First Marine Tank :)

[seffieuk]

Just a little scared of me but are getting used to my face against the glass

Dont you worry, it wont be long until its you who are scared of the clowns after thery have bitten you the first time

The whisker coral looks beautiful in the flow Hoping this grows and expands into more and more polyps? Is that what they are called?

Duncan's coral, Duncanopsammia axifuga


Am thinking about adding an anemone to the tank for the clowns, what are everyones opinions on this?

an anemone needs a lot of thought, planning and a mature tank of at the least 7 months - so, yes its do-able in the future

Also, would it be ok to add a royal gramma to the tank in about a week?

yep, just keep an eye on your stats and be careful of adding too much food for those clowns

 

[indir-emir]

Haha yeah i really wanted to make sure they ate tonight as it was an unexpected suprise which mum bought for me Welcomed however

Sorry seffie, i know it was a duncans whisker Im ment those little things... Are they called polyps? Or are they just a whole bunch of them in a brancehd rock? Going to reserach how tehse expand now lol. I find it pretty cool that they dont retract at night, or maybe mine are weird? They look great in the flow

The Green coral is looking alot better tonight. Moonlights are still on though. Going off soon as im going to bed very soon so ill see how she is in the morning.

My peppermint shrimp really like to come out when i come to the tank with food in my hands Went to feed the tnak today and they came out frombehind the rocks and out onto my hand and the eye dropper i was using to feed the coral with. Scared the day lights out of me hahah I must have gotten two which dont hide when im feeding haha

Is it bad that my 'female' clown is about twice hte size of my 'male'? Am a little worried about this, but they seem GREAT together No fighting at all yet

EDIT: Is it okay to remove the collection cup from the skimmer for cleaning while the skimmer is still pumping away? I think there would be no harm but would liek to confirm prior to doing so since the skimmer is brand new lol.

 

[seffieuk]

The whisker coral looks beautiful in the flow Hoping this grows and expands into more and more polyps? Is that what they are called?

Ah, ha see what you mean duh i'm a donut - they are called 'heads'

 

[seffieuk]

The Green coral 'Kenya Tree'


My peppermint shrimp really like to come out when i come to the tank with food in my hands

Thats amazing, you must have the only peppermints in the world to come out when a hand is in the tank - eekkk unless they are not pepperments and camels instead


Is it bad that my 'female' clown is about twice hte size of my 'male'? Not at all, it was a good idea, females are so much bigger than males, so you shouldnt get the arguing that happens when they are trying to sort out who is going to be the boss (female)

EDIT: Is it okay to remove the collection cup from the skimmer for cleaning while the skimmer is still pumping away?
Yeah, it will be fine

 

[indir-emir]

Nah i thought that too seffie, but i did my resarch on both and mine dont look like camels thankfully haha. But i love them. Maybe coz i basicaly hand fed them since they arrived here haha. They reach int othe eye dropper to pull out mysis shrimp, quite funny. I love them lol.

It is not actually a kenya tree Let me find the name of what i think it actualy is. Oh and speaking of it is looking ALOT better tonight. I moved it back to the place with good flow and it has now closed up and not drooping thank god

EDIT: Green Sinularia - Thats the green corals name lol. Thats why i cant remember it Sinularia, Sinularia, Sinularia, Sinularia, Sinularia. That should do it

 

[drsquirrel]

RE: Sump
The water fall over into the pump surely must create some bubbles? It seems to me you have the sump running backwards. And, that setup gives you little room for evaporation, it will be sucking air sooner than normal.

I'd let other people comment - but it looks like you can get the sump out (some of us cannot ) - I'd be inclined to turn it whilst you can (remember to remove the water!!)

Running it like that does mean you are less likely to flood your display tank though (if there is a blockage etc, it takes less time to "empty" the sump). Though the way I have mine, neither can be flooded.

Hopefully your bend will still allow the sump to be turned (you can always have the bends towards/away from you).

 

[indir-emir]

Backwards? How can that be possible... My overflow is on the left of hte tank, it overflows down a stand pipe directly into the sump with the skimmer there, then flows into the refugium, then to the return pump which pumps the water back up to the right side of the tank?

I thought that is the correct way Any other way would make no sense to me... Because if the pump was on the left were the water came down the other 2 chambers would not see any of that water... Would they?

The pump i have, i tested to see that evaporation thing. It would need to evaporate a few litres to get to the point of air sucking. Becuase the pump can go to about 2/3 dry on top before it sucks air because that is how low the part that sucks water in is. A few people use this pump that i know that use it for the same reason lol.

I can move the sump, no dramas with that. Just doesnt make sense to move it thats all.. All the pics i see are like mine

Oh and I dont think i see any bubbles going down that side, or into the display... Maybe im blind? But i dont think they do lol.

EDIT: Is it ok to feed my clowns mysis shrimp every night until i can source some marine pellets? Stores around me dont ahve any marine food so gona have to find some online. Dont know how long delivery would take.. .But probably some time next week.

 

[indir-emir]

Ok well continuing on with my previous post. Still dont think my sump is back to front But care to share why it is?

Is it ok to feed my clowns frzoen mysis for a while? Once a night? I cannot get marine food from the shops near me so ill have to order online, and it probably wont arrive till mid or late next week. Anyone know if this would be ok? I also have frozen baby brine shrimp, and bloodworms. Would these be ok for a while?

My substrate finally arrived today, along with my test kits! Just filled the substrate up, its about 2 inches of depth across the tank. I however left the back end of the tank (behind rocks) without gravel incase my shrimp were there as i didnt want to kill them. Hoping that the worms i probably burried inside the rocks wil come out into the sand or go out another area. Also moved my power head on the right a little higher, and the one of hte left alittle lower. Pictures soon to come.

Good news guys, my green sinularia seems to have grown a little. Well the smaller piece has grown im pretty sure, so pics to come aswell Its also greening up a little bit more in its original spot Thank god

Clowns have been named by my girlfriend as Coral (Female) And Marlin (Male). She likes finding nemo lol.

Have also eliminated all the bubbles in the sump, however had to use filter wool stuffed in a net till i can find a filter sock to use instead. No more bubbles anywhere

Stay tuned! Off to test my water with my kits.

 

[drsquirrel]

The bubble trap is on the left, bubble traps are usually before the return pump to stop the return pump sucknig air in (and cutting it up finer) where they will float in your display tank forever

Now, obviously this can work from the start, stopping bubbles as soon as it enters the sump, though other things in the sump (like skimmer output etc) can produce more bubbles.

Added to that, water falling over the edge can/will/sometimes/usually will produce bubbles which is what you want to avoid.


I think yours is just more compact so there is only one bubble trap at one end rather than both.


If yours isn't producing bubbles then good - I'd still run it as high as possible in the last chamber though. A few litres of evaporation isn't going to take long at all - easily less than a day on a hot one, maybe even a day on a cool one.

I've also seen some pumps that can produce vortexes a few inches under and pull air in...

 

[indir-emir]

Well i think ive eliminated the bubbles with the filter wool - Will wash this out every few days though. Need to get a filter sock to put around the pipe to stop the bubbles straight away.

Ok good. Thats encouraging. My clowns are not eating much though Only a few bits and pieces of shrimp then they just seem to not care for it no longer.. Giong to try some brine shrimp tomorrow, or blood worms. The missus had a thought, could i feed fresh water pellet food to marine fish? Is that even possible? lol.

Ok my test kits came today so here are my test results:

Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia - 0 (This API kit is also tough to read..)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5 to 10 (There is NO colour difference in the API test kit i swear haha)
PH - 8.0 (the crushed coral should help this out now i think)
Calcium - 400
KH - 11dkh
Phosphate - Really hard to tell. But i think it is 0.5, maybe a little less.

Anyone use these API master kits for reef and salt water?

Also found what i think is either a clam or a moscel (spelling?) attached to 'branches' on the bit of rock my duncans are attached too. Pics soon to come.

Updates pics also soon to come (uploading as we speak).

 

[indir-emir]

Ok well here are the pics as promised

Test Equipment:

The hole in the substrate that my return pipe causes because im using a rubber pvc pressure hose which points directly down at the floor:

The Clowns

The Clowns Again:

Updated Shot of the Green Sinularia - Note how the smaller left one has grown (or is it just me?):

Shot of the smaller Sinularia:

Shot of the muscel (spelling?) - Anyone able to ID it? It is the orange bit..

And ofcourse an updated full tank shot taken today:

Comments? IDs?

 

[GAB99]

is it just me or does the tank look slightly cloudy??

and im using your test kit (the one with the flame angel), imo they are easy to read except the nitrates which can be a pain lol

for phosphates im using the Salifert test though

 

[drsquirrel]

Looks a bit cloudly to me - could be photograph only though.

Well i think ive eliminated the bubbles with the filter wool - Will wash this out every few days though. Need to get a filter sock to put around the pipe to stop the bubbles straight away.

Phosphate - Really hard to tell. But i think it is 0.5, maybe a little less.

You don't want 0.5 PO4 - 0.03 or less for corals (best 0 of course), maybe you meant 0.05?

If you use Salifert always use the high sensitivity test - stupid salifert tests.

 

[indir-emir]

Hmm will retest tonight and see what it says.. But i think the api kit is 0, 0.25, .5, .75, 1, etc. Not really sure to be honest though haha.

Tank was cloudy at the time of the picture, was half hour or so after sand when into the tank lol.

I will retest soon and let you all know.

My green sinularia has definetly grown, even teh big one is bigger now. Its not the brightest of greens but it is still green-ish.

My clowns are not eating Im starting to worry. Girlfriend went to the store and bought me marine flake and sinking pellets (2mm pellets) and they are not keen on it. They pick it up and the nspit it out, the first time the female took it into her mouth swam around for a few seconds then spat it out again without actualy chewing it... Came out the same sized pellet They ate a few bits of mysis last time i fed, wish they would eat because im worrying. They are very active though swim around quite a bit but seem to stay on the right side of the tank, 1ft by 1ft territory it seems lol. Barely leaving this area of the tank.

Today my coral had a brown string coming out of its 'mouth', quick google search said its just its poop after eating a fair bit of shrimp the last 2 nights lol. Is this correct?

Anything i can do to coax my clowns to eat?

 

[seffieuk]

Buy some frozen mysis, they will not be able to resist and some new era marine flakes Your soft coral probably hasn't grown, they shrink down a huge amount and then over a week inflate back to their full size

Brown stuff is zooxanthellae, perfectly normal

Seffie x