Jwilken02 Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 Leaving today for ATL anybody have any input on whether I need to put some pellets of food in the tank for the weekend? I just never had a tank cycle without a diatom bloom, never started with dry rock before. The CUC seemed to acclimate just fine, all but about 4-5 snails seem to be moving all around the tank. Link to comment
scruggyj Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 These tanks are sweet. I just ordered an mr aqua 12! I like your aquascape as well! Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Waiting to dip these guys and get them in the tank! Been very patient with this tank and hoping it will pay off long term. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 What did you get and where did you get it from? Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 I got a Duncan, some pink Zoas, some green Zoas (not sure of any names) a purple and green Acan, rock anemone, another piece that I forgot the name off, and the guy threw in some GSP for free. I am just waiting for things to start opening up and then I will try and get the best pics I can with the iPhone and post them as each opens up more. I purchased them from a local reefer in Newberry, about 20 mins outside of Gainesville. Great guy with a really nice set up, he also has his Aquaculture certificate. His prices were great, especially compared to all the lfs in this area. It's pretty limited up here between two shops. Link to comment
JL2147 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Sweet tank! I've been wanting one of these Mr. Aqua tanks for a while now. What are your plans on fish? Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Not sure what this is... Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Looks like a Duncan frag. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Looks like a Duncan frag. Sorry I have an unconventional way of loading pics from photobucket so it's actually the second and third picture. I accidentally uploaded the first picture twice... Not everything is opened up and happy yet because I have had my hands in the tank trying to glue the GSP and unidentified piece to the back glass with no success... Sticks for about 5 minutes and then the moment I walk away falls off lol Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Thank you! Not the greatest pictures unfortunately, I will try again tomorrow afternoon and hopefully everything will be a little more opened up. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 Still couldn't get the Cysphastrea to stay glued to the glass so it is now just down on one of the rocks in the scape, hoping that the GSP stays glued until it can start attaching. Unfortunately there is a lot of excess glue around the two frags of GSP (eye sore) on the back glass so the sooner they can grow in the better. I got a better picture of the Duncan today after feeding which equals nice and happy. I have counted 4 heads and 3 more babies already popped out underneath. $15 well spent in my opinion! Picture of the zoas and Cysphastrea in its new spot. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 These corals came out from under an 8x54 watt t-5, could anyone suggest how high to run my 36" BML light? I am new to LEDs and don't wanna burn anything up but also not sure how to match that kind of output... It's on 25% at the moment. Thanks for any help. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Also once all the holidays pass and my girlfriend's birthday I would really love to add two T-5 bulbs (one in front and one behind) my BML light. I saw the new Hamilton Aruba Sun but I don't think it will work with my fixture. Any suggestions? Are the retrofits on BRS any good or are there better options out there? Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 I have been struggling with the cyphastrea and the Acans a little when I was gone for a few days over the holidays. I have since reduced the intensity of the light and have been feeding a little more now that I added a Hawkfish. My feeding regiment is daily, alternating between NLS pellets and Rods Food. During the feeding I spot feed the corals with the frozen food and shoot some nice chunks of food at the hawkfish, and then the following day I lay some pellets on the RFA and one or two on the different mouths of the Duncan and also give the fish a few one by one to make sure he eats them. I have been feeding in the mornings before the lights come on and was wondering if there is a certain time that is better to feed than other times? On a positive note, now that I am feeding more and the light is down a little the Acan seems to be coming back pretty strong and the color is becoming more intense. Still hoping for the cyphastrea. I will try and get some pictures this weekend after the water change and glass cleaning. Link to comment
Newstead Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Looking forward to more pics. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Couple pictures from the new 6S, have had the original Galaxy for 2-3 years now so finally back to the real world. Nano-Reefing while the gf shops, #winning! ] Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 The RFA is more orange than red in person, think I am going to fill that whole right lagoon (where the acan currently sits) with RFAs and see if I can get them to reproduce. Thinking maybe 5-6 altogether, oh and almost forgot Geronimo. And a photobomb of course Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Lost the one cyphastrea frag, just kept regressing and losing color. The Acans still seem to be hit or miss on a daily basis, still spot feedi all the coral every other day and dropping pellets on the other days. I really think maybe I just need to let the tank mature a little more, I still have yet to see any pods even though I got some chaeto and red Titan from a member that came with tons of brittle stars that are multiplying at a crazy rate. The chaeto has over taken my fuge, more than quadrupled in size. This weekend I am going to take about half of it out I think to clear some more room for the red Titan. I am going to try and see if maybe doing the 5 gallon water change every two weeks instead of one week, did this in my old Biocube and seemed to help a lot of coral in that tank. I have not detected any nitrates since dosing ammonia during the cycle. I am using RSC pro salt which I have read have an elevated level of trace elements so I figure with my low amount of livestock waiting an extra week shouldn't be an issue. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Actually at lunch today I was staring at the glass and I noticed some movement and realized the glass had a pretty good amount of pods on it, I was looking right past them scouring the rocks and sand bed. Makes me feel a little better about where the tank is at, now if only I could get some coralline going and my Acans to come back... Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I love Geronimo. Hawkfish are so cool. Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 I love Geronimo. Hawkfish are so cool. He has actually been very active in the tank too, I was worried when my girlfriend picked out the hawkfish that it would always be hiding in the rocks but that hasnt been the case at all. Geronimo scours the entire tank, and loves to perch on top of the return on the right side of the tank. The next fish is going to be a pink streaked wrasse which I am going to cross my fingers that it works out between the two of them since the hawkfish is more aggressive and was introduced first. Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I always heard hawkfish could be aggressive but that was not my experience until they got big. I hope it works out as well. Link to comment
billybatz9 Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 So a lot has been happening with the holidays but I figured I would refrain from posting the drool worthy timeline of a tank cycling.... But j have a quick debacle, Tuesday the tank had been up for 3 weeks exactly and was the first time nitrites dropped to zero after being off the chart for 2 weeks just about. Ammonia had been reading zero about 24-36 hours after dosing 2 ppm. So I went ahead Tuesday and dosed 2 more ppm of ammonia, ammonia read zero (or what the API kit considers zero) but the nitrites were still reading around .5 so I am just wondering if the nitrites are suppose to be gone within 24 hours also? The CUC from reef cleaners comes in today so I am going to start water changes today, maybe 15 gallons worth before putting the snails in. I don't see a ton of algae or any diatom bloom, will there be enough nutrition for the snails? I am heading out of town tomorrow at noon, headed to ATL for the SEC game and don't want the little guys to starve over the weekend. And now for the bad/exciting stuff, two nights ago I was sitting on the couch watching tv and a flame flared up and went out underneath the stand. Wow that will get your blood going! After searching underneath the stand for awhile I finally found that it was the light timer that burnt up, the weird part was the light never went out but the socket that the light was plugged into was fried and melted... These are some pics of what looks like to me where a drop of water landed and ran into the socket. Still haven't figured out where the drop came from but luckily it's a GFI outlet so now I am going to Petsmart today to buy one of those timed power strips and am going to run it up high with my other outlet strip, way far away from the water. Very hard to sleep knowing now that I am leaving for the weekend and that happened.... This happened because of a water drip? Or just bad device? Link to comment
Jwilken02 Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 Water splashing out of the sump was my conclusion. The outlet sits right behind the sump and I have an egg crate filter sock holder so sometimes it falls out and splashing until I fix it. I found one tiny bit of salt on the top of the timer so I figured that's what did it. Splashes Link to comment
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