Hello All!

[mineralrock]

Wow this is amazing!

After many months of being chastised on many message boards for starting a nano...i have found my place! (eh ive really only just got into saltwater(the tanks been up for 2-3 months))

 

I have a ten gallon with around 20ish pounds of fiji/tonga rock, button polyps, yellow polyps, colt coral, 3 blue leg hermits and a very small mandarin goby. I have a zoo med coral sun 18" actinic and a zoo med ultra sun 18" on two lights over a versa top. Then I just have a penguin mini for a filter....i was thinking about a protein skimmer....is it really necessary?

 

The tank is far from finished and has really only just begun. I've been having some brown algae problems...but I'm afraid to scrub the rock...thus destroying my copepod population. Also what would you recommend for calcium/strontium supplements (brand wise)? I've been using 2 little fishies. Is there anyway to stimulate more copepod growth?

 

these are the only questions i can think of at the moment...

 

thanks guys!

[ReeferMonkey]

Welcome to Nano-Reef. Sadly, I don't have a fancy banner to use, but welcome nonetheless!

 

First, a few questions of my own. How long has your tank been up? What sort of fixture do you use the Zoo Med bulbs in? Normal Output flourescent (NO)? VHO? T5?

 

As far as protein skimmers go, many people feel you can do without them. On a small tank, as long as you stay regular with your waterchanges you can remove a lot of the nastiness. You'll find that quite a few people on here run skimmerless.

 

You'll probably catch some flak for the mandarin in a nano. They generally require a large, self-sustaining population of copepods to survive, unless you are fortunate enough to have one that eats prepared foods.

 

As far as stimulating copepod growth, a refugium is probably your best bet for keeping the mandarin healthy and happy. Search for "aquaclear and fuge" or browse the archive in the "Refugium" section and you can find examples of DIY fuges. There are always prefab options like the CPR Aquafuge.

 

Please note, if your mandarin starts to look emaciated, you should try to find a local reefer with a large enough tank (75+ gallons) to support him.

 

For calcium I use AragaMilk, which requires daily dosing. This is a little bit of PITA but it's nice to have a daily routine. Every morning after I wake up I dose the tank and inspect it for the morning. I don't does strontium yet, as I don't have a test kit. Which reminds me, please don't just dose without testing. Supplementation of trace elements should only be done as necessary, not just willy-nilly.

 

I hope that this information is helpful. Lots of people get on here with a high-and-mighty tone and have little forgiveness for the mistakes of others. I don't really find that sort of attitude helpful; someone who is shamed when they ask a question is less likely to ask any more. Hopefully you'll settle in and get comfortable with the community.

 

Read! Research! Your animals will thank you.

 

HTH

nathan.

[ReeferMonkey]

I didn't address one question: your algae problems.

 

Unless you omitted something, it seems you only have hermits and no snails. A good mix of snails will work wonders for algae control. Get a mix of astraea, nerites, cerith and nassarius. You should probably have around 10 or 12 snails in the tank. Avoid mexican turbos, they get too large and can knock frags and rocks over. If you have a really bad problem you could possibly invest in a lettuce nudibranch.

 

Do some research here on NR, on reefs.org and on reefcentral.com on the various kinds of snails if you're not familiar with them.

 

HTH.

n.