UNS 7 Gallon (half year update)

[nano7g]

Diatoms now gone. Now I’m dealing with cyanobacteria.

Newly added today: Trochus snail and cerith snail, a second kogi wada (more purple than pink).
Added a couple weeks ago: Purple candelabra gorgonian, a pink lemonade nepthea. I have my heart set on a Julian’s gorgonian, but still waiting to find one online.

Also, switched out the razor algae for a red bush.


My nitrates dropped to zero which has me a little worried. My ammonia is still zero. Phosphates at 0.03. Either the cyano and macroalgae is just taking up all the nutrients, or I need more livestock.
Cyano still an issue on the second week. I’m dosing Dr. Tim’s eco-balance to add more microbial diversity.

New pump: Decided to go with the AI axis 20 instead. Currently keeping it at 50%. It’s a little tight in the 3rd chamber as I have my heater in there as well. Also got the Innovative Marine spin stream nozzle. Clown goby is not liking it. Hides on the side of the rock to avoid the flow, which I really don’t think is too high, I calculate to only be 15x.

The smaller kogi wada is not growing. It’s kind of smaller lately than its largest form. I’m trying to figure out what it is. I don’t think it’s the flow. I suspect it’s the nutrients in the tank. But it might be the light as it “blooms” more when the lights are off and the house lights are the only thing illuminating the tank. But I can’t imagine it’s too high. This is my light schedule with ai prime 16hd about 12 inches from the surface of the water.

I don’t think adding copepods helped. I don’t see them anywhere and suspect the goby ate them all up or they’re trapped in the filter media.

 

[LegalReefer]

Would love to see those new corals you've added! The Koji Wada are always gorgeous

 

[nano7g]

Would love to see those new corals you've added! The Koji Wada are always gorgeous

Certainly! Will try to get a photo after my next water change, but I'm actually dealing with my nepthea regressing. My nitrates are consistently 0 for the past week, so I need to fix this issue to see if they recover. Turns out, I can't ignore cyano in the ugly phase (monopolizes the nutrients). Dosed some neo-nitro a couple days ago and they perked up a bit. Will see if they recover by end of week as I try to up my numbers a bit.

 

[nano7g]

Tanks shots of my cyanobacteria bed from last week. Also you can see the size and color difference between the new kogi wada that I got from an LFS labeled as a “leather coral” compared to the smaller one I got online. Pic of the pink lemonade nepthea as well. Also ordered a diffuser for my ai prime which is coming today.

I think I may be getting a handle on the cyano by stirring up the sand bed for the past couple days, burying the cyano and releasing the detrius to get taken up by the filter, and dosing nitrogen which keeps bottoming out. Did my weekly water change yesterday and this morning has seen no sign of the cyano bed. Will check again when I get home and update in a couple days. Was planning a black out but there might not be a need.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

No issues with spinstream right? I haven't had a single one lol. I turned my axis 20 up to 50 percent last week as well lol.glad everything is getting better.

 

[nano7g]

Tanks shots of my cyanobacteria bed from last week. Also you can see the size and color difference between the new kogi wada that I got from an LFS under as a “leather coral” compared to the smaller one i got online. Pic of the pink lemonade nepthea as well. Also ordered a diffuser for my ai prime which is coming today.

I think I may be getting a handle on the cyano by stirring up the sand bed, burying the cyano and releasing the detrius to get taken up by the filter, and dosing nitrogen which keeps bottoming out. Did my weekly water yesterday and this morning, no sign of the cyano bed. Will check again when i get home and update in a couple days. Was planning a black out but there might not be a need.

No issues with spinstream right? I haven't had a single one lol. I turned my axis 20 up to 50 percent last week as well lol.glad everything is getting better.

No issues. Works great. But Im worried about the corner right underneath the spin stream though. Thats where detritus collects the most as the nozzle pushes the water in a clockwise pattern but gets pulled into the return before water circulates back to that corner. Thinking of a wavemaker if I still have issue with the cyano, but hoping not as i want to minimize equipment as much as possible

The axis 20 works great too but i cant figure out how to take it apart to clean it. Have you? I can take the bottom cage off but all the parts seem immovable.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

No issues. Works great. But Im worried about the corner right underneath the spin stream though. Thats where detritus collects the most as the nozzle pushes the water in a clockwise pattern but gets pulled into the return before water circulates back to that corner. Thinking of a wavemaker if I still have issue with the cyano, but hoping not as i want to minimize equipment as much as possible

The axis 20 works great too but i cant figure out how to take it apart to clean it. Have you? I can take the bottom cage off but all the parts seem immovable.

There is video on BRS that shows how in review. As long as it gets kicked around it can eventually work itself to the overflow. If it's stuck in corner, you can always just syphon that area if reachable to clean.

 

[nano7g]

This week I went full lights blackout for 4 nights to handle the cyano issue. Also adding Dr Tim’s Waste Away bacteria to handle the detritus. In the mean time, I’ve added some copepods and phytoplankton to add some diversity. The copepods survived. This time around I acclimated the copepods. While looking at them with my magnifying glass, I realized I had microscopic planaria about half the size of a copepod. Haven’t been able to get much information if they’re a danger to the tank or normal. They’re not the usual ones I see that suffocate corals, but at the same time they might just be juvenile. Either way, I treated the tank with Salifert Flatworm Exit just a few hours ago. Nothing effected in the tank. I still spotted one flatworm but will need to do this weekly for the next few weeks to eradicate them.

Also got my filter from 3D reefing for my AI prime. While I was getting the Flatworm Exit, I decided to get a blue porcelain crab as well. It’s hiding right now so close-ups yet.

 

[nano7g]

Yesterday the tank was the cleanest it looked in a long while, with cyano receding, but the nitrates and phosphates were at 0 and my pink lemonade nepthea has not been doing too well so I dosed some nitrates and today the cyanobacteria is a little stronger than yesterday on the subtrate. Not as horrible as it was 2-3 weeks ago though when I was scraping it off the glass and it would come back a couple hours later. Now, at least it just stays in one corner of the substrate.

What I found was the neonitrate dosing did not help. Neither did agitating the substrate. The cyano seemed to go away when the nitrates/phosphates were at zero, but that seemed a little dangerous for the tank as a whole so it’s a weird balancing act. What I think helps was adding an air stone in the AIO that I believe adds extra oxygenation. And keeping my lights in the 20000k spectrum (previously 6000K) and eliminating red and green spectrum.

Some new introductions to the tank: a purple brush and an orange rusty gorgonian. Both are beautiful specimens. The orange rusty is more of a pale tan, but it’s really nice nonetheless and looks fantastic in both it’s extended and unextended form. It’s also the only gorgonian of the ones I have that doesn’t deal with algae covering it’s branches.

So far all the gorgonians and Koji wada nepthea are doing well. Only the candelabra purple gorgonian is having some issues. It's finally extending, but at the same time I see spots that are receding. The pink lemonade nepthea is not doing well as it’s never reached it’s original size and form, so I’ve moved it to an area with less flow and less light.

Temporary placements of corals at the front of the tank away from the cyano bed you see in the corner beneath the nozzle.

 

[nano7g]

Other two additions are a juvenile clownfish (either black photon or mocha) I added last monday and a blue porcelain crab I added last week. Also, some really tiny brittlestarfish, at least 5 that hitchhiked on the brush gorgonian but I think one of the CUC is eating them. I saw one hanging on the glass yesterday with just one leg left. I see a couple still on the gorgonian but the others have disappeared.

The porcelain crab is a bit feisty and territorial. I worry of it pinching anything that gets too close to it, but it tends to hang out in a nook in the back of the tank, and hasn’t yet done any damage. Only in the past few days has it ventured out to the front.

The clownfish was a bit of a worry considering the only other fish inhabitant was the yellow clown goby. At the LFS, it wasn’t aggressive, but did show typical female pairing behavior of rushing towards a scared male but not making contact. I think it’s trying to pair with the goby. It’s not aggresive but has no sense of personal space and is just swimming in close proximity to the goby. The goby is surprisingly unbothered, though maybe annoyed. The goby rarely ever gives up space and hasn’t changed it’s behavior or territory. The clownfish gets frenzied around food often snatching food away from the goby or eating whatever the goby regurgitates, so the goby has learned it can’t take it’s time anymore and has to attack the food. This is a benefit as there’s less food waste now with the clownfish.

The yellow clown goby holds its own surprisingly well, because I read they’re supposed to be really shy and docile. Here’s a rare video I luckily caught just at the moment the goby finally got annoyed by the closeness and beats up the clownfish. Recently the clownfish has calmed down after introduction to the tank. They seem to be getting used to each other as the days goes by. I’m hoping the addition of another fish helps stabilize the nutrients levels in the tank, but my nitrates and phosphates have still not moved upward, even as my cyano has improved.

Yellow clown goby fights with clownfish

Also, here’s a photo of the blue porcelain crab hanging beneath the Grube’s gorgonian.

 

[UNS_Parker]

Love the tank. I have never seen a clown goby hold its own against a clownfish like that, I guess you learn something new every day. Keep us updated on the tank though, we would love to see!

 

[Brine]

Love it. I have never seen a clown goby hold its own against a clownfish like that, I guess you learn something new every day. Keep us updated on the tank though, we would love to see!

You love what...? That looks like some serious fin nipping and bullying going on. That clownfish's gonna eventually outgrow and overpower that little goby and likely kill it.

 

[nano7g]

Four month update. Two more corals in the tank. A fiji yellow leather and a devil’s hand coral. After a day, the fiji started developing necrosis and was rapidly disinegrating in my tank. Cut off the necrotized tissue and put it under more flow. Disintegrated into nothingness by the third day. Not going to try Fiji yellow again especially reading the threads of people trying 2 or 3 times to keep it alive. I don’t think the return pump being used as the main flow is strong enough for this coral.

The Devil’s hand coral opened beautifully even on the first day. It’s much larger than I thought it would be. Too big for the tank. The true color under white light is almost neon green/purple but wasn’t really what I had in mind for the look of my tank. I thought it was going to be yellow/white under my light and I wanted to stay away from the neon fluorescent blue light look. I think I might trade it for a different coral. It’s beautiful rainbow sherbet color in real-life, just not what I was going for.

Turns out the flatworms weren’t actually flatworms but identified on this forum as a different non-harmful worm (which is why flatworm exit didn’t work).

The yellow goby had an indented stomach even after regular feeding. Possibly an internal parasite so treated the tank with API general cure. I don’t know if that was actually the case but the goby fattened up. (And it solved the worm problem coincidentally, which was no longer an issue for me once flatworm was ruled out). It’s consistently eating flakes and pellets off the surface of the water, so now I can install my auto feeder.

 

[nano7g]

Also, I’m still dealing with cyano which got worse when the fiji started dying in the tank. I tried hydrogen peroxide for a couple days but stopped when I thought it killed by porcelain crab. Turned out the crab was alive but had a perfectly intact molt of its shell. So I’m going to try again with the full treatment.

 

[nano7g]

5 month, 11day update.

Changes:

Sold off the devils hand and the purple brush gorgonian. Just didn’t really like them in tank. And I think I went overboard with the gorgonians. 3 is enough (grubes, rusty, and candelabra). Got a hairy sinularia instead.

Added a tailspot blenny and had a massive cyanobacteria spike, which I’ve been struggling with ever since the cyano appeared, so I gave away the clownfish and reduced my fish bioload back down to two.

One of the shrimp died after I started dosing hydrogen peroxide. It also did not help the cyano issue, but at the same time, I never finished the coarse. After the death, I just decided to stop that route.

Decided last week to go with a new salt mix: Red Sea Coral Pro. Dissolves faster. Hoping it helps coral growth.

Maintenance:

More about the cyanobacteria war. I’ve been losing it until last week I decided that instead of siphoning it off, I would just pull up all of the “carpet” top layer of cyano instead. Did the same thing this week. It’s only been 2 days , but I’m hopeful. I haven’t tested my water for weeks due to laziness. Added an extra wavemaker to help with the coral growth and cyano issues.

Livestock:

The yellow goby is looking great and fat. No more indented stomach. I think the API General helped with that issue. Feeding both fish is easy. Occasionally live baby brine, but I’m feeding mostly just dry food: flakes and pellets. Stopped feeding for inverts. Little growth on most corals except the sinularia. Red macroalgae growth about 3 times original size. Lemonade Nepthea struggling.

Final remarks: I have some tiny microorganisms like pods hanging on the glass. Rock is still green, but I see some pink coraline growing on the frag plugs and nozzle. Hair algae growing on the lemonade but no where else in the tank. Algae encrusing on the glass and difficult to scrape off.

 

[Pico_Reefs]

Why not just start to gravel vac with your water changes? I would personally stop chasing the quick fixes and just let the tank run. It looks beautiful. It just needs to find some stability. Adding all of this stuff could and likely is damaging your tanks biological balance I would add keep adding pods and start dosing something like microbactor7. I would up the CUC probably add a small conch and some stomatellas.

 

[nano7g]

Yeah, I’m not going to do anything anymore other than gravel vac and blowing the cyano off the corals. It’s been a few days and I still haven’t seen a spot of cyano anywhere yet. Usually it comes back by the next day. Hopefully I’ve started entering the next cycling phase. I’m noticing powdery algae growth for the first time on the glass when it used to be red cyano. Hoping it means the cyano is finally being outcompeted. I don’t have microbacter but I do add the Dr Tims version.

 

[madreefer11]

I found that adding too many things in a short space of time leads to cyano.

 

[Flameback Pair]

@nano7g subscribed!!!

 

[nano7g]

Finally hit a major milestone. I think it’s safe to say that the cyanobacteria phase is finally over. Since I tore up the last bed of cyano around August 7th, it hasn’t come back. After that came a short algae phase growing on the tank glass that I would scrape off daily. This week it I don’t see anything to scrape. I’m also noticing a bit of a resurgence of spirobid snails growing on the rock and as you can see from the photo pineapple sponges on the shell of the CUC snail. On the coral plugs of my gorgonians and nepthea I’m noticing increased coraline growth as well as on the power head that I need to start scraping off soon.

Below is an intact molt of my crab.

Hairy/Pulsing sinularia that isn’t really all that hairy or pulsing.