My Nano Is Going!

[SkiFletch]

I did the same a couple weeks ago. I find if you run around and swear alot it hurts less

Lmao

 

[@ombomb]

Looks great so far!

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

also found out the hard way today that there is a bristleworm in the tank A mushroom had attached to a loose piece of LR so i reached in to pick him up and lodge in a safe place so it didnt tumble around and YOUCH! does that little thing pack a wallop....

Yeah I had one in my tank that hid out for 2 months solid inside the liverock. And I don't mean that he was under something he appeared to emerge from nowhere out of solid rock, and yes he stung me and yes it did hurt quite a bit! Then with my trial polyp colony I got another. I was a bit more careful and put on some surgical gloves this time.

SLC

 

[afmo]

Ok, the diatoms were so unruly that i couldnt wait for payday. I went to the LFS and snagged up a Turbo snail.

and as usual, once there, i couldnt resist looking in the coral tank...and they had a sale on their last piece of torch coral...

snagged this guy up for $9.99 on sale!!!

Now i posted this in inverts too, but i'll pose the question here as well. I got the turbo snail, but after watching him chow down, i'm worried about the other snails not having enough food. Its only 1 turbo with 4 smaller snails. should i be worried? I guess i could get dried seaweed to supplement, but i'd rather not have to do that.

 

[demonmagus]

nice torch you got there, what lighting you running again?

 

[afmo]

nice torch you got there, what lighting you running again?

40W 10000K Daylight and 460nm Actinic

 

[afmo]

UPDATE!!

ok, nothing exciting, but some things been going on.

The salt scale buildup was unruly with the HOB filter, so i took it off, and replaced it with an aqua-clear 20. The new powerhead puts out 127 GPH, so that plus the Rio 90, makes 217 GPH of flow.

I added the turbo snail, and another blue legged hermit, but the cleanup crew just isnt keeping up with the diatoms.

The algae on the substrate is the worst. So my question is this. I'm running my lights an equal 50/50 12 hours of day 12 hours of night. Should i cut down on the daylight time? or add something like a sand sifter to combat the algae on the substrate? I'm going to add a few additional small snails (astraeas probably) and i manually scrub the front and side glass, so i'm not worried about that. Whats my best plan of attack to combat my substrate algae?

On an upnote, i'm starting to get corraline growing all over the equipment and back glass.

 

[SkiFletch]

Good news about that coraline . As for the sand algae, we need to get a positive ID that it is in fact diatoms and not cyanobacteria, anyway you can post a pic? Also have you tested for phosphates? Running some rowaphos can only help

 

[afmo]

Good news about that coraline . As for the sand algae, we need to get a positive ID that it is in fact diatoms and not cyanobacteria, anyway you can post a pic? Also have you tested for phosphates? Running some rowaphos can only help

Can't post a pic as my camera is out for a cleaning until monday, but it is brown/green, definately not the slimy red consistency of cyano. It also does not grow in sheets like cyano, but it collects around individual granules of the substrate.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, lets get a pic to make sure but if what you say about the growth patterns are true its more likely diatoms or some other sandbed algae. Remember, Cyano comes in red, rust, brown, purple, and green varieties, not just brown

 

[afmo]

Well, lets get a pic to make sure but if what you say about the growth patterns are true its more likely diatoms or some other sandbed algae. Remember, Cyano comes in red, rust, brown, purple, and green varieties, not just brown

k, i'll just keep an eye on it till monday...doesnt seem to be affecting anything as the parameters are still good, but its really unsightly

 

[afmo]

Ok, did a 10% water change and re-checked the parameters after an unfortunate experience with a firefish he didnt make it, but anyways. changed the water, and checked all the parameters and again they were ammo, nitrite, nitrate at 0 PH 8.2. While i was at it, i snagged a sample and took it to the store to test for phosphates. They said they were 'a little high' but didnt go into exactly how high a "little high" was. He said that running some phosphate remover wouldnt hurt anything, but the phosphates weren't high enough to warrant it.

So its back to the drawing board, and with an inconclusive answer from the LFS, i asked a buddy of mine if he could come over so i could use his camera while mine was out for cleaning. So here is what we are dealing with.

 

[afmo]

Ok, i have another piece to add to this puzzle.

Today i had some family in from out of town, and they were looking at the tank, and of course i apologized for the unsightly sand LOL. well, we left for a day trip and i asked my dad to turn the lights off, meaning the lamps and overhead light, but dad thought i meant all lights, including the tank lights. Well, when i got home, i felt terrible because the tank only got about 4 hours of light today

but i noticed something as well. With the lights off, the brown algae on the sand was greatly receded. as i'm looking at it now, the algae is still there, but it isnt covering the sand like in the pictures above.

Hope this helps in a diagnoses...

 

[SkiFletch]

If phosphates are present in any level detectable by most test kits, they're too high. Phosphates should be no higher than 0.03ppm, most test kits only have a resolution down to 0.25ppm. So if the test kit shows any phosphates present, go ahead and add phosphate remover

 

[brittlestar]

Afmo are you using Rowaphos? This wiped out all that gunky brown algae we had pretty fast

Get your mits on a good Phosphate test kit, as stated, some only produce results that go up in .5 measurements, you need one a lot more accurate than that. We use the Salifert one.