Just another Nuvo 10: Zoa advice requested

[Humblefish]

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but metronidazole (e.g. Seachem Metroplex) also treats brook.

 

However, being metro can be slow acting I would give the affected fish either a 5 min FW dip or a 90 min bath in Ruby Reef Rally for temporary relief. There is even anecdotal evidence that a single Rally bath will sometimes knock brook out.

[wallyman424]

With the recent unpleasantness behind us, the tank has been doing great. Parameters are all stable, zoas and hammer are growing great. No nuissance algae (yet). I also got a clearview classic acrylic lid. Really makes the tank a lot nicer. The lid fits better and passes a lot more light through the mesh and rim. After the upcoming holidays I'm going to make another trek to WWC to get a few more corals. Thinking an acan and a duncan or torch.

 

 

 

[Snazxy]

Niceeeee! I love that top!

[wallyman424]

Updated pictures. Good coral growth, new heads on both zoas. The hammer coral continues to grow and now appears to be in the early stages of splitting. I should have two hammer coral heads soon. Parameters all good, just continuing on with the 2 gallon weekly water changes. Last week I had a little diatom bloom, changed out my chemipure and its all gone. That was right at the 2 month mark, so I think the two small packets are good for a month and a half or so.

 

Been a little too busy to get any new frags, but hopefully will do in the next couple weeks.

 

[wallyman424]

Tank Update:

 

Went to WWC today, got three new corals. Also got 2 nerite snails and 2 blue legged hermits. Tank has been great. Currently at week 7 of 8 Fallow.

 

- Key Lime chalice

 

- Green Fungia

 

- Forget its name Favia

 

Full tank: thinking the chalice and the Favia will live on the two top ledges. Plate will continue on in the sand.

 

[wallyman424]

Anyone know what's going on with my fungia? Today is the second day it's been pissed off and retracted like this. Water params are fine and stable, regular weekly 2 gallon changes. 

 

I have a camera on the tank and two days ago it was fine, then the cleaner shrimp jumped on top of it and maybe picked at it for 5 seconds and it's been retracted since then. Is this normal for plates to be pissed for this long? 

 

before

After

[wallyman424]

Caught in the act. 

[Daniel91]

What are you referring to when you say all parameters stable? Alk, ca and mag? How about a temperature or salinity swing from water change? What's your water source. I recently found 66 TDS in my LFS RO water.

 

By caught in the act, are you talking about the woman in the back o r shrimp? 😄

 

The shrimp may have bugged it but it should be not be closed up for so long.

 

[wallyman424]

5 minutes ago, Daniel91 said:

What are you referring to when you say all parameters stable? Alk, ca and mag? How about a temperature or salinity swing from water change? What's your water source. I recently found 66 TDS in my LFS RO water.

 

By caught in the act, are you talking about the woman in the back o r shrimp? 😄

 

The shrimp may have bugged it but it should be not be closed up for so long.

 

Yeah, can alk and mag are 460/8.4/1450 as they always are. I make my own rodi and test before mixing. 0 TDS. Salinity is 1.025. nitrates register as 0. 

 

And yes, the shrimp. Not the wife. 😂

[Tamberav]

Nitrates at 0 is not ideal but I have had my plate look pissed for maybe 2 days at a time. 

[wallyman424]

I'm hoping it's just super pissed. It still has color and nothing's been sloughing off, no slime or anything. 

 

Today's my regular water change day, so I'll just do that and hold the course. Maybe dip it tomorrow if it doesn't look better. 

[Clown79]

My shrimp would steal food from my plate. Did the same thing. Would tick it off but it would expand fully within no time.

 

 

Now I have found that plates are finicky with placement, especially if it's in a new home.

 

They don't like tons of light or a lot of strong heavy flow.

 

They prefer indirect light and a gentle flow.

 

The worst thing you can do is move it. They close up when touched/bothered and will stay closed for a duration when ticked off.

 

Let it acclimate. It's only been a few days.

 

It will need feeding but not until its tentacles are out and allow the tentacles to bring the food to its mouth.

 

The tank looks great.

 

 

Chalice- they can sting, try to keep it away from others. 

[wallyman424]

Signs of life! Lights don't come on till later, but I can see little tentacle sprouts now. He's a very tender hearted little plate coral. 

 

[wallyman424]

Look who's baaaackkkk

 

[wallyman424]

Happy to report that things are going very well. Mounted my favia and chalice. Plate coral is doing great, has found himself a spot wedged between a rock and the front of the glass. Zoas are growing and so is the hammer. I'll probably be going for another set of clowns in the next couple weeks. My PTSD from the previous events is wearing off.

 

Again, all I've been doing is weekly 2 gallon water changes with Reef Crystals. ATO has 1/2 tsp of KALK +2 per gallon. Media rack has filter floss (changed weekly), and 2 bags of chemipure nano (changed every 2-2.5 months). I feed the tank daily to every other day with either pellets or flakes. Every other week or so I'll give it a shot of reef roids.

 

[Cal559]

Love the tank!  Which rock and sand did you go with?

[wallyman424]

On 2/9/2019 at 9:23 PM, Cal559 said:

Love the tank!  Which rock and sand did you go with?

Caribsea pink Fiji for the sand. The rock is brs reef saver, smashed up and epoxied together. 

[jack1978]

Great looking tank - love the scape.

[wallyman424]

Its been about a month now, but I got another paired set of fancy snowflake clowns and theyve been doing great. Otherwise I'm getting good growth from all the corals.

 

Only issue is I have a case of what I think is black beard algae. Just little tufts that formed on the rocks and were forming little balls in the sand. I vacuum them up when I do water changes and they kept coming back. I've upped my chemipure changes so that now I run two bags and change one every two weeks. That has definitely stopped the progression. From what Ive read there's not really a great way to get rid of the stuff. It doesn't bother me much, once I get some more corals on the rockwork it'll eventually get covered up.

 

I had been using Kalk+2 in my ATO, however I can't really get my ALK above 7.5 without my Ca and MG going above ideal parameters, so I'm debating whether to get a dosing pump and do 3 part dosing. I probably won't because things are going well now and I don't want to mess with it.

 

 

[LazyFish]

I think the one in the back looks like a frostbite clown. 😁 I like the pattern.looks good paired with the other one. 

[wallyman424]

20 minutes ago, LazyFish said:

I think the one in the back looks like a frostbite clown. 😁 I like the pattern.looks good paired with the other one. 

Sorry yes, you are correct, frostbite not snowflake! They have been hosting the hammer coral lately which is pretty cool to watch.

[wallyman424]

Caught one of the clowns hosting the hammer coral. Was pretty cool to watch

 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/V137xSLbynUgHyCZVRdbsjnj-Dm3s0eQeoOYeT3LDhnQzw7MtEzzi2sMaOuBxQ_iY8YDJzcMKWr8r3GgpLIjw-JkYMbIXFXBBTAzGl9pMBExN5oK7XdvnOV0XfjOgvKixwKzrSyoWg=w2400

[AyeNick]

Would love to see an update! I love your whole setup and I'd like to replicate it for my own setup that I'm planning. Simplicity is very important for me as I'm very busy and less is more. Question, I'm thinking of having a skimmer in the 2nd chamber; but I'd like to consider alternatives. What filtration do you run in the second chamber?

[wallyman424]

On 6/24/2019 at 12:56 PM, AyeNick said:

Would love to see an update! I love your whole setup and I'd like to replicate it for my own setup that I'm planning. Simplicity is very important for me as I'm very busy and less is more. Question, I'm thinking of having a skimmer in the 2nd chamber; but I'd like to consider alternatives. What filtration do you run in the second chamber?

Definitely the simplest tank I've had. Weekly maintenance really only totals 20 or so minutes. I don't run anything besides my probes in the 2nd chamber. All I've got is the in tank media basket in the first chamber. It houses filter floss that I change every 3 days and 2 packets of chemipure nano. I change one of them every two weeks. 

 

As for skimmers I haven't really heard any good experiences from folks with skimmers on a tank this small. I could be wrong, but at this size I think they're more trouble than they're worth. I stick to the filter floss and weekly 2 gallon water changes for nutrient export.

[AyeNick]

Would love to see another update!

Since two clownfish will grow to be a lot for a 10 gallon tank like that, I highly recommend purchasing MarinePure Cubes from AlgaeBarn. They are extremely porous with about 720 square feet of surface area for bacteria to grow. They are extremely powerful tools to stabilize tanks. I have one of them running in my third chamber of my inTank. I have 4 more at the bottom of my 2nd rear sump chamber of the nuvo 10. 

 

Would you ever consider getting "easy" sps such as montipora cap or bird of paradise?