violinist Posted February 2, 2010 Author Share Posted February 2, 2010 nice. what kind of a camera did you use for that? you are going to get some really great pictures when you get corals in there. My trusty 5D. Link to comment
Markushka Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Very nice, I always find taking pics of my hex hard with the very annoying seams, and then there's the tendency to get refraction. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yay, MP10 arrived! Link to comment
Arkayology Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yay, MP10 arrived! You really got one for your 20 hex? Link to comment
violinist Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yep, and as of twenty minutes ago I no longer have to see the big ass k1 and the power cord connected to it. :) If you are thinking of getting one go to that saltwatercritters.com site and when you checkout enter coupon code MP10SPECIAL. It's 175 bucks shipped. Ordered it on Sunday, got it today. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Picked up a CUC this evening and they are cleaning the glass. I'm going to have to dial down the light to 7 hours or so for a while. I went from a barely noticeable patch of green algae yesterday which I mag float'd off to pea soup green walls by tonight. Got about half a dozen nas, half a dozen margarita and a couple turbos. Also pulled a couple of the too-damn-big bulldozer turbos from my 20L and put them in the hex as well as the one gigantic hermit. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Last night I replaced the 50w stealth heater in the hex with an Aqueon 100w heater. I'd been worried that the Stealth might be causing my temp issues and also worried it might catastrophically fail based on some of the experiences people have posted with this brand. I saw the new Aqueon heater kick on once so I felt confident it would work. This morning my tank temp was 72.1. There is a huge scorch mark on the inside of the heater. Piece of ####. Link to comment
davenia7 Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I have a 5gal. hex with a baby clown. I loved it at first... but now, coralline is covering all 6 sides and is impossible to get off the acrylic tank. The clown is getting a bio-cube 8 soon and the 5 hex is going to become a betta tank again. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 I have a 5gal. hex with a baby clown. I loved it at first... but now, coralline is covering all 6 sides and is impossible to get off the acrylic tank. The clown is getting a bio-cube 8 soon and the 5 hex is going to become a betta tank again. I don't love the tank, but it's been here for ages and the look of it is 'wife approved', so you work with what's at hand Dropped a fluval heater in. I don't see electricity arcing inside it, so things are off to a better start than last time... Tank looks like the jolly green giant took a piss in it, but at least the water parameters are all good. Link to comment
mdannyg Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Got about half a dozen nas, half a dozen margarita and a couple turbos. Also pulled a couple of the too-damn-big bulldozer turbos from my 20L and put them in the hex as well as the one gigantic hermit. is it ok to add nassarius snails when you don't have fish yet since they aren't algae eaters? i'm getting my cuc tomorrow and have been wondering this. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Depends what else is in your tank. They eat detritus too, so junk decaying off your LR and falling on the sand might be good munchies for them depending what it is. Or you could just wait and add some later. In my experience they are overrated. They are the most worthless members of the CUC in my other tank as they pretty much stay buried until I feed the fish. They don't churn the sand and the crabs eat up all the litter on the sandbed. They just lay around sleeping until it's dinner time. Sort of like my dogs heheh. That's just my experience, which is limited. Link to comment
mdannyg Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 thanks for the tips! i'll probably hold off for a while on those guys. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 6, 2010 Author Share Posted February 6, 2010 Nothing to see here but green film algae, move along... Link to comment
amnesiak Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 (a) I think this is totally going to turn into a great mixed reef (too many lighting level options!) ( I am jealous of your 5D-full-framedness. edit: © apparently trying to put b in parenthesis is some sort of smiley. edit2: (d) apparently putting c in parenthesis means I copyrighted this post. Link to comment
SpringFever Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 (a) I think this is totally going to turn into a great mixed reef (too many lighting level options!)( I am jealous of your 5D-full-framedness. edit: © apparently trying to put b in parenthesis is some sort of smiley. edit2: (d) apparently putting c in parenthesis means I copyrighted this post. You can't do anything right! Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 What are you using for filtration, etc.? I didn't see mention of a sump, or HOB filter, etc.? Just curious. Looks like this could turn out really cool, once you get it populated. Link to comment
mad28gnc Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Depends what else is in your tank. They eat detritus too, so junk decaying off your LR and falling on the sand might be good munchies for them depending what it is. Or you could just wait and add some later. In my experience they are overrated. They are the most worthless members of the CUC in my other tank as they pretty much stay buried until I feed the fish. They don't churn the sand and the crabs eat up all the litter on the sandbed. They just lay around sleeping until it's dinner time. Sort of like my dogs heheh. That's just my experience, which is limited. i agree they are not worth the money they cost mine come out at feeding time and steel food from my corals and pi** them off. i even had one try to eat my sexy shrimp. poor shrimp was cornered in a lil cave and the nass was climbing on him trying to eat the little guy by the way the hex is looking great so far. cant wait to see it with corals Link to comment
violinist Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Thanks for all the comments! Right now I have my old ac30 HOB on the tank with floss and carbon in it. I will put chaeto in it eventually. So I did some research as to my mystery algae problem (green algae bloom when the tank has nothing but dry rock in it and a few pieces of LR from my 20L). Found some posts about this marco rock being loaded with phosphates. People were saying to let the rock bathe in a strong vinegar solution or muriatic acid solution to eat away the outer layer of the rock which is where the phosphates are bound. I'm not going to do this, I have nothing but time with this tank so it can just burn itself out on its own. But fair warning for anyone else who goes down this road - this rock needs to be cured before use... It seems to be getting a little better by the day, but if it starts looking like pea soup again towards the end of the light cycle today I'll post a picture of it in all its ugly glory. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 Change out the carbon every week or so and it should take care of it Link to comment
violinist Posted February 7, 2010 Author Share Posted February 7, 2010 Yep, been putting fresh carbon in when I do a WC. Added half a dozen more snails. LFS down the street also had a chocolate chip star. He's acclimating now and can graze on algae for the next couple weeks till I feed him to the harlequin in the other tank. Link to comment
Markushka Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 On the other hand, this way you'll know when the cycle's over and no phoshpates/nitrates to boot. wont even need to use the test kit. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Shouldn't be a cycle. Nothing on the rock to die off, and live rock from a reef twenty feet away transferred in to seed the dead rock. I added that damsel after a couple days and as of this morning I had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrate around 1 or so (little darker than the 0 color, nowhere near the 5 color). Screwy thing is that phosphates also tested 0... I can only assume that's because the algae is burning it up. Here's a pic of Swamp Thing. Believe it or not, this is an improvement... Considering going lights out on the tank for a day or two. Link to comment
Markushka Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 Lol, looks nice, back in the day when I first got my hex (well actually my parents got it for me) we set it up as a freshwater under a skylight and the water was like pea soup. I was eight and my parents didn't know much about keeping fish, thought it'd look good there. but anyway, keep the lights on, let the algae burn up all the phosphates, the when it starts to clear up, your rocks have finished leeching the phosphates. Link to comment
violinist Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 You're right, I should just stick with the let-it-burn plan. Probably just end up prolonging the problem if I go lights out anyway. Link to comment
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