BeerNuts Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 Yo guys I finally got all the parts of my tank today and set it up. First hour pics! The one with no light really shows how purple my LR is.. its great. I put in my LS, LR then added 6.5 gal of SW. The rock is uncured so I hope that will help cycle the tank. Temp is about 83 F now at 10pm with the light out which I find kinda weird...ALk is Low Normal, pH is 8.4. When seting up the rock I found 2 hich hikers a tiny crab, and somthing like looks like shrimp its really small and runs fast as hell. It ran laps around my tank taking little breaks to stop and roll in the sand.... bunch of ugly worms in and out of the rocks to =/ Link to comment
Xavier Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 is that rock stable that sits across the top?.. looks a little precarious... Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 16, 2003 Author Share Posted March 16, 2003 hehe ya its pretty stable you can't see it but the rock fits into it nicly. Plus I added a little gule glue gel to it just incase. Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 if you're worried about the temp-consider lowering your heater setting (obviously make sure it doesn't drop too low) or double check that thermometer-i had one (accurite correct?) that just kept going up and up-the probe is so-not waterproof! stability is prolly more important than attaining a "perfect" temp. somewhere between 78 and 82 with lil fluctuation=good IMO-not that you asked for it tg Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 16, 2003 Author Share Posted March 16, 2003 Ya, I did notice the crap quality of the water proofing on the accurite around the sensor. I took my trusty tube of SS and I believe that the sensor is quite safe now from the salt water. Link to comment
Xavier Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 I had the same problem with the acu-rite, as did liquid after a time.. I let it dry out, then coated the entire probe with silicone.. problem solved... Link to comment
onthefly Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 Good looking aquascape! Throw up some spec's! I thought the same thing that Xavier thought, but if it's stable that is kick ass! Did you get you skimmer/fuge yet? I'm curious to see how it works? I've got my $$ ready to order one. BTW, keep an eye on that little fast shirmp........: it could be a mantis shrimp! They're nasty little critters that frequently hitchhike. Is it pretty colorful with a long tail section? If it is, it is a mantis....watch your fingers! The telson is razor sharp and they "snap" that tail with a "pow" and your bleeding! If it is one, you might let it hang out while you cure, their very cool to look at. Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 16, 2003 Author Share Posted March 16, 2003 We can't tell if it is a shrimp its soooo tiny... that was own guess. Today we found a new hich hiker! When I woke up this morring there was a 1.5" Brittle Sea Star getting a tan in my sand. The SKimmer+Fuge will be done on monday the guy is making it now. Ill post stats later. Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 Alright time for the low down on my total system that I have been building with the help of RC and Here. 1x Mini-Bow 7 1x Visi-Therm Delux 50w Heater 1x CSL 32w 50/50 Retro 1x Mini-Jet 404 1x 12x4x12 Skimmer+Fuge Custom made by the eBay guy (Still being built it will be finished next week) 1x AquaClear 150 (Sponge only just to help remove the crud floating in the tank due to the uncured rock) 1x Acurite DigiTherm (9.99 at K-mart) 10lbs of Local Key West Florida Rock! w00t 10lbs of Live Sand (PreBagged Kind..) It took alittle more work that I had though it would take to get the lighting into the hood, me and my dremel were busy last night. Current (HichHiked) Livestock 1x Shrimp? (No way to tell what it is.. shrimp like tail on like a 2cm body. Ran laps around my tank for a day and how now disapeared into the rocks) 1x Crab (Found him on my hand while setting up the rocks hes like 3-4cm and has also disapeard into the rock) 1x Snail (Just found this guy like 2 mins ago. Thought a piece of rock was on the glass it was actually a >1cm snail who has since made his way all 11" up my tank and I assume out of the water <.< ) 1x Mop Worm (Dun know wtf this is... help ID it here.. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=10088 ) 1x Brittle Sea Star (Came out this morring about 1-2" sitting the the sand in the light all day hasn't moved all that much ..lazy bum..) and a good countless number of bristle worms frolciking scok free around the insides of my LR) 1x Fire Coral (hehe dun mind it in the tank I can't step on it) First day testing.. Alk - Low Normal pH - 8.0-8.3 Ammonia - 0.25-0.5 Nitrite - 0.05 Nitrate - 2.5 Best I can assume of the actually numbers when i order mytest kit they sent me a Red Sea Starter Kit insted of the other one I ordered. Ill keep ya posted - Beer Link to comment
lilswanwillow Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 quote" BTW, keep an eye on that little fast shirmp........ it could be a mantis shrimp! They're nasty little critters that frequently hitchhike. Is it pretty colorful with a long tail section? If it is, it is a mantis....watch your fingers! The telson is razor sharp and they "snap" that tail with a "pow" and your bleeding! If it is one, you might let it hang out while you cure, their very cool to look at." ummm, not ture ummm, mantis shrimp can't be identified by the tail... (the back end looks kinda like a millipede) its the front end you have to worry about (i laughed really hard when i read this) they aren't nessecarily colorful... mines rust colored. the telson is at the end of the tail, dunno if its sharp or not, but thats not the end you have to worry about, its the front end!!! they have raptorial appendages (hence the name, mantis.... think of a preying mantis) that can either bash (for eating snails, clams, crabs) or slash (fish) (if your nano isn't going to be fish, or you don't mind losing hermits/snails and feeding them.. keep it!!! they are supposed to be ok with corals, they just might rearrange for you!!! they are the coolest little things in the world!!! Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 Night has come and so has another guest... I have yet another Britle Sea Star moving out from under my rocks now this one bigger than the other about 2-3" .. @_@ Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 17, 2003 Author Share Posted March 17, 2003 After finding a link to HitchHiker FAQ on the RC board I am now a little less happy with my finds.. The thing that I had thought was just a baby shrimp is a IsoPod I am 90% certain of this. With my luck I will have gotten one of the few species that are considered Fish Lice and not the nice little alge eating ones.... The small brownish tenticles on the back side of my large rock ( that I can't seem to get a good look at..) is probably Aiptasiidae. Looks like I need to rangle some stuff up before it spreads throught out the tank. Link to comment
Orange Crush Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Originally posted by BeerNuts It took alittle more work that I had though it would take to get the lighting into the hood, me and my dremel were busy last night. It makes me that I was not the only person who found this to be a major PITA. Link to comment
onthefly Posted March 17, 2003 Share Posted March 17, 2003 Sorry Lils, They only mantis I've seen are the ones in California and Baja, Mex. They are all really colorful (blues, reds, greens, etc). My advice to Nuts was just the prelimenary "is it long like a mantis". The front end boxing gloves are viscious, however, all mantis' have the a telson that looks like a great whites teeth "VVVVVV" and they are boo koo sharp. I know, I got 7 stiches from one about 10 yrs ago. They had a thing on discovery a few nights ago about the fast creature on earth. It was in the top ten, behind the angel shark, angler fish, cone shell, etc. They showed a mantis waiting for a little chromis (or similar reefer) and when the thing swam by, the mantis hit him SOOO hard with the tail snap (you could hear the "bang" underwater) he cut the fish in half. Then crawled over and chowed! All that being said, sorry for the blanket statement. I hate when I see people do that....duh!X) Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 19, 2003 Author Share Posted March 19, 2003 Day 2 Image of the Tank, New Aquascaping, Going to add 1-2 more lbs this week, and my new skimmer+fuge. Link to comment
Goliath Posted March 19, 2003 Share Posted March 19, 2003 I am really quite jealous of your rock. I was so damn picky about the rock I wanted to get and all the coraline on it and hitch hikers. After weeks of looking in several different Fish Stores I could not find any of the great rock you see as examples on websites so I settled for some decent LR that has patches here and there but I didnt get any real hitch hikers at all. Just one snail with a crazy cone shaped shell. Its not the venemous "Cone Snail" some other kind. Jeremy Link to comment
BeerNuts Posted March 19, 2003 Author Share Posted March 19, 2003 Im some ways you should be glad you have no hitch hikers. So far I have found 2 pests in the tank that are very hard to get rid of. My inital excitment of "I got a free Anemone!" turned into to "Ah $&%^ I got a Aiptasia!!!" along with "w00t free shrimp thing!" into "AHH F its is Isopod(Fish Lice)" Link to comment
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