Just got my tank!

I spent the $79 to get the AquaC waste container. It is totally cool. Well worth the money. It's got a ping pong ball that floats in mid air and seals the chamber when the air pressure is too high. it's got a carbon filter on the top. And best of all its made of the same extremely high quality material that the skimmer is. Same type of sealing rotating top too. Incredibly cool. And hey, it matches my skimmer.
 
I HAVE LIFE.

Thousands of tiny tiny tiny things in the top 2 inches of water above my sand bed.

I sat staring at my sand bed just now, (which isn't live sand), and I saw for the first time ever, these little creatures jumping around in the inch of water above my sand line. They are so so so small. imagine a flea, and then imagine something 1/10th the size. So small that you can't see that you're seeing it. Smaller than the sand grains. And they are white. I didn't see them at first, but then once I saw small particles hopping up and down on the sand I looked closer with my best stare and a flashlight. It is amazing. the sand is covered with them and they can swim up an inch or two. I would say they look like babies of brine shrimp. These are my babies. They were just born today. not there last night. The tank was dead last night, except for my rotting live rock.

Cheers
Josh
 
They were inside the rock ( it's LR right?). You will see al sorts of life come out your rock when all settles in. The critters wil go deep into the rock during cycle, transit or any other occansion causing stressor bad environment. The little bugs are copepods if I am not mistaken. You will see them eventually on the glass and everywhere. My glass is full of them, little crusteations they are.
 
Just beach sand I believe. The LFS said it was "live" sand. But they were holding it in a wheel barrow .

it is not aragonite based and it is not crushed coral. It is extremely fine and there is no derivation in the grain size. Its all very consistent. It's beige, (brownish). It looks nice, it's not chunky like argonite sand can be. It's like brown sugar.
 
It was all wet, under water. But there were no critters or coral in it. It certainly wasn't sand from a live reef. I've done enough reef diving in my life, reef sand doesn't look like this.

So yes, they said it was live sand, and it was kept in water, but I doubt it was from a reef area, and there were no critters in it. I looked.
 
What makes live sand live is not the critters you find in it. Same with LR. What makes it live is the bacteria that lives in it and on it that breaks down your ammo, nitrite and nitrates. This is why everyone uses some amount of both when starting a tank. It actually speeds the cycle. So infact your sand just might have been live sand (which you find wet when you get it).
 
About adding the cleanup crew . . . wait until your cycle is finished. You'll know when because your ammonia and nitrIte will be ZERO and your nitrAte will be high.

Otherwise, if you added them now, they would likely die and increase your ammonia level.
 
Oh yeah, it might be a good idea to get those full arm's length gloves the LFS sells so that the oils on your hands and arms doesn't "pollute" your tank. Plus, the gloves will protect your hands so they don't continue to get cut up.
 
Thanks a ton guys.

I was contemplating aquascaping last night but my right thumb is still very tender. It isn't cut, but for some reason it scraped against some rock that has made it tender. Feels like someone hit it with a hammer.

Also the other cuts on my hands aren't healing very fast. My hands still today are just swollen a little and totally dry. I was contemplating applying some lotion but I figured it would sting within my cuts.

Maybe tomorrow my hands will be good enough to dive back into the tank.

But I did have some fun last night. I bought my Tunze powerhead and controller, and my waste collection container. So I got to play around a little bit.

BTW, my waste collection container has already overflowed. My wife just called me at work.

So by adding the waste collection container I now only have to empty my skimmate twice a day instead of every hour.

Yay for me!
 
Just fill a bowl with alcohol and slowly lay your arms in it...wuss

Did you find out if the Tunze's could be rewired to work in your setup?
 
Yes! The Tunze representative replied and it turns out that yuo can take the box apart and inside the cable just plugs in. I went home and took it apart. Piece of cake. I am excited now.

I just got off the phone with yer wife.

Cheers
Josh
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6431341#post6431341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fmellish
I am excited now.

I just got off the phone with yer wife.

Cheers
Josh

Man that sounds bad! Glad to hear the Tunze's will work....r u still at work or did you go home early? Pix man! When do the lights come?
 
I'm home now.

I'm aquascaping tonight. Going to use gloves to as to protect my fancy hands.

If the dust cloud I'll create settles down tonight I'll also throw the powerhead in. If I'm done before 9:00 i'll post pics.

The lights arrive tomorrow.

I'll probably start the canopy this weekend if I can.

Cheers
Josh
 
Back
Top