My Marine Adventure Begins

I would do the lowering...........

Seffie x

seffieuk said:

I would do the lowering...........

Seffie x

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Thanks seffie, i have raised my light as high as i can ,which is only 13" off the water. My contraption will not let me go any higher so i have combined this with less hours of light. I have the blue actinic lights on as normal - they look fab! My green corals are glowing!!!!! The MH is on for 4 hours this week will gradually increase this time as a lower, maybe an inch and an hour a week? I am planning to have the light at 10" finally. The MH on for 7 hours the actinics 2 hours either side. Does this sound ok?

Thought i would post a quick update.
Here is my new light... I love the blue actinics makes everything look so bright.

Also meet Gladys my lovely new Citron Goby. She is very shy but has eaten already and is soooo cute

In the bottom right of the picture there is a small shell growing on the rock. It opens and closes to feed(i assume) any ideas?

Right, i have been messing about with my powerheads and have the vortech now on reef crest mode higher in the tank on the right side and the Koralia on the left hand side aimed at the surface towards the centre of the front glass. I am planning on getting some corner pipe fixtures so i can direct the flow from the conister filter outlets along the back of my rock wall. I am also planning to take the filter sponges out of the canister filters to increase flow and limit possible nitrates building there. I was wondering if i could add my carbon media net into one of the canister filters - with a small bit of the sponge to stop it being pulled into the pump. What do people think?

Nice lighing rig and the little goby, soooo cute

Yes, you can add carbon to the canister filter

Seffie x

Thank you Seffie

I have removed the top sponge from the canister filter and added my carbon media net with a small bit of sponge. So far so good and already my nitrates seem to have dropped to between 5 and 10(from between 10 ans 20) Will remove the bottom sponge at the weekend. I have learnt slowly is best!!! Then i am going to start removing the bio-balls very slowly.
My second job of the weekend was to change my RO-filters. All went well until it came to replacing the resin in the DI section!!!
Tiny sticky balls everywhere!!!!!!
I did not manage to get every last scrap of resin from the canister.Even with the use of my long wooden spoon(yet another piece of kitchen equipment to be replaced!!!)but it was mostly clean and refilled with only minor spillage!

Looking forward to my water change tomorrow then i will post a full tank shot. Got a bit of cleaning of my back wall to do!

My latest Full tank shot.
Still need to do a little more cleaning around the sand and need to get my blade to the glass in places but everything is growing like mad and the tank is really beginning to look like an nderwater world now.

My latest purchase that i could not resist when i went to pick up some more salt!!!
Have been looking for the right one for ages and i just loved the pastel pink of this hammer.
Also for cute factor Perky getting ready for bed... still a bit defensive after the battle with the syphon tube!!

Love the Hammer euphyllia

Seffie x

Wow nice male Potter's Angel

Now i have removed my eunice worm and the rock it was living in i have had to have a little re-scape. Only needed to move a couple of rocks because it was a little unstable after removing the one at the front. The blue lights are on now so i cant get a good photo. Think i need to sleep on it too,may be having another rock shuffle in the morning! Will add a pic when the lights come on tomorrow.
I also need to top up my sand. Used live sand before, the type with lots of little shells in, all the shells have now turned grey and look nasty.
Anyone got any thoughts on the best sand to add and how to go about it(washing etc)?

Just an aronite, will be fine, but dont add too much all at once

My new addition arrived today... The things you can do during half term!!

I picked up my yellow watchman goby on Tuesday. He is a shy little fella and went straight into the little cave at the front of the tank, so no pics, sorry.
After a bit of research i managed to track down a tiger pistol shrimp to be his buddy.
After acclimatising him i gently lowered him near to the cave the goby is living in. Within minutes the pair were together and doing a little redecorating .

I am sooooo happy they get along and seem to be working well together ... not that they have been out of the cave long enough for a picture.
Very cool to watch though percy pistol shrimp with his armfulls of sand and Walter the watchman doing just that.. watching.
Will hopefully get a clear pic in the next couple of days and that FTS i promised.

seffieuk said:

Just an aronite, will be fine, but dont add too much all at once

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Thanks, ordered some today will be doing it in little bits using your(i think) funnel and hose pipe method. After a good wash of course!

I would love a goby shrimp pair. Mainly for there symbiotic relationship! Cool as hell!

You lucky s0d! Lol

woody88 said:

I would love a goby shrimp pair. Mainly for there symbiotic relationship! Cool as hell!

You lucky s0d! Lol

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Lucky indeed, could have gone differently - especially as i added them seperately!
I could watch them for hours.