Gizmo's first tank

[Dozo]

OK here we go. My tank is finally a reef now, albeit a very small reef! Thanks to the fragswap yesterday I picked up my very first corals for the biocube. I got 3 different kinds of zoas (dont remember the names) and one little frogspawn. I'm very excited to have these little animals but quite nervous to say the least. Basically from what I gathered from everyone I talked to and the research I have done, These guys should do just fine with quality water and decent lighting.

I guess the reason I'm nervous is I am questioning both my water quality and lighting at the moment, not to mention one frag definitely has a aptasia on it (sigh..). My water tests are checking out but unfortunately my actinic bulb went out recently so that just leaves my white light for lighting until I can get a replacement. It seems like I have had nothing but bad luck right from the get go with this hobby, but maybe I am just looking at the tank half empty? Another thing that is concerning is I haven't seen my nassarius snail in about 5 days and I would hate for one dead snail to kill these new frags.

Anyways its all a learning process, on to pics!

Just getting them in after acclimating.


Close up of two of the zoas.


Hermit doing what he knows best.


Frogspawn today, thought this is where it would be best out of direct flow..


And the zoas, a little higher up since they weren't really opening up much in the sand..


Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated! 

[Sunny]

Nice !!  Love the Zoas.

[The WuSue]

Nice pick on the zoas. They have very nice color. Don't worry too much about them opening right away, they've gone through a lot of stress lately, but they'll cover the whole plug soon enough.  If you can get a new bulb, soon I would encorage you to do so, or better yet, replace both and mark your calendar when you did.  Zoas are very hardy and will tolerate lower light levels, but it never hurts to give them a leg up especially if you are worried about water quality. As for water quality, and the misssing nessarious, what are your ammonia levels looking like? If your tank has ammonia there's a good chance your snail went to the ocean in the sky, if not he may be just doing what he's supposed to do, tilling sand.  I thought all my nessarious long gone until I moved the tank and found five of them bigger than ever.

From what I can see, all is looking good.

[Dozo]

Well I checked my water for ammonia today and I'm a little concerned. Since I've started checking it with the test kit about a month ago I thought my ammonia was 0 but I was never sure because it always looked close but could have been in between the colors on the test kit chart. So today I did something different and checked both the aquarium water and some RO that I've been using as top off and for sure there is a difference between the two. Now this has me worried that there is some ammonia in the tank, the number 1 thing you don't want.

Do you guys know if testing RO and aquarium water should look exactly alike regarding ammonia? I'll tell you too, the top off water looked much clearer, when I tested the aquariums water the color was a little more cloudy if that makes sense. I was thinking that the salt and all the trace elements may make them a little different in consistency then plain RO water.. Should I use some Seachem Prime? I bought a little bottle of this a long time ago thinking I would treat tap water but that idea was thrown out way back. But reading on the bottle here it does say that it detoxifies ammonia. I just really don't want to add any conditioners if I don't absolutely have too since the water hasn't ever had anything in it. The corals look ok, hermit crab is working as usual, I'm just concerned about that one nassarius I haven't seen. Fed the tank a little just to see if he'd smell the food and come out but the only taker was the hermit. I just want to relax but its so tough! I may go buy a little more live rock to add to the tank just so I have just that more of a biofilter, although I don't even know if this is the right way..

any idea's guys?