Red Sea Max Nano Peninsula (26 Gallon)

[Alexander1312]

We have set up the tank below end of August 2022. Still experimenting with flow and light specifically, and managing all the various water parameters. Current struggles are high phosphates (0.17 ppm) and alkalinity (9.5), and lower PH (7.9).

- Red Sea Max Nano Peninsula
- Two MP10s
- A couple of useful 3D print upgrades
- Autotop external
- Kalkwasser Dosing (EcoTech Versa)
- Fishes: Two clowns, Tail Spot Blenny, Goby, Pygmy Angel, Purple Fire Fish,
- Invertebrates: Cleaner shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Strawberry conch, turbos (Mexican, Zebra), Hermit Crabs, Trochus Snails
- Corals (not all ID available): Montipora, Ricordea, Paradise Bridsnest, Palythoa, Xenia, Pocillopora, Zoanthis (two), various others

 

[dlsorensen]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is looking good so far!! best of luck on your journey with your relatively new tank!

 

[Buckster]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I'd love to see the 3d printed upgrades!? How are your nutrient levels now?

 

[Alexander1312]

There have been some painful months fighting Dinos (prorocentrums), which came to a conclusion a few weeks ago, and I finally feel that things are turning around.

I have been doing the following:
- Daily Live Phyto dosing, 15 ml (@Dinkins Aquatic Gardens)
- Daily Kalkwasser (250 ml)
- Monthly copepods, Snacklebox (@Dinkins Aquatic Gardens)
- Weekly AF Life Source (10 ml).
- Weekly Tracelement dosing (Triton, almost all, and regular ICP to determine progress).
- Bi-weekly 20/25% water change.
- Started recently to dose PNS Pro Bio, weekly, 25 ml, split into two days three days apart.
- Test weekly all main parameters, Salinity (Milwaukee), PH (Apex, Milwaukee), Alkalinity (Hanna), Nitrate (Hanna), Phosphate (Hanna), Magnesium (Aquaforest), Calcium (Salifert).

Fish update:
- Pygmy Angel was rehomed into a larger Aquarium with another responsible reefer, and he is much happier now.
- Added court jester goby (Biota), which is tiny but growing.

Added updates:
Added various inverts, specifically Nassarius snails, and very recently a Tuxedo Urchin (ORA, Hair Algae issues) and a Rainbow Bubble Tip (which seems to do very well).

The remaining issue is relatively high phosphate at 0.3, despite GFO dosing (6 TSPs BRS high capacity). I assume this is still stuck in the rocks, and I will not increase further the GFO dose.

Also, the clown hosts the Barbie Gonipora (I believe that is the name), which is still doing well, but not sure how long it will tolerate the constant bother.

Happy to hear any thoughts or concerns about the current setup.

 

[Alexander1312]

Hair algae are now the (only) main remaining challenge. I ordered a ton of additional inverts, as per below, and re-started to spot-treat the hair algae with 2ml Hydrogen Peroxide (3%/Foodgrade) daily. I struggle to resolve the underlying issue though as my phosphate is stuck at 0.3 (Hanna ULR) despite using BRS high capacity GFO (8 teaspoons, replaced every two weeks). Nitrate is at 10/11. I also started to use PNS Pro Bio twice a week (25ml).

Blue Leg Hermit Product ID: SBRC-I-BLH	5​
Boxes and Bags Product ID: Handling	1​
Bumble Bee Snail Product ID: SBRC-I-BBS	9​
Cleaner Clam Product ID: SBRC-I-CLC	2​
Dwarf Cerith Snail Product ID: SBRC-I-DCE	15​
Emerald Crab Product ID: SBRC-I-EMC	1​
Empty Shells for Hermit Crabs Product ID: SBRC-I-ESS	3​
Large Green Nassarius Snail Product ID: SBRC-I-LGN	6​
Lettuce Nudibranch Product ID: SBRC-I-LNB	1​
Nerite Snail Product ID: SBRC-I-NER	5​
Ninja Star Astrea Snail Product ID: SBRC-I-NSA	2​

 

[tinyfellows]

Is your ph 7.9 even with kalk dosing?

 

[Alexander1312]

Is your ph 7.9 even with kalk dosing?

Initially yes, but it got now better now (8.1-8.2) since I identified inaccuracies with the way I measured alkalinity with the Hanna checker, which made me not dose enough kalkwasser as Alkalinity appeared very high. I am dosing 400 ml at the moment daily (2 teaspoons per gallon RODI via dosing pump during the night).

 

[Alexander1312]

Returning from the Reef A Palooza in LA a couple of weeks ago, I started feeding Benereef once a week for now. Apparently, this does not increase nutrients but let's see.

 

[Alexander1312]

Finally replaced the skimmer today after months and months of deliberation, since there was a large group that thought that the stock skimmer was already very good, but I never liked it - difficult to clean, very volatile noise, and not very impressive skimming. The only 'good' skimmer that fit into the tank was the Tunze 9001 DC. Fits perfectly and aeration while set at less than 25% (!) strength looks very strong.

 

[Alexander1312]

Water tests today revealed Nitrates at 1.5 ppm continue to decline, and Phosphate at 0.19 continue to increase if not managed with Phosban. I switched from Phoshban to Elimi NP 8 days ago as I did not like the idea of using Lanthanum Chloride long-term, but the minimum dose does not appear strong enough to keep Phosphates from rising.

 

[Alexander1312]

Continued dosing of Elimi NP brought Nitrates to 0, but Phosphates remained almost unchanged at 0.22. I stopped dosing Elimi NP and switched to Phosban again last week

 

[Alexander1312]

Added 1 AquaBiomics Live Reef Sand Yesterday - Gulf. This was not available for several months I believe, and they even added another free Sand due to some confusion with the shipping.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking good! Following!

 

[Alexander1312]

Visually, I am more or less happy with the progress.

There are almost no challenges or problems to resolve except the high phosphate and low nitrate combo problem, i.e., 0.6 nitrate and 0.27 phosphate.

I keep switching the approach, and I am back to GFO. Without a GFO reactor, I sense that it will not do much in my sump, but I am still trying to solve it this way, as no other methods except Phosban had worked previously. I have it now in an area of the sump where water is forced to pass through. I will test the results after one week. Also, I increased PNS Pro Bio to 3 times per week, 25 ml each, hoping to improve the N and P ratio eventually.

My coral food schedule is the following:
Mon - Benereef Benepellets
Tue - PNS Probio - 25 ml
Wed - Dinkins Phytoplankton 20 ml
Thu - Benereef Benepellets
Fri - PNS Pro Bio - 25 ml
Sat - Dinkins Phytoplankton 20 ml (+ 10 ml AF Life Source every two weeks)
Sun - PNS Pro Bio - 25 ml

I have removed the ceramic Biomedia from the sump after the latest ReefBum interview with Claude from Fauna Marin. I have kept the Fluval BioMedia for quarantine tank purposes.

I have no algae issues I am aware after cleaning a residual spot of hair algae, the clean-up crew did the rest.

Snails (trochus and dove) seem to breed and grow exceptionally well.

I am feeding once per day dry feed (various types) and once per day frozen food (various types). Once per week, I am adding half a Masstick.

 

[Alexander1312]

I finally got a captive-bred Royal Gramma (Biota) from a local fish store near my home.

However, two problems and painful/frustrating lessons learned regarding quarantining these fish:

- Biota fish should not be treated with copper and apparently have barely any issues. The long response from Biota (which was helpful to read): " Yes, we really don't recommend using harsh treatments on our fish, especially when they're young and still developing. Copper especially can wreak havoc on the lateral line while it's still in rapid development. That said, if you want to put all your fish through treatment, please do condition them first. Even if your fish are wild, you really ought not to be prophylactically treating them when they are newly arrived and still adjusting. Ideally, they should be well-fed and visibly gaining weight for a while first. It's different if the fish is exhibiting symptoms that need quick resolution, but if you're just treating as a precaution, IMO please give them some time to settle in and be well-conditioned before subjecting them to a lot of physical handling like with TTM, or harsh meds like copper. You should never be in a rush to quarantine. The quarantine ideally should be a safe place for fish, even if they need to stay for months at a time.

- It is pointless and actually counterproductive to buy a Biota fish from a local fish store if these are being mixed with non-Biota fish (which were I live was the case in two different LFS) and if you care about quarantine. The reason is that these fish would need to be quarantined and treated with copper (and other medicine) but are actually (potentially) too sensitive to survive this compared to wild-caught fish. This point in particular, but also the point above, was not clear to me despite much prereading before setting up the quarantine tank.

Despite the above, I will treat it with copper and hope for the best since the RG was mixed with other fish, and that seems to be the best way forward at this point.

 

[Alexander1312]

Monthly picture update and other changes:

• Removed the Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone and found it a great home. It grew dramatically in three months or so and the lessons learned it that it is not a great idea to add this into a Nano Tank with limited space.
• Went back to the Red Sea Max Nano Stock Skimmer - Removed the Tunze 9001. Seems like there is a division where folks very much liked the Tunze and several including myself who tried this for some time and went back to the stock skimmer.
• Started Lanthanum Chloride (again). Very low nitrates 1.6 and phosphates at 0.22. Will start nitrate dosing next week.
• Impact possibly from nutrients imbalance: scrambled eggs ZOAs do not open properly (or too much light?), and hair algae issue on one patch where the scrambled eggs ZOAs are / linked to them not opening? Also more hair algae on some other spots but mainly within the scrambled eggs ZOAs.
• As of yesterday, started going all in with feeding corals (this tank and another pico tank I have started). I will be feeding twice a week, recommended by my favorite LFS owner, as per this video:
• Continue to have challenges with PH compared to previous months and while I still had the RBTA. I have not been able to go above 8.1, but my Alkalinity has been also lower at around 8.1 and I will get close to 9. The lanthanum chloride I believe keeps the alkalinity lower, but I might be mistaken.