PSYS Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Sounds like a faulty heater... I think 74F is a little cool if that's what the tank is at a constant. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 It's at 76.4F right now. I can handle that. Will obviously go up with the addition of the Dual Satellite fixture when I get it. Just did some water tests. Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 1.5ppm Nitrate: 15ppm pH: 7.8 (seems a little low to me?) Link to comment
becact Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 My pH started low, too. It will come up on its own, at least in my experience. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 11, 2009 Author Share Posted March 11, 2009 Did another set of tests: Carbonate Hardness: 11 dKH Phosphates: 0ppm Temperature is at 75F (the temperature of my apartment, actually). Also, no hitchhikers so far Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 my pH also started low, i left the lid off for a night to allow for some good gaseous exchange, next day pH was much better and has balanced off now. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 No lid on a picotope I'm thinking it'll rise a little bit as it gets settled in. Temperature is pretty much staying at what I have my apartment set to (78F when I'm not home, 74-76F when I'm here), so I need to figure out why my heater (when it's connected) isn't keeping a constant temperature. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Felt like doing some testing again before bed (and teaching the girlfriend in the process). Cycle is almost over! Results: Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 0.25ppm Nitrate: 15ppm Calcium: 400ppm Carbonate Hardness: 11 dKH Phophate: 0ppm pH: 7.8 Specific Gravity: 1.026 *I let the water evaporate down to where it's not climbing the lip of the light via capillary action. It was climbing out of the tank and onto my nightstand The specific gravity will go back down to 1.025 when I do my first water change. Temperature: 76.5F Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Aim your powerhead to the surface in the case of no lid, that will help with the pH i should think Link to comment
Sword Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Aim your powerhead to the surface in the case of no lid, that will help with the pH i should think I'll give that a shot Now, to decide on a CUC... All snails? Snails and Hermit Crabs? Other types of crabs? Link to comment
fallenlordz Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 My CUC consist of - 2 Turbo Snails, 1 Astrea Snail, 2 Nassarius Snails, 1 Red Legged Hermit. Nice looking rocks you got there! Link to comment
Sword Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks! I'm loving the "hairy" rock so far. The macro is starting to green up - looks like there's a little bit of Chaeto in it as well as a green counterpart to the red. The red macro on it isn't making much progress, but it's not completely dead either. The rock on the front right has a 1" diameter hole in it that makes a little cavern. I figure that'll be nice hiding area for some critter. Maybe a shrimp or crab. Luckily, I've seen no aiptasia or any other unwanted hitchhikers. No wanted hitchhikers either though Link to comment
Jamo Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Thanks! I'm loving the "hairy" rock so far. The macro is starting to green up - looks like there's a little bit of Chaeto in it as well as a green counterpart to the red. The red macro on it isn't making much progress, but it's not completely dead either. The rock on the front right has a 1" diameter hole in it that makes a little cavern. I figure that'll be nice hiding area for some critter. Maybe a shrimp or crab. Luckily, I've seen no aiptasia or any other unwanted hitchhikers. No wanted hitchhikers either though I've got a few aiptasia, its too small to extract atm though, soon as it gets a stalk i'm injecting it with lemon juice, i have about 4 of them that i can see. not good! I moved my power head to face the water today and got a .2 pH change for the better! For the clean up i would go with a few types of snails and two types of hermit, i don't find myself drawn to the bigger crabs incase the decide to go on a fish and coral rampage. I really want a conch, but i think they are much to large for my tank Link to comment
Sword Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 at the LFS today, I saw that they got a shipment of sexies in. OMG. They are so neat in person. My girlfriend fell in love with them. She even offered to split the cost of them with me Going to give it a month or so before I actually get any, but I'm glad to know they are available locally. Still trying to decide on a CUC. I want at least one Nass. Other than that, I'm undecided. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 Okay. Evaporation is something I'm already having issues with. Any good DIY ATO plans out there for small tanks like this? I'm not a big DIY'er but cost is definitely an issue for the next few months, especially as I start stocking the tank. Link to comment
becact Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html Link to comment
Sword Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 How can I keep that from being ugly and in the way? It's sitting on my night stand, so I don't have a cabinet to hide the reservoir in. Guess I might have to just do without for now unless I can rig it into my drawers some how. Also, seems like my tank cycled quickly. Maybe the rock was more cured than I thought. Less than a week and it was at 0ppm Ammonia and Nitrites. Nitrates were at about 10-15ppm. I think the macro on my rock was eating through that, too. Guess it's time to call in a CUC. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 New pictures coming shortly Uploading them to Flickr - hope they work. They are all from 3/8, I think. Nothing new to take pictures of yet, other than the rock is slightly more brown. Still looking for ideas for a CUC and a discrete way to have an ATO. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 17, 2009 Author Share Posted March 17, 2009 Click for full size... Link to comment
Sword Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 I hate how blue the stock light appears. Hopefully when I get the Current Dual Satellite, it'll be closer to white. I think after class today, I'm going to venture to my LFS and scope out their tanks for more ideas on how to stock this beast. Not even sure how I'm leaning. There are some corals in the tanks that I would love to have but I don't even know the name, much less how to care for them My girlfriend is dead-set on Sexy Shrimp, which is good. I just hope I don't kill them. I already want to start another tank just so I can do a shrimp-goby pair. I don't think there's many options for this in a 3G. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 Added the first part of my CUC. 2 Nassarius snails and 2 tiny blue legged hermit crabs. Pics to follow! Link to comment
Sword Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Tuesday I should be getting the rest of my CUC and my first frag(s)! Any feedback about things so far? Am I on the right track? Thanks for looking everyone. Hope your weekends are going well Link to comment
Sword Posted March 22, 2009 Author Share Posted March 22, 2009 Another update - got a NanoMag today. It is phenomenal. Super strong magnets, low profile, all around awesome. Very happy with this purchase. Link to comment
Sword Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Got my first "frag". It's not much of a frag - was a piece of rock with a few polyps of brilliantly colored green zoas on it. It was free, too. So hopefully it will do well. Added two Cerith snails and an Emerald Crab to my CUC. Will take pictures either today or tomorrow. Going to order the Dual Satellite light soon. Any of the local Orlando reefers know if there's anywhere around here that sells Chaeto? Haven't seen it anywhere yet. Saw my first hitchhikers a few days ago. A couple of reddish bristleworms were scurrying about. Also noticed three or four tiny featherdusters (I'm hoping they are - need to get a camera with better macro settings to get a shot for ID purposes). Link to comment
paulinnate Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Looking good so far, i'm enjoying following along so thanks for all the updates. Our CUC's sound about the same, i hope we both don't have too much for such a small tank. i read somewhere it should be 1 CUC per gallon and i have about 7 in my tank - mix of snails and crabs. They did an incredible job at cleaning my tank - in two days! now i just hope there is enough in there to keep everyone alive. Got my first "frag". It's not much of a frag - was a piece of rock with a few polyps of brilliantly colored green zoas on it. It was free, too. So hopefully it will do well. Added two Cerith snails and an Emerald Crab to my CUC. Will take pictures either today or tomorrow. Going to order the Dual Satellite light soon. Any of the local Orlando reefers know if there's anywhere around here that sells Chaeto? Haven't seen it anywhere yet. Saw my first hitchhikers a few days ago. A couple of reddish bristleworms were scurrying about. Also noticed three or four tiny featherdusters (I'm hoping they are - need to get a camera with better macro settings to get a shot for ID purposes). Link to comment
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