New Guy Intro and Diary- JBJ 12 Nano

[guy clown]

Hello - This is my first post here, but I've been lurking here for a week collecting data and opinions - some as a refresher, some is all new to me.Its been 15 years since I’ve had a tank set up. Had nano set ups before- but mostly fish/eel only displays with live rock- no corals and nothing elegant.
So last Sunday, we were in petsmart buying dogfood and had a conversation with my wife about getting the kids a Beta…. After looking at most of the sickly betas, I simply couldn’t stomach the thought of having a beta. We promptly left the store and continued conversations about something on a more grand scale. However, my thoughts of Grand and hers didn’t mix. A free standing tank was not going to fly and so something in the 10 to 20 range would fit on my bar. By Sunday night I was neck deep into Craigs list – hunting for a deal from some hobbyist, who no longer saw the novelty. At that time, I had never heard of Biocube, JBJ, etc- but saw enough to start doing my homework. Like I said, been lurking on this site ever since.
I was really hoping to find something already complete. My kids wanted a beta they could look at immediately. A new tank would take weeks to cycle – but there wasn’t much going on Craigslist Sunday – but Monday, a new entry popped up for a JBJ with various corals, anemone and a maroon clown. Said tank was healthy and in great working order, but needed to be cleaned. It also had new bulbs in it- and the owner was soliciting offers. Quick price check and some headmath...
20lbs of liverock at $5 to $8 a lb.- $120 to $160, A maroon clown $30, Anemone, $15ish, Used tank $100, Mushrooms, $15 to $25, plus who knows what else... So I figure a quick cash sale and an offer to pick it up next day- We meet in the middle of my offer and his counter- $225- but contingent upon inspection. Done.
Tuesday, I view the tank- of course, I’m not up to speed with the algae’s, the corals or anything- but the tank looked healthy and was in obvious state of neglect- being over run with long vine type of algae. The coralline was all over the glass. He explained to me how he would prune the viney growth back- no prob- and a razor blade would take off the coralline He included $10 of frozen food, 2 buckets, the heater, the extra power head, the power strip and timer and whatever he had left for charcoal.
*******
So obviously- I bought the tank. We drained it all down and I took it home to set it back up. I put it back together as best I could- all while pruning the vines of the algae back – it was really unsightly befor I gave it a haircut. By 1am, it was all back together and running- and I came to this site to start ID-ing the corals, the algae, the anemone and whatever else was in the tank.
*****

 

[guy clown]

I've read volumes of diary entrys this week. Mine is more like jumping into the middle of a story- as I am not starting from scratch- so, we'll see how the chronicals play out over time. But I found the journals really valuable- so on the outside shot that somebody out there is thinking about getting a pre-existing set up, I thought I 'd get this in an entry- as perhaps it might surface something useful to them.
First- the good about the tank:
I think it’s a green bubble tip anemone- and the owner says the clown has hosted there. Both look healthy- although I've read that they don't do so well with the stock lighting from JBJ. Also, there are purple, blue and green mushrooms in various spots. They were all pretty small though. I think I found one hermit in there. Also, the live rock has been in the previous owners tanks for over 10 years. The coralline was amazing, where it was exposed to the lights. I opted for a different arrangement and tried to optimize the coralline showing- but the algae had been covering it up horribly- so it will take some time to get it all to come back. Also, the clown is way bigger than I hoped/expected. I really wanted to have 2 clowns and there is no way to do it with this maroon. Its probably on the edge of being too big in the tank – but he looks great and I figured I’d give it a whirl with him.
Now the bad- post purchase inspection:
It was bubble algae and it is everywhere. Read some horror stories about the stuff and what can take care of it- besides a hammer and chisel- I read that emerald crabs can and will keep the bubble algae under control. I’ll add it to my list of CUC… Next- Aiptasia- I have one clump of 6 or 7 of them, and one or two in the rest of the tank. I read here that Peppermint shrimp eat Aiptasia—added another to the clean up crew. Adding both the shrimp and the crab with a raised eyebrow that the may mess with other stuff, eat coralline, etc. Sand bed was filthy too- there wasn’t enough CUC to even make a dent. Also, the light fans get really noisy at times, one of the hinges on the tank lid is broke (buyer made me aware of it though), the extra power head is DOA- and the flow from the sump is really poor. Previous owner admitted neglect- remodeling 2 homes at the same time, and keeping the tank in the one home he wasn’t living in- it was just a head ache for him, so he was happy to see it go to somebody who’d care for it.
Day 2
Tank has cleared pretty well. My girls flipped when they saw it… (they have their own Nemo-). I fed clown to make sure he wasn’t too stressed. Ate like a pig. Did a little more research on CUC and hit the LFS over lunch.
Bought a Koralia nano and the CUC too. I got an emerald crab and peppermint shrimp as I said- added 3 more hermits, 4 Nassarius snails, 3 turbos and a skunk cleaner shrimp. I Did the cleaner shrimp in the absence of being able to have another fish. Now that I have him, he’s awesome. Slowly hanging out in the open more and more and starting to clean the clown. Pretty cool personality.
That night, I took apart the fans- one fan barely moves. The other buzzes like crazy. Couldn’t do anything about it, except order new fans. Also that night, I took the other power head out of the chamber and it was barely pushing out anything. There was a huge glob of “bio matter” clogging the tube and the head unit. Rinsed with RO, shook it all out and now it flows again- but not 160gph or whatever it was supposed to have. I had planned to get the koralia going, but couldn't find an optimal spot so I put it on hold for a few days.
Day 3
Woke up to the mushrooms doubling in size. They were tiny before…. And probably oppressed or something- literally, they doubled in size overnight. It was crazy. My pictures from Day 1 were from my blackberry camera. Didn’t get the detail to show before and after- I was shocked in 7 hours how much bigger they had gotten. Also called JBJ- got 2 new fans coming at $10each, got new hinges at $2 each, and a new powerhead – but upgraded to the head that JBJ ships in their 24 gallon setup … was $15 for that upgrade.
Also - I knew the Clown had hosted with the Anenome...but they hadn't really found each other since the move. Today, I see It’s a real love affair… but the bubble tip hasn’t found a great spot yet, so he’s sorta moving his way around the tank, and hopefully finds a place out in the open where I can see him.

 

[guy clown]

Day 4
I watched that emerald crab going to town on the coralline. Not cool. Ive also seen some of the hermits picking at it too. I’ll be watching it more closely from here- but I also saw the crab finally find a patch of bubble algae. My wifes friend said, oh look at him eating those little grape things. Cool. Hope he earns his keep. Had a hermit eating on a patch of it too. Oh, and that peppermint shrimp hasn’t touched the Aiptasia yet, as far as I’ve seen.
Finally did a 1 Gallon waterchange. The Aiptasia loved it. The are all getting nice and big – and I saw 3 or 4 small random ones in the tank. I will probably have to take matters into my own hands before this gets worse.
I tested everything before the waterchange- when I got the kit on day 2- and then again, today- day 5- all pretty normal but my gravity is pretty low. I'm running out of time now- and will have to post up about it specifically in a follow up.
If you hung with me this far- thanks!!! Will continue to settle this out tomorrow with a new pump and next Friday another water change- and then settle into much smaller entrys. 'll get some pictures up too. Nothing as nice as what some of you folks have here, but I have enjoyed it so far- and hope to take a few more upgrades along the way.
Thanks for reading

Guy

 

[guy clown]

Here are some pics I took after it was home for 2 days. This was prior to the water change.
Here is the full tank shot- with my clown.

Heres a closer shot of some of the mushrooms- oh, and some of the aiptasia

Here is more of the aiptasia- and my recently groomed bubble algae.

 

[cherylann]

Good start, but the last picture with the grape calupera, not bubble alge
I believe is some sort of xenia, or clove but not aptasia. Good news. If your researching you'll do great and it already shows, nice shrooms and your Maroon clown is huge

 

[guy clown]

haha. That would figure, I'd be wrong on the ID on both things I was trying to remedy. Thats why I come on here. Thanks for your post.
And yes, the clown is much bigger than I expected. The previous owner said they switched to Rod's food- (brand) and the clown started grew unbelievably fast after that switch. The anenome is off on the side now- I can barely see it. I'd like to get a positive ID on it too. Iam hopeful he comes out in the front more. I can't ensure he gets fed where he is located currently. Hope he keeps moving.
My water temp at night is 79.7. But with the lights on, it climbs to 81. My replacement fans are coming in today. I hope that gets rid of some of the heat from the lights.

 

[wifishman1]

nice setup, i also believe it's xenia,grape calupera so thats a good thing. im sure you will be in for an upgrade in the future (we all do). have fun and happy reefing.

 

[guy clown]

Thanks- and yeah, I know all about the upgrade path. This is my second time around the block- so I know its coming...

However, I am space constrained- the best spots in my house for optimal viewing currently have toys and kids furniture in them. I could see fighting for a 28 gallon - but this tank still needs some TLC - so that should keep me busy for a while.

 

[spanko]

First off welcome to the board Guy.
A couple of things that stand out for me.
I don't see any Aiptasia in the pictures. I do see a number of different spots with some large Xenia polyps though. And in the last picture that clump is definitely Xenia.
I see two types of Caulerpa in the tank. One being Caulerpa racemosa the one that looks like grape vines.

And the other looks like it could be Caulerpa pelata here I am looking at the second picture in the upper left corner of the pic. The one that looks like it has the almost flattened out grapes. Here is a picture of it for you to compare to what you have.

Now the bad news on the Caulerpa, it is a very invasive macro algae when in the display. I sure you have seen while you were harvesting some of it off the rocks that there are always little bits of it left on the rock. This will always grow back into the vies you see. The more you break off the more pcs there are to grow out. Some people have been successful just keeping it pruned, a weekly chore, some have not and attacked it with new rock, cooking the existing rocks, putting fish that eat it in the display etc. etc. Not an east thing to cure.

 

[tampashane]

Tanks looking good, ill be looking for ur updates. IMO for under 300 bucks your off to a good start even with the repairs and maint i would say u found a good deal. Grats.

 

[guy clown]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3165572
First off welcome to the board Guy.
A couple of things that stand out for me.
I don't see any Aiptasia in the pictures. I do see a number of different spots with some large Xenia polyps though. And in the last picture that clump is definitely Xenia.
I see two types of Caulerpa in the tank. One being Caulerpa racemosa the one that looks like grape vines.

And the other looks like it could be Caulerpa pelata here I am looking at the second picture in the upper left corner of the pic. The one that looks like it has the almost flattened out grapes. Here is a picture of it for you to compare to what you have.

Now the bad news on the Caulerpa, it is a very invasive macro algae when in the display. I sure you have seen while you were harvesting some of it off the rocks that there are always little bits of it left on the rock. This will always grow back into the vies you see. The more you break off the more pcs there are to grow out. Some people have been successful just keeping it pruned, a weekly chore, some have not and attacked it with new rock, cooking the existing rocks, putting fish that eat it in the display etc. etc. Not an east thing to cure.

Thanks- and Yep- thats what I have. Funny, the guy I bought the tank from called in a macro algae. The crummy pics I found online led me to believe it was bubble algae... While one is better, I don't care to be cutting it back weekly. One hermit and the emerald crab have been seen eating it--- and I'm regularily cleaning off the powerhead with new long vides of it that have been sheered. We'll see though.
The anenome is in the back corner still. I'm a little worried in that he hasn't inflated today and very little yesterday....and its pretty hard to spot feed back there. I did a medicine dropper full of food and showered the area- which immediately drew in the snails and crabs into the corner... He's just sitting on the sand next to the rock, shriveld up like used chewing gum. I have to leave until Friday- so I have my fingers crossed on him.
If he kicks off while I'm gone, the wife isn't going to appreciate the smell or having to dive in there to fetch it out.

 

[guy clown]

I put the new pump in and the fans before I left.... and the wife called yesterday and said the warning bell on the thermometer went off- 82.5... I think the new pump has made my heat problem worse. go figure. gotta go back to the drawing board.

 

[guy clown]

Dealt with the heat issues... as I said in my other thread about heat, I installed the fans backwards- like an idiot.
Anyway- last week Wednesday, the anemone bit it. It wasn't doing well for a few days prior, and then it was off in the corner- shriveled. It never recovered. Just as I sent a page to my wife to pull it out of the tank, she said it was suddenly gone and she thought she saw it up in the rocks. She said it was getting fuzzy and looked grey and dead... so I am lead to believe that something from my CUC drug it up there... perhaps the peppermint shrimp... thats my only guess. I did another 1 gallon water change and went looking for it without a trace.
Not sure if the move was stressful to it and it never recovered- or if it was already at the peak of its living potential in a jbj with stock lighting.
I am game to get another one and try once more- but will still hold out until after the thanksgiving holiday.
I'll be getting some newer pictures the next time I clean my glass. The mushrooms and polyps have exploded in growth and numbers since I took over this tank.
I've also got some new stuff that I need help ID-ing. Not sure if its good or bad yet...and I don't have a great track record for figureing it out on my own.

 

[guy clown]

Been a while between updates. Still had heat issues that were driving me crazy. The pump is the official source. After a week of babysitting, and turning the pump on and off to regulate the heat, I finally got to the LFS today and got a maxijet 900 I believe.
I was pretty quick to do the pump swap and didn't document the power exactly, but believe that the maxi consumes about 1/2 the power of the one that JBJ sent me. I have my fingers crossed that it solves my issue. Temp is holding at 83 right now. I have the hood open too. I did a lot of reading on the JBJs having the heat issues. I think my next purchase is a fan.
I also walked out of the the store with a rose tip anemone, and a few zoa frags and a head of candy cane. That rose tip really glows in the tank and within 30 minutes, my maroon clown was taking to it. I got some video of their introduction. Very cool. The clown is still cleaning it the rose tip.
The good news in all this, is that my wife went with and was ranting and raving about all the other fish choices, etc. She asked what else we could get and I had to explain our clown is really a bit big for the tank we have and would not do well with any other fish. She was quick to state that we needed to get a bigger tank. Mission accomplished.
I will be adding in 2 pom pom crabs though in the next two weeks. They were not in inventory - so I'll have to go back.
I haven't seen the emerald crab in 5 days- but will watch after dark tonight to see that he's around. Thats the only thing I worry about mixing in with the pom poms.
The tank is starting to take shape now (glass needs cleaning) so I gotta get some pictures posted up.

 

[guy clown]

Been a few weeks since my last post.... the tank is still coming along, and continues to show me suprises. I found a few remnents of star polyps when I took over this tank. I hadn't seen them for the first month- well, since my last post, they have shown themselves and are thriving. I aslo found a very tiny feather duster in there. Its really small right now, but I do see it.
A few random things: purple mushrooms and Xenia are weeds. I'm sick of them popping up everywhere. I haven't been able to find a way to keep the mushrooms at bay- but the Xenia, I put a peice of base rock over the top of the bigger colony. I still have smaller patches of them in various spots. I would like them if I could keep them consolidated. I'm weeding out the xenias as I can. The bigger the are, the harder they are to peel off.
My heat concern is still there. THe maxijet 900 keeps the tank at 83 with an ambient room temperature of 70. When the lights go on, it climbs to 83.5 - 83.7. I can deal with that temp swing, but I think my tank is too warm for my anenome. He's been bleaching out. I bought some selcon and soak a silverside in it and then spot feed him every two days. He's looked a lot better since 2 feedings with selcon- but I'm still concerned. If the temp isn't the issue, then my stock lights might not be adequate either for it based on the tons of hours I've spent reading here. ... I am strongly considering a LED retro fit. I am not jazzed about dropping more coin into the light, but I guess there's a break even on power and bulb replacements. The upside too, the corals would beneft.
I've also gotten a few more frags along the way. Turns out, I really enjoy counting zoa heads every day, seeing them grow. So much so, that I've decided I'm going to get a picotype for the desk in my office. I've already got some frags ready- I just need to get the tank and get it cycled.I've got some galaxy, hammer frogspawn, bambam zoas and some candycane- all are tiny, but I'm watching em grow and hope that I'll have that picotype in the next 45 days and will get some new live rock for these new frags.

 

[guy clown]

Just to post some status- water is perfect. I was doing charcoal in the tank since I got it- mainly, because it came with the tank- and a big bin of it. I opted to ditch the carbon and replaced it with chemipure elite. Funny thing, I never really looked below the bag of carbon- and found 3 really nice peices of live rock in there. I pulled one out and put it in the display in hopes it gets some coraline coverage and I'll add it to my pico when I pull the trigger.
The Rose Tip had bleached a bit, and so I've been soaking a silverside in selcon ever 3 days and dropping it onto the anemone and his color seems back to normal. The mouth has been open a lot though lately. Not sure how normal that is... and I'll keep reading on it...but his color and activities are back to normal.
Zoa Frags are still looking good. Some, I've glued in permanently, some, I have in the frag station that I bought- http://www.**************.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p-33884-44371-fish-supply.jpg
I wasn't a fan of the egg crate look- and opted for this thing and put it directly on my sand bed. Its ok I guess. Hindsight, I should have taken a peice of my base rock and just drilled some holes, just to keep it all natural- but I guess that thing is ok. However, I think my zoas do better higher in the tank.
One lesson learned- the Galaxia stingers can go 4 inches. It was hitting some zoas. I moved it accoridingly- my koralia blows right on it- so I 'll put it next to the glass - which should keep it from stinging anything else.
I'm torn as to what to do about this tank. I've had it for a bit more than 2 months. I want to upgrade the lights, but eventually, I think I'd really like a 24 or 28 /29 I'd just like a bigger display...so I don't want to dump more money into the 12( on the lights, etc)....and I'd also like a Pico frag tank. So maybe the play is to upgrade the lights on the pico right away. Still not sure a 3 gallon is the best for me. I travel a lot and think I'd be better off with more volume to ensure I keep things steady. Maybe a Nano6 or biocube 8 or an aga 5.5 ... not sure yet, but I sure do spend a lot of time on here reading what others have done.

I never knew I'd get such a kick out of the corals.

Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.