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Beignet's 14 gallon nano tank

HI everyone,

Well, the nanocube has been holding steady with lots of coral growth and lovely fishes (harbor goby, pair of clowns, dart fish, and a super cute clown goby). Recently, however, my zoas and palys aren't looking so good (pic 1). The whitish patch on the rock use to be full of the palys that are now spaced oddly out over the rock. Also in the last couple of days my birdsnests (pic 2), and montipora (pic 3) seem to be bleached or dying starting at the base and moving upwards. There is a bit of bubble tip algae and cyano at the base of the monti too. It is usually held in check better than this by my trusted emerald crab making me wonder if I'm feeding too much or my bioload is too high. My pink tip frogspawn is also not opening as nicely as usual and I saw it expel quite a bit of brown goo recently (which I believe is not poop but actually zooxanthellae?). I did turn my lights up a bit 2 weeks ago, but i didn't think it was significant. Otherwise, water chemistry is on point (CA 420, dKH9-10, Mg 1300-1350, Phos/nitrate undetectable). Temp has crept up from 78-80 with the heat, but nothing more. I don't feed my corals, but I do offer a bit of liquid "Fuel' on occasion and started this about 2 months ago.

I would appreciate any tips or help. I'm still pretty new to reefing and haven't had any experience with corals bleaching. I would love to hear any and all suggestions.

Many thanks,
Nann


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Hi Mike,

I test with API kits (ph, Amm, -ites, -ates, phos, alk, CA) or REd Sea (alk, CA, Mg). I cross checks the kits to make sure they mach one another for alk and CA, and I usually then stick with the API kits because it's so much easier and faster.

Water changes are 3 gallons/week pretty faithfully.

I turned up the lights a bit in terms of intensity. No change to the photoperiod and I run them from about 7am - 3pm.

I dose about 15ml alk and 15ml CA, BRS part every other day, slowly over 1-2 hours. Alk does drop down to 7-8 sometimes.

The only other thing that is unusual is that I had a tank sitter on April 20th who dumped the 2 part in quickly and created a snow globe for a few minutes. Otherwise, no major changes come to mind.

Thank you so much for your help - any and all advice is appreciated.

nann
 
Parameters seem fine.
For phosphate, you really need a ultra-low range kit, or it only reports major problems.
Cyano is a hint that phosphates might not be as low as you think.

Do you run carbon and GFO?
If not, it is something to try. Especially carbon, since there is a good chance that
corals are fighting each other in that small space.
But start gently, it can shock a small tank.
No need for fancy equipment. Just a small bit in a sock next to skimmer.

Do you have LEDs?
They can be a lot more intense than you think.
I had some similar issues when I had mine too bright. Especially when whites were too bright.
 
I don't like the API phos kit, just me. Hard to read mainly. Maybe like mark said, carbon and or gfo could help. Sounds like you have your process down pretty well so I'd change the lighting back to what it was maybe
 
You have a lot of fish in a 14g cube. With a tank of that size, I personally wouldn't bother with dosing...Water changes should be plenty sufficient. The RTN/STN where there's white developing on your corals makes me think of a parameter shock type event. Lowering phosphates too quickly or something like that... (Dumping in 2 part too quickly, etc.)

"Water changes are 3 gallons/week pretty faithfully. " To me, that sounds a lot like...'I change water 3 out of 4 weeks per month' (if that) =P
 
Beignet said:
I'm just following the basic copepod culturing procedures outlined here:

http://reefnutrition.com/tigger_pods_care.html

The culture tank has been running at 33ppt, the temp has been 75-80F, and I've been feeding phytofeast a few drops a day or more if the water gets clear. This matches my reef tank closely and I've had the copepods live for several days in the feeding tube before finally exiting - a good sign that maybe they'll populate the tank?

What they don't really talk about on the reed mariculture site is the use of any sort of biological filter. Because doing water changes is a bit of a hassle because you have to separate copepods from gunk from water (and my ammonia has spiked several times), I recently decided to stick in a sponge filter. I'm still waiting for it to be conditioned before I can comment on it's effectiveness.

I have a series of sieves (64 micron mesh) to make it a bit easier to separate copepods from water. The copepods are quite 'sticky' so watch to make sure all of your hard work in growing the critters isn't lost in siphon tubes or stuck in pipette bulbs.

If I learn any new tricks, I'll be sure to post.

Beignet
Click to expand...

That would due to RMI not recommending filters for zooplankton cultures. They produce more than anyone on the planet an use zero filtration to achieve that. The rotifer flosses purpose in rotifer cultures serves one purpose, mechanical filtration.

We also do not do water changes or Tiggers. Batch methods work best for them.
 
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