My Lil Fluval

[KNelson]

I've been bitten by the reef bug!  I'm brand new to SW and am loving it so far.  I've had my tank running since June 26th, but have not had time to sit down and put all of my documentation in one place.  Well, here it is!

 

Equipment: 

Fluval Edge 12 gallon

Stock HOB filter

AI Prime HD+ 

Hydor Pico Evo-Mag180 w/ Hydor Flo

Koralia Nano 240

Deep Blue mini 60w heater attached to Finnex Max-300 digital controller

 

7lb LR from LFS + 5lb dry Florida Reef Rock from Reef Cleaners

~10lb CaribSea Seaflor Flamingo Reef sand

Using RO/DI water from my LFS and D+D H2Ocean Magnesium Pro+ salt

 

Inverts:

3x Banded Trochus

3x Nassarius

Bongo Shrimp

 

Corals:

Stylo - Purple

Zoa - Shabam

Paly - Venus Flytrap

Rhodactis - Blue-green

GSP - Neon

Ricordea Fl. - Lime Green

Zoa - Magician's

Duncan - Blue/Teal

Blasto - Red/Teal

Rhodactis - Green Striped

Flower Leather - Brown

Paly Grandis - Cinnamon

Pulsing Xenia - Silver

Leather - Toadstool

Kenya Tree

Alveopora - Green

Discosoma - Blue

Discosoma - Red

Discosoma - Fuzzy Green

Sinularia - Neon Yellow

 

 

Fish:

Clownfish (DIED)

Purple Firefish

Citron Goby

Circus/Tiger/Full Moon/Black-Barred Convict Goby

 

 

The tank cycled pretty quickly, about 2 weeks - the LFS was dosing ammonia - and I peaked pretty low.

 

I had a Margarita and Spiny Star Astrea added 7/15/17 but the Margarita bit it 2 days later.  He wasn't doing well from the start and I got him out before he did any harm.  The Spiny Star just died (8/5/17) and caused a bit of ammonia spike (he has a tiny feather duster growing on his shell so I didn't want to take him out).  

 

I have a couple thousand or so copepods swarming my glass so my future inhabitants should be happy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2018 by KNelson
Edited inhabitants

[KNelson]

As it stands now.  I'm still acclimating the last batch of corals and figuring out their happy place. 

[KNelson]

I got them all real small.

[KNelson]

 

[Clown79]

Tank looks really nice. 

 

Don't feel bad, every margarita snail I have had, has never lasted.

 

 

[KNelson]

Thank you.  I just thought that it was funny the first thing that went in died so quickly.  I guess I had to get it all out early .

[KNelson]

So I've dealt with the fallout of the dead snail and have my ammonia and nitrates back in check (yay!) by doing 2 extra WCs.  Now I have another problem - my dKH has dropped a bit.  I do my testing Friday night before bed and then do the WC sometime Saturday.  My params over the last 3 weeks:

 

7/28

8.1 pH

0 NH3

0 NO2

5 NO3

425 Ca

9.9 dKH

1350 Mg

<.3 PO4

(7/29 added first batch of tiny frags) 

 

8/4

8.0 pH

0 NH3

0 NO2

7.5 NO3

445 Ca

9.3 dKH

1410 Mg

<.3 PO4

(I think my snail died 8/2; 8/5 added 2nd batch of frags; 25% WC on 8/7 and 20% on 8/9)

 

8/11

8.2 pH 

0 NH3

0 NO2

5 NO3

460 Ca

7.0 dKH

1220 Mg

<.3 PO4

 

I'll be doing another WC tomorrow and heading to the LFS.  Should I also get something for dosing to raise my alkalinity?  I know it's not critically low, but the swing got me worried, perhaps because I did extra WCs and my Ca is higher?   But the proportion of the changes between the first to second testing and the second to third are much different - Ca went up by 20 and the dKH dropped by .6 and then the Ca went up by 15 and the dKH dropped by 2.3!  I tested the alkalinity 4 times...  I see my Mg dropped a bit, too.  My corals are all seemingly happy though, everything opens fully and I even have 4 new polyps on my palys.  Am I overreacting? 

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, KNelson said:

So I've dealt with the fallout of the dead snail and have my ammonia and nitrates back in check (yay!) by doing 2 extra WCs.  Now I have another problem - my dKH has dropped a bit.  I do my testing Friday night before bed and then do the WC sometime Saturday.  My params over the last 3 weeks:

 

7/28

8.1 pH

0 NH3

0 NO2

5 NO3

425 Ca

9.9 dKH

1350 Mg

<.3 PO4

(7/29 added first batch of tiny frags) 

 

8/4

8.0 pH

0 NH3

0 NO2

7.5 NO3

445 Ca

9.3 dKH

1410 Mg

<.3 PO4

(I think my snail died 8/2; 8/5 added 2nd batch of frags; 25% WC on 8/7 and 20% on 8/9)

 

8/11

8.2 pH 

0 NH3

0 NO2

5 NO3

460 Ca

7.0 dKH

1220 Mg

<.3 PO4

 

I'll be doing another WC tomorrow and heading to the LFS.  Should I also get something for dosing to raise my alkalinity?  I know it's not critically low, but the swing got me worried, perhaps because I did extra WCs and my Ca is higher?   But the proportion of the changes between the first to second testing and the second to third are much different - Ca went up by 20 and the dKH dropped by .6 and then the Ca went up by 15 and the dKH dropped by 2.3!  I tested the alkalinity 4 times...  I see my Mg dropped a bit, too.  My corals are all seemingly happy though, everything opens fully and I even have 4 new polyps on my palys.  Am I overreacting? 

I'll be honest, I don't test.  I go by what the corals are telling me.  I think with as little as you've got that you shouldn't need to dose, and you have to be careful with dosing because of the possibility to cause swings back and forth (Fishfreak found this out in her BC29 recently).  What salt are you using?  Some are higher in certain elements than others.  I don't know why your alk dropped but always be careful of knee-jerk reactions because they will nearly ALWAYS make things worse.  Hopefully someone who understands the chemistry better than me (and hasn't been up all night to switch to a night shift schedule lol) will be able to help you more.

[ninjamyst]

What test kit are you using?  You don't have enough corals for alk to drop that fast due to consumption.  Make sure you test the new batch of water prior to water change.

[KNelson]

 

5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

What salt are you using? 

D+D H2Ocean Mag Pro+.

 

1 hour ago, ninjamyst said:

What test kit are you using?  You don't have enough corals for alk to drop that fast due to consumption.  Make sure you test the new batch of water prior to water change.

Salifert.  I will! 

[TinyOcean]

Looks awesome! 

[KNelson]

47 minutes ago, TinyOcean said:

Looks awesome! 

Thanks!  I'm a little worried about the shadowy area in the middle.  I didn't think to put the light on periodically throughout aquascaping and I don't think I have it in me to redo it all right now.  I may just have to get some more mushies for there.  

 

I'm actually otw to get 2 more tiny frags, a tongan conch, and my first fish - ocellaris clown! 

[KNelson]

10 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

What test kit are you using?  You don't have enough corals for alk to drop that fast due to consumption.  Make sure you test the new batch of water prior to water change.

I tested the new water at 8.9 dKH - much close to normal - however I added it to the existing water with a 2 gallon change.  I'll test it again tomorrow.

 

Is it advisable to do another small WC in a couple of days since I've added a fish?

[KNelson]

[KNelson]

3 days later and little dude finally ate more than 1 piece of food!  He's so hyper, I love watching him swim all over the tank.

 

All of my corals seem pretty happy and healthy.  I really like the Duncan, it reminds me of a Dr. Seuss creation.  I'm buying these corals really small (and subsequently inexpensive) and it's quite difficult to not go crazy with them!  

 

This has been such a rewarding hobby so far and I'm very excited to continue caring for these remarkable creatures! 

[KNelson]

On another note....

 

Bubble algae?  Found this while inspecting my tank today.  Its currently confined to the hammer. 

[TinyOcean]

Yup that's a bubble of algae alright. Get some tweezers to pluck it off but be careful not to burst the bubbles because I'm pretty sure spores or something get released and so more will grow back.

Also your clown looks like he has a heart on his tummy!

[KNelson]

11 minutes ago, TinyOcean said:

Yup that's a bubble of algae alright. Get some tweezers to pluck it off but be careful not to burst the bubbles because I'm pretty sure spores or something get released and so more will grow back.

Right!  I'll do it this weekend when I rearrange some stuff.  I'll take it out to do the removal. 

17 minutes ago, TinyOcean said:

Also your clown looks like he has a heart on his tummy!

He does!  Only 1 side but it's super dorbz!

[KNelson]

So... 

 

+1 my gorgeous Magicians Zoa is sprouting babies!  It had 2 little nubs on the left when I got it a couple of weeks ago, but now it's 5, maybe 6!

 

-1 It's Christmas in my tank...

[KNelson]

EVERYTHING THE LIGHT TOUCHES is our kingdom.  Nope!

EVERYTHING THE LIGHT TOUCHES is turning green!!!

 

Seriously.  My snails can't even get it off the rock.  It's slightly slimy and very green.   It's not on my sand, however, but that may be due to my always-busy-conch.  It started before I added my clown and at that time I was only target feeding the corals very small amounts once a week.  I am doing my weekly testing tonight but my params have been fairly consistently good with <0.03 phos per Salifert kit.  I use a 1x2" piece of Poly Filter that I replace bi-weekly.  

 

Is this one of the "You just have to wait this one out" algaes or is there a creature that can assist in the removal?  I'm in a Fluval Edge so I can't take my rock out to clean it.

Edited August 26, 2017 by KNelson
Spelling errors

[Tautoo]

What is your Nitrate etc reading at?

 

You may change your poly a little more often.  I change mine 2x a week typically.  

[KNelson]

Nitrates were 7 before my WC last Saturday. 

 

Ok.

[KNelson]

Params from my weekly testing: 

Pretty dang consistent.  My GSP is the only thing pissy right now, it has (had?) a bristle worm irritating it so I took the rock out to try to remove the worm.  Prior to that it was open and happy so the low but consistent dKH hasn't been a problem for me.  

 

So, why would there be so much green?  I'm going to the LFS tomorrow.  Should I grab a couple more snails? 

[Lula_Mae]

How long is your light cycle?  I have a simple PAR bulb so I run it about 8 hours daily.

[KNelson]

8 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

How long is your light cycle?  I have a simple PAR bulb so I run it about 8 hours daily.

For the past 2 weeks I've dropped it significantly.  2 hour ramp up, 4 hour photoperiod (AI Prime HD, all colors but red and green at 45%), 2 hour ramp down, 2.5 hour "night light. "

 

Previously it was 8 hour photoperiod.  It hasn't slowed the growth.