My precious little Jebo

[yoshiod9]

lol. if my gf did that to me...i'd be ####ed. i don't normally recommend adding anything during your cycle but if your ammonia level is that low and your corals show up, try adding some prime(i think that is what it is called). it's supposed to get rid of ammonia or something like that.

[BelowH2O]

I use prime in tap water for my cichlid tank. It basically gets rid of the stuff that would evaporate out in a day or so, enabling you to use the water within a short period after mixing. I'm pretty sure at this stage prime wouldn't be too beneficiary for the cycle.

 

Though, it would be cool to see what a water test reads out after use.

[Farrah]

Call the two companies. I'm sure they'd hold your coral order for you. No sense in killing them since they are harvested out of overcollected, dwindling ecosystems to become showpieces in your tank In all seriousness, I would call and try to get them to hold out til the end of your cycle. Either that, or see if you can find someone in Austin to hold them for you for a while. I'd offer, but my tank is completely full. I just bought a couple corals yesterday and I'm totally out of realestate. I don't even have any open sandbed anymore. Post here, or at MAAST.

[Babycakes]

So far:

NH3-0

NO2-0

NO3-10

Ph-8.2

 

Guys, I'm gonna go test it at the LFS today and see what I get. I'm gonna try to get a hold of the places I bought the coral from. If not I think my LFS will hold them. So far my ammonia levels have gone down. I've been using RO water recently and I think that's attributed to part of it.

 

I started off my tank with tap water..thinking that my water purifier (the kind attached to the faucet) would do the trick and a couple drops of Tap water dechlorinator would fix it up but I think that's what got me off the wrong way.

 

Farrah, I'll try to see if my LFS will hold them if they start to die on me. If anything I'll just give em up for store credit. Lol..what a waste of shipping. I don't want to see anything die. I'm the type of person that watches discovery channel and cries.

 

Gah. My boyfriend is gonna kill me.:*(

couples who survive their first nano tank cycling are sure to stay together forever! right? eh eh? X) BTW, my boyfriend has a 35?gallon JEBO cichlid tank. We name all the fish together. Right now our albino pleco "Alby" is hiding inside the bottom little hole of a fake cave (everything else is stone or petrified wood). At first we thought he died a while back since he went MIA but when we found him, my bf didn't hesitate to get a pair chopsticks to try to get him out.

[Farrah]

If you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite, you should be good. Do a waterchange to get rid of some of the nitrates. If you plan on adding a fish to the tank, I would have done that before adding the corals, but I bet you are okay. Definately do not use tap water. Even with dechlorinator, you still have heavy metals and nutrients that you do NOT want in your tank. I don't know if Austin has any copper in the water, but copper will kill your corals. Nutrients will cause algae to grow and make most corals unhappy. Find somewhere where you can get RO water (Austin Aquariums sells it, for something like a quarter/gallon).

[Babycakes]

Gah. One package has already been shipped. I guess they ship early at farms-ofthesea.com. I should've called Blane, he pointed out in his emails that I should call him anytime during the process. Oh well. It's been shipped.

 

Will do the "Dip" for the zoanthids when they come in.

and a blue green cynarina.

Hopefully everything will ship well.

EDIT** OMG. I totally forgot out about some other stuff I ordered from them. The shrooms. The following is my entire order from farms-ofthesea.com

x Colt Starters

x Red Orange and Pink Wow Zoos

x Pink Mulberry Zoos

x Two Tone Blue Single shrooms

x Purple and Green cynarina

x Zilla and Eggs tonga mushroom?

Gah. There has been a major mark down on prices in farms-ofthesea.com

You should check it out. I hate missing out on sales. :*(

 

Thanks Farrah I got some RO yesterday when I went to Aquatek. Went to aquatek cuz they sold the little jugs and I didn't know if austin aquariums sold jugs.lol

[yoshiod9]

well at least you like blane...i can't stand the guy. went to buy a piece from him and i guess it was one of the 'select' corals. i got a rude email back saying i have to buy 5 different corals to buy 1 select coral. no where on his site did it say i have to buy 5 others...it said i could only buy 1 select coral per order(since that one coral was my order, i thought i was in the clear!).

 

 

even though a lot of people frown on using tap water, i've been using tap since i started and haven't ever had any problems(well, problems with the water, that is.) i've even moved 40 miles from where the tank started(obviously, a different water supply was brought into play) and i still haven't had any difficulties(i keep all kinds of rare sps, lps, and softies). just make sure that you can keep your nitrates, nitrites, ph, calcium, and alk levels within normal ranges and you shouldn't ever have a problem.

[Babycakes]

Yeah. I don't know about Blane. Been getting mixed reviews and it seems really fishy that he marked down a LOT of his coral right after I bought from him. I dunno, maybe that's normal or something.

 

I think the only problem I had with tap water was the sudden diatom bloom.

 

Okay. One thing I think is interesting.X)

I ordered from Blane at farms-ofthesea.com. He submits his order to FEDEX at 830am on Thursday. I'm getting this Today at by 10:30am.

 

I ordered from Scott at JustCoral.com. He submits his order at around 6:30pm on THursday. I'm getting this by 3:00pm today.

 

OKAY. So which of these do you think will turn out better? I think the shipment that got sent out late but delivered at an okay time. So I'm betting Scott's will turn out great and Blane's..eh I dunno.

 

I picked up the submitted times from when I was tracking on FedEx. I assume that when you give them your package that's the "package data transmitted".

 

Good News! Boyfriend retrofitted my stock canopy with 2x32!

Bad News! No clue how to make a splash guard. We bought an acrylic sheet from Home Depot but that thing is hard as hell to cut and trim perfectly. Messed up the whole sheet so we have to try our luck again tommorow.

[imafishboy]

for the splash guard, if you have some fancy dremel or saw thing, by all means use it. but if you don't you can try a razor like one of those ultility knives. cut about 2/5 through the thickness of the acryllic. then snap! its the one-two step! cut and snap!then here's the tricky part and a choice you have to make though. you could ut deeper (halfway) and come out with a nice snap every time which is a pain in the A. or just do a rough job and snap the sucker.

 

check it out, i made this and apparently it works pretty well!

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...20&pagenumber=4

[imafishboy]

oh btw, watch out for warping, the acrylic will warp like crazy for sure under the 32s. you should try to heat treat it... or have a glass shop cut you some heat tempered glass. goodluck!

 

i found myself making 3 splash guards of acrylic before having a good one. first one was imcomplete, i snapped it bad...heh. second warpped like CRAZY! and now i have the perfect one

[Babycakes]

I AM MISSING SOMETHING!!!!

 

Justcoral.com-A+++

Okay okay. Justcoral.com shipment came in perfect. I got some really nice zoos and a nice bubble coral which was supposed to be pearl but is looking more greenish? lol that's probably because I have it under acitinics right now. Anyways, everything was double bagged in big bags, had one of those warming pads, and all sealed and taped inside a styrofoam box. My bubble coral is plumping up as I speak(type) and the zoos are opening..let's see if they're the colors I wanted.

 

 

farms-ofthesea.com

Okay. My order from farm-ofthesea.com was not as great..less than great. The corals were in small bags but I guess they were made to be small because there were a lot of them and they had to fit in the styrofoam box??? Anyways, no warming pad thing. Double Bagged.

Problem with Blane's is I'm missing my

Cadiella "colt" Starter

abd

my PURPLE GREEN CYNARINA:angry:

instead I got some weird looking monti cap leater dealy that must've been a mistake. I don't know if that's supposed to be the colt starter or what but it sure doesn't look like it. :*( `edit**I figured out that it's actually a cabbage leather starter, the same one on their site

 

i wanted that cynarina. I'm leaving a voicemail and emailing him right now. edit** I think someone mixed up the purple green zoos with the purple green cynarina

 

Okay Okay. From Blane's shipment he did give me a FREE multi zoo rock and some other zoo rock but that doesn't make up for the missing colt and cynarina.

 

Have Pictures. Will post soon

[Babycakes]

Bubbles!Bubbles!Bubbles!Bubbles!Bubbles!Bubbles!

 

When I got it:

 

After acclimating (figured out it liked low flow):

 

At Night with moonlight (tentacles, tentacles!):

 

I think it's getting better and better! Actually, right now it's really plump ever since I lowered the flow to it from the powerhead and moved it away from the side. Let's see if i have what it takes to be a nano reef mommy.

 

Here's one of the zoos I got from Scott:

 

David (aka 'the boyfriend') modded the hood to be 2x32 and made me a Cold Cathode Ray Tube moonlight! I love the moonlight! We got it with an adapter that I could vary the amount of volts used with a little switch. Full moon to um new moon? It has a great shimmer effect! I don't know if the R2 moonlight does a shimmer effect. We mounted it outside the tank on the top left side so it casts these really cool shadows.

 

I don't think this picture does it justice..I'll take another later. Got this idea from Do It Yourself by Sinistrad. Props to him!

gah. this picture isn't any good. Will take another later.

 

Also, today me and the boyfriend went to one of our LFS and picked up 2 Nassarius Snails, 1 small turbo snail and a peppermint shrimp. I love the nassarius snails, they dig into the sand and stick their little antennas? out and wait until food is available and then they come out from the sand like the living dead whenever I drop in a mysis or DT phytoplankton.

These snails will bury themselves in the substrate waiting for food to become available. They are highly desirable for keeping the top layer of a sand bed stirred without disturbing other micro fauna. They can climb rocks and glass when searching for food. They are the only members of the whelk snails that are not predatory. They are a good alternative for those who don't want to keep hermit crabs in their tanks.

[Scott Wilson]

yes the bubble likes low flow. Not to demanding on light either. I fed it 1-2 frozen krill a week. Just wave the krill in the tentacles and it will grab on. Fun to watch eat too.

 

Scott

[calvin]

Still adding stuff to your tank before it has cycled?? I hope you're not heading for a crash!!

 

Oh, and BTW, if you do start to have trouble, PLEASE do not take this stuff to your LFS to hold for you like you mentioned earlier. Can you imagine their response to, "Hey, I didn't buy any of this stuff from you. I ordered it from the internet instead, but will you hold on to it for me while my tank finishes cycling?" I think that might be justifiable homicide.

[ReefMonkeee]

you're stocking up faster than me lolz. anyway hope you get your problem fixed and they replace those two missing corals. Seems like your tank is coming along nicely but yeah might wanna watch it carefully for a while just in case of a crash.

[Babycakes]

i'm on the lookout for a crash. but so far water params are fine, nitrate is down. feeding them cyclopleeze or DT phytoplankton. They go crazy for the stuff! Also have DT oyster eggs, mysis shrimp, and squid cubes on hand for later. Read that nori strips are good too?

Need to get a turkey baster.

 

I have coralline! purple algae is starting to grow and take over the diatom. I think I need a couple more snails, Nassarius snails are just too cute.

 

Today, one of my green bullseye mushies got blown off by the flow. Rubberbanded it lightly on a new rock and got the other bullseye mushies on the rock too and put it all in a nylon netting bag, closed it, and put it under a good flow. Hopefully they mount.

 

Still haven't figure out where each coral should go. Boyfriend is not allowing me to get ANYTHING till the end of the month. (cries). Oh well. We almost almost thought about getting this bright yellow goniopora we saw at the LFS today..almost. But I heard that even though goniopora will thrive for a year they'll eventually go down this slow decline. I don't think I'm gonna touch the gonioporas at all. Boyfriend has me coral lockdown. :*(

[ReefMonkeee]

if you cant put the corals in where are you keeping them? also you sure it's coraline and not cyano? If your tank is bearly established that's amazing if coraline algae already's growing.

[Babycakes]

yeah, it's coraline i think...hmm actually I don't know. Lemme put up a picture of it.

[Babycakes]

Okay here's a closeup of the one spot I thought was coraline. I have no clue if it is or not. I just thought it was purple. Anyone wanna tell me if it's cyano and if it is what to do?

[Babycakes]

yeah, I tried to rub it off but it doesn't. the diatoms rubbed off. I also have some pink purplish splatters down the front side of my LR, they don't rub off either.

 

I know because I just brushed my rock with a toothbrush

 

Oh yeah, reefmonkee. They're all on the sandbed attached to their little rocks. No sand is touching them and they're getting some good low flow to them. I just have to figure out where to superglue everything :pirate:

[Scott Wilson]

Your picture does not show coraline algae or cyano. It is most likely just mineral coloration's in the live rock. One test is that if it is not able to be scrapped off with a sharp object it is not a encrusting growth.

 

1) I have attached a picture that shows a intermediate stage of coraline growth.

2) When diatoms die off you will start to see green encrusting growth (see green specks in picture.)

 

3) This is followed by pink dots these are the coraline algae that we usually think of. (see pink dots in picture.)

[Babycakes]

OOOOH. I think I actually have those pink spots growing on a couple places on my LR. they wouldn't rub off either. I always thought coraline was like a Barney purple or something.

Thanks scott!

[Babycakes]

I have COPEPODS!

At first I freaked out when I saw them on the inside of my tank but I later learned that they were actually good. So hooray.

 

::Cleanup Crew::

I have 5 Nassarius snails, 1 turbo snail, 1 Margarita Snail, and a PepperMint Shrimpy.

 

::Tank Update::

1) Started cycling the tank on March 29...hmmm...

That's weird, I just realized that my tank has been going on for 2 weeks. Eh..I guess I'm impatient.

 

2) Boyfriend put in a 2x32 PC and Cold Cathode Ray tube (blue) for moonlight (great shimmer effect!)

 

3) Zoos:

My favorite (Juscoral.com)

 

The Freebie from farms-of-thesea.com

 

These where the ones that got sent in instead of my purple green cynarina.

 

Second Fave.

 

The bubble is huge now and really plump. The snails are munching away at the diatoms. The cabbage leather I got as a mix up from Blane is actually looking better. So far everything is happy.

[Babycakes]

Can you say...Crash??

 

Or it will be..I'm stocking up waaaaaay too fast. even though it's just shrooms, zoos, and a bubble (that thing is getting huge!)

I just ordered some stuff from liveaquaria.com from their Diver's Den. What you see is what you get.

 

I have been craving...no DYING for a pink scolymia or cynarina. And lo and behold I found it on their site for $70.

I couldn't pass it up. I had to have it.

My water params are perfect. Cynarinas are hardy.

 

So I bought it. Ordered it by phone with Sue.

I didn't save the pic in time because they took it off their website when I bought it. It's 2". Perfect for my nano and I can give it enough room to grow.

It looks a lot like this:

this one's going for $250 at reefscience.com! HOLY! I scored with my $70 deal.

 

Oh..I also bought this $80 3 1/2" pink and blue brain:

 

Boyfriend is going to kill me. Shhh...don't tell him. :* (

 

Update on the brain coral. He is very very happy and fat...I thought I ordered a baby bubble not a giant. It's growing really fast. I love this coral! he's been in my tank for 6 days and I think he's settled in quite nicely.

He's huge!

 

I should really start wiping the glass on my tank. lol

[Scott Wilson]

well he was very small when I placed it online but over the last few weeks he grew. Sorry for it being larger than you thought.