Nano noob build

[aztoza]

Added 2 more zoas to fill out this rock…and 3 of them aren’t looking so hot. Just took the blues down by 5%, looks like the pink one may be bleaching?? The rastas seem to be withering; only the blue/orange at bottom left seem happy. Parameters seem great. I’m fine trying something else there if they just don’t make it.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I can’t imagine they’re bleaching at the bottom of your tank. Sometimes zoas are just brats- my AOIs grew five new polyps over a glorious few weeks and then decided to close their heads for a week straight now. Beautiful little drama queens. Try chopping up some frozen food and giving them a feeding? Mine are always happy after that.

How long have these ones been in your tank? Some of mine didn’t seem to do anything until a couple of months and then BAM, they took off.

 

[aztoza]

I can’t imagine they’re bleaching at the bottom of your tank. Sometimes zoas are just brats- my AOIs grew five new polyps over a glorious few weeks and then decided to close their heads for a week straight now. Beautiful little drama queens. Try chopping up some frozen food and giving them a feeding? Mine are always happy after that.

How long have these ones been in your tank? Some of mine didn’t seem to do anything until a couple of months and then BAM, they took off.

Hmmm ok I could try a spot feed with frozen or phyto. They’re all in for less than a month. Time will tell I suppose. Ty!

 

[aztoza]

Moved the leather and it is LOVING the new spot! Krusty the Krab loves hiding under it now too.

Lost a zoa to a strange, super stiff algae. The others are still angry. The leather and GSP are from the same LFS and living their best life…I may look for corals only from that shop from now on.

Oh and found a stomatella snail hitchhiker! Almost gave me a heart attack haha. He should be fat and happy with all this algae…

 

[aztoza]

Baby rainbow bubble tip anemone thinks the big leather is its mommy XD doesn’t look stung so…

 

[aztoza]

Changed some things around this week, and added a mushroom and pink cabbage leather cutting. The baby rbta did cause issues with the hand leather and cabbage, so we had to scrape it off and get it onto the coral skeleton rock instead. It does not want to attach to the base rock (which is fine by me because then we can move it!).

The mushroom is kinda ugly so of course it’s happy and growing…Murphy’s Law of corals lol. Next steps are adding mushrooms that are pretty, and figuring out alk/calcium dosing. Just need a little boost before trying easy lps/sps. And want to encourage coralline to takeoff.

There is still a touch of cyano at the top, but all the GHA disappeared in the course of 1 week…not sure if it was the pods/phyto, extra hungry cuc or what…but I’m glad!

The zoas seem to have zoa pox, and though they’re still opening and there are a couple new heads, they are looking awful and withery. May have to pull them out :’(

 

[aztoza]

Back from Greece! 100% would recommend, very cool place to visit. I did get to snorkel one day, and while it does not compare to tropical reef snorkeling, there are some cool fish and clear blue water.

The tank has been in maintenance mode; I haven’t made any changes lately except adding one blasto and beginning to dose All For Reef. The zoas all died. Stock is down to the rbta, finger leather, cabbage leather, mushroom, kenya tree, and gsp. Fish are both great.

Everybody talks about the “ugly stage” but nobody mentions the next phase…the Sump Creepies! Getting some good biodiversity = a lot of “WHAT IS THAT?!?!” moments haha! We’ve got pods, amphipods, spirorbid worms, pineapple sponges, one vermetid snail that is now glued shut, and more yet to be identified.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

Sump creepies!! Totally- my pineapple sponge situation is wild too, but I haven’t really seen anything else back there. Definitely having a spionid worm outbreak in the display, but despite them definitely swinging around near my corals, nobody actually seems to mind? I wonder if it’s a bigger problem for SPS than others.

 

[aztoza]

Huh, yeah hope it just sorta all balances out I guess?
I’m starting to see your point about the cleaner shrimps…mine is getting monstrously big and bugging the fish! Haven’t been able to catch him yet though haha, they’re unexpectedly fast! Hope yours isn’t causing trouble.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

since the cleaner shrimp became my son’s favorite aquarium critter, it’s become mine too! It’s getting huge though— I think it’ll be a lot less bothersome to everyone once the new tank arrives!