Maintaining a nano...

[drperetz]

Well, we all know nanos are a pain cause of their size, and of course other reasons that I dont want to get into. Lets imagine we have established a stable water quality which is consistent and of course correct. How would 1 supliment calcium and other elements necessary for the corals to absorb and to obviously thrive? :chefico:

If my question is not suficiently giveing a visual of my question, to simplify my question is how do i go about improving water quality in a 6 gallon?
Live stock:
Baby false percula
Baby yellow whatchman
pistol shrimp
sebae anemone
torch
fragspawn
sansifting cuc
assorted zoaz
ricordia
favia
live rock
sandbed
mangrooves
DAYILY TOP OFF WITH RO/DI WATER..........forgot to add........................(thank you BC)
Salinity:1.024
pH:8.0
temp: alot of fluctuation in the heat but usually stable around 81-83F
Light cycle is about 5-7 hours no actinics.
It all stands under a 70w halide.with a baby skimmer
water is changed 1nce a week sometimes 1nce in two weeks.
Everything is a live and looks healthy but not growing, may be the growth is minuscule . I should nt compare the quality of water in my main system and the nano obviously because there is better filtration, and more water volume. My main concern is how do I make things grow fast? :sgrin:

 

[drperetz]

...

the reason y I am asking is because my xenia always thrived in my system even with poor water conditions by is not at best of health in my nano. How ever when I put the white pompom frag in the water the polyps began to grow immediately. Now, I know that my xenia was a great water qulity indicator of pH, or salinity....what to do what to do....

 

[DonCisco]

what is your calcium, phosphate, nitrate, etc?
I have a 12G, and my corals thrive. especially xenias and anthellias.... they grow like weeds. Let us know what are all your parameters

 

[drperetz]

..

I have no idea what those parameters are...But I thought I said that the system is well maintained but that specific coral is not growing. I am sure there is phosphates, but since everything looks like its in good health i am satisfied with the water quality. Aso please dont compare ur 12 with my 6. Totally different systems of filtration.

 

[drperetz]

...

is that a tang in a 12 gallon?:bagfish:

 

[grisha]

Eug
IMO water changes is the way to go with keeping pars stable. try to buy a a salt which is balanced better
and you have to remember, nano is always a try and error. some things make it and thrive some things do not want to

 

[bad coffee]

For a small tank, (I"ve only had <20gals) A top off is esential.

I use Kalk for my top off, and use waterchanges for everything else.

In my 10 gallon I had 64w of PC and I fed my corals like crazy. Otherwise I just let everything go, and take it as it comes.

 

[drperetz]

.

ur defin. right about not wanting to.... I feel like there is some nutrient missing. I dont feed often but when we do the right term for it is "tank party".

 

[drperetz]

...

thats 2.5 months after the tank is set up.

more pics to come.

 

[drperetz]

For a small tank, (I"ve only had <20gals) A top off is esential.

I use Kalk for my top off, and use waterchanges for everything else.

In my 10 gallon I had 64w of PC and I fed my corals like crazy. Otherwise I just let everything go, and take it as it comes.

how do u messure ur calk and do u drip it?

 

[tosiek]

I've had a super healthy xenia till i changed the light bulb in my MH fixture. What color bulbs are you using? Mine went from 14k to a 12.5k bulb and a few of my corals didn't take too well to the light. And i also light acclimated them for 2 weeks.

 

[drperetz]

...

mine is 15k or 14k i think. but i wanto convert to 20k

 

[bad coffee]

If you want growth, DO NOT go higher temp lights. I had the worst growth under 20KK.

For kalk, I just dump a couple of tablespoons in my top off container. At the time it was an old salt jug. Since it was dosed by my litermeter, the dosing was throughout the day.

Now I have an extra RO housing that I changed into a kalk doser. The litermeter pumps from a 5 gallon bucket (of fresh water) into the RO housing half filled with kalk. as it mixes in it forces out effluent into my sump.

One of these days I'll post some pics. . .