My 20H :) Lots o' Pics

[Dasani]

This my 20 high nano reef. Been running 2 months now. All the livestock was bought from Jason and Tammy except for the rock and sand (and the tank and equipment). Anyways specs:
20H
70w mh viper clamp lamp
ac 70 modded to a fuge
50w heater
koralia 1
15 lbs of live rock
1.5" thick live sand bed
mostly zoas, frogspawn, gps, and ric
onyx clown and b/w clown
diamond goby passed
turbo snails
couple of blue leg hermits.

Pics (tank is dirty atm, please excuse)
FTS:

Clowns:

Zoas:

 

[Dasani]

And the DIY aquaclear 70 fuge mod

Comment or complain

 

[sprinklerdudes]

like the diy fuge, more pics?

 

[Mariner]

Looks like you're off to a really good start! The zoas are cool and should spread and fill in nicely, and that morph of frogspawn is one of my favorites. If it were me, I'd really be tempted to find a long arching piece of LR and make a kind of high bridge or arch between your two main piles of rock.
Keep up the good work!
fwiw,
Mariner

 

[Dasani]

Thanks guys, I upload some more pics of the fuge when I get time to take um and upload. You can see my guide on how I did it here:
YouTube - DIY Aquaclear Refugium Mod

 

[jason.tammy]

Nice job so far.Keep it up and you will take the big tank away from them.LOL
I have some ORA Green Birds nest fragged now.Also the blue polyp birds nest.

 

[Dasani]

Nice job so far.Keep it up and you will take the big tank away from them.LOL
I have some ORA Green Birds nest fragged now.Also the blue polyp birds nest.

Ok thanks, I may get some this weekend. I had a question. I have TONS of coraline growing in my sand, and it grows on my zoa rocks. It seems to be making them close up, looks like the lunar eclipse and armor of gods arent gonna make it. what can I do about this?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

You have TONS of cyanobacteria rather than coralline algae. Have you tested your water for nitrate and phosphate?

Blow off cyano off your corals and remove the cyano as much as possible by syphoning out using an airline or small diameter tubing. Then, do a large water change to reduce excess nutrients and turn off the light for four days. Turning light off on corals for four days will not hurt the corals but it should kill cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria is ubiquitous and shows up in a big way when you have excess nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) accumulating in your water.

Do you have a light on the fuge of yours? If not, I suggest that you add one after the four day blackout. Chaetomorpha needs light to grow and take up nitrate and phosphate.

 

[Mariner]

Of course Tomoko is 100% right about it being cyano, and the procedures that she's outlined for dealing with it are dead on too. I would add that since your tank is only a couple of months old, some cyano and diatoms (which you also have) are to be expected Good husbandry, etc. should win out over time.
FWIW,
Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Mariner is definitely correct about the newly established tank being more prone to have cyano.

When a tank cycles, diatom usually shows up as if to signal that the tank has cycled. Diatom often looks more brown than red. They don't trap air bubbles because they don't photosynthesize and produce oxygen. Your snails, astreae in particular, eat diatom on rocks like candies. Fighting conch cleans up those on the sand bed in no time. Your second picture looks more like a diatom bloom to me.

Then, cyano shows up. Cyano in our reef tank is usually the red snotty variety that traps air bubbles. Some cyano is green like blue green algae in fresh water tank. Together they look like black tar. You obviously have the red kind.

Cyano can be very persistent. You need to eliminate the underlying cause of cyano outbreak, which is usually excess nutrients due to overfeeding, a heavy bioload, an insufficient nutrient export or the combination. You can use something like Red Slime Remover or Chemi Clean, which is an antibiotic treatment and definitely a more expensive option, but if you don't address the underlying cause, cyano will eventually comes back.

 

[jason.tammy]

Yea what they said.It is easier to agree than to say it all over agin.LOL
Jason