klarion Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Interesting, hm......I like unusual tank shapes. Myself, I got a 15 High. It's like a total opposite of what you're doing . But, me likes, me likes..... Link to comment
kydsexy Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 i hope you stick with this tank! SW gives you an even greater challenge with algae sometimes. GHA and Cyano can drive a person insane! lol good luck Link to comment
seagul Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Love the tank, keep it up! more pics bro! what are your stocking plans? coral? fish? Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 Stocking List considerations: -some type of dragonet, probably a red scooter blenny. I love these fish and sort setup this "dirty" tank with them in mind. I am not sure what other fish would go along with the dragonet, obviously no wrasses or other blennys since they are heavy pod eaters. No firefish or jawfish because the tank is open an open top and I'd like to keep it that way, at least for now. i am thinking a 3-4 pajama cardnials and eventually a dragonet after the tank matures. I'd also like to keep a clam and even possibly an anemone. Coral wise, my original plan was to keep a lot of seagrass bed based corals, which i would assume would be mushrooms, maybe small grouping of lps but apparently hard corals grow there as well. SeaGrass bed info Check the habitat with in a habitat section. I definitely want to have a go at keeping some of the easier seagrass like shoal and star grasses. I want the left side to be more reef and it kind of fade into the seagrass on the right. Other stocking suggestions would be appreciated. I like functional fish and critters, and wouldn't mind some natural algae eaters in the mix. I figured max stock would be 5 small fish for a 33G +roughly 14g fuge/sump. from my desk Link to comment
land_lubber Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 Your not keeping the heater in the main display are you? Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 This is looking quite delicious. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 no, no i am not. haha. I haven't gotten a larger heater yet, and the last few days between scaping and adding more sand, the sump+fuge and display have been separated for several hours at a time so i've been running 2x100w heaters, 1 in the display and 1 in the fuge. I also added another 12lbs of sand and am again waiting for the tank to clear. I added the sand to the far rear corner and more along the rear pane all the way to and behind the live rock to increase the depth in hopes of being able to plant some shoal grass behind the live rock section. When I finally get the sand depth and scaping how I like it I will post up a clean FTS..haha. Link to comment
seagul Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 im diggin the seagras idea. ill be watchin! haha hurry up with the pics already :-P Link to comment
FUGU!!! Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Sweet setup! I like the "dirty" lagoon style your going to pull off, it should look great with seagrass and macro algeas. tagging along... Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 I have a question, I have two API master freshwater test kits, which include NH3, NO2, NO3, GH(FW only), KH, high range PH, and FW PH(around 7.0). (I bought one and received one for free) from my planted tank days. I went to the LFS today and saw that the individual API kits they sell for a lot of the different parameters can be used for both FW/SW. i went home and gave them a go but the only one that seems to be giving me an issue is the ammonia test, one of the reagents, when added, precipitates out something in the saltwater into a white cloud and turns the whole test milky. I am a few days into my cycle now and have no detectable nitrates or nitrites but have the ammonia test, although milky ie. non-see through, is showing up a light green ie. around 0.25-0.5ppm pf ammonia which should be about right(although abit high imho for having 3 month old cured liverock). Does anyone else's ammonia test kit precipitates when performing a test? Link to comment
colberag Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 My API ammonia test kit precipitates as well when testing saltwater. I think (and hope) this is normal because the readings I get are the same as my LFS that uses a different kit. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 ok, cause it never did that in in my FW experience, so i wasn't sure if it was just not compatible or not. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Should I go by the rule of thumb of 5w of heater per gallon or would a 200w be enough for my system. 33g+15+10 (rough, realistically looking at about 50gallons I'd imagine). using the rough i need a 300w heater @ 5w/gallon. thoughts? house tempt is roughly 61f ish during the night and the heater runs when we are home from around 3pm-8pm to keep us at a toasty 68F. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 6, 2008 Author Share Posted January 6, 2008 Stocking ideas anyone. I have many months to go, but I figured I start thinking ahead. Any idea of the types of fish found in grass beds? I know cardinal fish are, thus why I am leaning towards some PJ cardinals. Anything else? Also, is there a dwarf angel anyone can recommend for this size tank. I realize its only 33g but it is a 4ft tank, so there is more lateral swimming space. I love flame angels cause they are so bright, and would like one as a centerpiece fish, but they don't really fit the theme now do they? edit: the Southern Pygmy Leatherjacket, native Australian seagrass beds and estuaries. Dunno if it is available in the aquarium trade. All shades from bright green to beige. roughly 9cm fully grown. the blue spotted golbie as well sea horses pipefish http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida...ish.html#fishes Under the Vertebrates listing is a long long list of fish associated with seagrass beds. http://www.sms.si.edu/IRLspec/Seagrass_Habitat.htm Dragonet research, apparently they may indeed have natural habitat in or near seagrass beds/lagoons/mangroves and not just found on the reef. http://animals.jrank.org/pages/2200/Dragon...ionymoidei.html http://www.downbelow.co.uk/dragonets.html http://www.dive-the-world.com/creatures-mandarinfish.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/mandarins.htm http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=7981 http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/S/Synchiropus_ocellatus.asp http://www.answers.com/topic/mandarinfish?cat=technology http://fishbase.sinica.edu.tw/summary/Spec...ary.php?id=7802 best manderin link i've seen. http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/synchi...s_series_1.html from these links its safe to say a scooter blenny may indeed be found in the type of biotope i am attempting to create, soft sandy/muddy bottom, lots of coral rubble, in a lagoon setting, with algae and seagrass with seagrass being the largest stretch in terms of authenticity. Now, most likely the mandarin is found on a reef in coral. i haven't decided which type i want to keep, i thought I was dead set on the scooter blenny, but the mandarins are so damn cute. bed time Link to comment
land_lubber Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I wanted to get a couple of Pipefish but I read that they are for experts. If you want a Dwarf Angel what about a Coral Beauty? Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 pipe fish and sea horses might have been an excellent tank by themselves, but i really am set on a dragonet of some type and am willing to work and breed and grow what i need to keep one. I'd like some type of seagrass fish though as a possible show piece, who actually swims normally compared to scooting. PJ cardinals, although beautiful and fit the biotope/lagoon theme, are not quite active enough for show worthiness, although are my strongest lead so far. Oh and i ordered 2lbs of garf grunge to seed my fuge (they threw in some for free as well). I am still looking to pick up some more liverock, and am looking to find some locally if possible. Just a piece here or there or different kinds from different tanks to create diversity. I wish it was cheap as I'd like to get a piece from TBS just covered in life for my fuge and maybe some of that Haitian LR from drs. foster smith. I will definetly be ordering some Marcorocks rock rubble and probably a 25lb or 50lb box for this and to start curing for my BB 40 breeder in the near future but have some other things i need/want/have to get first for this and in life. Link to comment
Greenstar Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Thought on LPS, I know a number of the closed brain species live in lagoon as well as some other as I believe claustera. Also fox corals and goniporas Link to comment
Noonan Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 That would be an awesome tank for seahorses. Load it up with some nice corals, macro-algae, and you can even keep a couple tank mates... and a mandarin is a good runner up! Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 you guys are right, i think they would make good tank mates, but i do not want to keep other pod munchers with the dragonet for the sake of it only being a 33g. If it was a huge tank I'd go for it. Link to comment
BlackSumbel Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Purchase CB seahorses or pipefish. THey will usually be trained to eat frozen foods (usually mysis). Target feed multiple times, daily, and they'll only rarely browse on the pods. Otherwise, consider picking up orders of "snick'n'shrimp" from Seawater express. They're small shrimp bred to feed to seahorses, pipes, and dragonets. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 Is it good that I have a ton of pods already all over the glass? I can see some small hair algae starting to form on some of the rock (looks like fuzz, tiny little hair, some of it greenish). The dirtier the better on this one. I think I'll do WC at the end of this week. Link to comment
QN5Reefer Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 the conduit light hanger with plastic end cap i found at HD. I still haven't filed the end and the cap isn't fully inserted in the pic. Nice, I need to hang my TEK fixture like that. Did you get the conduit light hanger in the light section at HD? Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 the conduit is just plain 3/4in conduit from the HD in the electrical section. I Recommend painting it if you will have a lot of splashing as I am sure it will rust. I bent it myself with a conduit bender(which i returned for a refund ). The conduit came in 10ft sections for roughly 4 dollars a piece. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 12, 2008 Author Share Posted January 12, 2008 Update: the ammonia has dropped to zero. It also looks like i got a free snail in with the garf grunge i ordered last week. I added a filter sock as well to the drain and the tank is crystal clear. Link to comment
sayn3ver Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Update: went to LFS. Bought 3 "turbo snails" for 5 bucks. Ended up being the Astraea snails who cannot right themselves and I already noticed one of them is a quote unquote "dee dee dee" if you know what I mean. I found another free cerith snail in my fuge from the grunge. total CUC so far is 3 astreas and 2 cerith snails. I also have a bunch of smaller snails that came with the rock, very small. Too small to be ID'd but they are there as they were all on the side of the trashcan when I moved the LR into he tank originally, and made sure to transfer them. I want to get a bunch more cerith's and wait another few weeks before adding any nassarius snails as i have no fish and the sand is still very clean and white, so very little detritus and obviously no leftovers to eat (i do drop a shrimp pellet in from time to time to add some fuel to the fire so to speak. Link to comment
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