Feel the Chi-bye bye shrimpy

[jadedanime]

Hey guys, I've decided to make a new thread for my tank in the proper forum, seeing as I'm not a complete noob now. So anyway, here's the current look:

 

Current FTS:

 

 

This tank was created as part of my dorm room collection of tanks (10 gallon fresh, this 5 gallon reef). It is my first saltwater tank, and I'm sure I will be asking a lot of questions over the next year or so, but I'm excited to give this a go. This tank will be primarily a softie tank, with additions and expansions most likely to come in the next few years. I look forward to cultivating this reef into a work of art, and a beautiful biological ecosystem.

 

Current Equipment and Stock:

 

EQUIPMENT:

Powerhead: Hydor Koralia 240 GPH

Hydrometer

Light: Wavepoint 6" 8 Watt 50/50 (Super Blue and 10000k) clamp

Live Rock: 5 lbs from gulfliverock .com (Great stuff, highly recommend)

3 lbs Live Sand

Instant Ocean Salt

 

TEST KITS:

Saltwater Master Kit

Calcium Kit

KH Kit

 

MACROS:

Ulva

Caulerpa prolifera

Dragons breath

 

CORALS:

Some Pseudocories

Caribbean Rose Coral

Pink Gorilla Nipples Zoa Colony

Neon Green Zoas

Radioactive Dragon Eyes Colony

Mean Green Zoa Colony

Green Bay Packers

Peach zoa colony

Fire and Ice Zoas

Pink Zoas

Camo Palys

Hairy Mushroom

Glowstick Mushroom

Blue Mushroom

Red Mushroom

Green Ricordea

GSP

Colt coral

Orange Leptastrea

 

LIVESTOCK:

Firefish--X went carpet surfing 8-6-13

Occy Clown

Cleaner Shrimp -- X 9-8-13

Pom pom-- X8-9-13

Various snails

Feather Dusters

Filter Clams

Sponges

All the necessary bugs and worms to boot.

 

For previous pictures and posts, feel free to check my old thread: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/315567-feel-the-chi-now-with-coral/

 

[jadedanime]

Just ran some tests, haven't in awhile.

 

Salt: 1.024

Ammonia:0

Nitrite:0

Nitrate: 20

KH: 11-12

Calcium: 360-380 ish (Little low, but I do have a LPS and a clam in there sucking it up.)

 

Not bad for an end of the week, two days before a WC.

[jadedanime]

Pic dump: Sorry for bad quality... all I have is my iPad....better than my android I can say that much.

 

 

 

 

Poor camos....

 

 

My pride and joy nomming away on some mysis

 

[fretfreak13]

That rose is just so damn cool.

 

Your nipples are lookin good too.

[jadedanime]

That rose is just so damn cool.

 

Your nipples are lookin good too.

 

My nipples are pissed off from snails climbing all over them lol

 

I know I just love my rose. Best HH ever.

[fretfreak13]

Haha I was wondering why they were closed, but I couldn't resist. Can't wait to see you Sunday! Hopefully we're not slammed so I can spend a lot of time with ya!

[jadedanime]

That would be great. Lol hey this time I'll be able to hang around like a hobo until people leave.

[jadedanime]

Just got my fish, thanks to the lovely fretfreak13 for some awesome deals.

 

Acclimating now, pics later.

[rev138]

I'm about to put together a Chi reef, and I was planning to use a koralia 240 as well. How is that working out for you?

[jadedanime]

I'm about to put together a Chi reef, and I was planning to use a koralia 240 as well. How is that working out for you?

 

Working out great. I love the Chi, so making it into a reef was a no-brainer for me. The koralia has to be placed pretty high in the tank, but once you find the right spot for it the flow is perfect, doesn't knock things off, but definitely keeps everything clean of debris and detritus.

[Popan]

You're not running any sort of mechanical filtration system? Nice set up, I have a 5 week old 5 gallon fluval chi as well. (first tank and im a noob) Has LR, LS and a clown. Thinking of adding a cerith, a nassarius and a goby more and starting 2x a week water changes if my params become an issue with a once a week WC.

[jadedanime]

You're not running any sort of mechanical filtration system? Nice set up, I have a 5 week old 5 gallon fluval chi as well. (first tank and im a noob) Has LR, LS and a clown. Thinking of adding a cerith, a nassarius and a goby more and starting 2x a week water changes if my params become an issue with a once a week WC.

 

Nope I wanted it to be all natural. See score for the Chi's. I think everybody underestimates this tank because of the crappy lights. But take those out, add a clip-on light and BAM reef ready.

 

I have a million and a half snails. Reefcleaners is definitely overly generous about their packing haha. I have nassarius to stir my sand (3), a million ceriths (probably more like 50 small ones) I have two larger ceriths that only come out at night, and then some other random guys thrown in (nerites periwinkles..etc.) I love the nassarius's zombie-like effect when they crawl out of the sand for food. Def coolest snails IMO. See I have a clown and a firefish (shh don't let the inch-police get you). As somebody once told me "As long as your husbandry is good" your tank will be just fine. But I wouldn't do anything else except those two in there, just to be safe.

 

I already run less than once a week with my corals, so I am expecting once a week or once every like 5 days to be normal for my tank. Clowns can be messy haha but they are soooo cute. It's not saltwater without a clown.

[jadedanime]

UGH while waiting for my drip to acclimate my fish, my brilliant mind decided to mix up some fresh water to store.... While taking the salt box down, a chunk of salt came falling out, and where does it land? In my rose coral... UGH FML. Hoping it can pull through. It is receding back into it's skeleton as I type. My day just went from awesome to not so hot.

[Popan]

Nice . Didn't know that was possible to be honest. I have a solarflare gooseneck that has 2 - .25 Watt Blue LED Lights

10 - .25 Watt White LED Lights. Not sure if thats good enough to maybe grow mushrooms and what not. Does it matter if i introduce 3 or 4 snails at a time? I cant wait to go snail shopping . Ive gotten quite a few of those "inch-police" lol. Thats what has me thinking of upgrading when squishy (my clown lol) gets bigger. Def are the cutest fishies . He needs a buddy though so im gonna definitely put that goby in. i was thinking 2 clowns but im guessing 5 gallons is way too small for that. Im always on top of my params . Do you have a top on? My brother gave me this tank and he had a top made but it sucks because it over laps the sides of the tank which makes water always drip on the sides and on my stand/drawer so im not using a top for now. What do you use to keep your glass clean? I know glass cleaners (windex) are way out the question but wet paper towels just make my glass worst.

[jadedanime]

 

Nice . Didn't know that was possible to be honest. I have a solarflare gooseneck that has 2 - .25 Watt Blue LED Lights

10 - .25 Watt White LED Lights. Not sure if thats good enough to maybe grow mushrooms and what not. Does it matter if i introduce 3 or 4 snails at a time? I cant wait to go snail shopping . Ive gotten quite a few of those "inch-police" lol. Thats what has me thinking of upgrading when squishy (my clown lol) gets bigger. Def are the cutest fishies . He needs a buddy though so im gonna definitely put that goby in. i was thinking 2 clowns but im guessing 5 gallons is way too small for that. Im always on top of my params . Do you have a top on? My brother gave me this tank and he had a top made but it sucks because it over laps the sides of the tank which makes water always drip on the sides and on my stand/drawer so im not using a top for now. What do you use to keep your glass clean? I know glass cleaners (windex) are way out the question but wet paper towels just make my glass worst.

 

No snails don't fight or anything that I'm aware of, so introduce them as you need them.

 

I have a ..."lid" lol It's just a piece of plexiglass with holes in it. I only have it on when I sleep or when I am at class though. No need for it when I can watch the tank. It's mainly for the firefish.

 

I just wet papertowl the heck out of it lol

[Popan]

Def gonna buy the 4 snails then, tomorrow hopefully. Are they hardy like the clown fish?

 

Paper towels is gonna have to so then lol

 

My lid sucks, gonna have to look for another or add something to the rim to i can slide it and it will squeegee the water out and at the same time preventing water from dripping on its own.

sorry to hear about the coral. I hope it pulls through.

[rev138]

I know glass cleaners (windex) are way out the question

 

I don't see why. If you spray the towel away from the tank and then wipe the glass with it, the cleaner won't get into the water. It's not magic. If you are paranoid about it, however, use diluted vinegar. It will do a better job than plain water.

[Popan]

I don't see why. If you spray the towel away from the tank and then wipe the glass with it, the cleaner won't get into the water. It's not magic. If you are paranoid about it, however, use diluted vinegar. It will do a better job than plain water.

 

I dont like the way vinegar smells, I hate it. I thought the chemical might some how affect my params if the chemical were to evaporate or something. Idk im new to this. Just being extra careful

[rev138]

I think the reason people say not to use glass cleaners is because if you spray it on the glass, small aerosolized droplets might make their way into the water, but I don't see how it would be physically possible for anything to contaminate the water if you use the sprayer away from the tank. It's not going to penetrate the glass.

[jadedanime]

Yea if you spray away from the tank and you stand away from it (or in another room) it should be fine. I just don't own glass cleaner lol.

 

Yea thanks... I hope it pulls through too. Although a good two thirds of it are gone now. I increased the flow and moved it nearer to the powerhead..but who knows. If it doesn't pull through there will be my life lesson I suppose. Never keep the salt stored above the tank. Salt creep can fall out of the box and into the tank. Got it. Just put my fish in. Try to get a pic of them for you guys.

[Popan]

I think the reason people say not to use glass cleaners is because if you spray it on the glass, small aerosolized droplets might make their way into the water, but I don't see how it would be physically possible for anything to contaminate the water if you use the sprayer away from the tank. It's not going to penetrate the glass.

 

Makes sense to me. Im gonna give glass a cleaning right now. Its dirty on top (visible in the pics i posted)

 

Yea if you spray away from the tank and you stand away from it (or in another room) it should be fine. I just don't own glass cleaner lol.

 

Yea thanks... I hope it pulls through too. Although a good two thirds of it are gone now. I increased the flow and moved it nearer to the powerhead..but who knows. If it doesn't pull through there will be my life lesson I suppose. Never keep the salt stored above the tank. Salt creep can fall out of the box and into the tank. Got it. Just put my fish in. Try to get a pic of them for you guys.

 

Oh that explains why you use water lol . I keep all my stuff in a bucket in the other side of the room. Theres always gonna be mistakes. My first WC i doubled the dose of salt . Good thing there was nothing in my tank.

[jadedanime]

Bare with me they are still super skittish and hiding.

 

The clown

 

 

My firefish found a home lol

 

 

Here she is... (he?) And please excuse the dying coral drool... ugh.

 

 

NEED NAMES!!!

[rev138]

Wow. That's a tiny clown.

[jadedanime]

Wow. That's a tiny clown.

 

Smallest of the batch. His stripes aren't even full yet. I love him he's so cute haha

 

And theoretically the firefish and full grown. Just for comparisons.

[jadedanime]

Lights are off and hopefully the two get acclimated well to their new homes.

 

The rose has stopped spitting, so that's probably good news.