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Pumpkin’s 20g Red Sea Max Nano


UpsideDownPumpkin

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Inhabitants:

1 Ocellaris Clown (Female - B&W)

1 Ocellaris Clown (Male -Traditional)

1 Bicolour Blenny 

1 Sixline Wrasse

1 Emerald Crab

1 Scarlet/Red Leg Hermits

1 Blue Leg Hermit

1 Cerith Snails

1 Green Bubble Tip Anemone

 

(loaned out some CUC to the 30g)

 

Coral:

Hammers

Torches

Frogspawn

Acan

Duncan

Kenya Trees

GSP

Clove Polyps

 

Tech:

75 Litre/20g Red Sea Max Nano Tank AIO

Red Sea LED 50

Hydor Koralia Nano 1600 Wavemaker

Stock Return Pump

GKM UV filter 9w

Inkbird

DeltaTherm 50w Heater

 

Additives:

Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Mix at 1.025

Carbon

Seachem Matrix

 

Food on Rotation:

Marine Cuisine (TMC)

Marine Pellets (Vitalis)

Algae Pellets (Vitalis)

ReefRoids (PolyLab)


Photo: FTS End of Feb 2021 - having just added a nem to distract the clown from my unhappy Euphyllia.


 

 

 

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26 minutes ago, UpsideDownPumpkin said:

Hi guys, this is my journal for my 20g cube set up. I’ve been freshwater for a little over 5 years but this is my first dip into salt water. I really regretted not taking enough pictures/writing a journal for my freshwater tank so New Years Resolution to do one this time. 
 

Right now everything is still in boxes but here’s what I have:

 

- Red Reef Max 75 litre (20g) cube nano tank.

- 4 pieces of artificial rock*
- live sand (the wet type)
- built in lights

- built in sump, auto top off, protein skimmer and filter compartments. 
- 100w heater

- red reef tank maturation kit

- red reef test kit

- refractometer 

- thermometer
- red reef DIY lid kit.

- 75 litres of pre-mixed salt water

- 10 litres of RO for top off during cycle

 

* turns out live rock/dry rock is illegal to import in my country, among some corals, clams and seahorses. The more you know.

 

Things I still need/am mulling over:

- what to put in the filter compartments 

- an additional power head. 

- salt mix

- more RO water 

- pellet food

- frozen food
- cooling fan for the summer

 

My plans, so far as things I know I want and know my LFS have, so far include:

 

- 2x ocellaris clownfish (tank bred)

 

- 1 x blood red fire shrimp
- 3-5 sexy shrimp

- 1x tuxedo urchin

- 1x feather duster

- 3-5 nerite snails

 

Things I would like but haven’t chosen yet/need to research more:

 

- 1x goby or blennie from the below list and/or 1x type of other single fish from the below list

- another type of snail

- possibly a small type of star fish

- possibly a sea cucumber

- a small selection of softie corals

- possibly LPS coral at a later date 

 

 

Things that I have seen that I would like but need to research/get advice on, listed below. 
 

Gobies/Blennies I have seen that I like:

 

- Red / Scarlet Scooter Blenny

- Yellow / Green clown Goby

- Chalk Goby
- canary blenny

- wheelers shrimp goby

- various watchman goby

 

Other fish I have seen that I like:

 

- banggai cardinal

- similar damselfish

- firefish

- purple firefish

- orchid dottyback

- pajama cardinal


However I should note that’s a mixture of fish I have seen in the store and fish that I’ve seen online so I’m not sure on availability here. I would also prefer tank bred where possible. 
 

Corals I’m thinking about

- various mushrooms / leathers

- various polyps

- Devils hand leather

- Xenia 

- Duncan

- Kenya tree

- Christmas tree

- Waving hand


and maybe down the line if I’m ready for LPS
- war

- candy cane

- blastomussa

- lordhowensis

 

I also like what I call waving corals which I’m coming to learn are tentacled and because of that are aggressive, so while I love them, I’m not going to attempt those in this tank.

 

I’m also limited by my country’s importing laws so it will be aquacultured coral. 
 

This evening after work I’m hoping to set up the tank and do my aquascape. Because I don’t have live rock, my cycle is reliant on the maturation kit I’ve got and the instructions on that suggest the whole process will take around 21 days. 
 

I’m going to be going with the LFS bottles of RODI because of tank size and the fact I don’t own the house (owner is ok with tanks, not ok with me messing with the plumbing). It’ll work out at about $2 a week for water changes and top off water. 

 

(And for anyone that’s curious, my fresh water set up is a 110 litre/30g with 1 Golden Gourami, 4 Bronze/2 Albino Bronze Corycats, 1 Albino Bristlenose Plec with recent additions from the nano tank I’ve just torn down of 2 Celestial Pearl Danio and 4 Purple Harlequin Rasbora, that I intend to pad out into schools next week, and a nerite snail).

Welcome to NR! 🙂

 

You've mentioned everything is still in boxes (not wet, I assume). Any chance you want to try joining the site's competition? They're just starting, and I think if you have anything below 20G, you qualify. (Might have to check this rule out with CM first).

 

Here's the link:

 

 

Also, I'll skip out on the starfish & sea cucumber. Starfish have high mortality rates in nanos - our systems simply don't have what they need for food, and cukes can release toxins which will crash your tank if they're stressed/die (barring you catch it in time, manage to do a large WC and run lots of carbon - even then, you *might lose some things).

 

I'm curious though - where exactly are you from? Curious because you mentioned LR and dry rock is illegal in your country. 

 

I've used artificial rock in my nano once, a very long time ago, and although it was an amazing shape (looked like an arch and perfect for mounting coral), I did add some smaller LR pieces in my sump to establish a biofilter of sorts. 

 

Your fish choices are okay, but the scooter will need to be weaned onto frozen if it's to survive. I'd avoid getting one until you're truly prepared for it (do more research - it's not an easy fish to keep). Gobies and blennies are fine - there are various types to choose from. I have a GCG in my current 60G and he's constantly up and about, posing on coral pieces. Easily my most favorite nanofish. 🙂

 

Blennies you can look into (perchers) include TSB, bicolor, segmented sailfin etc. Canary blennies are beautiful, but they're mostly swimmers. 

 

Damselfish are beautiful, but they can turn into little territorial monsters as they mature. Clownfish too, can become aggressive as they age, especially when they reach sexual maturity. 

 

The softies you've listed are all fairly easy to keep and is suitable for beginner level. War coral (the LPS) can be quite aggressive. If you want it or any sort of favia/chalice, make sure there's enough space between the frag and other corals so that there is room for it to grow. 

 

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UpsideDownPumpkin
15 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Welcome to NR! 🙂

 

You've mentioned everything is still in boxes (not wet, I assume). Any chance you want to try joining the site's competition? They're just starting, and I think if you have anything below 20G, you qualify. (Might have to check this rule out with CM first).

 

Here's the link:

 

 

Also, I'll skip out on the starfish & sea cucumber. Starfish have high mortality rates in nanos - our systems simply don't have what they need for food, and cukes can release toxins which will crash your tank if they're stressed/die (barring you catch it in time, manage to do a large WC and run lots of carbon - even then, you *might lose some things).

 

I'm curious though - where exactly are you from? Curious because you mentioned LR and dry rock is illegal in your country. 

 

I've used artificial rock in my nano once, a very long time ago, and although it was an amazing shape (looked like an arch and perfect for mounting coral), I did add some smaller LR pieces in my sump to establish a biofilter of sorts. 

 

Your fish choices are okay, but the scooter will need to be weaned onto frozen if it's to survive. I'd avoid getting one until you're truly prepared for it (do more research - it's not an easy fish to keep). Gobies and blennies are fine - there are various types to choose from. I have a GCG in my current 60G and he's constantly up and about, posing on coral pieces. Easily my most favorite nanofish. 🙂

 

Blennies you can look into (perchers) include TSB, bicolor, segmented sailfin etc. Canary blennies are beautiful, but they're mostly swimmers. 

 

Damselfish are beautiful, but they can turn into little territorial monsters as they mature. Clownfish too, can become aggressive as they age, especially when they reach sexual maturity. 

 

The softies you've listed are all fairly easy to keep and is suitable for beginner level. War coral (the LPS) can be quite aggressive. If you want it or any sort of favia/chalice, make sure there's enough space between the frag and other corals so that there is room for it to grow. 

 


Thanks for the tips, I’ll leave out the star fish/cucumber. I did wonder why it was hard to find info on them (especially cucumbers). I’ll probably give the war coral a miss too since I don’t want aggressive ones. Poor coral has to put up with me let alone getting stung by other coral. 
 

If I trusted myself enough to wean a fish off live food, I’d have my heart set on a mandarin. I’ll take the canary off the list too, I didn’t realise they were active swimmers. 
 

I’ll enter that competition when I’m on my laptop, can’t work out how to do links on phones yet.

 

Thanks again for your help!
 

Oh and I’m from the U.K. It has something to do with EU importing regulations. Unless you can get a license to import anything taken from live reefs, even dry rock/dead rock, they won’t let it in and getting the license is pretty much impossible. Same deal with corals, the guy I was talking to said it’s easier just to cultivate them in the U.K. rather than try to import. Pass on the seahorses and clams though, maybe it’s endangered ones. 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Update: 2/2/2020 

 

Tank is out of the box, set up and aquascaped. Which was weirdly satisfying. The guy in the LFS told me to build upwards and to try and make arches/caves as I’m not going to have active swimmers. The slopes and the gaps too small for fish I’m going to attempt to put coral on at a later date.

 

Took longer to set up than I thought so sand and will have to go in tomorrow. 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Update 3/2/20 (or 2/3/20 across the pond)

 

Sand is in. Water is in. Protein skimmer is foaming like a soda fountain right now. It doesn’t seem to want to sit right now that the water is in, it keeps trying to float. 

The user manual tells me this is ok and that it will settle but if anyone has any tips to help or settle... 🙂

 

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Looks really good, and Hi Fellow UK Reefer!

 

I love the branch rock, where did you find it and I hesitate to ask but was it a decent price? I have ordered coral from Germany before (whitecorals) however I would say that it is not worth the risk, best off buying from Reefers and Online unless you're lucky and your LFS has a decent selection

 

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UpsideDownPumpkin
8 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Looks really good, and Hi Fellow UK Reefer!

 

I love the branch rock, where did you find it and I hesitate to ask but was it a decent price? I have ordered coral from Germany before (whitecorals) however I would say that it is not worth the risk, best off buying from Reefers and Online unless you're lucky and your LFS has a decent selection

 

Hi! 
 

It’s eco-reef, the centre section was £60 and the two side bits with the branches were £25 each. 
 

I’m quite lucky, my LFS is a marine specialist store so it’s more pricey but most of it is grown by local breeders, same with their fish. Or another shop does frags that you have to grown yourself which is easier on the bank balance!

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Water has been circulating now for nearly 12hrs, it’s cleared up nicely and the skimmer is not quite so frothy now.

 

Spent the day touring LFSs to compare different fish and prices, ruled a few things out now that I’ve seen them in person and got some new things to think about.

 

Looks like I’m going to be switching the blood shrimp for a trio of peppermint shrimp instead and have looked at the idea of getting a goby/shrimp pair.

 

I think that’s most likely going to be my other fish choice, a goby of some sorts.
 

Probably won’t be a lot going on for a week while I do the first bit of the cycle but I’ll post pictures of my CUC when they go in.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

It’s the tank’s (and mine own) hump day. Hard and slow going today. Built the DIY lid without realising that the length of the metal bars needed to be cut smaller than the tank in order to account for the connectors and bars themselves. So the lid is about an inch bigger than the tank but better that than too small. I can always try again with the lid later in the tanks life but for now, it will stop any creatures getting in or out.

 

Turns out the “silencer” on the protein skimmer is what is making the noise. I think after the tank is stable, I might get rid of that one and get a smaller/less complicated one.

 

I also think I’ve finalised my stocking and will post at some point to confirm it’s ok and what order to put them in but right now in order of what goes in first I’m thinking:

 

- clean up crew (cleaner shrimp, nerite and banded trocus snails, tuxedo urchin, feather duster)

- goby/shrimp pair 

- ocellaris clown pair (one BW, one colour)

 

And finally, I’m entering the competition in spirit only. Because I didn’t read it until a few days later on my laptop, I neglected to put the required jar of sauce in the dry tank so I can’t enter officially. But this is more of a personal challenge for me anyway so I’m ok with that. 
 

All things going to plan, the maturation kit tells me to put the first group of inverts in on Tuesday 11th so here’s hoping. My readings right now for everything I can measure is 1.025 salinity, 26 degrees C, PH 8, dKH 12.5 (read the results wrong last time), ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates 20. Hard to tell if it’s a quick cycle due to the live sand or if it hasn’t even started yet. Next time I pick up some pre-mixed salt water, I’ll test it for nitrates.

 

I’m also debating between buying pre-mixed permanently rather than buying RODI and mixing it myself. Since I have to buy the RODI anyway to mix, I’m only spending a dollar more and it saves me buying salt mix, another pump and hopefully means I can just heat it and pour it. Which again, I’m hoping will be more manageable on a 10L a week scale. 
 

So I’ve got lots of food for thought to mull over for the next week before I go back to the LFS.

 

Here’s some pictures of my feeble attempt at a DIY lid...

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UpsideDownPumpkin

i just wrote a whole bunch and accidentally hit something wrong on the touchscreen and lost it all. Le sigh. 
 

Long story short:

 

- moved aquascape. No longer smack bang in the middle but off in a corner. This is to promote swimming space and leave room for coral that needs/has its own rock.

 

- cycle coming along nicely. Ammonia 0.2, Nitrite 0.1, Nitrates 10. Everything is slimy and clouding up nicely. Saltwater bacterial blooms smell different to fresh water ones, almost pleasantly sweet. 
 

- protien skimmer is only being turned on during the day. Too loud. Need to buy a quiet one. 
 

- turned the heater down, I think it might be too big. On 26 it had the tank up at nearly 30 so I’ve put it down to 22. It’s winter here so it’s definitely not ambient temperature. 
 

- read a lot today. Like a LOT. Almost all my research before was on set ups, water and clownfish. Starting to read up more about coral, inverts and other fish now. Have learned that shrimps are more sensitive than most fish so I’m moving that down the stocking time line. I’ve also read up on how to encourage life on my very fake rock. So I’m going to try and buy some (pretty) algae next time I visit LFS and maybe some bottled coralline.
 

- my outlet seems to be blowing my sand away. It is fine grain sand to be fair (too many years of keeping CoryCats) but short of dumping larger grain sand down the back wall, is there anything else I can do. Looking to add a second power head in before I get corals so I can only imagine that will do the same. 
 

I think that’s it for now. I’ll finish with a pic of the new aquascape... excuse the bacteria cloud/slime.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Let there be light. Sort of...
 

Took me two hours to turn it on, now I can’t turn it off.

 

So the new Red Sea ReefLED lights/the app is very glitchy and loses connection more often than it holds it but I don’t have anything in there right now to worry about dying. I have 3 months to figure it out before I plan on corals. I might sell it and get a simpler one.

 

I know I’m no expert and certainly not a natural born reviewer but jeez, this “plug and play” tank seems way more complicated than it needs to be. I miss switches. Why can’t it have a switch just in case? 
 

Cycle still cycling. I’ll test my parameters when I’m done with this NASA level light.

 

ETA: so this morning was the second round of dosing the bacteria and the ammonia. That was about 7hrs ago and I’m now looking at 1.2 ammonia, 0.2 nitrite and 20 nitrate. I’ve never used this kit before so I’m not 100% sure if that’s normal but if it’s vastly decreased/gone tomorrow then that’s on the schedule for the third and final dosing on Monday.

 

Oh and I finally managed to finish setting up the light and I’ve just resolved never to open the app again for fear it will glitch again.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Light seems pretty stable. Cycle seems to have not moved. Same readings as yesterday. Which isn’t reassuring given it states it will be ammonia 0, nitrite 0 by tomorrow for the last dose of bacteria/ammonia. If it isn’t, I might see if I can get some stronger bacteria. Not to rush it but simply because the kit only has enough for the three doses and I don’t want to stall mid-cycle. Because something is definitely working, my bacteria cloud and my algae (clear for some reason, not green/brown) is quite impressive. I just think it should be converting the ammonia quicker by now if it’s telling me to put CUC in there on Tuesday, is all.

 

PS my lighting isn’t THAT blue, it just comes up that way on my phone camera. 

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Cycle update 10th Feb:

Ammonia - 0.4

Nitrite - 0.5

Nitrate - 50

 

Not the clear sweep it promised but I’m going to give it until morning before I re-dose. CUC will probably be a few snails only at this point as I’m a bit nervous about the rest being too sensitive and this program not going to the schedule that it promised. 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

So it took a day longer than promised but we are back on track cycle wise. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 20 nitrate (kit includes nitrate remover). Then 10% water change which didn’t alter the stats but has dimmed the “fog”. Today is dosing just the bacteria, not the bacteria food as it instead tells you to add CUC. I’ve been conservative and opted for 3 snails. 2 trocus and what I’m 99% sure is a Babylonia snail, after putting up an ID thread. I bought him as there were slim pickings at the store (went between the weekend and the delivery day) and all the other snails were giant turbos and cowries and the like. However the boy did tell me they were peaceful and it turns out they’re semi- aggressive. Have resolved to give him a chance as other people report their ones minding their own business however if he kills his two tank mates, he will be the only snail in the tank. Right now I’ve dropped some food in for him so he doesn’t go looking. 
 

Again, excuse the super blue lighting, my camera seems to pick it up rather than the white in the LED. 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Cycle still on track. 0, 0, 20. Holding steady. 
 

Babylonia snail may well be homicidal but the jury is out. I found the smaller of the two trocus on its back. I did right it and placed it in a jug for a long, long while but no signs of life. It’s possible that there was snail on snail violence but I can’t prove that it didn’t fall off my rocks. We’ll see what happens with the larger trocus but I think to be on the safe side, I won’t add any further snails. Plan is to still go ahead with the feather dusters, the tuxedo urchin and shrimps. Right now that looks to be a cleaner shrimp with 3 smaller shrimp. I’m also leaning toward bottled coralline, as my algae is still clear/white and the bacteria bloom has dissipated but it’s still foggy looking because of the algae. I can clean it off the glass but I want to promote some sort of life in the tank so l don’t want to get rid of it all.

 

Next step is clownfish. I normally would QT but as the tank only has snails in, I think it should be safe to use that. Have a black and white female reserved at LFS and plan to buy a juvenile to go with her in the hope that it’ll submit to her straight off the bat. I’m not fussed if they breed but I’m hoping they pair. We’ll see. 
 

Photo is moonlight light with a basic iPhone filter but gives an idea of the algae colour/lack of colour.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Good morning! So I have woken up this morning to Jack the Ripper London style fog. I have spent about 2hrs reading because my cycle still tests the same only less nitrate. Right now the only thing I’m dosing is the nitrate remover from the Red Sea kit, so I threw the name of that into google with cloudy water and lo and behold, a million other people have experienced exactly this and I’ve seen a lot of good advice. Number 1 being that it isn’t harmful to anything living in the tank. Which is reassuring because cycle-wise, today is fish day and I don’t want to stall my cycle but I was nervous about putting fish in such cloudy water. 
 

A few other salient points I’ll put here to detail my plan going forward in case anyone ever stumbles upon this with the same issue:
 

- cut dosage of no3po4-x (aka NOPOX) right down. I started dosing 3ml as advised then doubled it when I had a nitrate spike. Then when my cloud kept on despite the ammonia and nitrite being zero, I dosed some more thinking it was the nitrates fault (irrational as that is). The nitrate isn’t the only thing it takes out, it also takes out phosphate and low/zero phosphate while it prevents traditional green/brown algae, it promotes what I’ve seen called “white snot” algae. Name is fitting, it feels like the tank has a mucus cough right about now.

 

- find and promote a type of algae that is more pleasing to my personal taste. This will probably be the coralline I’ve been thinking about. This is a tip I’ve seen for any algae issue - price it out of the market. If needed, I may need to re-introduce some trace phosphate.

 

- weekly 10% water changes. Red Sea kit has had me doing 5% but I’m going to turn to a slightly higher WC as a way of bringing my nitrates down rather than rely too heavily on the NOPOX.

 

- research a HOB refugium or if I can do one in the back compartment if I take the huge protein skimmer out and replace it with a smaller one.

 

End goal: be cloud free! 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

So I asked for the smallest little guy they had to avoid discussion about gender roles as my reserved fish has already decided to be female. They found each other instantly in the acclimation tub and they’ve not left each other’s side since. They seem to be making a home in that corner, I think they enjoy the current. 
 

LFS told me to not do anything r.e the cloud. They said keep testing the water, cut the lights back and don’t dose the NOPOX unless my nitrate really spikes and once it has settled, then look into if I want to do a coralline additive. Otherwise I’d be adding two more tests to my test kit and a lot more additives and it’s better to let it settle naturally. 
 

and given that they could have bs’d me into buying all those tests and additives, I’m inclined to think they have the best for the tank in mind. I’m going back in a week for my next 10l of salt water and for them to test my phosphates and magnesium so I can decide if I want to try to culture coralline. They said my cloud should be gone by then so fingers crossed. 
 

I’ll update sooner if I wake up to a magically clear tank.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Hi guys!

 

Pleased to report all is well. Completely clear tank by Wednesday. Clownfish are best friends. The big trocus was alive last time I saw him and the Babylonia snail is every so often visible under the sand. 
 

We also have two new inhabitants since the cycle has held strong. A bicolour blenny and a red legged hermit crab. The crab is already scavenging and the blenny dived into the rock and has yet to show his face but I’m ok with him being reclusive. The clowns are open swimmers right now so I didn’t want anything that would take away from their space and so far so good.

 

In another week or so, I’ll add the cleaner shrimp, urchin and feather duster. And perhaps an emerald crab as algae eater. And then my tank (minus coral) will be complete.

 

photos are still a nightmare because the light but here’s one: 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Day 25ish. We finally have something other than clear algae. Don’t get me wrong, I still have clear/white algae but now I have some rusty algae to go with it. It’s literally turned up while I was at work. Looks horrid but at least I know my trocus won’t starve. 

 

The blenny is finding his feet, or rather fins. He mostly keeps watch with his head poking out of his cave but every so often he’ll perch on the rock or swim out to get an algae pellet. He seems like he’s psyching himself up to go out, sit on a rock, count to ten and go back in. 
 

That also seems to be all they’ll eat. Clowns go mad for the marine pellets, blenny for the algae ones, although he does pick at the rock for algae too. Only the crab seems interested in the frozen food I’ve put in. Normally it’s the other way around. I’m going to try seaweed for the blenny next week, see if that lures him out. 
 

Will update again if I get a good photo.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Algae looks to actually be Cyanobacteria. Either way, I’m loving the signs of life. I’ve cleaned the glass but I’ve left the rock.

 

I’ve got two more hermits, one blue legged and another red legged. I’ve also put about six shells in for them. The crabs are loving the cyano, they’re eating it off the sand in great lawnmower stripes. The white algae seems to be dying back too as a result so on the whole, I’m happy with it.

 

Here’s a full tank shot post-algae scraping.

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Excuse the lack of updates, world has gone to pot lately. Tank remains the same I think. I’ll do a proper listing just in case:

 

2 x ocellaris clowns (one b&w female, one orange male)

1 x bicolour blenny

2 x red legged hermit crabs

1 x blue legged hermit crabs

1 x Babylon snail

1 x trocus snail (assumed)

 

My algae is now green. My smaller red leg has switched to a black shell I put in for him.

 

In light of current events, I have 2x salt water barrels, one as normal and one in reserve should I need to isolate. I also bought a tub of Red Sea coral pro salt (literally the last one in the shop) in case stores close and I have to make my own. If stores do close, grocery shops hopefully stay open and I can get distilled water. If not it will be prime and tap water. I discussed this with someone there that has always looked out for my tanks and would rather give good advice than make a sale and he said since I don’t have coral, that should be ok for my fish short term. 
 

Same reasoning, I wasn’t going to get coral for another month or so anyway to give it a more mature tank but now I’m going to put off coral until I can be assured of RODI water. 
 

I have enough RODI to maintain my ATO for 2 weeks if needed. Spent the last of my wages on fish food and salt mix so what I have either lasts me to pay day or lasts me through a 2 week isolation, whichever comes first.

 

I probably won’t update again for a while so best wishes and stay safe x

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I am experiencing a similar dilema. I have a 10 gallon with entirely tap water at the moment, and I don't plan on getting corals anytime soon. The RODI system I want can't arrive before April 22, and I plan to get two clowns online. I was thinking to pour RODI water into my tank after I take out the tap water I have in my water changes. However, the fish might end up being stuck with tap water for up to three and a half months. I think it's ok temporaily.

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  • 3 weeks later...
UpsideDownPumpkin

So UK is ending it’s third week on lockdown. I managed to get a few more barrels of pre-mixed salt before the shut down and today I had to brave mixing it myself. For anyone in the same boat that might read this, I first mixed it in the empty barrel and then when I realised I couldn’t get the pump through the hole; I transferred it to the 20l plastic tub I use as QT/to acclimatise. I then put the pump in and left it to circulate over night. I think I ended up with 12 litres of water VS 400g of salt mix before I hit 1.025. I tested it about 27 million times to make sure and I’m still nervous but fish seem happy.

 

About a week ago I lost the red leg hermit that wasn’t in the black shell. I wasn’t there but I can give an educated guess what happened. Blenny does not like to share his cave. The big black shell hermit is too big for him to move and the little blue legged prefers the sand but the amount of times I saw that one get evicted from the cave tells me what I need to know. I’m going to get another red and another blue when shops reopen. Also a pair of nerites as the Babylonia snail hasn’t killed the trocus yet. In terms of the rest of my stock, I’m still dithering on a shrimp or a small cleaner type goby. So far the clowns and the blenny get along and the only fight has been between me and the female clown (she’s a biter) and then the blenny and the crab. I had a pod explosion a week or so back that’s making me long for either a scooter or a mandarin but I want to see if it sustains itself first. 

 

Algae is a PITA. I want it on the rock because the blenny loves grazing. He would rather eat the free range algae than the pellets. But the film algae on the glass is a nightmare, I have to scrape it off with a bit of plastic sort of like a credit card (obvs not an actual credit card). I’m trying my best to remember that it’s a symptom of the tank cycle maturing and a good sign and is natural but it’s hard to scrape it off with a clownfish eating your arm. 

 

On the same note, I think the tank is approaching the age where it needs the skimmer put back in. I still haven’t found a replacement pump that fits it because it’s got like a Venturi hose. So I might need to buy a whole new one. I did some browsing before lock down and all the ones in the shop are massive! I don’t know if they are aimed at large tanks but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room down the back of the tank so I need something compact. May have to buy online.
 

And to end on a positive note, my family have said that because I can’t get coral for my tanks because all the shops are closed, they’re going to get me coral for my birthday which is really sweet because normally they say I waste too much money on fish so you know, that’s a big deal :) x

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UpsideDownPumpkin

False alarm, he’s not dead, he’s molting. Found another pair of legs today and him hopping away from them like nothing had happened! 

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UpsideDownPumpkin

Made some upgrades in the preparation for coral in a month or two (Or however long this lasts). And you know, I can’t go shopping for anything else so Amazon it is...


Got myself a Tunze 9001 because I read they could fit in the back compartment of the my tank. Well, what arrived was a 9001 DOC, idk what that means but I can’t make it fit for love nor money so it’s in the display tank for now. I ran it open as it suggested for two cups of very very wet skimming and it’s now half open making thicker skim. Even though I’m very disappointed it won’t fit in the back, it’s quiet, so it’ll do.
 

Also got a Korelia nano 1600 wave maker. This is purely for the coral’s benefit. The clowns like to pretend they’ve never seen a wave before and that the filter output is strong enough to blow them across the tank. But only when they know I’m watching. At night they sleep right by it so it can’t be that bad. 
 

I also bought a green killing machine because my algae had gotten into the water column and I had luminous green water. So I drew a line in the sand and did a deep clean.  And I mean deep. Water out, fish out, rocks out, everything out of the back. 
 

Glass and rocks have been scrubbed and I have taken all media out of the back now that I have the skimmer. All I left was the bag of seachem matrix in case the GKM takes out any good bacteria, the heater and the return pump. 
 

Unfortunately I couldn’t get my rock tower back how I had it. I had reference pictures and kept it in the same order going out and in but it wouldn’t balance. So in the end I gave up and built something new. It’s more bridge like and looks a bit supernatural because of the finger like rocks. I think the bridge will be a good base for coral which was something I didn’t know first time around. 
 

As a result, my clowns are having a temper tantrum because I’ve changed it. They also don’t like that I’ve put the GKM in the way of their “bed” by the filter output but it’s the only place it can fit and it’s only temporary. It’s done a good job so far, I’m hoping it’s clear by tomorrow or the day after. But the clowns are keeping me up. Fish parenting is stressful when the kids won’t settle. They’re behaving like when they first got put in the tank. I get it, for them it is pretty much a new tank but come on guys, go to bed.
 

Other than that, there isn’t a whole lot more I can add. I’m getting better at mixing salt. I’ve got just about as much as I can get from amazon. I’m researching what I can put in my tank in the future. I’m researching coral. I’m window shopping. If anyone knows any good U.K. coral shops/sites doing shipping, I’d love a link. 
 

In the meantime, I’ll upload a new photo when my green hue clears x

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