My first jar

[JBM]

You notice bleaching, or reaching. 

 

Bleaching means your light light is to intense. So it would need to be raised. 

 

Reaching or over extension indicates to little light.  

[SaltyTreats]

I wish i had a better camera. It is fun to see small life on the rocks, like small threads reaching all over. 

One looks like a small thread with a ball on it, and tens of small tentacles attached to the ball, i suppose it is some kind of coral. 

Of course all the small critters are about 1 mm lol but fun to see in action.

 

[Update] Wow it's awesome, on closer inspection there seem to be small critters walking. i find it intressting that all creatures have an elongated body shape, so i guess allot of creatures are maybe in larva form.  I should get a proper magnifying glass so i can get a closer look, this is cool. 

[Lula_Mae]

Once you've got corals in there, try an eight hour lights on time. That's what I use on mine.

[teenyreef]

Looks great! On the light, I would hang the light a little higher. And like @JBM said, since you don't have corals in there yet, the only you're going to grow with the light is algae, so you don't want a lot of light yet. Especially because the light has a few more white LEDs, which will encourage algae growth more than light that heavier in the blue spectrum.

 

My 12w PAR 38 was about 6" above the water, and it was a little too much light for the corals even at only 4 hours a day. I just moved it up to about 10 inches, and I'd like to get it at least 12" up, and then extend the photoperiod.

 

Some people recommend no lights at all during the cycle, but personally I think it's OK to get a little algae going so that when you put in the clean up crew, they have something to eat already. Plus you have to go through the algae and diatom cycle anyway, might as well get it started now.

 

[Nelson]

5 hours ago, SaltyTreats said:

I wish i had a better camera. It is fun to see small life on the rocks, like small threads reaching all over. 

One looks like a small thread with a ball on it, and tens of small tentacles attached to the ball, i suppose it is some kind of coral. 

Of course all the small critters are about 1 mm lol but fun to see in action.

 

[Update] Wow it's awesome, on closer inspection there seem to be small critters walking. i find it intressting that all creatures have an elongated body shape, so i guess allot of creatures are maybe in larva form.  I should get a proper magnifying glass so i can get a closer look, this is cool. 

Looks like aiptasia (blue circle)?

[JBM]

For reference. My ABI 23 watt par38 bulb is 18" off the waters surface. I have no plans to bring it down any lower. 30* optics is kinda harsh

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, JBM said:

For reference. My ABI 23 watt par38 bulb is 18" off the waters surface. I have no plans to bring it down any lower. 30* optics is kinda harsh

That's about where I'd like mine to be too, but I need to change fixtures to get it higher. That height also helps blend the colors well. @JBM how long is your photoperiod? 

[SaltyTreats]

Thank everyone for the great advice's

 

When i learned what aiptasia was i got scared, i hope it is not that but it probably is. The live rock are full of them a millimeter in size. 

I seen worms and also critters that looks like flees. Is my live rock bad should i scrap everything and start again with a rock from another store?

Or maybe i should wait a few weeks and see how it looks then, if maybe it was not aiptasia? As it is right now, sense they are small newly born no way could squirt them by hand lol.

Maybe i am overreacting but of course it is early in the process so before i add corals i want the tank to be pest free of course. 

Is worms a bad sign?

 

[JBM]

Ok first thing. 

 

Relax

 

you are most definitely over reacting. 

 

"Nothing good comes fast in reefing"

 

You don't have to take the tank down. Everything is fine. The tank is doing everything as it should. 

 

Aptasia can be handled in various ways. Be it crazy glueing them inside the hole. Very very hot water or lemon juice injected into the hole. 

 

OR

 

when the tank cycles. You could add a peppermint shrimp. They munch on them like candy. 

 

As as far as the worms. Generally I leave them. Some rid them like the plague 

[SaltyTreats]

JBM your reply was really cool, really makes me worry less

Yes i will adopt that mantra and take all things slow and steady. Would be awesome to have a shrimp only hope 1 gallon is enough.

I suppose i could get a baby peppermint shrimp and when it gets to big, see if the store want it back for free. But for now glad to know i can relax, and keep going 

Thanks for the support

[SaltyTreats]

I received my heater and got really disappointed, the internal thermostat was suppose to keep the temperature at a constant 25 degrees Celsius, but this one kept it around 27 to 30.

Without it the temperature is steady as 23 degrees, so maybe stable colder is better than unstable hot? So for now i will try without a heater and maybe add one in the future if necessary.  

[Christopher Marks]

17 minutes ago, SaltyTreats said:

I received my heater and got really disappointed, the internal thermostat was suppose to keep the temperature at a constant 25 degrees Celsius, but this one kept it around 27 to 30.

Without it the temperature is steady as 23 degrees, so maybe stable colder is better than unstable hot? So for now i will try without a heater and maybe add one in the future if necessary.  

Yeah, unfortunately that is common with most aquarium heaters, especially in such small volumes of water. The only way around this is to use an external temperature controller, like this Inkbird one: https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Electronic-Temperature-Germination-Controlling/dp/B01486LZ50/

 

I'd say a stable colder temperature is definitely better than having heat spikes like that, 30°C is too much.

[SaltyTreats]

2 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Yeah, unfortunately that is common with most aquarium heaters.....

Thank you for your response. I hope it will work without controlling the temperature cause small things stack up fast, unless its essential i wont buy something to get exactly right.

Since my heater required uk outlet i had to buy one converted to, so it made me kinda pissed when it did not work. But at the same time i don't want to spend money on allot of corals just to have them die on me cause i was to cheap to spend another 30 usd.  

[Christopher Marks]

3 minutes ago, SaltyTreats said:

But at the same time i don't want to spend money on allot of corals just to have them die on me cause i was to cheap to spend another 30 usd.  

Wise words!

 

Inkbird does also make a 220V version of this controller, if that helps you on your quest  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inkbird-ITC-310T-Programmable-Temperature-Controller/dp/B019Q3K4EI/

[JBM]

27-30*. Yea, that's a bit to toasty., not to mention a huge swing in temps. 

 

Dont get get me wrong. 23* is a tad on the cool side. But, as with anything else. Consistency is much better then a drastic fluctuation. 

 

If technical data is your thing. Here is a snapshot of my 5g temps for the last 3 hours. Plenty of movement between 77.2 & 77.9. But nothing outside of that. 

[vlangel]

My reef jar does not have a heater, (although I am using a small rio 90 pump which gives off heat) and it is doing wonderfully.

[SaltyTreats]

I been letting it cycle for a while now, I found a heater that worked. My temperature without light is 24.8 degrees and max with lights is 25.5. Algie has formed and allot of copepods have appeared, so I bought today a snail and a blue legged hermit crab.

Tomorow I plan to buy my first soft coral.  

[JBM]

Looks good

[SaltyTreats]

Thank you I bought a few corals today a zoa a mushroom and some grass kind. I placed them but I accidently places the zoa wrong way so most are out of view lol. But I will look how it looks tomorow and post some pics to get second opinions.

Man does the snail poop allot lol.

 

By the way I found a 130 litre tank all included light and skimmer etc, it's an all in one solution with furniture and 15kg live rock, price was about 330 usd. Is this really cheap or do this used come up often in that price range? 

I think of buying it.

[JBM]

that seems to be a normal Ny price for a elos, biocube, red sea all in one.

 

if you like it, buy it.... it's easily 50% less then new

[SaltyTreats]

Here is my corals, only the tree shaped coral at the bottom I suspect I mounted it wrong cause without light it is straight and with light it seeks the ground for some reason. 

 

I noticed it was really hard to find good placements for the corals, I know it looks empty but I have hard time knowing if I even got room for more and where lol. 

[JBM]

Looking good. Everything is open and happy, that's a good sign.  

 

Theres plenty of space for more. 

 

The grass is called green star polyp (Gsp for short).  The tree is called Kenya tree.  Both are very easy corals to care for and will grow in nearly all conditions.  

 

Kenya while easy, is sometimes finicky. Leave it be for a week. It should perk up just fine. 

[SaltyTreats]

JBM Awesome thank you for the info, so glad to hear it is looking good. The mounting process got a little messy, but good thing it worked out. In the futue I might get some tools to maneuver in the tight spaces. 

[SaltyTreats]

The tree has risen

And here is one resident.

 

[vlangel]

Wow, look at those vibrant legs!