Kansas's 29 gallon

[kansas1051]

Here is a pic of my 29g allsetup with live rock. The tank ran as a fish only for a few months, and then i began adding live rock over a period of a few weeks. Over the next few months i am planning on adding a few basic corals, such as mushrooms, zooanthids and some xenia.

The current tank setup is:

2x65W 50/50 PCs
CPR Bakpak Skimmer
Penguin Biowheel 170 w/ carbon
Two Micro-jet powerheads

The current tank inhabitants are:
2 tank-raised true percula clowns (Amphiprion percula)
1 yellow-tail damsel (Chrysiptera parasema)
1 emerald mithrax crab (Mithrax sculptus)
7 Blue-Leg hermits crabs (Clibanarius tricolor)
2 Astrea Snails (Astraea tecta)
4 Turbo Snails (Turbo fluctuosa)
Approx. 25 lb. live rock. Mostly Walt-Smith Fuji plus a few hand picked pieces of Tonga.

Current levels:
Ammonia: ~0
Nitrite: ~0
Nitrate: 5 ppm [see below]
Ca: 400
sG: 1.024
Tank temp: 77 F

Current tank problems:

Cyanobacteria outbreak, most likely caused by my use of tap water during the tank's time as a fish only tank. I've since switched to store-bought RO/DI water, which i'm hoping reduces my nitrate [which test low due to the algae] and phosphate levels.


Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

[kansas1051]

Added yellow polyp on 1/4/04:



The rock on which the polyps are going is approximatley 4 inches in length.

[kansas1051]

Green polyps added 1/10/04. Polyps are slow to open, as i have read is common, but they opened on the first day in my tank. there are approximatley 30 polyps on this 4 inch rock, which i picked up at my LFS after a week of negotiation.

[kansas1051]

1/18/04

The above yellow polyps and green star polyps i have added seem to be doing well in the tank as both show signs of budding and are open all day.

My cyano has gone away, probably the result of diligent weekly water changes with RO/DI water [i used tap for a few months when i first started]. However, i sitll have a little hair algae in places on the substrate.

Current water params:

Ammonia/Nitrite: 0
Niraate : 10 ppm
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: 8.2
Ca: 500
Alk: 10.9 dKH
P04: 2 ppm! (with a salifert kit)

Needless to say, im not happy about the high phosphate levels, which are said to inhibit coraline and coral growth. After some research, i went and bought a bottle of phosguard and placed it in a media bag in my CPR bakpak [the area where the biobale is normally placed]. Hopefully the phosguard will lower my phosphates to acceptable levels. I assume the source of my phosphates is my use of tap-water between September and early Decemember.