zoo tank updates
- Thread starter drbronx
- Start date
Sweet deal but alas, we'll have to be patient and hold our horses (no pun intended) until we are ready. I do love those yellow Reidis. We will apparently need some yellow/orange in the tank for them to hold their color. Perhaps we could get some yellow gorgonians (or any other gorgonians in fact) sponges etc. I'm thinking this tank can have more of a carribean feel to it featuring ricorsead, sponges, tunicates, gorgonians. The problem is gorgonians are pretty tricky other than the fully photosynthetic corky fingers. Does anyone have any other gorgonians that could be fragged for this. Also what aquatic plant might folks recommend. Seahorses like to be able to grab on to things. I could order some from Live Aquaria. Also does anyone have pods that we can through into the tank? This weekend, I will be adding water, subtrate, live rock and letting the tank set up for a week or two before livestock.
Whichever, we'll take it. Thanx Dave.Looking good Vince. A little brown diatoms on nthe huge piece from Tims as expected. Nitrates are very low so its fully cured and ready to go in the display. I'd like to fill the tank on Saturday. I received everything we need to set up the tank. I can bring down 5 -10 gallons of water and some sand. Can anyone else bring down somew waterand or live sand Saturday AM? I'd like to have at least 15 gallons of established tank water.
What do folks think, if we get the tank going this weekend, can we have seahorses in by April 26 (Earth day opening)?
What do folks think, if we get the tank going this weekend, can we have seahorses in by April 26 (Earth day opening)?
Thanks Paul. I will be there around 9:30 since the zoo opens at 10am. And sure any live sand is fine as long as no silicates. HD sand is fine.
Adam is the bag of sand you have down there? I will also bring down the huge rock we purchased and some of Larrybirds rock to prop it up.
Adam is the bag of sand you have down there? I will also bring down the huge rock we purchased and some of Larrybirds rock to prop it up.
Piazzon12
New member
Yes the sand is there, there was a hole in the bottom of the bag, so it is upside down currently. I will try to come tomorrow AM, and will bring some water if I can get a change done today. I have some paint touchup and maybe a little drip scraping to do on the front window also.
I went to the zoo earlier. The sump was quite low. The kalk delivery system wasn't working. After some fiddling, I realized that the low water float valve was stuck. After a little jiggling, the kalk started flowing. We'll have to see how we can keep that from happening. If we had sps in their we'd be in trouble.
I added 5 gallons of water from one of my home displays and some new water to the seahorse tank. I also added Adam's Aragonite. I'll see folks in the morning to get this baby off the ground. I'll bring in the rock.
Paul, were you able to pick up a latch? I will bring a nother power strip as well. If anyone can, please try to bring in some water and live sand. If we can shorten the ammonia cycle, we can soon get some critters. Also does anyone have any extra snails/crabs? I have a few.
I added 5 gallons of water from one of my home displays and some new water to the seahorse tank. I also added Adam's Aragonite. I'll see folks in the morning to get this baby off the ground. I'll bring in the rock.
Paul, were you able to pick up a latch? I will bring a nother power strip as well. If anyone can, please try to bring in some water and live sand. If we can shorten the ammonia cycle, we can soon get some critters. Also does anyone have any extra snails/crabs? I have a few.
Adam, Paul, Steve and yours truly met this am for a very productive work session at the zoo. The big new piece of Tonga rock was too big for the seahorse tank so we removed all the rock on the right side of the 180 display and put it in there. Holy krikey is it gorgeous. Now I'm glad it didn't fir in the seahorse tank. I'll try and post pics later. The old diy is drying in the pump room. At some point soon it may be up for grabs. I am hoping to see parameters start to stabilize soon with over 50% of the DIY rock gone. We will also need to do some major water changes.
The sea horse tank is now filled with base rock and up and running with new pc bulbs, canister filter and cpr backpack skimmer. I will put in some live rock tomorrow. I put in some live sand but we could still use more. If anyone has some good grunge, pods, worms, little brittles etc. please let me know. POtherwise I may have to purchase some GARF grunge.
So, I'm thinking we may be able to populate the tank by opening day. What kind of sea horses do people suggest. Obviously they need to be ORA captive bred. I was thinking 2 pairs of erectus or reidi's as well as dragon faced pipefish. Iwill also order a couple of photosynthetic gorgoneans and some red gracillis sea weed to serve as hold fasts. Also Dave we can use your grape caulerpa soon.
Still waiting on water test results from Tim.
The sea horse tank is now filled with base rock and up and running with new pc bulbs, canister filter and cpr backpack skimmer. I will put in some live rock tomorrow. I put in some live sand but we could still use more. If anyone has some good grunge, pods, worms, little brittles etc. please let me know. POtherwise I may have to purchase some GARF grunge.
So, I'm thinking we may be able to populate the tank by opening day. What kind of sea horses do people suggest. Obviously they need to be ORA captive bred. I was thinking 2 pairs of erectus or reidi's as well as dragon faced pipefish. Iwill also order a couple of photosynthetic gorgoneans and some red gracillis sea weed to serve as hold fasts. Also Dave we can use your grape caulerpa soon.
Still waiting on water test results from Tim.
Test results are in! Tim tested for the following:
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.02
Nitrate: 3.77 ***
Nitrite: 0.015
Phosphate: 0.01
Silver: <0.125
Chromium: <0.050
Copper: <0.0625
Nickel: <0.075
Zinc: <0.125
Cadmium: <0.0250
Lead: <0.150
Iron: <0.25
Magnesium: 1208
Everything is in mg/L. The only one that has any concern associated with it is the Nitrate. Even that shouldn't necessarily stop the growth of SPS.
So at least we know our tank isn't contaminated. It also lends confirmation to my theory about the DIY rock and our difficulties maintaining pH, Alk and Ca. While Tims test and the Pinpoint monitor show pH to be 8.2, these tests were performed after I dosed the display with liberal amounts of white vinegar. It did work to bring down pH and the increased acetate is resulting in some increased bacterial matting that is helping to release CO2 and maintain lower pH. We will see what happens with the new live rock and water changes. We may yet have to replace some more DIY. Time will tell. A big thanks to Tim.
I will be ordering Hippocampus Reidi seahorses since these are super hardy and as he says will eat frozen mysis 5 min. after acclimation. This species gets to 8 inches. Should we get one or two pair. Do we want to mix sexes. Thjey will breed in captivity. We won't be able to keep them alive there but if folks want to try bringing fry home to raise they can try. It may be of interest to watch the whole process. Or we can get all one sex. Thoughts?
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.02
Nitrate: 3.77 ***
Nitrite: 0.015
Phosphate: 0.01
Silver: <0.125
Chromium: <0.050
Copper: <0.0625
Nickel: <0.075
Zinc: <0.125
Cadmium: <0.0250
Lead: <0.150
Iron: <0.25
Magnesium: 1208
Everything is in mg/L. The only one that has any concern associated with it is the Nitrate. Even that shouldn't necessarily stop the growth of SPS.
So at least we know our tank isn't contaminated. It also lends confirmation to my theory about the DIY rock and our difficulties maintaining pH, Alk and Ca. While Tims test and the Pinpoint monitor show pH to be 8.2, these tests were performed after I dosed the display with liberal amounts of white vinegar. It did work to bring down pH and the increased acetate is resulting in some increased bacterial matting that is helping to release CO2 and maintain lower pH. We will see what happens with the new live rock and water changes. We may yet have to replace some more DIY. Time will tell. A big thanks to Tim.
I will be ordering Hippocampus Reidi seahorses since these are super hardy and as he says will eat frozen mysis 5 min. after acclimation. This species gets to 8 inches. Should we get one or two pair. Do we want to mix sexes. Thjey will breed in captivity. We won't be able to keep them alive there but if folks want to try bringing fry home to raise they can try. It may be of interest to watch the whole process. Or we can get all one sex. Thoughts?
I added live rock to both displays this AM. The seahorse tank cleared up already. Tim is lining up Reidi horses, pipefish, macroalgae, and gorgonians. He's also going to provide pods and white shrimp (different from ghost shrimp).
Anyone else with live sand.? So far I added about 4 cups. We could definitely use some grungy substratye.
I made up water for a water change in the big Brute container. Any chance someone who knows the procedure can get over there and do the actual change? The whole process takes about 10 min. Also, I forgot to add more magnesium. About 3 cups of the Holmes Farley formula should get ity up over 1300ppm. If whoever does the water change can add some magnesium. Otherwise I can do ity this Friday.
Anyone else with live sand.? So far I added about 4 cups. We could definitely use some grungy substratye.
I made up water for a water change in the big Brute container. Any chance someone who knows the procedure can get over there and do the actual change? The whole process takes about 10 min. Also, I forgot to add more magnesium. About 3 cups of the Holmes Farley formula should get ity up over 1300ppm. If whoever does the water change can add some magnesium. Otherwise I can do ity this Friday.
Piazzon12
New member
Jerry:
lots of photosythetic Gorgs here: http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=22 relatively cheap. Plus lots of other oddball stuff. Let me know if you want to order, I think I'd like a couple Red Mithrax crabs (aka red emeralds) and give the blue zoos antoher try
Adam
lots of photosythetic Gorgs here: http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=22 relatively cheap. Plus lots of other oddball stuff. Let me know if you want to order, I think I'd like a couple Red Mithrax crabs (aka red emeralds) and give the blue zoos antoher try
Adam
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