Myka's 20 gallon Zoa reef (pics Nov 15)

[sphelps]

Have you tried an urchin? I've always had good success with them for controlling bubble algae. Emerald crabs never did much for me but a couple urchins kept a 50gal tank I had completely under control and without them it was bad.

[Myka]

Steve, I think the Diadema urchins are most likely to eat Valonia, but they grow way too huge way too fast to go in to my 90 (or the 20). I did add a Tuxedo urchin to my 90 to see if he would help at all, and I don't think he eats anything other than coralline. An urchin in my Zoa tank would be a disaster since nothing is glued down in there! Which urchin are you thinking of in particular?

[Zoaelite]

Mindy the tank is looking sweet, I'm having a very similar problem in the zoa tank I just can't seem to get the pest algae under control.

Finally broke down and purchased a tiny convict and 1 spot rabbit fish (Which will be re homed shortly after my problem is fixed). I would recommend them (as they have been working wonders so far) but the tank might be a tad bit small. Have any of the emeralds irritated your zoas? I stopped buying them after I watched one mow on my expensive candy apple greens , the whole colony melted shortly after too.
Levi

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Myka

Steve, I think the Diadema urchins are most likely to eat Valonia, but they grow way too huge way too fast to go in to my 90 (or the 20). I did add a Tuxedo urchin to my 90 to see if he would help at all, and I don't think he eats anything other than coralline. An urchin in my Zoa tank would be a disaster since nothing is glued down in there! Which urchin are you thinking of in particular?

I had a tuxedo and a short spine white/multicolored one (not sure of the name), both ate the bubble algae but the white one did eat way more but it also grew pretty big, pretty fast. I stated with both in my 50 and once the bubble algae was almost gone I gave away the bigger white one and the tuxedo was able to keep things under control. The tuxedo definitely worked for me as I didn't have anything else in the tank that ate algae but perhaps these things are hit or miss or it may depend on what other food sources are available as I didn't have much Coraline. I did however often move the urchins into places with lots of bubbles manually and usually the area would be clean the next day.

If everything is loose maybe the best solution would be to take out all the corals and clean everything manually, with such a small tank how hard could it be?

[Myka]

Levi, the Emeralds aren't bothering any of my Zoas so far. *fingers crossed* If they do, I can just move them to the 90.

Steve, time is the issue. I have been working out of province since February, and I am only home for about 30 hours every couple weeks (6 hour drive each way), and am usually pretty burned out when I get home. I just added the Phosban reactor and crabs a couple weeks ago, and I can see a difference already so I'm hoping it will take care of itself. So far, in that tank there is 1 Astraea snail, 2 Emerald crabs, and some Stomatellas. I plan to rip the tank apart at some point anyway since I don't like the rocks that are in there...but when? I have no idea!

[Myka]

Current fish are True Perc and Blue Assessor.

Ok, here's some pics...

Oct 2:




Same as above today...I guess they aren't RPEs!




Look at the closed polyps...what do you see? Grrr! I just rinsed them under the tap and put them back. Tough ole Zoas.




Blue Steels and Darth Mauls:




Purple Death and Tubb's Blues:




Blow Pops:



???




The uhm...greenery...




FTS from today...not impressive! I need to put different rock in there, and clean it up. I'm looking for some Tonga branch for it.

[Myka]

RIP Coral the True Perc. A victim of carpet surfing. She lived in various tanks of mine for over 3 years. She was my oldest fish, and made the trip to SK from BC with me. She can be seen above in the last picture I posted.

[Lance]

[reefwars]

nice zoas the rpe's i have look like your second pic as well ive only had them for 2 days so im curious like yourself if they are or not theyve been opening up really nice ,now only time will tell if they color up any different i only got 2 polyps though

[fishytime]

sorry to here bout your clown Mindy....I know what its like to loose an old clown