cvcdrk's 29g Mini Reef

The wrasse could be attacking his reflection, it's often used as a trick to get an aggressive fish to leave a new fish alone. The blasts will also grow a great deal slower than the other corals you have, I wouldn't worry about it
 
Update time....

I've been battling an unknown algae for about two weeks now and I fear I am losing the battle. I'm not sure how to proceed from this point.

It is a sort of brown slime algae almost. It flakes off in chunks when I blast it off the rocks. It tried to cover up my orange dot zoas and was keeping them shut but I blasted them hard and they recovered (thankfully). It also was starting to crowd the base of my yellow polyps but I did the same and they've been good for now.

It is mostly a rock issue, though, it is growing voraciously on some of the rocks and not others which immediately made me think it was a low problem. However, I have reached a point where I actually like the flow in the tank and feel like every area is getting adequate flow. I have used the string test to test this hypothesis.
The next step was to let the stuff grow. For four days I let it grow out and see how it behaved. It got long and, agreeing with my guess, was waving quickly in the flow of the tank. I know it's not from lack of flow to these areas, then.

So today I did an 8-gallon water change today and blew the shit out of the algae and sucked it through the siphon. I pulled out a ton of the stuff (but obviously still missed some...I would have liked to have done a better job getting the crap that settled to the sand but I couldn't take more water out of the tank).

Now the tank looks great because I spent 2 hours cleaning it but there's still enough algae in the tank that I would assume that it will come back just as strong if not stronger.

My alk test is expired and I need to order a new one. That's the only thing that I need to test for.

1.025 SG, 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites, <10ppm nitrates (didn't test today but last night before the 8 gallon water change they were about 10), 0ppm phos,

In other news, everything in the tank is doing quite well. All the corals are showing signs of growth.The acan is starting to sprout two new heads.
As for livestock, things are still great. The wrasse is on a better schedule now but still spends a lot of time in the sand. He seems happy, though, eats voraciously, swims actively, etc.

I might take a couple videos soon to show off some things in the tank. Depends on if/when I can get the algae under control.

A couple pics:
This is a trumpet coral I bought. It looked like this at Petco and I thought it was closed up but after a 2.5-hour slow acclimation and a few days on the bottom of my tank, it has not had any noticeable change. It does not glow under the blue actinics and it doesn't seem to open up to light. In a few days if it is still like this I am going to try moving it up in the tank.
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This is a new zoa colony I got. It is difficult to tell in the pic because its a camera phone and I don't know how to edit pictures...but the outer rim is a vivid blue and the centers are yellow. They are very cool looking. Got this 30-head colony for $25. You can see the brown slimey flakey algae on the right side of this pictures with the bubbles indicating algae growth. :(
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Here's a FTS from yesterday (before the water change). If you look closely you can see the algae clearest on the bottom right. Everything is closed up in this picture because I had just fed everything nutramar OVA.
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In that case, it's a rather boring coral. I really expected it to open up more than that. :-\
Oh well.

So you think the and bed is the best place for it? If that's the case I'll leave it where it is and just put a rock underneath it or something to keep it stable.

I am saving a little bit of money to buy a big order online of actual coral colonies. I really want short tentacle plate coral, a donut coral, and a torch coral. I'm going to get the most brightly colored ones I can find.
 
Picture dump. My girlfriend got a new camera so I might post another picture dump tomorrow as I play with it but these were ones I've taken over the last couple weeks on my phone.

New addition is a Spotted Hawkfish. :-) I did my research and am prepared to lose some snails to him. I've read he shouldn't bother my CBS much but even if he does I don't much care.
I saw him at Petco and couldn't help myself. He was only $12. I don't like the longnose ones as much but this guy is awesome. He's eating frozen mysis and nutramar OVA already....it's funny watching him swim. He can stay upside down under the overflow box for long periods. Not having a swim bladder is a funny adaptation to me.

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This is what the scooter looks like when he's sleeping beneath the sand. Very cool imo. Though't I'd share.
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Looking good and you've got some nice looking zoa. Can't wait to get my 29g up and going.

Thanks! I look forward to seeing it. I always like to see other 29g tanks.

I am thinking of going smaller as well! I am seriously considering a small 5.5 gallon pico reef just for fun. There are some experiments I'd like to try that I think is only possible with a very small water volume and there are a few other things I'd like to try...
 
Thanks! I look forward to seeing it. I always like to see other 29g tanks.

I am thinking of going smaller as well! I am seriously considering a small 5.5 gallon pico reef just for fun. There are some experiments I'd like to try that I think is only possible with a very small water volume and there are a few other things I'd like to try...



do it!!! Small tanks are the best! Lol I have a 29 gallon and just started a 12 gallon cube, next is a 10 gallon kitchen reef!!!!
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure I'm going to. I already have a powerhead for it, the heater, and all the peripheral equipment...I just need the tank ($16), some black sand (going with black!) and the light.

When I have the money to buy a light for it I will definitely do it. I've also seen some threads on other sites where people use baffles to create an organized overflow in the back of a 5.5 gallon tank...so the display is about 4 gallons and you can keep some chaeto and rubble and hide equipment. I might do that, too.
 
Everything is great. Don't feel like typing it all up but suffice to say it's all really good. Algae is (knock on wood) under control. Nitrates are <10ppm all the time.

I took two pics at "sunset" tonight. I still don't know how to do photoshop and stuff so I can't correct for the blue but idc...haha

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Ladies and Gentlemen,
I give you what I believe to be the first two spots of purple coraline algae.

Difficult to see because they're small. On the back glass. One just over the rock in the center the other down and to the left from the powerhead. :) I've been observing them grow.

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