Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 A couple pics of the zoas in the tank. Both colonies were loose in a frag tank and not attached to anything. The larger colony cost me $5 and the smaller colony was thrown in for free with another coral purchase. Glued them to a rock and they have been doing well. The pink ring in the middle and the green on the "fingers" wasn't visable in the LFS so I'm really glad they had a little more color than I thought they would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 looks good. nice find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Indeed! They're really nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Very nice, I like them. I am building up a little zoa collection myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Picked up some frags. Favite Hammer Acropora Montipora Setosa I figured the monti would grow down a bit onto the sides of the rock that don't get as much light since it likes lower par values than most SPS. Correct me if I'm wrong in thinking this. I really like how these corals look like they are melting onto the rocks when grown really big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 The torch was looking pretty so I snapped a pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 That looks great! It doesn't sting the chalice or whatever that coral is beneath it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 That looks great! It doesn't sting the chalice or whatever that coral is beneath it? I don't believe it has yet. I moved the chalice to the other side of the tank though while rearranging things. I witnessed a very large tenticle coming from the chalice and didn't want to lose a torch polyp do to me putting them too close. I had no idea when people said chalices are agressive, they really meant it. I may have to stop trying to keep chalices in this little tank, they are really mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 I visited pham this weekend and picked up some of his zoas. I also got a rhodactis and a small blasto. He has some really nice pieces and I am really happy with what I received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Also picked up a patch of zoas and a hammer from the LFS I think I will take a break from buying corals for a little while and make sure these guys are growing like they should. After testing and doing some math it appears the corals are consuming .5 dkh per day and 16ppm Mag per day. Does this seem logical? Calcium is also decreasing but at a very slow rate and water changes should keep the levels calcium up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 How long did you wait between tests and what tests did you use ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 How long did you wait between tests and what tests did you use ? I waited 6 days between tests and divided the change by 6. I'm using red sea test kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 nice pieces ky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 nice pieces ky. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Bought a frag of cat's eyes from xanreefer. They are doing really good so far. I also got rid of the hollywood stunner chalice. I really liked the color and how fast it was growing but that thing was way too aggressive for my little tank. It's sweeper tentacles were at least 4 inches long. Also purchased a bottle of calcium supplement. The levels are confusing me by not decreasing at the same rate each day. I'll keep testing and try to figure this "thinker" out. Here are a couple of bad pictures lol. I also trimmed the chaeto, this is about 3 weeks worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarwiggle Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Question. Forgive me for not finding it but what kind of fuge light do you have? What is your schedule for running it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 I may not have posted that. It's a light that came with the tank when I bought it on craigslist. It's an led light that would be used for FOWLR or fresh water I believe. I have two suction cup hooks stuck to the back of the tank and it's sitting on them and leaning against the wall. It falls all the time and I am looking into options of replacing it. I run it for about 8-10 hours a day while the main lights are on. I would run it longer but the light penetrates the white acrylic background. I am going to look into building my own led light here soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Added a frogspawn and some more zoas/pallys. The tank is really starting to fill up. I think I am zeroing in on the dosing which has been a pain in the butt. I'm thinking that maybe I dont have the water volume calculated accurately. I have been looking at the BRS dosing pumps and hopefully I will be able to get the set up going soon. Total price for everything is around $250 for the dosing system. Kind of expensive but a lot cheaper than other dosing alternatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Looking good Ky! Just a thought, but I'd be surprised if regular water changes don't keep all of your parameters in line. But if you did get to that point where the water changes aren't keeping up anymore, mixing in kalk with your topoff water should take care of the deficit, probably for the life of the tank, unless you go crazy on the SPS. Have you been monitoring your daily tank usage and found deficiencies? Is that why you want to get dosers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Thank you! I am using Reef Crystals right now and I think I am going to switch to Red Sea salt. Reef Crystals is really high on the calcium side and low on the DKH side (Reef Crystals is around 10 and I'm running DKH at 12). I think I am measuring a .4 DKH decrease and a 5 ppm calcium decrease each day. If I switch to Red Sea salt I would need to dose daily to keep the levels the same, correct? I realize it would be a very small amount but don't we want our tanks to stay at a constant level all the time? I do plan on adding encrusting montis to the top section at a later date when I get dosing down correctly. Do they eat up the DKH/Ca as quicly as acros? Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Ideally yes, the less the parameters fluctuate, generally the better the results. I've never really had issues with Ca fluctuations affecting anything but the alk fluctuations can be really apparent if it is too severe. How often do you do water changes? Encrusting montis will use up the alk and Ca pretty quickly as well. It's pure mass/uptake when comparing usage of the elements so thinking about growth rate is better than thinking about acros versus montis. For instance, a red cap has an amazing growth rate when happy and will uptake a lot more Ca and Alk than my slow growing oregon tort colony that may be bigger in size. Hope that makes sense as sometimes I don't explain things very well. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I guess the general point I'm trying to make is we can sometimes get caught up in numbers and maintaining perfect parameters to optimize the growth of our corals but personally in your situation, from my experience, I would say regular water changes will take care of all of your needs without having to test daily/weekly and obsessing over perfect numbers. That will leave you more time to just enjoy the tank and less time dosing, testing, and worrying about numbers. Your corals won't mind too much that your Ca an Alk levels dip and get replenished every week or two weeks, whenever your water changes are conducted. As long as the median value remains in their tolerance zone. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 You are spot on about me obsessing over numbers. I obsessed again last night until I just said screw it and went to bed lol. I'm doing weekly water changes 2 gallons on a 25 gallon system or 8%. Thank you for the tips. You have helped put me at ease about the whole dosing situation. I really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 No problem at all! Sorry for the delayed response but I was out of town for a wedding. I really never like interjecting but I just thought to myself, man, if I was in the same situation right now, I wish someone who had experienced all of this before would have just told me... Ty, you really don't have to do all that with the current bioload (and selected corals) that you are running. They will be perfectly happy if you just keep up with your water changes. Now once you ever decide that a dominant SPS tank is the way to go, then all the testing and dosing is almost mandatory as water changes won't keep up. I say to all those that don't want to do all that, to just keep a couple of choice SPS and leave all that extra work to those that are glutens for punishment and want a dominant SPS tank. Then just test your tank every couple of weeks or month, keep doing water changes, and just enjoy the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano Reefer Ky Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 No problem at all! Sorry for the delayed response but I was out of town for a wedding. I really never like interjecting but I just thought to myself, man, if I was in the same situation right now, I wish someone who had experienced all of this before would have just told me... Ty, you really don't have to do all that with the current bioload (and selected corals) that you are running. They will be perfectly happy if you just keep up with your water changes. Now once you ever decide that a dominant SPS tank is the way to go, then all the testing and dosing is almost mandatory as water changes won't keep up. I say to all those that don't want to do all that, to just keep a couple of choice SPS and leave all that extra work to those that are glutens for punishment and want a dominant SPS tank. Then just test your tank every couple of weeks or month, keep doing water changes, and just enjoy the tank. I really appreciate it. I have the tendency to over think things too often so this has really helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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