Mstefa1 Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 It's also a good idea to iodine dip your corals after fragging. Make sure you wash your hands afterwards. I've never had issues, however some people I know have gotten very sick fragging. I wouldn't worry too much about it, just exercise caution such as not letting slime squirt you in the eyes, open cuts, and as before mentioned, wash your hands. As for as dipping corals during acclimation, this is more important than you think. There are so many pests that hitchhike along I wouldn't put anything in my tanks without a dip. Regarding testing, if this is your only tank I wouldn't bother buying a testing kit for the basics (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph) as you couldn't just wait it out (the cycle), or most LFS will do it for free. Your ammonia should be 0.0, but if your using an API test kit very often the color appears to be 0.25, when it is really 0.0. Best to compare it against a control, but if your using the API test kit I wouldn't worry about that reading. Anything greater would be a major concern. I'm not sure I understand your reef tests. Your salinity is good, while many rarely check salinity because we run auto top offs, having a small nano your salinity may change greatly with evaporation. Just get a rhythm down where you replace evaporated water with distilled to top it off and you will be good to go. It may be easy to mark your water level on the tank so you can always maintain it properly. And no $9 20oz bottles of water either. I like to spend money on tech things but I'm can be very frugal too. Your Alk should be ~8dkh. Calcium should be 420ppm. How does this compare with the numbers you posted? Personally, I prefer Salifert kits for Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium. Phosphates are difficult to test, because you need a low range test kit. The easiest and most reliable I've found is a Hanna checker, but that may be out of your budget. Your goal would be to have phosphates at 0.03. If your not having any algae issues, it's not worth testing for. I'm just trying to help you be successful so take my posts for what they are worth. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I'm not sure I understand your reef tests. Your salinity is good, while many rarely check salinity because we run auto top offs, having a small nano your salinity may change greatly with evaporation. Just get a rhythm down where you replace evaporated water with distilled to top it off and you will be good to go. It may be easy to mark your water level on the tank so you can always maintain it properly. And no $9 20oz bottles of water either. I like to spend money on tech things but I'm can be very frugal too. Your Alk should be ~8dkh. Calcium should be 420ppm. How does this compare with the numbers you posted? Personally, I prefer Salifert kits for Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium. Phosphates are difficult to test, because you need a low range test kit. The easiest and most reliable I've found is a Hanna checker, but that may be out of your budget. Your goal would be to have phosphates at 0.03. If your not having any algae issues, it's not worth testing for. I check the temp and salinity each morning and record them into my Aquatic Log phone app. I also recorded the measurements I got from the LFS today and will continue when I bring my water to be tested. About the tests, the first fish store I went too tested my water and gave me a results sheet thats filled out by hand, so I don't know exactly how they tested it. Here's what they gave me though I'm assuming the Calcium is between 24-480ppm and the Alkalinity is between 140-200ppm (I think they wrote 110 to the left of this) Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Looks like 11 dkh Alk and 480 ppm Ca if I had to guess. Sounds consistent with freshly mixed saltwater - depending on the salt you are using. As your corals start to grow you will have trouble maintaining those, thus the need for dosing. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Looks like 11 dkh Alk and 480 ppm Ca if I had to guess. Sounds consistent with freshly mixed saltwater - depending on the salt you are using. As your corals start to grow you will have trouble maintaining those, thus the need for dosing. I don't think he'll have to much trouble with calcium since he's doing softies. Weekly 1 gallon water changes i think would be better than dosing unless lps and sps get involved. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 I plan on just softies, maybe a waving hand but mostly a zoa garden with a shrimp or a small fish (red scooter blenny?) at the most. Also my green spotted pufferfish I had in my new Spec II died today so I might convert that to a reef tank or a frag tank exclusively with my new frag wall I made today. I will post pics of the laser cut pieces I made today when I install them tomorrow. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 For such a small tank, I don't see a point in LPS or SPS, softies catch my eye, not the others. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 For such a small tank, I don't see a point in LPS or SPS, softies catch my eye, not the others. Well My Evolve 8 will have a scolly centerpiece but mostly it will be Softies. Plates make nice centerpieces as well. It all depends on how you want to go about it. I like the LPS simply because I like to watch them eat. Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 A scooter blenny is a dragonette which eats pods, and has difficulty taking prepared foods. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 So heres the frag wall I made, its just acrylic sheet I cut on a laser cutter The plan was to glue frags to these single and double acrylic frag plates and slide them into the slots on the wall However I forgot to take into account the vibrations from the powerhead and the small plates slowly work their way out of the slots. The double plates hold, so I might redesign the smaller ones to work. I still have to cut a new lid for the tank as well. It will cover both the display and the filter compartment as one piece, currently there are lids for each and it will fit tight around all edges of the tank without a feeding hole or vents to help minimize evap Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 A scooter blenny is a dragonette which eats pods, and has difficulty taking prepared foods. agreed. I kept one that liked frozen foods bit his tank was still plenty large for foraging Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 Also the diatoms are in full bloom, my PAR38 should arrive Tuesday and my CUC is shipping out tomorrow. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 So I fragged my zoas last night, dipped them in iodine afterwards, and put them up on my frag wall. I am surprised so many of them are already opening up; I was afraid I had hacked many of them beyond healing with my first time fragging skills. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Holy carp those look ver nicely fragged. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Holy carp those look ver nicely fragged. Thanks, I'm glad my frag wall rack is working, the acrylic is so clear and makes the frags look like they're floating Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Normally I frag when corals outgrow the tank. What does fragging this small colony do for you? Unfortunately algae (including good coraline algae) eventually will make that clear rack less clear. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Normally I frag when corals outgrow the tank. What does fragging this small colony do for you? First, to get them off that frag plug. Second, they were all mixed in with each other and I wanted to separate them so I could form colonies by type. Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Take some moar pics of these frags so I can see how well they healed. Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 First, to get them off that frag plug. Second, they were all mixed in with each other and I wanted to separate them so I could form colonies by type. Yeah I agree, I never put plugs in my tanks. I do however like zoas that are mixed in the colony. It adds a nice little variety. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 My faves right here V V V V V V V V V Any ID on these? V V V Take some moar pics of these frags so I can see how well they healed. see above ^^^^^^^^^^^ Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Well My Evolve 8 will have a scolly centerpiece but mostly it will be Softies. Plates make nice centerpieces as well. It all depends on how you want to go about it. I like the LPS simply because I like to watch them eat. WOW! That may change my mind on LPSs Link to comment
Horerczy Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 WOW! That may change my mind on LPSs Just keep in mind those are time lapse videos some of those corals will take about 15 minutes or so to actually finish all those motions. Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 They're still beautiful though Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 So heres and update... I just typed up a whole big update only to accidentally reload the page So heres just some pics of the new additions Not new, but just a cool pic again, just a cool pic Holy Snails! My CUC from Reef Cleaners came in...it was supposed to only be 6 snails. Converted my Spec II to SW after my Green Spotted Puffer died . I ordered a Randalli Pistol Shrimp for this tank. My new Yellow Clown Goby. I was going to get a Citrinis Clown Goby, but got this guy instead since he is smaller and much more vibrant. I think I'll play off his 1 inch size and name him "Titan." Some of the new zoas I picked up, visible on the right of this pic ^^^ Zoa rock I picked out of the $9.95 section of the frag tank at my new LFS (not petco anymore) There are more than a half dozen of these guys, they look like rockstar supernovas? Any ID on these guys would be appreciated, considering I'm still a noob. Anyone know of a zoa classification or index? Link to comment
mechishark7 Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Any ID on that zoa? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.