Captains MB5

[Captain]

And so it begins!!! haha

You may have already read a thread about this tank before, but it only covered the plans for the tank. This is what really shook loose today, Feb. 13, 2007.

 

Mission statement for tank:

To keep softies and LPS with the most simple system possible.

 

Tank:

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AGA Minibow 5

 

Lighting:

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mini compact fluorescent 20W bulb

 

Filtration

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6# live rock and a 1/2 sand bed

-Rock is Fiji, place I bought from also had Tonga Branch, but the fiji was more porous and had more coraline so I went with it. Good decision?

-Counted 3 bristle worms and two unidentified Ctenophores that hitchhiked.

Flow:

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Whisper 20 probably going to change to an AC something. suggestions?

 

Heater

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2 x 50W somethings...Can't remember brand right now.

-I put a second one in yesterday to get the water temp up quicker so I could make sure my SG was right sooner. I left it in Because i thought it might help keep temps. more stable. Should I just use one?

Livestock:

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CUC:

Really need suggestions on this

 

Fish:

For now nothing. I may get a fish down the line sometime. Not really sure.

 

Coral:

 

-Any Zoo that is not brown or dull in color...=)

-Xenia (suggestion on species-I was thinking pulsing) or anthelia

-Ricordia-Florida and/or Yuma

-Mushrooms-red, green, blue, hairy. (no Brown)

-Green Star Polyp

-Toadstool (not sure about different types. help would be appreciated)

-Kenya Tree

-Green palys

 

I was also thinking of keeping the following, but wasn't sure if it was possible with my lighting:

 

-Frogspawn

-Green Bubble Coral

-Long shot, but Trachyphyllia, Lobophyllia, and/or Wellsophyllia.

-Brain Worm

 

I'll probably have to hold off on most of the corals on the second list until I upgrade my lighting down the road, but please let me know if I can keep any of the corals on the second list and still have them do well. Also tell me if any of the first list corals wont work under my specs.

 

I know I had a lot to say, but any and all help is very, very much appreciated.

 

 

NOW FOR PICS

 

Close up of rockwork before sand addition:

 

TOP view:

 

FTS:

*I moved the top rock so that it goes a lil higher in the tank. makes it look alot better, but I'm too lazy to go take another pic.

[Captain]

Noone cares...

Chances are noone cares, but since someone may not have seen it that would've otherwise given feedback, I'll continue.

 

My Ammonia Levels were at 0.3 and the nitrites and nitrates were at 0. So, cycles started and proceeding normally.

[circusordie16]

looks good although you might end up wanting more light later.

[Reverse Logic]

Noone cares...

 

I know what you mean. No one seems to quote on my tank either . . . including you.

 

On the other hand, since people are FAST at telling you you're screwwing up I take silence as a good sign.

 

Can't help with your coral ideas, too new, but I can tell you this . . . don't EVER spit into the wind.

 

-Reverse

[Captain]

Circus, I will want more light later, but im waiting a couple months before I upgrade. Right now I'm just keepin it simple, and as close to stock as I can.

 

Reverse, I can't complain about people on the forum. They're good intentioned and helpful on the whole although there are a few who can't help but rag on others. lol

 

Any way, I have ALOT of Bristleworms. Should I worry about it? Can there be too many in the tank? A plus though is I've already seen quite a few Pods walking/swimming/squirming around.

 

Anyone have anything to say about my coral list?

 

EDIT*** Any help on what a good CUC would be?

[circusordie16]

dont worry about the bristleworms, theyll be helpful. your corals look good, all the ones on your first list should be easy enough. the other stuff might wanna wait until your tank is more established. not too sure about the clean up crew. look at other 5 and 5.5 gallon tanks on here and see if you can find some ideas.

[saltyd4wg]

I like that top-down picture- very symetrical, was that hand-held or did you use a tripod?

[Captain]

Circus, thanks for the input.

 

Salty, It was just hand-held. I don't have any good equipment.

[Captain]

I'm running carbon in my tank right now. At first it was to help get debri out of the water, now I dont know why I still have it in. Should I leave it or take it out?

 

oh yea, I just saw a bristle worm that was at leats 5 inches long maybe more...Scary. lol

[circusordie16]

id take it out at least for right now. some people run it to take whatever chemicals the corals release out of the water but not everybody. its your call but you can take it out for now.

[Captain]

Yea, I guess I'll take it out. thanks.

 

 

Forgot to say that I got a little clamp on LED booklight at my last stop at the book store to use as a moonlight. It was too bright to shine right on the water,so I clamped it to the top of a cord and shined it through the top of the hood. Since the hood is purple it dulls the intensity down just right and makes a bluish type glow. It works well if anyone else has a Purple MB it's cheap, easy, and works well.

[lot49]

hey i started a 5.5g earlier last month. havent added any corals yet, but my clean-up crew includes 2 astrea snails, 2 trochus snails, 1 nassarius snail, 2 scarlet reef hermits, and 1 electric blue.

 

(actually not sure if my scarlets are scarlets... theyre pretty bright red but they dont have yellow eyestalks.)

 

the trochus snails are awesome. they dont stop. astreas are also pretty busy. i almost never see the nassarius. the red hermits hide in crevices of my rock and come out occasionally, but the electric blue is active and likes to roam the tank. no probs so far.

 

i might add another nass to stir the sandbed but with the CUC i already have... wow they sure do generate a lot of crap. anything more and im afraid the tanks gonna be a invert nano cesspool. i guess that would be something to keep in mind.

[Captain]

Cool. Thanks!

[avalanche1201]

Looks good captai, Cant wait to see it progress...

 

For CUC i've got a 3gal pico and im going to add 2 leg red hermits and 3 ceriths snails..hope this helps in some way

[Captain]

THANKS!!! seems like alot of people are using ceriths with good effects, so ceriths are on the list.

 

3 ceriths, 3 red legs, and 2 astreas.

 

does this sound good???

[Captain]

I tested my water today and my results confused me.

My amm. looked to be between o ppm and 0.3, but closer to 0.

My Nitrites were at 0 ppm.

Here's the confusing thing, my nitrates were close to 5.0 ppm.

The amm. may be at 0 and the cycle done, but I've been cycling for less than a week (4 days). Shouldn't I have high amm. and some nitrites with no nitrates? I started with cured live rock, but my sand was "dead". It just doesn't make much sense to me.

 

I might just be color blind or something. lol

[circusordie16]

it could already be cycled. did you test everyday? it could be that you just missed the intermediate steps. the dead sand wont really affect the cycle but id wait awhile and see if you maybe have another ammonia spike or not.

[Captain]

No, I didn't test everyday. I tested about 2 days ago, and then today. I definately am not going to do anything until I'm sure the cycle is over.

[circusordie16]

hmmm maybe you missed the ammonia spike then or something. im not sure, all this testing confuses me. i just let mine sit for 4 weeks and then added a clean up crew. the appearance of diatoms or algae will give you a sign though.

[Captain]

Im gonna let mine sit probably another week just to make sure the cycle is over.

[Gerber77]

Good Start. I like the fact that you are being patient with your tank. I know I was ready to add livestock as soon as I put water in my tank. I think your cleanup crew will be good. I would buy a few empty hermit shells and put them in your sandbed so your hermits dont kill each other. All in all everything is going good.

[Captain]

oh, trust me being patient is getting really hard. =) But if I want to be succesfull in the long run then I've gotta be patient from the begining.

[Captain]

So, for the janitor squad I'm thinking 3 ceriths, 2 astreas, and either 3 blue leg hermits or Scarlets. Which one would you go with Blues, Scarlets, or both?

If both 2 of each species? 1 of one species and 2 of the other? 5,000 of both? what do YOU think?

[proraptor2]

I wouldnt buy any hermit crabs as they are worthless IME. I took all the hermits out of my 60 cube cause all they did was knock corals around and kill each other....and yes these were the scarlets and blues..

[Captain]

interesting...so just stick with astreas and cerith maybe a nass or two?

Anyway, I talked to my LFS and they said they didn't do special orders because they like to do stuff in bulk or something like that, but they said they are getting in another shipment of invertabrates in a couple weeks. My cycle is over, and I dont have any algae problems or anything yet, would it be okay to add something before I add a CUC, or should I just wait?