My zoanthids suck lately. Advice please?

When they start looking like that, dip them is some Furan-2 or some Fish Flex. Both are amazing when it comes to saving/helping zoas/palys. The dip should open them right back up. If you need help with instructions on the dips just ask :)

Also, Lugols can be good too.
 
LittleBee said:
Man there is more sand in there than I thought!!!! I took the big part of my siphon off and just used the skinny tube to remove the sand today. Boy did that work a lot better! Lol I only removed about half the sand until I buy another bag of sand to replace it. Don't want the rocks to fall over. The sand is making them stable. Here's a picture. Rocks are a bit dusty. Also say hello to my new Scarlett cleaner shrimpie! Had some store credit and decided to bring one home. I love her already. Anyways, I will be gettin new aragonite sand and I found this new light fixture that has 3w LEDs that should be a good addition to my marineland fixture. Just to add some extra light to the tank.
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Yo Brittany, I don't think I would be adding light to that tank. Why you ask?

1. You are already using a "reef ready" LED setup.
2. Your tank is small, 10g. Was the light made for that small a tank?
3. Your Birdsnest and Candy Cane are doing okay.
4. You said your Zoas open up under the moon lights.
5. In the wild, Zoas and Palys live lower down on the reef than most other corals.
6. Zoas and Palys will close up if the lights are too bright no matter how good your water quality is.
7. I don't agree that your black sand is the issue but I do agree that you should replace it with a good quality aragonite sand. Aragonite sand slowly breaks down releasing trace elements including calcium back into the water column.
8. Your phosphates are high but your Birdsnest (or any SPS) would be in trouble under too high a level before your Zoas would. However, try to get the level down to at least .02 ppm. Use a high quality tester if you can. Phosban is an excellent media and can be used in a media bag. Once used up it will not leach anything back into your water, just stop absorbing the phosphates. It would only take a few tablespoons for that size tank.

If you can do so without harming the rest of your corals, shade the zoas for a week or so. If the light is bothering them they should start opening up in a day or two. Move to a shaded part under a ledge if you can or use fine mesh screening or a white plastic trash bag to filter out some of the light so it's not so harsh. Corals that need bright light won't be harmed if they end up shaded for a few days.
 
GFO is what will help take care of the PO4.
Some people will just throw a bag in their sump, I prefer using a reactor.
 
Lee I have dipped and they are still closed.

Jimbo- I wanted to add light to the tank bc I wasn't sure if the light I have was strong enough anymore. It's reef capable but it's two years old and I have heard of these fixtures dimming after a year or so. So I wanted to add some supplemental lighting. I have moved some of the zoas in shaded areas and it doesn't matter they are still closed. They only open up sometimes during the night. The fixture is 24 inch long and the tank is 20-21 inches long. Where the bulbs sit they fit perfectly over the tank. I did raise them 6 inches also in case they were too bright. I have seen a little. It of improvement to removing the sand. This morning my tubbs blue were wide open and happy. They haven't opened up like that since I first put them in the tank. Also my fire and ice were mostly open. I think removing the sand and lowering the phosphates will be the key to making my zoas happy again.
 
Still closed after the dips huh? Is your alkalinity around 10?

My water setup: ph 8.2 alkalinity/dkh: 10

I had some blue hornet zoas just start to look bad/close up/melt about 3 days ago. I dipped um in Furan-2 and they are looking better about 1 to 2 days later. The Furan dip was one packet of furan mixed with 1 cup of tank water. Dip for 20 min. Then fresh saltwater rinse then put um back in the tank.

The sand you had in might be an issue too but I have never used that kind of sand. I only use live sand.

As far as your lights go... zoas and palys really don't need much light. I would place all zoas around the bottom of your tank. Too much light can also make them close up. The actinic light usually is all they need but the white light helps with growth.

Hope this helps :)
 
I see the tubing worked well :) I just added 10 pounds of live sand to my own tank today. Since it's not a new tank I had to just pour it in slowly. It did make it cloudy a bit but I did a 15% change and it's looking a lot better a few hours later and the added inches look nice, I had some bare spots from the siphoning from all the cleaning after the crash. Now it's a mix of sugar and aragonite.

If you buy the live aragonite sand you should be good to go with the 20 lb bag for your 10 gal.

http://www.livesand.com/ <- my fav brand. I like the #0, and #1 but you might like the black beach sand

I have always gone with the lighter but hey, they have darker too. Can someone chime in, she likes darker, would this live sand be ok? Maybe someone already said.

And I have never had a problem finding it at my local shops, but I also have 6 of them nearby so you could also always order.
 
LittleBee said:
I'm having a small algae problem as we speak but nothing huge.
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Normal. That's why I've told you to go slow with the substrate removal.
What's happening is simply an adaptation of the bacterial population, normally called a "small cycle". After all the substrate is gone you'll still see something here and there. When you put the new sand too. It will have to "cycle" the new sand. Just let it be and keep doing the partial weekly water changes. It takes time...

LittleBee said:
This is a small simple tank. I don't want to be adding reactors or a fuge to it... Will adding a skimmer bring the phosphates down enough to make it worth buying one?
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I wouldn't add any reactors nor a fuge!!!

About the skimmer, depends.
Skimmer doesn't remove lot's of phosphates.
It could remove some of the precipitated phosphates, yes, if so.
The skimmers are to remove organics. It does help with phosphates, but not huge.
Skimmer all the way for the stability and constant removal of organics from any salt water tank. :rollface:
Avoid phosphates not overfeeding and removing detritus.

Grandis.
 
My alk is above 14. Which is very high. That's after a water change. I talked to my lfs and they said recently they have been hearing about reef crystals being high in alk.

Grandis, the algae was there before I started to take the sand out. I'm sure taking the sand out a bit quickly isn't helping the algae but I just wanna get this crap out. I won't touch it again for a few days. I plan to go back to the lfs maybe this weekend to pick up a bag of live sand. It will be mixed black and white. I think it's Arag-alive sand. Also might pick up some Phosgaurd or something of the sort. It can't hurt anything right. I also have a nano skimmer but I brought a tiny peice of it and of course it needs that peice to be able to function... Broke it right in half. Maybe I can bond it back together with something.. Idk we will see I I can make it work again.
 
LittleBee said:
My alk is above 14. Which is very high. That's after a water change. I talked to my lfs and they said recently they have been hearing about reef crystals being high in alk.

Grandis, the algae was there before I started to take the sand out. I'm sure taking the sand out a bit quickly isn't helping the algae but I just wanna get this crap out. I won't touch it again for a few days. I plan to go back to the lfs maybe this weekend to pick up a bag of live sand. It will be mixed black and white. I think it's Arag-alive sand. Also might pick up some Phosgaurd or something of the sort. It can't hurt anything right. I also have a nano skimmer but I brought a tiny peice of it and of course it needs that peice to be able to function... Broke it right in half. Maybe I can bond it back together with something.. Idk we will see I I can make it work again.
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Yeah, your alk is really high then...

That's fine. The algae is not big issue right now. It's ok to take the whole sand at once and go through the cycle like that. Cycle is for a month or so to be completed. You know...

I wouldn't mix good aragonite with any of the dark substrates available. That's just me!!! True aragonite is a very nice substrate and will work for long time in your system. It can only add good to the water chemistry with insignificant contaminations! Another words, basically a perfect substrate for most marine aquaria. Most dark substrates will have unwanted/ unknown substances with possible side effects. Why do that again? Many agree that the best aragonite is the sugar size. The only thing is that goes all over the place when there is good water motion. Any size aragonite will work for you. I wouldn't even think about add dark substrates with aragonite!! It will drop all the work you're doing to go back to the problem, don't you think? Live aragonite (Arag-Alive from Caribsea) should be a very good choice. :thumbsup:

Phosguard or something like that? Yes, it could hurt. I've heard many stories of people using GFO in tanks having their corals bleaching and such. I've also heard of some people complaining about their zoas having a hard time with those phosphate removers. Many others love those things and swear that's the best thing they've got in their systems until something goes wrong. I've never had to use those products because I simply reduce the possibilities of phosphate introduction, and at the same time, try to remove it greatly from the system. To recommend GFOs? Nope, not me. Again, this is my personal opinion, just because in most cases it's really unnecessary. A good maintenance schedule with partial water changes twice a month would do great for the system.

Good luck with the skimmer. The best skimmer you can afford for the size of you system, the better for the organisms...
:thumbsup:

Grandis.
 
So how did I come Up with high phosphates anyways? By removing the sand? I do feed quite a bit to make sure my mandarin stays fat. It's worked so far for 8 months. Fat and happy little chunker he is. :)

Looks like my skimmer is not salvageable. I'm undecided on gettin one still. I know it will benefit the tank. But will it benefit the tank so much that it's really worth spending $100 plus on it? Idk I do weekly water changes so that's not a problem. I could go a bit lighter on the feeding. My tank does seem to accumulate a lot of detritus.. Should I beef up my clean up crew? I have a few snails. A scarlet hermit and now a cleaner shrimp.
 
Oh Grandis you're right about the mixed black and white. I would hate to have to remove the sand and go thru all this again. Arag-alive has a few different color options and one of them was white and black mixed live sand so I figure since its Arag-alive it would be okay? I guess I'll just get white :/ or maybe the pinkish. They have both at my lfs.
 
I have a guy who started using reef crystals from the regular mix and he said after he started using it his corals started to look kinda bad. Could be just the change from regular to reef crystals in a small time but he switched back I believe. If you are doing a water change once a week I would just use the regular salt mix by instant ocean. I use the regular mix and I have a bunch of corals and so far so good... knock on wood lol
 
LittleBee said:
Oh Grandis you're right about the mixed black and white. I would hate to have to remove the sand and go thru all this again. Arag-alive has a few different color options and one of them was white and black mixed live sand so I figure since its Arag-alive it would be okay? I guess I'll just get white :/ or maybe the pinkish. They have both at my lfs.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think the regular white or even the pink samoa would be ok.
White is good!
:dance:

Grandis.
 
Lee_is_007 said:
I have a guy who started using reef crystals from the regular mix and he said after he started using it his corals started to look kinda bad. Could be just the change from regular to reef crystals in a small time but he switched back I believe. If you are doing a water change once a week I would just use the regular salt mix by instant ocean. I use the regular mix and I have a bunch of corals and so far so good... knock on wood lol
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
I've used Instant Ocean for many, many years. No problems with the chemistry at all, but lately the Instant Ocean was kinda dirty and that's why I've chose to change.
I'm trying the Red Sea since last year and it's just great.

Grandis.
 
LittleBee said:
So how did I come Up with high phosphates anyways? By removing the sand? I do feed quite a bit to make sure my mandarin stays fat. It's worked so far for 8 months. Fat and happy little chunker he is. :)

Looks like my skimmer is not salvageable. I'm undecided on gettin one still. I know it will benefit the tank. But will it benefit the tank so much that it's really worth spending $100 plus on it? Idk I do weekly water changes so that's not a problem. I could go a bit lighter on the feeding. My tank does seem to accumulate a lot of detritus.. Should I beef up my clean up crew? I have a few snails. A scarlet hermit and now a cleaner shrimp.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen this post before. I've replied the other...

Well, skimmer is one of the best friends you can count on when keeping any salt water system. I have an ATB $$$kimmer for my 75gal. You need to search to see what would be the best for your tank and really fit your budget to get it.
I'm not rich and prefer to use the best stuff I can buy for my systems. I take a while (some times close to a year!!!!) to put my money together and get the things I want. First we need to pay the bills!!!:frog: I have my wonderful wife and my 2 great kids too, so... I'm saying this just so you know that I realize how hard things can be.

Phosphates can be controlled with less food input and more detritus removal, yes. Feed your fishes the amount they need to thrive well! Do more maintenance as needed. Simple as that. Every time you do water changes try to get all the detritus you can out of the system. You can use a bit of activated carbon to help you with the removal of organics, if you need. You will learn what your system needs with time.

When you have a good maintenance schedule you don't even need the so called "clean up crews" people sell. Snails are very good to help consuming unwanted algae, just like herbivore fishes. Sea cucumbers are great to clean the sand and make it look good. The rest of the organisms they sell aren't necessary at all. Avoid hermits and other crabs.

Hope others could come here to help you with the best choices of skimmers for nano tanks.

Grandis.
 
A. Grandis said:
maintenance as needed. Simple as that. Every time you do water changes try to get all the detritus you can out of the system.

Yes, before you do your water change take a turkey baster or small powerhead and blast the heck out of everything. We can never create the movement the ocean does so we need to clean out the holes in the live rock, ect. Just don't do it with a deep sand bed.

When you have a good maintenance schedule you don't even need the so called "clean up crews" people sell. Snails are very good to help consuming unwanted algae, just like herbivore fishes. Sea cucumbers are great to clean the sand and make it look good. The rest of the organisms they sell aren't necessary at all. Avoid hermits and other crabs. I have not had a cucumber myself recently, so I kinda of forget how well they do. Since your tank is small I wouldn't go with a sand sifting goby, but for larger tanks I will never be without one, be it orange-marked, dragon, any of the sleepers ect. They turn over the sand like crazy! Never get a sand sifting star unless your tank is very large or it would probably starve.

As far as snails I prefer stomatellas. They are not readily sold though. But if you have a good LRS you may be able to ask to go stomatella hunting and then they will breed in tank. I like them because they reproduce in our tanks, are small, efficient, can't die from flipping over, ect. Lots of reasons. They just seem to do better in our artificial systems.

Why avoid crabs? I know crabs are never fully "reef safe" if they get hungry enough but I find them to be great for the uneaten food that does, for everyone, end up on the bottom no matter how little we feed. I guess you don't HAVE to have them, but I wouldn't say you need to avoid them. Personally I avoid larger hermits like zebras because they are clumsy but I will always have some blue legs, red legs, ect around.....

Grandis.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm. Yes the bills do need to be paid first lol in the past I have not blased the rocks so that is something I can include with my maintenance schedule. I do happen to have stomella snails in my tank and over time I realized they must be reproducing bc I've seen more of them. I'm not a huge fan of crabs. I have 1 scarlet hermit that I love and a couple tiny tiny blue legs but that's it. I hate how they are opportunistic eaters and will eat my snails of hungry enough. Or just feel like eating snail that day :p

Teenie tiny update. My orange goblins (the zoas being the most stubborn) looked like they were trying to open today rather than being tightly closed up. So we will see if they continue to open.
 
I bought 20lbs of white Arag live sand today. I have to leave in an hr for work so I will be replacing the sand tomorrow. I also bought cyclopeeze for the fish. I only need a teensie bit of that for my mandarin an clown goby! They went to town on it. I'll update again with a picture of the new sand in the tank!
 
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