Juan Perez

I can't see how placing 24 peppermint shrimp won't overload a 55 gallon tank. And then having to feed that many animals after they clean up the aiptasia. And then I've had the filefish nip at some corals. Any butterfly placed into a 55 is also asking for trouble with corals. Start with a few peppermints, 2-3 and then add another 2 or 3 in a few weeks if you don't feel they're doing the job. I would do 1 per 10 gallons MAX. They're great aiptasia eaters but they need some time to work their magic. Please be patient, you want to have a beautiful and responsible reef. You don't want to unnecessarily risk the lives of reef animals.

In the wild? Yes. That's because they have lost their symbiotic algae and have been dipped in a yellow dye. Under the proper conditions they *MIGHT* return to their natural colors but that isn't guaranteed.

More often than a nano tank should be fed... Actually once daily is fine. It's two years old and only has one head. I bet it would grow faster if fed more frequently. He eats anything: NLS pellets, cyclops, mysis, and kittens.

I didn't even buy this coral, it came on cultured Florida live rock: Phyllangia americana

I feed the dendrophyllia and also there are numerous small bivalves and a pygmy cucumber on the one piece of Florida live rock I have. It's very interesting to watch how they all react to feeding time!

Thanks a bunch! I didn't realize one kit was more accurate than the other for alkalinity. As far as feeding goes the tank is dosed with 12 ml isochrysis twice daily. It gets fed cyclops once or twice daily depending on when I'm home. And finally microvert once in the evening for the feather dusters. All this heavy feeding is why I added the biopellets and GFO.

Thanks for all the replies btw! I'm pulling the trigger on more test kits. I ordered an alkalinity, calcium, and nitrate from API. I have a phosphate kit from API but I was thinking about getting a Hanna checker. Does anyone have any experience with one of these?

I cut down the GFO down to about 1 teaspoon. Should I remove it all together?

My PO4 levels had reached nearly 2.0 ppm. Which is why I added the media. I was only changing 2 gallons every other week, not twice weekly. And my corals: Pulsating Xenia Blassto wellsi Duncansopammia Dendrophyllia

Thanks! I didn't mean to post twice. I use a refractometer that I check the calibration before I use it. Also, I keep the temp low because it's such a small tank. All the research I've been doing points to the fact that problems occur much faster at higher temperatures. And with such a small tank I wanted to make sure that I have as much buffering room as possible. And if you look at tanks like copps has with his cool water angels and anthias, he grows SPS as well, albeit at a slower rate. I'm going to invest in alk/calcium and mag test kits to see if I'm missing something there. Other animals include: Baby bangaii cardinal Fire fish Pom Pom crab 2 sexy shrimp 2 pink feather dusters And some azoox corals (which is why I added the reactors)

Ok so, I have a 6 gallon nano with mixed corals. I have had ZERO luck with any SPS. Currently I have 3 monti's and they're all bleached and receding. I think they were doing fine until I filled my media reactors with both bio pellets and GFO. I did not know that too little phosphate was a problem! So here are my tank stats: 2x 18 watt t5 HO 500 gph aqueon circulation pump Prizm skimmer 5 gallon sump Dual stage BRS reactor 1.025 specific gravity 74.5 degrees 8.3 pH 0 nitrates 0 phosphates I don't have any other test kits so I don't know any other parameters. I change 2 gallons biweekly. If there's anything else you need to know just let me know.

I think everything looks pretty happy, I was just concerned about the acros and montis. I guess I will just monitor their progress and TRY to be patient. No promises!

Hello all, fairly new to the club here. I have a 6 gallon eclipse nano reef with sps corals and lps corals. Currently I have an aqueon 500 gph in there. I was considering upgrading to a korallia 750 (850 gph) but as soon as I plugged the sucker in, it blasted the heck out of everything and the tank was a sandy mess. Needless to say, i unplugged and removed it. Should I leave things as is or should I proceed with the upgrade?