Bagoeggs [AP24], 150W MH Log

[bagoegg]

Finally got the tank going. We have the AP 24 with the metal halide Sunpod. No mods yet. Need to wait until payday. Got it on a homemade stand. Put in about 15 pounds of Arag Alive and about 7 pounds of some Carribean live sand from our LFS. Got about 20 pounds of some really nice LR. One piece seems to have some sort of bi valve on it. Not sure if it alive yet. Anyways I am really tired and its bed time. Here are some cloudy tank pics.

 

[bagoegg]

Everything settled and we got the rocks all situated. Tested the water last night:

 

ph - 7.9

amm - 0-0.25

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 5

calc - 440

temp - 80

copper and phos - 0

 

The live rock I got had alot of brown algae on it. Could this account for the nitrates after only a day? It was fully cured rock.

 

[bagoegg]

Been testing like crazy and after some advice on here, went and got a mini cuc. Amm and Nitrite have been at 0 for 4 days. Nitrates are at about 5 now after a recent water change. We got 6 dwarf Zebra hermits and 2 pyramid snails. Will have to get the rest off of the web as that is all my LFS had. The little crabs have been tearing things of the rocks non stop and the snails are sucking up everything in their path. I ordered a hob fuge today. Will hopefully have that going by next week. Any comments how my tank looks would be great!! Here are some pics my wife took.

 

Cat wondering what those little things crawling around are.

 

Crabs

 

Pyramid snail

[bagoegg]

Tank is still doing good. This rock was really well cured as I have not had any Amm or Nitrite going on the end of the first week. Nitrates are slowly rising. My little crabbies are still cleaing all the algae of the rocks. They are doing a great job though. Does anyone know what the red things are on the rock in the picture. I read on here they might be little filter feeders of some sort. ????

 

[kthehun89]

the red stuff looks like a macro alge

[av8ffej]

Not sure on the red things, my LR had it too. It's hard and started out white, moved to pink/red in the first week. I just thought it was some kind of coraline. Beats me, it never looked/felt slimy/hairy, so I just figured "pretty rock stuff".

 

How's life in Bonney Lake? I hear it's lovely down there this time of year! Looing forward to following a Washingtonian Sister tank!

[bagoegg]

Hey fellow Washingtonian! Bonney Lake is great. Hows Bellevue these days? I havent been up there in ages.

[av8ffej]

Hey fellow Washingtonian! Bonney Lake is great. Hows Bellevue these days? I havent been up there in ages.

 

 

Growing! It's crazy, but fun. Lots of life here these days, it's really nice. What's your LFS?

[bagoegg]

I go to a place called Tropical Fish World down in Sumner. They have a decent selection of fish. Not too many corals though. Mostly just mushrooms. Very knowledgeable staff. I got my LR from them and they did a really good job at curing it.

[av8ffej]

I go to a place called Tropical Fish World down in Sumner. They have a decent selection of fish. Not too many corals though. Mostly just mushrooms. Very knowledgeable staff. I got my LR from them and they did a really good job at curing it.

 

Yeah, don't get to Sumner much, but if they're 'sroom only, you have to come up this direction and check it out! Check out the "Anyone From Seattle?" thread, I think there were a couple of T-town folks on there.

[bagoegg]

Yeah I think I will head up to Renton to Barrier Reef. They seem to have a nice selection of items. Gas is too expensive to go to Shoreline. Maybe one day.

 

After researching on here I think the red things on the rocks are Foraminiferans.

[bagoegg]

WTF? I THOUGHT THESE WERE CALLED MAG FLOATS, NOT MAG SINKS. Damn thing. Oh well. Not much going on. Amm and N02 are still zero, phos is zero, copper is zero, calc is a bit low at 360, N03 is getting a bit high so I am going a water change on Sat. I got a Aquafuge 2, small version that I am going to install Sat as well. Chaeto is supposed to be here on Tuesday! Woohoo!

 

My Mag Sink glass cleaner

 

Night time FTS (sorry I dont have the steadiest hands and the tripod was down stairs)

[reefdan]

you have the wrong end of the mag float in the tank. the velcro hook side goes in the water

[atwater]

you have the wrong end of the mag float in the tank. the velcro hook side goes in the water

 

Classic.. By the way I like the aquascaping.

[bagoegg]

 

OH. Well dont I feel retarded. I had it that way first, but it didnt seem to work as well as the other. So I switched it. They need a blushing smiley for this one. hahaha

 

Classic.. By the way I like the aquascaping.

 

This was my first magfloat! I always used a brush on my fw tanks. Thanks for the kind words though!

[av8ffej]

 

OH. Well dont I feel retarded. I had it that way first, but it didnt seem to work as well as the other. So I switched it. They need a blushing smiley for this one. hahaha

 

That's AWESOME! LOL! Now that is a move straight out of my playbook right there. Thanks for making me laugh, makes me feel less alone.

[bagoegg]

I installed the Aquafuge 2 and then took it off. I was scaring because if the pump was turned off for the fuge, the water in the fuge just poured back into the tank. I didn't like the thought of 2.5 gallons of water going back into the tank if something were too happen. I think I am just going to mod out a aquaclear of just get a soap basket for some chaeto or something. Tests are still good. Still have not detected Amm or NO2 since the beginning. Phos=0, Copper=0, Calc=380, NO3=0-5. We took a trip to the closest LFS that had coral which was almost 70 miles round trip! It sucks nowadays to have to think of the cost of gas opposed to the cost of shipping something next day air! Oh well. Asked what was the hardest stuff to kill and they guy suggested a green star polyp and zoa and another one that im not sure about. Were only $10 each so I couldnt pass it up. They seemed to double in size after being in the tank for a couple hours. Also got a scarlet cleaner shrimp. Maybe if they all survive for a few weeks, we can get some fishes.

 

CC Le Stat the Scarlet Cleaner (my wife named him)

 

Green Star Polyp Closed

 

Green Star Polyp Open

 

 

FTS

 

Cool Shot

 

[bagoegg]

Well just found our shrimp being devoured by 4 hermits. Not sure what happened. All the water still checks out ok. I highly doubt it was a molt. It was rather "thick" to be a molt.

[av8ffej]

Looking good! Sorry about the shrimp, but there's some progress there though! Keep it coming!

[bagoegg]

Saw the first pods in our tank last night. I couldn't sleep so I decided to go search for our shrimp on the slight chance he molted. Didn't find a shrimp but saw a bunch of little amphipods scurrying out of the flash light. Guess thats a good sign!

[Lalani]

Sorry about the shrimp, maybe you added it too soon.

Tank looks good though.

[bagoegg]

Could be. Everything has been testing out good. My wife said the bag dropped in the tank when she was acclimating him so I think he got shocked pretty good off the get go. OH well.

[bagoegg]

Man this sucks. In 10 years of keeping fish I have never had a new addition die so quickly. I feel like a POS. After testing the water every day, sometimes twice a day for so long and everything is good, this is a killer. I am so freaked out to even add anything in the future now. We will see how the corals do. Maybe in a month, if they are still ok, I will think about it but this is killing me.

 

This is making me sick to my stomach. Only my cat passing has affected me more I think. I know it was just a shrimp but my whole ability to maintain a fish tank is now being questioned. Perhaps we got him too soon, but with all the test being ok for almost 2 weeks I thought a shrimp would be ok. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[gar1948]

Tank looks very nice. I like your rock layout. Planning my AP 24 right now and looking for ideas. Did you secure LR or is it just piled up like that. I am thinking about epoxy to firm up the rocks once layed out but then I can't modify it easily. Sorry about your shrimp, it's always hard to loose anything. You always think it was something you did. Don't let that stop you from pushing forward!

[bagoegg]

Tank looks very nice. I like your rock layout. Planning my AP 24 right now and looking for ideas. Did you secure LR or is it just piled up like that. I am thinking about epoxy to firm up the rocks once layed out but then I can't modify it easily. Sorry about your shrimp, it's always hard to loose anything. You always think it was something you did. Don't let that stop you from pushing forward!

 

Thanks for the kind words. The rock is just sitting there. Im a noob, but securing with epoxy seemed like a bad idea beacause if something dies behind your rock or even under it, it will be a bizatch to get out. One of my snails fell upside down and croaked behind the set up. All I had to do was pickup the top rock and get some tongs to get him out. Maybe epoxy some but make sure you have access to any areas that might be covered with rock.

 

Not much else is going on. Been battling some red slime on my GSP for a couple days. Think I most of under control. It was closed up for a couple days but it was 2/3 open today! Ordered some more snails from liveaquaria. There is nothing in the area as for as snails go so mail order was the only way to go. Oh also got some cheato and a Aquaclear 70 to mod up. Gonna do that next week though. Going camping this weekend! Heres a nice shot of our zoa under the blue led's.