HammyDavisJr Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Cross Posted from "All In One" area. I'll use this as my ongoing journal as I add LIFE!!!SHIFT 1 My good friend was kind enough to get me going on my reef tank. He brought over 20 gallons of established water, donated some live rock and organisms. After several days my parameters are spot on. I've currently got 4 small hermit crabs running around and exploring. I've got some feather dusters poking out of the rocks as well. I'm going to give it about 3 weeks to ensure the levels stay constant and then add some snails and a few more crabs. I went completely stock...stock skimmer, stock rain tray etc. I've already decided on some mods, and the protein skimmer needs some time to even out, but I think it will do the job. Supplies. More Supplies And some more..supplies. Home Made Stand Stirring up sand. Bought two types, one fine grain and one larger grain and mixed em up. Looks nice and the hermit crabs seem to enjoy digging in it. My friend adding water from his 5 year old established tank. We let the water come up to temp, and turned on some lights. Another pic Hermit crab with a sweet skull on it's back. I named her "Agent Starling". FTS. I have since shimmed up the cabinet to level it off. We have an older house, and the floors are a little wonky in some spots. Link to comment
kev24k Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Looks nice. Hopefully you'll still be able to work while at the desk instead of just staring at the tank. I tend to do that. What are your livestock plans for this tank? Was the rock also from your friends tank or from a LFS? Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Looks nice. Hopefully you'll still be able to work while at the desk instead of just staring at the tank. I tend to do that. What are your livestock plans for this tank? Was the rock also from your friends tank or from a LFS? I've already been 'distracted' many times. I'll be typing an email and then spin around to see what my crabs are up to. All of the live rock was from our LFS. I'm planning on the following livestock. 1 False Perc 1 Goby of some sort 1 Skunk Cleaner an assortment of crabs n snails - suggestions? 1 Pistol shrimp - see if a 'relationship' forms between the goby and the shrimp. These will be added slowly over the course of several weeks. I'm currently wrestling with my temps a bit, seems to hover around 76 when my finnex heater is set at 80. I live in Minnesota and it's been really cold here for about two weeks. The cold temps coupled with my computer room being 90% windows makes the temps fluxuate a bit in the winter. I think the heater is just having a hard time keeping up with the uber cold temps here. I'm going to hold off on any more life until the weather stabalizes and I can get a handle on keeping my tank temp stable. Salinity was high today so I'll be topping off with some RO tonight to get it back to normal. Observation: The open top really allows for more cooling and evaporation. I think I'm going to get some Glass cut to enclose the top at the back and front to help alleviate the evaporation. I also want it covered to keep my water loving kitten from poking her paws in the water looking for a taste. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Salinity was high this evening, so I topped off with a quart of RO water, so we'll see what effect that has in a while. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Moon Lights. I know a lot of people hate the 'spotlight' effect on the M-Tanks, but I kind of like mine...for now. It spotlights a nice flat area where my crabs like to hang out, so it's fun to watch them on their 'stage'. Another actinic shot. Tank is dirty, but I'm just leaving it alone for now. Added about half a gallon of R/O water last night, and my salinity stabalized quite a bit. My skimmer is now producing a nice scummy foam. I credit this with the tank being set up with water from an established tank. It was neat to come home and see the brownish, yellow crud in the cup. I took my first sniff. EW dude....ew. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 One of my crabs molted tonight. I thought he was dead, so I went in to fish out his shell and he popped out like "WTF WHY YOU BUG ME!!!!?" Diatom bloom is in full effect, parameters are on, nitrates a little high, but a water change this week should fix that. I'm going to cut back on my lighting a little bit as well. Trying out the 'cassette tape mod' as well. I used an 8mm case from my camcorder tapes. Link to comment
kev24k Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Looking good. I added the first few members of my cuc right when i saw the first sign of a diatom bloom. It helped. your tanks lookin good. The surface skimmer mod works very well. my only complaint, is that i have to make sure it doesnt move because it affects the water level of the rear chambers. especially the one with my heater. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 7, 2007 Author Share Posted February 7, 2007 Looking good. I added the first few members of my cuc right when i saw the first sign of a diatom bloom. It helped. your tanks lookin good. The surface skimmer mod works very well. my only complaint, is that i have to make sure it doesnt move because it affects the water level of the rear chambers. especially the one with my heater. I'm having temperature issues. I have the titanium finnex 100Watt heater, and the digital coralife thermometer. Either the heater is being flakey, or my thermometer is being flakey. I searched high and low for a regular mercury thermometer, but can only find digitals, and I don't think they go below 90 degrees for temp measurements. I'm hitting the LFS on Thursday, so I'm going to pick up a thermometer to see what's going on. Link to comment
BigByrd Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 what is the cassette tape mod?? Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 7, 2007 Author Share Posted February 7, 2007 what is the cassette tape mod?? You can read all about it here! http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...c=50900&hl= It actually helps me better regulate the water levels in my tank. I'm having difficulty keeping the rain tray on the Finnex at the proper levels. I can move the cassette tape up or down and the water in the back of my tank comes up or down to the desired level, and the water then actually 'spills over' properly into my rain tray for better cooling and filtration. Not sure if I'm going to keep using it, but I'm trying it out. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Picked up 5 Nassarius Snails, and a mix of ceriths. I picked up another 8 lbs of live rock as well..and this guy. He's awesome, tons of personality, really brave and just running all over the rock. He even tried to clean my hand while I was re-setting the thermometer. My 100W finnex heater was junk, so I picked up a 200watt, and it's been rock stable. I'll return the 100W heater for a replacement. Pics Link to comment
kev24k Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Tank is looking really really good. The rock you have is very interesting. I wish my lfs carried ceriths or any other type of snail besides turbo's. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Tank is looking really really good. The rock you have is very interesting. I wish my lfs carried ceriths or any other type of snail besides turbo's. Yeah they do have some nice pieces. I'm fortunate to have 3 LFS near me. They each specialize in something different. The ceriths are awesome. I put them on a rock that had a bunch of growth, and they are literally just blazing paths through it and cleaning the rock very nicely. The shrimp is awesome, he cracks me up. 1) Has a huge 'tide pool' set up and it's just for curing rock. It's fun to just dig through it and find neat pieces. They'll even frag it up for you. 2) Really specializes in corals and zoos and anenomes. 3) Has really healthy livestock and they take really good care of them. I can hit all 3 stores in about an hour and a half and get everything I need. Link to comment
kev24k Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Yeah they do have some nice pieces. I'm fortunate to have 3 LFS near me. They each specialize in something different. The ceriths are awesome. I put them on a rock that had a bunch of growth, and they are literally just blazing paths through it and cleaning the rock very nicely. The shrimp is awesome, he cracks me up. 1) Has a huge 'tide pool' set up and it's just for curing rock. It's fun to just dig through it and find neat pieces. They'll even frag it up for you. 2) Really specializes in corals and zoos and anenomes. 3) Has really healthy livestock and they take really good care of them. I can hit all 3 stores in about an hour and a half and get everything I need. I live in miami and there are countless stores around me, but all of them are basically the same. The only difference is quality of livestock. Prices dont vary too much and they all carry the same crap. I went to 7 stores in search of anything besides a damn turbo and came up empty. Link to comment
henry22 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 I have one store I trust and its basically all I need. They can special order whatever I want, but it does take some time for it to come in but they carry just about anything you need/want. The livestock is a little expensive(reg clowns are 25 and liverock is 8 and up) but its good so I can handle it. Tank looks good. I would worry about that 200 watter, it might overheat your tank. I also dont think you want to use the media in the back. Could you remove the rain tray and make a refugiam. Link to comment
Cshradr7 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 From what your saying with "topping of with RO water," you make it sound like normally you're topping off with saltwater. If this is the case...stop! The salt doesn't evaporate, only the pure water. If your topping off with saltwater, it would make sense for the salinity to be rising. Also, one question about your tank. I've never seen a Finnex 22 gallon acrylic. As far as i know they sell a 20 Acrylic, 22 Glass, 30 Glass, and the 32 Acyrlic...maybe they have a new tank out. Tank is looking good though! Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 14, 2007 Author Share Posted February 14, 2007 From what your saying with "topping of with RO water," you make it sound like normally you're topping off with saltwater. If this is the case...stop! The salt doesn't evaporate, only the pure water. If your topping off with saltwater, it would make sense for the salinity to be rising. Also, one question about your tank. I've never seen a Finnex 22 gallon acrylic. As far as i know they sell a 20 Acrylic, 22 Glass, 30 Glass, and the 32 Acyrlic...maybe they have a new tank out. Tank is looking good though! Sorry I didn't mean to be unclear. I don't top off with salt water. Heheh. I think it's a 20 gallon, but the fish store advertised it as a 22 gallon Finnex, and after adding my water from five 5-gallon buckets...and then a little more...I'd agree it's more in line with 22 gallons. I think it's looking pretty spiffy myself! Thanks! I just ordered a Maxijet 1200 and a deflector. I also ordered my friend a portable refractometer as a 'thank you' for helping me get my tank set up and donating live rock and water. Apparently he fragged a ton of stuff from his tanks for me and he won't take any payment. I'm still struggling with the skimmer. We're going to try a mod this weekend to see if we can increase the volume of microbubbles to see if that increases its performance. In regards to the rain tray...yeah...I think it's going to be turned into a refugium. Throw in 5 lbs of live rock rubble, and maybe some chaeto on top of that? Whaddya think? Link to comment
henry22 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Sounds good, Finnex sells a refugiam light I think for their tanks with a refuge but I dont know if it will fit. Nanocustoms.com also has a fuge light. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 My shrimp just molted while I watched. It was pretty cool watching him peel himself out of his...skin, and then he was all bright and his tentacles were whispy. Screw you guys, I'm goin' home Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 Update: Installed Maxijet 1200. Picked up a Peppermint Shrimp 2 Turbo Snails 1 True Perc Link to comment
bluebastion Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hey, hopefully this won't burst your bubble, but unless Finnex changed the look of the acrylic tanks, yours looks like a glass one.... as opposed to your title. I'm very biased on these tanks, as I own a 20g glass... yours looks exactly like mine. The acrylic ones do not have glass covers like ours. Definitely glass... nice work so far. Check out mine when you have the time. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hey, hopefully this won't burst your bubble, but unless Finnex changed the look of the acrylic tanks, yours looks like a glass one.... as opposed to your title. I'm very biased on these tanks, as I own a 20g glass... yours looks exactly like mine. The acrylic ones do not have glass covers like ours. Definitely glass... nice work so far. Check out mine when you have the time. Interesting. I wonder if there is a way to test to see if it's glass or acrylic. If it's glass, it's the most ridiculously clear glass I've ever seen. Trust me, I was watching your tank when setting up mine. Skimmer woes, ATO, etc...hehe...you were my secret guinea pig! My shrimps want to clean the perc soooo badly. Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Update: One Turbo snail is dead. Found him on his back, with 3 Nasarius snails all over him. The other Turbo keeps falling off of stuff, lands upside down, and then gets mobbed by the Nasarius snails. I bet he'll be dead when I get home. I'll just get 3 or 4 more Nariths. They are eating algae like fiends. True Perc seems happy. He's found his spot in the tank for now, likes to ride in the current and catch things in his mouth. The peppermint shrimp is being pretty bold, and has found a few caves to hang out in. Skunk Cleaner and peppermint seem to get along just fine, unless there is food in the water. The skunk definately has the upper hand. The skunk wants to clean the perc so badly. He just sits on his rock and REAAAACHES out to the the fish...but he's getting no love from Nemo yet. I'm going to monitor the tank for another few weeks, and then start adding some frags of Zoos, Acro, and maybe some Xenia...perhaps a hammer as well. Link to comment
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