Intro and questions

[strangescreams]

Hi, I'm Sadie, I've been keeping fish for 15 years, and got the plant bug about 5 years ago. Since then I've geeked out learning everything I could about planted tanks. I never thought I would get into salt water, but four months ago I got the urge and once again I am obsessed.

Yes, i work at a pet store, a national chain, and i do my best to not fit the stereotype.

I set this 5.5 gal tank up about four months ago with just a few little bumps in the road, but it now holds about:
10-12 lbs of base/liverock,
about 2 cups of live sand,
2 scarlet reef crabs,
1blueleg hermit crab,
1 emerald crab (holding eggs),
2 asterinas,
1 margarita snail,
1 nassuras snail (you know, the one with the snorkle)
various micro stars and hitchhikers,
1 Gobiodon atrangulatus,
1 yellow clown goby,
1 bullseye mushroom,
2 kenya trees,
1 xenia,
1 hitchhicker coral that I have no clue about, it looks like cats paw

my tank tests at 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, 5 ppm nitrates, I keep it at 79 degrees and 1.022 specific gravity.
I dose with kent products, nano-reef a and b buffer,calcium,iodide, essential elements,strontium and molybdenum
( I have no idea the whys behind it, a friend with a spectacular tank gave me the frags and i just copied his dosing schedule configured for my size tank, I figured whatever he was doing was working, the kenya tree that he gave me the frags from is of monumental proportions)

I feed 3 to 8 times a day ( I know its a lot, but those little gobies will only eat a mouthful at a time, there like freaking hummingbirds) with formula one,nutrafin marine flake, and micro-verts, and sheet algae twice a week for the emerald crab.

And now comes the threats, for those those of you who think a 5.5 isn't a "real" saltwater tank, i have a trout to slap you with.

And the questions:
Why do people look at me crazy when I say I want to put acro in the tank for the gobies?
I have compact florescent on the tank (the 12 inches that hangs over from the 29 planted tank, got the reef light on sale) and I figure I'm at mid to high light with a medium water flow, will acro grow in my tank?
What is the reasoning behind the difficulty of growing stony corals in a small tank?
My kenya trees have tripled in size from when I got them,but the growth has stalled, any tips on getting them bigger?
I have some brain coral skeletons on my liverock, but a couple look like they are "fleshing out", the change is slow, what are the chances that they are still alive having gone from fiji, to the dealers tanks, to my house...?
Since I've started dosing all that stuff, my liverock is vibrant purple and green and...well lots of colors, A. What is coraline algae,B. what makes it grow,C. Why does the color I am seeing not come across in my photographs, the intense reds and purples just aren't coming through.


...I'll shut up now

 

[Brian5000]

Acropora is kinda hard to keep and smaller tanks, being unstable make that task harder. That's not to say it's impossible, but being new to the reef thing, you may want to get used to your tank care first.

You may want to try something called montiphora. It's another group of sps, many of whom are much more forgiving and require less light. It comes in branching forms as well as plates and other shapes depending on the species.

With either of these, the additional problem of growth room may be an issue in a small tank too. You may need to "prune" regularly.

With the kenya tree, I'm guessing it was growing based on nutrient stores saved up from its previous home. Those nutrient stores are now depleted and the tree can't grow. You can try feeding it somehow (I don't know what; I'll have to have somone else chime in on that).

Corals do occationally survive on live rock. Give the area good flow and light, and it may resurrect as a full colony.

Coraline:
A. It is a slow growing algea with a calcium skeleton, like corals. It builds up your live rock and gives it pretty colors.
B. It needs calcium, light and clean water. Otherwise, it doesn't really require much.
C. Are you using a flash? I find that the flash from a camera overpowers the aquarium lights giving the tank a completely different look.

Any tank you add salt is a saltwater tank here, even a 5.5 gallon. There's even a forum specifically for small-scaled tanks (Nanos) further down the list.
:welcome:

 

[Ben1]

Certain gobys can nip and bother SPS corals as well. Although Montiporas are the easier of the SPS why bother? If the tank has correct parameters, in CA/ALK/Mg/P04 the SPS should work. That said the temp should be stable, IME, it should drift more then 203 degrees either way. In such a small tank inreasing the flow for SPS can be done rather easily. Just remember there is very little water volume so things can go bad very fast, and can be improved very fast. That is what SPS do not like they can RTN under any fast changes, for better ot worse. I wouldnt do SPS in that small tank but thats just me. Kenya trees are weeds and should grow fast in most tanks, to the point they drop off branchs for babys. I would do a W/C and try to reduce my N03 to undetectable levels.

Good luck no matter what you do!

 

[strangescreams]

ok,

I'm not ready for SPS yet, neither mentally, or financially, so its still a ways off, I just want to begin my planning, when I'm able I will give it a try. I'm going to test my tank today, Those were the parameters the last time I tested it...i just do water changes when the snails tell me too (( 0.0 )), which works out to about 10 to 15% once or twice a week. I know, I'm bad, I should test more often, I'm still in a freshwater mind about some things.

 

[Sea Turtle]

:welcome: