Degener8's BC29

[violinist]

So he's going out in his rowboat and grabbing some rock directly from the ocean? Just for your order? Smells like bull####. I hope you get your rock, but if not I hope you blast him good in the thread that already exists about him.

[Degener8]

Horray for CUC

 

OK John has once again over delivered.

I emailed him asking for his recommendations and ordered exactly what he said I should ..

 

Order was:

20 Dwarf Cerith

9 Florida Cerith

3 Large Nerite

3 Small - med Nerite

 

and i added in some Nassarius Vibex for my sand 5

 

OK so here is what i received:

 

Lets jsut say way over 20 Dwarf Cerith

9 Florida Cerith

3 Large Nerite

3 Small - med Nerite

6 Nassarius Vibex

 

So far the Nassarius vibex dove into the sand almost instantly when they hit the sand.

 

5/6 nerites seem to be moving well. One of the large ones has not even set out his foot yet.(just watching)

 

The 9 florida Cerith have not budged since i put them in. I have them all in one place so i can keep and eye on em. They may be slow starters. (as stated on reefcleaners.org they could go dormant for up to 3 days.. so just watching from here)

 

The dwarfs there is a mass of movement from that pile. Not sure if any were doa but there is way over 20 alive.

[couevas]

Nice CUC (That sounds a little dirty)

 

Should keep your tank nice and clean......

[Squeaky]

Pictures of the new aquascape and the CUC!!... I keep telling the snails that they better get busy and get on the clock Im paying them in good algae LOL

 

 

 

Yes there is algae

[gutterguy]

Im so jelous, i cant wait to order mine!!

[Squeaky]

Our gold spot goby keeps picking up the snails and moving them about the tank. It is rather comical to watch.

[Kataro]

wow I just ordered 45 snails yesterday and that look even more than mine!

[Squeaky]

New additions to the tank.... havent named them yet... and in hiding is the fire fish LOL

 

 

and a FTS

[Degener8]

I need to figure out how to set the K1 and MJ900 w/hydorflo up so that the MJ is not so out there..

 

I like the nano shooting across the back of the rock.. I may move it down some and the MJ above?

 

any ideas for that? I really like the flow diversity that the MJ gives above a standard pump and really would like to use it.

[Degener8]

Bleh.. just found our diamond goby DEAD in the tank.

 

Now i know we just added some fish etc but this is not what killed him.

 

upon closer inspection we found a cerith snail lodged in his gill. its a sad day but let it be a lesson for anyone with a sand sifting fish.. do not get the small cerith snails as this could happen to yours as well.

 

I am not sure if i will replace him. I am definately going to remove all excess shells from the tank tomorrow tho. If its not moving its going to the 10g frag tank.

 

RIP Gobbler we will miss ya!

 

[Degener8]

Found a clown fish this morning stuck in a hole in my rock work. Not sure if that is what killed him or if he just did not make the transfer. (he was alive when i went to sleep some 8 hours after introduction.)

 

I could not find the fire fish today either so not wanting him to polute the tank i tock it limb from limb and could not find him.

 

Thoroughly disgusted that i lost 3 fish in the night, on choked, on we will call stressed, and one MIA i just dropped the rock back in .. left the corals on the sand bed and did my 3 gal water change as per my sunday morning routine.

 

Then the firefish came to visit.. still dont know where he was hiding but he looks great no signs of stress or nothing. The other clown fish got a bit stressed with the tank rearrangement but he is up swimming looking ok for now as well.

[violinist]

Seems really unlikely a fish suffocated on a snail. Then the other bodies piling up... Tested your water before the wc?

[Squeaky]

Yeah we did test the water and everyting looks great,

Nitrate 0ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Alkalinity 180ppm

ph Level 8.4ppm

Ammonia 0.25ppm

 

SG 1.025

 

lvl's are good unless my test kits just suck ass

[violinist]

0.25 ammonia isn't a good level tho.

[Degener8]

Well new update is that the last clown fish that was stressed is dead as well. The missing firefish that came back is doing great tho.. active eating etc.

 

The ammonia being .25 well its a slight change on our test kit so its more like 0-.25 ppm possibly. (we error on the high side when taking readings)

 

None the less.. we made a mad dash to the LFS (hour one way mad dash) and picked up some new Kent Marine Reef Carbon and Chem pure, those are both in chamber 2 along with some cheato.

 

I reassembled some of the rocks and did another 3 gallon water change (2nd one today)

 

Fire fish in hiding again since the rescape and corals in new places starting to get happy again

.

I am still not sure what happened since everything was extremely happy when we went to bed (minus a dead goby)

[Squeaky]

This is the part I hate about starting a new reef tank... I really wish instead of going nano we had just gone back to a 55-75g tank

[violinist]

Nah, your tank's good just off to a rough start. What's the story with the LR? Just my 2 cents but I think you're asking a lot of your tank as far as supporting any significant bioload without the rest of the LR being in there. Got anyone local you can get a couple decent chunks off of?

[Squeaky]

Closest to get a couple good rocks from is 3 hours away. We have 30# of LR in there right now

[violinist]

Hmmm, guess I misunderstood the back story. Thought this was temp base rock tossed in while waiting on the LR to show up.

 

Well anyway, better luck going forward!

[Squeaky]

This is what was sent to us when we ordered from a company. This company is supposed to be sending more more that is not base rock. Degener8 explains it better.

[Degener8]

Your not to far off. This is definately base rock.. but its live base rock that has been in the tank since jsut one week after the live sand was place in. We are supposed to get more Premium rock if he ever gets it to us.. time and patience i hope prevail.

[Degener8]

OK so I really have no clue what happened over this weekend that caused a week+ resident to die and 2 clown fish to die.

 

I had this impression I guess.. or rather my own optomistic ideal that i did not need to use chem pure or carbon if i was diligent about water changes and makeing sure the sg and temp etc was very precise when i changed it.

 

So in rush of everything that went wrong this weekend i did end up going and getting a bag of Chempure and some kent reef carbon (as stated earlier.

 

Just 24 hours later This is my obeservations at this time.

 

1: Water appears cleaner.. Clearer

2: Corals have never been out quite as much as they have been today.. everything opened its largest since i owned them (with the exception of the plate coral which is doing quite poorly but did eat a very little today)

3: Firefish still alive and eating VERY well.

4: Algae regeneration through the day is almost none it seems.. Snails doing a great job as well i believe the filter additives are doing something for this as well.

 

Current plans....

 

1: Let stank sit for a week and watch over snail removing any non living shells (cerith is a very small shell but dont want dead bodies in there)

2: Still waiting on my rock from vendor (this is supposed to complete my order if its ever sent)

3: Complete aquascape. I have some reef epoxy and I'm not afraid to use it (well maybe a little but waiting to see about the rock first.)

 

Once this is complete I will likely begin to stock again. (possibly will get another diamond goby before this depends on tank and water parameters. I really like having a sifting goby.)

 

Thanks for reading and Happy Reefing.

[Dooderino]

Unfortuantely you are still in route down your bumpy road. I know you don't want to hear this but here goes. When you get your new rock you will have another cycle. Albeit smaller there will most likely be a cycle. Do some good hard research on the nitrogen cycle. Not just the simple cycle but an in depth look at how a tank truly cycles over time.

[Degener8]

Unfortuantely you are still in route down your bumpy road. I know you don't want to hear this but here goes. When you get your new rock you will have another cycle. Albeit smaller there will most likely be a cycle. Do some good hard research on the nitrogen cycle. Not just the simple cycle but an in depth look at how a tank truly cycles over time.

I know you have no way to know this.. so let me start by saying good advice..

 

now that being said I know about the cycle I went through it when i had tanks many years ago and went through it with this one.

 

Thus I have an tank setup to cycle the new rock in well away from this one. The new rock will not be added to this tank, until it has compeltely cycled and been stable for a while. I truely am not a new person to saltwater but I am to nano tanks. I generally did not keep a tank under 55 gal display and 30 gal sump in the past so this is a bit different on how to care for em. When you have 80 gallons to play with its much more forgiving than the smaller setups as I am sure your aware.

 

Again Ty it is solid advice, and if i missed the meaning of your post feel free to explain what i misinterpreted.

[Dooderino]

I know you have no way to know this.. so let me start by saying good advice..

 

now that being said I know about the cycle I went through it when i had tanks many years ago and went through it with this one.

 

Thus I have an tank setup to cycle the new rock in well away from this one. The new rock will not be added to this tank, until it has compeltely cycled and been stable for a while. I truely am not a new person to saltwater but I am to nano tanks. I generally did not keep a tank under 55 gal display and 30 gal sump in the past so this is a bit different on how to care for em. When you have 80 gallons to play with its much more forgiving than the smaller setups as I am sure your aware.

 

Again Ty it is solid advice, and if i missed the meaning of your post feel free to explain what i misinterpreted.

Sweet. I'm glad to hear that you are cycling your rock before adding it. Might I suggest lots of flow and a heater. If you were already, great!

 

I ran my BC29 for a couple of years and simply out grew the tank. This is what it looked like before I tore it down. Crappy picture but you get the point. It's a great little tank. It served me well.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your new rock in the tank.