Macintosh Classic - pico reef - Starting back in the game after ~8 years....

[MarsRover]

picked up the frags on tuesday afternoon and popped them in the bottom of my tank







I also picked up a frogspawn yesterday from a LFS by my work after a longgg day at my desk...







anyway, the frog spawn immediately perked up as you can see in the picture above, taken maybe an hour after acclimating. The Acan and monti aren't looking so happy. The Acan was looking mega....i can't think of any other way to describe it.....fuzzy....... i'm guessing it is the little feeder tentacles coming out? It seemed to look a lot better after i fed my tank.


The montipora is still looking pretty sad. Not bleached, but very dull coloration.

These are my first montipora and acans and i'm wondering if maybe they just got beat up real bad in the guy bringing them to me and handing them off to me or if they usually are just slow to regain their footing after being re-homed.





thanks folks!









This guy was pretty happy at feeding time too

 

[steve&mari]

Cool Pico tank go slowly n it's less frustrating remember nothing good happens fast in reefing.

 

[MarsRover]

Wow, so decided to use my PAR sensor for the first time since i got it about a month ago in the mail..... heres the numbers:




So i did some rearranging..... considering that monti and acan were being grown at 250PAR before i got them, and they'd be sitting at the above shown levels for a while in my tank for the last week, i figured it was time to upgrade




I think the monti and acan are doing much better at these higher levels!

 

[MarsRover]

Gahhh!!! Someone please help!



So I relocated my Acanthastrea and Montipora to higher ground after having them for about a week (in the locations that i showed in the image in my previous post with all the PAR numbers on it PAR ~43 & ~15 respectively.) to the new locations in the photo shown just below the PAR numbers image (to about PAR ~160 and ~50 respectively).



Yesterday i started noticing my Montipora getting very white on certain parts of it. Making me nervous. I contacted the guy who sold it to me and he said move it laterally out from directly under the LEDs since it was probably too intense for the montipora. (just for some back info, they were being grown at ~250PAR before i received them). The Acan seems to be doing much better in the new location however.



I have today relocated the Montipora up but farther out to this location (from PAR ~50 back down to ~25 or so). The FTS photos below are a bit more washed out than the scene looks in real life due to iphone/LED aliasing. The close up of the montipora though looks more acturate:























I tested my water and my parameters aren't doing so hot either so i did a 30% h2o change as well and replaced my purigen while also adding phosguard.



Pre-H20 change #s:

pH = ~7.6

dKH = 9 - 10

NH3/4 = ~0

NO2 = ~0.2

NO3 = ~30 (ugh...)

Ca = 460



I'm going to test the water again tonight to see how things are.

 

[MarsRover]

Went to the LFS yesterday and they said try an Iodine dip.

I did that to all my corals (except for the Acan because it looks great, as per their recommendation) and i'm pretty sure the monti is now all bleached.....

I haven't seen any tissue necrosis though. Is it possible to bring it back?

Thanks

-Ben

 

[MarsRover]

Today:

Getting some nice growth.

Zoantus have multiple babies growing in.
Frogspawn since my last posts has split from one mouth to now three
seriatopora guttatus looks like it has been growing as well

excited for things to keep filling in!

 

[Diesel]

What kind of processor do you run on the MAC?
Last year i tried to do similar but my rocks, corals and fish didn't fit into the LED Flat screen monitor
Any ways............ great idea and good looking tank.

 

[MarsRover]

I decided to get one of these canisters and tie it into my sunsun 602B:

Fill it with some cheato and strap a light to the side of it and BOOM. post sunsun "nitrate reactor"

what do you all think??


also, tested my parameters yesterday, probably the best i've seen with this tank so far:

REDSEA test kit:
PH: 8.2
NH3/NH4 : 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0 **
dKH: 4 ***

API calcium test: 460-500ppm

Redsea P-PO4: 0.04 - 0.08ppm

Salinity: 1.03 ***

** some say you actually want nitrate slightly elevated....between 0 and 2....is this true?
*** added 1/8th tsp to the tank in a glass of RO/DI water. directions said 1tsp/80L which equals 1/8th tsp per 2.64gal. About what i'm working with here


also, i'm pretty astounded by the growth rate of my zoos, from my last post (the time i took the photos) to today, look at these guys:

theres a good five wrapping around in the middle around where that astrea is in the photo, and then another 3 in the middle left (actually open...facing the screen) that are new!

everyone in these photos are ticked right now because i just sucked some nudibrach off them...

noticed today they are taking over. I don't have the heart to kill living things, even "pests" but now they are hurting other living things so what can you do.

 

[glb]

What a creative tank! I'd slow down on adding corals until everything is stable. Find out what the source of nitrates first. Good luck!

 

[revhtree]

Such a cool tank!

 

[spspirate]

Sweet tank!!!

 

[stevieduk]

wo , Old Macs like that are worth a fortune. highly collectable, shame you had to ruin it

 

[justjes45]

THIS IS AWESOME!!! I was thinking of doing this with a SUPER OLD tv we used to have... Nice JOB!!

 

[underwaterfirefighter]

Very cool pico set up! Excellent job!

 

[Urbanknight]

Sweet idea! +1 on what @glb said

 

[pirutgrrrl]

Dude. That last pic is a zoa eating nudibranch. I never want to see one of those again as long as I live. A melanarous wrasse will clean them right up but you will probably want take him out when he's done. He will get too big. Can you borrow a wrasse from your lfs?

 

[Pewmichael]

Hello All,



Recently re-entering the reef world after about 9 years out of the game.



Since this is my first post, I figure I'll introduce myself a bit: Back in high school (2005/2006) my first job was at a great tropical fish and reptile store in Maryland, Totally Fish. I worked there for a few years untill it went out of business. Went to college in 2008 and had to sell off my reef and various reptiles and fish. Haven't reef'd since.



In college I unearthed (literally unearthed....it was buried in the animal sciences courtyard at University of Maryland) a Macintosh classic. I have been wanting to make a tank out of one of these for YEARS so i hoarded the rusty box until after i graduated college and moved it all out to California for work.



I have since built a tank out of the Mac. classic, cutting, bending, and bonding the acrylic myself which was a fun learning experience.... It's about 3Gallons.









Anyway, I've had my tank setup now for about 2 months. Have a few lbs of live rock and about 1" deep of live sand. I have a SUNSUN 602B canister filter with Seachem Purigen (100ml pouch) inside. For lighting i have the Elive Tank Mounted LED Mini Track Light with 1 pod (2 blue 2 white).









A few a weeks ago i purchased a bicolor blenny (who has made quick work of the algae on the walls....) and three little hermit crabs who have been pretty happy, and a small richordia, who has been medium happy...... from a LFS.









I tested the water and everything was good and clear so i decided to go to a different LFS and pick up a few SPS's..... literally the next morning they were all bleached out.... i'm afraid i might have killed them (you can see the 4 still on their frag plugs down in the sand in front... i started them down there expecting to move them upward towards the light slowly.....) and my sad richordia to the right....







To that point I had been working off of what i remember from back when i worked at the tropical fish and reptile store as a teen. After realizing last night that I don't have a heater in my tank and my tank temps are around 65degF, I purchased a 50W submersible heater from petco (in a panic while kicking myself....) preset to a temp of 78dF. Checked the temps this AM and they are holding at 78.



After feeling horrible for probably killing these living corals, I decided it would be a good idea to get back into the community with my new adventure and get some guidence.



Please feel free to provide me with constructive critisism, comments, suggestions etc...



I'd really appreciate it!



Thanks folks,



-MR

I'd be installing a protein skimmer which would certainly
Help your tank.

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Phosguard might be whats hurting your corals?

 

[christ1991]

Dude. That last pic is a zoa eating nudibranch. I never want to see one of those again as long as I live. A melanarous wrasse will clean them right up but you will probably want take him out when he's done. He will get too big. Can you borrow a wrasse from your lfs?

A six line wrasse or a yellow coris wrasse would work as well, they are smaller than melanarous. I would take it out and dip too!