mseepman's 16" starfire nano

[Myka]

Looks great!! Can you scrub that algae off the plug with a toothbrush or something? I'm not sure what it is either. I don't recognise it.

[mseepman]

Well I took the plug out of the water and scraped it off with a blade. It didn't work as well as I liked but hopefully it got rid of most of it.

There was a tiny bit of hair algae on one of the other plugs but before I could get to it, one of the hermits was busy mowing it down and as of last night, there is none left.

For some reason, this tank greens up the glass really really fast...in one day. I have been checking PO4 and it's not high...almost not detectable on my Salifert test kit. My main tank which only gets cleaned once per week reads 4 times higher. I added some more phos in a different spot in the sump. I think my reactor isn't working right because I don't have enough flow in it. I've got a new pump on it's way from OA that will bump that up and get better flow soon.

[Myka]

Well you don't have much for bio filtration in the nano, which is the likely contributor to the algae.

[mseepman]

Bio filtration meaning the Liverock? I know that the Ecorox are going to take a little while to seed...so that's probably it.

Any recommendations for now? I change about 15-20% of the water per week right now.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by mseepman

Bio filtration meaning the Liverock? I know that the Ecorox are going to take a little while to seed...so that's probably it.

Any recommendations for now? I change about 15-20% of the water per week right now.

Yep bio filtration = live rock. Aside from cooking the EcoRox before hand...there's not much to do other than wait it out.

[mseepman]

Well, I've been a little busy with my year end at work lately and so I've been remiss on getting updates for this thread.

Over the last week or so, I've been moving some coral frags over from my main tank to the nano.

Here are some pics:
FTS


Closeups




I've been pretty religious on checking this water and here's my current readings using Salifert kits
Cal: 450
Alk: 7.7
Mag: 1300
PH: 8.1
Temp: 79.5
PO4: .25
Nitrate: <10

The MH/T5HO combo has been putting out some pretty serious heat on me...but my DIY FAN bank has been maintaining things at about 80.5 at their worst.

[Myka]

Lookin good! Are you seeing any coralline growth yet?

[JDigital]

Do you got pics of the DIY fans?

I might have missed the post if you did...

[Myka]

I'm gone for 5 weeks, and there are NO updates to read?!?! I'm a little miffed!!

[mseepman]

Well, Myka pointed out that I had not done any updates on here in waaay too long. So here are few new pics.

Full tank shot...as you can see, we've got Coraline growth and some pest algae too.


Here's my little clown Goby...still doesn't trust me when I get close to the tank.

You can see the pest algae just below his nose and just above him to the left. Not sure what it is yet. Anyone willing to identify?

Here's an Acro I got from Red Coral in Calgary...pretty new so it hasn't colored up yet.


Lastly, here's a little movie of my Goby/shrimp pair hard at work moving sand. It's really cool having these guys.

[IMG][/IMG]