Kyle’s 10gal nano

[Kyle99]

Hey guys decided to make a journal for my self and other to see what I will and have gone through from being a fresh noob to when I stop reefing. Please feel free to post any and all bits of advice helpful or not. I would love to learn as much as possible. 

 

My history with reefing: 

   Back in 2011 my dad started a 90 gal reef     tank (currently for sell in Memphis area)  He use to run a reef tank care business and he had a 250 him self to care for. For 3 years we had this 90 gal and it progressed very well. Too bad for the bigger tank jitters caused him to loose interest when he couldn’t get one. So I took over for the following year. I did basic tasks such as testing and waterchanges. The tank crashed ofcorse being that we ran out of salt and a 16 year old was taking care of it. I’m now 19 and have a nano that I started in feb. 

 

My tank: 

10 gal Walmart special tank (was a fresh water tank years ago) 

 Maybe 20 lbs of rock. Reused from the 90gal 

 42 hydor and a 600 hydor power head 

ac 20 w/ Chemi-pure elite and puregen

2 os clowns 

1 dunken coral  

1 colony of purple and neon orange zoas 

1 mystery coral (he reminded me of a sour apple coral so didn’t even ask about it)  

small cuc

 

so the tank has been set up for about 5 months now and only have had live stock for maybe 2 months now. 

 

[Kyle99]

Here is the pictures of the tank from when I just got coral and before the remodel of the rocks. 

Here are some photos from today after the remodel. 

[Kyle99]

 

Well I guess remodeling the tank against my own judgment may have caused me to loose one of my clowns.... theory is that when I removed a rock and moved the sand it released a lot of ammonia and caused the water to be poisonous. Even tho I did a 3-4 gal waterchange yesterday I guess it wasn’t enough. 

 

Ammonia is at .25 or lower (api test kits). 

Nitrates are at 0 

nitrates are at 10 ppm ATM

 

hes still breathing but heavily. He’s resting at the bottom and barely moving. 

There’s still hope. Just wish I didn’t have work today so I could have watched the tank. 

The other clown is swimming around happy as can be. no signs of stress what so ever. 

 

P.s. could too much cure t have an effect on the clowns by having to work too hard 

[Kyle99]

Update. We lost one of the clowns. Other is happy as can be just -1. Lesson learned tho and just keep Reefing 

[Phill2222]

How long did you wait before adding such a huge bio load? Corals and etc.?

[ReefGoat]

7 minutes ago, Phill2222 said:

How long did you wait before adding such a huge bio load? Corals and etc.?

From reading his first post it says the tank has been set up for 5 months and the livestock in there for 2 months. With two clowns and like 4 frags....I wouldn't call that a huge bio load. I suspect it's something besides that. A tank should be able to handle 4 frags and 2 clowns at 3 months. IMO for what it's worth. 

[ReefGoat]

Just out of curiosity, do you mix your own water? Or do you buy it from the LFS? Do you test your salinity? How are you topping off? 

[Phill2222]

6 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

Just out of curiosity, do you mix your own water? Or do you buy it from the LFS? Do you test your salinity? How are you topping off? 

Are you askin me?

[ReefGoat]

No I was asking the Original poster. Sorry for the confusion

[Phill2222]

6 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

No I was asking the Original poster. Sorry for the confusion

No problem 🙂

[Kyle99]

On 6/24/2018 at 12:15 PM, ReefGoat said:

Just out of curiosity, do you mix your own water? Or do you buy it from the LFS? Do you test your salinity? How are you topping off? 

I mix my own. I use a refractometer to pin point 1.025. I am using io’s reef crystals. I top off with rodi water. 

 

I want to say that the ammonia was due to me rescapeing the tank. I removed a large rock and moved a bunch of sand (I think the sand is what did it). it’s a rather deep sand bed so if you ask old school guys it’s a time bomb but some people say it helps with extra bacteria 

[Kyle99]

i did a water change on large out of panicing trying to save my little buddy on Saturday but later that night he was gone. Went by the lfs and they where having a sale today and sales are everything to me on a budget lol. Replaced the fish and also two new frags (I did ask the lfs if they could hold them if needed) . I’ve tested the water and everything is still good. Just letting them get use to the tank and open up before posting any pictures. 

[Kyle99]

Hey guys com in ng back for another update. Everything is doing awesome. My zoas are getting larger, my mushroom is growing and my Duncans are growing as well. 

 

Problem #1

I finaly bought a white bta. Was it my best buy? No. I bought him because I was impatient. But after getting him home and reading about "white" btas I've realised that he's in really rough shape. Everything I've seen says he's bleached. Which isn't good for any coral. After watching him for the week it seems that he was split from the MC by the cut method. He has small bubbles on one side and almost none on the other. I have fed him once with a chunk of silver side Fish. this was on Monday. I just tried feeding him today and also tried last night. He went eat. So I need some advice. 

 

Problem #2 

I've been fighting nitrates the whole time this tank has been up. Its starting to kill me because I everything would be better off if they were lower. I am now doing 2 3ish gal waterchanges a week. I just did one Monday (because I didn't have time to Sunday) and today I tested to find out I'm at 40ppm on nitrates. Idk what else to do. I've tried everything other than just pouring bottles of "removers" in. I've used puregen and chato (this started to die off so I removed it). 

 

Any advice would be very helpful. 

[Kyle99]

Almost forgot photos. Also give it up to the galaxy s9 camera. Really impressed with it. 

[banasophia]

Your corals are looking really nice! I especially love your cloves and knopia, they look great together!! What do you think is the source of your nitrates ... what are you feeding, and how often?

[Kyle99]

I'm feeding every two days 1ml of phyto and other some omega pellets or a fourth of a cube of frozen fish food. Thank you for the complements. I love seeing everything grow because it let's me know I'm doing something lol. 

On 7/11/2018 at 7:57 PM, banasophia said:

Your corals are looking really nice! I especially love your cloves and knopia, they look great together!! What do you think is the source of your nitrates ... what are you feeding, and how often?

 

[Kyle99]

Also I feed chunks of silver sides to the duncans,the green round one(still don't know the name of it), and the bra when he will eat. 

[Kyle99]

Update. 

 

Not much has gone on. Except that my nephew put my light in the tank and ruined it. 

 

I upgraded to a kessil a80 tuna blue. Got a really good deal for the whole setup. 

 

Not a big fan of the color on this light. Very blue and white.... (tuna blue duh) with my old light it had more of a day light with color and looked good. 

 

Also to be rated will be the spread. Granted its only 3 inches off the water till the parts come in. I hope it spreads more with the hanger and looks like my past full spred led fixture. 

 

P.s. Holy shimmer!!! 

[Kyle99]

Its about time for a real update. 

 

After lettin my coral adjust to the new kessil a80 everything is doing amazing. The coral are fuller,fatter,and just seem plain happy. 

 

Btw if anyone has a standard 10gal with the same light about 7-8 inches off the water heres a starting point 

 

Time Color Intensity

 8:00  0%    10%

10:00 10%  30%

12:00 25%  60%

14:00 45%  60%

16:00 30%  30%

18:00 0%     0%

P.s. i added a hour from 12 on for my veiwing time. If i get negative effects ill cut the morning time back. 

 

Enjoy the pictures. I figured out how to get the camra to show it as close to seeing it in person.