13g Shallow Lagoon; first coral! :~)

[Fryguy0201]

6 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Wow! This is a really sweet set up! Really cute little cat too.. I love her big ears she has yet to grow into 🙂

Thanks :~) here’s a pic of miss thing from a walk yesterday (she hated it 🤣)

[Fryguy0201]

No testing today other than salinity and temp holding super steady and i’m sure something is happening so why bother testing 😬 will test tomorrow and take pics to compare rock colors (they browning 😎) currently making a list of names for my sexy shrimps:

- Ebo

- Johnny Hotbody 

[Fryguy0201]

Test day 

Salinity: 1.025

Temp: 78.6-79.2 falls through the day rises back by morning 

Ammonia: 1.2

Nitrites: .5

Nitrates: 2

 

Stuffs happening! 

[Fryguy0201]

To lazy to test yesterday will today! But does anyone have advice on feeding feather dusters...kinda hard to directly feed them cause they just go back into tube. Been broadcast feeding Reef Roids once every couple days I turn the power head off let the return pump circulate it for a second then turn it off and leave it for about 30 minutes. Any wisdom? 

[Fryguy0201]

Uhm diatom bloom the past couple days yay 

 

Here's some parameters:

Salinity: 1.025

Temp: 79 (holding even better than before within .2 always now not sure what the issue was)

Ammonia: 1.2 

Nitrate: 5

 

Should probably test ph and nitrites but 🤨

[Fryguy0201]

Saw a brittle star arm poking out of the rock work now that is epic but my kitty baby angel Suki got sick so been spending lots of time laying with her and comforting her giving her medicine and water poor thing is just so weak but she is slightly better today so looking up! Starting to think about my clean up crew (clearly a couple weeks still but I like having a list)

[Fryguy0201]

Did first water change today (bout 2 1/2 gallons), cleaned out the pumps real quick, and scraped the acrylic for the first time. Salinity 1.025 hasn't budged once really ATO keep that shit solid I guess. Realized I didn't have a second thermometer so I just heated the water to 79 on the heater and hoped for the best lol but also finished adjusting water levels in the back (was still the same in the 2&3 chamber) and it is finally looking and sounding right. Test later today or early tomorrow. 

[Keewie]

Looks like its moving along. How exciting. What did you use to dose the ammonia and how much bacteria did you use? My tank should be ready for water soon and I really wanted to try the pure ammonia and bacteria method. I bought everything I needed for it, but I always like to see how it works for others.

 

And I hope your kitten is doing better. Poor thing.

[Fryguy0201]

12 minutes ago, Keewie said:

Looks like its moving along. How exciting. What did you use to dose the ammonia and how much bacteria did you use? My tank should be ready for water soon and I really wanted to try the pure ammonia and bacteria method. I bought everything I needed for it, but I always like to see how it works for others.

 

And I hope your kitten is doing better. Poor thing.

Thank you 🙂 she is doing much better running around a bit today it is just always scary when baby animals get sick.

 

And I haven't put any ammonia or bacteria in I ordered KP Aquatics live rock to seed my dry rock which accrued a bit of die off so that has been my ammonia source. But I did get Dr Tims Ammonia Chloride just in case I needed an ammonia source and to check my cycle at the end maybe (I used this and their One and Only bacteria for my first tank). I would've just followed their instructions for dosing amount but not their time frame just do it once imo and let the cycle go like normal (this is if your cycle is normal you might have to dose a couple times if it just runs thru it in a day or two I wouldn't be comfortable with less than a 2-4 week cycle and maybe dose one more at the end to make sure your tank can process it in time but I will personally just add a CUC and wait two or three weeks unless I feel like I need to). I do have MicroBacter7 coming tomorrow to add some more diversity but I might not add it just like having things on hand

[Fryguy0201]

Test time! Just looking at them before they are developed I can tell y’all the cycle is still going! I know crAZY shit happening over here

 

results:

Salinity- still 1.025 

Temp- 79.2

Ph- 7.8-8 haven’t tested still but i’m not gunna do anything if it’s a little off so 

Ammonia- .8

Nitrite- .5

Nitrate- 5 but i’m willing to bet it’s closer to 10

 

Probably should’ve tested before my water change realistically but live and learn. I will buy kits and start doing a larger variety of test when cycle is complete. does anyone know if red sea sells the vials alone? I hate only having three...also ~maybe~ odd question but does anyone replace water they use for test? I know it’s not a lot but isn’t it just being replaced with top off water? Much pondering 

[Keewie]

14 minutes ago, Fryguy0201 said:

Thank you 🙂 she is doing much better running around a bit today it is just always scary when baby animals get sick.

 

And I haven't put any ammonia or bacteria in I ordered KP Aquatics live rock to seed my dry rock which accrued a bit of die off so that has been my ammonia source. But I did get Dr Tims Ammonia Chloride just in case I needed an ammonia source and to check my cycle at the end maybe (I used this and their One and Only bacteria for my first tank). I would've just followed their instructions for dosing amount but not their time frame just do it once imo and let the cycle go like normal (this is if your cycle is normal you might have to dose a couple times if it just runs thru it in a day or two I wouldn't be comfortable with less than a 2-4 week cycle and maybe dose one more at the end to make sure your tank can process it in time but I will personally just add a CUC and wait two or three weeks unless I feel like I need to). I do have MicroBacter7 coming tomorrow to add some more diversity but I might not add it just like having things on hand

Thanks for the info. I did the live rock die off method with bacteria dosing when I had my 55G running and didn't have a single fish death in my tank. But I choose the wrong source for live rock and received a lot of unwanted pests. I decided to go dry rock this time and see what happens. I like the idea of being able to add ammonia any time to see if the filter system is running correctly before adding live stock. I will be attempting it several times to make sure its actually processing correctly.

 

And glad to hear the kitty is doing a little better.

[Fryguy0201]

Got MicroBacter7 today gonna dose for a week max, don't really have a reason other than just adding to diversity :::)))

[Fryguy0201]

not rlly sure what some of these are some of them i’m pretty sure feather dusters but the others just look different and they suck in their tube like feather dusters i was thinking maybe it’s some type of anemone but as far as i’ve read they don’t do that? don’t know not worrying wish my brittle star would come out and say hi i know he’s hiding in there

 

 

[Fryguy0201]

I don’t know why the picture is blurry on here maybe need to upload from my computer? but here if this helps at all

[Matteo]

This is a sweet little tank. Excited to see where it goes! 

[Fryguy0201]

1 hour ago, Matteo said:

This is a sweet little tank. Excited to see where it goes! 

Thanks! Me too,, I have loved this setup and cycle stage so far but I'm ready to start spending more money 😄

[Reefkid88]

Your assumptions are correct,they be feather dusters lol. 

[Matteo]

4 hours ago, Fryguy0201 said:

Thanks! Me too,, I have loved this setup and cycle stage so far but I'm ready to start spending more money 😄

[Fryguy0201]

2 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

Your assumptions are correct,they be feather dusters lol. 

Might put that rock in a tank and let them colonize the whole damn thing...don't wanna give them away when I plan to get that lr out I'm attached 

[Fryguy0201]

was observing the tank late at night and this pod(?) was playing with the sand 

made this throw away to post some videos 

[Fryguy0201]

pretty epic algae coming in these past couple days 

[Fryguy0201]

So yesterday ammonia was down to .4 yet today I am up to 1.2 

I did feed lateish last night but it was a very tiny amount so I will test again in 10/12 hours and see if maybe that was it and if it process any of it but I am going to blow off my seed rocks (I have a couple times now) and see if maybe something is dead under them 💆‍♂️

[Fryguy0201]

Havent updated in a bit but still cycling (ammonia down to .2 yesterday gunna see how it’s looking tonight! and battling GHA a little but I haven’t done too much to rid it as i don’t even have a clean up crew so will probably cut a lot back when I get a crew and see what they do and what I need to do. Gunna be setting up the 5 gallon with 1 of the two live rocks I got and leave the big rock in the shallow for a while longer. 

[Fryguy0201]

Updates:

Removed live rock as it had been 45ish days into the cycle and still had small ammonia source present while battling huge gha problem:

So removed the live rock got a small clean up crew of 3 snails (don’t remember what kind not the turbo I wanted) a hermit and an emerald crab. They have done great along with water changes, no light, and a little filter floss to get rid of most the hair algae! Had a little ammonia spike with lots of algae decaying after no light for a couple days. Tank now: 

I did move the Tunze power head and plan to remove the rock on the left and adding a much smaller rock to complete the rock scape i don’t like how much room it takes up. Anyways I rearranged some plants in my new house and put this huge philodendron (need new pot) in front of the tank stand. Some might see this as a distraction but I love the little nook this especially with my viewing chair off to the side. (sorry for laundry lol) 

 

Parameters:

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 5

Ph: 8

Temp: 78.6-79

Salinity: 1.025 (had a mishap with ato two weeks ago drop salinity to 1.023 so just got it back yesterday with wc) 

phosphate: .02

 

Pretty happy with the tank currently, was feeling discouraged with all the algae but feels good to be back on track! 

[Fryguy0201]

got my first coral today 🙂 just a little zoa disk with these dark centers and bright yellow/orange rims. edited the pic to match color better (i tried but it’s so hard to take pictures of inside the tank). Need to learn to take coral pics it seems impossible...anyways gunna give this guy a week or few and if he’s doing good get more. i’ve filled out a lot of my plant addiction now time for corals.