ten gallon update

[egrape]

hey y'all! Just wanted to share my my tanks progress! it's been cycling for four weeks, and I added some invertebrates about a week and a half ago, a snail and a hermit crab to help knock back the brown algae. last Thursday I got a fighting conch (who I ADORE. he is hilarious I can't handle it), a tuxedo urchin, another hermit crab and another snail.i went away for Memorial Day, and left the tanks lights off, came back and almost all the algae was gone! I did a water change yesterday and brought in a water sample and my tank was perfect so I brought home some zoas and a frogspawn!

 

[obscurereef]

Looking great. Water is so clear and the corals look awesome. Got a lot of coralline on the rocks too.

 

[egrape]

thanks! i am thrilled with it so far. the rock i bought had some coralline on it but it is spreading like crazy! its so fun! and plus, knock on wood it has been super straightforward so far, especially considering its my first saltwater tank.

I picked up a finger leather coral todayl and it looks great. I eventually need to snag some more live rock, but I am waiting until my lfs gets in some new stuff I like the look of. I am taking this tank to college to live in my dorm with me, so I need it to be as stable as possible. right now I am running it with just a marine land hang on back filter for twenty gallons... should I upgrade it to a fluval canister filter with chemipure? would that be a good idea? what would you recommend I add to help it as much as possible?

 

[obscurereef]

Always great when things are running smoothly. Do you have a picture of the leather? The canister isn't necessary, but you can get one if you want to. Chemipure is carbon so you can put it in a mesh bag into your filter. Don't know how long until you go to college, but transfer as soon as you can. If it's going to be a while until you actually set everything up, you could run an air pump/air stone. Keep all the "dirty" filter media when you move the tank. Will probably go through a mini cycle, but hopefully not too big of a swing in parameters. Keep up on water changes and don't overload the system and you should be fine with having a stable tank

 

[egrape]

thanks for the advice! yeah I might pass on the canister and just get the chemipure. I heard it was super good for removing phosphates and I think I might just want it as a preventative. I have three months until college so I am trying to establish it nicely with coral now so it can grow for three months.

the leather coral is a lot pinker in real life, but here you go! also I know I have to feed my frogspawn but should I feed my zoas as well?

 

[obscurereef]

Nice and healthy coral. Corals are animals, but are photosynthetic because of the plant cells that live within in them (zooxanthellae). That's why they need light. You can feed LPS corals, but it's not needed. They grow fast if you do though. Couple times a week is good. Soft corals don't really take in such large foods as in mysis shrimp or other meaty foods.

 

[Mebbid]

thanks for the advice! yeah I might pass on the canister and just get the chemipure. I heard it was super good for removing phosphates and I think I might just want it as a preventative. I have three months until college so I am trying to establish it nicely with coral now so it can grow for three months.

the leather coral is a lot pinker in real life, but here you go! also I know I have to feed my frogspawn but should I feed my zoas as well?

Very nice corals! Although, is that last picture the pic of the leather coral they sold you? I am asking because it looks a lot like a kenya tree.

 

[egrape]

thanks everyone!!! I am very happy with the corals! my zoas have already added another head!

and the last dude could very well be a Kenya tree. I couldn't remember the name so I did some googling and found a leather coral that looked like it so I dunno haha. I will head back to the lfs on Sunday to pick up some more and I can ask what they think

 

[obscurereef]

Might be a colt coral.

 

[Rpbustillo]

Might be a colt coral.

Does look like a colt, here's mine

 

[egrape]

the lfs says it's a nephthea.... anyone agree or disagree?

 

[obscurereef]

Usually They're the green nepthea, which are expensive $20-50) depending on size/store. If they think its a green nepthea, I'd disagree, but I don't know I'd they're different types.

 

[egrape]

haha well it's definitely not green. it wasn't sold as green but I did pay 22 dollars for it.... I just hope it's not a colt coral because that will outgrow my ten gallon real quick. ah who knows?

 

[obscurereef]

haha well it's definitely not green. it wasn't sold as green but I did pay 22 dollars for it.... I just hope it's not a colt coral because that will outgrow my ten gallon real quick. ah who knows?

That's what fragging is for

 

[egrape]

true true. I dread when I have to frag though. I have no clue what I am doing haha.

 

[Rpbustillo]

The colts are extremely easy to frag, mine frags itself. If you don't cut the limbs off, they fall off and float around the tank until they latch onto something.

 

[egrape]

The colts are extremely easy to frag, mine frags itself. If you don't cut the limbs off, they fall off and float around the tank until they latch onto something.

well then maybe I do hope it's a colt! I brought home a Duncan and some orange zoas, but the zoas haven't opened completely yet. it's been twenty four hours. one of the heads is open but the others are not. how can I get them happier? just wait and see? my other zoas opened almost immediately after going in the tank.

 

[Zactheninja]

Thats an awesome duncan!


And on the zoas, you could move then down alittle if you want, might be too much light, or they don't like the flow.
But if you waited they would adapt and open, just might take another day.

 

[Rpbustillo]

I had some zoas that took almost 4 days to open, you may just have to move them around until they find a spot they like

 

[egrape]

I moved them down and they opened almost immediately!