Recent tank pics and observations

My little 20 is starting to be something after I broke down and bought some fish, thought I'd share.






I left a lot of room for the frags to fill out, but it's hard to be patient, I may move some rocks around to bring them closer to the light.

Starting dosing kalk again after my tank started looking weird in it's absense with stringy algae and coraline fading. Corals also slowed up. Noticed an improvement recently.

The tunze pump sure looks silly in such a small tank, but the current is great and the fish love the surges it makes. So does my bird's nest coral. I did notice that it was too much for some corals and I had to adjust the flow and direction a bit. It also got rid of my flatworm problem. (Hear that fletch?)

I hope in time the corals will fill out and hide all that stuff.

The Coral Beauty was a recent addition from Gresham. I needed an algae eater. He has definitely started pounding on it which I am happy about.

For such a small tank, the only coral he nips at is the Montipora Digitata. I don't think it's enough to kill it, the stuff grows like weeds, but I do think he's slowed it down and the polyps are not as extended as they used to be. He hasn't touched any other coral though. I was worried about my bird's nest, but nothing so far.

I am always chasing the calcium dragon and although I get it up to 425, I never seem to reach the 450 mark. I need to nail this down. I think part of it are these little black snails I have. I think they are calcium sponges. I suck out hundreds with a siphon every week. I can't get rid of them.

Montipora Caps are some of my favorite corals and for some reason, my frag is the slowest growing thing in the world, I hope when I nail down the calcium, this changes.

ANyway, as with anyone's tank, it's a work in progress! Someday I'll get it down. ;D

 

Your tank is looking Very nice Matt ;D and I am glad your flat worm problem is under control 8) So What do those Tunze power heads run any way? I'll bet with the name Tunze they are pretty pricey ;D :

 

Thanks John.
The 7200 powerhead (turbelle pump) and digital controller and photo cell will run you about $250. You set min and max settings and intervals and the it has a feed button and turns down at night. THey are very powerful and energy saving running on low watts.

 

That is for 1 Correct? :-/

 

Yep. Tunze will tap you out, but their stuff sure is cool. I'm single so I can get away with it right now.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_powerheads_pumps_tunze_turbelle.asp?CartId=

 

Matt, your tank looks great. I love tha red linkia. Sure wish I had one.

I don't know what salt you use, but if you use Oceanic it will get your Ca on up there. I haven't used any Ca supplements since I started using it. In fact I actually wind up mixing 1/2-2/3 of Oceanic and use Instant Ocean for the rest so that the Ca doesn't go too far off the charts. Mine is in the 500 range or a little below. Depends on how often I do wc.

Cindy

 

Thanks Cindy.
Funny you brought up salt mixes, I've been using NSW and I find myself dosing a lot. I don't know if it's because I don't do a lot of water changes and things get stripped out or not. I need to test it prior to putting it in the tank to really know. Sometimes I think the salt mixes might be easier.

 

What is NSW? I did a water change a few days ago and I know its a little over 500 without testing. I probably won't test Ca for a couple of weeks. Give the Oceanic a try and see what you think. It can't hurt anything that I'm aware of. It certainly hasn't hurt mine any as everything continues to thrive. I've had to week out my corals and my hubby has set up a new 12 gl Nano reef at the office. It has done tremendously well there. Its only been up a month and I may need to start weeding out some of the corals there especially the frogspawn and ricordia mushrooms.(water paramaters there are a lot better than at home too)

Cindy

 

[quote author=Matt Rogers link=board=General;num=1104523430;start=0#4 date=12/31/04 at 12:32:31]Yep. Tunze will tap you out, but their stuff sure is cool. I'm single so I can get away with it right now.   [/quote]

Yup I am single also but I still have to feed my kids  [smiley=hehe.gif]It wouldn't look to good If my fish were thriving and my kids were starving

[smiley=hehe.gif]

 

hehhe I hear ya!

[quote author=beamer link=board=General;num=1104523430;start=0#7 date=12/31/04 at 13:33:04]What is NSW?[/quote]

It's natural sea water - pulled off the california coast and filtered through a sand filter. I get it from my fish stores out here for $1 a gallon.

I probably will experiment with salt mixes after testing NSW.