Should I quit while I'm behind?

[Seaflowerkitty]

Hey everybody.
So, I have had a 12 gallon aquarium set up since august of 2011. I'm not flush with cash, so I had no problem taking my time. Over time since inception, I have lost 4 mushroom corals, a clove polyp, two yellow clown goby, 3 porcelain crabs, two feather dusters (yet my ones in my live rock are tiny but okay), a turbo snail and a few margarita snails, and my stomatella snail and most of my copepods have all but disappeared. I do water changes weekly and constantly check my water levels and the salinity. I am a little lax on my water tests; the ones today showed that my salinity was 1.024, my Calcium was at 400 and my alkalinity was at 11. I have had my LFS test my water as well and nothing was out of whack, except I had a spike in nitrates, which I got down asap with some small water changes. I have had hydroids, aiptasia and some red turf algae. Do ya think I'm not meant to keep an aquarium or is this just part of my journey? I know that nano tanks are harder to keep, but I would like to keep this going until I can afford a bigger tank. Incidentally, my hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp and my barnacle blenny all seem to be doing okay. The cleaner shrimp especially, since he/she successfully molts about once every few weeks. I have a trumpet coral frag that is perpetually puffed up, my hammer coral has retracted and my frogspawn has closed up as well. The only coral that seems to be thriving is my colt coral, which is growing a little bit like a weed. I will post pictures in a little while. I have to get them off my smartphone.

 

[Jmkb02]

I feel you. Nanos and picos (which I think you qualify for) are a pain in the rear! I have a 7.5 gallon and I do more work on it than my 200 gallon system. They can go crazy in a matter of hours. I ended up going straight coral and just a basic cuc in mine. No other fish or anything else at all. It seems to be a nutrient problem in your tank. What is your feeding schedule and how much when you do?

 

[Seaflowerkitty]

I don't really have a feeding schedule other than Wednesday and Saturday for a few seconds. I give then a little oyster feast or a few Mysis shrimp. Occasionally, I feed some small pellets which make my Nassarius snails appear suddenly which is fun and my hermits and barnacle blenny are very entertaining too. I used have lid with two 24 watt power compacts, but I was concerned that the bulbs were too old and were contributing to some of my problems, so I bought two ecoxotic stunner strips, which may not have been the best idea. My zoanthids are disappearing slowly, although it seems like it is before my very eyes. I recently started vacuuming the substrate during a water change too. Perhaps I should do a bigger water change. I usually do around 1gallon or more and I think I will find another source for my RO/DI water as well. Thanks for "listening" to me whine about my little piece of the ocean.

 

[Jmkb02]

I don't really have a feeding schedule other than Wednesday and Saturday for a few seconds. I give then a little oyster feast or a few Mysis shrimp. Occasionally, I feed some small pellets which make my Nassarius snails appear suddenly which is fun and my hermits and barnacle blenny are very entertaining too. I used have lid with two 24 watt power compacts, but I was concerned that the bulbs were too old and were contributing to some of my problems, so I bought two ecoxotic stunner strips, which may not have been the best idea. My zoanthids are disappearing slowly, although it seems like it is before my very eyes. I recently started vacuuming the substrate during a water change too. Perhaps I should do a bigger water change. I usually do around 1gallon or more and I think I will find another source for my RO/DI water as well. Thanks for "listening" to me whine about my little piece of the ocean.

Well you are naming some problems that could easily be fixed... Your lights seem to be burning your coral, you should turn off one of the strips, cut the lighting schedule and move all your coral to the bottom. This should help the "melting". I feed my tank with only a few pellets every three days. This is to just help the hermits not starve and keep some sort of nitrate around for a little algae growth. You may be feeding too much at a time. Try to break up the feeding of mysis and oyster feast. Also cut the feeding amount in half and try to feed twice as often if you know what I mean. The same amount but spread out over longer time to help the bacteria break it drown. Also wanted to ask you how much live rock and sand do you have? This is very important in a small tank and it is the only filtration in most cases.

 

[Seaflowerkitty]

Sorry for taking so long to get back o you. Looking back on my purchase, I have 10lbs of live sand, or at least I did when I stated. Do you suppose it disappears over time? Anyhow, I digress. I 'd say I have between 7 to 10 pounds of live rock. And I recently bought some live rock rubble, about one pound, to use in the middle chamber, tied up in a well-rinsed/washed nylon stocking. I when I came home tonight I discovered my crabs and my nassarius snails ganging up on one of my other snails, so now I am completely confused as to what's going on. I've been doing small water changes every day to keep my nitrates down, but nothing seems to be making a difference.

 

[Seaflowerkitty]

Well you are naming some problems that could easily be fixed... Your lights seem to be burning your coral, you should turn off one of the strips, cut the lighting schedule and move all your coral to the bottom. This should help the "melting". I feed my tank with only a few pellets every three days. This is to just help the hermits not starve and keep some sort of nitrate around for a little algae growth. You may be feeding too much at a time. Try to break up the feeding of mysis and oyster feast. Also cut the feeding amount in half and try to feed twice as often if you know what I mean. The same amount but spread out over longer time to help the bacteria break it drown. Also wanted to ask you how much live rock and sand do you have? This is very important in a small tank and it is the only filtration in most cases.

All my coral, with exception of my trumpet coral(which is now perpetually puffed up during the day and shriveled at night) which I mounted up on a rock, is on the bottom of the tank. My sand bed for the most part is less than an inch thick, perhaps that is contributing to my problem? My hammer coral used to be puffed up more when I had power compacts in a hood, than what I have now. I'm wondering if I should say 'screw it' get a bigger tank like a 30 gallon and transfer the contents to it.

 

[JustinKBreen]

Sounds like your light is the problem, maybe I'm mistaken, but aren't those stunner strips just to accent the tank? That and pc bulbs aren't good for keeping coral.

I think you need a better light..

 

[czwicky]

Stunner strips are 0.1w LEDs. To burn coral with them you would need like 30 of them over that little tank. Personally I would invest in a dimmable 120w taotronics off eBay.

 

[thatbikeguy]

I had a 8 gallon with 3 stunners on it and I kept everything under the sun in that tank. They work great in a little tank but any bigger and the panoramas are the way to go.

 

[D.Hicks]

No reason to quit! Just figure out what you are doing wrong fix it and don't do it again. I am very new to this hobby and I am expecting to screw up. However when I screw up I plan on learning from it. Good luck!

 

[Searchin]

A couple other things... Are you making sure that you let your salt dissolve for 24-48 hours before your water change. You could be shocking everything on the regular if not.

Are you disrupting the sand bed to release nitrates?

I wouldn't put any fish in your tank since you are having a hard time. I did coral/ CUC only in a 5 gallon for a long time with success. A system without fish is a stable one. Fish always complicate the system.

What type of water are you using? Is it being treated?

 

[Seaflowerkitty]

I 've been vacuuming the sand bed. Consequently more water changes. I'm going to buy a bigger aquarium, turn the other into a refugium and get a panorama pro strip in the meantime. We'll see what happens...

 

[Jmkb02]

I 've been vacuuming the sand bed. Consequently more water changes. I'm going to buy a bigger aquarium, turn the other into a refugium and get a panorama pro strip in the meantime. We'll see what happens...

That is a great idea, more water volume and adding a Fuge will make your life much easier. Keep us up to date, and good luck!