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Tinkering (leds installed! with pics)


tinkerer

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pray those amphipods die.....

 

i have not seen any yet today, the little pill bug is still sifting through the sand, but that is it. the little overhang rock in the lower right seems to have all the creatures in it and the coraline on that rock seems to be going strange. it has developed a clear gel in spots that looks to be too big to be egg sacks and some of the purple coraline is giving way to a more pink variety. the rock in the middle in the sand looks great, still has red, pruple and pink on it. a little over 24hrs in and ammonia is up to 1ppm, nitrite is .25ppm, and nitrate is 5ppm. SG is holding steady at 1.025. the gel on the rock concerns me, but like all of this i am not going to freak out about it and start adding crap or trying to over analyze things. it is what it is, and it will get better.

 

anyone have an idea on how long it should take 3lbs of LR to seed coraline to now 25lbs of dry rock?

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i have not seen any yet today, the little pill bug is still sifting through the sand, but that is it. the little overhang rock in the lower right seems to have all the creatures in it and the coraline on that rock seems to be going strange. it has developed a clear gel in spots that looks to be too big to be egg sacks and some of the purple coraline is giving way to a more pink variety. the rock in the middle in the sand looks great, still has red, pruple and pink on it. a little over 24hrs in and ammonia is up to 1ppm, nitrite is .25ppm, and nitrate is 5ppm. SG is holding steady at 1.025. the gel on the rock concerns me, but like all of this i am not going to freak out about it and start adding crap or trying to over analyze things. it is what it is, and it will get better.

 

anyone have an idea on how long it should take 3lbs of LR to seed coraline to now 25lbs of dry rock?

 

That "gel" might be sponge.

 

Oh, and as far as the coralline. It could take a good bit of time. Especially the pink and purple. My tank's been up since June and I have a few spots on my back wall that are green and my base rock has turned a darker color but not much pink or purple on the base rock yet. My understanding is that each person's tank will be different.

 

Good luck!

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kat, you will be happy to know i am starting to see dead floating amphipods getting kicked around in the circulation.

 

redstang thanks for the reply. here is for hoping i find a sponge or three.

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well, well, well, the pill bug now seems to have croaked. sigh, so much for yesterdays life bloom, today is all death. at least it is all building towards something. just not convinced that any of the fan worm tubes will produce anything if the die off is this rough. i have a couple nice cave spots i want to end up sticking a couple fan worms.

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well, well, well, the pill bug now seems to have croaked. sigh, so much for yesterdays life bloom, today is all death. at least it is all building towards something. just not convinced that any of the fan worm tubes will produce anything if the die off is this rough. i have a couple nice cave spots i want to end up sticking a couple fan worms.

 

I had a single rock that ended up having a ton of feather dusters. It's surprising how much can pull through the cycle.

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ammonia is dropping down as of this morning it was .25, no2 is up a bit, no3 is down a bit. glad to see the rock responding. the arch piece has a couple really nice big holes that go back a good 3-4 inches. ultimately i want to get a larger feather duster to put into one or both of the holes. we'll see when we get to that point what can be done with all the holes in this stuff.

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tonight's testing: ammonia .5, nitrite .5, nitrate 10. saw a feather duster stick its head out this afternoon as well, even got to see him grab one of the floating amphipods. going to go to once a day testing from here on out, just wanted to watch the cycle start out with every twelve hour testing. now that i know what my base is i should be able to get a good feeling once a day. since there are 400 threads asking if their cycle is done i think i will avoid my own and just stick to testing. outside of the bacteria starters has anyone had good luck with any of the coraline starters like purpleup? it just looks like trace minerals to me, shouldn't my red sea coral pro salt be providing all the calcium and magnesium and whatever i need?

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tonight's testing: ammonia .5, nitrite .5, nitrate 10. saw a feather duster stick its head out this afternoon as well, even got to see him grab one of the floating amphipods. going to go to once a day testing from here on out, just wanted to watch the cycle start out with every twelve hour testing. now that i know what my base is i should be able to get a good feeling once a day. since there are 400 threads asking if their cycle is done i think i will avoid my own and just stick to testing. outside of the bacteria starters has anyone had good luck with any of the coraline starters like purpleup? it just looks like trace minerals to me, shouldn't my red sea coral pro salt be providing all the calcium and magnesium and whatever i need?

 

This is my own personal opinion. Don't use any coralline starters. Let the coralline on your LR seed everything else naturally. Your water changes should provide plenty of minerals. It may take a little longer, or a lot, but I'm doing my best to adhere to the "nothing good happens fast" philosophy.

 

The temptation is there as my base rock has certainly turned darker in color but little pink/purple coralline. But I know it will come with time.

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That was my feeling also, I just wanted to ask. The only thing that happens quickly in a nano is death. I read that somewhere and I have it written on my param test notebook cover.

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ammonia still dropping out, down to .25 today. nitrite and nitrate are spiking at 5ppm and 20ppm respectively. little feather duster seems to have grabbed a few things today, i cannot see what the heck it is though. glad to see him still out there.

 

EDIT: found an even bigger feather duster tonight on the same rock. the new one has a tube a little over one inch and a head that is a little less than half an inch across. the new one is big enough that i can see little pink spots on the fan. i am a geek, i stare at my "dead" tank for an hour a day just to examine the scape and look for movement. sorry for calling out your noob shirt kat. like you said at some point, we are all geeks.

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wondering when you guys (and gal, kat) when did you add chaeto to you tank? i know that you do not want to do it to early, but i am trying to think ahead so i can plan out when to get a light for chamber two, and start hawking for peoples clippings. also, i had seen a post about a second ammonia spike and was wondering if anyone could expand on it. should i wait to see a second ammonia spike or now that my nitrite and nitrate is spiking should i be thinking about removing some of the nitrate with cheato? how high should i expect or allow the nitrate to get?

 

EDIT: oh, yeah... BTW, redstang and kat, you guys are the best! thanks for all your advice.

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everything about the same today. waiting to see a drop in the nitrites and then the nitrates, ammonia still holding at .25ppm. i already do not want to think about the cost of this thing, and so far i am doing well, not sure how that will work out once i start stocking. for now i spend my time looking and dreaming and reminding myself that only death comes quickly.

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everything about the same today. waiting to see a drop in the nitrites and then the nitrates, ammonia still holding at .25ppm. i already do not want to think about the cost of this thing, and so far i am doing well, not sure how that will work out once i start stocking. for now i spend my time looking and dreaming and reminding myself that only death comes quickly.

 

Remember that you may not see a drop in nitrate. Once ammonia and nitrite were zero for a few days I did a 50% water change, added a CUC(small to start with), and started running chemipure and purigen. Also, if you don't have much algae remember to feed the CUC a little bit. As for how high the nitrate can get I have no idea but imagine it'll very from tank to tank. Remember to not run your lights too much during the cycle or you may get algae sooner than what you're ready for. Limit to a couple hours a day at most.

 

We enjoyed watching a dead tank as well just to see what was really alive. It got even more fun with the CUC and that tided us over for about a month.

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ammonia has dropped to 0 as of tonight, hell yeah! nitrite is holding steady while nitrate is still rising. got a diatom bloom going on as well today it appears. some of my LR is getting covered in brown and other pieces just have a couple spots. and much to my dismay kat i saw a pretty good size amphipod tonight.

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ammonia came up just a bit tonight to .25 but nitrite and nitrate are dropping, 2 and 10 respectively. diatoms are still going pretty strong it seems as another rock has fallen to their will. the feather dusters seem do be happy, one even has a new head coming out half way down the inch long tube. didn't know that could happen, and my digital cam pics suck. will try a pic with my slr in the next day or two to see if i can get it. i am already thinking of changing my rocks as i feel they are too clustered and want a little more space in there.

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alot of the tank threads look to just be about the stuff we have bought and how primo it is. i hope that this thread will chronicle my journey in a way that will be helpful to others looking to see how this all goes. i know i had read as much as i think i could, and i feel comfortable. i am not sure (by reading some n00b threads) that everyone is as comfortable. hopefully the "blog" style will appeal to someone who is a month or two behind me. one day i hope to be as knowledgeable as others on this site so that i may impart what i have learned through my time in this hobby. until that day i will simply tell the tale of my journey. to those i have learned from, weather you knew it or not, thank you.

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ammonia down to 0 again today. nitrite dropping ever lower, down to .5 today. and nitrate came up just a bit to 20. every thing else seems to be holding steady. the diatom bloom does not seem to have expanded much since yesterday, wouldn't mind trowing in a snail or two in the next week to eat some of those damn things. i have not seen any real algae bloom yet, so at least i got one thing going for me right now.

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so, i have visited a couple more shops to look around and browse. for any MN reefers you may care, or you may have your place already. last week was ocean devotion, a nice store with a decent selection and everything seems lively. problem is it is 50 minutes from my house, DOH! this morning i google salt water MN one more time and find discovery aquatics, and it is 15minutes away. hell yeah! this store just went through an ownership change and the new owner was in there grouting tile for the new floor. he was more than helpful, not pushy and explained the what all was going on since he bought the place a couple weeks ago. i think i have found "my place". half his tanks were being redone and the other half were lightly stocked, but he had a giant tub with CUC members. i know i should have waited, but i got 2 dwarf ceriths, a nerite, and a super tongan nasarius. after an extended aclimation both of the ceriths are eating the hell outta my diatoms, the tongan did an entire tank lap and buried himself save the tube, and the nerite is cruising the high rock. by the way, ammonia and nitrite are both 0 tonight and nitrate is 15. probably should have waited, but i got caught up in the moment. oh, and i will be doing my first water change tomorrow.

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Hey Tinkerer good to see another MN nano-reefer. I highly recommend doing a cuc from reef cleaners when your tank really gets up and running.

 

PM when your ready for some chaeto and I will hook you up. I am throwing it away all the time. I will also give you kenya tree, xenia, and some frog spawn when your ready if you'd like. I have a bc 29 and a bc 14 so if you ever have questions let me know.

 

My favorite lfs is Saltwater Empire in Bloomington. They have all the good stuff so to speak.

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Hey Tinkerer good to see another MN nano-reefer. I highly recommend doing a cuc from reef cleaners when your tank really gets up and running.

 

PM when your ready for some chaeto and I will hook you up. I am throwing it away all the time. I will also give you kenya tree, xenia, and some frog spawn when your ready if you'd like. I have a bc 29 and a bc 14 so if you ever have questions let me know.

 

My favorite lfs is Saltwater Empire in Bloomington. They have all the good stuff so to speak.

 

 

saltwater empire was one i had not hit on my list yet. i have been lurking for a bit to find more MN reefers. and thank you for the offer, i will hit you up once i think i can handle it all. i may start running chaeto in the next couple weeks if i find the time to get my light together and set up on my tank.

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the three that i can find...

 

work to be done.

310338_322790894402230_100000139671591_1432287_1786538642_n.jpg

 

nerite taking a break.

382917_322790921068894_100000139671591_1432288_1800202194_n.jpg

 

you can see in this one the small area he has already cleaned.

314963_322790877735565_100000139671591_1432286_2009008277_n.jpg

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