chappys nano

nice tank! any FTS?

 

fts! have moved the hammer towards the front, not sure if its getting much less light but will see if it helps




also, the acro doesnt seem to be enjoying its stay

hope it doesnt get any worse
seeking confirmation of problem here -> http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/stn-108741.html#post1121149

 

uh oh, its impossible to go to the fish shop 'just to have a look', especially when they have awesome new stock in...
got some more(better!) zoos! gonna have to rearrange things to fit them in tho :/

 

being a long weekend thougt i'd just pop in and see how things looked at my LFS. didnt plan on buying much but these zoas were so much better than mine! and i couldnt decide which ones i wanted so i got 3 of the 4 i was looking at :
was a bit of a mission to fit everything in but i wanted to get things a little further away from light anyway.
the real camera is on a trip right now so will have to make do with these horrible phone pics. hoping to get a DSLR when i go on holiday tho so with luck everything will be looking better by then to learn how to use it.

new fts.
not alot of sand left so my conch/faux strombus might need to depart if he cant scoot around without making a mess.


this pic is horribad, these are a really great/unique yellow under normal lights and insane under blue lights! think there might also be some little blue xenias or something stowed away with them


these are slow to open up, but they're a ridiculous mottled green with a red rim. awesome under any lighting!


these are the biggest greenest zoas ive ever seen! also was forced to get the fungia so my gf could make 'fun guy' jokes...


pretty cramped now so will hopefully try and let these grow in a bit before buying anything new.
was suggested i try this aquavitro fuel as well as my coral grow for some better results, anyone have experience with this? the guy at the LFS sold it to me as the greatest thing ever. he said it with confidence tho so i bought it.

 

wow looks good

 

tank looks great man! i would get some better live rock down the road those look very dense

 

wow my tank was starting to look pretty good, unfortunately thats not the case anymore

got a new camera and have been trying to get some decent photos to put up to get some input but i'm starting to think its the curve in the front glass ruining the shots i wanted. the ones through the sides seem to work out ok.

anyway, my tank has been in a selective and slow decline of late its starting to frustrate me.
first, some purple zoas that i had closed up for a while, eventually i noticed a brown slime on them. i tried a dip but was too late.
my hammer died off to just a few heads, and now seems to have given up completely.
i had added 3 small peppermint shrimp, i'm down to 1 and have no idea what happened to the other 2.
also recently another 2 zoa frags have been closed up for longer than normal and i'm expecting to see brown slime in their futures.
the acro i added to see how it went, has not gone well. i'm not particularly suprised by this, but can still see the hint of some polys and am unsure what to do with it.
oh, also my clown has some dark spots but some searching lead me to belive its some stinging and should go away.

so, onto some pictures and the slightly better news



these zoas, which are now my favourite by default, seem to be surviving


these guys are always happy!


these ones seem to be doing well, tho they were a freebie and i would have prefered it to go before some of the others


and heres whats left of the unhappy acro


none of my tests have shown anything exceptionally out of whack
most recently
nitrate and po4 undetectable on api
sg 1.026
cal 400
kh 9.6
mag 1200

is my mag low enough to kill everything?
and could the unhappy acro also be crashing my tank?
i have a larger tank thats been cycling a while that i could throw it in but only has 2x54w t5s atm so would have to put it pretty high. guess it couldnt get much less happy.

didnt mean to write that much! just didnt wanna leave anything out lol
so if anyone has any ideas or anything, that would be tremendous
thanks!

 

Sorry to hear about the issues with the nano. That is what makes them such a challenge sometimes. Most definitely try and bring up the magnesium level to at least 1350, maybe consider another salt mix, one higher in magnesium like Reef Crystals.

The acropora I would not be too concerned about, again really a challenge to keep sps in newer system especially a nano and. The acropora may do better in the other tank up high, but it's anyones guess. I would move it, because I do not see much hope for it currently in the nano.

It's a lovely little tank, probably just needs to become more established. If the issue with the algae film continues with the zoanthids I would increase the flow to them and use a turkey baster to blow off any detritus.

Lately I would not be adding for dosing any products to the tank, but rely on the water changes. Dosing that small of a tank is sooooo tricky.

 

What is your water flow and are you using activated carbon? With the softies you have in there they could be causing the problems with your Acro.

 

ok well i might try shifting the acro and see if that helps it. theres no bioload in the other tank yet so it should be pretty low nutrient.
as for flow, i've tried converting from metric so bear with me...
300gph (1200lph) from canister filter against about 3 feet of head
~160gph (~600lph i think, it came used and unmarked with the chiller) pump running through the chiller and out the vertical spray bar
80gph (300lph) ehiem powerhead in tank
and its a 7 gal (29l) tank
i have just got a 240gph (900lph) koralia to replace the ehiem because i thought flow might be a concern but wasnt sure if it would be too much so havent tried it yet.

im running carbon, rowaphos and purigen in the canister but are probably all near due for a change.
will replace those with a large water change, relocate the acro and cross my fingers.
thanks alot for looking