waterat4 Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 I will try to take some more tonight after Ive done the tests, the misses going out tonight so im allowed to play with the tank as much as I like! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Tonight's Readings: Temp: 77F Salinity: 1.025 Ammonia: 0.0 mg/l Nitrite: 0.8 mg/l Nitrate: 50.0 mg/l PH 8.3 It looks like the nitrites have just peaked and are on the way down but I will wait for Friday and Saturdays reading to confirm that, I have one small question for you experts out there, why are my nitrates dropping???? I haven't done any water changes yet only topping off approx 300 - 500ml per day. Has the anaerobic part of my tank (deep mud beds) kicked in far more rapidly that I expected, or do we all think this is a spurious result??? Im not complaining of course, I would just like to know the cause! Any advice/information would be appreciated! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Here are the pics I promised JBM, now im not great with the camera so you will have to forgive me, I also need some advice about one of the hitchhikers Im not sure what the polyp is next to the clam/filter feeder, ive never seen any thing like it before, it seems to have a mouth but the tentacles are very very thin like hairs and each one has a white sphere on the end of it I have watched it retract before as a normal zoanthid would but it doesn't seem to have the same arrangement of tentacles which seem to radiate a large distance proportionately to the main body size, it looks..... dare I say it like juvenile anemone, im sure im wrong about that but it would be nice to know what it is and if its safe? Sorry about the crappy camera work! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Right tonight's reading: Temp: 77F Salinity: 1.025 Ammonia: 0.0 mg/l Nitrites: 0.1 mg/l Nitrates: 8.0 mg/l PH: 8.5 all the readings look good so far, im still a little confused as to why the Nitrates should be dropping, as of yet I haven't done any water changes, is it the deep mud beds, the amount of live rock (12kg) im at a lost as to why its dropping so rapidly, im not complaining though! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Right today has been a good day, did my cycle tests which all came back good, so I went to the LFS and got my first bits of my CUC, got 5 red legged hermits, 5 turbo snails and one Porcelain Crab, that little guy is lovin it in the vortech flow, will see what my prams are next weekend and may get my first fish, think im going to get a green clown goby. Next thing goin into the tank I think is some chaetomorpha, need a bit of a nursery for my pods Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Been ill recently but im getting better now, so tonight I will be starting the extra lighting, not sure if this ok to put in this thread or if I will get my hands slapped, so tonight after I have tested I will take some pics of the new residents and what im up to with the lights. See you all later! Link to comment
pakora Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Looks good.... who am I kidding GLAD I DIDNT GET ONE OF THOSE! good luck with it though! (no offense it just looks really odd and we are allowed to have opinions) Mine probably looks ugly to you now :-P We can still be friends I hope! And I hope you get better bro. Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Thats harsh fella........but each to his own, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that stuff...... do you have any pic of ur tank so I can see it? What is it about the tank that you don't like so much, im open to critique! Found your tank, it looks good, just not my cup of tea, sorry Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 Here are some more photos as promised: not much to look at but I know but when I get the extra lights on, the live stock will get better! cheers Link to comment
hlfahemi Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Tank me likey. Taggin along mate. Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 cheers hlfahemi, I will be workin on the extra lighting this weekend so hopefully some better illumination in the tank! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 Tomorrow I get the first fish!!! only having two or three, a couple of green clown gobies and maybe a neon goby, do the green clown gobies have to both go in at the same time to stop squabbling or can I introduce one at a time at later intervals?? any way here is a FTS Link to comment
Troniman Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Great job! Looks nice Regards, Anthony. Link to comment
Lalani Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Clown gobies will most likely fight, whether you add them together or separate, so you might want to rethink that choice. Link to comment
waterat4 Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 ok .......so I'll add just one then! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Went to the LFS this weekend and got myself a single yellow goby he was the last one and seemed to be rather skittish as he was in a tank of far larger fish yellow tangs, a sail-fin tang and a few anthias all whizzing around, so I picked him up for about £5, he has gone into the tank and is settling in nicely, he was a bit scared at first but he has taken food today and is looking a little more confident, hopefully he will be perching on the rock work soon. So here are this weeks readings after a week of the CUC being in and a feed of the new fish: Temp: 76F Salinity: 1.023 Ammonia: 0.1 mg/l Nitrite: 0.1 mg/l Nitrate: 8.0 mg/l Ph: 8.3 KH: 200 mg/l Iron: 0.0 mg/l Po: 1.0 mg/l im at a loss to know where this is coming from, and my cause a problem when I increase the lighting, maybe its coming from the salt, instant ocean?? Ca: 550 mg/l I may do a quick water change mid week to keep on top of the nutrients! I have also been working on the extra lighting over the weekend, much to the disgruntlement of my better half! so when the brackets come mid week I will get them mounted in the tank and run them for the first time this weekend, after the last disaster with the extra lights I want to be there incase anything happens! EXTRA LIGHTING: Bent the left and right side heat sinks Place the led, mark and drill hole for wiring Thermal Adhesive Wire them up! Testing Placement of LED's on the front centre heat sink Stick and drill All three together Mark and score Glass Snap and sand glass At this point I had to edit how I was going to mount the glass, I was going to drill and screw into place, but I went through two pieces of glass trying that! even using a glass cutting bit, it was just too thin and any sort of pressure would shatter the glass, so I went to plan B, epoxy!!!! Glass mounted on the left and right side heat sinks lass mounted on the front centre heat sink Testing all four led's the front glass is cold enough to touch even after they have been on for 10 mins, the heat sinks really do their job very well. Now I know Im going to get told that this is probably a crap way to do it, im sure there are much better way of doing it, this is just my way so we'll see how they work in the tank when the brackets get mounted! let me know what you all think im sure I've missed something very basic and obvious! cheers Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Wow, nice diy job, that's going to look great. And good sign that the clown goby is eating already. Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 cheers, he was really very jumpy when I first put him in, my tank has a lot more movement then the tank at the LFS, I think its going to be about a week before he's bold enough to be out in the open on a regular basis. On the DIY thing I carn't take all the credit, alot of the work was done for me, the power supply way straight off ebay and I dropped onto a CCTV splitter on ebay to saved me having to make my own parallel circuit! the hardest bit was cutting the glass! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 when the yellow goby gets a bit braver I will get a photo of him! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 5, 2009 Author Share Posted March 5, 2009 Just to show you all how the extra lighting is getting on, the brackets came yesterday so I have been fixing them to the heat sinks and giving the lights a little test to make sure nothing silly happens like last time! This is how the lights will be suspended from the roof of the tank I will get a new shot of the tank over the weekend, lights are out now so you all wouldn't see very much! Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 Had a real disaster today with the extra lighting!! long story short the heat sinks were too hot for the rail system and it started to bend and melt it! this time i was watching so no harm done but it means its back to the drawing board for the extra lighting, I did get some pics while it was working so i can see how powerful the LED's are! Extra lights in situ Working FTS new resident "stewie" ......... don't ask it was my girl friends idea to call him that Im now working on Mark III for the extra lighting, I have found a way I can increase the size of the heat sinks but it means not having the lighting in the tank so I loose some of the esthetics of the tank but I also get all of the heat and the problems out of the tank too! I will get some pics of mark III up tomorrow after Ive been to the LFS Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Nice, looks much brighter now. Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 Thank you, I was contemplating giving up on the extra lighting and going with the stock but I've given it one last try and I think I've cracked it!! its a little ugly until I get a cowling made, but I seems to work just fine with all the heat out of the tank, looks like "Reef One" had already done the hard work for me! here are a few pics of Mark III It will all look a lot better once I have made the cover! Let me know what you all think Cheers Link to comment
waterat4 Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 NEW PICS! Stewie! FTS with latest version of lighting I have just found this little guy?? not sure what sort of Nudi it is any body got any ideas on an ID Cheers The closest thing I can find is this?? but it seems to originate from colder waters?? Janolus cristatus what do you all think? Link to comment
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