thepaintbox Posted August 29, 2016 Share Posted August 29, 2016 Hey! I've been a lurker and a reader for a while now, and I decided to finally get salty. This is my first time doing salt, so lets plan on some mistakes. Like how I forgot to turn off the AC30 before dumping in the sand. Oh yeah. Should have seen that coming. This is day 3 with the little guy. The rock is 2 lb. from the LFS' live rock tank, and doesn't show any hitchhikers yet. I plan to do what I can with the LFS' selection of $10 frags and a small CUC. I don't expect there's enough room for a fish, but let me know if there's a species I could consider. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted August 29, 2016 Author Share Posted August 29, 2016 Actually, I do have a question: That heater's internal temperature sensor is about as accurate as a Stormtrooper's aim. In the winter, I can usually find a sweet spot and keep it around 80, but it tends to overshoot (84F) in the summer. If I turn it off, the tank will settle around 74-76F. Any recommendations? Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Maybe a fan or a better heater Link to comment
jojopus Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 25 watt cobalt neo therm. A little pricey but spot on temperatures. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 Updated tank shots. We now have light, some additional colors filling in the rock, and some green algae. Also, I plan to pick up that recommended heater soon. Otherwise, things seem good. Edit: ...and, yes, my glass looks awful. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 +CUC. Nassarius Snail, Scarlet Crab Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 I took a 5 day vacation to see some family. My housemate was topping off the tank while I was gone, and I came home to a pretty significant algae bloom. I assumed the CUC had died, and the hermit did look very dead...for a second. Nope, they're just freeloaders. I cleaned it up with a toothbrush and a siphon. I think i'm going to be doing some daily spot cleaning to get this under control, and the first corals (along with some macroalgae) will be coming soon. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 Algae is status-quo, improving with water changes. I did have a salinity spike that I've not been able to explain. It's back at .023 now; I'll be monitoring more closely for a while. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 Updates:On Monday we added two corals. The Zoa frag ($10!) has 8 heads and looks lovely under blue at night. I've noticed that 1-2 heads are closed at any time, but it's not always the same ones. I'm not too worried about it. The mushroom ($25) seems to be doing really well.The crab and snail aren't dead. I also picked up a really nice brittle star (and 3+ of those tiny CUC stars) with my chaeto - yay for hitchhikers. The brittle went into hiding the second he got into my display, and he's not been seen since.I took the advice on heaters - that thing is awesome, thanks. Also, I contact-papered that back black. It looks nice enough for the work involved.Yes, we still have a pretty rocking algae situation. Link to comment
asting Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Not a lotta rock in there! Could be good depending on coral growth. For nutrient export you could try chaeto. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 It's a bit over 2lbs of rock in 2.5g. It's hard to do much more in that space. Yeah, there's a ball of chaeto in the filter now. Link to comment
asting Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Gotcha. Do you have a top on the filter, or does it get light?The problem with the rock is that it's in clumps often larger than 2 lbs. You almost need smaller pieces. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 I have the LED light angled back a bit. I need to improve the light situation there. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted October 22, 2016 Author Share Posted October 22, 2016 Everything is still doing alright. The algae situation is status-quo, and I've added another coral.Also, I did get a really awesome copepod bloom! Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted November 2, 2016 Author Share Posted November 2, 2016 How cool is this! I have a coral and it's very clearly growing! Also, the pods have over run the tank and the algae is pretty much gone. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 A couple pictures: 1) Updated FTS2) A crab climbing the glass wall. 3) What is this thing? It's about 3/4 inch long. Sorry for the awful photo quality. Link to comment
thepaintbox Posted December 3, 2016 Author Share Posted December 3, 2016 Update: Added a duncan and two montis today. Would have been one monti, but it cracked coming off the plug. Link to comment
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