General Cleaning

Seeing as it's the end of the month and the end of the year, I decided to do a little general cleaning. Plus the tank has been looking absolutely filthy. And what I've been trying to play off as thick fluffy coats of coralline algae are undeniably mats of red slime algae which is cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria outbreaks are often caused by nutrient buildup, specifically nitrates and phosphates. The odd thing is neither of these two are showing up in my water tests so it's hard to pinpoint exactly why they're growing prolifically in my tank. For now I was able to siphon these mats out during my water change but I will have to monitor their growth carefully to identify the source of the problem. Cyanobacteria is not only unsightly but can also cause complications in the grand scheme of things.

I scraped the front and sides of the glass to get rid of some nuisance algae that have taken over some of the tight spaces and bottom parts of the tank. I left the bank wall alone as I hope to allow coralline to grow in these parts. I shifted and stirred the sand to allow for circulation and to refill empty pockets that have been cleared out from the turbulent current created by the powerhead.

I also took out the powerhead and the heater to clean off all the crap that's been growing on them. Cleaning out the powerhead also helps circulation which has probably decreased a little over time from all the debris and detritus that's stuck in its intake compartment. I also changed out the Purigen as it has now become completely discolored.

Another Mysterious Creature From the Deep

 

I found another mystery creature while siphoning around the rocks during my water change. A worm-like creature, about an inch long, swam frantically out into the open. It was surprisingly big with an undulating motion as it darted from one end of the tank to the other. And just as it quickly appeared, it quickly disappeared never to be seen again.

A little video I caught of the worm:

Eight Weeks Later

To make up for the long inactivity these past few weeks, I decided to pick up a couple more corals, I stopped by a LFS I had previously visited before while my tank was cycling to "browse around." Instead I walked out with an orange ricordea and another zoanthid rock.

I was planning on trying my hand at some pulsing xenias and was thinking of getting some this time around. The store had quite a few of them around and in several sizes so at least I know that they have some readily available. What caught my eye was a rock with a pretty good sized orange ricordea. This is another specimen that I had plan on eventually putting in my tank so this was definitely a good find though a little pricier than I'd like ($65). To top it off, it's attached to a fairly small rock so I knew I wouldn't have a problem finding room for it in the tank. As my luck would have it, there's actually another smaller piece on the same rock. Also attached to this rock is a nice feather duster worm so that's another plus.

Another one I couldn't resist was a colony of green/orange zoanthids on a small piece of branching coral. Although I already have a colony in my tank, this one came on a small attractive piece of coral that I can easily tuck into a crevice. Also a bit more pricier than I'd pay for zoanthids ($40) but I found the colors too amazing to resist!

Acclimating the orange ricordea. Notice the feather duster worm poking underneath.

Green/orange zoanthids. Some of the polyps had already opened up even while still in the bag.

I acclimated them both for an hour, changing out the water every ten minutes. I decided to place them on the right side of the tank to balance things out.

The diva purple mushroom taking center stage, not to be outdone by the newcomers.

Mystery Hydroids

While acclimating the new corals I made an interesting discovery. I typically turn off the filter and the powerhead while acclimating to prevent unwanted turbulence in the water. With the water completely still, I noticed little movements in the water. Upon close inspection I realized that I was looking at some type of jellyfish or hydroid-like creatures. I found about four of them, pulsating vertically to the top and then drifting back down. Not sure what they are, how they got there and whether they're good or bad. But they're pretty nifty.

Here's a little footage I caught on camera:

Night Shots

The corals in my tank have adapted pretty well to the daily lighting schedule. Around 9:30 at night, thirty minutes before lights out, the blue zoanthids will start tucking its polyps away. The purple mushrooms begin to shrivel up at this time as well.

The orange ricordea has an odd way of closing up at night. 

Holiday Update

With the holidays under way, things are moving pretty slow in the nano reef. On the other hand this has given the corals some time to settle and for the tank to mature even more. Parameters have been great across the board and everything seems to be thriving. Aside from the pesky algae growth here and there, the tank has adapted to my routine maintenance. I should probably pick up a few more hermits to help keep the algae down, along with some new empty shells as they seem to be growing faster than I anticipated.

Coralline algae growing in nicely.

The blue zoanthids are looking good with new polyps cropping up in some places.

The purple mushrooms are also doing well. The big one is the most expressive one by far, changing through various shapes, sizes and color depending on its mood. Sometimes it worries me but I guess this is pretty normal behavior for them.

Santa has especially been kind and generous this year and got me a refractometer (thanks Mike!).

I'm super stoked because now I can accurately see where my salinity is at and not just rely on the specific gravity readings I get with the swing arm hydrometer.

View through the eyepiece as the instrument is calibrated to zero using RO/DI water.

First accurate snapshot of my water salinity. Much to my surprise, my salinity is actually 40 ppt which is close to a specific gravity of 1.030.

This is a little higher than where I should be at, around 35 ppt (~1.026). But now that I know for sure, I can gradually adjust my water to the proper level.

This weekend I might look into adding more livestock along with a couple more hermits to help clean up some of the mess that I can't keep up with.

Corals From A Meth Lab

With my water parameters in stable condition these past few weeks, I've finally put in some corals after a month of staring at rocks. Since the corals at my favorite LFS (Atlantis) are somewhat pricey I went on an adventure to find a bargain. The best deals are found online but this being my first experience buying corals and all, I wanted to see them before purchasing. And I didn't want to have to sit and worry if they're going to make it okay through shipping.

I heard about this place called Tropical Expressions (for all you locals, it's at Rainbow and Oakey behind Lee's Liquor) which apparently has good prices on livestock though I was warned about the strange woman that runs the shop. So I went with a friend to investigate and sure enough the place looked like a meth lab (that's what my friend described it as); not immaculate at all like Atlantis and there were strange tanks with pipes and beakers all over the place. Jackie, the owner, introduced herself and was pretty cooky and strange, like she hadn't had any sleep in days. But nice nonetheless. The best part was the prices on her livestock: I walked away with a purple mushroom coral and some blue zoanthids for $46.33. Not bad considering a regular mushroom coral at Atlantis would run you a good $80 while a colony of zoanthids can get close to $100. I also gnored the fact that her tanks were dirty and murky.

I ran home and acclimated the corals for an hour. I displaced some of the water from my tank to accomodate the weight of the rocks and floated them in.

I poured a small cup of water from my tank into the bags every ten minutes after throwing out a cup of water from the bags.

An hour into acclimatization I carefully placed them into the tank. I decided to place the rock with the purple mushrooms on the sand bed in the middle of my tank. The rock with the blue zoanthids I placed almost vertically on the left. At this point I'm realizing that I probably have too much live rock as I struggle to place my first two corals.

The blue zoanthids hid their polyps for the first two hours but eventually opened up. The purple mushrooms all opened up nicely except for the big one which is still pretty shriveled up from the transfer.

I found some pretty interesting hitchhikers on the coral rocks: bristle stars, some mystery anemones and something that looks like a feather duster but might very well be a coral polyp of some sort. At this point, it's too small to tell.

All in all the transfer seemed to have gone smoothly though I'm a little worried about the large purple mushroom polyp that's still pretty shriveled up. I'll just have to pay close attention to it over the next few days.

Three Weeks Later

Things have been pretty uneventful in the nano reef as it approaches its first month. The good news is that everything has been consistently stable for the past two weeks:

• Temperature: 80° F
• Specific gravity: 1.024 ppt
• pH: 8.3
• KH (alkalinity): 10° dKH
• NH₃/NH₄ ammonia: 0 ppm
• NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
• NO₃ (nitrate): 0 ppm
• Calcium: 560 mg/L
• Phosphate: 0

The calcium level is a bit high. Ideally it should be somewhere between 400–500 mg/L. A level this high shouldn't be too alarming but fluctuation in levels can cause pH and alkalinity levels to fluctuate as well, which isn't a good thing. For now I'll have to monitor the calcium level carefully to make sure it stabilizes. On the plus side, this high level of calcium is probably responsible for the rapid growth of coralline algae.

As far as livestock, today I found an empty nassarius snail. Not sure if it died on its own or if it was attacked by one of the hermits. The hermits have been playing nice with the snails all this time though so I'm ruling that possibility out for now. My clean-up crew in general can't seem to keep up with the algae growth so I will have to add a few more recruits.

With the tank's steady progress and stable parameters, I might just be ready to throw in my first coral this weekend.

The Clean-Up Crew

With my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate down to zero, I've decided to recruit my clean-up crew. I paid my favorite LFS a visit to find my recruits. Candidates are typically small reef-safe hermit crabs and reef-safe snails. A lot of people tend to pick one group or the other and hardly mix as hermit crabs can be aggressive towards snails; eating them and stealing their shells. So far my blue leg hermit has been nice to my mystery snails so I figure as long as the snails are smaller they'll probably leave them alone.

I decided to recruit two blue leg hermits to go along with the one I already have and three nassarius snails which are known for their habit of consuming detritus and decaying organics. Nassarius snails like to bury themselves in the sand which will help maintain adequate oxygen levels in the substrate. The blue leg hermits on the other hand are great for keeping down algae and sifting through the sand.

Acclamating the nassarius snails (left) and the blue leg hermit crabs (right) by floating the bag for fifteen minutes. While some people employ a long process with water drips, I find these specimens to be pretty hardy enough to be readily tossed in the tank.

The hermits congregating shortly after being thrown in the tank while the snails scoped out their places...

Another addition to the tank is a ball of chaetomorpha. Chaeto is a type of macroalgae commonly used as additional filtration as it removes phosphates and nitrates from the water. In doing this, chaeto can also prevent the growth of undesirable algae in the tank by using up the nutrients needed by the algae. Like most macroalgae they are commonly placed in an outside filter box or in a separate refugium sump.

In large tanks, a separate sump can serve as a refugium where heaters, protein skimmers and other filter devices can be kept without cluttering the display tank. A deep sand bed can also be kept in a refugium for added biological filtration as well as macroalgae like chaeto and serve as a protected breeding ground for copepods and amphipods which are a food source for certain types of fish. Considering the size of my tank, a refugium is out of the question though some people have rigged power filter boxes into small ones. I however, want to keep a simple minimalist approach to this setup without having to add external sumps and extra lighting.

I placed a clump of chaeto in the rear right corner of the tank where it is tucked away yet it can still receive the sufficient lighting that it needs. It's also in the spot where the power filter and the powerhead intakes are located so it receives good circulation but not so much turbulence that would otherwise scatter it all over the tank.

Notice from the top how this spot is conveniently concealed:

With its fast growth rate, the only thing I have to make sure is to tumble and harvest it regularly to keep it from taking over the tank and getting everywhere. In return, it will help maintain stability in my tank.

Today's Expenses:

• Chaetomorpha bunch: $10 (with plenty of leftovers)
• (2) Blue leg hermit crabs: $3.80 ($1.90 each)
• (3) Nassarius snails: $4.50 ($1.50 each)

TOTAL COST: $18.30

Two Weeks Later

I finally got two new individual testers today and feel more comfortable with my readings. One is for ammonia and the other for nitrite, both by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. Ran some tests today (one day ahead of my scheduled maintenance) and got some pretty good results:

• NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): 0 ppm
• NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
• NO₃ (nitrate): 0 ppm

Here are the test tubes with those readings:

I did a 10% water change and replaced the stock carbon filter with Purigen for stronger chemical filtration. While the use of activated carbon in reef aquariums (there's a link to a good article on the right) is debatable depending on who you speak with, I think it's an important component in order to maintain stability in a tank this size. It removes dissolved organics and selected chemicals from the water by absorption and adsorption.

Anyway all geek talk aside, Purigen comes highly recommended by people as it's supposedly 500% more effective than your ordinary activated carbon.

I got a 250 mL bottle of Purigen that's formulated to treat 250 gallons of water which means that a gallon of water can be treated with 1 mL of Purigen.

Purigen has the consistency of tiny little beads so I got a filter media bag to put the stuff in.

They recommend you rinse the filter (with RO/DI water, of course) prior to placing it in the filter. Doing so didn't release any residue or debris in the water so I'm not exactly sure why they tell you to do this.

I also got a mini Mag-Float which comes in handy for cleaning algae off the glass. Up to this point I've been doing it ghetto style—sticking my hand in the tank and scraping the algae off with my fingers.

Copious amount of debris have settled on certain parts of the live rock where the diatom bloom use to be, trapped under a layer of biofilm. This is a perfect time for me to pick out a clean up crew to help clean some of that mess.

Today's expenses after a recent trip to Petsmart:

• API Ammonia Test Kit: $7.49
• API Nitrite Test Kit: $6.99
• Seachem Purigen: $6.98
• Aqua-Pure Filter Media Bag: $0.89
• Mini Mag-Float: $7.99

TOTAL COST: $32.69 (plus tax)

Day 10

Ten days after setting up and the tank and the water parameters are looking good. The tank has definitely benefited from the added circulation and has been crystal clear. This may have also helped keep the diatom bloom down. I didn't get the chance to pick up a different test kit to compare against the Red Sea Marine Lab which I feel has been giving me inaccurate results. The readings from today are as follows:

• Temperature: 80° F
• Specific gravity: 1.023 ppt
• pH: 8.3
• KH (alkalinity): 2.7 meq/L (10° dKH with API)
• NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): less than 0.25 ppm
• NO₂ (nitrite): 0 ppm
• NO₃ (nitrate): 2.5 ppm (0 ppm with API)

The test results actually gave me some new figures though I'm still sketchy about its accuracy. While the ammonia is showing at less than 0.25 ppm, it's still not completely down to zero although nitrite is down to zero all the way. Nitrate is reading at 2.5 ppm but is reading at zero with the API tester.

As tempting as it is for me to start adding livestock at this point, it's probably best to wait for a couple more weeks until I know for sure that my parameters are stable and that the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are consistently down to zero.

Diatoms: What's all that brown crap?

My tank has been up for a week now and just a day ago I started noticing patches of brown algae on one of my live rocks and parts of the sand. These brown patches are diatoms which are one of the most common types of phytoplankton found in marine habitats. Although diatoms are generally not a good sign in an established tank, they are part of the nitrogen cycle and their presence in a new tank can signify that the cycle is moving along. Several things can trigger a diatom bloom: high levels of nitrate, significant amounts of phosphate among many others. I dismissed phosphate as a possible cause as I've been diligently using reverse osmosis water for top offs. This could only mean high levels of nitrate in my tank which means ammonia and nitrite levels have dropped down to zero (or pretty close to zero) and my tank is nearing the end of its cycle! Or so I thought.

The Lying, Cheating Test Kit

So I ran the scheduled water test today and expected to see some new results. Zero levels of ammonia, zero levels of nitrite and a high level of nitrate which could possibly explain my diatom bloom. Instead I'm getting the same readings all across the board!

So I ran out and picked up a different test kit. This time I got the Reef Master Test Kit by API. This test kit has testers for everything important you need to know in a reef aquarium: carbonate hardness, calcium, phosphate and nitrate, but not ammonia and nitrite. There's another test kit called Saltwater Master Test Kit that has testers for ammonia and nitrite, but not calcium and phosphate. I figure as my tank matures, I'll be using the Reef Master Test kit more and more so I opted for this instead.

As I mentioned earlier, test readings with the Red Sea Marine Lab came out with the same readings as the last one. The Reef Master Test Kit on the other hand came out with an entirely different nitrate reading, which is the only test I can compare between the two kits. While Red Sea Marine Lab reported a nitrate reading of 5.0 ppm on both tests, the Saltwater Master Test Kit reported a nitrate reading of 10 ppm—twice more than the first kit. This level of nitrate explains my diatom bloom.

Top view of the diatom bloom:


This threw me off completely so for now on, I'm sticking with the testers by API and could probably end up banning Red Sea's testers altogether after I do some more comparison tests. The Reef Master Test Kit also reported the following readings:

• Alkalinity: 12 dKH
• Calcium: 500 mg/L
• Phosphate: 0

The calcium reading is at a normal level and the phosphate result is a relief and again helps to point the diatom bloom back to high nitrate levels. In any case, this calls for my scheduled and probably much needed water change.

So I did a 10% water change and hopefully this will improve water parameters in the next week. I also cleaned out the media in the power filter and rinsed them with reverse osmosis water.

Mod of the Week

I added the first extra equipment in the tank aside from the heater. I've always felt that the stock filter that came with the tank might not be able to provide any circulation as it only circulates water at 40 gph. I added a Rio 50 powerhead which circulates water at 60 gph. The powerhead is tiny at 2.2" x 1.4" x 1.8" which is perfect for a nano tank. This added water flow gives the tank a combined circulation of 100 gph which means the whole tank is recirculated 33 times in an hour. Hopefully this provides enough circulation for the tank without producing too much flow for some of the corals that I plan to add later that require very little flow.

My expenses this week:

• Rio 50 Powerhead: $15.00
• API Reef Master Test Kit: $30.00
• (6) 1 gallon bottles of purified water: $6.00
• 1 bag Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix: $4.00 (for making a fresh batch of saltwater)

Photo Updates

Some interesting things are cropping up in the tank, though most of them are too small to be captured on camera. The hitchhiker hermit crab and snail are alive and well and today I found yet another snail. There appears to be on one of the rocks some kind of worm, one end attached to the coral and the other end twitching around. Swarms of copepods can be observed on the tank glass which is definitely a good sign.

Front view:

From the left:

From the right:

From the top:

First Water Test

Tonight I ran the first test on my water parameters and the results where just as I expected. These are the following readings:

• pH: 8.0
• KH (alkalinity): 2.5 meq/L
• NH₃/NH₄ (ammonia): 0.25 ppm
• NO₂ (nitrite): 0.05 ppm
• NO₃ (nitrate): 5.0 ppm

The pH is slightly lower than it needs to be which should be within the range of 8.1-8.4. Ideally around 8.3. This is important in absorbing a certain amount of acidic matter produced by waste. This correlates directly with my ammonia and nitrite level which I will soon get into. The alkalinity on the other hand is right where it should be which is a good thing as this helps prevent the pH from going any lower.

The ammonia and nitrite levels are pretty low and should expect to see them close to zero by the end of the week. This is one of the reasons why I waited until midweek for the first test as an earlier test would have shown a spike in ammonia from the amount of initial die-off. The nitrate level reading higher than the first two can only mean that nitrobacter has already started the process of converting nitrite into nitrate.

For full information on the nitrogen cycle refer to the resource link at the sidebar.

UPDATE: Upon further research, I've come to the conclusion that the Red Sea Marine Lab is highly unreliable. So unreliable they shouldn't even be selling that stuff! I'd recommend test kits by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals or Seachem. Salifert test kits are apparently the best ones. Pricey, but reliable and highly recommended.