This is my tail spot blenny: Harry. He's been here three weeks and doing fine.
Friday, December 14, 2012
New inhabitants
It's a bit like a new pregnancy in that I don't want to announce something else in the tank because it just might not make it. I've already lost a colony of zoas to some kind of infection. Or flatworm, or something. Now I'm dosing calcium and iodide so hopefully that's under control.
This is my tail spot blenny: Harry. He's been here three weeks and doing fine.
This is my tail spot blenny: Harry. He's been here three weeks and doing fine.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
October 20, 2013
So here's the first full tank shot.
I added a power head today to increase the flow. The algae problem is nearly dealt with. Hopefully with the Tunze and reducing the lights and doing a big water change I can nip this thing.
I added a power head today to increase the flow. The algae problem is nearly dealt with. Hopefully with the Tunze and reducing the lights and doing a big water change I can nip this thing.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Through a Lucky Move...
I have caught my mantis shrimp. It swam into the filter. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
My Cycle is Finished... I Think
So I think I'm at the end of my cycle. The ammonium never got higher than 0.5ppm and the nitrites and nitrates never spiked. Aside from a bit of nitrate when I started I haven't seen anything move but the ammonia. Everything is sitting at 0 so I might as well try to move on.
I got the diatom bloom. Yay! That's normal. And then the green hair algae outbreak. Am I going to do a full tank shot? Not on your life. It looks terrible. Absolutely. I'm trying to black it out for a couple of days and have turned off the light so we'll see how that goes.
I also picked up the start of a clean up crew today. The turbo snail is a machine. It's buzzing around the glass and where it's been i things are already looking better. I've already decided to call it Speedy. There's an astrea snail that hangs out with it that I'm tempted to call Lian. These two snails are going to town on the glass. Three more astrea are hanging out on the rocks. They don't look like they've done much yet, but this is where the algae is worst. My three hermit crabs are Red, White and Blue. Red and Blue have been busy in the sand. Red is fearless, it was trying to climb up the rocks. White has been having trouble with the two margarita snails that were thrown in for free since the narcissus were all so small. These two dicks of snails have latched onto a hermit crab and tried to use it to give them a ride. They've both let go and moved off on their own but White is upside down. I hope it's just tired out. That leaves the three narcissus. The two small ones have found the glass and are working away at the bottom. The third (and biggest) is somewhere in the rocks. I saw its proboscis for a while but it's gone missing. It's either being productive or it's fallen prey to the possible mantis shrimp hitchhiker.
I got the diatom bloom. Yay! That's normal. And then the green hair algae outbreak. Am I going to do a full tank shot? Not on your life. It looks terrible. Absolutely. I'm trying to black it out for a couple of days and have turned off the light so we'll see how that goes.
I also picked up the start of a clean up crew today. The turbo snail is a machine. It's buzzing around the glass and where it's been i things are already looking better. I've already decided to call it Speedy. There's an astrea snail that hangs out with it that I'm tempted to call Lian. These two snails are going to town on the glass. Three more astrea are hanging out on the rocks. They don't look like they've done much yet, but this is where the algae is worst. My three hermit crabs are Red, White and Blue. Red and Blue have been busy in the sand. Red is fearless, it was trying to climb up the rocks. White has been having trouble with the two margarita snails that were thrown in for free since the narcissus were all so small. These two dicks of snails have latched onto a hermit crab and tried to use it to give them a ride. They've both let go and moved off on their own but White is upside down. I hope it's just tired out. That leaves the three narcissus. The two small ones have found the glass and are working away at the bottom. The third (and biggest) is somewhere in the rocks. I saw its proboscis for a while but it's gone missing. It's either being productive or it's fallen prey to the possible mantis shrimp hitchhiker.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Going Live!
Yesterday was a big day for the tank. I added the Apex Jr. controller, sand and live rock. Now I'm just waiting for it to clear up again for pictures. Nothing's ever easy with this thing though.
Thursday night I went out to get a bridge for the Apex. It's just not close enough to a computer to run cable. The bridge that they sold me was by D-Link, and was terrible. I was reminded that I should never buy this product again. I couldn't even get it to the log in screen. This was my second D-Link product, and neither of them have worked. Saturday I went out and exchanged the D-Link for a Linksys. I paid more, but I had it hooked up in 2 minutes. The Apex hooked up with it easily and now I have the lights and heater on a timer and the pump on one-touch command. I may have to look into expanding into an EB8 to get a power head in there and I need the module for a Ph probe.
Looks great with the lights. Maybe a little nosier than I wanted but it's not that bad.
The live rock was a challenge. I probably bought a little more than I needed but some of the pieces looked so cool I didn't want to trade for something smaller. I ended up with 29lbs in a 30gal so I'm on the suggested target. I like the aquascape I eventually came up with. I would have liked a bit more open space in the front but I'm happy with it.
The sand... Well, I thought I'd rinsed it thoroughly but my cloudy was apparently still pretty milky when I put it in there. It's been about 15 hours now and I can almost see everything. I'll have to go in with my pump and just kind of spray excess sand off the rocks. I used a bit more that I needed to (still have some in a bucket to bag up again) but I just wanted to make sure I have good coverage. It's not a deep sand bed, but it's a good 2-3 inches.
I've even seen a few hitchhikers: a mini-brittle star and a snail. I hope the snail is a good one.
Thursday night I went out to get a bridge for the Apex. It's just not close enough to a computer to run cable. The bridge that they sold me was by D-Link, and was terrible. I was reminded that I should never buy this product again. I couldn't even get it to the log in screen. This was my second D-Link product, and neither of them have worked. Saturday I went out and exchanged the D-Link for a Linksys. I paid more, but I had it hooked up in 2 minutes. The Apex hooked up with it easily and now I have the lights and heater on a timer and the pump on one-touch command. I may have to look into expanding into an EB8 to get a power head in there and I need the module for a Ph probe.
Looks great with the lights. Maybe a little nosier than I wanted but it's not that bad.
The live rock was a challenge. I probably bought a little more than I needed but some of the pieces looked so cool I didn't want to trade for something smaller. I ended up with 29lbs in a 30gal so I'm on the suggested target. I like the aquascape I eventually came up with. I would have liked a bit more open space in the front but I'm happy with it.
The sand... Well, I thought I'd rinsed it thoroughly but my cloudy was apparently still pretty milky when I put it in there. It's been about 15 hours now and I can almost see everything. I'll have to go in with my pump and just kind of spray excess sand off the rocks. I used a bit more that I needed to (still have some in a bucket to bag up again) but I just wanted to make sure I have good coverage. It's not a deep sand bed, but it's a good 2-3 inches.
I've even seen a few hitchhikers: a mini-brittle star and a snail. I hope the snail is a good one.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Enclosed
Got the glass top put on yesterday. Hope it'll slow down evaporation a little. Otherwise it may become a bit awkward. I'll have to find someplace to put it any time I want to work on the tank. I think it may slide back a bit for feeding.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I Think I've Got It!
My salinity has been holding steady at about 1.022 for a couple of days now. When I got home last night it had spiked, but all I needed to do was a top off.
I may need to look into an ATO, I'll have a better idea of evaporation when I get the cover on and the lights.
I really don't like this swing arm hydrometer. I don't trust the accuracy.
I may need to look into an ATO, I'll have a better idea of evaporation when I get the cover on and the lights.
I really don't like this swing arm hydrometer. I don't trust the accuracy.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Salinity Problems
So I followed the directions for Instant Ocean yesterday: 1/2 cup per US gallon. The tank is 30 gallons so I added 15 cups. This morning I went to check my handy work.
The temperature is 78 degrees, a little lower than I want but I can bump that up. And holy cow! The salinity is off the chart!
I'm glad I didn't need this water right away for livestock, it wouldn't have worked.
I took some water out with a bucket, added more tap water and added more Prime. Then I checked again. Still too high. I pumped out about a third of the water (maybe 8 gallons) and refilled with tap water. Dosed with Prime again and tested the water. Now it's too low. At least the swing arm is bouncing into the green area. I've added another cup of salt this evening. I'll let it mix awhile and see where I end up. Hopefully, by the end of the evening, I'll be where I want to be.
The temperature is 78 degrees, a little lower than I want but I can bump that up. And holy cow! The salinity is off the chart!
I'm glad I didn't need this water right away for livestock, it wouldn't have worked.
I took some water out with a bucket, added more tap water and added more Prime. Then I checked again. Still too high. I pumped out about a third of the water (maybe 8 gallons) and refilled with tap water. Dosed with Prime again and tested the water. Now it's too low. At least the swing arm is bouncing into the green area. I've added another cup of salt this evening. I'll let it mix awhile and see where I end up. Hopefully, by the end of the evening, I'll be where I want to be.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Up and Running
I've been waiting so long to make my own little reef tank. I've been staring at things, on and off, for the past nine years. Now I've got the time and the money to make my own little slice of the ocean.
The theme for the tank is symbiotic relationships. I want to have the pair of clown fish in their sea anemone. I want to see the goby with its pistol shrimp and I'd love to see a cleaner shrimp set up shop.
Right now I've got a glass box full of water.
I'm starting with an Innovative Marine Nuvo 30g. It's as big as I could go for the space I can put it in. I built the stand today and currently it's mixing salt water for me. I just used tap water for this first fill. Before adding the salt I dosed it with a capful of Prime to handle and chlorine. My municipal water is very high quality (TDS<50ppm) and it's just going to sit for a week before I even start the cycle.
This week the goal is to set up the equipment and make sure everything is functioning properly. I'll test my salinity tomorrow and take a closer look at the heater (I think the temperature is a little lower than I'd like). I'm going to keep an eye on evaporation to determine if I should invest in an auto top-off.
The theme for the tank is symbiotic relationships. I want to have the pair of clown fish in their sea anemone. I want to see the goby with its pistol shrimp and I'd love to see a cleaner shrimp set up shop.
Right now I've got a glass box full of water.
I'm starting with an Innovative Marine Nuvo 30g. It's as big as I could go for the space I can put it in. I built the stand today and currently it's mixing salt water for me. I just used tap water for this first fill. Before adding the salt I dosed it with a capful of Prime to handle and chlorine. My municipal water is very high quality (TDS<50ppm) and it's just going to sit for a week before I even start the cycle.
This week the goal is to set up the equipment and make sure everything is functioning properly. I'll test my salinity tomorrow and take a closer look at the heater (I think the temperature is a little lower than I'd like). I'm going to keep an eye on evaporation to determine if I should invest in an auto top-off.
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