Bowen's IM Fusion 10 - Pt. 2

[Bowen1022]

Got some of my new toys today

 

 

 

 

Just a for fun shot:

 

 

Being in college makes me miss home

 

[Droy008]

Looking schwifty!

[Bowen1022]

Looking schwifty!

 

Thanks Droy!

 

Today's testing results in a cycled tank! I am going away until Sunday so I may be getting something then. Any first inhabitant ideas besides a CUC?

[teenyreef]

Some add fish right away but personally I like to put in the cuc and wait a couple weeks to see how things go. If anything dies it could trigger a mini cycle.

[Droy008]

Like Teeny said, a cuc is better at first. I had a secondary spike when one of my crabs died and it nearly wiped out my clownfish.

[Bowen1022]

Thanks for the feedback. Ill probably get small CUC this week

[teenyreef]

If you don't know about it already, reefcleaners is the place to go for a CUC, at least for snails. It's cheap and John is great to work with. They have a forum here on N-R so you can check feedback to see what others think.

 

They have great hermits and others as well, but you have to pay overnight shipping for those, so it isn't as good a deal as it is for snails.

[Bowen1022]

If you don't know about it already, reefcleaners is the place to go for a CUC, at least for snails. It's cheap and John is great to work with. They have a forum here on N-R so you can check feedback to see what others think.

 

They have great hermits and others as well, but you have to pay overnight shipping for those, so it isn't as good a deal as it is for snails.

 

Thanks for the info teeny. Sorry to hear about your tank. Best of luck in recovery!

[teenyreef]

 

Thanks for the info teeny. Sorry to hear about your tank. Best of luck in recovery!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of lots of little snails in your tank

[Bowen1022]

So I ended up getting a few snails and crabs the other day have been busy with school and track so that's why I haven't posted lately. I only got 10 total I believe 8 snails (Nassarius and nerite) and 2 crabs (blue and red leg). I didn't take a photo of them.

 

Today I got a black clown (its name is Otto ) and then my fiance, thinking since my tank was cycled, surprised me with a coral. I am thankful for the coral but am really nervous because she got me an SPS frag and I don't have any SPS experience. So any tips to keep it alive and growing would be much appreciated. It is currently about half way up on the aquascape and my AI prime is in acclimate mode.

 

Here are a few photos of Otto and the new coral. I don't have an ID on the coral so any input? Also getting some new bigger grained sand from LFS on Thursday. Thank you for looking!

 

Ill work on better photos tomorrow as well

 

 

 

 

 

[Bowen1022]

Just took some more photos.

 

 

 

[Bowen1022]

Just thought I'd update. Everything seems to be doing well. I did 20% water change three days ago and have been thinking about picking up one of the ghost skimmers so that my sps doesn't brown due to excess nutrients and such also it should help keep the water looking nice. Also going to be getting some new corals on the 11th; hammer, lavender mint sarmentosa, birds of paradise, and a cat eye zoa frag.

 

Thanks for checking it out

[Bowen1022]

So I just got back for the weekend and did some testing. My params are all over the place.

Calcium: 350ppm

Magnesium: 1060ppm

Alkalinity: 9.0dkh

pH: 8.0

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: .25ppm

Nitrate: 10ppm

Idk what could have caused this spike none of my creatures are dead. Also I cleaned the sandbed (well attempted to clean it my siphon doesn't do a very good job for some reason), changed out filter floss, put in purigen and did a gallon water change. Hopefully everything clears back up soon.

[Kijho]

Looking good! Just do some WC's and I think you can bring some of those params back to norm!

[Bowen1022]

Going to do another gallon tomorrow. Thank you Kijho.

 

My one sps frag is browning and the polyps are receded up into the coral. Is this likely due to the param swing?

[Bowen1022]

Ended up getting an IM Ghost Skimmer. I know they aren't the number one choice but hopefully they remove some of the nutrients in my tank. Any tips on best way to break it in? And whats the best way to get the nice foam?

[Rural]

Ended up getting an IM Ghost Skimmer. I know they aren't the number one choice but hopefully they remove some of the nutrients in my tank. Any tips on best way to break it in? And whats the best way to get the nice foam?

 

 

sps on the first month! balls-ey. good luck. opinions differ but i never "clean my sand bed". water changes are your best friend in the new tank. check my thread for how my tank progressed for a first timer! maybe you coudl get yours quicker. but as the saying goes "nothing good happens fast in the reefing hobby".

 

and as far as the sps browning, some like some nitrogen products in the water. more likely is the tank being too clean and no having enough life to feed it and keep the tank stable from day to night and such.

 

in the beginning i tested a lot, then you get to where you know your tank and can slack off.

 

make sure you are not overfeeding your clowns, and i would rec getting some phyto or substitute for the new coral in a new tank but remember -> (nutrients in = nutrients out). as far as the skimmer, never used one, i just do water changes.

[Bowen1022]

Thank you Rural! All the information is much appreciated. And yes the SPS was a ballsy move lol. It was a cycled gift from my fiance she didn't know better

[Bowen1022]

Did another one gallon WC. Coral is starting to color back up

 

 

It may not look different but it has a brownish layer all over but the tips

[Bowen1022]

So today I got some new corals and the IM Desktop Skimmer. Everything looks a little weird/blurry due to micro bubbles from the skimmer. Sorry!

 

Dipping

 

 

Hammer: 2 Heads and splitting

 

 

 

Lavender Mint Sarmentosa

 

 

 

Birds of Paradise - Birdsnest

 

 

 

Blue German Digi

 

 

Cats Eye Zoanthids

 

 

 

Updated FTS: 2/11/16

 

[Sk8n Reefer]

Nice new additions ?

[Droy008]

I love that hammer! And your rockscape seriously make me consider tearing down my entire tank to redo everything.

As for the skimmer, just give it a few days and everything should clear up.

[Bowen1022]

Thanks Sk8n!

 

The hammer is splitting so hopefully it fills up a little bit more! And I really like my scape but I wish it were just a tad smaller and a little higher up in the back but thank you haha! The skimmer is annoying haha teeny gave me some tips so hopefully it clears up.

[Bowen1022]

So today I went to LFS to pick up my thicker sand and a small rock that I ordered. I came back and was watching my fish then looked away and back again and he was dead I think it was a result of a not fully cycled tank as my nitrites were a little high this past week. I thought it was cycled when I tested and got back all zeros a while ago but I guess not. I added a small piece of live rock and my coarser live sand hopefully that will help speed up through the cycle process. Im pretty bummed because I really liked that little guy but I guess thats why you take things slow!! I hope that nothing too bad happens to the corals and Im looking forward to getting back on track. Overall a pretty depressing day, but I guess there are worse things that could happen. Any tips and criticism would be appreciated to help make me a better reefer. Thanks all!

[Droy008]

sorry to hear about your fish.

It's never fun losing one. (I know)

Was it acting funny prior? I've seen fish die from a new tank and most of the time it's because of ammonia. Usually they'll act weird prior to going, so his sudden death is unusual.