Michika's 28g long nano-esque tank!

[Skimmerking]

I was just looking at your webpage Catherine. Have you thought about the black sand that you had in your tank, caused the bloom of algae

[michika]

Originally Posted by asmodeus

I was just looking at your webpage Catherine. Have you thought about the black sand that you had in your tank, caused the bloom of algae

Yeah I looked into it. I can safely rule it out now though. I still have GHA and I have no sand. That sucks though. I do however have a better idea considering I moved and some parameters changed. I'm now thinking that whatever parameters were constant before and after the move may be to blame, e.g. the rock, the fish, etc. as they were the same before and after the move.

I'm glad nobody is coming over here for the holidays....my tank is a bit drab to look at. Maybe I should print out photos of prettier tanks and tape them up over my glass?

[michika]

More bad news...

- My sixline wrasse died. I'm not sure what happened, it was fine on Wednesday morning, and on Thursday I found the corpse. There wasn't enough left of the fish to even guess what happened.
- The neon green algae has returned and its stronger then ever.
- The cactus coral died, and I had high hopes for its recovery.
- My urchin died.

All water parameters test normal, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite all at 0ppm. I'm trying to convince someone to head out to one of the boxing day sales on my behalf to pick up stuff. Nothing like getting sick on the ONE day you have to shop all the holiday sales.

[michika]

I'm going to pre-face this post with a huge thank you to Snappy. I was over to pick up macro algae yesterday and came home with a few beautiful SPS peices to get me started again. They all look great, polyps out and everything. Thank you very much Greg for your kindness.

I'm finally getting a change to start dosing Aqua Connect's Energy Elements product. I now have a very small collection of SPS and my water parameters have been all in line for some time. Why not start now while I repopulate my system.

So today's parameters (Jan. 6th)
SG 1.025
Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia 0ppm
Mg 1500
dKH 10
Ca 500

I started using Ocean Pro Pure salt in December, and so far without running reactors I'm finding all my levels are a bit high for my liking. I think I will be switching back to Red Sea Pro after I finish with this experiment. However I don't want to skew any results by switching back now.

I'm using all three products 1, 2, and 3. The recomended dosing is 1mL per 100l, which converts to about 1mL per 26g. Per the website this is assuming a heavily populated coral tank. Since my tank currently isn't well populated I'm cutting down my dosage to 1/4 of the recommendation, so 0.5ml per 50g.

The website claims to do the following;
-enhance the intensity of colors
-support a better growth
-enhance vitality
-improve the appearance of the polyps
-not boost algae growth

Photos. I'm going to try and photograph each coral at least once a month, and post FTS one a week. If I can offer more frequent photos, I will.

Today's FTS:


from today:

[michika]

Today is the 3rd day of dosing and I think I'm already seeing some minor results. So far I'm just seeing increased polyp extension on all the sps, and my hammer coral is more inflated and elongated then it was before. Granted its very early in this test, but its nice to see results. On the other hand increased polyp extension could also be a sign of the SPS fully settling into my system.

[michika]

I switched out my (dirty) batwing reflector for a luminarc reflector tonight. The change is huge, however the drawback is the crazy shading from the reflector.


I'm not sure if even moving the PC lights further to the sides is going to do anything for the shading. I can't see how to get any PC light to the center of the tank.


Shot down the right side of the tank


SPS today after 3 days of dosing. I think all the polyps are out more in all my pieces, even ones I've had in the system for a month, or the surviving zoas and LPS.


I've decided to go to 250w MH, regardless of the reflector. Its too hard to get 175w bulbs reliably, and I'm thinking of moving that setup onto my QT system. I just have to buy a ballast, which I'll do tomorrow.

Next up on my todo list:
- hook up kalk stirrer on the kalk. reactor (I'm sick of hand shaking)
- Swap out 175w ballast, and put in new 250w ballast and new bulb
- Re-plumb my skimmer
- Put in a new sump
- New drain design for the overflow

[Snappy]

Catherine you are very welcome, I hope things continue to turn around for you. I do recommend that the type of birdnest be kept in a low light area and it will get green hues through it and the polyps will turn green as well. It is a bit bleached from the location it was in high in my tank before I cut it down. The acros & digitata you got should colour up in no time under the strong light assuming your nitrates are kept in check. Anyway, let me know how those experimental pieces do and we can get you set up from there. Good luck.

[michika]

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely make sure that the birdsnest is placed low as I want to see those lovely greens again.