Complete Noobie Exploring Unknown Territories

[superman1]

guess what... so i found a bargain on the aquarist classified consisting of
2 cleaner shrimps
1 randals shrimp goby
1 Hi-Fin Clown Goby (Stonogobiops sp)
1 flameback angel
5 hermit crabs
all for £50 so i had to get these

anyway when i went there the chap had a bucket on the side of the tank filled with live rock
anyway he told me he was moving house so he was emptying the tank out so that when he moves he can start a fresh..
he offered me some live rock and i told him well i would have to go to the cashpoint as i only had enough for the fishes
he then turns to me and says you can have it for free. as hes got no where to store them

so i got myself 20ish KG of live rock for freee..... can you believe it... i was well chuffed. he also gave me an unused 5kg bag of reef crytals salt all for £50

so to recap i have 22kg of live rock in my tank and 20ish kg of live rock in a tub full of water at the mo. i plan to make live rock rubble and place this into the cannister filter and i also plan to put in about 10kg of live rock into the tank.

now my first question is the live rock has green hair algae over it (the thick strong kind) the chap told me if i put it into a tub with the usual salted water and then put magnesium i think he said into the water this should kill all of the green stuff... is this right and could some please help in explaining what i need to do to remove this stuff.. thanks

p.s i may have some live rock for sale if i have some spare

 

[Buddyboy67]

Do not put in fresh water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This WILL kill yer algae, and yer rock as well!
Treat in salt mix only mate....

Oooops read above wrong,lol..my apologies

 

[superman1]

ok well this is the type of algae or grass...

any one have any recommendations on how to remove.

thanks

 

[superman1]

Have just got myself an internal protein skimmer that my friend gave me.. i will use this on the tank untill i can get something decent. has anyone used one of these types before.

its one of those ones that is operated through an air pump with a Tetratec 300 air pump and wooden airstone.

its an internal one so will have to figure out where i shall place this. but later on today i will remove all of this byropsis (identified by members at Ultimate Reef) and will then move into my tank later on as its already mature Live rock from an established tank.

i will be putting in about 5-10KG in my tank and will remove some media out of external and replace with Live rock rubble. then hopefully over the weekend i will place the Protein skimmer and see how it goes..

if i dont say so myself the tank is coming along nicely.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Unlike bryopsis i suffered from, that algae would be devoured by a foxface ,tang, hermits,etc.....

Try here for algae id..http/www.chucksaddiction.com/conditions.html

or a much better site....http/www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

 

[Buddyboy67]

An emerald crab will make short work of that stuff mate!!!

 

[superman1]

An emerald crab will make short work of that stuff mate!!!

oh thats good to hear as i have 2 of them in the tank.. i will try to remove as much as i can and will leave a litte for the crabs.

much appreaciated.

p.s i have put in the live rock that i need for my tank of around about 7kg and some live rock rubble in my canister so that means i have available 20kg of live rock for sale if anyones interested..

 

[seffieuk]

p.s i have put in the live rock that i need for my tank of around about 7kg and some live rock rubble in my canister so that means i have available 20kg of live rock for sale if anyones interested..

Superman, Ginger is looking for live rock, where abouts are you in the country?

Seffie x

 

[superman1]

hello Seffie

im in banbury, oxfordshire.. i have 20kilos left over from my skape. .... will let it go for £60... how does that sound.. all it needs it just a bit of time to pull of the green stuff as seen in the pics.

 

[superman1]

hello

ok its been a little while since i have updated on here..
so since i have last been on i have added 10 turbos which i got from a chap in banbury who was breaking his tank down on the Ultimate reef site and i also picked up a chalk bass.

i will update pics soon of the tank.. it seems to be doing very well.

i have removed the external cannister filter and i received an Aqua Medic Minifloater protein skimmer and to be honest i hated the look of it as i dont have a sump and wasn't too fond of the look of it inside the tank so i did a little research and found a rea sea prizm deluxe protein skimmer on UR for £30!!!!!

so i checked out some reviews and alot of said that this works wonders although hasnt had much good feedback on here so because of the price and because its rated for 400L i thought i would give it a go on my tank..

reason why i chose this is because it hangs on the back and looks nice and out of the way.. i had to cut a bit of the back of the hood for the skimmer but luckily because its on the back you cant tell.

anyway since having it on for under a day its already collected alot of gunk from the tank.. the collection cup is already 1 quarter full of yellowy brown stuff. it is a bit noisey though but its not on throughout the night...

before i could see like a film on the surface of the water but because it comes with a surface skimmer that has now dissapeared and looking clean..

personally i would recommend one.

as far as stocking goes i am going to leave the tank for a bit and the only thing i really want to do next is maybe buy more powerfull powerheads...

watch this space for more pics.

 

[superman1]

pic with heater moved and more rock it.

also have a pic of the moon lights

 

[ben1987]

wow i really like that shadow effect you got going on with the moon lights. Nice work

 

[superman1]

wow i really like that shadow effect you got going on with the moon lights. Nice work

thanks ben... yeh im quite happy with it and touch wood havent had no problem with stats or stock..

the new skimmer has been working wonders taking crap out..



just a quick update:

i accidentally killed a crab.. the crab was hiding in a rock which i took out as didnt like the look off and placed it with the extra rock that i had which was in salted water but stinking alot. high ammonia killed it

anyway. current stocking is

4 cleaner shrimps
about 11 hermits
1 mitrax crab
about 6 snails (had a few die from falling off rocks)
2 clowns
2 yellowtail damsels
1 chalk bass
1 flameback angel
1 sunface damsel
1 randals goby
1 mandarin goby
1 engineer goby

i have found that the damsels seem completely fine dont see any aggression..

any other suggestions or am i at my limit of stocking.. i would love a hawkfish

also i want to rehome the mandarin goby and randals goby as i hardly ever see them.. any takers???

 

[rabbut]

You won't be far off your limit there. Are all your fish adult? If so, are your Nitrate and/or Phosphates skipping up? If so, you are at your limit, if not, you'll probably get away with one or two more Considering the Damsels aren't knacking the Clowns though, I'd guess that at least the Damsels are juveniles still

A Hawkfish may go for the Clowns and/or Yellow Tail Damsels. If you keep it well fed you may get away with it, but these preds are able to take fish up to the same size as themselves if they feel like it It only takes them getting peckish, and the Clowns and/or Damsels may then be viewed as lunch...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Buddyboy67]

I have found that my adult clowns actually attack my scarlet hawk on sight here rather than being predated on..what species of hawk are you thinking of mate...scarlet or long nose hawks shouldn't cause you any problems with this