My 20-Gallon (Tall) Softie/lps Nano-Reef!

[Fishgirl2393]

So, the tank is still doing pretty well. Chalice is still holding on (still feeds at night too) and I determined that the cause of the two corals (chalice and favites) was "pink band disease/syndrome" based on pictures I took during the issues. I treated the tank with ChemiClean and so far, the coral (chalice) looks better after the treatment. I have a question though. Is there any way to get soft corals to grow faster? Mine seem to be doing fine, but are not really growing a whole lot. The kenya tree hasn't dropped any babies and, while somewhat bigger, is not significantly bigger than when I got it. Also, some of the mushrooms have budded (I have more than I started with), but not all of them have and I do not have a lot more. So, what's up with that?
Parameters are: ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate is about 5ppm, phosphate is about 0.03 (maybe less now but that was the last time I had it checked since I don't have a good phosphate test), calcium is about 490ppm, magnesium is about 1400ppm, alk is 9dKH, pH is 7.9-8.0.
The lights are Odyssea T5HO (4x24watt) with the following bulbs (all WavePoint brand): two 12,000K bulbs, 1 actinic blue (Super Blue Actinic 460) and one "Reef Wave" (super violet 03 actinic 420).
I have one fish (a royal gramma) that gets fed Omega One Super Color flakes every day. So, what's up with next to no growth? Tips?

[BRADYBUNCH7]

What water changes are you doing?

[Fishgirl2393]

I've been doing about 10%-20% every 2 weeks or so (sometimes more frequently).

[Acielot]

Wait why would less food and lights out help with softy growth?

[Dark_ice]

Wait why would less food and lights out help with softy growth?

looks like how to kill algae to me..

 

im confused

[Fishgirl2393]

I'm a little confused about that too! Any tips to help me corals grow better?

[Dark_ice]

for sps? keep water clean and try different coral growth products until you find one the coral react good to. sometimes it takes 2-3 products every other day to see growth. something you have to play around with. also keeping water parama swings to a minimum will help.

 

of course im no sps expert so someone else can chime in

[BRADYBUNCH7]

Sorry lol I didn't read through all your thread!

Was half asleep yesterday!

Deleting lol

[Fishgirl2393]

Soft corals are what I have (that and LPS).

[Dark_ice]

great light, smallest tank param swings and different foods/growth supplements

[Fishgirl2393]

OK. Thanks! I'm about to get a monti cap (pretty sure anyway) and want to make sure it does well. Based on my setup, where would it be best to place it? Also, anything I need to know about them? BTW, it's purple.

[Dark_ice]

mod flow to mod to low light. make sure water params stay consistent and watch calcium and alky levels. general stuff. they are a easy coral

[Acielot]

Low in the tank Imo. my xfactor paled out from bright green with blue polyps to solid purple. Its just now starting to get its nice color back.

[Eclipse]

I sometimes feed my zoos cyclops and I've noticed one frag in particular has gotten new polyps. I also feed brine to my frogspawn, which was quite interesting to see... It pretty much wrapped its tentacles around the shrimp and brought it into its mouth which I thought was cool.

[Fishgirl2393]

Cyano is back a little over a week after ChemiClean dosing... I added another dose today. I don't know if I have phosphate that won't show up on the test because it's being used, or what. Suggestions? The problem is that the cyano is getting on the injured chalice and, though the chalice is attempting to recover, the cyano is holding it back. Other than the cyano, the tank looks good.

[jedimasterben]

If it keeps coming back why do you keep treating it?

[Fishgirl2393]

I've only treated it once. I figured I'd give it a second shot. Any other suggestions? I looked at a report for the bottled water I'm using (Kentwood Springs mostly) and it says that the TDS level is less than 5 but I don't know. Nitrate is undetectable and they don't list phosphate levels.

[Dark_ice]

is it DI bottled water?

[Fishgirl2393]

It's distilled bottled water

[Dark_ice]

shouldent be the issue then

[Fishgirl2393]

OK. I'm running by the LFS in a bit to get some phosphate media. They have RowaPhos and some other GFO media as well as Seachem Phosguard. I've been using Seagel which has Phosguard in it and have not noticed any ill effects, but was wondering which would do a better job of removing the phosphates that HAVE to be there (since cyano is growing). Suggestions?

[Dark_ice]

you have a reactor?

[Fishgirl2393]

No. I just bought Phosguard because the LFS owner (who has reef tanks of his own) said that the RowaPhos hasn't made much of a difference in his system. This is OK because I like the beaded quality of the Phosguard and it does seem to work (there is just not enough of it in Seagel to do much good).

[Fishgirl2393]

So, I'm hoping that this time I've gotten rid of the cyano for good (it is gone after the ChemiClean treatment) because RIGHT after ChemiClean treatment, I added Phosguard (during the water change, I added it!). Hopefully, the phosguard will grab the phosphate out of the tank and will prevent cyano from growing back. I have a large bottle of PhosGuard so I should be able to add new in a few days to make SURE the phos is gone. Tank looks good. I fed the corals frozen brine/mysis mix that was rinsed in distilled water first to remove the nasties last night. The shrooms took it in so fast it was amazing!

[Fishgirl2393]

So far so good. No cyano (yet). I'm hoping it stays this way. I also have 3-4 new polyps on my clove polyp colony!

Update 3-25-14: Still no cyano! Corals look good too!