Stocking The Tank And Having Fun
30 April 2015 - Tank 1 week old.
The water has cleared nicely and given all the existing LR that was in the their, the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate show no big spikes at all. I'd like to think this was because I took extra super duper care when I took the LR out of the seahorse tank. It was out of water literally for less than 20 seconds in total during the move and in fact because it stayed in the sump, it stayed in its own, existing water, at least until the fill. Even then, the fill included all of the old water as well.
Tweaking of the aquascape continues daily. Each time I look at it, I want to move something slightly! The CUC (2 x redline shrimps, 3 x peppermint shrimps and a variety of snails) have all survived the move from the seahorse tank and are happily going about their business.
And yes, that is some blue green chromis in the tank already (embarrassed, impatient cough cough).
7 May 2015 - Tank 2 weeks old
More aquascaping tweeking. Everything seems to be going really well. Numbers all remain spot on and everyone seems happy. The green mushrooms from the old seahorse tank are thriving.
16 May 2015 - Tank 3 weeks old
The dreaded cyano!!! Of course I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to see the predictable cycling algae but I'm not surprised. So far so good though and its not too bad. There's also quite a bit of green algae sprouting on the LR too, but again, nothing I hadn't expected.
20 May 2015
I'm blessed with awesome tank buddies and one of them, the amazing Eva gifted me a few zoas, a flowerpot and some odds and ends to get the coral reef started.
23 May 2015 - Tank 4 weeks old
The first hammer is now in the tank and doing really well. All numbers spot on still. No cyano, no nasty algae but the coraline algae I can see starting to bud really well now.
I've also made the decision to focus on LPS, softies and zoas. Originally I had wanted SPS in there as well but I prefer the soft and gentle swaying of the softies and LPS and I'm certainly not expert enough by a long way to try and create a mixed reef tank.
A week ago, I had given to me a green button and I'm worried about him. He hasn't opened much and the moved damaged some of his flesh. After a week he's still not looking all that good really :(
On a brighter note, this weekend we have a new tank inhabitant. A foxface and I adore him!!!!
30 May 2015 - 5 Weeks Old
Not much to report really. All numbers still spot on. No major algae problems. Coraline algae growing well.
31 May 2015
I've been frustrated with my lights. I have two 5ft banks, each of four bulbs that I could use but I can only fit one on the acrylic light stands. The light stands won't extend any further and I've been racking my brains about how to get both banks of lights up there.
Darling hubby and I had been thinking about how to make this work for a few weeks and finally I suggested getting a hack saw blade and cutting the pointy upper parts off the stands so they were flat and then the second bank of lights would fit. Off goes Les to Bunnings to get a hack saw blade...
Ten mins later he bounces in the door without the blade and says he's solved the problem. All we have to do is turn the outer parts of the stands (the parts with the pointy up bits) upside down! Voila! Now we have two banks of 5ft ATI Sunpowers on the tank. That's 8 x 80w. :)
7 June 2015 6 Weeks Old
We bought a new veggie clip for the Foxface, one with a black netting hang down part so that I could keep the Foxface from tearing the sea veggies off the clip and then have them floating around the tank. Awesome plan, except the spooky lala Foxface is terrified of the black netting stuff. He absolutely does a drama queen "Oh I'm dying" dive for cover, turns black and you'd swear he was at deaths door any time the veggie clip goes in there.
It's taken us a week of gradually moving his normal veggie clip closer to the new one before he will have anything to do with it, but success this morning with him finally eating from the black netting clip.
I've also been thinking about how to feed the corals so I made this coral feeding tube this morning. Its air hose with a 20mL syringe attached at one end, threaded through some rigid clear acrylic. I also have a 2L plastic coke bottle that I cut the top half off to use as a sort of cover for the coral. So now, all I have to do now to feed the Flowerpot coral for example, is place the coke bottle over it (to keep the redlines away from scavenging and then draw the food up the tube and feed it to the coral. Voila!
At six weeks old, the tank is now beginning to take shape. Still a long way to go of course but I can see where it's headed now. The coraline is growing really well and everyone seems very happy and healthy.
18 June 2015
Woohoo!!! Guess who has brand new lights! Darling hubby bought them for me. ATI Sunpowers, 5ft, 6 bulbs. So two less bulbs than I had before but with brand new reflectors, there seems to be more light anyway.
20 June - 8 Weeks Old
Looking good with the new lights. The corals seem to be responding well but so too now does some algae. I can see just a spot or two of it developing. I'm not sure if there's too much light or if my phosphates are too high. The nitrates all seem fine. Phosphates come up at 0.03. All other numbers seem to be fine.
On a brighter note, I'm happy to show off the latest purchase. A maxima clam that I fell in love with. Now to dose with calcium!
5 July - 10 Weeks Old
Grrrrrrr!!!!! So much green hair algae!!!! The Foxface eats a tiny portion of it of course but I have a dam lawn instead of sand! So frustrating! I'm not sure what the problem is at this stage. My nitrates show next to nothing and my phosphates also come up really low but that may be because the algae is consuming it all anyway. I've reduced the time the lights are on down to 9 hours a day. Unsure what to do about the GHA menace. :(
Beside the GHA, the lights are now hung from mounting poles and it seems to make the tank much more sleek and attractive. I'me very happy with the result. However, lesson learnt was that it is not easy to mount lights from poles when there is only a 6 inch gap between the back of the cupboard and the wall!
We also have a new tank family member. The new blue tang has settled well.
Another upgrade to the whole maintenance system is the arrival of a 1000L IBC this morning subsequently filled with 1000L of natural salt water at 1.030 salinity. Given the price comparison between ASW and NSW, I figured I need to be smart about this and save costs.
The idea will be to pump NSW from the IBC in the shed to my 200L holding barrel under the patio (nearer the tank) and then top that with RODI to reduce it back to 1.025 salinity. Then I'll do the usual heat it for 24 hours to bring it to temperature (it is damn freezing in winter!) and then I can pump it to the tank for the water change. The holding barrel is lagged with a blanket to keep the water warm and reduce heating costs too.
I worked out that this will reduce my water change costs by half. I still have two full buckets of Red Sea salt if I need ASW at any time so I now have choices.
6 July 2015 - The Green Hair Algae Drama
Yesterday, I cleaned 90% of the GHA off the sand and of course that took half a bucket of sand with it as well. The sand does look cleaner. I also moved the powerheads a little so that the sand is moving around a fraction more so it won't be as easy for GHA to take hold on a moving substrate. I do end up with bald patches in two spots on the tank but I figured thats a small price to pay at the moment.
I also popped over to the wonderful @Lesley and she kindly tested my water for me again. TDS was zero on the RODI but phosphates were 0.06!!!!!! Agggghhhhhh!!!!! That was after a water change (the first with NSW from the new IBC) and after I had cleared most of the GHA and trimmed back the caulerpa. So phosphates is the demon here.
Plan of campaign at this stage is to up the water changes from the normal 15% weekly to 10% two -three times a week, throw some Sachem Phosguard in there, keep removing the pesky stuff if it springs up and hope that helps solve the problem.
I fully realise its all part of the longer therm cycling process and no doubt in a few weeks it will all be fine but in the mean time, it is as ugly as a hatful of bottoms and there's the risk it will compete with, and damage, the corals. GHA and me are now officially at war!
The water has cleared nicely and given all the existing LR that was in the their, the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate show no big spikes at all. I'd like to think this was because I took extra super duper care when I took the LR out of the seahorse tank. It was out of water literally for less than 20 seconds in total during the move and in fact because it stayed in the sump, it stayed in its own, existing water, at least until the fill. Even then, the fill included all of the old water as well.
Tweaking of the aquascape continues daily. Each time I look at it, I want to move something slightly! The CUC (2 x redline shrimps, 3 x peppermint shrimps and a variety of snails) have all survived the move from the seahorse tank and are happily going about their business.
And yes, that is some blue green chromis in the tank already (embarrassed, impatient cough cough).
7 May 2015 - Tank 2 weeks old
More aquascaping tweeking. Everything seems to be going really well. Numbers all remain spot on and everyone seems happy. The green mushrooms from the old seahorse tank are thriving.
16 May 2015 - Tank 3 weeks old
The dreaded cyano!!! Of course I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to see the predictable cycling algae but I'm not surprised. So far so good though and its not too bad. There's also quite a bit of green algae sprouting on the LR too, but again, nothing I hadn't expected.
20 May 2015
I'm blessed with awesome tank buddies and one of them, the amazing Eva gifted me a few zoas, a flowerpot and some odds and ends to get the coral reef started.
23 May 2015 - Tank 4 weeks old
The first hammer is now in the tank and doing really well. All numbers spot on still. No cyano, no nasty algae but the coraline algae I can see starting to bud really well now.
I've also made the decision to focus on LPS, softies and zoas. Originally I had wanted SPS in there as well but I prefer the soft and gentle swaying of the softies and LPS and I'm certainly not expert enough by a long way to try and create a mixed reef tank.
A week ago, I had given to me a green button and I'm worried about him. He hasn't opened much and the moved damaged some of his flesh. After a week he's still not looking all that good really :(
On a brighter note, this weekend we have a new tank inhabitant. A foxface and I adore him!!!!
30 May 2015 - 5 Weeks Old
Not much to report really. All numbers still spot on. No major algae problems. Coraline algae growing well.
31 May 2015
I've been frustrated with my lights. I have two 5ft banks, each of four bulbs that I could use but I can only fit one on the acrylic light stands. The light stands won't extend any further and I've been racking my brains about how to get both banks of lights up there.
Darling hubby and I had been thinking about how to make this work for a few weeks and finally I suggested getting a hack saw blade and cutting the pointy upper parts off the stands so they were flat and then the second bank of lights would fit. Off goes Les to Bunnings to get a hack saw blade...
Ten mins later he bounces in the door without the blade and says he's solved the problem. All we have to do is turn the outer parts of the stands (the parts with the pointy up bits) upside down! Voila! Now we have two banks of 5ft ATI Sunpowers on the tank. That's 8 x 80w. :)
7 June 2015 6 Weeks Old
We bought a new veggie clip for the Foxface, one with a black netting hang down part so that I could keep the Foxface from tearing the sea veggies off the clip and then have them floating around the tank. Awesome plan, except the spooky lala Foxface is terrified of the black netting stuff. He absolutely does a drama queen "Oh I'm dying" dive for cover, turns black and you'd swear he was at deaths door any time the veggie clip goes in there.
It's taken us a week of gradually moving his normal veggie clip closer to the new one before he will have anything to do with it, but success this morning with him finally eating from the black netting clip.
I've also been thinking about how to feed the corals so I made this coral feeding tube this morning. Its air hose with a 20mL syringe attached at one end, threaded through some rigid clear acrylic. I also have a 2L plastic coke bottle that I cut the top half off to use as a sort of cover for the coral. So now, all I have to do now to feed the Flowerpot coral for example, is place the coke bottle over it (to keep the redlines away from scavenging and then draw the food up the tube and feed it to the coral. Voila!
At six weeks old, the tank is now beginning to take shape. Still a long way to go of course but I can see where it's headed now. The coraline is growing really well and everyone seems very happy and healthy.
18 June 2015
Woohoo!!! Guess who has brand new lights! Darling hubby bought them for me. ATI Sunpowers, 5ft, 6 bulbs. So two less bulbs than I had before but with brand new reflectors, there seems to be more light anyway.
20 June - 8 Weeks Old
Looking good with the new lights. The corals seem to be responding well but so too now does some algae. I can see just a spot or two of it developing. I'm not sure if there's too much light or if my phosphates are too high. The nitrates all seem fine. Phosphates come up at 0.03. All other numbers seem to be fine.
On a brighter note, I'm happy to show off the latest purchase. A maxima clam that I fell in love with. Now to dose with calcium!
5 July - 10 Weeks Old
Grrrrrrr!!!!! So much green hair algae!!!! The Foxface eats a tiny portion of it of course but I have a dam lawn instead of sand! So frustrating! I'm not sure what the problem is at this stage. My nitrates show next to nothing and my phosphates also come up really low but that may be because the algae is consuming it all anyway. I've reduced the time the lights are on down to 9 hours a day. Unsure what to do about the GHA menace. :(
Beside the GHA, the lights are now hung from mounting poles and it seems to make the tank much more sleek and attractive. I'me very happy with the result. However, lesson learnt was that it is not easy to mount lights from poles when there is only a 6 inch gap between the back of the cupboard and the wall!
We also have a new tank family member. The new blue tang has settled well.
Another upgrade to the whole maintenance system is the arrival of a 1000L IBC this morning subsequently filled with 1000L of natural salt water at 1.030 salinity. Given the price comparison between ASW and NSW, I figured I need to be smart about this and save costs.
The idea will be to pump NSW from the IBC in the shed to my 200L holding barrel under the patio (nearer the tank) and then top that with RODI to reduce it back to 1.025 salinity. Then I'll do the usual heat it for 24 hours to bring it to temperature (it is damn freezing in winter!) and then I can pump it to the tank for the water change. The holding barrel is lagged with a blanket to keep the water warm and reduce heating costs too.
I worked out that this will reduce my water change costs by half. I still have two full buckets of Red Sea salt if I need ASW at any time so I now have choices.
6 July 2015 - The Green Hair Algae Drama
Yesterday, I cleaned 90% of the GHA off the sand and of course that took half a bucket of sand with it as well. The sand does look cleaner. I also moved the powerheads a little so that the sand is moving around a fraction more so it won't be as easy for GHA to take hold on a moving substrate. I do end up with bald patches in two spots on the tank but I figured thats a small price to pay at the moment.
I also popped over to the wonderful @Lesley and she kindly tested my water for me again. TDS was zero on the RODI but phosphates were 0.06!!!!!! Agggghhhhhh!!!!! That was after a water change (the first with NSW from the new IBC) and after I had cleared most of the GHA and trimmed back the caulerpa. So phosphates is the demon here.
Plan of campaign at this stage is to up the water changes from the normal 15% weekly to 10% two -three times a week, throw some Sachem Phosguard in there, keep removing the pesky stuff if it springs up and hope that helps solve the problem.
I fully realise its all part of the longer therm cycling process and no doubt in a few weeks it will all be fine but in the mean time, it is as ugly as a hatful of bottoms and there's the risk it will compete with, and damage, the corals. GHA and me are now officially at war!
