Liz's Little Reef

[ImperfectSense]

Alright, I missed the contest deadline, but I'm gonna play along anyway All comments are welcome! I know I have a lot to learn, that's 90% of the fun

 

Tank description:

- Biocube 14 (brand new tank)

Stock pump/hood, all stock filtration has been removed (bioballs, sponges)

InTank media basket (from the top down: filter floss, cheato, purigen, chemi-pure)

Stealth 50w heater

12lbs live rock that had been established 5 years, then sterilized in vinegar before sale =\

5lbs Caribsea Arag-Alive West Caribbean Reef Sand

- JBJ ATO (Auto Top-Off) is on it's way

 

Tank residents:

1 small frag of Green Star Polyps

2 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs

3 Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crabs

8 Astrea snails

2 Nerite snails

0 Chiton - 1 deceased

2 Bristle worms (not sure if they are still there)

1 Brittle star (not sure if it's still there)

Copepods

LOTS of Hydroids (appear to be Staurocladia oahuensis, these are a pain for my snails, but from what I hear I just have to wait them out)

Diatoms (bloom appears to be over)

 

Total for everything I've purchased so far (all of the above plus GFCI power strip, timer for the lights, salt, pre-mixed salt water, thermometer inside and outside the tank, test kit, and of course buckets) is about $435.

 

This is my tank on day 47:

 

Here is a video of my current residents in action: BC14 Aquarium at 6 weeks

 

And here is some REALLY up close video with a few of my Hermits: Hermits in Macro

 

Update:

Bad news, weird news, and good news. The bad news is that my Chiton has died. It seemed happy and healthy and was making a HUGE dent in the old encrusted algae on one of my live rocks, and then one day I noticed it hadn't moved. I was able to pick it up from the live rock easily, so it wasn't gripping on anymore, I moved it to a new rock in a new area of the tank but it never showed any further signs of life. This makes me very sad, and I wish I knew what happened, but it seems little is known about these handy critters. All of the other residents of my tank still appear healthy and active, so I guess barring further developments I will mark this down as a random death.

 

The weird news is that I found bits of a hermit crab floating around in my tank. I'm not sure yet if they're the remains of an old dead hermit that was stuck inside my LR when the previous owner soaked them in ammonia, or if it's the exoskeleton of my smallest Red Tip hermit. It looks far too large to be his exoskeleton, but...

 

Finally some good news! My smallest red tip hermit crab has moved into a new shell! I really wish I could have seen this happen, but he made the move overnight. I'm hoping that his new shell will cut down on his mobility a little bit, at least for now, since he was always finding a way to get lodged in the little crevices on my LR, and he also developed the habit of climbing up the silicon in one corner of my tank. It's still weird to see his old shell lying empty on the sand bed, but I'm really glad I had a good selection of new shells for these guys!

[ImperfectSense]

Doh! The prior owner of my tank warned me that he thought there was a small leak, but he couldn't tell where it was. I tested the tank with plain freshwater, pump running, for over 24 hours and saw no leaks. Today, 24 hours after setting it up with saltwater and live rock, it's leaking. Just a tiny leak, one drop every 20-30 seconds or so, sometimes not even that, but definitely a leak. So... now I gotta see if the previous owner can dig up his receipt, or I've gotta shell out $85 for a new tank. Oh, trials and tribulations On the plus side, regardless of how I get my new tank, it will probably be the new design, with the fish guard and the rear window, and that will be really nice

[Stoke]

ive seen that tank in stores, i love that tank, i think it would make an amazing tank, just it was to small for waht i wanna do. i was looking at the video, is there no sand on the bottom? rocks look good.

[ImperfectSense]

ive seen that tank in stores, i love that tank, i think it would make an amazing tank, just it was to small for waht i wanna do. i was looking at the video, is there no sand on the bottom? rocks look good.

 

Nope, no sand yet, I'd like to put a thin layer of aragonite in there, but I'm glad I didn't yet. Tank sprung a small leak so I'm now waiting on my replacement from Oceanic (their customer service is AMAZING by the way, huge peace of mind there).

 

I would have liked a bigger tank, but as a 3rd floor apartment dweller this is about the biggest I can reasonably handle. It's also about as big as can fit in my bathtub for rinsing out or leak checking, so that's another thing to keep in mind. I did a lot of research on YouTube, videos seem to give a much better "feel" for how large a tank will look, or how it will look full of coral and critters, than photos.

[Stoke]

ya, the tank has so much potential, cant wait to see what comes of it

[ImperfectSense]

Thanks

[ImperfectSense]

Ok, so it turns out the "live" rock I got came from a sick aquarium, so the owner soaked it in vinegar before reusing some and selling the rest. For the first week all I smelled when opening the tank was rotting algae, and the only test result I saw was steadily rising ammonia. However, today I cracked it open and it smelled much better, more like a fresh sea breeze than the beach when the tide is out, and I *think* that the Nitrite and Nitrate levels have started to rise. Of course there's lots of room for interpretation with these test kits, but if I had to make a bet, I'd say I'm at Ammonia 0.3, Nitrite and Nitrate 0.1 each. Of course, the tank's been getting extra warm lately thanks to a heat wave here in Seattle, highest temp was almost 85 degrees, but I doubt the bacteria minded. All in all I'm pretty excited

 

I just received my ATO system, but it looks like the replacement tank from Oceanic will arrive while I'm on vacation next week. Oh well, this one isn't leaking bad at all, and with the ATO I feel safe leaving it for a week as-is.

[ImperfectSense]

Wow, been busy! First, I was on vacation for a week (FANTASTIC vacation), then when I got home I found my replacement tank from Oceanic! Got everything transferred into the new tank and left it running for a couple of days, no leaks! Also, when I measured the water conditions after those few days, it looks like my tank has finished cycling! Yay!

 

So, the first thing I need to get is some Cheato and chemipure/purigen for my filtration setup, and then I'll get a few snails and let them munch away on all the dead algae for a while.

 

One question I have is when I should do my first partial water change... my pH dropped to 7.8 during the cycle, which I believe is expected, and I plan to boost it with some baking soda before introducing anything new to the tank, but should I do a water change before I add the snails or wait a week after them? I have topped off the water twice since starting the tank, using just tap water that's had time for the chlorine to boil off.

[Pudding]

You might want to start looking into LFSs that have RODI water for sale or just invest in a RODI unit. Tap that's been boiled will not remove all of the TDS that's in the tap. If it's just to start off your cycle, it's fine, but you may want to use RODI later. For the water change, i wouldnt do one until my cycle is complete. I personally wouldnt even add livestock until the cycle is complete. If there is any trace of ammonia or nitrite, then your cycle still has a while to go. If you say your cycle is done, then doing a water-change wouldnt hurt.

 

Good luck! Tank sounds like it's coming together well.

[ImperfectSense]

Ammonia and Nitrite are both now at 0, Nitrate is at 10ppm

 

I believe that one of my local supermarkets has RODI water available so I plan to use that for my weekly water changes down the road. I used tap water this time since I was pretty sure my rock was all dead and figured the tap water would provide the bacteria needed to kick off the cycle. Here is my tank tracking spreadsheet, for the curious:

 

[Pudding]

Looks good. Your cycle looks done to me and a very fast cycle at that which is always nice. Your targets for SG is somewhat strange though. 12 is pretty low for a reef and 24 for the highest is also pretty low. If you want about .010 range, try 1.020- 1.030. Aside from that, everything looks great. Any pictures?

[ImperfectSense]

Thanks, I don't recall where I got those SG targets from, I'll do some more research

 

Pics will be coming tonight, I just picked up some live sand (only 5lbs, don't want a really deep bed but don't want it bare also), some cheato, and chemipure/purigen. I plan to load in the cheato and sand tonight, let the tank run over the long weekend to see if that kicks off another cycle, and if not I'll load in the chemipure/purigen and get some snails!

 

One neat thing, my cheato came with some hitchikers, looks like about a 2" worm and a very skinny starfish. I'm not sure if they'll survive the transition, but it's nice to have something other than bacteria in this thing!

[ImperfectSense]

Updated my original post with some new pictures, enjoy!

[jae4571]

I would stop using tap water immediatley for your top off. Continuing to use it can and probably will spell bad news as it will promote the growth of nuisance algae in your tank. As for your SG I shoot for 1.023-1.025. Your scape looks super cool! Good luck and keep the pictures coming.

[ImperfectSense]

Well, is finally time to start putting some critters in here and see what happens. On Thursday evening I added 5 Astreas, 1 Nerite and 1 Chiton (hitchiker). After drip-acclimating them for 2 hours I positioned them on especially algae-covered areas of my live rock and watched them go. They are all actively mobile, a couple of them have practically lapped the tank already! I'm a little surprised that a few of them are focusing entirely on the tank glass, which should be really clean since it's brand new and I've never had an algae bloom, while the others are staying put on the LR. Guess I'll just have to watch and see what happens. The fascination with the glass has one advantage however, I was able to get some interesting footage of one of the Astreas eating. I didn't know what to expect from snails, but I didn't expect such definitive mouth parts and eye stalks, I was thinking more along the lines of just blobs. Anyway, here's the video if you're interested:

 

http://vimeo.com/15083405

[ImperfectSense]

Here's a time-lapse video of the chiton running around on a piece of LR: http://vimeo.com/15085218

[chrssprngs]

Looks good. Your cycle looks done to me and a very fast cycle at that which is always nice. Your targets for SG is somewhat strange though. 12 is pretty low for a reef and 24 for the highest is also pretty low. If you want about .010 range, try 1.020- 1.030. Aside from that, everything looks great. Any pictures?

You are way off on your SG. You want 1.025. You don't want a range of .010. At most +/- 0.001.

[ImperfectSense]

I've also read in a few places that SG can tend to be low in a new tank that's just cycled and has no residents, so I'm not too worried about the number, I'm more concerned with making sure, as you said, it doesn't make any wild swings. I'll start my regular water changes in a week, once I'm sure my snails have settled in happily, and that'll give me a chance to do a little re-balancing if I feel the need.

[ImperfectSense]

Here is a video of my current residents in action: BC14 Aquarium at 6 weeks

 

Update:

My first batch of snails continued to be very happy, so I bought another batch of snails, some hermit crabs ( love inverts), and one small frag of coral (Green Star Polyps). Since the coral had come from a different "home" than the crabs and snails, I decided I didn't want to mix their water together, since that would likely shock both. Since I knew I would need to drip-acclimate the snails/crabs, I took the coral out of it's bag and dropped it straight into the tank with no acclimation at all. I figured it was best to risk losing the coral than to risk losing 6 snails and 2 crabs. The gamble paid off, all of my critters are happy and active day and night! I started the coral on the sand at the very bottom of my tank, but after getting acquainted with the layout, my larger hermit kept dragging it around and flipping it over in an attempt to clean all the copepods and such off it. I appreciated it's attention to detail, but didn't want my coral constantly being flipped over, so I moved it up onto one of the small shelves on my main rock, about mid-way up the tank. I know the GSP is likely to "dig in" up there and become difficult to move/remove, but since it's a small shelf I'm hoping I'll be able to just prune around the edges as it grows out.

[ImperfectSense]

Turns out one of my Scarlet Hermit Crabs was actually a Red Tip (he was REALLY tiny, so it took me a while to be sure). So I got 2 more Red Tips to keep him company, and a Scarlet to keep my other Scarlet company. My original Scarlet ripped my Green Star Polyp off it's rock and flipped it upside down, it appeared to be cleaning it off, but a little too conscientiously for my taste. I'm hoping the new crabs will keep my old Scarlet distracted long enough for my GSP to get a good grip on it's little rock shelf, although I may end up having to cement it down.

 

I also got some new lenses for my iPhone, and discovered the wonders of extreme Macro videography within my tank, take a look! Hermits in Macro

[ImperfectSense]

Bad news, weird news, and good news. The bad news is that my Chiton has died. It seemed happy and healthy and was making a HUGE dent in the old encrusted algae on one of my live rocks, and then one day I noticed it hadn't moved. I was able to pick it up from the live rock easily, so it wasn't gripping on anymore, I moved it to a new rock in a new area of the tank but it never showed any further signs of life. This makes me very sad, and I wish I knew what happened, but it seems little is known about these handy critters. All of the other residents of my tank still appear healthy and active, so I guess barring further developments I will mark this down as a random death.

 

The weird news is that I found bits of a hermit crab floating around in my tank. I'm not sure yet if they're the remains of an old dead hermit that was stuck inside my LR when the previous owner soaked them in ammonia, or if it's the exoskeleton of my smallest Red Tip hermit. It looks far too large to be his exoskeleton, but...

 

Finally some good news! My smallest red tip hermit crab has moved into a new shell! I really wish I could have seen this happen, but he made the move overnight. I'm hoping that his new shell will cut down on his mobility a little bit, at least for now, since he was always finding a way to get lodged in the little crevices on my LR, and he also developed the habit of climbing up the silicon in one corner of my tank. It's still weird to see his old shell lying empty on the sand bed, but I'm really glad I had a good selection of new shells for these guys!

[Stoke]

nice, looks like we started our tanks around the same time. i dont remember those rocks before, but i love the scape now. my hermits that i just got molted and i thought it was a dead crab out the shell......i was like craaaaaaap, but a week later i saw both of my hermits at the same time, so i was like YAY. so dont worry, im sure it was just a molt