Here Goes Nothing, Wish Me Luck :)

[littleme1969]

Yes I did mention that above. around 8.2 is supposed to be perfect. I guess it depends on the water you start out with as to the end result you will get, but I have seen quite a few nano journals on here who have low PH to start with. I was hoping one of the old hands here would jump in and offer a few suggestions but they seem to be giving me a wide birth for some reason..lol
Hows you tank going BigC ?

 

[littleme1969]

Stats today..
Not much change really
PH is 7.9
Temp 8.0
SG 1.025 (just topped off with a litle fresh back down to 1.024
Amonia is down to 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Tank seems to be settling ok good water flow and nice clear water so the filter is doing the trick.
I decided to go with just one chamber with live rock. The second I have left empty to make allow space to grow algae etc as sugested by steelhealr. My tank is open at the back so attaching a light so be easy

I have a new hitchiker..
Purple people eater..LOL just waiting on an ID for this guy..

I thought he was either dead or some kind of coral at first until I saw him moving round his hole hes about 1.5cms long and a dark purple in colour
A Nice pic of my clam with his mouth open

 

[steelhealr]

Seems like things are moving along. Take your time now and don't be in a rush to add corals. Wait until ammonia and nitrite are at zero. Then, when the cycle is done, do a 25% initial water change. If you can bring your nitrates down to 10, you can add your cleanup crew. I like your s.g.....I like to run it high too. SH

 

[FLcracker94]

Nice tank! Is that a 12ga (US) tank?
How long has it been runnin?
Could you get a pick of the whole tank? Heres mine. (one True Perc, one Firefish, one YTD, HUGE bush of Halimeda. Second pic is my Bloodshrimp next to Xenia, you gotta get a B-Shrimp!)

First pic has my Bubble coral when it was healthy...I'm working so hard to keep it alive, and doing tests and water changes like crazy. Looks nice in the pic though doesn't it?

 

[littleme1969]

Yup nice tank good luck with the bubble Coral.
Tank is a 16 UK gallong tank with about 4 gallon being taken up by the built in rear sump/filter system. Its of asian import origon will have to check box to get full spec etc.
Tanks is now on day 3 and there is no real change in the stats. Ive decided to go for a slow cycle with regular small water changes as I seem to have alot of hitchikers that I would hate to loose just for the sake of an extra week cycling.
There no real ID on the purple people eater as yet. Its either some type of sea cucumber/ sea slug . I somehow thing I wont be seeing him again for a while.. as hes left his hide away for greener pastures
A few more pics of other hitchikers ..

Bivalve of some discription

Britle worm (head end)

Bum end..lol

Tank without flash

Tank with flash.
Despite the obvious quality of the rock I was a little dissapointed at the hugs size of the pieces. I ordered a nano pack and to be honest you would have had to break the main piece up to even fit it in most nano tanks meaning the death of alot of your hitchikers
Heres where I got all my bits & bobs from for the tank
Aquatics Online
A great company thats also good on price and supper quick on delivery!
And here is where I got my cured live rock..
Live Rock

 

[littleme1969]

After a little fall in the SG yesterday and bubbles appearing on the rock at bedtime I assume some type of chemical reaction was talking place as there was a little rise in my PH today. Tank is now in its 5 day of running.
Test day 4
PH 8.0 - 8.1 borderline
Temp still steady at 80
SG 1.024 topped back up yesterday after a slight fall and stable today
Amonia today is 0
Nitrate is showing a slight change at approx 5
I'm starting to see a little growth on bits of algae on the rock also so thats pretty good as I only have basic lighting at 26watts PL T5 50/50.
I'm not intending to keep many corals as I'm more interested in the inverts and a couple of fish. The crals I will eventually get (around month 3) will be well chose for low light conditions and placed for maximum effect.

I would like a few suggestions on clean up crew at this point if anyone can help? Also where is best to get them in the UK as my nearest shop that sells marine is about 30 miles away and to be honest its not very good.

 

[BigC]

Hows you tank going BigC ?

Ever so slowly. Getting the electrics sorted at present. Not much room under the hood to place everything. (may yet go with a Luminaire) Oh the cost. £££££££ LOL
I dont expect to get going proper until I get back from The Great Barrier Reef around crimble time. So just getting everything in place.
Anyway back to your thread, you seem to be going along just fine. Any major pitfalls or things you wish you'd done differently.
Regards
BigC

 

[littleme1969]

Hows you tank going BigC ?

Ever so slowly. Getting the electrics sorted at present. Not much room under the hood to place everything. (may yet go with a Luminaire) Oh the cost. £££££££ LOL
I dont expect to get going proper until I get back from The Great Barrier Reef around crimble time. So just getting everything in place.
Anyway back to your thread, you seem to be going along just fine. Any major pitfalls or things you wish you'd done differently.
Regards
BigC

Lol yeh dont mention the cost.. its never ending and thats before I get into fish and corals etc. LOL I may upgrade to an overtank lighting set up at some point, I'll see what sort of growth I get with the stock lighting first
Great Barrier Reef.. You lucky so and so . Thats on my *things to ss before I die* list

No real pitfalls as yet, and at the moment nothing I would differently either, but ask me in about 6 months, I'm sure I'll have a list as long as your arm..lol But I did spend a good 4 weeks reading every nano journal available..lol
I am glad I went down the Cured Live Rock route, the tank has almost cycled in just under a week. Benefits of live rock that left the tank at 4pm and was in my tank at 10am the next day also live sand too. All helps I guess.
Things look pretty stable *fingers crossed* and right on cue with the drop of ammonia and rise of nitrate I start to see the diatoms appear Pic below
Also looking in the empty chamber in the rear sump its easy to see we have quite a few critters going walk about..lol

Ive ordered the first of my clean up crew for friday a mixture of snails and hermit crabs of different varieties in the hope to combat different algae issues.

 

[BigC]

Great Barrier Reef.. You lucky so and so . Thats on my *things to ss before I die* list

We went last year to GBR and it is totally amazing. Even saw a clownfish hosting an anemone. mega.
We are just an ordinary joe bloggs family and are not blessed in a monetary sense, so we had to scrimp and save for such trips. But I tell you if there ever comes a point in your life whereby you get the opportunity to go to Australia and visit GBR then grab it with both hands.
This is where we stayed for a couple of nights.
http/www.ladyelliot.com.au/
Good to see the tank is comming along nicely even though six numbers on a saturday night would help.
I'm following the thread daily.
Regards
BigC

 

[littleme1969]

Big C I hope you get lots of great pics from your trip to share

Tank update..
Well all is well with the tank. Did my first 20% water change today and changed the filter floss. Also had a good clean round the glass with the lower water level. Topped up with water that had been mixed a few days, added through the sump area so it gets mixed with the tank water before entering into the tank to try and ensure perfect temp etc.

Stats today after water change are as follows...
Day 6 Test (7th day of running with live rock 8th day with sand and salt water)
PH has now risen to 8.2 which is perfect
Temp varies between 8.0 & 8.5 Night To day
S.g. is static at 1.024 even after water change which is great
Ammonia is still at 0 for the 4th day running
Nitrate is between 5 -10
Calcium is 580 Maybe a little high ?

All looks well, I did a little rock move around as scaping is proving an issue with just 2 large pieces of rock..lol I'm glad I did, as I know have seen my resident crab His home is in the largest pice of rock thats just riddled with holes and was up against the back of the tank. Know Ive arranged the rock in a V to allow easy claening of back and sides I can see him turfing out rubbish from his hole.
I installed some blue LEDs last night and I'm glad I did I sat there an hour in the pitch dark watching all the little critters wondering round the tank. My bristle worm is about 4cms The crab was out grazing on the diatoms I couldnt get a really good look at him but hes a dull drown colour with white claw tips and white markings on his shell , he also appears to have hairy legs..PMSL at about 5mm total length hes still tiny but I'm concerned he may attack my hermits that arrive tomorrow. One good thing is his hole is high up near the top of the rock and he seems to prefer hanging up there, getting a picture is pretty impossible at the mo as hes just too shy.
Clean Up crew arrives tomorrow from 2 different places so I'll be spending most of the afternoon drip feeding buckets very slowly to get these guys settled in Pics tomorrow

 

[kkyyllee]

ur temperature i confuses me, do you mean 80-80.5?

 

[BigC]

Pics tomorrow

Cant wait to see this tank progress.
Would it be possible to give me a precise run down regarding how you specifically do your water change and salt mixing, equipment used etc. For future reference.
If you dont wish to clutter your thread then PM me with the details.
You tanks comming along nicely.
Regards
BigC

 

[littleme1969]

Hi Big C.. I put some pics up of mixing water etc on my blog, Link below in sig, should update it as ive been super busy these last few days. I decided due the nasties that can lurke in the water that all water changes will be done with a jug and bucket and not a cyphon pipe. The tank is small enough to do it this way. If using a cyphon I would go for the self priming one, I'm not gettting any of that in my mouth for anyone..lol

Friday the 13th struck!!! Postal strike..AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH luckily the guy had enough sence not to send my critters yesterday and they should be here tomorrow now. I do have a few commin with another order of fish from another shop by courier, 4 hermits and a few snails so at least it will give me practice with the drip feeding before I kill too many others..lol
Suggestion on scaping this tank would be good as its doing my head in I dont really want to break this rock up due to critters that are in there but I'm thinking I my just have to to get it to look anything like Pic below..
Strange how it looks far better in real life than it does on a pic..lol

Also ID on this would be good, its looks alot like the pest anenome Ive heard so much about. Sorry about pic quality but its deep in the tank uder a rock...

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, the tentacles on that are pretty short... Looks more like a common button polyp to me. How big is it?

 

[littleme1969]

Well, the tentacles on that are pretty short... Looks more like a common button polyp to me. How big is it?

Thanks.. its about 5mm from rock base to tenticle end and all the tenticles are the same length is that helps any it opens and closes like the feather duster worms, just pulling in its head and leaving its tube stump on the rock.