3 foot saltwater update

on the top you can see the coralimorph I copped into 3 pieces and is now successfully growing as a propagated invert.

Full tank pic above - I have copped the xenia corals so they might not look as full in the whole tank picture ..

Pulse coral below
so here are a few pictues of my 3 foot after the addition of a few corals etc. I have added a fungi, pulse coral, Kenya tree coral, a blue tang plus some extra live rock in the sump. I am really happy with the way this tank is turning out :> the corals are all opening up very nicely, the fish are all getting along very well and algae is down to a minimum and, this is mostly due to the fact that this tank is now cycled + purigen did help. The Acropora unfortunately isn't doing to well - I have cut off all the dead bits and, just kept the good parts and glued it to a piece of rock however, I don't have much hope for that coral. this tank is predominantly soft corals + LPS's so not sure if the acro is suited for this environment. I do hope to change the freshwater to a SPS tank in time .... but one thing at a time.

I haven't used my protein skimmer in ages however, I have added some additional live rock to the sump + some caulerpa to absorb the nitrate (not that there was much at all- last time i measured it was below 10 ppm). The live rock will also help with the regeneration of the macro algae which the tangs will definitely devour from the tank. Next thing would be add a chiller to keep the tank temperature stable as I do think that the temp. fluctuations have contributed to the acro's demise however, the other corals + fish seems to fine with this fluctuation.

Purigen

So went to my local fish store trying to find some Biochem Zorb or Polyfilter i.e. to absorb waste products and, make the water quality better for the reef tank. However, they were out of both and I had used Biochem zorb in another aquarium and, it cleared the water right up beautifully :> It also works great in a freshwater planted tank.

Anyways, the fish store was out of this product and, instead they suggested "Purigen" which is a exchange resin removing waste by-products keeping phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium down. It also aide's in clearing up the water of floating debris or tiny particles which can cloud aquarium water. The good thing about this resin is that it doesn't effect trace elements in your water (well minimally as it is a type of carbon filter media).

After buying the product I did some online research and looked up Purigen which is made by a company called SEACHEM. There website is very informative and, full of great articles about aquarium keeping.

*** the great thing about this product is that you only require 100mL of purigen to treat 400L of water - others products usually aren't as effective i.e. 100mL treats 150L per water etc. Also, this product claims to last up to 6 months (of course this would depend on how much waste your tank produces..) + is regenerable i.e. once it turns black you treat it and, you can use it again :> Information on the website link I have provided. I must also mentioned that I love the fact that there are heaps of juicy details about how the product works and, product support available on the SEACHEM website.

On another note :

I will post some photo's of my tank as recently I have added a Kenya tree, also a nice white fungi and, rearranged the corals etc + the mushroom polyp I propagated has turned is now three separate polyps and, growing great!

I aim to pack this tank as full of corals as possible and, will be focusing on a soft corals and Large polyp stony corals - this is because, the tank is predominantly these type's of corals and, hopefully this will keep the coral warfare to a minimum. Also, I have introduced a blue tang who at first was last on the pecking order in the tank being attacked by the yellow chromis and sailfin tang(very annoying) however, this settled after a few days and, they all seem to be getting along very well. I do believe that the unusual habit of the blue tang wedging himself in between rocks was what set off the chromis i.e. he kept wedging himself into the rock that I think the yellow chromis called home so it became very territorial.

Also, I hope to change the mini-reef into a refugium style filter i.e. simplistically by adding some more live rock with some Caulerpra or other type of algae + add a light to the inside of the cabinet.

Once this tank is complete I hope to put it up for sale! A complete tank with all the corals/fish etc.

Go check out the links for Biochem zorb, Purigen, polyfilter etc all great products which really do make aquarium keeping that much easier and, that much more rewarding.