Crazed's newbie 70 gallon

[Crazed]

I just got live rock into my tank today, so I figured it was high time to get a log started. I'm not sure how to do this exactly, so I'll just describe what I did with some pictures.

I started out by rinsing the live rock in saltwater outside. I bought a combination of Fiji, Solomon, and I also used some regular rock to make the nice cave at the bottom. I encountered some kind of worm in one of the pores of a rock. He seemed rather tough when I poked him with a toothpick, and he disappeared before I could pull him out. I'm hoping it's not a bristleworm... what's the best way to get rid of them just starting out? The piece of rock he was in was one of the big ones at the bottom of the tank, so I'd rather not tear down everything. I'm not even sure if it was a worm; I just saw something about a centimeter wide showing a little bit out of a pore, and it was dark brown/black.

There was some bubble algae but I removed it. Some hair algae remains, though I've got most of it. I was very, very pleased to see that several brittlestars came along for the voyage. I had no idea they were in there until a couple minutes ago, and they're currently crawling around the tank. Let's hope they survive! Any way to increase my chances?

I'm not skimming at the moment, since I actually need to make more water up, and the skimmer produces tons of microbubbles until it breaks in. The water is cloudy (it was cloudy before), but someone at the LFS told me it was probably just a bacterial bloom (even though I used RO water). Hopefully it clears up.

Substrate will come later, just so you know; I'm just going bare-bottom until after the rock is cured.

Anyway, here are the pictures!

Tank with 3 full spectrum and 1 actinic T5.

Tank with 3 full spectrum and 3 actinic T5.

One of 4 brittlestars I've seen so far.


There's one thing I'm not sure about. There's some brown growth on the rock, and I don't know if it's just algae, or if it could be some aiptasia. It doesn't look clearly defined like the pictures of aiptasia I've seen, but what should I do? The only pictures I can give you that close are very fuzzy that can't very well be seen. Hopefully I can provide one if the tank clears up anytime soon.

Time running: 3 hours
Temperature: 77 F (working up to 79-80F)
Salinity: 1.025 (I'll probably try to get it around 1.024).
pH: I honestly can't tell, I can't use these tests too well. I know it's a big range, but it's somewhere between 7.8 and 8.2. I think it's 7.9, but I could be entirely wrong.
Ammonia: A little less than .25
Nitrite: 0

As you can see I had problems testing. How can I get more accurate results? I can't believe something as important as pH I can't determine within .4. I'm using API.

With regular partial saltwater changes, will the pH stablize, or do I have to do something else? Will a temporary pH of 7.8 hurt the creatures currently in the tank?

Also, when should the rock begin curing/cycling? I've seen no appreciable ammonia spike. The rock was not sold as cured, but it was sitting in the tanks for a while, and was fairly clean when I got it. Should I be adding fish food to spike the ammonia?

Thanks, and I hope you like the pictures.

 

[aquaman67]

I'd just sit back and watch for a while.

IMO worms are good, no need to remove.

As for the pH, the worst thing you can do is start chasing numbers when you're not even sure what the number is.

A good pH meter will make you feel better and don't try to adjust anything without one.

It all looks good. The rock maybe be cured or maybe not. I'd just wait a few weeks and let it stabilize in your tank. You're going to be in this hobby for a long time, so i'd just sit back and relax. The hardest and best thing to do is often nothing.

 

[Crazed]

Okay, thank you. I have no problem with waiting, but I'm the kind of person that gets anxious if I can't tell if things are at least going in the right direction. The temperature had been fluctuating (since I had to have the sump off to aquascape) and I was worried it might have affected the rock, but I guess if the brittlestars are okay, I don't have that much to worry about. I'll try to take them as my barometer.

Do you have a recommendation for a pH meter? I was thinking about getting one, but I wasn't going to until I found out how inaccurate my eyes are at reading the tests. Are there titration tests that you know of for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, as well?

Once again, thanks.

 

[Crazed]

I read that at least one type of brittlestar should have a salinity of 36 ppt. That would equate to about 1.027 specific gravity. Should I attempt to raise the salinity slowly or should I keep it lower where it's at? (1.024-1.025)

Also, I have a great refractometer, but sometimes if I take multiple readings within a few minutes of each other, it varies by .001 sometimes. Am I rinsing/washing the components too much/too little, or is such a variance okay?

Speaking of the brittlestars, they've gone into hiding now in the daytime. I was hoping to see if anytihng else came out in the tank at night when it was dark, but I fell asleep. Haha, hope they're okay; they're relaxing on the glass right now.

I have two small questions about them; once I put my substrate in, and if I accidentally bury some, will they be able to get out, or should I take extra special care to make sure they're not getting covered? And secondly, I've tried to study these guys as close as I can to see what species they are and compare them with my books, but I haven't been able to find anything out. Any guess to how big they'll get, if they survive?

 

[IronMdnX]

Let it sit and cook, 1st lesson in reef keeping. patients!

 

[Crazed]

Okay, okay, I'll try to calm down.

I did some rearranging of rock today when I noticed one large rock on the right wasn't really being supported reliably. Things look pretty much the same, but some thinsg are slightly different on the right mound and the topmost bridge. Now the large rock behind the right powerhead on the pictures above is leaning against the right of the glass a very little bit; there may be a tiny bit of glass near the corner that I won't be able to clean regularly, but I'd rather have more stability in the long run. I think it looks better anyway. So, that's what I did today. I don't really have anything planned for tomorrow aside from changing out some prepared saltwater. I may or may not turn my protein skimmer on.

Next time I update this thread will probably be the next time anything interesting happens, or if I have another question (which I probably will!). I may post some pictures of the slightly different rock arrangement when my lights turn back on tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who's reading along.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15052271#post15052271 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Crazed
I read that at least one type of brittlestar should have a salinity of 36 ppt. That would equate to about 1.027 specific gravity. Should I attempt to raise the salinity slowly or should I keep it lower where it's at? (1.024-1.025)

Also, I have a great refractometer, but sometimes if I take multiple readings within a few minutes of each other, it varies by .001 sometimes. Am I rinsing/washing the components too much/too little, or is such a variance okay?

Speaking of the brittlestars, they've gone into hiding now in the daytime. I was hoping to see if anytihng else came out in the tank at night when it was dark, but I fell asleep. Haha, hope they're okay; they're relaxing on the glass right now.

I have two small questions about them; once I put my substrate in, and if I accidentally bury some, will they be able to get out, or should I take extra special care to make sure they're not getting covered? And secondly, I've tried to study these guys as close as I can to see what species they are and compare them with my books, but I haven't been able to find anything out. Any guess to how big they'll get, if they survive?

As far as salinity goes it all depends on what you are going to have in the tank. If you're planning corals I would say 1.025 to 1.027 that’s a good compromise for fish and corals. If it's going to be a fish only tank you can get away with less.

The brittle stars, If you see one than you have many many more in the tank and I wouldn't give much thought to burying them. They will make their way back out.
If they came on the rock than they won't get more than an inch in diameter. however there a 1 or 2 in my tank that defy that logic.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15054737#post15054737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Crazed
Okay, okay, I'll try to calm down.

I did some rearranging of rock today when I noticed one large rock on the right wasn't really being supported reliably. Things look pretty much the same, but some thinsg are slightly different on the right mound and the topmost bridge. Now the large rock behind the right powerhead on the pictures above is leaning against the right of the glass a very little bit; there may be a tiny bit of glass near the corner that I won't be able to clean regularly, but I'd rather have more stability in the long run. I think it looks better anyway. So, that's what I did today. I don't really have anything planned for tomorrow aside from changing out some prepared saltwater. I may or may not turn my protein skimmer on.

Next time I update this thread will probably be the next time anything interesting happens, or if I have another question (which I probably will!). I may post some pictures of the slightly different rock arrangement when my lights turn back on tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who's reading along.

One of my pep peeves is having rock so close to the viewing glass that I can't clean it. Trust me on this one you'll want to do the same because it's going to bug the heck out of you. Right now is the perfect time to get it situated right when you have nothing in the tank. Oh and again turn that skimmer on. Good luck.

 

[Crazed]

Thanks for your suggestions both here and in the other thread! I'll get the skimmer on right away, and I'll see what I can do with the rock, but I don't think I can make it much better. If it's a choice between algae or stability, I'll have to go for stability. But, I'll see what I can do!

Also, with the stars... if I wanted to get a bigger one later on from the LFS, would it co-exist with the smaller ones that came with the rock? I don't have any specific species names to give you, so I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but ever since I saw those little things I fell in love, and I'd like to get a bigger one down the road.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Yeah, they will be fine together. Not to plug a book but a good book for identifying inverts is,"A Pocket Expert Guide to Marine Invertebrates" by Ron Shimek. He also author a book about fishes as well. Oh, and also if you haven't checked out Melevsreef yet he has some good photos to help identify what's in your tank:
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

 

[Crazed]

Okay, cool. I actually have both those books; they're excellent! They were the books I bought right after New Marine Aquarium and Conscientious Marine Aquarist. I just wanted your own opinion on it.

I'll check out the Melevsreef site.

Also, I checked out the rock, and it looks like it actually isn't leaning against the glass, my Mag scraper just can't get to it. I should be able to scrape it (it really is only like a 1cmX1cm spot) with a longer manual scraper.

Really, thanks again for your help. You're a real asset to this forum.

 

[andyrm66]

X2 what Sisterlimonpot said. On my Cube I have about a 1x1" piece of glass that has to be cleaned by a razor blade. It really really bugs me that I can’t get it any other way. Its worth it to find a way that all the glass is accessible.

 

[Crazed]

Well, it's definitely accessible. I'll wait until some algae builds up so I can see how effective and easy it is to clean. I'm going to be letting the algae build up on the back of the tank, since I love the way the coralline growth looks at the LFS, so it might even fit in. But if it proves to be too unslightly/too much of a hassle, I'll just have to rearrange the rock.

Also, all the levels are the same as they were last time I posted (.10-.20 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 nitrate), coming up on the one week mark.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

It’s working. Eventually the amm will convert into nitrites..... It’s inevitable. It won't stop on amm and stay that way.

 

[Crazed]

New pictures and algae

New pictures and algae

Okay, I finally got the battery for my D80 today and I can take some decent pictures. Since the last pictures, the water cleared up, and I moved some rock around. I also moved the powerheads around and put one of the nozzles just under waterline for anti-siphon. Since then, some brown algae has been growing.

Before:

After:

Click for gigantic picture

The rock in the center there, and the other one near the top right (the purple ones) began growing algae (I think?) a couple days ago. Since then, it's started to spread, onto that rock on the lower right and even there are a few spots on the dead rock now. I take it this is a good sign that some nutrients are in my tank, but what do I want to do about this growth? I want coralline growth, but do I want to encourage or stymie the growth of this brown algae, or whatever it is?

The centerpiece of the live rock, showing the brown algae growth, the purple growth, as well as some grass and bubble algae I was unable to uproot fully.

The lovely view from my bed.


Ammonia is still somewhere between 0 and .25, nitrite is still 0. Maybe I should throw some fish food in there to get some ammonia build up? I still haven't seen an ammonia spike at all.

Also, I have one important question; evaporation. In a one day period, the evaporation costs me a .001 increase in SG (eg, from 1.024 to 1.025) before I top off. Is this unstable, or not? I have part of my sump covered, but my display tank is unlidded by design. Some of it may not be from evaporation; my skimmer was running rather wet until I adjusted it, but I don't know. How much variance can there be in SG per day? I didn't think it would change that much on ~80 gallons of water.

Thanks in advance, and hope you like the pictures.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Evaporation is normal and .001 isn't that bad. as long as you top off daily and replenish what has evaporated. (Keeping in mind add RODI water without salt mix, because the salt doesn't evaporate)

 

[Crazed]

Okay. Right now I am adding salt water to make up for the evaporation, because I'm trying to push the SG up to 1.026, and once I get it to that level I'll be adding FW. Is .001 a normal variation, though, or is that on the limits of what is acceptable? I just want to know how much leeway I have in case I'm unable to be home for a day or something.

Any thoughts on that algae or the fish food idea?

 

[SpOnGeMeDiA]

Try adding granulated sugar. Seems irrelevant, but when they absorb it through their centifis pores they in turn benefit through ATP production.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15089255#post15089255 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SpOnGeMeDiA
Try adding granulated sugar. Seems irrelevant, but when they absorb it through their centifis pores they in turn benefit through ATP production.

Crazed don't pay attention to this comment. hopefully you read right through it. Sugar has nothing to do with SG. he has moved on!

 

[Crazed]

Haha, okay.

The algae is still growing. Is this good or bad, and should I increase/decrease the lighting?

Also, any feedback on using fishfood to start a cycle would be appreciated. There still hasn't been any change in the chemistry.