Hi My Name Is Craig And I'm And Alcoho............

[seffieuk]

I like the way it looks - lots of places for coral

Seffie x

 

[Craig B]

I like the way it looks - lots of places for coral

Seffie x

And I have celebrated that fact by adding my first coral yesterday

I collected a Toadstool from a local member on UR, I'll get a pic when I can

Again it has only been placed in the tank temporarily

Other than the above addition there's been very little to report, great from my side but not so great when you want to write a journal, something will happen soon enough, I'm sure

 

[seffieuk]

something will happen soon enough, I'm sure

Oh yes, of that ypu can be sure

Seffie x

 

[Craig B]

Here he is:

I'm really quite chuffed that I've added something to the tank

I'm going to leave it like this now until after I've moved the tank, I really want to make the rocks and coral positions look nicer but I don't want to be constantly upsetting the occupants. The time I have now before the tank move I'm going to use to research the future additions, I'd like a lot of Riccordea, some Zoa's (the ultra colour ones), a couple of large mushrooms and then a hammer. After that it's all reading, reading, reading.

 

[Craig B]

I've also ordered new PL bulbs today, the ones in the tank now look very tired, hopefully the few corals I have will appreciate it

 

[Harry1996]

your tank is looking very good

 

[Craig B]

your tank is looking very good

Thank you Harry, How is yours coming along?

 

[Harry1996]

its doing fine thanks. that reminds me i have to take some pics of it and put it on my journal.

 

[Craig B]

I've got a few updates to chuck in and will do as I get chance to.


In brief:

Mixed my own SW for the first time
Toadstool sulking
Aiptaisia
new stuff

 

[simonas]

toadstools are right mardy beggers!!! but beautiful in an understated way when they are happy. everytime I moved mine it would sulk for a good while after but its worth it when its settled

 

[seffieuk]

Looking forward to hearing all about the 'new stuff' and the killing of the 'aiptaisia'

Seffie x

 

[Craig B]

toadstools are right mardy beggers!!! but beautiful in an understated way when they are happy. everytime I moved mine it would sulk for a good while after but its worth it when its settled

I hope your right Simonas, the Polyps extended shortly after putting it in the tank but then 2 days later they retracted and have stayed there for nearly 3 days now, I have noticed that my shrimp walks over it all the time though so maybe that's the reason???

I have done a couple of water changes over the last 3 days as well to combat my high Nitrates, I do know that I've lost a couple of Snails due to landing on their backs and not being able to flip over, whould the dead snail have much of an impact on my Nitrates?

Maybe the water changes upset the toad stool also, everything else seems peachy though

 

[Harry1996]

i had trouble with my toadstool for ages. but once you get it in the right place it grows very quickly and looks amazing. simonas is right about them sulking a lot. my toadstool has only just came out properly a few days ago. and i have had it ages.
the the dead snails could of cause a small cycle. so ammonia to nitrite then turns to nitrate so that could be the reason.

 

[Craig B]

Looking forward to hearing all about the 'new stuff' and the killing of the 'aiptaisia'

Seffie x

Sorry to excite you with talk of "new stuff" but it's all quite boring things really

There were 2 submersible light tubes for chamber 1 of the filter, Im going to add Chaeto there, 2 new PL lights for the tank itself and then:

RO replacement Filter kit and a DI unit added
D-D H2Ocean salt
NewJet 1200 pump for the filter to increase flow.
Some seaweed, apparently the Clownfish love it but it's not arrived yet
Filter wool, I'm changing it 2-3 times a week
API PH tests, my old ones are getting very low now
Some very fine filter bags for the Purigen, but I still lose some from even these ones
A mag cleaner
some blue LED's to replace the moonlight bulbs as one has gone

and a Turkey baster

I told you there was nothing exciting but I still sit here waiting for the postman

I was chuffed to get the RO back up and running, which leads me to making my own Salt water. what a palava that was, I had my supplies all ready and waiting. 3 old salt buckets, all cleaned out, one for waste (old tank water) one for RO (for top up or to be salted) and a Salt water bucket. I had planned to make up 3 buckets of RO, 2 would be made into salt water and used for water changes over the last few days (which they have), the third was to be just RO for top up.

So I've rigged up the RO unit and replaced the prefilters, flushed the membrane and then hooked up the DI pod, excellent. I clamp the output pipe to bucket 1 and off we go.............................................................6 hours later that bucket is full

Get bucket 2 started and get a heater a power head in bucket 1 and.............................................................................. Sorry but RO production is not a speedy process at all.

Anyway, bucket 1 gets up to temp and I figure I will follow the guidelines from D-D on mixing the salt, add 1kg of salt to 24.2L of water so out comes bucket 3, a measuring jug and our kitchen scales (ssssshhhhhh, don't tell the wife )
So I start measuring the required 24.2 litres into bucket 3 from bucket 1, I get to 18 litres and i becomes very apparent that this bucket will only hold roughly 20 maybe 22 litres but I've got to carry the full bucket to the hall without half emptying it en-route.
So I decide to make 18.150 litres (3/4 of the 24.2 litres) and add 750g of salt.
I've now got 18.150 of RO water heated up nicely with a 3000lph power head keeping it moving, out come the kitchen scales, 750g of D-D's finest later and I've just made my first batch of SW, Hoorah
I give it an hour and go and grab my refractometer, I calibrated it earlier in the day, so off we go, my first batch of SW iiiiiisssss 1.030
I blame the dodgy kitchen scales that seemed to never return to zero after you applied any weight to them after zeroing.
I took 2 litres out and chucked 2 litres of RO in, left it for 10 minutes or so and checked again aaaaand 1.026
so I left it to get back to temp, then carried out the water change, happy days.
Bucket 2 finished many, many hours later so I chucked the powerhead and heater in and again left it alone for a while, this batch I made by using a cup to measure the salt just to make it easier for future batches, I've got a bench mark now. I left this bucket over night, re-tested the SG in the morning and everything is still spot on, lovely jubly
so a day after I started I can finally make bucket 3, the RO top up water, phewwww.


So I've been watching the tank very closely since putting the toadstool in as I think it maybe problematic as it's not been responding well. Anyhoo, I noticed a couple of very small feather dusters that have popped up, cool.
But then there are some Aiptasia, very small but I noticed them in 3 area's and not one of them is going to be easy to get due to other rocks on top but I am going to blow torch them in a "Seffie" fashion, i believe this is an integral pert of reef keeping and #41#### enjoyable too boot
So out comes the soldering iron and with a fizzzzzPOP, no more Aiptasia, for now anyway.


So that takes us up to today where everything is ok, My chaeto arrived this morning so I washed it off in a little RO and because my submersible lights haven't arrived I've got it on display in the tank


Next will be I'm not sure maybe one of Seffie's favourite's, either a Bangaii or a Pajama Cardinal , that would be the tank fully stocked then until it's more mature and I'm a litle more confident and then it's Coral time

 

[Craig B]

i had trouble with my toadstool for ages. but once you get it in the right place it grows very quickly and looks amazing. simonas is right about them sulking a lot. my toadstool has only just came out properly a few days ago. and i have had it ages.
the the dead snails could of cause a small cycle. so ammonia to nitrite then turns to nitrate so that could be the reason.

At least I'm not alone with misserable Toadstools then

Maybe I have been experiencing mini cycles, I didn't think they would have much of an impact but something has definately made the Nitrates high and it is certainly not from over feeding. Like is said in my previous post, I have Chaeto in the tank now so hopefully that will help