BAYMAC
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They're awesome additions. They eat algae, and breed in your tank (so they are a tool, and a feed)
7.5 Gallon Bookshelf Nano
- Thread starter SeanMc
- Start date
October 13, 2023
I picked up a Cali Tort at Hide Tide Aquatics. They had a really nice Walt Disney acro that I nearly got. Although it looked nice in the blue lights, it wasn’t quite as striking in the white light. My partner prefers the white light so I have a long stretch in the middle of the day with white lights. Also, I wanted something extra hardy. The Cali Tort looked good in both lights and - like most classics - my assumption is that it’s pretty tough. Now that it’s in my tank, it may not be the final choice for this spot. It’s not bright like everything else and it’s a little harder to see against the black background of the skimmer and ATO sensor. Bright is a theme of this tank, and I wonder if @Darkxerox was right to suggest a yellow anacropora. I’m still pretty committed to trying an acro in this tank and I already have an anacropora (which I love and highly recommend btw), but I could see myself ultimately getting a goldenrod. Even if I don’t keep the cali long term, imo, it’s definitely an upgrade from the pink Cadillac. The blue color is the touch of class I was looking for.
For a couple weeks, I started my water changes by using a turkey baster. I was surprised how much detritus it kicked up and it was, in some ways, satisfying to pursue a “clean” tank. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake. I’m curious to hear from other people, but I felt like I got a nutrient spike and algae bloom. I think using the turkey baster may have upset some bacteria or other critters. I was doing more frequent and larger water changes and the algae just kept coming – getting worse even. I think I let “clean” overpower “stability” in my thinking. I’m going to prioritize stability for a little bit. Having stopped the baster for about a week, it already seems to be making a difference but it’s hard to say. There’s a lot of lag with these things sometimes.
The watermelon chalice has two new eyes. The digitata is growing into a star occupant. The skin has grown in some spots that had died back (before my time) and reclaimed it from some algae. It’s getting thicker and growing in multiple places, not just the two main tips.
A piece of a torch tentacle came off. It’s happened a couple other times. I think there’s some sort of bivalve shell or something on its stem where the tentacles get trapped and cut off. Anyways, a little piece of the torch was floating around the tank – which you notice because it’s neon green – but then I later saw the piece sitting on the ricordia. At first, it seemed as if the ricordia was trying to eat it, but I then realized it was being stung. It was there overnight and although the ricordia is probably just fine, it was definitely not happy about it. I worry that these torches are way too tough for a crammed tank. I would love to get recommendations on what can withstand them. Zoas maybe?
I picked up a Cali Tort at Hide Tide Aquatics. They had a really nice Walt Disney acro that I nearly got. Although it looked nice in the blue lights, it wasn’t quite as striking in the white light. My partner prefers the white light so I have a long stretch in the middle of the day with white lights. Also, I wanted something extra hardy. The Cali Tort looked good in both lights and - like most classics - my assumption is that it’s pretty tough. Now that it’s in my tank, it may not be the final choice for this spot. It’s not bright like everything else and it’s a little harder to see against the black background of the skimmer and ATO sensor. Bright is a theme of this tank, and I wonder if @Darkxerox was right to suggest a yellow anacropora. I’m still pretty committed to trying an acro in this tank and I already have an anacropora (which I love and highly recommend btw), but I could see myself ultimately getting a goldenrod. Even if I don’t keep the cali long term, imo, it’s definitely an upgrade from the pink Cadillac. The blue color is the touch of class I was looking for.
For a couple weeks, I started my water changes by using a turkey baster. I was surprised how much detritus it kicked up and it was, in some ways, satisfying to pursue a “clean” tank. In hindsight, I think this was a mistake. I’m curious to hear from other people, but I felt like I got a nutrient spike and algae bloom. I think using the turkey baster may have upset some bacteria or other critters. I was doing more frequent and larger water changes and the algae just kept coming – getting worse even. I think I let “clean” overpower “stability” in my thinking. I’m going to prioritize stability for a little bit. Having stopped the baster for about a week, it already seems to be making a difference but it’s hard to say. There’s a lot of lag with these things sometimes.
The watermelon chalice has two new eyes. The digitata is growing into a star occupant. The skin has grown in some spots that had died back (before my time) and reclaimed it from some algae. It’s getting thicker and growing in multiple places, not just the two main tips.
A piece of a torch tentacle came off. It’s happened a couple other times. I think there’s some sort of bivalve shell or something on its stem where the tentacles get trapped and cut off. Anyways, a little piece of the torch was floating around the tank – which you notice because it’s neon green – but then I later saw the piece sitting on the ricordia. At first, it seemed as if the ricordia was trying to eat it, but I then realized it was being stung. It was there overnight and although the ricordia is probably just fine, it was definitely not happy about it. I worry that these torches are way too tough for a crammed tank. I would love to get recommendations on what can withstand them. Zoas maybe?
Torches can lose a tentacle here than there from getting bumped or tangled in strong water flow. And yes your want to remove them ASAP if you see them cause it can sting lots of other animals as it floats around. I've pretty much kept them out of range of other corals but haven't seen many other corals that can take sustained stings from them @thephoreefer would know best about things torches can touch.
I would keep using the baster but just be sure you're not blasting corals, just live rock. You can also run a piece of filter floss on your pump intake after doing then then pulling that after the water clears and you finish your water change.
What sort of inputs are going into the tank? Given that you don't have fish, there really shouldn't be much adding nutrients right?
I would keep using the baster but just be sure you're not blasting corals, just live rock. You can also run a piece of filter floss on your pump intake after doing then then pulling that after the water clears and you finish your water change.
What sort of inputs are going into the tank? Given that you don't have fish, there really shouldn't be much adding nutrients right?
Inputs at this point are only for the blood shrimp. About 10 "small" pellets about every other day. I try not to feed it more than it can eat in a sitting. I'm not doing AB+ or phyto right now. There's usually a lag between my posts and the present (e.g. this post was written a few weeks ago) and it's possible I was still doing a drop of phyto twice a week at that time.
I was careful not to blast the corals. If I'm understanding you correctly about the filter floss, I'd have to fit it in front of the powerhead intake grill. I'm not sure how gracefully that will stay in place.
What do you see as the advantage of the blasting the rockwork? It could have been a total coincidence, but it struck me as weird to have a sudden, moderate algae bloom when the only changes were more frequent and larger water changes and the turkey baster technique. I'm doing fewer, smaller changes now and the algae hasn't come back yet. The baster also more work for me. It was fun for a while, but I don't want to be obligated to do it.
I'd love to hear @thephoreefer chime in on who can handle a torch sting. It's possible the only solution is isolation. But the reason I suggested a zoa is their defense mechanism usually is to close up and hold its ground, whereas some fleshier LPS corals get their skeletons exposed and don't recover well.
I was careful not to blast the corals. If I'm understanding you correctly about the filter floss, I'd have to fit it in front of the powerhead intake grill. I'm not sure how gracefully that will stay in place.
What do you see as the advantage of the blasting the rockwork? It could have been a total coincidence, but it struck me as weird to have a sudden, moderate algae bloom when the only changes were more frequent and larger water changes and the turkey baster technique. I'm doing fewer, smaller changes now and the algae hasn't come back yet. The baster also more work for me. It was fun for a while, but I don't want to be obligated to do it.
I'd love to hear @thephoreefer chime in on who can handle a torch sting. It's possible the only solution is isolation. But the reason I suggested a zoa is their defense mechanism usually is to close up and hold its ground, whereas some fleshier LPS corals get their skeletons exposed and don't recover well.
October 20, 2024
I borrowed the club’s PAR meter.
Obviously, I do not have the light mounted in the way the manufacturer prescribes. The gooseneck wants to pull away from the aquarium. I can’t pull it any closer. Nearly all tanks have the lights perpendicular, but the bookshelf here prevents me from doing that.
My schedule peeks at 80% for two hours on a 12 hour cycle.
I thought that my acro spot would be the brightest because it’s closest to the surface. Even though it’s not in the center of the light, it is not filtered by the glass. I thought of it as a high-light, high-flow spot – hence the acro. It turns out that spot is not especially high light, or at least there are many other spots that are brighter. The digi is getting blasted. Over 500 PAR. Many corals are getting way more light than most online sources recommend. 300 sounds very high for a chalice, trumpet, and acan, for example.
With one exception, everyone seems happy so I’m reluctant to change anything. In orchid world, many people say to give them as much light as the plant can stand - which makes a lot of sense to me. Since most everyone is growing, it seems like they can stand it. But, that principle may not apply to corals.
That said, the measurements did make me wonder if the problem with the orange zoas is too much light and that they’re trying to run away from it. It would explain why it isn’t just dying and is instead shrinking in the front and growing towards the back – most happy corals reach for the lights, like plants.
Here are some readings at 100% on the Kessil a360 wide angle, fyi.
I don’t want to turn the light up because it already seems very high and the small bump to the acro spot doesn’t seem worth the risk to the rest of the tank. It’s also too early to tell if the light is inadequate for that spot, so a bump up may not even help.
One thing I noticed is that penetrating the glass causes a large decrease in PAR. No surprise there in principle, but places that looked to me like they were getting blasted just aren’t. The energy roll off in the bottom front half of the tank is steep.
The acans are starting to grow down the old skeleton. It has about four new, very small mouths. That’s the first visible growth I’ve seen on those. Everyone else seems good. No growth on the yellow brick road zoas (near the orange ones) but they are almost always open and otherwise healthy seeming. There are early signs of the GSP growing off the plug and onto the epoxy.
I borrowed the club’s PAR meter.
Obviously, I do not have the light mounted in the way the manufacturer prescribes. The gooseneck wants to pull away from the aquarium. I can’t pull it any closer. Nearly all tanks have the lights perpendicular, but the bookshelf here prevents me from doing that.
My schedule peeks at 80% for two hours on a 12 hour cycle.
I thought that my acro spot would be the brightest because it’s closest to the surface. Even though it’s not in the center of the light, it is not filtered by the glass. I thought of it as a high-light, high-flow spot – hence the acro. It turns out that spot is not especially high light, or at least there are many other spots that are brighter. The digi is getting blasted. Over 500 PAR. Many corals are getting way more light than most online sources recommend. 300 sounds very high for a chalice, trumpet, and acan, for example.
With one exception, everyone seems happy so I’m reluctant to change anything. In orchid world, many people say to give them as much light as the plant can stand - which makes a lot of sense to me. Since most everyone is growing, it seems like they can stand it. But, that principle may not apply to corals.
That said, the measurements did make me wonder if the problem with the orange zoas is too much light and that they’re trying to run away from it. It would explain why it isn’t just dying and is instead shrinking in the front and growing towards the back – most happy corals reach for the lights, like plants.
Here are some readings at 100% on the Kessil a360 wide angle, fyi.
I don’t want to turn the light up because it already seems very high and the small bump to the acro spot doesn’t seem worth the risk to the rest of the tank. It’s also too early to tell if the light is inadequate for that spot, so a bump up may not even help.
One thing I noticed is that penetrating the glass causes a large decrease in PAR. No surprise there in principle, but places that looked to me like they were getting blasted just aren’t. The energy roll off in the bottom front half of the tank is steep.
The acans are starting to grow down the old skeleton. It has about four new, very small mouths. That’s the first visible growth I’ve seen on those. Everyone else seems good. No growth on the yellow brick road zoas (near the orange ones) but they are almost always open and otherwise healthy seeming. There are early signs of the GSP growing off the plug and onto the epoxy.
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May 30, 2024, pt.1
TLDR; Tank is almost one year old. The torch is dying. Giving up on the plating montipora for now. Fewer, bigger corals in year 2.
The tank is approaching one year.
I went out of town twice and had total novices take care of the tank.
The first time was for about six or seven weeks around the winter holidays. The second time was more recently for about two months (8 weeks). Both times were pet sitters from trustedhousesitters.com. One came over beforehand and I gave a hands-on demo of how to do water changes. For the second person, I just made a video and did a few phone calls.
The house sitters both did a very good job. Nobody died.
When I came back in January, the tank had algae blooms but everyone was definitely alive. Only the torch was visibly worse for wear. Overall, the house sitters were real rule followers and they did not have the same temptations to tinker with the tank. I said 1-2 gallons for water changes, but both of them consistently did exactly 1 gallon. The cali tort certainly liked whatever they were doing. I was impressed by its growth and color while I was gone.
Pics of when I returned in mid-January:
When I got back in January, I went on a water changing campaign, upping the frequency to twice a week. Unlike the house sitters, I occasionally pulled out a couple gallons. I was home for a couple months from January through February and then left again in mid-March.
Some pics before I left in mid-March:
A few takeaways from the house sitter experience: One is that it is possible to have a total novice take care of a tank, even one this small. Two months is a long time. There was some damage, which I accepted as inevitable, but it was minimal. Second is one of my goals was to make this tank very simple and easy to maintain. The fact that totally notices were able to keep it going feels like it says something about the ease of maintenance. The house sitters were an interesting experiment. On the one hand, they were real consistency queens, which I think the tank really liked. But on the other hand, they wouldn’t really react to anything, which could be bad. I honestly respect their mechanical consistency, especially since I’ve been making some changes to the tank lately and keep putting my hands in it.
Since getting back, I again implemented a more aggressive water changing schedule and started feeding the tank AB+ again. I did not ask the house sitters to do any dosing because the whole thing was already annoying enough.
I think the torch is doomed.
The torch hadn’t been fully opening for a few weeks when I left in December. It opened a little in the morning, but then spent the rest of the afternoon looking a little shriveled. I thought this was part of the process of splitting the live fleshy part from the new branches. Something about moving from one big organism to two smaller ones, IDK. I had hoped that the situation would get better when the heads were fully detached and could be safely put through a bandsaw. When I got back in January, however, it was clear that didn’t happen. There was visible tissue loss and just a few days later, the flesh rapidly washed out of the skeleton over the course of a couple days. The separated original head, however, survived. Fast forward to May now and it doesn’t look good. It’s quite the reversal from October when it was dividing quickly and beating on its neighbors because it was getting so big. I don’t have a good theory of what happened. Water quality or nutrients or just one of those things? IDK. I’m definitely not ready to give up on torches, so I’ll be getting another one. I’ll try to rehab this one but, honestly, it’s probably doomed. The tissue loss has already started.
Going to get rid of the orange monti cap.
The plating monti has been fighting with the chalice and losing. The dead rim of the monti is black and dead looking. I also noticed what looked like some nudibranchs right before I left in the spring for two months. They seem to have picked at parts of it, but given that they had two months to munch unmolested, they didn’t actually do that much damage. When I got back in May, I picked off about four or five. I worry that I can’t in good conscience give away a coral that I suspect had nudibranchs. Orange monti caps also seem to be a nuisance in some tanks, so I don’t feel too bad about just tossing it. Would still love to give it away if possible. It also never really cupped like I wanted it to. It mostly continued to table out on a flat plane. Getting rid of the monti, will also make the GSP more visible, and that one is finally growing the way that I want.
Anacropora going through a rough patch.
The anacropora also showed some signs of trouble before I left in the spring. The polyps weren’t as extended and bushy, and they’d turned a lighter brown color. This happened once or twice before but it always eventually snapped back with water changes. When I got back in May, some parts were bleaching and some were even dead. I might end up cutting off the front branch or fragging and starting over. I don’t know if it’s going to grow back over the part that died. Some corals and plants only grow out of the tip, so any dead pieces remain dead. Not being able to fix past mistakes can result in some stringy and unattractive corals/plants. I’m also getting the impression that this coral doesn’t want to grow into the high-flow powerhead stream, so I don’t know how it’s supposed to mature into the position it’s in. Will try to rehab and see how it goes.
Other updates.
The orange zoas in the back have continued moving and shrinking. I’m not optimistic, but hopefully they’ll find a spot they like and take over that area.
The trumpet seems to be splitting, but it doesn’t seem very happy. It doesn’t have as much flesh as I think it should. It's less trumpet and more nub now. It has a faint white hue that feels like an LPS getting blasted by too much light. If I get around to it, I’ll move it further back and see how it does.
Everyone else looks good and has clear signs of growth.
The salinity dropped to 1.021. I buy salt water, so I can’t really make a really salty batch. It’ll probably take a few days to bring the salinity back up. It’s possible the anacropora and torch don’t like that.
Year two goals.
In year two, I’d like to dial down the number of corals and keep the ones that seem to be working best in the spaces they’re in. I’m going to get rid of a piece of live rock that is small, but is probably a significant percentage of live rock surface area in a tank this small. I’m hoping it’ll free up some space and make it feel less crowded.
The new tank arrangement would have a little more negative space and the monti digi would replace the plating monti. A little triangle of sticks. I’m going out of town for a couple weeks in July and I might be moving soon, but I still dreaming of something like an OG bounce in the lower left corner once I’m not traveling anymore and my living situation is firmer.
TLDR; Tank is almost one year old. The torch is dying. Giving up on the plating montipora for now. Fewer, bigger corals in year 2.
The tank is approaching one year.
I went out of town twice and had total novices take care of the tank.
The first time was for about six or seven weeks around the winter holidays. The second time was more recently for about two months (8 weeks). Both times were pet sitters from trustedhousesitters.com. One came over beforehand and I gave a hands-on demo of how to do water changes. For the second person, I just made a video and did a few phone calls.
The house sitters both did a very good job. Nobody died.
When I came back in January, the tank had algae blooms but everyone was definitely alive. Only the torch was visibly worse for wear. Overall, the house sitters were real rule followers and they did not have the same temptations to tinker with the tank. I said 1-2 gallons for water changes, but both of them consistently did exactly 1 gallon. The cali tort certainly liked whatever they were doing. I was impressed by its growth and color while I was gone.
Pics of when I returned in mid-January:
When I got back in January, I went on a water changing campaign, upping the frequency to twice a week. Unlike the house sitters, I occasionally pulled out a couple gallons. I was home for a couple months from January through February and then left again in mid-March.
Some pics before I left in mid-March:
A few takeaways from the house sitter experience: One is that it is possible to have a total novice take care of a tank, even one this small. Two months is a long time. There was some damage, which I accepted as inevitable, but it was minimal. Second is one of my goals was to make this tank very simple and easy to maintain. The fact that totally notices were able to keep it going feels like it says something about the ease of maintenance. The house sitters were an interesting experiment. On the one hand, they were real consistency queens, which I think the tank really liked. But on the other hand, they wouldn’t really react to anything, which could be bad. I honestly respect their mechanical consistency, especially since I’ve been making some changes to the tank lately and keep putting my hands in it.
Since getting back, I again implemented a more aggressive water changing schedule and started feeding the tank AB+ again. I did not ask the house sitters to do any dosing because the whole thing was already annoying enough.
I think the torch is doomed.
The torch hadn’t been fully opening for a few weeks when I left in December. It opened a little in the morning, but then spent the rest of the afternoon looking a little shriveled. I thought this was part of the process of splitting the live fleshy part from the new branches. Something about moving from one big organism to two smaller ones, IDK. I had hoped that the situation would get better when the heads were fully detached and could be safely put through a bandsaw. When I got back in January, however, it was clear that didn’t happen. There was visible tissue loss and just a few days later, the flesh rapidly washed out of the skeleton over the course of a couple days. The separated original head, however, survived. Fast forward to May now and it doesn’t look good. It’s quite the reversal from October when it was dividing quickly and beating on its neighbors because it was getting so big. I don’t have a good theory of what happened. Water quality or nutrients or just one of those things? IDK. I’m definitely not ready to give up on torches, so I’ll be getting another one. I’ll try to rehab this one but, honestly, it’s probably doomed. The tissue loss has already started.
Going to get rid of the orange monti cap.
The plating monti has been fighting with the chalice and losing. The dead rim of the monti is black and dead looking. I also noticed what looked like some nudibranchs right before I left in the spring for two months. They seem to have picked at parts of it, but given that they had two months to munch unmolested, they didn’t actually do that much damage. When I got back in May, I picked off about four or five. I worry that I can’t in good conscience give away a coral that I suspect had nudibranchs. Orange monti caps also seem to be a nuisance in some tanks, so I don’t feel too bad about just tossing it. Would still love to give it away if possible. It also never really cupped like I wanted it to. It mostly continued to table out on a flat plane. Getting rid of the monti, will also make the GSP more visible, and that one is finally growing the way that I want.
Anacropora going through a rough patch.
The anacropora also showed some signs of trouble before I left in the spring. The polyps weren’t as extended and bushy, and they’d turned a lighter brown color. This happened once or twice before but it always eventually snapped back with water changes. When I got back in May, some parts were bleaching and some were even dead. I might end up cutting off the front branch or fragging and starting over. I don’t know if it’s going to grow back over the part that died. Some corals and plants only grow out of the tip, so any dead pieces remain dead. Not being able to fix past mistakes can result in some stringy and unattractive corals/plants. I’m also getting the impression that this coral doesn’t want to grow into the high-flow powerhead stream, so I don’t know how it’s supposed to mature into the position it’s in. Will try to rehab and see how it goes.
Other updates.
The orange zoas in the back have continued moving and shrinking. I’m not optimistic, but hopefully they’ll find a spot they like and take over that area.
The trumpet seems to be splitting, but it doesn’t seem very happy. It doesn’t have as much flesh as I think it should. It's less trumpet and more nub now. It has a faint white hue that feels like an LPS getting blasted by too much light. If I get around to it, I’ll move it further back and see how it does.
Everyone else looks good and has clear signs of growth.
The salinity dropped to 1.021. I buy salt water, so I can’t really make a really salty batch. It’ll probably take a few days to bring the salinity back up. It’s possible the anacropora and torch don’t like that.
Year two goals.
In year two, I’d like to dial down the number of corals and keep the ones that seem to be working best in the spaces they’re in. I’m going to get rid of a piece of live rock that is small, but is probably a significant percentage of live rock surface area in a tank this small. I’m hoping it’ll free up some space and make it feel less crowded.
The new tank arrangement would have a little more negative space and the monti digi would replace the plating monti. A little triangle of sticks. I’m going out of town for a couple weeks in July and I might be moving soon, but I still dreaming of something like an OG bounce in the lower left corner once I’m not traveling anymore and my living situation is firmer.
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