My Nano Reef Set-up/diary (upgraded 45g) Step-by-step

[1entra]

Hitchhiker crab update:

The crab is vicious people. I got home from work a bit ago and noticed it scurrying around in the refugium, so I decided to tap on the acrylic wall to see what would happen... I expected it to make a run for it. Instead the little sh*t tried pounciing on/ambushing my finger. It ran at the acrylic and tried to claw at me! I kept moving my finger along the back of the refugium about an inch at a time and it continued chasing after it trying to attack me!

Assuming it was hungry (its been in the refugium over a week and I've not fed him! ) I went to the fridge and got half a prawn which I dropped near it in the refugium. The crab immediately pounced on it and carrying it in its claws scurried off to its little cave at the back somewhere!!!

But now I dont know what to do with it? Should I leave it in the refugium? Hope it doesnt't damage/kill off any of my chaeto macroalgae when I get it in there. Also do you wreckon it will atack/eat the microfauna ie. any copepods, amphipods, small starfish or even bristleowrms etc?

 

[1entra]

Tank is doing well so far, all the yellowing I got on the rock seems to have turnded brown and I believe it to be diatoms which are expected as part of the cycle! I noticed 2 hitchhiker snails of unknown breed on my tonga brach, they were cone shaped and were slowly moving aroung eating the algae on the rock, several hours later I noticed they had cleared a large section of the piece of rock which has now turned purple again as the corraline has been uncovered!

Also I'm starting to get quite a bit of hair algae/diatoms growing on the front of the glass in my tank which I am constantly have to scrape/wipe off! Hopefully when I add CUC they can take care of this for me!

Along with the hicthhiker snails, there seems to be an abundance of small feather dusters in tank! I spent the good part of a hour earlier sat by the tank watching one of the larger feather dusters come out of a hole in one of the rocks, collect small particles of sand from the bed and retract back to it's hole adding the sand particles to make itself a new tube which is half an inch long now and really stands out as it is the only white bit on a rock covered in hair algae and diatoms!

 

[1entra]

Fluffy White Balls!!! ​

Whilst having a look around my tank yesterday I noticed 2 fluffy looking balls on 1 of my pieces of LR. 1 of these balls was on top of the rock and covered in brown algae/diatoms and has a small hole in the centre of it like either a mouth or an enterance for something that could possibly be living inside it?! The other ball is in a hole in the same piece of LR so I can not see if it also has a hole or not.

They are approx 1cm diameter and very fluffy looking like they are made out of fur or something! I have just had another look to where I seen them and they are both still there and so have not moved!

I was just wondering if anybody else has seen these or similar in their tanks and was hoping somebody may be able to help ID them for me as I have never seen anything like them before. I know the description aint brill but thats really all there is to them and they in too awkward a position for me to get a picture!

 

[eschaton]

Fluffy White Balls!!! ​

Whilst having a look around my tank yesterday I noticed 2 fluffy looking balls on 1 of my pieces of LR. 1 of these balls was on top of the rock and covered in brown algae/diatoms and has a small hole in the centre of it like either a mouth or an enterance for something that could possibly be living inside it?! The other ball is in a hole in the same piece of LR so I can not see if it also has a hole or not.

They are approx 1cm diameter and very fluffy looking like they are made out of fur or something! I have just had another look to where I seen them and they are both still there and so have not moved!

I was just wondering if anybody else has seen these or similar in their tanks and was hoping somebody may be able to help ID them for me as I have never seen anything like them before. I know the description aint brill but thats really all there is to them and they in too awkward a position for me to get a picture!

Those sound like sponges of some sort to me.

 

[1entra]

Thanks eschaton, I'll keep an eye on them and keep this post updated if I see them do/become anything interesting!

Anyways... Iv just come home and turned my room light on and noticed a pink coloured "worm" in my tank. I couldn't see any bristles on it, looked more smooth and was gliding around some of my live rocks and sand bed more like a snake than anything. Must have been approx 3" in length, body was light pink in colour and face seemed a bit darker, possibly brown!

It seemed startled by the room lights, started wiggling around frantically and next thing I know it was lifted up by the current from the powerhead as it tried to hurry away and carried into the back of the tank where it immediately disapeared!

Seemed to wiggle about a lot especially when the curent lift it off the rock, kind of reminded me of freshwater kuli loach that I have kept in the past, and not like a bristleworm in any way! The whole sighting lasted a matter of seconds so I had no chance of getting my camera to get a picture!

 

[1entra]

PS. I think the hitchhiker snails I mentioned erlier may be limpets

 

[1entra]

Forgot to mention erlier, I bought my first few members of CUC crew today off the internet = 5 x Nassarius Snails.

"They quickly consume detritus, uneaten food, red and brown slime algae, fish waste, and decaying organics such as inverts, dead fish, etc.
They also help stir up the sand and maintain oxygen levels there by burrowing under. They are great for keeping your substrate, glass and sumps clean."

As I ordered this evening, they will be posted in the morning and so should arrive tommorow morning. Looking forward to getting more CUC members on the weekend. Here is a list of what I plan on getting for the time being:

• 5 x Astrea snails
• 5 x Cerith Snails
• 1 or 2 Scarlet/Red Legged Hermit Crabs (will get more later if needed/desired!)

In a week or 2 I might get myself either a shrimp or 2 ie. Skunk/Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp or Blood Shrimp

PS. I bought some chaeto macroalgae for my refugium off ebay... should be here in the morning!

 

[1entra]

Chaetomorpha Macroalgae ​

I received my chaeto macroalgae through the post this morning after having bought it off ebay yesterday and added it straight to my refugium!

I noticed several small brittle stars in the 2 clumps I received but all seemed dead as non were moving! Maybe a couple unseen ones survived (hopefully!)

Cheato in sealed airtight bag upon receipt


2 clumps of Chaeto added to refugium


Hopefully the chaeto will survive in my refugium under a 11w 6700K clip-on light that will be on in reverse to my tank lighting (so when tank lights go off, refugium light will come on and vice versa!).

The macroalgae along with the seagal should help maintain my tank and keep nitrates and phosphates low!

 

[1entra]

Here is a fresh picture of my hitchhiker crab in my refugium:

 

[1entra]

Quarantine Tank ​

After much debate and being in 2 minds about wether to or not, I decided what the hell, better be safe than sorry so bought myself a small cube to be used as a Quarantine Tank.

The cube measures 12.5"W x 15"H x 12"D and I think I'm correct in saying it has a capacity of approx 9.75G? I beleive this would be adequate for me to quarantine all new fish individually for about 4 weeks at a time before adding them to my main tank. Hopefully this will allow for me to keep a close eye on each fish and make sure it is disease free and healthy before adding to main set-up! Also with taking 4 weeks to quarantine, I will be adding fish slowly to help nitrifying bacteria slowly adapt to meet increased bio-load!



Here is a list of items for my QT tank:

• Standard fitted lighting in hood of cube
• Thermometer
• Filter for cleaning and waterflow
• 1 piece of large rock to provide shelter and hiding space for fish (possibly LR)
• Thermometer
• RO water kept at same SG and temp as main tank

I should set-up in the next day or 2. By the way have I missed anything that else that maybe required?



Also can anybody tell me how to go about cycling a QT tank? How long does it take?

Thanks

 

[1entra]

Night pic of refugium with it's light on. The brackets seem to be holding well and no buldging had returned. The 2 clumps of chaeto can be seen!



I think I might do a 15-20% water change in the morning ready for my first few CUC as I believe my aquarium to have cycled by now!

 

[1entra]

Nassarius Snails - 1st CUC members Added ​

I recevied my first 5 snails (Nassarius) through the post today in a cardboard box filled with scrunched up newspapers. The snails themselves were rolled up in a wool sponge pad in a poly watertight bag:



The snails all seemed live and well. I floated the bag in my tank adding small amounts of tankwater every 10mins over a period of an hour to acclimatise the snails before adding them to my tank. The snails looked healthy with the smallest measuring approx 1cm and the largest approx 2cm.



Upon adding the snails to the tank, they immediately rolled over and dug their ways into the sand bed and disapeared in a matter of minutes.
I've just come back home several hours laterto find 2 of them on the front glass, 2 on the sand bed and 1 on a piece of LR getting to work to Clean Up as they do best!



Hopefully they will all survive as there is no reason for them not to!

 

[SkiFletch]

Lookin great so far 1entra. A word of advice, nassarius snails do not eat algae, only carrion and detritus, so might want to consider some other small snails like Cerith, astrea, margarita, or the slightly larger trochus to keep the algae at bay

 

[1entra]

Lookin great so far 1entra. A word of advice, nassarius snails do not eat algae, only carrion and detritus, so might want to consider some other small snails like Cerith, astrea, margarita, or the slightly larger trochus to keep the algae at bay

Thanks for that SkiFletch, I'ma already on it. The Nassarius are only my first CUC members. I'm looking to go out shopping a bit later to get myself a few more snails eg. Ceriths and Astrea and possibly 1 trochus or turbo!

 

[1entra]

I carried out a 40% water change a bit earlier today as I believe my tank is more or less cycled...took under 2weeks!!!

Here are my parameters before doing the water change:
Temp: 27 degrees C
SG: 1.024/5
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Hopefully the water change will help bring down my Nitrate levels to 0.