Robs Nano Reef

[robertmathern1]

Stuck a couple pieces of live rock in last week along with filling my back chambers with live rock rubble. Been feeding the tanks flakes. Tested my water today and I have ammonia 0, nitrite is present but to low to read on the color chart nitrate 10. Not sure what to do now as I just cant believe the tank cycled in a week. today before heading to work I tossed 1/4 cube of frozen mysis in there. Guess I will keep feeding and checking over the next couple weeks to see what happens.

 

[pegasus]

Some tanks cycle much faster than others. It's not uncommon for new tanks with live rock and (certain) live sand to suppress the ammonia cycle. It would be best to wait a little longer just to be safe. If it holds, you should be able to do a large water change and start (s-l-o-w-l-y) stocking very soon! Almost there!!!

 

[robertmathern1]

Went over the weekend and picked up some live rock rubble from a local reefer who was cleaning out his refugium and lookie what I found hitch hiking along. Didnt plan on adding coral yet but that cant happen when getting live rock. He is opening up well so I think he will be just fine. The other head of the skeleton thats glowing a little I am not holding high hopes on but the mushroom is almost completely open in fact theres 2 other really small mushrooms on it. I think the skeleton was a trumpet but its to far gone to really tell for sure. It does look a little better so maybe it will turn around but I doubt it.

 

[robertmathern1]

Got a new hammer over the weekend from a fellow reefer that found it behind some rock work. Was a little unhappy but seems to be doing well in my tank. I broke it in 2 pieces.
Also did a little rescaping I think I like it now. More room for more coral to grow.

 

[pegasus]

Looks like a trumpet coral. Can't tell if it's the lighting, or if it's the polyp, but it looks green in the center. As long as the polyp is still alive, there's hope for it to come back. Otherwise, the hole would look like the outside. Fingers crossed! The hammers look happy with their polyps extended, so that's a good sign. Nice job on the aquascaping, too. Looks like you've set up plenty of platforms for future corals... lol!!!

 

[robertmathern1]

Thanks pegasus I do think your right about the one being a trumpet. Its seem to be putting a little meat on its bones and is starting to resemble a trumpet. Only time will tell but it has some feeder tentacles out at night so thats a good sign. Now if I could just get the dang hermits from sticking it in the sand I think it will make a full recovery. I might try to glue its rock to another lager and harder to mover rock tomorrow.

 

[pegasus]

If it's getting moved around by the hermits, I'd definitely attach it to a larger rock. Being stable will help with it's "recovery", and once the mushroom decides to split, it'll need a place for its babies to spread out as well.

 

[robertmathern1]

Well now I have in interesting issue. On all my other tanks I have had I have always used instant ocean salt as it was the cheapest salt locally and with big tanks cost of salt was always high. Now I have a small nano I decided to go with reef crystals and now I see a potential issue down the road using this salt.

Last weekend since my tank didnt show any signs of nitrates and is in a full diatom bloom. I decided I would skip a water change and let the diatoms do there thing. New tank uglies suck. Anyway I went ahead and picked up a reef foundation pro test kit by Red Sea and decided to test my waters a couple days ago.

ALK: 7 DKH
Cal: 350 PPM
MAG: 1350 PPM

Not bad numbers but I would like ALK and CAL a little higher. I always thought reef crystals would have had a higher concentration of ALK and CAL. I dont really have much in the tank to be consuming much. A couple trumpets and are making a comeback and about 8 heads of hammer coral. And with MAG up that high I cant really see precipitation being an issue. I also dont see any creep anywhere.

So being new to nanos I figured well I did skip a water change and maybe the corals are consuming it so I made a fresh bath of saltwater and tested it to see where I would stand after a water change. The change water is a little better at
ALK: 10.5 dkh
CAL: 400 PPM
MAG 1200 PPM

Seeing these numbers I would still like calcium a little higher at about 450 but I can live with it. Could it be the corals are actually consuming alk and cal this fast. I guess I could believe it. Would explain how my Mag is higher in the tank than the change water since coral dont really consume MAG. Problem here is its a 32 gallon tank with a hob skimmer that hold about 1.5 gallons. So I figure after rock and sand displacement I have about 30 gallons. If I do a water change of 5 gallon thats 16%. So after doing a 5 gallon water change it will not actually do much to the tanks parameters. According to the numbers I crunched after my change tonight I should be at
ALK: 7.5 DKH
CAL 358 PPM
MAG 1325 PPM

At that rate the tank can not sustain much more unless I either change up salts but to what? Or start dosing. Dosing is always an option but would rather go the salt route at this time I just cant see the need to dose with such small coral load. Any ideas and sorry no pics today new tank uglies are in full swing lol. will try to get some when I clean it up a bit. I also won an auction and got about 50 head of some type of Zoa the girl friend wanted doing well in the tank.

 

[pegasus]

The numbers you posted for the fresh batch seem a bit off for IO/RC. I use RC as well, and the last batch I tested was alk: 8.6 dKH, Cal: 480 ppm, mag: 1480 ppm @ 1.025 SG... which is close to the advertised levels. Do you buy the box (bags) or bucket?

 

[robertmathern1]

I got the bucket when petsmart had them on clearance for half off. Probably about 2 months ago. My SG was also 1.025 actually a tad higher but not by much. The numbers you posted are more of what I was expecting to see which is not what I got. Still I can live with them. Just wanted to able to maintain cal between 400-450. Alk was wanting around 9 give or take a little.

I just cant figure out why they are so low in the tank.

 

[pegasus]

I figured it was a bucket. It's highly likely there is settling of contents in the bucket. Finer grains settle to the bottom, and larger grains rise to the top. It's always a good idea to roll the bucket a few times to mix the contents before use. Just scooping out the salt will cause settling. Try this and see if it changes the levels. If not, it's a bad batch. Never experienced one, but it can happen...

 

[robertmathern1]

Didnt think about that but its not a bad idea. I will give that a shot next weekend when I repeat process of this weekend lol.

I would not call it a bad batch as I will be fine with those numbers. Besides I am almost half way through it anyway. Seeing the numbers you are getting I might try the box next time. Just at 32 bucks for a 5 gallon bucket I cant pass that up.

 

[pegasus]

Didnt think about that but its not a bad idea. I will give that a shot next weekend when I repeat process of this weekend lol.

I would not call it a bad batch as I will be fine with those numbers. Besides I am almost half way through it anyway. Seeing the numbers you are getting I might try the box next time. Just at 32 bucks for a 5 gallon bucket I cant pass that up.

Can't blame you... I rarely pass on a good deal! Lol! You'll have less settling when using bags, especially if you cut a corner off and pour it into a measuring cup. Scooping it out will basically have the same results as a bucket. If you've used almost half of the bucket, don't be surprised if your numbers don't switch. Low levels may become high, and vice versa as you get into higher concentrations of elements at the bottom of the bucket. That's why it's important to keep the contents of buckets thouroughly mixed.

 

[robertmathern1]

Got some new stuff over the past couple weeks. Here are some pic

Here is a zoa colony I got its not attached to anything but seems to be attaching to the little piece of ruble rock that the what I beleive is a trumpet. It was in bad shape when I found it but seems to be making a comeback


The girlfriend had to have a cocoa worm. She fell in love as soon as she seen it


Since she got her cocoa worm I had to get me a stick


I also picked up a skunk cleaner shrimp and a yellow headed goby and my kids had to have nemo. grrrr meanest dang fish when they get established.

 

[pegasus]

Nice colony of zoas, and I don't blame your girlfriend... who can resist a coco worm? I miss mine. Had it almost two years, which I think is a long time for one in captivity. And of course, you saved the best for last... lol! Beautiful acro! They'll spruce up the tank for sure. Good job, Robert!!!

 

[robertmathern1]

Thanks pegasus meen alot coming from you. Have not really added anything else but a rock flower nem. I have a few bids on some auctions in my local reef club for some more sticks. Auction ends tonight so I will keep my fingers crossed. So far I am the highest bidder on a few but someone almost always waits till the every end and takes me out like a sniper lol.

However everything is growing fast and I see if I do win these sticks I will be starting to run out of real estate. Good thing I saved my old 75. I might have to knock the dust off it and set it up.

 

[pegasus]

How did the auctions go? Did you snag a few goodies???

 

[robertmathern1]

No damn snipers. Its all good though they are always having auctions lol.

On a side not I broke out my old 75 sanded the stand and repainted it then went to clean the tank out and noticed the plastic bracing has cracks. I am sure I could fix it but not sure if its worth the risk. The silicone is also peeling up. Probably from sitting in my garage thats not air conditioned. Florida sun can be a killer. All is not lost though. Since the stand came out so good. I beefed up the top replaced the floor and added a shelf in it and my son is using it for a tv stand now. I also am going to pick up a 92 gallon corner tank in a couple weeks. Not bad for the tank, stand, 100 lbs of rock another 100 lbs of sand (that I probably will not use), a reef octo skimmer along with a 4 bulb t5ho fixture for 300 bucks. Now just got to figure out how to get it across town.

 

[pegasus]

Wow... $300 is a sweet deal for a 92 gallon tank with stand, sand, rocks, skimmer, and lights. Why can't I find deals like that? Oh yeah... I live in the sticks. If you have a truck, or access to one, you can do what I did and rent a U-Haul enclosed trailer for a day. Of course, if you have a big enough truck, you wouldn't need a trailer... doh!!!

 

[robertmathern1]

All I have is a camaro surely not going to fit all that in there. Uhual might be my best option at this point. I live in the sticks to but I must say I have never seen so many reefers than Jacksonville FL. He was wanting alot more for the tank but he has not sold and he is moving away at the end of the month so hes getting desperate. Hoping to be able to pull some strings and pick up the tank this weekend. Then figure out how to build a canopy for a corner tank. Might be a little above my pay grade as far as carpentry skills go but you never know till you try I guess.