Alex's 20h

[Matty1124]

no shrimp... if you have the time then just let it cycle on its own.... if you really want to add something take a little fish food... and clowns will host anything and everything and that includes powerheads and mag floats... they will host torches and frogspawns though the coral may not like it at first

[alexmurovec]

no shrimp... if you have the time then just let it cycle on its own.... if you really want to add something take a little fish food... and clowns will host anything and everything and that includes powerheads and mag floats... they will host torches and frogspawns though the coral may not like it at first

 

awesome! Would you say frogspawns and torch corals are an easy first coral for a beginner?

[alexmurovec]

like i promised...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The aquaclear isn't really modded, but i didn't see the need for it. I just threw some lr rubble in there and a ball of cheato. Then i just stuck the little grate from the aquaclear media holder in there.

[alexmurovec]

i guess a few more couldn't hurt...

 

 

 

 

Looks like a colony of brown zoo's to me? I know I know, my camera sucks at close-ups and this is as close as i can get without it going out of focus...even with manual focus.

Don't know what this is, in real life its red and has little white pores on it. All that i know is that it is definetly not coraline.

[10" Red Devil]

The final rock work is greatness in a box full of water!

[alexmurovec]

The final rock work is greatness in a box full of water!

 

thanks man...do you think its enough rock? I'm contemplating on wether or not to put a piece of rock on the far left kind of infront of the overflow box. What do you think?

 

EDIT:

 

I also did another full water parameter test, and still no signs of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or phosphate... ph is at 7.8 and sg is at 1.025.

[travisurfer]

great start

[Withers]

Looking good! I like it.

 

If your test kits never register anything (but nitrate should eventually register), I'd wait till you hit the diatom bloom phase and then start collecting a cleanup crew.

[Zatoichi]

yeah dude, you have enough live rock. you could add another rock or two, but overall you'll be fine. i have to take rocks out of my tank each time i add a coral because i put too much in there

[alexmurovec]

alright, well this is gonna be the finalized aquascape i guess. Some of the rocks are starting to get browny/hairy algae on it so it shouldn't be long before the diatom bloom appears. Right now i'm running my fuge light 24/7 and my lights on a 6 hour cycle. Once i get over the cycle stage i think i will run my lights on a 10 hour cycle, or maybe even more....how many hours is ideal?

[alexmurovec]

Right now i'm running my fuge light 24/7 and my lights on a 6 hour cycle. Once i get over the cycle stage i think i will run my lights on a 10 hour cycle, or maybe even more....how many hours is ideal?

 

Anyone?

[alexmurovec]

well my tank is still not showing any signs of a cycle. there is no algae growing anywhere and the water results are all negative. I just tested again, and here are the results:

 

ph - 7.8

sg - 1.025

temp - 78

ammonia - 0ppm

nitrite - 0ppm

nitrate - 0ppm

phosphate - 0ppm

 

it's been 6 days so far, so i dont know if the cycle is still coming or if my rock was so cured that no cycle is even going to happen. I still have one work like thing swimming around from rock to rock and he seems to be doing fine. I also have a little colony of zoos that are growing rapidly and seem to be thriving, even though they are in a not so well lit area. I'll give it a couple more days but i'm starting to think i might have to add some fish food or something to kick it off.

[Brewspew]

What kind of light is that over your HOB refugium?

[alexmurovec]

for the first couple of days i just had a regular screw in 40watt bulb, but yesterday i went and picked up a little screw in compact flouresant and the light is alot brighter and whiter and runs alot cooler as well. It's a phillips lightbulb and thats all that home depot had, and for some reason they dont show the kelvin rating on it. It's the daylight model so it does give a little bit more of a 50/50 type light. It's just for the cheato and live rock so it doesn't need to be anythign too special.

[alexmurovec]

so it's day 8 and still ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate are all 0. I am starting to get some brown and green hairy algae on some of my rocks, and there are also some little green tubular algae like plants growing. It's looking like i might start to see a diatom bloom happen within the next few days.

 

My cheato in my fuge has doubled in size in 2 days since i added the screw in flouresant bulb. The live rock rubble in my fuge is also starting to turn brown colored, so i guess another sign of a bloom.

 

here are some update pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

Colony of regular brown zoos?

Plant like algae?

This thing is crazy, i have two of them in my tank. They are a white tube that is positioned on the rock and never moves. Inside this white tube there is a little red thing that will pop out from time to time and fold out like a flower. When i tap the glass the little red thing then unfolds and goes back inside the tube. I got no idea what it could be...any idea?

 

Thanks again

[cruncle]

That tube is a feather duster.

 

 

This thing is crazy, i have two of them in my tank. They are a white tube that is positioned on the rock and never moves. Inside this white tube there is a little red thing that will pop out from time to time and fold out like a flower. When i tap the glass the little red thing then unfolds and goes back inside the tube. I got no idea what it could be...any idea?

 

Thanks again

[alexmurovec]

so i guess i have 2 red feather dusters and one regular coloured one then. on another note, my tank is really starting to get all brown. i got a decent amount of brown algae buildup on the substrate and rocks. i also have some green and brown hairy algae on the rocks. nothing on the glass yet though. my fuge lr rubble has lots of brown on it, but that may be because i run my fuge light 24/7, any thoughts? my cheato has also almost tripled in size since i added the screw in flouresant bulb for the fuge. considering all my algae growth, i'm starting to think of a clean up crew. in my town all i can find are turbo snails and they run at 7 bucks a peice. i found one canadian distributor based out of vancouver that has a variety of marine livestock. heres a clean up crew list, help me out because i really dont know much of whats good and whats bad.

 

5 blue leg hermit crabs

1 red scarlet hermit crab

5 astrea snails

5 cerith snails

5 nassarius snails

2 turbo snails

 

thats just a rough list, i really am just guessing at whats good, so fill me in. i would also like to add a starfish if possible. they look so cool and have heard that they are great for keeping the sandbed clean, which i would love to have. there are also clean up crew packages but they are mostly hermit crabs which i dont want alot of. any opinion is apprecaited.

[alexmurovec]

i guess a few pics couldn't hurt...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alexmurovec]

i know some of you have experience with CUC's. c'mon guys

[spanko]

The lights on the fuge should run on the off cycle of the display lights. This promotes the photosynthesis in the fuge when the display is off. (display light on during day off during night, fuge lights off during day on during night.)

 

Clean up crew JMO Cerith snails are great diatom eaters the more the merrier (ones with black shells are better if you can get them), Nassirius are great sand stirrers. I think Astreas are the ones that if they fall over upside down they can't get back up. I like the scarlet red hermits better than the blue legs but they are a little hard to find around my neck of the woods for some reason.

[alexmurovec]

The lights on the fuge should run on the off cycle of the display lights. This promotes the photosynthesis in the fuge when the display is off. (display light on during day off during night, fuge lights off during day on during night.)

 

Clean up crew JMO Cerith snails are great diatom eaters the more the merrier (ones with black shells are better if you can get them), Nassirius are great sand stirrers. I think Astreas are the ones that if they fall over upside down they can't get back up. I like the scarlet red hermits better than the blue legs but they are a little hard to find around my neck of the woods for some reason.

 

ok, i will run my fuge light on a reverse cycle then, not 24/7. there is a decent amount of spill over light, but nothing i can really do about it.

 

as for the clean up crew, i am going to be ordering them online from a nearby distributor (only 4 hours away). I can get whatever snails and crabs i want, they got them all. May i ask, why do you like red scarlets more than blue leg hermits? I want a clean sand bed and no diatoms, so maybe i'll go with 10 cerith, 5 nassirius, 5 margarita, then maybe 3 scarlets? or is that overkill? i dont want to see a billion snails in my view.

 

whats your opinion on a starfish?

[alexmurovec]

i did just another full test...

 

ph-7.6 (kinda low)

sg-1.025

ammonia-0.50

nitrite-0

nitrate-0

phosphate-0

 

so now i got a little bit of ammonia, but not much. I'm starting to see more and more algae of all sorts though. I almost think that my rock was so cured that i haven't and wont even see a cycle. Time for a CUC, what do you think?

[alexmurovec]

so after 2 weeks of seeing no sign of a cycle, but now a algae bloom, i safely assumed that i would not see one. i decided to add 2 red scarlet hermits, and 2 astrea snails. it's been 1 day since they have been in the tank, and they are either lazy or not used to the tank yet. it kind of scares me, because the snails just burry into the sand, and the hermits just sit there, legs in their shell and all. if anyone knows if this is normal please let me know. here are my current parameters, and they have been this way for 2 weeks.

 

sg - 1.025

ph - 7.8

ammonia - 0

nitrite - 0

nitrate - 0

phosphate - 0

 

right now i dont have much brown algae, but tons of the green hair algae, and some brown looking plant algae. there are also lots of this white/see through plant like thing growing all over the place, i dont know what it is. i attached some pictures below so maybe someone can help me out with an id.

 

full tank shot

lazy hermit

green hair algae and a bit of the brown plant like algae

now in all these next 3 pictures are the white/see through plant like stuff. i really have no idea what it could be, i just hope its not bad. it may be hard to see in some pictures, but i tried to get one close up, and then some others for perspective. an id would be really helpful.

[toastii]

(i just added 3 hermits and 3 nassies to my tank today)

 

i have one shy hemit that hangs around the little plastic rotunda in my tank

one hermit that is just all over the place

and the other is gettng used to it

 

the nassies burry themselves thats normal..

i thik its cute also haha

one thats active and one that is also getting used to the tank-- they are all active actually just one likes to burry itself-- they should perk up

[alexmurovec]

(i just added 3 hermits and 3 nassies to my tank today)

 

i have one shy hemit that hangs around the little plastic rotunda in my tank

one hermit that is just all over the place

and the other is gettng used to it

 

the nassies burry themselves thats normal..

i thik its cute also haha

one thats active and one that is also getting used to the tank-- they are all active actually just one likes to burry itself-- they should perk up

 

ya, i'm assumign that they are just stressed still, they should settle down in a little. how do you like the nassarius snails? i plan on getting some later down the road to keep my sand bed nice and clean, but i was told not to get them as initial clean up crew because they need alot of food produced by fish and what not.