Mirya Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Now that the my light will be on its way shortly, I figure I can look into getting the live rock ordered. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards KP Aquatics (Sea Life Inc) since their rock seems to be a bit more porous. I could even get uncured rock from them if I wanted. The runner up in my mind is Gulf Live Rock though, but their rock looks pretty dense. They do have some purdy rock though! How many pounds of rock should I order? I was thinking of 20 lb. The display area on this tank is fairly narrow (35.5"L x 9.5"W X 13"H). I'd like to set the scape up with 2 rock structures with a valley in between. (I only used 5.5lb rock in my Nuvo8, although that was dry rock.) Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 You should absolutely go with KPA uncured rock. Wait for them to do their next collection (I think they do it every couple weeks) and have them send it out then. I got their 10lb special as a means to add biodiversity, and the volume filled a large Priority mail flat-rate box, weighed in around 18lbs. Rock was beautiful. The next shipment from them had a ton more life, though a lot of it was killed from a very harsh dieoff of bristle and peanut worms (some of which were nearly a foot long). Still had lots of survivors, though. And actually, the pictures above are 'cured' rock - when I went to meet them to pick up the rock in person, they had been unable to collect earlier that day, but I couldn't postpone the meet, so I settled for it. Here are pictures of uncured rock, straight from their 10lb special (pics were taken with a cell phone, though, so they camera didn't capture colors perfectly). This doesn't appear to be the 'best' uncured rock from them, I think that this stuff was sitting in their system for a while before shipping, so this might have actually been sorta cured already, but the coralline coverage on it was second to none. Link to comment
Guits Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I've ordered from both KP Aquatics and Gulf Live Rock and liked specific things about each of them. My KP Aquatics tank is a Florida Keys theme where almost all the livestock was ordered from KP Aquatics, and my Gulf Live Rock tank is a "live rock hitchhikers-only" theme where everything except from the cleanup crew came from the live rock itself. I ordered several times from Gulf Live Rock in order to accumulate multiple pieces with the hitchhikers I wanted (namely Manicina areolata, or Caribbean Rose Coral) and got rid of rock that came without hitchhikers. My first tank is an Aqueon Evolve 8 and I ordered 10 pounds from KP Aquatics. My batch was porous with some hard coral hitchhikers which I specifically requested (Siderastrea sp. and Porites sp. I believe) but was otherwise very "clean," easy to aquascape, no annoying pests (unless you count the 1 Curlique anemone hitchhiker) and I was able to easily attach the livestock that I subsequently ordered from KP Aquatics. Here is a picture of the tank from several months ago, I can't seem to take accurate pictures with the PAR 38 bulb on so this picture with with the stock lighting. The tank has matured since then, and the rock has remained very "clean." In terms of the current livestock, it's exactly what you mentioned in your earlier posts - Ricordea florida, Zoanthid sps., Palythoa grandis, rock flower anemones, St Thomas mushrooms, photosynthetic gorgonians, spotted anemone shrimp, sexy shrimp. I've been out of town the last 2 weekends, but once I clean the glass of the tank I'll take a new picture. My other tank is a Fluval Spec V dedicated to only hitchhikers that came with the rock from Gulf Live Rock. I loved the idea of a live rock only tank, and the rock I've collected have met my expectations. My 3 batches all came with lots of life, was "dirtier" (lots more algae and worms, and a couple Aiptasia-like anemones which don't seem to be as prolific/nightmare-ish as the types I've gotten with Pacific rock), and much denser. I've been extremetly happy with the tank since it's fulfilled my vision of a hitchhikers-only tank. Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Ben and Guits -- thank you so much for both of your feedback! I'm really looking forward to getting some of this rock! Guits do you have any build threads for your tanks? I'd love to see more pictures of both of your tanks! In other news, Dave PM'd me and told me that shipping my lights is a few days away. So excited! Hopefully with the long holiday weekend I will have time to set up the controller, make all the wiring tidy, etc, so when the light gets here I will be all set to go. (Well, once the light and then the live rock gets here I guess!) I went ahead and joined the Nano in 90 competition on that other forum with this tank today. It will be challenging to stay in the $500 livestock budget. Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 7, 2014 Author Share Posted July 7, 2014 Went to Home Depot today... And built this weird contraption... Which is going to be to stand for my NanoBox! It'll get painted black, but I'm waiting for the light to arrive so I can drill the holes for hanging it. Link to comment
Felicia Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 That's a nice clean light holder! Nice work Link to comment
got2envy Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Looks great so far! Can't wait to see it up and running Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 DIY! It's going to look fantastic! Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 As I mentioned in my Nuvo8 thread, I've gotten some fun FedEx packages the past two days! Yesterday my NanoBox lights arrived! They. are. gorgeous. Well worth the wait! Alas, I didn't get to work on hanging the Quad light last night and filling the tank with saltwater as the past week, and the past 48 hours in particular have been hellacious at work. I did finally at least get to plug the Mini light in last night to see the spectrum. After that teaser, all I can say is I'm really looking forward to the Quad on this tank. Today's shipment was 24lb live rock from KP Aquatics! I didn't get to unpack the box until this evening. The rock is super colorful with all kinds of coralline encrusting it. And some sponges, clams, pencil urchins, and a little hard coral. There were a bunch of crabs, but they didn't survive shipping. The rock smelled pretty good -- oceany. No rotten notes. I'm curious to see how this rock matures in the tank and what macroalgaes and such pop out. Unfortunately, right now the rock is hanging out in a Rubbermaid container. I have heat and circulation in there. In the morning I'll set a light on it. By Saturday night I hope to have things settled in the new tank though. And then there will be pictures! Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Good that the rock didn't smell funky, it's a good sign! I'd snag every one of those urchins, though, if I were you. They decimate coralline and will also eat some corals that get in their way. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 I haven't had any issue w/ my urchins eating anything, I've just moved them out here & there to a friend's tank when I felt they were too big. I currently have one in the rock flower tank. He got big over a week. I might put the next one I see in with the mantis. If I see him bothering any anemone I"ll put him in the mantis tank. Kinda funny seeing a mantis hit the thing and he can't do anything. And mine have multiplied or they were tiny and in crevices in the rock so they came out as they got a little bigger. Yey, glad you went w/ their rock. Always something new to find, months later. Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 18, 2014 Author Share Posted July 18, 2014 Good that the rock didn't smell funky, it's a good sign! I'd snag every one of those urchins, though, if I were you. They decimate coralline and will also eat some corals that get in their way. Thanks for the tip on the urchins! I couldn't recall last night if they were good or bad, so I left them be until I could do research. (I was so tired last night I actually fell asleep a few times while I wrote my post!) I'll admit, I am slightly creeped out by the thought of touching an urchin, but these have blunt spines... They are really wedged into the crevices of the rock. Maybe this will be a job for a pair of disposable chopsticks. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Thanks for the tip on the urchins! I couldn't recall last night if they were good or bad, so I left them be until I could do research. (I was so tired last night I actually fell asleep a few times while I wrote my post!) I'll admit, I am slightly creeped out by the thought of touching an urchin, but these have blunt spines... They are really wedged into the crevices of the rock. If they are the ones with blunt spines, then they are pencil urchins and are the 'bad' ones. Some people don't have anything bad to say about them, but in a small tank with a relatively smaller amount of corals it's not worth the risk IMHO. Maybe this will be a job for a pair of disposable chopsticks. Link to comment
gena Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 My HH pencil urchin loved to eat the green cloves I had in my 28g tank. Those seemed to be the only thing it was interested in. So they can eat coral. Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 Here are a few pictures from the past two days. I will have some more exciting tank update pictures by the end of this weekend though! Never been so excited to get a BOX OF ROCKS. FYI 25lb of Live Rock fits into a 12x12x12 box. Here is one of the million pencil urchins HH on the rock: And that picture doesn't do justice for the rainbow of coralline all over the rocks. My ghetto-fabulous rock holding. Rocks in a Rubbermaid can, lit by the NanoBox Mini meant for my Nuvo8! When I unpackaged the rocks Thursday night the smelled nice and oceany. The Rubbermaid definitely had a funk to it last night, so I did a 50% water change. Didn't even bother testing ammonia and such. It smells better this morning still. Last night was spent getting my NanoBox Quad hung! Today I need to figure out how to plug both the Quad and the Mini into the Storm. I had ordered a Bluefish, but Dave accidentally sent a Storm instead. I figure I'll need to used the Storm for now until the Bluefish arrives though to get things running. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 When I unpackaged the rocks Thursday night the smelled nice and oceany. The Rubbermaid definitely had a funk to it last night, so I did a 50% water change. Didn't even bother testing ammonia and such. It smells better this morning still. This is what happened to my rocks that I got that were cured. The uncured rock never had this issue, and it's strange, as the uncured I ordered was shipped and spent over 24 hours dry, the cured I got I picked up from them in person and it was submerged the entire time. Go figure lol. Definitely keep a sharp eye on it. I lost all coralline and benthic life from the cured rocks once the funk set in. Link to comment
gena Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Great job hanging the nanobox quad!!!!!! I'm still waiting to receive my mini. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 can't wait to see the rocks!!!! I love the urchins, I just give them away when they're too big. Mine never harmed anything thankfully. Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Finally made sure all my wiring was good to go (cause once the tank is in place and full of water, moving the stand to get in back isn't going to be very fun) and loaded it up with the liverock last night! I didn't find many urchins when I unloaded the rock even though I had my chopsticks on standby. The rock definitely does not smell as nice as it did the day it arrived, but it does smell better than it did on day 2. I realized I have way too much rock for this tank -- at least for the scape I had in mind. I'm going to let it go through its cycle, then finalize the scape and give away the extra rock. I'm a little tempted to use the extra rock in my 8 since it is prettier than the dead rock I started with, but I like the scape in my 8 and I don't want to disturb stuff by yanking out the rock. I have a lot of cleaning to do cause I've made a total mess the past few days setting up. But here is a picture to tide you guys over until tonight: Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Fancy!!! I like your set up. A towel rack (facepalm smack!), that's the best practical item you only think about later. Link to comment
happyclam Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 Nice job so far! Excited to see this tank progress. Link to comment
Lynaea Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I like your cabinets too, where did you get them? I think I'm following all your threads Link to comment
Mirya Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 So far haven't seen any nitrites or nitrates pop up in the tank. Ammonia is reading at either 0 or 0.25. The tank has smelled ok. (I admittedly have a terrible sense of smell, but I definitely could smell the bucket that first day.) I need to figure out what to do to calibrate my new temperature probe for the Apex. Uncalibrated, the probe thinks this tank is running at 80-81 constantly. That is with the heater unplugged. The Nuvo8 sits in its 77-78 range. IDK if the Nuvo24 really is running that much warmer or if the probe lies. I like your cabinets too, where did you get them? They are Crosley kitchen carts which are available at a bunch of different stores like Home Depot, Target, etc. I ended up buying them from Bed, Bath, and Beyond though since I signed up for text alerts from them to get a 20% off coupon to use on their website. And, shipping was free. Oh yeah, Annette - the towel bars were built in to the side of the kitchen carts so I can't take credit for thinking of that. I definitely LOVE having them right next to the tanks though! Link to comment
Guits Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Guits do you have any build threads for your tanks? I'd love to see more pictures of both of your tanks! This is the thread I just started for my one of my tanks. Enjoy! http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/349178-guits-rose-garden/#entry4790514 I can't seem to take any nice pictures of my other tank (the PAR38 bulb makes me really hard to take accurate pictures for some reason) so if I ever figure out how to take better pictures I may start a thread for that one, too. I'm actually moving tomorrow so I'm really hoping my tanks survive the trip ... Link to comment
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