My Marine Journal

[black molly3]

ok thanks for that. if i can get off work early today i might shoot down to the lfs to get the rest of my CUC and have a look at the corals.

 

[Truck]

The leather to avoid in a new tank is fiji yellow leather, ski told me in my journal Truck.

@BM3, i would boy 2 more hermits (red legs) and some nass, and cerith snails.

 

[seffieuk]

ok thanks for that. if i can get off work early today i might shoot down to the lfs to get the rest of my CUC and have a look at the corals.

Please don't buy anything on impulse or by just relying on what the lfs says - take your books with you and check, check, check - Truck has given you some good advice

Stick to the softies for the moment

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

Have a look a the purple firefish they are lovely looking fish (I have one) they are out while lights are on, and will go to bed in their cave at night, they can jump when spooked, so you will have to watch this, IMO would be a perfect fish for your tank.

As for corals have a look at Ricordea's you can get some lovely colours the fluorescent colours are lovely under blue moonlights

http/www.zoaphoria.co.uk/single_ric.php I have bought from here they are very good

 

[Truck]

Have a look a the purple firefish they are lovely looking fish (I have one) they are out while lights are on, and will go to bed in their cave at night, they can jump when spooked, so you will have to watch this, IMO would be a perfect fish for your tank.

As for corals have a look at Ricordea's you can get some lovely colours the fluorescent colours are lovely under blue moonlights

[URL="http/www.zoaphoria.co.uk/single_ric.php"]http/www.zoaphoria.co.uk/single_ric.php[/URL] I have bought from here they are very good

second the firefish, although i have not kept one i have seen some amazing specimens. some with yellow noses and purple flanks

 

[black molly3]

ok so i am back from the petstore. i went for a book some hermits and a leather had a read through the books to see what corals the shop had what was in the book before i bought the coral. anyways i seen this lovely leather coral which is a finger one. 25 pounds bargain. i was flicking through the book and found a hammer head coral. i read up about its behaviur and its habbits and seen it there in the display. i read which was almost 2 pages long about this specimen and after 15 minuites of hard thinking i decided to buy. 35 pounds with 3 heads. it is a green by the way. so i took my book my corals to the counter and got my wallet out and was just about to ask the man bfor some hermits when i noticed a 20 pound note missing from my wallet. (not happy) i could not buy the book or the hermits and had to lend 3 pound of my mum to get only the corals. i have came home and found my 20 pound under some stuff on my desk in my room. not happy again. i am returning on friday after my water change on wednesday and if stats are ok getting them 2 hermits and some snails and maybee even my first fish.
i will post some pics as soon as the corals are finished acclimatising

 

[Truck]

i would watch that hammer for a few weeks, your tank will still be a little unstable so just be aware of that. dont buy anymore LPS corals...stick to softies and give your tank time to catch up with the increased bio load

 

[black molly3]

ok thanks for the advice. do you think i should wait until the week after to add my first fish then. it will probably be a T.M.C tank bred oc clown as they are the smallest. right then going to let my leather out i am going to give the hammer a bit longer.

 

[Truck]

ok thanks for the advice. do you think i should wait until the week after to add my first fish then. it will probably be a T.M.C tank bred oc clown as they are the smallest. right then going to let my leather out i am going to give the hammer a bit longer.

wait! how long has it been acclimatizing for? because leathers will sulk for days on end if it isnt done for long enough.
if you are going the clown route, i REALLY advise you not to get any other fish. and IMO it is too small.

how are you acclimatizing?

 

[rabbut]

They should not have sold you the hammer yet, it's too early. Good luck with it, a new keeper with a new tank will need it, even though it's an easier Euphilia (spelling) species...

It will need to be placed high up the rock stack for enough light with enough flow to gently ripple it's polyps when exended, so not blasted or in a stagnent zone. You will need to get hold of test kits for and test twice a week for the moment; Magnesium, Alkalinity and Calsium, dosing each as required to maintain Mg between 1250ppm and 1350ppm, Alk between 7dKH and 12dKH and Calsium between 400ppm and 450ppm. Most salt mixes will be lacking in any of, or all three of those, and the suppliments + test kits will set you back about £60. You need these now for this species, so get them within the next few days, or take the coral back. If you don't have them and keep the coral, £35 worth of coral will likely start looking sorry for itself, and if the issue isn't rectifyed, it will die within a short-ish while Sorry if this seams blunt, but you need to know where you are The Hammer won't tollerate Ammonia, Nitrite or Nitrate spikes, all of which are likely to occur after getting your first fish, so stand ready for some very sizeable waterchanges after adding your first fish if you choose to keep it.

The leather is a good choice at this point though

When choosing a book, get one that's been printed within the last 5 years. A lot are realy out of date. Also, look to check if it mentions most of the current "modern" methods within it's info pages The best approach is to skim the realm of knowlage sticky and get one from the list

All the best
Rabbut

 

[black molly3]

been acclimatising for about an hour he is in and his polyps are coming out after about 3 mins of being in. i floated them for about 20 mins cut both bags then added about a cup full of tank water to the bag every 10 mins infact it is probably more an hour and a half. is this meathod ok he looks fine coming right out. he is at the top of my tank getting most light. i am going to place the hammer less of a flow area when i let it out in about 15 mins

 

[Truck]

been acclimatising for about an hour he is in and his polyps are coming out after about 3 mins of being in. i floated them for about 20 mins cut both bags then added about a cup full of tank water to the bag every 10 mins infact it is probably more an hour and a half. is this meathod ok he looks fine coming right out. he is at the top of my tank getting most light. i am going to place the hammer less of a flow area when i let it out in about 15 mins

what you should do is use buckets and put the coral and the water they came with in the bucket. then use some airline with a clamp to release one drop of water every 1 second until the bucket is full. this way you wont get any die off. 1 hour isnt very long for a leather. i would have done 2 hours at least! adding a cup at a time isnt the best method either.

give the hammer another hour or two using the method above, or use a syringe or other equipment to add 60ml of water every 2-3 minutes

 

[black molly3]

ok will do. my ammonia is 0 so is nitrite. if i only get a clownfish there isnt going to be a massive spike though is the. maybee a slight increase. i have got a syringe i will use it for my hammer and i will leave him in until about quterpast 5 as he has been in the bag since 3 oclock. is this ok. the only corals left for me which i am going to get in a few weeks time after everything is settled is polyps and shrroms including a ricordia and maybee a brain if the money is going well.

 

[Truck]

leave the brain for a few months and take into consideration they can produce long sweeper tentacles to ward off neighbouring corals.
also when acclimatizing live stock, check ammonia levels and if there is a reading you can do it a bit faster to reduce stress.
the clown may cause a spike but it will most probably not be detectable on the hobby test kit.

what sort of polyps? zoas? i saw some electric blue zoas today...a massive colony about 50 polyps £25!!! not bad

 

[black molly3]

yes zoas ok i will leave the brain and i read about tenticles on brains but didnt know how big they went. i seen a massive colony of electric green zoas today was over 100 for 32 pound i think i was tempted to get them. i am going to wait until the easter holidays before i add my first fish in maybee next monday. my leather coral is in the flow of my small internal and is slowly moving its fingers. some polyps are out on it but not all. keep you posted