Newbie's New Tank Log

[stevesydney]

Hi Myka,
I am Also new to the Saltwater world (infact i have been asking questions here myself), however i did have a very impressive freshwater 50g set up a few years ago untill my tank got a massive water leak! the culprit?? to much rock leaning against the back wall! i had about 150lbs of rock from the bottom of the tank all the way to the top and the weight combined with water pressure caused the silicone seal holding the base and back wall of the tank to split.... i know i had an excessive amount of rock and could have had a faulty cheap and nasty tank, but i wont be placing so much rock against the back wall again in the future, and i would suggest you dont either...... my newly setup marine tank which is at a simmilar stage to yours has minnimal rock against the back wall and its on the corners of the tank were it is stronger as it has the side walls holding it..........

hope this helps in your aquascaping.

Steve
Sydney Australia

 

[Myka]

EEEK!!! Thanks for the heads up! I am actually in the middle of re-aquascaping it. I decided to move that one rock that was leaning against the glass today, and well you know how that works...I changed all the rocks around!!! I'm sure I'll re-aquascape a few more times before I get some fish/corals in there. Then I'll have to leave it alone!

 

[Myka]

Today's params are:

pH ~ 8.0
Am ~ Not measureable
Ni ~ 0.025
Na ~ 2.5
Phos ~ 0.25

Man...GO AWAY Nitrites!!! On the other hand my Nitrates sure are low, my LR must be doing a good job. The coralline algae is starting to spread now too.

I am having troubles finding a good cleanup crew around here. I'm going to have to mail order. I think I'll skimp on them for now so I don't have a bunch of starvation later on down the road. I'm going to skip the hermits. I'd like to get 4 of each; Cerith, Trochus, and Stomatella. But I can't find Trochus or Stomatella in Canada. Argh!!

 

[drummereef]

Any new pics?

 

[Myka]

Ok...I'll go take a few.

 

[Myka]

I am not good at taking tank pics. It's easier when it's dark out though I find, and it's not dark right now. Haha! The first one is no flash the second is with flash so you can see the rocks better. Man, I need to get rid of that background... ACK!

 

[ohclereef01]

Nice aquascaping!
Id like to see what that tank looks like with an all black or all blue background! People normally do a solid color like that to pull attention back into the tank..

 

[Myka]

Thanks! Ya, I was going to paint the back of it a dark blue, but I forgot to, and filled it with water. I might still be able to get it painted though...I'd have to brush it or use a small roller. I think I could pull it off.

 

[Myka]

Test readings today:

pH ~ 8.0
Am ~ Not measureable
Ni ~ 0
Na ~ 3-4
Phos 0.1

Yay!!! I can add livestock now! WooT!!

 

[Myka]

Yay for the first addition! A Pulsing Zenia frag with two stems.

 

[Myka]

Ok, so the Pulsing Xenia had three stems...two of which were small and weren't attached to the frag rock...they made it to my powerheads. So now I just have the one larger stalk of Xenia. It wasn't opening up all the way...my AquaClear overflowed today, and I turned it off until I get proper media for it. And boy did the Xenia open up!!! It's not pulsing yet though. So I guess it was getting too much flow.

Yesterday I added a lime green feather duster and a turbo snail. I added the turbo because it's the only snail available locally (I'm waiting for J&L Aquatics to get the Goby and Pistol I want and will order a cleanup crew at the same time), and I really needed something to get a start on my diatoms. WOW! Turbos eat a LOT! The one is leaving a nice clean trail behind him. He better not topple my Xenia... After careful inspection of the feather duster, I am sure it is a feather duster (I thought it may be a tube anemone at first since it is lime green). The feather was happy lastnight and was out, and has been learily coming out here and there this morning.

Here's today's params (all Salifert):

pH ~ 8.0
Am ~ not measurable
Ni ~ 0
Na ~ 2-3

I am building a stand for it tomorrow, and will be painting the back of the tank black...so it will look a lot better very soon!!!

If you look in the centre of the tank low down you can see the feather duster's tube.

 

[Myka]

New lighting!!!

I bought some (cheap brand, single reflector) T5 HOs 2x39W! I got a real good deal on these less than par lights, so I decided to buy them because they are much better than what I had before, and will allow me to keep more corals!!!

Question...aside from SPS and clams (which don't think I could keep with these lights) am I limited from anything else?

I also added a dark purple feather duster and 3 Trochus snails.

Here's a pic from just now, please ignore the bag of floating Trochus snails):

 

[Myka]

Ok, so there's been over 100 views on my thread, and you guys leave no comments?

 

[Myka]

My Xenia started pulsing today!!!

Oh, here's my purple feather duster.

 

[drummereef]

Looking good, Myka!

 

[MDG3]

Hi Myka,

Looking good. Is a pulsing Xenia OK for a newly established tank?

Not criticizing, just wanting to know. :reading:

 

[Myka]

No, Xenia isn't recommended for young tanks...I mistakenly thought it was, so I bought one. However, my Xenia is now pulsing it's little brains off...so it seems rather happy.

Thanks for leaving some comments guys!

 

[Myka]

My tank has been running about 12 hours (going to get a timer tomorrow) per day, and I've been having a diatom bloom, and some hair algae starting, and now a bit of bubble algae starting. So I cut my tank back to 6 hours per day for a couple days. My Xenia FREAKED...looked all limp, and stringy. So I put my lighting back to normal yesterday, and now my Xenia is happy as a clam again...pulsing it's little brain out, and all fluffy.

The diatoms seem to be done their bloom - they are nearly all gone having disappeared nearly overnight. I have hair algae blooming right now, and I think I am just starting to get over the hump with it as it seems to be starting to recede a bit. Bubble algae just started to take off now. So, I just put a bag of SeaChem PhosGuard in my power filter to see if that will help. I am told the SeaChem stuff sucks, but I happened to have a jar of it, so I'll try it out for a week, and if I don't get any results I'll go get a jar of RowaPhos. I think I just need to get the phosphates out of the tank from the initial cycling of the rock...?

I put an order in with J&L Aquatics in Burnaby:

Cerith - 3
Trochus - 3
Nassarius - 3
Salifert Test Calcium and Alkalinity
Instant Ocean salt
DTs Live Phyto

AND...drum roll...

Yasha Goby & Candy Stripe Pistol pair ($70 eck!).

The Goby will be my first fish to inhabit the tank...however he'll be going through a 6 week quarantine first. Should I quarantine the shrimp too? Apparently they are all bonded to eachother already. The Goby is eating frozen Mysis too, so that's good.

I also bought Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman today as well as 3 Stomatella snails, and some frozen Hikari brand Mysis in preparation for the arrival of the Goby on Tuesday.

I think I am going to remove my 3 Astraea snails and the Turbo snail because they are so big...I am worried about them toppling my corals. I think I would have too many snails if I keep them anyway. Maybe I'll keep them for now, and see how it goes...I dunno...what do you guys think???

I have been feeding the tank with Kent Marine ZooPlex every couple days...only adding about 6 drops (maybe 1/4 tsp). My feather dusters spread super huge when I add it, so I think they like it. I'm sure they'll like the DT's Phyto better when that arrives.

 

[Myka]

Was just thinkin...the purple feather duster straighened out...he's not curly anymore.

Well I placed a mail order with an excellent company that I have dealt with many times before and always been happy. However, I suppose they can't be perfect every time! They kinda really goofed up my order... LOL.

So, I ordered a Yasha Goby & Candy Stripe (Randall) Pistol shrimp pair, and they only sent me the Goby. Oops... Oh well, he's really cute, and eating like a pig in my QT.

I ordered 3 Trochus, 3 Nassarius, and 3 Cerith snails. I received 1 Turbo, 2 Margaritas, 2 Nassarius, 1 hermit (with Nass shell), and 3 Cerith. LMAO!!! W t f? LOL. Oh well... the hermit is in my QT until I decide what to do with the little wanker. I'm thinkin I might just put him in my display...one can't hurt can it? He's weird looking too...almost like he's albino...he's pinkish colored.

Oh ya... and HOLY HELL I have a hair algae outbreak!!! :mad2: I had my lights running 14 hours, so I slowly cut them back to now 8 hours starting tomorrow. I'm going to do twice a week 5 gallon waterchanges to try to lower the Phos, plus I put some SeaChem Phos Guard in my AquaClear. I hear the Phos Guard doesn't work very well tho, so I might have to go buy some RowaPhos. I'm ripping off and siphoning out as much as possible... YARG!!! I quit feeding the tank too...

 

[jer77]

Hey Myka, looks like your tank is doing pretty good. If I can just make one suggestion, I would suggest raising your pH to around 8.3-8.6. There are many reasons why but some that may help you are a decrease in nuisance algae and increased growth and health in your xenia which seem to thrive under a pH of 8.3 as a minimum. Raising your pH can be done by adding kalkwasser or sodium carbonate to your top-off water. I'd like to know your alkalinity reading though to make the right choice. Also if you find your pH to be chronically low, then maybe excess CO2 is your problem.