Just another Nuvo 10: Zoa advice requested

[wallyman424]

End of July update:

 

I've made a few larger changes to the management of my tank. I switched from IO reef crystals to tropic marin pro reef salt. I was getting tired of the random scaling in my mixing bucket and figured whatever that stuff was couldnt be good for my tiny tank. The second is that I'm dosing vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner. I had an issued with some random turf or hair algae that was forming little balls everywhere. I was getting it very heavily in the sand and all over the rocks. I've been using this stuff since the middle of june and its made a fantastic improvement in my tank. The algae no longer grows in the sand, and the algae on the rocks has decreased by more than 50%. My corals look a lot happier and I've had a lot more growth in the last month.

 

Nick, I  used to have some purigen in my first chamber, but removed it when it started looking a little funky. I may add some of those cubes in the 2nd chamber. Couldnt hurt to have some more porous rock. And yes, I may add some easier SPS. Ive just been too busy to make the trek to WWC recently.

[AyeNick]

What ATO reservoir do you use? Also do you use the Tunze Nano ATO or regular?

[wallyman424]

8 hours ago, AyeNick said:

What ATO reservoir do you use? Also do you use the Tunze Nano ATO or regular?

The reservoir is a 1 gallon container from Target. I use the tunze regular. I like that it has the optical switch and a backup float switch, as well as I already had it laying around. It's been flawless.

[wallyman424]

August update:

 

Ok at this point I'm going to sing the praises of Vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner. This stuff is AMAZING. I was doing everything I could, weekly 2 gallon water changes, changing filter floss, my phos and nitrates were undectable, but I was having tons of these little fuzz balls everywhere. Couple months after I started using vibrant and it's completely gone and my corals are happier than ever. 

 

I was very concerned about trying this stuff, but I literally could not find any bad reviews or experiences. It just works.

[wallyman424]

Two updates in one month!!!

 

So everything continues to go well. Just took a trip to WWC today. Got a Rainbow aussie lord, a single head of candycane coral and a nice piece of birdsnest.

 

Full tank shot:

 

Zoa garden growth:

 

 

New additions:

 

Rainbow Aussie Lord

 

Candycane

 

Birdsnest:

 

[wallyman424]

Here we go, got the new corals mounted to my main rock. Whatever I'm doing now seems to be working great. Everything is happy and growing.

 

 

[mcarroll]

On 7/28/2019 at 6:46 PM, wallyman424 said:

I switched from IO reef crystals to tropic marin pro reef salt. I was getting tired of the random scaling in my mixing bucket and figured whatever that stuff was couldnt be good for my tiny tank.

It's supposedly clay and has something to do with trace elements.  

 

Instant Ocean leaves a brownish crust, Tropic Marin leaves a blackish one.   As far as I can tell it doesn't affect anything at all tho. 

 

On 8/9/2019 at 6:57 PM, wallyman424 said:

I was doing everything I could, weekly 2 gallon water changes, changing filter floss, my phos and nitrates were undectable

That sounds like a good recipe for forcing "pest" algae to grow instead of Coraline algae.  Green algae are able to use phosphates that are bound onto the mineral substrates in the tank, and they are not dependent on nitrates for nitrogen, actually preferring less reduced forms (eg fish pee).  

 

Taking a moderate approach toward nutrients (not anti) and a proactive stance toward removal of algae and toward installation of appropriate cleanup crew is all it takes 90% of the time.  (Green algae and corals share the same environment in the wild. Herbivores make the difference as to whether corals dominate. So if you choose, the same can be true in your tank.)

[AyeNick]

Been a while! update?

[wallyman424]

As the reeftank world turns:

 

So at the end of november my tank had a hiccup. To preface I've been continuing my same old maintenance routine. My zoas were looking pretty pissed off, my hammer coral was not opening as much as before and lost a couple tips. I did a couple water changes thinking there may have been some contaminant and it didn't really get better. They really went from looking amazing to pissed off over the course of a week (works been very busy so I haven't been home much).

 

 

 

 

So I took a step back and did some testing. Ca and Alk had dropped off from my previous levels, probably due to the increased consumption in the tank with more hard coral growth. I adjusted the amount of Kalk +mg in my ATO. I also got a hannah ULR tester for my phos and it was reading 0.00. I know I have been running a very clean tank, but I think as some folks had said above I was running it too clean, and maybe that in addition to the Ca/Alk dropoff resulted in this coral stress. So since the end of november I've been targeting a phos of .01-.03, doing water changes every other week rather than weekly and feeding heavier than before. Everything has gotten better and is growing again with one exception. My neon green zoas are dead, theyve all retracted and gone away. The orange ones made a full recovery, I did not lose one head.

 

Check out the crazy birdsnest growth compared to my previous pictures. This thing is a prolific grower. Plate coral is happy. Candy cane is in the process of splitting.

 

 

 

 

[wallyman424]

Can I get some advice on what to do with these zoas (if anything).

 

On my orange colony of got a handful of heads that are just closed up, they don't seem to open and some around them look a little pissed, while the rest looks fine. They had all 2-3  months ago looked like they were going to die and completely recovered. And a week or two ago the zoa colony next door all packed up shop and died. Looking as close as I can, I don't see anything thats definitely zoa pox. Theres nothing on them that looks like the white pustules I've seen online.

 

Water quality and parameters are fine. They are the heads closest to the acan, maybe 1.5-2 inches away. Maybe theyre getting stung? I haven't seen any tentacle warfare.

 

Pulling that piece of rock out to dip would be difficult but not impossible, just want some input before I do. Also need to decide if I treat for zoa pox or just other assorted pests.

 

[AyeNick]

its update time big boy

[banasophia]

Yes, how’s the tank doin? Looks like you never got a reply here about the zoas... did you end up figuring out what was going on? Zoas and palys are really still a mystery to me...