streakr22 Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 FTS 4/13/11 4/10/11 4/3/11 3/5/11 Equipment: - Cadlights 22g Tank (stock pump) - 4x24w T5HO (2 white, 2 actinic) + 2x1w LED moonlights - Hydor Koralia nano 425gph circulation pump - Tunze 9002 Protein Skimmer - Eheim Jager TruTemp 100w submersible heater - ~15lbs cured Bali Alor Liverock from PremiumAquatics.com - 20lbs CaribSea AragAlive IndoPacific Fiji Pink Live Sand - Cadlights "wood" formica cabinet stand - inTank media rack w/ filter floss, chemipure elite, and purigen - JBJ ATO Controller with AquaLifter pump (4 gal. RO/DI reservoir) Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 8, 2010 Author Share Posted November 8, 2010 Current Livestock Fish: 2x Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish (paired) 1x Engineer/Convict Goby 1x Red Spotted Blenny Invertebrates: 1x Emerald Mithrax Crab (+1 juvenile) 1x Coral Banded Shrimp 4x Electric Blue Hermit Crabs 10x Red Leg Hermit Crabs 10x Astrea Snails 4x Nassarius Snails 1x Tonga Fighting Conch 1x Turbo Snail 1x Rose Bubble Tip Anemone Coral (LPS and Softies): Neon Green Toadstool Leather Leptastrea Short Stem Duncans Blastomussa Miscellaneous: Tunicate Colony Hydroids various hitchhiker snails Link to comment
woowee Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 the glass looks ok. my 39G is like that too. the acrylic wall is supported by a glass wall behind it, and the glass wall doesnt come all the way up to block the surface skimmers. thats why there is that gap there. its totally ok though., my tank has been running for a year now and its running great. nice set up, looks like you are ready for some serious action. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 9, 2010 Author Share Posted November 9, 2010 the glass looks ok. my 39G is like that too. the acrylic wall is supported by a glass wall behind it, and the glass wall doesnt come all the way up to block the surface skimmers. thats why there is that gap there. its totally ok though., my tank has been running for a year now and its running great. nice set up, looks like you are ready for some serious action. Okay. Thanks for the information on the dividers! I do see the glass wall behind so that would account for the extra width. I tinkered with the filter media and got it to come out so it wasn't glued in like I originally thought. Good news for the media basket I want to put in there. If my live rock ends up coming before the aquarium stand replacement parts, I think I'll start cycling the rock in a 5 gal bucket with some saltwater, the heater and a spare pump i have for flow. I may have some questions on how to install the skimmer. Nothing came with instructions! Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 11, 2010 Author Share Posted November 11, 2010 Live rock came in today. Very very nice pieces of bali alor cured rock. Sad to say the replacement panel for the aquarium stand isn't here yet so I'm not putting the rock in the aquarium yet. Instead, I've set up a curing station for the rock with a clear rubbermaid tub, heater, pump for flow, and airstone for oxygen. I've read this will help cure the rock before placing it in the aquarium. Also, I got the media rack, filter floss, chemipure, and purigen today from inTank (Thanks Steve!). That was probably the best packaging I've ever seen. The live rock from premiumaquatics.com was also packaged very well. My apartment managers were razzing me about the package of rock because it had "LIVE FISH!" written all over it. To fit the media rack into the first chamber of my aquarium I had to pry a couple bars of glass that were siliconed in there serving as a shelf for the "stock" filter media which consisted of coarse filter floss, egg crate, and more coarse filter floss on the bottom. It wasn't too difficult to get 'em out of there. So, a question for anyone out there: When I finally start cycling my tank with the live rock and sand, should I go ahead and throw all the media and skimmer in as well? Link to comment
woowee Posted November 11, 2010 Share Posted November 11, 2010 if you are using totally new water then i would suggest to leave the skimmer off and dont use any chemical filtering such as carbon etc. you should let the tank go through a natural cycle which usually takes 4 weeks if you are using completely new water. then you can turn the skimmer and add in all the chemical filtering. but the idea is to establish the tank as natural as possible first. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 Aquarium stand panel and hardware are still not here! Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 Okay the hardware and aquarium stand panel finally came yesterday so I put it together without any instructions.... I scrubbed the live rock, placed it in the aquarium, and poured in the live sand. I tried my best at aquascaping. Here is what it looks like today after the water cleared up. Too much rock? I dunno. I kind of like it. Also I found a rocky/stony crab stow away inside one of the rocks... Apparently not good for reef tanks so I had to get rid of him. Also there was a very small starfish that looked very much like an Asternia. I kept it but I'll get rid of it if it proves to be a nuisance. Now the cycling begins. Specific Gravity: 1.024 pH: 8.0 Ammonia: 0.25 ppm Nitrite: 0.25 ppm Nitrate: 5.0 ppm Any thoughts or advice are always appreciated. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted November 30, 2010 Author Share Posted November 30, 2010 Update: I purchased a refractometer so I'm using that now instead of the hydrometer that I had. Parameters: Salinity: 1.025 pH: 8.0 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5ish Some interesting algae growth.... Anyone know what this is? It looks like some kind of slug but I have no idea. I'll post it in the ID forum Still a couple more weeks for the tank to cycle yet. Lots of life in it already though. That slug I found, tons of feather duster worms, and different kinds of macro and micro algae. Its very captivating to see this tank slowly come to life. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 UPDATE!!!! FTS 1/28/11 FTS 3/5/11 Things have moved around in these last few months. I took out about 10lbs. of the live rock so now the tank is left with 15 or so. I like the look of this scape better and its much easier to clean behind the rock now. Been trying to tackle a slight algae problem as you can see here: I thinking being more frugal with my feedings and making sure weekly water changes are performed will help. I've also ordered a Hydor Slim Skim protein skimmer to help. So far I've been doing top-offs by hand but that is becoming a daily chore. So, I broke down and ordered a JBJ ATO and Aqualifter pump with a 4 gallon square bucket to hide in my tank stand. I'm sure this will help stabilize the health of my tank too. I see this as a good investment. Here are some of the latest pictures of my livestock: Engineer/Convict Goby Emerald Crab (+1 baby hitchhiker not pictured, not sure what color it is yet) Red Leg Hermit Crab x2 Blue Leg Hermit Crab x2 Random Snail Coral Frag I've had since December Not shown: Blue Damsel because she's too damn fast to get a good pic and the Coral Banded Shrimp because she's always hiding behind the rockwork. More updates to come. I have two other corals and some more snails and hitchhikers to take pictures of so stay tuned. As always: comments, questions, and advice are always welcome. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 The money sure has been flowing out of my pockets lately. This week I have coming: Tunze Nano DOC 9002 Skimmer inTank small skimmer cup JBJ ATO + AquaLifter Vacuum Pump I'm boosting my CUC with an order from vivid aquariums: 10x Astrea Snails 4x Nassarius Snails 10x Red Leg Hermits 1x Tonga Fighting Conch 3x Electric Blue Hermit Crabs 1x Red Spotted Blenny Also 3 new additions from vivid aquariums: Paired Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish 1x Rose Bubble Anemone Can you say EXCITED???? Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Got my ATO hooked up tonight since I won't be around this weekend for top offs. My new blue damsel and engineer goby have been getting along swimmingly *chuckle*. The goby has already made a lair underneath and through the middle portion of my live rock and he now likes to perch inside the humble cave he has made. They both have been eating pretty much anything I throw at them including Omega One marine flakes and veggie flakes, Hikari freeze dried multi-vitamin enriched brine shrimp, and frozen Hikari spirulina and brine shrimp cubes. I should be getting my shipment from vividaquariums.com as soon as they contact me to schedule a ship date. I ordered on Tuesday and got an email later that day saying they'd contact me within 1-4 business days. I can't wait to get my new CUC, rbta, and gsm pair! I also ordered a chaeto ball from reefcleaners to put in the refugium so I'll finally get some use out of the refugium light I got when I bought the tank from cadlights. I had originally bought the 40G skimmer from cadlights too but it didn't ship with any instructions so I couldn't figure out how to get it to work correctly. Instead, I've opted for a tunze 9002 since I've heard so many good things about it and it's small enough to fit inside the fuge. Hmm.... Should I add some rock rubble and/or sand to the refugium? Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 CUC, red spot blenny, GSM clown pair, and RBTA arrived alive and in very good health. Thank you vividaquariums.com! I will upload pics soon. I had a minor issue with a purigen 100ml bag opening in the sump/fuge so I still need a clean up a few beads here and there. I also switched out the tahitian sand in the tank with more attractive fiji pink. I love the look right now. The RBTA has snuggled itself right inbetween the Toadstool leather and zoa colony which are both epoxy-ed into place. Going to need to figure out how to get the RBTA to move without harming it. I'm hoping the clowns will decide to host it. It really is a beautiful specimen. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 As promised, here are some photos of my new livestock and other things: GSM Clown Pair and RBTA They just started hosting the RBTA today. Definately excited about it. Red Spotted Blenny Hiding in his new cave. He loves to perch there and watch me watching him. Leptastrea Colony I bought this as a frag and it has grown out very nicely. Hitchhiker Green Star Polyps Hydroids Hitchhiker Baby Rock/Flower Anemone Munch munch munch! Tunicate Colony Hitchhiker Baby Mithrax Crab (brownish red) Sorry for the blurry picture. I'm still trying to get a better one of him but he is very good at playing hide and seek. FTS 03/17/11 I decided not to bore you with new pics of the CUC but they are doing very well. What do you think? Link to comment
jtgordon20 Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I think it looks great. Love the anemone and clown. Can't wait till I try my luck with an anemone for my clowns. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 I think it looks great. Love the anemone and clown. Can't wait till I try my luck with an anemone for my clowns. Thanks! I am really enjoying the RBTA so far. You should go for it! I have seen my LFS selling GBTA for $40 or so. Link to comment
Blackbird Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Those hitchiker green star polyps look like hydroids to me... Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Those hitchiker green star polyps look like hydroids to me... You're right. They are hydroids. I stand corrected! I would have prefered GSP though. Hydroids aren't as pretty. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 I took the Blue Damsel back to the LFS a few days ago because she was too aggressive towards my other tank inhabitants. They wouldn't give me credit back for her but I didn't really mind because she was only $6. Lesson learned: Pretty does not necessarily mean friendly. In other news, I pulled the Tunze 9002 skimmer out and took it apart to see why it wasn't creating any bubbles at all. There didn't seem to be anything wrong so I cleaned all the parts and put it back together... Voila! It works. I'm also debating whether or not to keep the glass canopy on the tank. It's really hard to keep clean and I feel like the water spots are reducing the amount of light that gets through to the tank. I got a new bag of Purigen today to replace the one that split open which was a PITA I've been trying to identify some of the macro algae thats been growing on the rockwork of my tank and here is what I've figured out so far. (images for reference) Grape Caulerpa Green Hair Algae Turf Algae Plating Coralline Algae (maybe) Cladophoropsis Cotton Candy Algae Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Another pic of the GSM Clown pair. I love these little guys. Link to comment
Macron Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 great picture of the clowns in the nem. What camera do you use? Link to comment
Rehype Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Another pic of the GSM Clown pair. I love these little guys. Awesome shot! Link to comment
mikellini Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Very nice tank. Wish I could keep a nem Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 great picture of the clowns in the nem. What camera do you use? Thanks Macron! I use a Nikon CoolPix L110 in macro mode. Also white balance is set to fluorescent. Awesome shot! Thanks Rehype! Your tank setups are an inspiration and your photography is top notch. Link to comment
streakr22 Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Very nice tank. Wish I could keep a nem Thanks mikellini! Still a work in progress. I took a big chance ordering this nem but I'm enjoying it so far. Link to comment
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