20 Gallon Build

[midknight]

You would be looking for this guy.

http://www.melevsreef.com/

Here is his ID page.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Great guy and a super page for info. Except he seems a bit slow on updating his log lately :bum:

 

[skippy23]

this is it
thanks man !

 

[skippy23]

here's a pic of the new addition

this was the only decent picture i could get

 

[dantodd]

Those are little guys!

I suspect they'll grow nicely in your tank.

 

[skippy23]

I hope
if you look closely u can see 3 more to the left of them
do you guys have any secrets on water changes, mine was a complete disaster
now that ive got another power head on i havent seen any brown or green algea except on the power head of the skimmer thats it and some on the back glass but very little
i dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing........................
BUT everything looks great the mushrooms made a really nice transition
the shrimp is doin great
so i guess everything is fine, its just me bein Obsessive Compalsive i guess lol

 

[dantodd]

all sounds really good. Have you picked up some snails yet? They should make quick work of what little algae you do have.

As for water changes. I just use a gravel vac like one of these http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19133;category_id=2937;pcid1=;pcid2=

Just siphon off 1 or 2 gallons into a bucket and either pour or siphon the new water in to replace what you pull out.

One hint. Be sure to top off your tank before you do the water change.

Also, make sure you use good water for your top-off. For the first 2 years I topped off my tank with salt water. I guess I got lucky and has so much salt creep that that the excess salinity didn't kill off the whole tank.

 

[skippy23]

no snails yet there the next purchase
them and hermit crabs
im goin on vacation for 2 weeks and when i get back im gonna get me 10 or 15 hermit crabs (do you think thatll be enough) and maybe 2 or 3 snails to start off
my sister is goin to feed the coral banded while im gone

?= my coral banded shrimp stays behind the rock ALL the time, everytime i look into my tank its behind the rocks hiding, is this normal, he isnt stressed or anything is he?

this is all day and appearntly nite,
its 2am right now and i turned my bedroom light on and looked and he's still behind there
like i said he NEVER leaves thats spot

 

[dantodd]

I'd personally go the other way, get more snails than hermits. I'd try to get a few snails before you go because friends/family feeding fish almost always overfeed which will create nitrates which will create algae. The snails will help you keep ahead of the algae before it builds up.

 

[skippy23]

cool thanks dantodd
i just took one more reading before i left

Ammonia-----0
Nitrite---------0
Ph-------------7.8
Nitrate-------10
Temp---------80*

 

[dantodd]

Ph is a little low, I'd buffer it up to about 8.4 but take your time and do it over several days.

Everything else looks excellent.

 

[skippy23]

im collecting information now and
once i get back im gonna start workin on a refugium project
so any info/advice will be appreciated

 

[joedirt54]

drill a hole in the lid of that skimmer and drop airstone in between the inner and middle tubes, about 3/4 of the way down. Coralife has a mini wood stone that would work well...you double or triple the contact area. Use a three way valve to dump excess air if it overflows or spits out bubbles into the tank.

 

[gstatton]

Skippy23, where are you from? you mentioned Rick's in Frederick. I work in Frederick and live in Gaithersburg, md....
anyways, if you drive down 270 S another 15min there's another two LFS that are ok....Tropical Fish World (in Gaithersburg MD on 355 (S. Frederick Rd.). Jim (the owner) is GREAT and supper knowledgeable....the other is further down 355 (Rockville Pike at that point) called Congressional Aquariums....they moved and are now in a huge space....i don't know, just some options....
also let me know when you get back and if you're not too terribly far from Frederick, md i might have a frag or two for you....

hope your tank is going well...i too have a 20H going!!

 

[skippy23]

WELL im back, the trip was awsome, quite the experience. im gonna take a few reading tomarrow, and a couple update pics. and hopefully maybe get started on the fuge/sump in the next couple days

JOEDIRT: thanks for the info, as always its greatly appreciated im not much of a DIY type of guy lol

gstatton : i live in cumberland, ill be commuting down here within the next day or say...........im hopin
thats awsome free frags are awsome frags lol, thanks alot

as for the tank, everything survived lol, the mushrooms grew a good bit and i have this fuzzy "thing"
(which was relatively small when i first notivced it but now is pretty good in size)
on one of my rocks and it doesnt spread to other rocks just "grows"on that rock, its weird but the little white see through ant things are crazy around it
any ideas
ill also have a pic of it

OK having already said im not a big DIY type of guy, im gonna need some major help with my fuge/sump
ive been too marvins or something close to that and read up on here but anything addition info is GREATLY appreciated
as always, thanks
and its good to be back

 

[dantodd]

welcome home, gald everything survived. The white thing is probably a sponge of some sort, a picture will confirm. The clear ant-like things are copepods. They're a very god sign of a healthy aquarium.

 

[Cyclone123]

What fish store do go to that is a hour and a hlaf away from cumberland? If is what i think it is DO NOT LISTEN to the and the are very over priced. BTW nice start!