nvdiz Posted June 15, 2009 Share Posted June 15, 2009 Hey guys, I started a thread in some other section, before I found this one. oops... Anyways I recently bought a JBJ 24G and started it up over the weekend that just passed. Take a look! I wish I could post some pics of adding sand and previous aquascape, but I can't upload them for some reason. 8-10 lbs Fiji Base Rock 15 lbs Fiji Live Rock 20lbs of Live Sand Equipment: Lighting: 150W MH w/ a 14k bulb + 14W Antinics Hydor Koralia 1 Some random pump 1st Chamber Floss 2nd Chamber 24NC Sapphire Skimmer 3rd Chamber Heater and maxi 1200 Hitch Hikers: Green Star Polyps Red Mushroom Some Featherworms Aiptasia at the moment 2 x Blue Dwarf Hermit Crab Bristleworms A small crab with tiny pincers Front Left Aiptasia GSP Red Mushrooms Another Front Shot Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 I'm loving the coralline... I might pick up some more rock tomorrow (about 5-10lbs). A local reefer sells them for $5lb. I also ordered some aiptasia x to get rid of the little punks in this tank. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 15, 2009 Author Share Posted June 15, 2009 Anyways... I tested my water and so goes the following pH - 8.0 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - .5 Nitrate - 0 Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 18, 2009 Author Share Posted June 18, 2009 I got a couple more pieces of rock, and I should be getting some aiptasia-x through the mail sometime soon. I'll let you guys know how that goes... (I found 3 ginormous beasts in the new rocks) My tank is still cycling according to my parameters. I also found a couple bristleworms, I took them out. My dissecting kit actually came to good use. Hopefully I won't be seeing anymore anytime soon. pH-8.0 Ammonia-0 Nitrite -.5 Nitrate- 0 Here's a few pics of the tank. Don't mind the quality please, I'm using my cell phone cause I couldn't find the camera... I hope I kill these suckers b4 they spread some more... Link to comment
A.R.M12 Posted June 18, 2009 Share Posted June 18, 2009 Good luck. I have had fairly good success with the aiptasia X Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 thanx, and thats good to hear. should be here anytime soon... also getting a new hood tomorrow from a local reefer. I'll eventually get a sunpod, but since im just trying to get this tank established, i'll stick with the hood. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 i just checked my water: pH- 8.0 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 5 salinity - 1.022 guys is my cycle over? its only been less than a week... can i get some help on this please!? btw, if it is over, how much of a water change should i do? 20% or more? btw, i added a surface skimmer and a koralia 1. here's some new pics Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 i dont actually know if the cycle even started... Link to comment
JLwaves Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Less than a week? I'd say no. Give it some time, and keep testing your values - and don't forget to topoff. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 alright cool and thanks. i'll give it some more time and continue to test. Link to comment
Lalani Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 +1 to JL Nice hitch hikers, btw. Did you say where you bought the rocks? Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 i bought them off a local reefer around my place. he had nice corraline covered rocks going for $5 per lb. And lucky me, the ones I got had some red mushrooms and green star polyps. though one piece i got had some huge aiptasia. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 i finally received the aiptasia x yesterday and took out the suckers. this morning i have yet to see one come out . ill keep it posted if i spot anymore. i also decided to do another water test. i dont get it... i've yet to see any trace of ammonia... if it matters, i bought my live rock cured and all of it was transported with water no more than 30 min from the source. can that explain why there's been little if any die off? i'm gonna keep testing over the week to try and figure out where i am with the cycle. pH- 8.0 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - around 5 salinity - 1.022 Link to comment
zjharva Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 lookin good. Its probably that you had no die off, so there wasn't much of a cycle.Still you should wait around a month to add anything. Also, your salinity could be a bit higher. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 lookin good. Its probably that you had no die off, so there wasn't much of a cycle.Still you should wait around a month to add anything. Also, your salinity could be a bit higher. thanx, ya ill wait it out some more and continue my testing. btw a little update on some hitchhiker corals, i found 2 more tiny red mushrooms on some rock and all appear to be opening up fully. I also found some more GSP that decided to open up as well. aside from that, nothing new yet. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 just a minor update, i came home today and found some signs of a diatom bloom. got some spots on my sand, glass, return, and mag float. i can't really tell if there are any on the rocks. is this a sign to add a small clean up crew when i hit the massive bloom? or should i water change then add the cuc? tested water again and here it goes... pH- 8.2 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 5-10 salinity - 1.022 Link to comment
poidog Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 don't water change yet. you need to let it continue to cycle. your cycle may be shorter than a month if you got "cured" LR from the "reefer man." I would wait for the daitoms to go down (takes about a week), and then add some CUC members. Remember you're creating a biotope, so you want everything to "balance out" naturally - let nature take it's course. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 hey, thanks for the advice. ya i havnt changed it yet, i figured id wait another week or two to see how everything is going. anyways ive been testing my water everyday the past week and im getting consistent results: pH- 8.0 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 5 or 0 salinity - 1.024 i upped the salinity slowly a couple days ago cuz i also thought 1.022 was a little low. i also am not sure if my nitrate is 5 or 0 (API Kit). It's been the same color the past week... Link to comment
nvdiz Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 i had to repost this cuz of the data loss a couple days ago... its been a little over a month since i got the tank up and running. after consistent good water parameters i decided to add a CUC a couple days after the 2nd week, of course after a 25% water change. by the 3rd week, i decided to add two clownfish. a couple days ago, i just added a yellow watchman goby. Everything looks healthy, so I guess i'm doing good so far. I'm currently using the stock hood, but I got a 150W metal halide pendant coming by next week and hopefully my corals will like it. For filtration I'm running some filter floss, purigen, and chemipure. I also have a soap dish w/ some chaeto and a small chunk of LR as a fuge (thinking about getting a skimmer). As for water movement I have the stock pump near the bottom of my tank running, a K1 running mid level, and a maxi 1200 return. I reaquascaped my tank a couple weeks ago, and I think it came out really nice. I got some rock touching the glass, but I'll do my best to keep it clean if I can. Heres my current livestock Fish: - 2 x Percula Clownfish - 1 Yellow Watchman Goby Inverts: - 5 x astrea - 5 x cerith - 2 x nassarius - hitch hiker stomatellas Corals - Green Open Brain - Couple of random common zoos - Frogspawn - Hammer - Candy Cane - Ricordea - GSP Water Parameters as of last night: Ammonia : 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 Phosphate: 0 pH: 8.2 s.g. : 1.0245 6/19/09 7/12/09 Link to comment
nvdiz Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Picture Updates Frogspawn Fuzzy Green Mushrooms being hosted by one of my Clowns Open Green Brain (not sure exactly what genus/species) being hosted by the other clown My Hammer A Small Zoa Garden w/ common zoos... I'm working on the High End stuff My two clowns YWG Other Frogspawn Other pics I'm still learning how to use the camera I have so bear with me. BTW, I got a new light fixture coming in tomorrow! I can't wait! BTW, if you guys dont know yet... I'm looking for a protein skimmer and still unsure of what to get. Ideas would be nice. Link to comment
skrillex Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 I love the rock setup, and your fish look great. I think the frogspawn and hammer coral are my favorite. Also thank you for your input on my filter. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 thanks and no problem. like you I'm here to learn. UPDATE I moved some corals around and finally got around to finding a permanent spot to glue my hammer and frogspawn. I also got my new light fixture a couple days ago and its really lighting up the tank. In case you guys are wondering, I went ahead with a odyssea mh 150W w/ 14W antinics, cause i figured why not. No money wasn't an issue, its just that we have one for our 75G and it looks pretty sweet. The original 15k bulb gives off a yellowish tint. Nothing too bad, but looks perfect with the antinics. Regardless, I just ordered a 20K bulb to give it a nice overall color. I also got a sapphire skimmer coming sometime soon hopefully, but im gonna have to wait out the installation due to a missing pump that im ordering soon. I bought some egg crate a couple days ago and built myself a ghetto, but somewhat effective media tray to fit in the first chamber. Also made a temporary cover for the tank and cut and used the extra pieces as a screen to acclimate the corals to the new lights. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Link to comment
nvdiz Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 I just ordered some corals and just waiting for them to come in. Still waiting on my skimmer and pump and hopefully that'll come in soon as well. Here are some new pics of the same old stuff... Link to comment
nvdiz Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 this is the last week of classes and really should be studying, but i just cant get away from my tank... YWG hanging hanging out with a clown combined zoo/paly rock i put together. cant wait to see it grow out some zoos hammer from our 75 that i'm trying to rehab an orange/red monti cant get the exact color, but this is actually teal and looks really cool the garden frogspawn with some zoos hammer again my hitchhiker red mushrooms. doing good, no new polyps yet... candycanes... i cant get them to fully open up. FTS I'm getting the hang of the camera and just having fun so dont mind the retakes Link to comment
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