critter count so far!

[redwarrior77]

Ok so far here's the critter count:

Several worms (look like bristle worms)
2 cerith snails
4-5 or more nassarius snails
1 red mithrax crab
1 hermit crab
1 keyhole limpet
2 cup corals
1 red macroalgae
numerous green algae
Several sponges - already bleaching, but that's pretty much to be expected, from what I've heard
Too many tiny barnacles to count

And this is all just with the part 1 rock!

I've been VERY closely monitoring ammonia levels...everything seemed pretty good until a couple of hours ago when it started crawling up. (Yes I am fretting over this thing like a newborn!) I did a 2g water change at that point and I'm monitoring it, prepared to swap out more water if necessary to bring it down. Right now it's hovering between 0.02 and 0.03ppm, but I don't want to leave for the evening and come back and have it sky high. I'm also a little nervous that my flow might actually be too high...every time my poor snails try to climb the glass much, they fall off! Mr. Limpet seems to have no problems, though. I wonder how you tell if you have TOO much flow vs. not enough?

In any case, everyone had fun today looking at all the critters. I'll post pics tonight of some of the stars of the show after I'm more comfortable with the state of the tank.

 

[Acrophet]

Watch those sponges.

 

[liverock]

Ditto

Ditto

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12920821#post12920821 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Acrophet
Watch those sponges.

Watch the sponges..if in doubt use your nose..you have a very small volume of water...

if it does spike at this point.....it will be something on the way out, and you need to get at it asap....as things in small tanks change fast!


sea ya
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[redwarrior77]

I just changed more water...I noticed that my filter and the sponge by my pump were both filled with sand-colored guck...I did my best to clean them out and I'm getting ready to get to work on figuring out what on the rock is turning...the water smells very much like low tide, so I think it's worth spending the evening at work to figure this one out...I would hate to go home and come back to a dead tank in the morning. So far ammonia is still at about 0.05...time for the gloves.

One note for fellow nano tankers getting ready for this - keep some extra filters on hand, particularly if you aren't sure your skimmer is up to this kind of bioload. I'll be putting the purigen in tonight as well as thoroughly cleaning my filter...I think I will go out and get another one tomorrow and swap this one out as well.

 

[redwarrior77]

I think I found the culprit. All the rocks smelled fresh and fine except the big one. I found two sponges that felt "slimy" and smelled back, so I scrubbed both off with a paper towel. On the bright side, I also found a gorilla crab while I was scrubbing. I think all the poor creatures in my tank right now are wondering what is up with all the moving of the rocks and swapping of the water. So far, I've swapped out about 3.5g of water and I'm mixing more. I'm going to scrub the filter and sponge good and add the purigen and then hang out here for a few hours and see which direction things start going.

 

[redwarrior77]

Ok, now I think I freaked out for no reason. If the lights are on, the Seachem Ammonia meter shows <0.02ppm. If it's off, it looks like 0.05...I'm getting my ammonia test kit out to see what results it gives.

 

[liverock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12921291#post12921291 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Ok, now I think I freaked out for no reason. If the lights are on, the Seachem Ammonia meter shows <0.02ppm. If it's off, it looks like 0.05...I'm getting my ammonia test kit out to see what results it gives.

.o5 is ok...cycling....keep it there!

Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[redwarrior77]

How'd this get to be two posts? I guess one of my responses accidentally became it's own thread...oh well!

Well, it's been a looooonnnngg night. Like they say, only bad things happen fast, but man did bad things happen fast. I'd say until about 3 or 4pm, things were going great. My water was clearing up and I think every snail in the rock was coming out to play. Then...the water started to look more yellow and my ammonia started rising. I did a 3.5g water change at that point and then waited...it stayed at around 0.05. I mixed more saltwater and used my test kit rather than the "dot gauge." The test kit's results were somewhere between 0.05 and 1.0. I took out my filter, the sponge in front of my pump, and even my chaeto and rinsed them all in DO/RI. I couldn't believe the guck that came out of my filter! I placed them back in the tank and did another water change, this time 4g. I waited...and tested again. The same results. I pulled out each piece of rock, this time carefully sniffing each little crack and crevice (would have made an interesting story if a mantis shrimp had decided my nose looked tasty!). I scraped off a couple more sponges that had a "funky" smell to them just in case. I gave my tank last rights just in case and then finally headed home. My test kit last measured somewhere between 0.05 and 0.1 and my seachem "dot test" measured closer to 0.05.

We'll see how it looks in the morning, but for tonight, I have fought the good fight and annoyed my snails as much as I think they can take. Tomorrow, my better test kits should arrive along with my purigen...they were supposed to arrive yesterday, but who knows where they landed in the postal service's priority list. I'll go ahead and crop some pictures to post of how my rock looked before I began attacking sponges, but for now I have some hard-won words of wisdom for any fellow nano-tankers preparing to taken on this endeavour:

1. This is great rock, but with great rock comes great responsibility. You want dead rock that's predictable? You afraid of critters and just want a sterile tank? Stick with the overpriced dead LFS stuff. :smokin:
2. Spend as much or more money on your protein skimmer as you tank. No protein skimmer or a cheap protein skimmer ain't gonna cut it. Put up the bucks for a sapphire or tunze...I know I'll be upgrading to one.
3. Have backup filtration ready. If you use the foam-y filters included with a biocube or similar, keep several on hand so that you can swap them out if they get dirty on the fly. Be prepared. Even better, have some filter media specifically for filtering ammonia on hand and ready or already in the tank. Have extra filter floss or sponges. Basically have a spare of EVERYTHING.
4. Yes, it is important to keep your rock in water as much as possible, but don't be afraid to sniff it all over before you add it to the tank. If I had it to do over again, I would have sniffed each sponge twice and removed a couple of the larger ones to start with just in case. It's not like there wasn't plenty else on that rock!
5. Plan on spending some quality time with your tank the first couple of days after adding the rock. You'll want to anyway to watch all the interesting critters you keep seeing and if you plan ahead for this, you will have also cleared out your schedule for any unforeseen issues that might pop up.

Even if I come in tomorrow to a dead tank with my ammonia through the roof, I'm still glad I went with real live rock versus the stuff in my LFS. I had a ton of fun today and tonight I learned a ton about my tank and what I can do better with it. For me, that's worth it even if I have to pretty much start from scratch again. Hopefully, though, the hard work I put in tonight will pay off and I'll come in tomorrow morning and my ammonia will be back down to tolerable levels and the snails will have forgiven me for all the craziness and come back out to play. :lol:

 

[redwarrior77]

Ok, enough with the whining and worrying...on with the pictures!

Green macroalgae growing on the rock.

Red and green macroalgae...I really think this is one of the parts of my tank that gets the most admiring comments, no picture does it justice the way it moves in the flow and how much color it adds to the tank!

 

[redwarrior77]

Top down tank shot

Keyhole Limpet

Rock with unidentified corals

Rock with red and green macroalgae and cup corals

Full Tank Shot

As you can tell, the top-down shot was taken in the afternoon, while the rest of the pictures were taken mid-day...you can see the difference in the water...still great pics, though!

 

[OgreMkV]

Awesome pics. Keep 'em coming.

 

[liverock]

Nose action

Nose action

Now is the time to use your nose....

if you are getting high ammonia readings, something is on the way out.....

if that rock you cleaned smells bad, ditch it....and I will send you more on part 2.

The Pics look good, and keeping the ammonia under 1ppm will make the tank come around in a few days..

Keep me posted!

Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[redwarrior77]

Things seem to be going better today!

The water is back to much clearer and this morning Ammonia registered somewhere (depending on test and what color looks most like what) between 0.05 and 1.0. The "low tide" smell also seems to have improved. At noon, it was measuring a little higher, so I did a 2g water change and added some fiber-fill (the kind for tanks, not pillows) to a couple of areas that I plan on taking out later today or tomorrow to help catch some of the extra "brown stuff." My purigen should arrive today unless the postal service has decided to take today off.

This evening I'm going to pull the rocks again for another "sniff test" and may do a water change then if the ammonia requires it. I think I'll wait until then to decide if one of the rocks needs to go completely. I think I made some good headway last night by removing some sponges that just weren't liking my tank, but I may have to remove a couple more.

Other than that, my critters seem pretty happy today. The snails and crabs are definitely more active and my keyhole limpet has decided the rocks are much more fun to hang out on than my tank glass. I still think he's my favorite so far, although the kids are pulling for the crabs.:jester:

 

[redwarrior77]

Woo-hoo...ammonia now back down to 0.05ppm!

 

[liverock]

Happy

Happy

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12926524#post12926524 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by redwarrior77
Woo-hoo...ammonia now back down to 0.05ppm!

If your critters are happy, you are on the high road!

Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[redwarrior77]

A couple more pics...these are from this afternoon. The water is a lot clearer and ammonia is staying more stable around 0.05ppm. :fun4:

My favorite rock again

Full-tank shot from this afternoon. You can really see how much better the water looks as well as how the rock is losing the "brown fuzzy stuff" that it was covered with yesterday. I'm not sure what this stuff is, but underneath are the most beautiful dark purples and pinks and in some places the rock is almost orange.

 

[redwarrior77]

And then...there came death. :sad1:

When I left my tank last night...all was well. My ammonia was around 0.05ppm and it seemed like things were finally settling down a bit. Sadly, when I finally got a chance to go in to work to check on it...the ammonia had spiked. I'm not sure which test to trust since all 3 I used gave different results, but suffice it to say it was over .1ppm. I added my purigen and did another water change, sniffing each rock very carefully for anything dead. The snails and hermit crab seem to be weathering the storm ok so far, but the rock has emptied quite a bit...parts of it look more like the LFS "live rock" than the pictures you see on here. It didn't help that my new pump raised my tank's temperature as well overnight (not too high, but higher than it was when I measured specific gravity on my change water) and my specific gravity also elevated. I was very careful to bring that down as well with my water change. It was elevated, but luckily it wasn't high enough to do major damage.

I'm glad I decided to go in to check on things! I'm trying to stay positive since even if I do get die off on this rock, it will mean my tank is cycling. I'm going to install a new protein skimmer next week. Hopefully my snails and crabs and I will survive!

 

[docklink]

First, I'm sorry things went a bit south. It happens and it happens faster in the smaller units. However, you are on top of it and that will count for a lot. You'll be surprised at what survives and keep in mind, this is part one. Once it has cycled, it will handle the addition of part two much more smoothly. And part two is when the party really begins!! Keep watching and don't panic.
Good luck.

 

[redwarrior77]

I'm going to go in and check on it today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Most of all, I hope "Mr. Limpet" isn't floating...he's become quite the favorite! (Funny how attached we can become to a free snail!)

I'm hoping the purigen helps...I wasn't aware that 100mL is enough to treat 150g...what the heck is in that little bag?

 

[redwarrior77]

Mr. Limpet is MIA and the red macroalgae is gone. The hermit crab and snails seem to be holding on and I'm starting to see the barnacles come out. I'm hoping Mr. Limpet just has decided to weather the storm on the far side of the rocks.