Lucas's 20g nano

[Babydaull]

New torches

New torches

I got this golden tipped torch coral about the same time I got the red scolymia. This coral is doing great, the only that made me angry with his coral is my snail literally bulldozed it right into my hammer and the hammer won the battle. half the coral is white and the other half has color still. I have noticed some improvement. so hopefully it will make a recovery.

I got this blue tipped torched coral at the c-sea frag swap as well. I am pretty sure this is my favorite coral at the moment.

 

[Babydaull]

frogspawn

frogspawn

This is suppose to be a yellow octospawn, but under my lights it green.

Mainly I want you guys to see the other frogspawn I got. dark green arms with dark purple tips. but I also kind of got a cool tank shot as well. I could not pass up on this deal. one of the vendors were selling these for five dollars a head.

So this is a different frogspawn. light green arms with light purple tips. again this frogspawn was 5 dollars a head so I couldn't pass it up. I am however, holding this coral for my uncle who lives in Indianapolis. As soon as he comes up to visit this is going into his tank!

 

[Babydaull]

I would like to install a ro/did system in my apartment for my nano but I wouldn't know what to do with the waste water. Dont have a garden or kids to bathe

what do you mean by waste water

 

[keithrett]

what do you mean by waste water

In addition to producing usable water for your reef tank, RO/DI units also produce waste water which contains elevated amounts of dissolved elements. Waste water is better thought of as "flush water" as it is what the unit uses to dispose of all of the unwanted "stuff" contained within the feed water. The ratio of usable water to waste water can vary depending on the level of TDS in the source water, but typically its around 4:1 (if I'm not mistaken).

 

[nirtza79]

In addition to producing usable water for your reef tank, RO/DI units also produce waste water which contains elevated amounts of dissolved elements. Waste water is better thought of as "flush water" as it is what the unit uses to dispose of all of the unwanted "stuff" contained within the feed water. The ratio of usable water to waste water can vary depending on the level of TDS in the source water, but typically its around 4:1 (if I'm not mistaken).

Down the drain...

 

[Babydaull]

Busy

Busy

I have a pretty decent amount of corals at the moment so I'm going to hold off on purchases and have a grow out stage. so I am going to be looking into things to help coral color and coral growth. as always I'm all ears! what has worked for you guys?

 

[ReefWreak]

I'm trying out Aquaforest products right now. A, B, E, and V are the main ones to get coral coloration. A lot of the SPS guys are trying it out now. I like it because it's one drop of each every other day, after the lights go out at night. Pretty simple. I can't tell whether its psychosomatic or not, but I think I'm finally starting to get more color out of my purple bonsai.

Dunno, that's what I'm working on. I've done prodibio reefkit, and it made a slight difference, and I've done the KZ zeo additives, and it had an impact for a few months, but then the tank returned to normal pretty quickly. Though honestly these are not very clean trials of either product, and as with everything, my tank is in constant fluctuation.

I think the best way to get colors and growth is tank consistency. There are a lot of TOTMs that don't do anything fancy, just frequent water changes, and spot-on parameters, with good light and flow. If you want to mess with the supplements, that's up to you, but I'd make sure you've had 6 months of STABLE parameters and coral health before messing with supplements.

 

[Babydaull]

I'm trying out Aquaforest products right now. A, B, E, and V are the main ones to get coral coloration. A lot of the SPS guys are trying it out now. I like it because it's one drop of each every other day, after the lights go out at night. Pretty simple. I can't tell whether its psychosomatic or not, but I think I'm finally starting to get more color out of my purple bonsai.

Dunno, that's what I'm working on. I've done prodibio reefkit, and it made a slight difference, and I've done the KZ zeo additives, and it had an impact for a few months, but then the tank returned to normal pretty quickly. Though honestly these are not very clean trials of either product, and as with everything, my tank is in constant fluctuation.

I think the best way to get colors and growth is tank consistency. There are a lot of TOTMs that don't do anything fancy, just frequent water changes, and spot-on parameters, with good light and flow. If you want to mess with the supplements, that's up to you, but I'd make sure you've had 6 months of STABLE parameters and coral health before messing with supplements.

I'll probably aim for stable parameters for six months first
Ken and reefwreak you guys will laugh at this but I am pretty sure I am in the market again for a mp10 :headwally:

 

[Babydaull]

The yellow octospawn died suddenly. sadly

 

[ReefWreak]

I'll probably aim for stable parameters for six months first
Ken and reefwreak you guys will laugh at this but I am pretty sure I am in the market again for a mp10 :headwally:

Good plan, and I know how it goes. What got me hooked to the MP10 was finding a few good deals for ~$100 on ebay and going for that. Once I got that first pump, even though it was loud and the bearings were bad, it worked, and I was hooked since then. But take it at your own pace.

The yellow octospawn died suddenly. sadly

Sorry to hear that. Just overnight, gone? Mine have gone through growth and shrinking stages, but my clowns do keep smothering mine to death.

 

[Babydaull]

Update

Update

I did a five gallon water change tonight. Tank is not looking to good. I need to find a happy medium between school work and tank. It p*sses me off seeing corals dying and shrinking.

Still in the market for a mp10!

Also decided to get the aqua c remora up and running... I can't for whatever reason get bubble to travel up the collection cup.

Any thoughts?

 

[ReefWreak]

I would let the skimmer just run for a few days. Sometimes they take time to really get rolling.

Sorry to hear you're still having troubles. I'm on low-maintenance mode with my tank, because I'm lazy. I just swapped out my CA and ALK containers, so I've got 6 more months. All I do normally is empty the skimmer in the sink and dose every 2 days, then feed daily, and clean the glass a few times a week (used to be once a week when I was dosing vodka).

You can definitely make your tank low maintenance, and I highly recommend it. The less you mess around with your tank, the more stable it is, and the more healthy it is.

 

[Babydaull]

I would let the skimmer just run for a few days. Sometimes they take time to really get rolling.

Sorry to hear you're still having troubles. I'm on low-maintenance mode with my tank, because I'm lazy. I just swapped out my CA and ALK containers, so I've got 6 more months. All I do normally is empty the skimmer in the sink and dose every 2 days, then feed daily, and clean the glass a few times a week (used to be once a week when I was dosing vodka).

You can definitely make your tank low maintenance, and I highly recommend it. The less you mess around with your tank, the more stable it is, and the more healthy it is.

Still letting the skimmer do its thing...

I might look into vodka dosing just to give myself an edge.
Do you do water changes?

 

[ReefWreak]

Yes, but not nearly as often as I should. I try to get around to it every 3 weeks or so... but 5 weeks is more likely.

If you start vodka dosing, A. you NEED a skimmer for it to work, and B. start SLOW - no more than 0.5mL per day

 

[Babydaull]

Yes, but not nearly as often as I should. I try to get around to it every 3 weeks or so... but 5 weeks is more likely.

If you start vodka dosing, A. you NEED a skimmer for it to work, and B. start SLOW - no more than 0.5mL per day

so how does 2 gallons every like Thursday sound?
I need to get my skimmer up and running first.. don't most people use mb7 bacteria dosing thing with vodka dosing as well?

Ill for sure start slow.

 

[ReefWreak]

2 gallons is fine. That's about 10% of true water volume per week, which is good.

You need a skimmer to dose carbon.

Most people only dose carbon/vodka by itself. I chose to add microbacter7, as well as have added some prodibio bacteria as well. Vodka dosing will work without any additional bacteria boosting, I just chose to do them together.

 

[Babydaull]

2 gallons is fine. That's about 10% of true water volume per week, which is good.

You need a skimmer to dose carbon.

Most people only dose carbon/vodka by itself. I chose to add microbacter7, as well as have added some prodibio bacteria as well. Vodka dosing will work without any additional bacteria boosting, I just chose to do them together.

2 gallons would be idea, that would be super easy. Alright so I gotta figure out my skimmer and once I do ill be begin dosing vodka. I am also going to pick up some mb7 to increase bacteria diversity and probably some copepods because my blenny loves munching on those.

 

[Babydaull]

update

update

Thanks to reefwreak I will be switching to as low maintenance as possible. I have taken out all filter floss, chemi-pure and purigen. I will still be running carbon in my media reactor(might as well use it if I have it) I am trying to get this dang skimmer up and running. I am buying mb7 and some copepods to increase bacteria diversity and then the copepods to give my blenny some extra food. I did get my hands on another mp10 so I am super excited to set it up. continue with opinions!

 

[ReefWreak]

Keep us updated, I look forward to seeing the results. Just remember to keep siphoning out any detritus that settles, as you do your water changes, and to keep it slow. Fast = bad things happen.

 

[Babydaull]

Keep us updated, I look forward to seeing the results. Just remember to keep siphoning out any detritus that settles, as you do your water changes, and to keep it slow. Fast = bad things happen.

are you referring to detritus in the back sump section? if so ill be sure to do that.
already looking up how I should transition to my new mp10 from my hydors with out anything drastic