Reef Journal - First Build Ever!

[jennm]

IME, 78 is the number to shoot for. I can think of some corals that will start to melt down if they push 82. Euphyllia, Xenia don't like it, for starters.

It's going to be hard to observe 'schooling' in a tank of that size, Bill. Chromis aren't a true schooling fish but they (and others) do sort of shoal together.

4 shrimp seems like a lot in a smaller tank - it can be done, but I do see a potential conflict between the fire shrimp and the skunk cleaners. They can co-habitate but the fire shrimp tend to be a bit more territorial or aggressive. NOT like the Coral Banded, but there is a distinct difference in the behavior of the fire shrimp and its cousin the skunk cleaner.

If it were me, I'd probably choose one pair of the same specie (ie either 2 fire shrimp or 2 skunk cleaners). They will reproduce and the fry will become fish/coral food.

Black clowns... Ocellaris? They are less aggressive than quite a few other clown species. Should be fine.

Porcelain crabs - be careful.. make sure you get the ones that stay tiny. Some "Porcelain" crabs get large and destructive. There are several species that go by that common name so make sure you know what you are getting.

Jenn

 

[myvwrock]

One Dumm Hikk;347577 wrote: The key to temperature is not to chase a particular number but rather aim for consistency. A consistent 84 degrees will always be better than an average of 82 degrees if the 82 swings 4 degrees each way during the day from 78-86. Consistency is the key. Doesn't mean keep it a consistent 90 or 70 either.

Agreed you want to try and keep the temp. as constant as possibly.

 

[vox]

Here's my numbers from two days ago:

(1) Specific Density - 1.024, perfect
(2) pH - 8.2, almost perfect as I'm aiming for 8.3
(3) Ammonia - 0, perfect
(4) Nitrite - 0.5 (API 0.25), dropping fast and almost gone
(5) Nitrate - 1.0 (API 2), I was surprised here, must be the bacteria from the BIO-Spira hard at work
(6) Alkalinity - 7, a little high and I'm adding Calcium to try to fix this

And from today:
(1) Specific Density - 1.025, I'm aiming for 1.024-1.025
(2) pH - 8.2, I'm aiming for 8.3
(3) Ammonia - 0
(4) Nitrite - 0
(5) Nitrate - 0.2
(6) Alkalinity - 7, a little high and I'm still adding Calcium to try to fix this

I think I'm ready to add snails/crabs! I'm going to take the kids with me and go out and browse livestock today.

 

[vox]

Imagine Ocean (Canton)

I'll be heading up to see you today! My kids are going to be amazed to see all of the cool livestock.

 

[vox]

Revision 2 (with pictures)
New list:
- 2 Black Clownfish
- Something pretty that will go with the Clownfish, I would like something small and colorful that schools together
- 2 Fire Shrimp (or) 2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

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- 3 Orange Spotted Nassarius Snails

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- 3 Zebra Striped Turbo Snails

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- 3 Bumble Bee Snails

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- 2 Porcelain Crabs (get the kind that stay tiny)

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- 10 Blue Leg Reef Hermit Crabs

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- 3 Red Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs

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[vox]

Revision 3 (with pictures)

As of 05/23/09 this is my plan.

New list:
- Substitute 2 Oscellaris Clownfish
http://www.aquacon.com/images/ocellarisclown.bmp" alt="" />
- 1 Coral Beauty Angel
[IMG]http://www.aquacon.com/images/AngelCoralBeauty2.jpg alt="" />
- 1 Goby
- 2 Fire Shrimp

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- 3 Orange Spotted Nassarius Snails

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- 3 Zebra Striped Turbo Snails

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- 3 Bumble Bee Snails

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- 2 Pom Pom Crabs

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- 3 Blue Leg Reef Hermit Crabs

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- 3 Red Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs

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Thanks for ARC for all the great advice!
Thank you Jenn (Ocean Imagine)!
Thank you Amanda (Creation Reef)!

:yessign:

 

[vox]

I was there from around 3 until about 3:45. Sorry I missed you. :sad:

 

[vox]

Here's my measurements from Saturday morning.

And from today:
(1) Specific Density - 1.025, I'm aiming for 1.024-1.025
(2) pH - 8.2, I'm aiming for 8.3
(3) Ammonia - 0
(4) Nitrite - 0
(5) Nitrate - 0.2
(6) Alkalinity - 7, a little high and I'm still adding Calcium to try to fix this

I did add some livestock yesterday so I'm interested in today's reading. This is the last thing I'm doing before I hit the sack.

(1) Specific Density - 1.0245
(2) pH - 8.1
(3) Ammonia - 0
(4) Nitrite - 0
(5) Nitrate - 0.5
(6) Alkalinity - 5.5

My pH was a bit low so I have added some Alkaline 8.3, I also added a teaspoon of Calcium and Magnesium along with a 1/2 cap of

 

[vox]

Here's what I have added to my tank so far:
- 2 Oscellaris Clownfish: awesome fish! They buddy up and swim all over the tank together. They also stay near the glass so they are always easy to watch.
- 1 Coral Beauty Angelfish: She's shy. :blush: I had to move my rocks around because there were some places where she could go and hide for hours. Now she has a nice cave to rest but I can still catch a glimpse of her. Beautiful fish! Kids named her Angela.
- 2 Fire Shrimp: The most entertaining critters in the tank so far. These two are all over the place and the graceful white antenna with the striking red and white spots... stunning. I think I have a male and a female so hopefully they will mate. One of them molted last night and I woke up thinking that one of them had died. I had quite a scare until I discovered that the shell was empty. We named them Pepe and Luigi. :shades:
- 3 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
- 3 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
- 2 Bumblebee Shrimp
- 2 Pom Pom Crabs

 

[vox]

you might have gone overboard a little for a new tank

Guilty as charged! I got caught up in the moment. :tongue2:

The Ammonia and Nitrite remain at zero with Nitrate very low so hopefully I'll be OK.

At night they seem to hang out by the overflow

That's funny, mine are doing the same thing.

My Coral Beauty Angelfish is getting a bit less shy.

 

[vox]

Here's my tank inventory:
- 2 Ocellaris Clown Fish

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- 1 Coral Beauty Angelfish:

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- 2 Fire Shrimp

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- 2 Pom Pom Crabs
- 2 Bumblebee Snails
- 3 Nassarius Snails
- 5 Checkerboard Snails

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- 7 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
- 7 Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
- Metallic Hairy Mushroom

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- Lavendar Mushroom (with some little guy with a green button growing under him?)

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- Orange/Blue Zoanthas (Eagle Eye?)

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[vox]

Any idea what this snail is doing? Is he/she laying eggs?

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[vox]

Found a hitchhiker. :tongue: Is this a good guy or a bad guy?

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[vox]

I have a bunch of these guys too, probably 30 that popped up. Any clues as to what it is and if he is good or bad?

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[vox]

And last but not least, my Checkerboard Snails are strip mining my rocks. :wow2:

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One of these guys clears off ALL of the algae down to the bare rock on about a 1" square every day. Here's my question, is that TOO efficient? I didn't think that the snail would take everything down to bare rock. Have any of you played around with Checkerboard Snails before and are they a good idea or are they too good at algae removal?

 

[jennm]

They are Fire & Ice zoas.

And yep that would be snail dung

The little critter near the snail poop is an Asterina star. Harmless film feeders, they reproduce by fission so you'll often see one with some long legs and some short - they regenerate the legs they split off. Never get bigger than a dime (and a dime sized one is huge!)

Jenn

 

[vox]

Today's numbers compared to a few days ago

(1) Specific Density - 1.0245
(2) pH - 8.1
(3) Ammonia - 0
(4) Nitrite - 0
(5) Nitrate - 0.5
(6) Alkalinity - 5.5

(1) Specific Density - 1.025
(2) pH - 8.15
(3) Ammonia - 0
(4) Nitrite - 0
(5) Nitrate - 1.0
(6) Alkalinity - 6.5

Tank parameters are still looking good.

 

[vox]

:sad:

I think that one of my Fire Shrimp has died. He's not moving at all and has been completely still for about 10 minutes. He was acting funny earlier tonight by sitting horizontally on the rock instead of hanging onto the side vertically like he usually does. I tapped him with my finger and he still didn't move.

Either he is practicing some sort of deep Zen meditation or I think he is a gonner. :shout:

I wish I knew what did him in as my tank numbers check out. Maybe it was just his time.

 

[vox]

Cool picture of mr. Pom Pom crab:

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Jenn, thanks for all of the help picking out some very cool coral today. It looks great in the tank and now I have the humble beginnings of a REEF tank. Now to find some more frags.

 

[vox]

Here's another picture of the strip-mining left behind by the Checkerboard Snail.

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Should I get a different kind of snail or is this the kind of thing that I actually want in my tank? He doesn't seem to eat the Coraline from what I can see.