SaNChEz's First Pico (First Salt Too!)

[sanchez]

Distilled if you have to, but RO/DI is best. Yeah I would by the liquid tests for the Trates and Trites you will have a better time detecting when you cylce has started and has ended

 

I was planning on it, gotta be precise! I'm going to get a liquid ammonia test too. And thanks for the tip about RO/DI I'll stick with that.

 

Oh, and what temps am I looking at maintaining? I read 78-80.. ambient in my office the water is 72.9 now, maybe when I bring it up to where it's supposed to be my hitchhikers will start coming out

[jnam]

That and you will probably see more evaporation as the temp comes up, with these little tanks an ATO is a must if you are going to be leaving it for any period of time unattended. I had to manual top off at least 2cups of water everyday to maintain salinity.

 

I was planning on it, gotta be precise! I'm going to get a liquid ammonia test too. And thanks for the tip about RO/DI I'll stick with that.

 

Oh, and what temps am I looking at maintaining? I read 78-80.. ambient in my office the water is 72.9 now, maybe when I bring it up to where it's supposed to be my hitchhikers will start coming out

[sanchez]

That and you will probably see more evaporation as the temp comes up, with these little tanks an ATO is a must if you are going to be leaving it for any period of time unattended. I had to manual top off at least 2cups of water everyday to maintain salinity.

 

I'm going to do the battery powered air pump method most likely. We'll see how much comes off of the tank this weekend.

 

One more quick question, I don't have a bucket to pre-heat the water I have for water changes since I'm at work, any suggestions?

[sanchez]

Just did a test before I go home for the weekend:

 

Nitrate - ~20PPM

Nitrite - 0PPM

pH - 8.3(ish)

Ammonia - Unknown, no test kit until Monday

Salinity, dunno refractometer isn't here yet but I've been adding fresh water to my line that I measured with the mixed water I got from the LFS.

 

The cycle is beginning! Hopefully when I get back on Monday all of my rocks will be purple! I doubt it, but we'll see what happens.

[Mr. Microscope]

I have the same kind of setup at work. An ATO is a must. I use the 1L hampster bottle method. I find that it is barely enough for the weekend. During the winter, I find a loss of 1.5L+! Before I leave on Friday I make sure the ATO is full and sometimes add more water to allow for evaporation. Just a cm of water can mean the difference between 1.025 and nearly 1.028!

 

As for HH, just keep your eyes pealed. My tank is more than 3 months old and I'm still seeing new ones once in a while. The other day, a blue poly came out of the substrate. I don't have any in the tank. I have no idea where it came from. I have my lights on a schedule that puts them on at 5am and off at 430pm. That way I get to see my tank in the dark for a short period of time before I leave work. Some creatures, like amphipods, only come out at night. An added benefit to this time schedule is that the tank is in night mode when I do upkeep at the end of the work day such as water changes. It seems less harsh to the life, especially the photosynthetic life IMO.

[Stephensx04]

I'm going to do the battery powered air pump method most likely. We'll see how much comes off of the tank this weekend.

 

One more quick question, I don't have a bucket to pre-heat the water I have for water changes since I'm at work, any suggestions?

 

Just have the water for your wc at room temp. That little bit wont make that big a difference. I do 1 gallon cahnges on my 4 gallon tank and just have the wc water at room temp.

[sanchez]

I have the same kind of setup at work. An ATO is a must. I use the 1L hampster bottle method. I find that it is barely enough for the weekend. During the winter, I find a loss of 1.5L+! Before I leave on Friday I make sure the ATO is full and sometimes add more water to allow for evaporation. Just a cm of water can mean the difference between 1.025 and nearly 1.028!

 

How do I go about making the hamster bottle? Is it just a normal hamster bottle that's above tank water level with a tube going in? Please advise on this, as I have a perfect spot to hang it

 

Just have the water for your wc at room temp. That little bit wont make that big a difference. I do 1 gallon cahnges on my 4 gallon tank and just have the wc water at room temp.

 

Sounds good, thanks for the info.

 

So I got my AC70 up and running with heater and all, but it's super noisy. It's like the tube doesn't create a seal in the bottom where the impeller is, and the water is really bubbly as well. I guess it's good for aeration, but it makes the tank a little cloudy. I don't mind either of these things, but on the other AC70 mods I've seen, this doesn't appear to be happening. Any input on that?

 

Thanks guys.

[Stephensx04]

Sounds like your sucking air in the tube. It should be completely under water in the ac70. Check your tube for any small air holes.

[sanchez]

Sounds like your sucking air in the tube. It should be completely under water in the ac70. Check your tube for any small air holes.

 

The tube doesn't like... sit flush on the bottom by the impeller. If I push it down with my thumb it helps a little bit, but same thing. Also, the top portion of the U tube is like halfway filled with water cause of the low flow setting, I think. Should it be completely filled?

 

Edit: Sort of fixed it, just increased the flow a bit and it's a lot better.

[sanchez]

Pictures!!!!

[Artie1a]

The tube doesn't like... sit flush on the bottom by the impeller. If I push it down with my thumb it helps a little bit, but same thing. Also, the top portion of the U tube is like halfway filled with water cause of the low flow setting, I think. Should it be completely filled?

 

Edit: Sort of fixed it, just increased the flow a bit and it's a lot better.

 

Open it up all the way until all the air is out of the tube, then cut the flow back to where you want it once all the air is out.

[sanchez]

Open it up all the way until all the air is out of the tube, then cut the flow back to where you want it once all the air is out.

 

That's what I ended up doing.

[Stephensx04]

Did that fix it?

[sanchez]

Did that fix it?

 

For the most part, it's still a tad bubbly/noisy but nothing that I can't deal with.

[.Newman.]

give it a nother week. it will quiet down

 

what CUC members did you get?

[sanchez]

give it a nother week. it will quiet down

 

what CUC members did you get?

 

I got 1 bumble bee snail, 1 Cerith and 1 which I think is a Banded Trochus or an Astrea, but I can't remember exactly. Also, a teeny tiny hermit crab.

[jnam]

Lookin good, I use a 1 gallon milk jug for my ATO water at room temp. With the air powered version of the ATO the amount of water entering the tanks is so small over such long periods of time temp isnt an issue at all. CUC sounds good to. The AC70 is sometimes noisy on the bottom of it is a little wierd shaped plastic thing it is used to level out the AC70 try twisting it to different positions see if that helps. (it all but silenced my AC50 when I found it).

[sanchez]

Lookin good, I use a 1 gallon milk jug for my ATO water at room temp. With the air powered version of the ATO the amount of water entering the tanks is so small over such long periods of time temp isnt an issue at all. CUC sounds good to. The AC70 is sometimes noisy on the bottom of it is a little wierd shaped plastic thing it is used to level out the AC70 try twisting it to different positions see if that helps. (it all but silenced my AC50 when I found it).

 

Yeah I made sure it was level before I put any water in or turned it on with the little plastic thingy. It's just the impeller hitting air pockets that I hear, sounds like a squishing maybe once every 5 seconds or so. it's not rhythmic so it's not bad haha. I think I'm going to make the hamster bottle ATO, got some more insight from Mr. Microscope, and it sounds like a cheap, sound device.

 

Test params:

Ammonia - 0

Nitrate - 10ppm

Nitrite - 0ppm

pH - 8.3-8.4

Temp - 77.6

Salinity, dunno no refractometer yet... Shipping is taking forever.

[sanchez]

Okay, two things... I was just looking into the tank and noticed something HAULING ASS from one rock to the other, didn't really catch what it was, looked like some type of invert maybe?

 

Also, there's a spot on one of my rocks, a purple spot and it keeps producing this hair like thing about 2 inches long. I've pulled it out twice today, but it keeps reproducing it, any ideas as to what that is, and is it bad?

 

 

Edit: Just saw that little thing again, looks like a worm of some kind. It's segmented, clear and round. Very small maybe 2mm long. It had some antennae that were feeling around. Didn't look like the images of Copepods I've seen though, was more round and sleek. Kinda looked like a tube lol. Hitchhiker maybe?

 

they seem to be popping out of the rocks around this white mass, dunno what it is but it's soft to the touch (with tweezers)

Some kind of sponge maybe?

[sanchez]

Params this morning:

 

Ammonia - 0ppm

Nitrate - 5ppm

Nitrite - 0ppm

pH - 8.4

Temp - 77.4

Salinity - No refractometer yet.. should be here this week sometime though.

 

CUC seems to be doing fine today, hermit crab won't stop eating. Snails are all just relaxing. 1/2lb chaeto going into my fuge tomorrow so next week I'll add my first coral!! I'm going to build the gerbil top off unit, I lost about 3mm overnight with the new filter/heater combo. I think the weekend would be disastrous

[.Newman.]

do you have a glass cover for the tank yet? that will help too..

[sanchez]

do you have a glass cover for the tank yet? that will help too..

 

No cover as of now, haven't been able to find one. Was going to have one made but I dunno what the price would be.

[.Newman.]

lol you're not gonna "find" one you need to get it custom cut. $14 in some glass shops, you should get one

[sanchez]

lol you're not gonna "find" one you need to get it custom cut. $14 in some glass shops, you should get one

 

I'll look into it I didn't know if anyone had made one, that's what I meant by find one lol.

[sanchez]

I need my freakin refractometer..! My hermit died I saw the shell sitting on the ground with something white sticking out of it, moved it with tweezers, and out came the hermit. It looked like something had eaten it's body though, all that came out was the legs and claws with like a filmy white body attached.

 

Did it molt and it's just hiding in it's shell? Or did it die...

 

Edit!!!

 

LMAO, just kidding... I just looked again and he's happily eating algae, count one molt down for the hermit!