25g of Acans!

[Llorgon]

Well not yet, but soon!

 

I did a reset on this tank almost a year ago now. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it at first, then I went through a long layoff. Now life is back on track and I have a plan for the tank, acans!

 

They are colourful, fun to feed and I have had great success with them in the past.

 

The current setup is:

IM25 lagoon 

Radion xr 30, gen 3 maybe? It came with the tank a number of years ago.

About 20lbs live rock

Live sand

Mp10

Sicce 1.5

 

Current stock:

2x clowns

1x royal Gramma

A number of snails

 

Here is what the tank looks like today

 

The plan is to cut off the Kenya trees and move them to my larger tank. I'll leave the toadstool, hammer and mystery hitchhiker coral and the rest will eventually be acans.

 

Speaking of mystery coral, anyone know what this is?

 

It was just a little green spec when I got the rocks and hasn't grown a ton.

[Llorgon]

Since I have 10 acan frags coming on Tuesday and I have been dealing with cyano, as you can see from the pictures. I did some water testing.

 

Alk: 8.4

Cal: 425

Mag: 1350

Nitrate: 0 

Phosphate: 0.432

 

I honestly wasn't expecting phosphates to be that high! I also thought I would have some nitrates!

 

I'll have to figure out a good way of lowering the phosphates and raising nitrates. I don't have a ton of nutrient export on this tank. Mostly skimmer and water changes.

[natalia_la_loca]

nice concept! Re: mystery coral, does it have a skeleton? Pic is blurry. 

 

I’d dose Neonitro or similar to get nitrate up. Your phosphate is fine IMO.

 

For the cyano, if it were my tank I’d try live phyto…my Evo is my first tank that’s never had cyano and I’ve dosed it with live phyto since the beginning.

[Llorgon]

16 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

nice concept! Re: mystery coral, does it have a skeleton? Pic is blurry. 

I was trying to get a closer picture, but my stupid phone doesn't seem to want to focus on it. Anyways, no skeleton, seems like a soft corals of some sort.

16 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I’d dose Neonitro or similar to get nitrate up. Your phosphate is fine IMO.

I added some neo nitro yesterday and today. Hopefully that will slowly raise it up.

16 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

For the cyano, if it were my tank I’d try live phyto…my Evo is my first tank that’s never had cyano and I’ve dosed it with live phyto since the beginning.

Hmm. I had been dosing live phyto before and still had cyano, but red instead of green. I might have to try it again though.

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

5 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I was trying to get a closer picture, but my stupid phone doesn't seem to want to focus on it. Anyways, no skeleton, seems like a soft corals of some sort.

I added some neo nitro yesterday and today. Hopefully that will slowly raise it up.

Hmm. I had been dosing live phyto before and still had cyano, but red instead of green. I might have to try it again though.

 

 

 

If no skeleton, I’d guess toadstool…maybe a different morph than the one you have already, or maybe it’s recovering from some kind of stressor and that’s why it looks different.

 

I’m hesitant to recommend phyto if you’ve used it before without success. I’ve heard of people using it to treat nuisance algae, but I used it from day one in my Evo and never had a cyano problem to begin with, so maybe it’s not a fair comparison. Another thing you could look into is Dr Tim’s products—I think they have a protocol for treating cyano with beneficial bacteria, but I haven’t used it myself. 

[Llorgon]

On 2/18/2024 at 4:26 PM, natalia_la_loca said:

 

If no skeleton, I’d guess toadstool…maybe a different morph than the one you have already, or maybe it’s recovering from some kind of stressor and that’s why it looks different.

You know you might be right now that I look at it. Odd that it doesn't grow as fast as the other one, if it is indeed a toadstool.

On 2/18/2024 at 4:26 PM, natalia_la_loca said:

I’m hesitant to recommend phyto if you’ve used it before without success. I’ve heard of people using it to treat nuisance algae, but I used it from day one in my Evo and never had a cyano problem to begin with, so maybe it’s not a fair comparison. Another thing you could look into is Dr Tim’s products—I think they have a protocol for treating cyano with beneficial bacteria, but I haven’t used it myself. 

I used it on this tank before I did the restart. I honestly didn't really notice a difference in anything.

[Llorgon]

In preparation for the shipment of Acans to arrive I removed the Kenya trees. The bases were pretty thick and hard to cut through, but I got as close as I could with the scissors.

 

I also did a big water change since the Kenya trees were shooting out a lot of stuff when cut, added some carbon and did a round of aptasia killing. 

 

Then I found out the order is delayed until Wednesday... So the tank will look kinda empty until then.

[Llorgon]

Acans arrived. I will try moving them off the sand after a day or two.

[Llorgon]

I plan to glue some of the acans to the rocks this weekend. I will give them another day or so to settle, but so far they are all looking good!

 

I am working on some stocking plans because the tank looks pretty empty for having 3 fish in it already.

 

Inverts

bumblebee shrimp pair

peppermint shrimp - for the aptasia
fighting conch
3 x sexy anemone shrimp - I hear they do well in groups?

emerald crab - I have some bubble algae, but not a ton
& the normal trochus, cerith and astrea snails

 

Fish

Currently I have:

2x clowns

1x royal gramma

 

I think I would like to add one more fish. Something that is active and out lots since the royal gramma pretty much only comes out for food.

 

I'm just not sure what that fish would be, yet.

[Llorgon]

Got the acans glued to the rock. Most seem to be happy. I'll try feeding some reef roids tomorrow.

 

I also switched the mp10 to lagoon mode... I think. It was on reef crest and it looked like a couple of the acans were getting blasted.

[Llorgon]

Acans are doing well so far. Look how big this one is!

 

I have been dosing nitrate daily for the last week since nitrates were at zero. So hopefully when I test water tonight it won't be zero anymore. 

 

I am dealing with a bunch of green cyano in the sand and rocks. Maybe raising nitrates will help get rid of it. 

 

I'm still trying to finalize fish stocking. I'm hoping to keep with captive bred options if possible. I have also started trying to source out my inverts list. Peppermint shrimp either seem to be sold out or $40/each!

[Llorgon]

Still dealing with lots of green cyano. The acans are doing well, but how the heck do I get them to stay on the rocks?! I glued all of them and most already need to be reglued. 

 

I have also been dosing nitrates because they were at 0. I'm going to test water tomorrow night to see where they are at now after a week and a bit of dosing.

[Llorgon]

Tank is doing well minus the green cyano problem. I'm thinking of ordering some chemi clean to deal with that. 

 

I also want to add the acans and I think it's a bowerbanki? From my 75g to this tank. They do have algae on some of them though. What's the best way to remove the algae so I don't introduce it to this tank? Or do I leave it and just get all my cuc in order before moving them?

[Llorgon]

I tested my water tonight and I think I know where my cyano issues are coming from now!

 

Alk: 9.4

Cal: 430

Nitrate: 75

Phos: 0.39

 

So my nutrients are really high! I'm going to work on lowering those before doing any sort of chemi clean treatment. I'm surprised I don't have much algae, but I guess the snails are doing their jobs!

 

Alkalinity has been creeping up so I am going to lower my dosing a bit. Calcium has been trending down so I will have to up my calcium dosing.

 

I think I will wait to get my nutrients back down before I move my other acans over. Although the acans in the tank are looking pretty happy right now.

[Llorgon]

I did a big water change on Friday, trying to get out as much of the cyano as I could. The cyano is back and not much better...so that's a fail. 

 

I ordered a captive bred peppermint shrimp to help with my aptasia problem and a few cheap corals for the tank. I'm hoping those come this week!

 

I'm dealing with some Coraline die off on my rocks. Any idea on what would cause it?

[Llorgon]

Corals and shrimp came today. 

 

The peppermint shrimp was much smaller than I was expecting!

[Staticmoves]

What do you suspect as main cause of high NO3 and PO4.

in that instance, I would consider running chemipure blue and monitor until 

NO3 10.0

PO4 0.10

the above is “if” WC’s are not doing it for you.

I am having the opposite issue right now, where I may need to start dosing both.

 Best of luck, frags look great.

[Llorgon]

14 hours ago, Staticmoves said:

What do you suspect as main cause of high NO3 and PO4.

in that instance, I would consider running chemipure blue and monitor until 

NO3 10.0

PO4 0.10

the above is “if” WC’s are not doing it for you.

I am having the opposite issue right now, where I may need to start dosing both.

 Best of luck, frags look great.

Phosphate was always high. Probably from feeding the acans, although I try not to let too much of the reef roids miss them.

 

Nitrate was me dosing and not testing soon enough. Nitrate was at 0 so I was trying to bring it up and went a bit overboard!

[Staticmoves]

4 hours ago, Llorgon said:

Phosphate was always high. Probably from feeding the acans, although I try not to let too much of the reef roids miss them.

 

Nitrate was me dosing and not testing soon enough. Nitrate was at 0 so I was trying to bring it up and went a bit overboard!

Well knowing the cause and the solution has you in the drivers seat….😎

[Staticmoves]

On 3/19/2024 at 12:32 PM, Llorgon said:

I'm dealing with some Coraline die off on my rocks. Any idea on what would cause it?

During big WC’s if water level is left low for extended periods of time, exposing coralline to your light unfiltered, could cause some bleaching and die off.

A possibility to consider.

[Llorgon]

15 hours ago, Staticmoves said:

Well knowing the cause and the solution has you in the drivers seat….😎

water changes seem to be helping get it back down to reasonable levels. That and cutting back on the acan feeding.

15 hours ago, Staticmoves said:

During big WC’s if water level is left low for extended periods of time, exposing coralline to your light unfiltered, could cause some bleaching and die off.

A possibility to consider.

The water doesn't get that low when doing water changes. Funny enough the coraline on the back wall that does get exposed during water changes is fine.

[Llorgon]

I shut down my 75g and moved all the corals that didn't sell to this tank, which ended up being all the acans, bowerbanki and some GSP. So that works out in keeping with my acan dominant tank. 

 

The acans need some TLC from being in the 75g. I did a hydrogen peroxide dip before putting them in the tank. That killed of some of the algae, but not all. I might have to do another dip to get the rest. 

 

I traded some rocks in the 75g for a big berghia, hopefully that will start eating the aptasia!

 

I'm still dealing with lots of green cyano and the Coraline on the rocks seems to get white spots then colour back up then get white spots again. I haven't tested my water in awhile so I wonder if calcium is fluctuating a bit too much.

 

I added a tiny peppermint shrimp a few weeks ago. I haven't seen it since adding it to the tank so I can only assume it's died, which is a real bummer, but it was very small.

[Llorgon]

On Wednesday I emptied my 75g tank, removed the sand and filled it back up with cold tapwater and added a whole bunch of vinegar.

 

Before I did that I went through the sand and got all the snails I could find. I was bummed that I didn't find the money cowrie and assumed it had been hiding in the rocks I had sold. 

 

Last night after work I start getting ready to clean all the Coraline off the glass and what do I see, but the money cowrie on the front glass! I removed it and put it in the 25g. I assumed it was probably dead, but it seems to be moving around and eating algae again.