). Not dino's based on what i could find. I beat it by feeding heavy and siphoning it off the rocks weekly. Had some on the sandbed, that has already cleared up.

-rob

Since I don't have any fish/inverts, I haven't been feeding the tank. I was dosing N/P, but very recently switched to feeding some leftover LRS juice prepared for my other tank. I'm hoping this helps. I'll try to scrub/siphon it off. I should stop being so lazy, it's only 3g haha.

Thanks for the mini sea cucumbers btw! They're super cool looking critters. I put them in my 65g.

 

[PizzaOven]

Not zoomed in enough to be able to ID. When I had dinos I used a kids toy microscope and surprisingly I got some pretty clear images. This is what my dinos looked like under a microscope and got ID’d as ostreopsis by Mack’s Dino group on FB. Very helpful guys over there

I almost sprang the extra $$ for a legit microscope with a stand, sample holder, stage, etc. Yours looks pretty good for a toy microscope.

If it is dinos, I would think I would see dense groups of cells, like in your picture? It seems like the brown slimy stuff in the first pic doesn't have many oval shaped objects present.

 

[PizzaOven]

The next time I turned on the microscope after you gave me that sample the bulb went out. I need to replace it and then look. Its weird, I still have you sample and the brown stuff is still in it. Id figure if it was dinos they would of died by now.

No worries!