Build and Progress of my RSM Nano Tank

[LaurentSeattle]

Day 41 - Tuesday August 7th - Around 10pm

Tested water around 7pm:

Nitrites: Absolute Zero, perfect light green...
Nitrates: Around 15ppm, maybe 10ppm

All snails happy and very active...

I started yet another cleaning session around 8pm, just finished.

- Removed the bryopsis and other decaying algae
- Pumped out snail poop, detritus, etc...
- Cleant up mechanical filters
- Cleant up the skimmer which has been removing a lot of green gunk recently
- 4 gallons of water replaced in the process: About 12%.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 6th week of this setup and hopefully I am finally seeing the light at the end of the Nitrite Tunnel...

A few pictures: Stuff starts to appear in view now that the green stuff is gone... Please ID. Thank you!

A red algae ? Resists to syphooning, to small to pick by hand. Good or Bad ???



This thingy has appeared on the back side of a rock, almost in the dark - which explains why the picture is so bad. Maybe a sponge ? Good or Bad ???



Colerphon: I have read that horseshoe crabs get too big for a 30 gallons. Correct?

ReefMack: Thanks for the ID! There's more for you tonight I think I will pass on the sea hare. The snails are doing great so far and the green stuff is now almost gone. I will post a FTS tomorrow night.

Bri Guy: The last winner of the nTOTM is visiting... I feel flattered.

Thanks all!

[Bri Guy]

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle

Bri Guy: The last winner of the nTOTM is visiting... I feel flattered.

acutally I got 2nd, oh well, someday...

[Reefmack]

Hi Laurent - no nitrites - great!!! That first pic - some type of red macroalgae but I'm not sure what kind. It looks kinda nice to me, but I don't know if it's a nuisance type or not. You might want to post the pic in the Marine Plants & Macroalgae forum to see if anyone can ID it & get you any information on it. My guess on the second pic is a type of ball sponge - I get them in several different colors like that - white, yellow, even almost black. I have a lot of different sponge types on the back side of my rock too. Most seem to prefer the dark, shady areas. If it is a sponge, and I think it is, sponges are fine to have - just filter feeders.

[LaurentSeattle]

Day 42 - Wednesday August 8th - Around 5pm

As promised here is the full tank shot...

First, the tank at the peak of the algae bloom:



And tonight:



Tested water:

Nitrites: Close to Zero but again Non Zero, maybe 0.05ppm or a bit less.
Nitrates: Around 10ppm, probably somewhere between 5 and 10ppm.

If everything continues to improve, I will introduce my first livestock next Monday. I plan to bring in two feather dusters and maybe some red mushrooms depending on what is available at the LFS. What should come first actually? I think I should play safe and introduce new inhabitants very slowly...

My "Master Plan" is to have a low maintenance tank:
- snails - feed on algae and detritus
- two feather dusters - some phytoplancton once a week
- a carpet of zoanthids and mushrooms - no feeding but light
- two or three shrimps - some mysis/cyclopeeze once a week
- none or one, maybe two fishes - should feed on mysis/cyclopeeze and mostly pods

Low food
Therefore Low Nitrates and Nutrients
Hence Easy maintenance

Please correct me if the above sounds plain wrong, simplistic, or too naive. Feel free to comment.

So far, with all these cleaning sessions and water changes, I cannot tell that I have been successful on the "Low Maintenance" thing but that's the goal...

[Reefmack]

What a change for the better! The plan sounds good to me. Mushrooms are a no brainer, as are the zoas to start off. I've never had much luck with the big feather dusters, but that's just me. Low maintenance sounds great, if you can stick to the plan. Just remember that you are fighting an addiction that's hard to control LOL!

[glalderman]

WOW! Looks like all the hard work you have been doing to combat the algae has finally paid off...sure is a huge change from a week or two ago!

Congrats!

[LaurentSeattle]

Tonight I am happy with the progress of the tank, so here it is... in its full glory in the living room:



Thanks all for visiting and continuous advice!

Bri Guy: Being in the top-three is a win!

[Reefmack]

Nice! Time to get serious now about corals and a couple fish!

[Jimbo327]

Now the spending begins.

[Reefersteve]

Laurent, I too battle the horrible hair algae. Beyond eliminating the food for ( which I cant do as I have fish and corals ) I have had some pretty good luck with a tooth brush!

First I put in a good chunk of white floss above the skimmer pump. Then I scrub the living be-jesus out of the small clumps of hair algae. If there are any larger chunks I pull them out by hand first.

If you shut the power heads off you can siphon off any the settles on bottom, the filter floss will pick up any that floats.

This should help. In your case I would then cover the tank and eliminate all light for several days, just leave enough air movement for pumps etc.

Repeat as required.

HTH

Steve

[Reefmack]

Originally posted by Jimbo327
Now the spending begins.

Time to get out the wallet, cash, charge cards and spend, spend, spend!

[LaurentSeattle]

Week 7 - Day 43 - Thursday August 9th - Around 10pm

Here is a little mystery for all experienced reefers:

Today, I came back from work around 6pm and tested the water... again... Nitrites: 0.1ppm - light blue - I thought "Cr*p" ( actually "M*rde" ) and I went away to do some grocery shopping...

Later tonight, after dinner, I did my routine RO/DI top-off, some green algae removal (by hand), emptied the skimmer cup and cleant up the white pad. Let everything calm down for a while, and then tested the water again:

Nitrites: Perfect Green at Absolute Zero
Nitrates: Very light pink: 5ppm

Near perfect conditions... So what.. Are those water tests that imprecise??? Can something has changed in just a few hours??? I am very confused indeed... I am using the test kits from Red Sea - the ones that come with the Starter Kit sold along with the RSM.

In other news:

- Snails very active
- Pods seems to have disappeared.
- Green hairy algae almost completely gone.
- Two more tiny feather dusters!!!

Another ID exercise please: These bright white spots have appeared on the back side of the tank. They don't move at all, therefore I assume it is algae... Could that be early stage of corralline??? The picture is quite lame, I need to get a tripod.



Koralia #1 seems to be out of stock at all reputable online stores that I know and my LFS wants me to purchase a Tunze for about 150 bucks. Hey.. I live in Seattle but I am not Mr Bill Gates... Advice appreciated.

Thanks all!

Reefersteve: So far the algae is receding everywhere and the astreas are eating what's left... But I will try the trick for the very hard to reach spot where I have detected some cyano making an attempt at coming back. I know I need to improve water circulation!

[MAXreefer]

Regarding the Koralia.
I tried putting in a Koralia #1 in my RSM. Really not much improvement in flow with this one.
Tried also the #3 but this one is way to powerful for our tank.
Now I have a #2 and its almost perfect. Great flow and the corals stay in place.

Michael

[lpsluver]

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle
Another ID exercise please: These bright white spots have appeared on the back side of the tank. They don't move at all, therefore I assume it is algae... Could that be early stage of corralline??? The picture is quite lame, I need to get a tripod.

The white spots are most likely snail eggs and show that the tank conditions are turning for the better. No worries.

[GDESQUIRE]

Probably baby snails. Could also be the begining of coraline that have not yet turned purple. Congrats on the tank Laurant. If you want to see the pods - look at night w/ all lights off using a bright flashlight and magnifying glass. Look in nooks and near the sandbed. You will be amazed at what you find. Once you start to feed the inhabitants your about to get, you will see more pods.

[Reefmack]

I think all the test kits are not 100% dependable, whether they're Red Sea, Salifert, or whatever. IMO if it was my tank I'd consider the cycle now under control. You have to remember that there will always be ammonia and nitrites being generated - the cycle never really stops - you just get the bacteria built up to a level where the ammonia & nitrites are being converted about as quickly as they're being generated, and the levels get low enough to not be measurable with the type of test kits we have available to us.

I think I'd do more checking on the Koralia. Maybe even make a few calls to one or more online suppliers to see when stock will be in. I went with the #1 in my tank, and while the flow isn't as strong as a #2, I have limited options on where to point it, due to the way I have my corals placed. In some directions it's too much flow on some corals. Since you have no corals yet, the #2 might be a good option as you can later place your corals appropriately based on the direction of flow you want from the Koralia.

I used to get a lot of those "white spots" - I think they're just a harmless type of snail (spirobid maybe) or other organism that builds a shell or tube. I don't see as many anymore as I did when the tank was newer.

[MAXreefer]

I agree on the "baby snails". Have many of them also. Usually they come out at night.

My LFS is having the Koralia's on sale. Paid for the #1 $40 and for the #2 $45. IMO a good deal as I didn't had to pay for shipping.
150 bucks for a Tunze seems to me way to much.

Michael

[lpsluver]

The baby snails that you are seeing are coming out of the substrate and the LR when the lights go out. The hard, non-moving white spots in the picture look exactly like snail eggs. Unless they bother you from a looks perspective leave them there. Scape them off of the viewing areas (front and sides) when they do eventually appear there.

[LaurentSeattle]

Week 7 - Day 44 - Friday August 10th - Around 9pm

Thanks all for the ID of baby snails... I had no idea that these guys were so "hot"...

Yay! One more ID picture! The algae is gone and I find new things every day:



The "thing" is very very small and located on one rock on the right and the picture is taken from the opposite side and zoomed in Aperture to the max I can - This explains why it is so bad. It looks a bit like mouths of zoanthids...

Did my Friday routine:

- Clean white pad again
- Syphooned out snail poop
- Removed what's left of green hairy algae
- Replaced water "lost" in the cleaning: 2.5 gallons

Took me less than an hour. I am getting the hang of it, I guess...

Other Notes:

- Much less bubbles
- Skimmer producing much less gunk
- Nitrites: Perfect Green at Absolute Zero, I like that.
- Nitrates: Very very light pink: 5ppm, maybe less

Leaving early tomorrow morning for the weekend.
Next update on Monday night.

[macro]

looks like shrooms but hard to tell with the pic.?

[Reefmack]

Great progress Laurent. My guess on the pic is unopened zoas/palys. That's very similar to what mine look like during the night. Hopefully whatever they are they'll open up soon for a better ID.

[LaurentSeattle]

Week 7 - Day 47 - Monday August 13th - Around 4pm

Back in Seattle on Monday around noon. Tested water again, all good.

Then I went to the LFS to get my first zoanthids. I was happy to see them opening almost instantly - after 5 minutes... Then I started to take some pics and here is what I saw:







Please ID, please confirm... Is that Apstasia???

Three frags out of five have one...

I am about to remove the frags and try to remove these guys with a cutter... Better idea???

[Reefmack]

Hi Laurent. They do look like aiptasia IMO. I'm notsure if cutting them gets rid of them or not. I've read Joe's Juice or similar, injecting boiling water in them (no idea how). There should be a lot of articles in RC on getting rid of them. Try posting a pic in the newbie forum maybe. I've never had any thank goodness. Just be careful you don't hurt those pretty zoas. You could try getting a few peppermint shrimp - they are abe to eat them but aren't always a sure thing. I always have peppermints - that may be why I've never had any aiptasia. Hopefully you'll get some other good ideas.

[kmjoen230]

the best solution is literally peppermint shrimp, i had a massive intrusion of these guys everywhere, i purchased some peppermints and they cleared most of it up within the first 3 days.

[Steven0000]

get a syringe and inject it with lemon juice
get rid of it quick
because once they start to spread
they are hard to stop