Nebthet's AP24, Now 29g Reef Tank - New Pics 04-09-2009

[nebthet]

I have had my new 24 gallon Aquapod set up for about 5 days now and I have life growing on it already. I wanted to share some pictures and get some other people's opinions.

 

In addition to the standard stuff the Aquapod comes with, I am also adding an Koralia nano filter (I might go the step higher to the 400gph one) and I will be replacing the standard top and using a 24" 130watt power compact flourescent light fixture (which I already have) and it comes with Lunar lights. This is basically for the bubble tip anemone I want to get eventually with a pair of clowns I plan to get at the same time. The person I buy my stuff from is a hobbiest and not a local fish store, (no store in Belleville, On, Canada sells saltwater fish), and he puts his clowns in with the anemones and they host them and he sells them together. I had a great time watching them and the clownfish even fed their anemone's left over food when they were done eating.

 

I purchased everything and set up on Nov.7th.

I checked the perameters 24hrs afterwards, which the exception of salinity and alkalinity and ph which I did immediately on the first day.

 

This was the result of my test on Nov. 8th

PH: 8.3

Salinity: 1.225

Alkalinity: 4 meq/L

Ammonia: free = 0.05, total = 0.1 (after the 30min wait)

Nitate: 1.5

Nitrite: 0

 

 

First set of pics are:

 

 

 

 

My seller gave me a couple of very small mushrooms to add to my tank after the temperature was up. I was a little baffled because I thought you really had to wait before doing that, but as soon as I put them in and turned both lights on they started opening up. The one moved during the night to a lower position where it has stayed since.

 

 

 

Here is a couple of pics from Nov 9th showing the brown algae/diatoms starting to grow on the live rock and on the crushed coral (subtrate was included with the purchased of the Aquapod and was used in the tank previously).

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are my water perameters as of yestarday, this shows the ammonia and nitrates going down.

Nov 11:

PH: 8.2

Salinity: 1.225

Alkalinity: 4.5 meq/L

Ammonia: free = 0, total = 0.05 (after the 30min wait)

Nitate: 0.1

Nitrite: 0

 

I also has a bit of a suprise at midnight tonight when I was taking a closer look at the tank. What I thought was a tube worm was actually a small feather duster. I had not thought I would see hitchicker life so soon.

 

 

 

There are about 4 of them that I have been able to find so far and probably more I can't see.

 

Please let me know what you think, and has anyone had a tank cycle this quickly?? I thought it would take a couple more weeks than it has.

[jeffblly]

Looks good. I like the rock work. I would not assume your cycle is over so fast. Give it some time before you add anything especially the anemone. Also you will have to be careful with the substrate you chose because it could trap detritus. Patience is the key in this hobby along with getting advice from people on this site.

[nebthet]

No, I am definately not assuming the cycle is going that fast, but I am definately suprised at the fact I have featherdusters growing already.

 

I have everything basically on a two week cycle. Next will be the clean up crew and one, maybe 2 frags of hammer or pulsing xenia. Then a few weeks after that a couple of small colonies of candy cane coral and perhaps a torch coral. I am planning to wait at least 3 months before I get the anemone.

 

I am also going to be getting Nass snails and cerith snails to help with the subtrate, because I had read before that crushed coral can be a nitrate trap, so since they like to burrow in the subtrate they will help with the oxygenization a bit. I also have it thin in some areas, and only at the 2 inches in a few places.

[nebthet]

Does any one else have any suggestions or advice?

[nebthet]

Just a quick Update my latest test has shown stabilization and some water evaporation which was quickly fixed.

 

PH: 8.3

Salinity: 1.229 (did water change and added water to put back down to 1.23)

Alkalinity: 4.5 meq/L

Ammonia: free = 0, total = 0.02 (after the 30min wait)

Nitate: 0.05

Nitrite: 0

 

I will be adding my clean up crew this week, and perhaps a couple coral frags to get things going.

 

Please tell me what you think?? I am new at this. This is my first salt water tank.

 

I will add more pics tonight.

[hxcaquaman]

as for the feather dusters, they are hitchhikers. Live Rock is great for that. I once had a emerald crab hitch a ride on some live rock. I was laying it out on the floor on a towel and the little guy took off across the floor, scared the crap outta me.

 

In my opinion I would probably get more live rock and macro algae, Cheato is great for lowering phosphates and mangroves remove nitrates as well. plus I think green is a nice color to add to a tank. go figure my 10 gallon is mostly green and redish in theme... it just worked out at all the pieces I like are those colors

 

as for upgrading to the bigger korilla, I would probably stick with the nano. Imo

 

~Ian

[nebthet]

I will definately be adding more live rock as I go along. The corals I have budgeted out to get will be coming attached to live rock. Particularily the BTA I'll be getting with my clownfish in february. I am letting my tank age first. It was a used one from the person I buy stuff from that he used himself and the same with the subtrate. I plan on making little medians in the front a bit with thinner but wider live rock.

 

I plan on changing the lighting from stock to 130watt power compact so I can get some better corals. I want to try some SPS up near the top of the tank closest to the light (I already know there are many that will not work, but a couple will).

 

I also plan on getting some frag-mags when my parents go down to Florida. The company will not ship to Canada, so I am going to order them and have him ship them to my parents so they can bring them back up to me. This will allow me to have more coral and still keep some nice swimming room for the clownfish I plan to get.

 

I thought about going with the Koralia 1 400gph pump because of the sps, but if you think the nano would work just as fine, I will give that a go then. I just want to ensure everything I put in will be nice and healthy. I dont plan on stocking a large amount of corals, but about 10 different species and that is it. I want it nice, but natural.

 

Here are my stocking plans:

 

- Hammer coral

- BTA

- Zoa's, only a couple.

- Toadstool Leather

- Sun Polyps

- Montipora Capricornus

- Green Candy Cane Colony

- Pulsing Xenia

- Acropora Tenuis

- and a couple of Mushrooms here or there.

 

 

Any other stocking suggestions?

[nebthet]

Here is the new additions for today. My parameters are still all in check and I definately need the CUC. I will be adding more in a couple more weeks. Also I will take a couple of more pics in a couple of days when the hammer and xenia have a bit to relax and get used to their surroundings.

 

Enjoy the pics and let me know what you think.

 

 

The box with the items I got. So they wouldn't get cold transporting outside..

 

Before I put the coral frags and CUC in my tank.

 

Sorry this pic is a litte blurry but it shows the purple snowflake octo-polyps on the one piece of live rock I was talking about.

 

Just after adding the frags (yes the hammer is a frag, only the one part is living right now). I really love the shell the xenia are on. I am totally in love it it.

 

Closer up of the hammer. This was within 5 minutes of putting them in the tank. They are just opening up.

 

Close up of the conch shell and the xenia on top of it.

 

Mr. Peppermint shrimp scouting out the place and finding a new home.

[nebthet]

Ok, so here are a couple of picks a couple of hours later.

 

The biggest hermit crab I have on Mount Astae shell

 

The Hammer inflatted and made itsself at home now.

 

The Peppermint shrimp has figured things out, and he has gone from his pale colour to his nice bright red.

[texass2323]

Get a K2 or K3.. The more water movement the better.. I have a K4 and a K1 with a mag 7 pumping it all back in the tank in my 40g, and a K1 in my 10g with a 404, you have a 24g so a K3 would give you great movement in there..

 

Also take it out of that stand.. your tank is one demensional, you cant see the sides.. I did that after the tank was filled and changed it to a diff stand.. Way better now that I can see the sides.. You can see the first stand in my pics early in my thread..

[nebthet]

I am definately thinking with going with the Koralia 1, then I am going to upgrade my submersible pump to something higher and keep the cuurent plumbing on it.

The stand I have it in is just the buffet and hutch, so the hutch doesnt fully cover the sides, of the tank. If I had more room in my apartment, it would be definatey out of there.

[nebthet]

Ok, quick update.. The corals are doing great.. No MIA CUC. The hammer likes to really inflate itsself out during the day and then around midnight he deflates.

 

 

The Xenia will do the same thing, but it will close itsself up tight and quit pulsing and open up a couple of hours later. I had a little panick at first because I thought something wrong happened in my system, but I went researches and watched the plant as it did this and it has been determined this is the way the Xenia seperates itsself. What was one stalk is now clearly 2 with a third one almost done.

 

 

 

The last picture is that of my tank coral livestock plans. Please note, these will start as frags, not full corals.

 

 

- Acropora at the top, only a couple of those.

- Back left GSP, to grow out and train to grow on the back of the tank.

- Back left top on part of old hammer skeleton, Torch Coral.

- Front left, sponge on it own, and on the rock some Zoa's.

- Middle a crocea clam as long as it gets good light. Will double check on that one once I get the upgraded lighting done.

- Front right, Bubble Tipped Anemone (Hoping it likes the spot)

- Back right, Toadstool.

- Front middle right on rocks, sun coral, above that back further candy canes, to the left of that Duncans or blasto merletti, and a Monti Cap just behind the sun corals to block the light for them.

 

Let me know what you think.

[nebthet]

So here are some updated pics for you all to enjoy.

 

Red coraline algae

 

Purple Coraline Algae spreading to different rocks.

 

Pic of Xenia with heads all squished in like it does a couple of times a day for a a couple of minutes at a time.

 

Pic showing how the Xenia is splitting.

 

Front Tank Shot flash

 

Front Tank Shot no flash

 

Can you make out the Brittle Star legs in this pic? This is why I wish I had a better camera.

 

Nasarrius snail with mushrooms and naked hermit cast off. I thought it was a dead hermit at first. LOL

 

 

Tell me what you think.

[junkitu]

Welcome to the aquapod club

 

I really like the rock you've picked out. Looks good. Watch out for the xenia. They grow and spread really quickly.

[nebthet]

I thought I would share a small video from today. I hope you all enjoy.

 

 

[nebthet]

Well, I have some good news and bad new for today.

 

Yestarday I received my package from J&L Aquatics in Canada. It had my chemi-pure, purpleup, tap water conditioner for my freshwater tank and the Koralia 1 I had ordered.

 

I put the Koralia into the tank, after rinsing it off of course and wow, the power out of that. My hammer coral was like what the heck?? but got used to it. Unfortunately, the xenia hasnt seemed to like the flow from the koralia either. It was looking real nasty today and has stuff coming off of it like string pieces and small little particles like it was melting apart.

 

Moving it to a lower flow area didnt seem to help so I have taken it out of my tank right now and put it in a plastic bag with half old water and half new water and switching out a bit. I am letting it float in the back area where it can still get some light but won't impede the flow from the rest of the tank. I also did a little over a 10% water change in the tank itsself just incase it was releasing bad stuff.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what would cause this? Just a picky coral that didnt like the upgraded flow? or could it be something else.

 

My parameters both before and after the water change were fine.

 

Before:

PH: 8.3

Salinity: 1.022

Alkalinity: 4 meq/L

Ammonia: free = 0, total = 0.00 (after the 30min wait)

Nitate: 0.5

Nitrite: 0

 

After:

PH: 8.3

Salinity: 1.0225

Alkalinity: 4.5 meq/L (9dkh)

Ammonia: free = 0, total = 0.00 (after the 30min wait)

Nitate: 0.2

Nitrite: 0

[Rocket]

salinity is a bit low. 1.026 is a good point.

[nebthet]

Salinity now sitting at 1.025

[nebthet]

 

Trying to save my Xenia from total destruction.

 

 

 

So here is a pic of what is left of my Xenia now. 24hrs after I cut the tops off.

 

 

 

The tops are not flat but have rounded themselves out and have become stiff again instead of flopping over. I would have figured if it was going to continue to deteriorate it would have over the last 24hrs. Also the colour is coming back.

 

Do you think it will survive okay? or am I giving it false hope? Has anyone else had this sort of issue with Xenia before?

[nebthet]

Well I have some updated picks. I got some frags off of a local hobbiest.

 

Front tank shot

 

Hammer and little green zoas on right.

 

Close up of the Green Zoas

 

Atcinic shot of the green zoas.

 

My Xenia, with small new heads starting.

 

Orange and Brown Zoa

 

Candy Canes and my peppermint shrimp behind.

 

Atcinic Shot of the Candy Canes and Orange/brown zoas.

 

Mushroom Garden

 

Another front tank shot.

 

I have a small toadstool in there too but I wasnt able to get a decent pick of it. I will try again later.

Enjoy

[nebthet]

Here are the rest of the frags and one heck of a large piece of live rock with GSP on it that I had to split up with a hammer and chisel to make room for it. It gave me 2 good sized colonies, some small frags and a nice clam was growing on the underside.

 

The amount of rock with it also took me up over 20lbs of rock in my tank, so that is good for filtration. It also gave me some rubble to work with for the filter system.

I performed a 12% water change after finishing adding everything in there since the water was mussed up, and I have extra water prepared to do continual small changes through out the next two weeks to help with the bioload.

 

My next purchase wont be until February, when I get a small BTA, black sun coral and two clownfish.

 

Here are some pics.

 

Front tank shot without flash.

 

with flash

 

The clam. I have no idea what type it is right now. Anyone have any ideas?

 

More Candy Canes

 

Another shot with my peppermint shrimp

 

Blasto Merletti with the Toadstool behind it.

 

Peppermint checking out the GSP as soon as it was in place.

 

On my next day off work I am going up to the hardware store to find some egg crate and acrylic so I can change from the stock lighting to the 130 watt PC's I have. I just have some other rearranging to do first on another project I am working on.

 

Please let me know what you think.

[nebthet]

wow.. no comments.. my tank must suck.

[nebthet]

Some more updated pics for the New Year.

 

 

FTS showing the removal of the Aquapod stock hooding and replacement with the Odyssea 130w pc with 12,000k bulb, atcinics and moonlights.

It is sitting on top of a 0.220 thick piece of Acrylic panel cut to fit in the shelving space (due to my stupid cats to keep them from falling or trying to drink the tank water... )

I was prepared wit egg crate to use as well, but have found it unnecessary with the acrylic.

 

Atcinic wit flash FTS

 

The Hammer all happy as usual. He has grown 1.5 inches back over his skeleton towards the back of te tank as I was hoping when I put him in that spot.

You can see the colour and density of the GSP on the lower left.

A red hermit is sitting beside the clam shell. It shot out a nice pile of crap just as I was taking the pic.

The Xenia on the shell as you can see has come back nicely and it is pulsing happily now. There are several seperate stalks forming, but they are small yet.

 

Lastly, a close up image of the Blasto Merletti. It as plumped up realy nice and has started touching the rock it is butted up against. I am hoping that in time, it will start growing over the rock.

 

I am waiting for an order of 3heads of Aussie Duncans, an Acropora Nano frag and an Acropora Suharsonoi frag (which is a deep water Acro) to come in. I thought I would give the Acro's a try with the higher, newer light and placing them closer to the surface of the tank and since fragalot.com (Canadian Seller) has an awsome boxing week sale going on right now where all of these were only $10 each + $45 shipping and taxes included, so I went for it. Of course I will have plenty of pics to show when they come in.

 

Let me know what you think.

[fishstick41]

Nice tank, just keep updating even if no one comments lol you get use to it. lol nice way to place the lights =D. i wish i had a hammer =[

[nebthet]

Thanks I appreciate it.

I am absolutely loving this tank. The hammer was one of my first corals and had only 2 mouths and now has 3.

I am just glad someone is looking at my post. I figure if I was doing something really wrong I would get reamed out by someone more experienced. LOL.