10g zoa dominated tank

[chemguy85]

just a question on why you are using pc's. I know that it is only a ten gallon tank and that halides would be way over kill but have you thought about doing t-5's. Do you already have the pc's? Just a thought. by the way the tank is starting to take shape and should turn out well. The aquascaping in the tank left some great room for frags to be attached. Ben

 

[fishes2889]

Chemguy-
T5's only have a fixture that is at a minimum of 24in long. Thanks or the comments on the aquascaping. Im not sure what to do with the right upper side though,im not liking it too much but hey.
And about my last post ......it was a stupid one. I decided not to go with a canopy like that. i decided to go with the orbit 2x40w PC fixture. I bought it for 80$ at my lfs. It puts off some great light.
Heres some pics-

Actincs-

tank and shot of the fixture-

I personally think it looks very good. The corals are really opening up to thier fullest potential.
O yea and chemguy- welcome to Club ZOA!!!

Steve

 

[minibowmatt]

looking good. I would probably cut down on the thickness of your canopy wood. I see it says 1" that will be waaay heavey and overkill. Use half inch and glue/screw(or nail) strips on to the edge to sit on the rim of the tank and hold the canpoy on the tank. if you need help on a design lmk, in my other life I teach woodworking!

 

[fishes2889]

Minibowmatt-I just bought that orbit fixture so therfore i dont need a canopy. It would get to hot.....

Steve

 

[JGoslee]

The new lights are looking good!

 

[fishes2889]

Thanks, it is a really good light for this type of tank. It think i could keep even sps if i wanted to but, the water parameters are too unstable in a 10g. and plus i like zoa's 1,000,000,000 times more than sps. This i s going to be a great zoa tank.........

Steve

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Nice tank! Good luck with it!!

Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

update. Its not that good or bad of an update tho....
I have lost 2 snails and 2 hermits within the last 36 hours or so. Do you guys and gals think its because of the lighting change??

Steve

 

[jessiesgrrl]

What are the most recent water quality test results?
Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

nitrate-0-10
nitrite-0
ph-8.4- 8.8
alkalinity-300ppm

Steve

 

[fishes2889]

added a baby true perc today. Thouhg i have a problem with soem green algae that accumulates on the SB.

Steve

 

[jessiesgrrl]

wow, a ph of 8.4-8.8 is high! I thought mine was good around 8.3!! Do you test for calc/alk?

Typically in my tank I lose snails whenmy calcium is off for some reason from what they are used to. Of ourse, my snails are also straight frm the ocean below my house, so they might be more sensitive to it.


Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

calcium is around 420ppm......

Steve

 

[fishes2889]

calcium is around 420ppm......

Steve

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Jeez, I wish I could get my PH stable above (or at even) 8.3 !

I dunno why they died then, quite the weird little mystery... it would be odd if it was just from lights. IMO, would have to be heat related (Overheating their shells?) because the shell would shield them from the sunburn effect of new lighting...?!?

Maybe they all drank Kool-Aid!

Laurie

 

[fishes2889]

hmm i dunno about the light giving them sunburn. The temp varies throughout the day.
night-77
actincs on-78
all on-79-80
So i dont think that heat would be the issue. Mabey just a bad batch of hermits. but hey i still have 7 hermits left so its all good. I am on vacation right now in Pa. So sorry i didnt get back to u guys and gals. In the past week i have purchased a sand sifting star for the green algae on the SB problem. They do a great job. And i have purchased an emerald crab for any loose green hair algae on the rocks. i know its a gamble with the hermits because emeralds are known to kill them but hes a small little bugger so i dont think there will be a problem. I will post pics friday.............

Steve

 

[Shultz]

Without trying to teach you to suck eggs how & for how long did you acclimatise the new hermits? They can be very sensitive to salanity changes.....

Of course they may not have been handled/acclimatised well somewhere further up the chain & therefore out of your hands before you even put them in your tank???

I would try a different supplier if poss to replace them?

Cheers Shelton.

 

[fishes2889]

I always acclimate everything for an hour. Put a cup of water from my tank in the bag every 10 minutes and when it gets to full i pour half of it out and continue to pour more water every 10 mins until the hour is up. Im very good about it.

Steve

 

[Shultz]

Inverts can take longer than that, as a "rough" rule I give inverts 30mins plus another 30mins for each point difference between my tanks salanity & the LFS'es...

So my tank is 35ppt (NSW) if the LFS is 33ppt then its an hour & a half....

I also find it easier to have a bit of airline with a valve on the end, I then drip into the new comers bag at 1 per sec, I can never remember to keep going back every 10mins

Cheers Shelton.

 

[fishes2889]

i never got the "drip" method. I never knew how to do it. Do you take a smal hose and make a siphon and use a valve to regulate the water coming out or what?? info would be greatly appreciated.

steve