Ordering "The Package"
- Thread starter Red_Six
- Start date
Red_Six
New member
Here are some photos of more of the critters I got with the package. Also is a full tank shot. In it you can see I added a few corals and some fish. The TBS rock makes a beautiful backdrop for everything.
Condylactis Anemone
Serpent Star
Small Abalone
Two Peppermint Shrimp. They come out at night
Condylactis Anemone
Serpent Star
Small Abalone
Two Peppermint Shrimp. They come out at night
Red_Six
New member
mskohl I did not have much of a cycle. The ammonia never got above 0.1 ppm. Following the instructions that came with the rock I swished each rock in the water it came in and smelled it for dead stuff. All of the rock smelled fresh. I did not see any die off.
I was looking at the peppermint shrimp last night with a flashlight and noticed one of them has an egg mass on its abdomen. This should be cool to see what happens. The big gorilla crab that I put in my fuge had the same thing. The egg mass is gone now and I only noticed a few baby crabs made it to the main tank. Most of those that made it are probably gone now. I bet the mantis shrimp enjoyed that.
I was looking at the peppermint shrimp last night with a flashlight and noticed one of them has an egg mass on its abdomen. This should be cool to see what happens. The big gorilla crab that I put in my fuge had the same thing. The egg mass is gone now and I only noticed a few baby crabs made it to the main tank. Most of those that made it are probably gone now. I bet the mantis shrimp enjoyed that.
mrothermel
New member
Hey...I have a question for you. By the way...the rock is gorgeous! We are driving to Portland this morning to pick up our first half of "the package" from Richard. What do you feed this live rock/sand since there won't be fish to feed for a while? I would think you would have to drop something in there. And...if you know can you be specific. We will probably have to order something because we live in Bend, OR and have limited supplies here of things. Maybe we can get something in Portland today! Thanks!
Red_Six
New member
mrothermel I did not feed my tank anything until after part 2 arrived. There are plenty of nutrients for everything to survive. Just turn the lights on for 5 hours or less per day until you finish cycling. After you get part two it is up to you what you feed. Most here on RC seem to like Reef Chili but I have not tried it yet.
ppht
Premium Member
Red I am picking up part one of my package tomorrow and I am very excited. But for someone who has a sw aquarium hobby and you say you dont know what you are doing with the camera? You should post those on www.photographycentral.com forums. I am impressed with the photgraphy as much as the amount of life you got with your order. I hope I have the same results... Thanks for the pics!!!
Hi Guys
First of all let me say after reading this whole thread I feel like I know you all
I have a 24g aquapod I am starting my reefing experience with, put in part one of the shipment on Thursday.
All is going well except a slight problem keeping my ammonia under 1.0
P.H is 7.8
Ammonia is 1.0
Nitrite/Nitrate are 0
Checking my water twice daily and ammonia is always slightly over 1. I am doing 25% water changes each time to bring it down. Anything else I should be doing?
I have a 125g fish only with live rock I have had for over 7 years so its been a long time since I started a tank from scratch. I dont recall having this problem but then again the rock had nowhere near this much life on it.
P.S I know you guys really love pics and I did take a few of part 1, I will post them with pictures of part 2 hopefully in a week or so
First of all let me say after reading this whole thread I feel like I know you all
I have a 24g aquapod I am starting my reefing experience with, put in part one of the shipment on Thursday.
All is going well except a slight problem keeping my ammonia under 1.0
P.H is 7.8
Ammonia is 1.0
Nitrite/Nitrate are 0
Checking my water twice daily and ammonia is always slightly over 1. I am doing 25% water changes each time to bring it down. Anything else I should be doing?
I have a 125g fish only with live rock I have had for over 7 years so its been a long time since I started a tank from scratch. I dont recall having this problem but then again the rock had nowhere near this much life on it.
P.S I know you guys really love pics and I did take a few of part 1, I will post them with pictures of part 2 hopefully in a week or so
<<< Checking my water twice daily and ammonia is always slightly over 1. I am doing 25% water changes each time to bring it down. Anything else I should be doing? >>>
A product that really helps shorten the cycle and helps to quickly colonize your bacteria is Seachems Stability. I use it every time I start a new tank and also when doing water changes on tanks less than 6 months old.
Another thing is that if you ( or a friend nearby) already have an established tank going, just add a couple cups of substrate to the new tank and that will reduce your cycle time and bring the ammonia levels down quickly.......otherwise just keep doing the small daily water changes or twice daily as necessary and make sure your skimmer is skimming nice and wet.
A product that really helps shorten the cycle and helps to quickly colonize your bacteria is Seachems Stability. I use it every time I start a new tank and also when doing water changes on tanks less than 6 months old.
Another thing is that if you ( or a friend nearby) already have an established tank going, just add a couple cups of substrate to the new tank and that will reduce your cycle time and bring the ammonia levels down quickly.......otherwise just keep doing the small daily water changes or twice daily as necessary and make sure your skimmer is skimming nice and wet.
Depending on the type of life on the rocks and how well it tolerated shipping, it can take a week or more for die off to taper off and for nitrifying bacteria to catch up with the load. High ammonia levels will only add to the problem, so you are doing the right thing in trying to keep them under control.
Do you have a good skimmer on the new tank?
Before performing PWCs, use a turkey baster to dislodge and stir up sediment and dead material on the LR. It would not hurt to do this several times per day anyway so the debris can more easily be removed by your skimmer.
You'd also be better off doing one 50% PWC (50% reduction in ammonia) rather than two 25% PWCs (43.75% reduction in ammonia). Personally, I'd do one 50% PWC in the morning then check in the evening and do another 25-50% PWC if the ammonia level is > .5. If all goes well everything should begin to settle in within the next few days and you can begin to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Edit/Disclaimer: The larger water change recommendation above applies only while the tank is cycling. Once established, smaller and more frequent PWCs are preferred over less frequent and larger PWCs. I'm sure you are already aware of this but I thought it might be a good idea to point this out for folks who are new to the hobby.
Do you have a good skimmer on the new tank?
Before performing PWCs, use a turkey baster to dislodge and stir up sediment and dead material on the LR. It would not hurt to do this several times per day anyway so the debris can more easily be removed by your skimmer.
You'd also be better off doing one 50% PWC (50% reduction in ammonia) rather than two 25% PWCs (43.75% reduction in ammonia). Personally, I'd do one 50% PWC in the morning then check in the evening and do another 25-50% PWC if the ammonia level is > .5. If all goes well everything should begin to settle in within the next few days and you can begin to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Edit/Disclaimer: The larger water change recommendation above applies only while the tank is cycling. Once established, smaller and more frequent PWCs are preferred over less frequent and larger PWCs. I'm sure you are already aware of this but I thought it might be a good idea to point this out for folks who are new to the hobby.
Thanks for the replies
Ybe, I dont have a skimmer on the small tank and the one in my 125 wont fit
I Researched the nano reef tanks to death and everyone says you dont need a skimmer, but I forgot about the cycle part.
Howard my 125 does not and never has had ro/di water in it, always used tap water and always have been fighting algea, nothing crazy but I don t want to fight that stuff in my small reef tank, otherwise i would have just used water from it.
Got home today and tested it was over 1 again, changed 9g and tested and it is just under 1. I pulled all the rock out 1 by 1 and found a dead clam that still had body parts inside and was slightly stinky (ewww) I still have 3 live ones lol
I'll just keep changing and hope for the best.
Caught 1 stone crab and 1 gorilla while checking rock, also found 1 porcelain and gave him a break
P.S Just realized i am not in the "our tbs" thread......OOPS
Scott
Ybe, I dont have a skimmer on the small tank and the one in my 125 wont fit
I Researched the nano reef tanks to death and everyone says you dont need a skimmer, but I forgot about the cycle part.Howard my 125 does not and never has had ro/di water in it, always used tap water and always have been fighting algea, nothing crazy but I don t want to fight that stuff in my small reef tank, otherwise i would have just used water from it.
Got home today and tested it was over 1 again, changed 9g and tested and it is just under 1. I pulled all the rock out 1 by 1 and found a dead clam that still had body parts inside and was slightly stinky (ewww) I still have 3 live ones lol
I'll just keep changing and hope for the best.
Caught 1 stone crab and 1 gorilla while checking rock, also found 1 porcelain and gave him a break
P.S Just realized i am not in the "our tbs" thread......OOPS
Scott
Questions About Setup
Questions About Setup
RedSix, (or anyone else of course),
Few quick questions for you about using TBS:
At one point you said you had very little cycle, like almost no ammonia. Is that really true, or did the cycle just happen quickly? It has to happen some how.
Where did you get your sand to go with the live rock and at what point did you put it in relative to the LR. I like the coarse nature of the material, seems it would have a lot of places for critters to live and hide. Although I wonder if the coarser, more permeable nature of it would minimize it's ability to denitrify?
Did you find a source of information listing what species of fish and other life that live in the Florida reef biotype, where the LR comes from? I intend to attempt to mimic a reef zone in my tank, and think something local is best, like Florida, which is actually part of the Caribbean reef zone, I believe.
Questions About Setup
RedSix, (or anyone else of course),
Few quick questions for you about using TBS:
At one point you said you had very little cycle, like almost no ammonia. Is that really true, or did the cycle just happen quickly? It has to happen some how.
Where did you get your sand to go with the live rock and at what point did you put it in relative to the LR. I like the coarse nature of the material, seems it would have a lot of places for critters to live and hide. Although I wonder if the coarser, more permeable nature of it would minimize it's ability to denitrify?
Did you find a source of information listing what species of fish and other life that live in the Florida reef biotype, where the LR comes from? I intend to attempt to mimic a reef zone in my tank, and think something local is best, like Florida, which is actually part of the Caribbean reef zone, I believe.
<<< At one point you said you had very little cycle, like almost no ammonia. Is that really true, or did the cycle just happen quickly? It has to happen some how. >>>
I have always experienced a very mild cycle with TBS rock with free ammonia usually never exceeding .5 and the cycle completing and nitrate readings in about 8-14 days. The mild cycle is because the rock is shipped in water hence very little dieoff. I also use Seachem Stability every day for the first 10 days which I feel also really helps the cycle along.
<<< Where did you get your sand to go with the live rock and at what point did you put it in relative to the LR. I like the coarse nature of the material, seems it would have a lot of places for critters to live and hide. Although I wonder if the coarser, more permeable nature of it would minimize it's ability to denitrify? >>>
I have always used the Live Sand from TBS with their rock, and always put the sand in first. The coarse grade of the TBS sand does make an excellent habitat for all the critters that live in the sandbed like some burrowing snails, worms, starfish, etc. I've never worried about the ability of my sandbed for denitrification because I also use a fuge stuffed with macroalgae which keeps my nitrates at nearly zero all the time. The macroalgae that grows on the rock will also aid in reducing nitrates along with water changes. I know some people also use about 1/2 live sand and mix dry sand in with it when starting their tank.
I have always experienced a very mild cycle with TBS rock with free ammonia usually never exceeding .5 and the cycle completing and nitrate readings in about 8-14 days. The mild cycle is because the rock is shipped in water hence very little dieoff. I also use Seachem Stability every day for the first 10 days which I feel also really helps the cycle along.
<<< Where did you get your sand to go with the live rock and at what point did you put it in relative to the LR. I like the coarse nature of the material, seems it would have a lot of places for critters to live and hide. Although I wonder if the coarser, more permeable nature of it would minimize it's ability to denitrify? >>>
I have always used the Live Sand from TBS with their rock, and always put the sand in first. The coarse grade of the TBS sand does make an excellent habitat for all the critters that live in the sandbed like some burrowing snails, worms, starfish, etc. I've never worried about the ability of my sandbed for denitrification because I also use a fuge stuffed with macroalgae which keeps my nitrates at nearly zero all the time. The macroalgae that grows on the rock will also aid in reducing nitrates along with water changes. I know some people also use about 1/2 live sand and mix dry sand in with it when starting their tank.
