Which salt and 4 more things!

padi200

padi200

Member
For over 10 years I successfully owned and maintained a 180 gallon mixed reef tank. I had to sell it a little over 5 years ago. Although I had all kinds of corals and fish, Zoanthids always had a special place in my heart and in my tank.
So I decided to go for it and try a nano Zoanthid only tank. My Black Friday indulge/insanity was:
Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion PRO 2 (10 gallon)
• AI Prime 16HD light
• LifeRock Nano Reef Kit
• 20 lb CaribSea Arag-Alive! Special Grade sand
And a heater, test kits etc of course.

It’s not set up yes, but that’s what’s purchased. So, FINALLY, here is my question!

1. What salt would you use and why in my 10 gallon Zoa only tank !
Then, please take a minute and share 4 things you would do now, without changing what I’ve already purchased, to make the best 10 gallon Zoa tank ever! Maybe things you know now and wish you knew back then?

Thanks in advance!
 
Salt is salt. Get the salt that is most widely available in your area a stick with it.
I’ve seen stunning displays on IO and RC which are generally at a lower price point.

1. Get rock “cooking” ie, sand, saltwater, rock flow and heat. The longer it’s “wet” the better it bec9mes in terms of your micro fauna populations. They are the true backbone of systems.

2. Know your water. Understand what parameters result from a “fresh” saltwater mix and then mimick those numbers.

3. Work continuously to “stabilize” all 7 majors, ALK, Temp, Salinity, Nitrate, Phosphate,CA and MG.

4. Until you have a good bunch of Stoney corals, water changes would be easiest. When ALK starts to drop daily, this is where dosing would start.

Good luck and enjoy!
IMG_1027.jpeg
 
An excellent 4 points from Uncle99!

I have used many salts over the years. The one that required me to do the least extra work to "stabilize" the Big 7 (Uncle99's point# 3) was the original TropicMarin. The challenge came both in price and in regular availability.

The salt I have absolutely had the most success with is basic Instant Ocean/IO. My best tanks and my best periods with any tank have been when I used IO with weekly (or even 2x weekly) water changes in combination with a nightly kalkwasser drip to serve a dual purpose of partial top-off and ALK + CA bump. Once I got those tanks dialed in with the IO, which I could get almost anywhere, nothing more than water changes and kalkwasser was required. The tanks thrived, regardless of lighting or anything else.

Since you are planning a nano zoa garden, I would not overthink the salt.
 
Uncle99 said:
Salt is salt. Get the salt that is most widely available in your area a stick with it.
I’ve seen stunning displays on IO and RC which are generally at a lower price point.

1. Get rock “cooking” ie, sand, saltwater, rock flow and heat. The longer it’s “wet” the better it bec9mes in terms of your micro fauna populations. They are the true backbone of systems.

2. Know your water. Understand what parameters result from a “fresh” saltwater mix and then mimick those numbers.

3. Work continuously to “stabilize” all 7 majors, ALK, Temp, Salinity, Nitrate, Phosphate,CA and MG.

4. Until you have a good bunch of Stoney corals, water changes would be easiest. When ALK starts to drop daily, this is where dosing would start.

Good luck and enjoy!
View attachment 32415288
Click to expand...
I don’t think I could say it better.
 
Another vote for Tropic Marin. All I used in my nano tank. I have used IO and avoid it for reasons. None really bad. It will work.

You can cook the tank forever but you have to get the microfauna in it first for it to grow. LifeRock will bring nothing to the tank.
 
Can
wvned said:
Another vote for Tropic Marin. All I used in my nano tank. I have used IO and avoid it for reasons. None really bad. It will work.

You can cook the tank forever but you have to get the microfauna in it first for it to grow. LifeRock will bring nothing to the tank.
Click to expand...
Can You kindly elaborate a bit more about the microfauna . I want to get lots !!!
 
padi200 said:
Can someone help me with the timing of microfauna additions? Do I add some as soon as my ammonia and nitrite are down to zero?
I am using Dr Tim’s and adding some ammonia to cycle the tank ?
Click to expand...
Yes, once your ammonia and nitrite are zero, you can add microfauna. They may help with the "ugly phase" of the tank cycle. One of the items Indo-Pacific Sea Farms sells is amphipods. You can also get a couple types of worms, macroalgaes, mini starfish, mini hermit crabs and several kinds of snails from them.
 
Perfect! I Thank You for your help and valuable advice . I’ll purchase my microfauna from them!
I know cycling will take some time. After several decades in the hobby, I’m convinced the only things that happen fast in a reef tank are bad things. ;)
 
padi200 said:
Perfect! I Thank You for your help and valuable advice . I’ll purchase my microfauna from them!
I know cycling will take some time. After several decades in the hobby, I’m convinced the only things that happen fast in a reef tank are bad things. ;)
Click to expand...
I've ordered from IPSF many times over the years and have a friend who has also. Neither one of us has ever been disappointed in our orders.

Regarding the bolded part, Hey, that's my line :ROFLMAO: I say that a lot to people new to the hobby.
 
The challenge is:
• The live invertebrates (hermits, snails, amphipods) are sensitive to ammonia/nitrite spikes
• I’d be exposing them to potentially toxic conditions during cycling.
• I would risk losing some or all of the expensive livestock ($90 claimed value)
My strategy is to do a fishless cycle first, then add IPSF
• Use Dr. Tim’s One and Only + ammonia source
• Complete the cycle (ammonia and nitrite at zero)
• Then add IPSF package to establish biodiversity without risk.
 
Yep, you’re think this through well. If ammonia and nitrite are zero, you should be good. While I’ve never done it before, I’ve heard good things about using bottled bacteria for cycling. I believe @Dr. Reef uses Fritz with great success.
 
we bleach our systems out between inventories and shipments and we use frtiz turbostart 900 in a brand new setup, dose 3-5 times the recommended amount and add fish to the system wihtout losing anything.
These bottle bacteria dont work like old schools cycling, Where you had to wait for ammonia to show then nitrites then nitrates. These bottle bacteria gives you instant cycle. You dose bacteria and add fish right away.

We did a study on several bottle bacteria manufactorers and found fritz to work the best.
Here is the study if you like to see.
Dr. Reef

Thread 'Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact'

Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock.
With recent research and technology which is still growing, there are some companies out there that claim No new tank syndrome, fast cycle or instant cycle.
Personally i dont think such bacteria can survive manufacturing process, trucking, shipping, warehousing. rotation, non proper storage and variant...
 
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