My Nano

[simon peet]

hi,
here are some pics and a description of my humble little rio 125. i started it in december and here it is as now. it is currently going through a bit of an algal bloom, but i still would welcome any comments.
it has been done on a minimal budget due to me being not able to afford much since im only 16, but as a first tank i am resonably pleased with how it is going:

full tank shot
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/whole shot.JPG

softies up the right
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/nice.JPG

finger leather
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/finger.JPG

tomato clown taking up residence in my toadstool leather (grown from a frag)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/clown 2.JPG

close up of the cabbage leather
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/cabbage.JPG

side tank shot
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/side view.JPG

regal damsel- really difficult to get a pic of so sorry about the quality
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q1/damsel.JPG

the tank is sump less, and i grow caulerpa in the tank. i have a small internal filter to remove debris, and there is around 25kg of live rock.
flow is provided by two oc powerheads (cant remember the value but its the highest flow rate).
lighting is a 150w arcadia pendant with a 10k bulb, although i think ill change this to be more blue.

stock lists

inverts
cabbage leather
pussey coral
clove polyps
star polyps
mushrooms
white pulsing xenia
toadstool leather
sand sifting star fish
blue reef lobster

fish
tomato clown
pyjama wrasse
regal damsel

although its not anything like any of the other great tanks in this forum, any comments would be appreciated.

[jamieb]

corals are looking very healthy mate, well done, dont worry about the algae we've all been there at one time or another.
what clean up crew do you have in there?
jamie

[Tristan]

Corals do look healthy mate but the tank looks like it has high nitrates/phosphates, do you test?

[simon peet]

nitrates are zero but i havent tested phosphates. dyu think i should get a test kit then?

[GaryM]

You really need to find out what is fuelling that algae and take steps rectify ,I have been there and it really gets to you eventually. It is more than likely high phosphate/nitrate levels. You may test for phosphate and get a 0 result but all this means is that all the algae is using it up before it can show on a test kit. Regular water changes and somesort of phospate absorber preferably fluidised as it is far more effective then. Some more details of set up would help...parameters,equipment,bioload,feeding regime these would help us advise you on algae problem.

[GaryM]

You really need to find out what is fuelling that algae and take steps rectify ,I have been there and it really gets to you eventually. It is more than likely high phosphate/nitrate levels. You may test for phosphate and get a 0 result but all this means is that all the algae is using it up before it can show on a test kit. Regular water changes and somesort of phospate absorber preferably fluidised as it is far more effective then. Some more details of set up would help...parameters,equipment,bioload,feeding regime these would help us advise you on algae problem.

[simon peet]

well i had been doing water changes twice a week a couple of months ago until my nitrates hit zero. they have stayed there since and i test it every two weeks, a long with doing a 20% water change after the test, although not testing for phosphate. i thought that an algal bloom was just something that happened to all tanks during the first year or so and the algae would dissapear if the nitrate was at zero.
i feed my fish once a day with flake, and once every two weeks with vitamin enriched brine shrimp. every week i give my lobster a piece of cockel.
one thing i only recently thought of was cutting down on the lighting. its currently on 11 hours a day- could this be a cause? if i cut it to eight or something would this help, although im slightly worried about the corals?
thanks for the help

[fras]

8 hours is more than enough, you could even get away with less. Also take the others advice and start testing for phosphate and using phosphate media.
Corals are really looking good though.