Boomer's IM 20G Nano

[boomeraudio]

Don’t waste your time fighting diatoms. They go away on their own pretty quickly,

Right on, thank you. The funny thing is that it gets me anxious like there's something wrong haha. Except there's not hah.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Right on, thank you. The funny thing is that it gets me anxious like there's something wrong haha. Except there's not hah.

I thought the same thing when I had diatoms. I freaked out when I saw them for the first time lol. By the time I got around to getting snails to eat them, they were gone

 

[boomeraudio]

I thought the same thing when I had diatoms. I freaked out when I saw them for the first time lol. By the time I got around to getting snails to eat them, they were gone

For sure. Ammonia and Nitrite is back down. Nitrates are up over 10ppm so I'm going to do a couple more gallons of a water change and see how that goes.

 

[boomeraudio]

Noticed algae or something on this zoa frag. Was thinking about re-dipping. Can anyone identify?

The white specs I'm fairly certain is sand from when I moved it yesterday, not zoapocks...hopefully.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

C

Noticed algae or something on this zoa frag. Was thinking about re-dipping. Can anyone identify?

The white specs I'm fairly certain is sand from when I moved it yesterday, not zoapocks...hopefully.

Could you get some pics in white light? It resembles hair algae to me though.

 

[Nick Steele]

Yeah looks like hair algae to me also. My candy canes will get it but hermits usually take care of it over night

 

[boomeraudio]

Yeah looks like hair algae to me also. My candy canes will get it but hermits usually take care of it over night

Check these - they were all opening fine after I got them, now 2 weeks later it's like they're reaching and not opening. Sucks...

 

[Nick Steele]

Reaching for light maybe? Have you tried to move them up or increase your light?

 

[boomeraudio]

Reaching for light maybe? Have you tried to move them up or increase your light?

I moved the ones reaching up...seems like one problem after the next already and I'm only a month and a half in...algae on the rocks with bubbles (some say diatoms), corals not opening anymore, snails seems to be dying off for no reason. I use RODI water so I have no idea why this is happening. The fish and cleaner shrimp seem happy too. Water parameters are normal as well. No idea what to do, trying not to panic. If it was copper related I feel like it would have negatively effected the cleaner shrimp too...so I'm really not sure and going through a million different things in my head.

Edit: All of this has happened after I did my first water change. Using Fritz salt mixed for at least 12 hours and brought to temperature before removing old water and adding new.

 

[Nick Steele]

Just don’t over react and things will come around. I’m 2 months in and no fluctuations in parameters and all my trochus snails (3) died for no reasons and my monti spongodes is bleaching. Everything else is happy so I’m letting it play itself out.

When you did a water change were the parameters of the tank water and new water the same? Not just salinity and temp but calc alk and mag.

 

[boomeraudio]

Just don’t over react and things will come around. I’m 2 months in and no fluctuations in parameters and all my trochus snails (3) died for no reasons and my monti spongodes is bleaching. Everything else is happy so I’m letting it play itself out.

When you did a water change were the parameters of the tank water and new water the same? Not just salinity and temp but calc alk and mag.

Definitely trying to stay calm, hard to not try and make adjustments when you see things going wrong.

When I did the water change I didn't check Cal, Alk & Mag...maybe a noobie mistake - didn't even think about that. Using RODI as new water could just add stress I'm guessing?

 

[Nick Steele]

Definitely trying to stay calm, hard to not try and make adjustments when you see things going wrong.

When I did the water change I didn't check Cal, Alk & Mag...maybe a noobie mistake - didn't even think about that. Using RODI as new water could just add stress I'm guessing?

Using RODI water is 100% the right thing to do! As long as you mix in a salt mix. I’m assuming you made sure the salinity was the same in the new water as in the tank at least right?

Yeah next time you do a water change check your alk both in tank and in the new batch of water alk swings can mess up a lot of corals. Calc and mag aren’t as important but once corals start to grow will become important.

 

[boomeraudio]

Using RODI water is 100% the right thing to do! As long as you mix in a salt mix. I’m assuming you made sure the salinity was the same in the new water as in the tank at least right?

Yeah next time you do a water change check your alk both in tank and in the new batch of water alk swings can mess up a lot of corals. Calc and mag aren’t as important but once corals start to grow will become important.

Yes I definitely mixed in salt and ensured that both the salinity and temp were consistent with the tank. I use Fritz salt.

I'm going to test the parameters of the water again today to see where we are at. Moved the snails to see if they are just stressed because they don't smell at all when I pull them out. Hoping to see things turn around.

The fish and cleaner shrimp are happy as can be!

 

[boomeraudio]

Turns out the water changes worked...now the water is too clean hah. No wonder the zoas aren't happy.

Parameters -
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78.2 - just raised it up a bit more
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0* big problem here
Alk: 7.896
Phosphates: .08

Changed up the lighting schedule to Pirates of the Caribbean for the AI Prime HD. Has more blues and if the zoas ever open up again they will pop more.

I'm putting reef roids in starting today to "dirty up" the water a little bit. I'll start to target feed once the zoas open back up. Hope they make it.

Removed all of the carbon and the chemipure blue as I think it was stripping the water of good bacteria.

Bubbles on the rocks seem to have started to go away - this is good news!

Bought an inTank media basket for filter floss for the first chamber on the left. Going to simply run floss for some time and see how this helps support bacteria in the tank.

 

[boomeraudio]

Looks like they want more light...they are reaching so I moved them up.

The others on the sand bed, which opened when I got them still haven't opened, been about 4-5 days. No coloration at all. Are they gone?

 

[Nick Steele]

When mine were closed I didn’t see color for awhile. I’m pretty sure they melt away once dead so if the bulb is there they should be alive. I’ve heard they can close for a couple weeks without being dead.

Also I think it’s weird to have phos without any nitrate.

 

[boomeraudio]

When mine were closed I didn’t see color for awhile. I’m pretty sure they melt away once dead so if the bulb is there they should be alive. I’ve heard they can close for a couple weeks without being dead.

Also I think it’s weird to have phos without any nitrate.

So weird right? If there were nitrates the number was so low that it looked like 0 on the test kit. (API)

 

[Nick Steele]

Oh do you have a different test kit? API is known for being inaccurate. I can’t get a reading using my freshwater api nitrate (same as saltwater just different colors) but my salifert test reads 5ppm

 

[boomeraudio]

Oh do you have a different test kit? API is known for being inaccurate. I can’t get a reading using my freshwater api nitrate (same as saltwater just different colors) but my salifert test reads 5ppm

I don’t but can pick one up. It’s been relatively reliable for me right now. I’m going to buy the salifert one as well. Should I get ammonia and nitrite by salifert as well?

 

[Nick Steele]

I haven’t as I believe I will never get a reading of either so I use my api in case I see anything weird or could take a water sample into a lfs to test those two.