Newbie's New Tank Log

[Myka]

I am hoping to run this as a log book so people can scream at me when I do something wrong!!! Or point something out that I should be paying attention to. So here's the info:

33 gallon tank
2 x 20W Coralife MINI Compact Fluorescents
AquaClear 200 (with some floss in it to catch the sand silt
3 x MaxiJet 1200 (only one running right now...otherwise sand storm)
Red Sea Wavemaster Pro (I can't get it to work anymore...I think I broke it)
200W Ego-Jager heater

In the mail right now: AquaC Remora w/ prefilter.

2-3" Caribsea Oolitic Aragonite Sugar Sand (30 lbs)
16 lbs Fiji LR
10 lbs Tonga LR
20 lbs Dry Base Rock

Temp 80
Salinity 1.026 (Instant Ocean swing arm hydrometer)

I added 6 lbs of the Fiji on Dec 10th, and the rest of it was added an hour ago. Readings from before the new rock was put in:

pH 8.0
Am 0
Ni <0.1 (just a trace)
Na 2
Phos 0.1

Currently using tap water treated for chlorine. Tap water Phosphate reading is also 0.1. I will upgrade to RO/DI in the next couple months.

Livestock plans:

Pair of True Percula Clowns
Watchman Goby (Yellow, Randall's or Yasha not sure)
Randall's Pistol Shrimp (hopefully to pair with Goby)

Should I get a pair of Gobies or just a single one? Not sure...

Will try some mushrooms under my lighting. The LFS here has a 10 gallon nano reef setup with Softies and a couple LPS corals for the last 6 months and it seems to be doing well. Not metal halide well, but they look healthy. So I'll feel out the lighting.

Future clean-up crew (suggestions please!!):

15 Scarlet Hermits
15 Astraea Snails
15 Nassarius Snails
Any Trochus Snails ??

I've been putting the base rock on the glass bottom kind of making a platform for the live rock to hold the live rock higher up. I have to keep taking breaks because this stupid sand blows around so easy and I can't see!!!

Excited that there's now some life in there! I'll post a pic when it's clear enough to see the rock.

 

[Myka]

Looking for suggestions on the cleanup crew, which goby I should pick, whether I should do a solo goby or a pair, I think that's enough livestock for me, but for interest do I have room for more, is my phosphate reading ok?

Oh ya, forgot to mention that the LR isn't cured.

 

[AndyB4784]

i'd skip the astrea snails and just get the trochus. they are much better at flipping them selves over if they get toppled. also i'd get some cerith snails and skip the hermits. but thats just me i've had weird luck with the hermits playing king of the mountain and killing each other and the snails.

 

[Myka]

Oh right, I forgot it was the Astrea snails that couldn't flip back over! I won't get them then. I completely forgot about the Ceriths, so I'll put them on the list too. Some people seem to have good results with hermits, and others do not. It seems like the Scarlet hermits have the better reputation of all the hermits, so I'll give them a try.

I am using a turkey baster to blow the rock off a few times during the day as the rock isn't cured, so there's all sorts of crap falling off of it, and rotting. I still need to play around with the LR because the stuff on the right is leaning against the back glass. With such a narrow tank I am finding it difficult to pile the rock up without leaning it on the glass in the back, and still provide some swimming space up front. Here's a couple pics with the new LR:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/Aquariums/SWtank-Dec222006046.jpg

[new link inserted at the poster's request]

 

[casingbill]

go for some little blue leg hermits...they are harmless. I would let the rock lean on the back glass anyway. Most people let the back glass get cover with corraline anyway and that will make it more stable anyway. Hopefully prevent a rock slide.

 

[Myka]

I was going to get Scarlet hermits...why would you recommend Blue Legs over Scarlet...I have never heard them recommended over Scarlets before.

I thought you didn't want to lean the rock on the back glass? However, I don't know the reason for not wanting to do that...

 

[Myka]

I just tested the tank (Salifert kits):

pH 7.7 (I think...I have a hard time recognising the colors on the pH, if anything it might be a tad closer to 8)
Am 0.25
Ni 2
Na 35 (ish)
Phos 0.5

A few questions: Should I do a waterchange if my nitrates get higher? Why did my Phosphate go up? Where do the phosphates come from? Is that normal in a cycle? Is my pH worrisome? I have mostly read that it is better to just leave the pH wherever it is because a stable pH is better than one that is fluctuating from trying to raise it...? Maybe I should dose kalk? that would mean I would need Calcium and Alkalinity test kits...more $$$!!!

 

[casingbill]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8821208#post8821208 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Myka
I was going to get Scarlet hermits...why would you recommend Blue Legs over Scarlet...I have never heard them recommended over Scarlets before.

I thought you didn't want to lean the rock on the back glass? However, I don't know the reason for not wanting to do that...

the blue legs are dwarf hermits.....i haven't had any of them kill each other or anything else.....the scarlets will kill themselves for the shells. Again, leaning on the glass is fine....just makes it harder to clean, but from what i've seen, no one cleans the back glass. Anything that makes it more stable is better. Especially when your gobies start tunneling under the rock.

I'd prolly do large weekly water changes until the parameters were better.

 

[artman18944]

you are seeing fairly normal params for a cycling tank. the ph will decrease as more ammonia builds up, the po4 is likley coming from the die off. i assume there is no fish or inverts to worry about just let the tank continue to cycle and monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels once they spike they will the go to 0 and your cycle is complete. do a water change at the end and if you have a skimmer put it in service asap.

 

[Myka]

Ah, I didn't know Ammonia affected pH, thanks for the info! PO4 essentially is the amount of dissolved organic matter isn't it? There is a lot of "stuff" sloughing off the uncured rock...I'm assuming this is quite normal. There are no fish or inverts in the tank right now...there are a few worm-like things in the holes of the rocks that I *think* are feather dusters. If they are feather dusters then I haven't seen the feathers yet. How often should I be testing the tank? What is a likely amount of time it will take for it to cycle, I think 6 weeks? I have an AquaC Remora HOB coming in the mail right now. I'm hoping it will be here before NYE, but I doubt it.

Scarlet hermits are "dwarf" too I thought...? From my reading I understood that the Scarlets' were less likely to kill snails or eachother for shells - that Scarlets' were the "safest" hermit. Have you experienced trouble with Scarlets? I don't even like hermits...I think they're gross and creepy.

 

[casingbill]

I started with 5 scarlet and am now down to 3 due to them killing each other for shells. I think you are supposed to provide extra shells in there for upgrades.

 

[Myka]

Hmmm...lovely...thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Drew Reed]

Looks pretty good,
you might want to get 2 100w heaters, instead of one so if one gets stuck on or off, the tank will go down slower.

 

[TekCat]

I strongly suggest to pull rocks out to the curing wat. As you have stated there are lots of junk falling off of them. Some of this junk will get trapped in sand bed. And will be rotting there fueling variety of algae blooms. This happened to me on my previous tank, not a pretty sight.

Let the junk fall out where you can take it out completely. This is just my opinion. BTW, I like the aquascape.

good luck

 

[Shagsbeard]

I'd pull the rocks off the back of the tank as well. It's not that they could damage the tank, it's that when the rocks lean up against the glass, it makes it a pain to clean the tank.

 

[Myka]

Good idea on having two smaller heaters instead of one large one. I'll check into that in the future (too many expensive things to buy for now!).

I think it's way too lat to bother removing the LR into a curing vat...it's hardly sloughing much off anymore. I didn't know I was supposed to do that, otherwise I could have very easily! Oh no!!!

Yeah, I was thinking the reason for keeping the rock off the glass is for ease of cleaning...but is it for ease of cleaning the glass or for siphoning up detritus off the sandbed/LR? If it's just for cleaning the glass...then I won't worry because I don't plan on cleaning the back glass anyway.

 

[Myka]

I haven't done anything to the tank other then switch PHs on and off to change the flow one a day or so, oh and turkey baster blowing of the LR when the PHs blow sand all over them...*lol*

Testing just done now (all Salifert kits):

pH ~ 8.1 (YAAAAAAAY!!!!)
Am ~ Not measureable
Ni ~ 0.15
Na ~ 5 (Uh, where did it go?)
Phos ~ 0.5

I am happy to see my ammonia down, and the nitrite is WAY down too! Woo hoo! I have no idea where my nitrate went...? My last testing was 6 days ago and there was 35ppm. I don't have a fuge, no chaeto, and haven't done any waterchanges. So what happened to it?

I suddenly had some brown algae show up about a week ago, but it doesn't seem to have spread much since. There is some green algae on one of my LRs that look like really short hair algae (like 1/16"). That showed up a week ago too (I think it came with the LR, but I just didn't notice it), but hasn't spread or gotten any longer...I'm thinking it's not hair alage...?

I have tap water in the tank (if you didn't fully read previous threads), but I now have RO water from the grocery store that has a TDS reading of 2 ppm according to their inline constant-read digital TDS reader. So once my tank has cycled I will do a 75% waterchange using this RO water. I think that's what I am supposed to do, but the purpose is to remove the buildup of nitrates isn't? And I apparently don't have much...

 

[Myka]

I added the AquaC Remora today. It came broken in the mail, so I have it jimmy-rigged until my new collection cup arrives.

 

[Myka]

Test results today. I collected the test water before I turned the lights on, however the room was already lit by daylight. I noticed the tank is very slightly cloudy today.

pH ~ 8.0
Am ~ Not measureable
Ni ~ 0.05
Na ~ 5
Phos ~ 0.25

I've been turning my skimmer off during the night because the tank is in my bedroom, and the skimmer is too noisy. The skimmer is on from about 6am to 10pm. Is that ok?

 

[Myka]

PODS!!!! I just discovered... LOTS OF PODS!!!! Woo hoo!

My rock is starting to color up real nice too. It doesn't look like the photos above anymore. My camera got stolen on NYE, so I'll borrow my mom's digital SLR to see if I can get some nice photos!