Nat's 125 Litre Juwel Rio Marine!

[natwood]

Wow that's ace. Thought I'd have to wait ages for some reason. Out of interest..do you quarantine your fish before adding them to your tank? I can't decide whether I need to do it or not, plus I don't yet have a quarantine tank. My powerhead looks awesome now. Will take some pictures tomorrow but really it just looks like an empty tank at the moment because all of my shrimp prefer the underside of the rock!

I'm not too sure that my CUC is doing a very efficient job yet, the hermit crabs seem to be nocturnal and have a pick at the rocks at night. 2 of my snails are going over the rocks and the other one prefers to sit on the glass, have an occasional mooch around and then stop. Think I'll order some more snails online soonish (some of the ones you recommended AK).

 

[Harry1996]

i would get them from here http/www.reefstock.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index i got them from here none died and there all fine now.

 

[ben1987]

you meant to run a small tank, no substrate just on a cycle filter and put the fish in there so your sure it has nothing. i never have with clowns though

 

[natwood]

I've taken a couple of pictures during feeding time, I'm feeding my shrimp a quarter of a cube of frozen brine shrimp every day. They don't seem to need much, plus they stop scavenging if I feed them more than that. I've discovered that my striped shrimp is actually a Lysmata Californica (aka Catalina Shrimp, Red Rock Shrimp), which is a coldwater shrimp and shouldn't be kept in my tank. So I'm going to ring my LFS and see what they say, I'll probably end up taking it back as I feel bad that I'm overheating it.

I'll be getting my skimmer this week I think, it's taken loads of arranging with a guy on Aquarist Classifieds, but should be completing the sale soon. It's a Deltec MCE 300. Will this sort out all the little floaty bits that are floating around the water and on the surface?

I need to get some more snails soon. The turbo snails I've got have decided they don't want to be window cleaners and so are on the rocks (and moving around much more). My glass is now starting to get green slime on it all around so need to get them soon.

I've got a bit of a mystery with one of my rocks too. Every now and then it suddenly spurts out a load of tiny bits that look like sand. Is it some kind of creature living in the rock or something?!

Today's results:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 3

 

[eltz21]

your shrimps look amazing nat. hoping to start getting my cuc next weekend.

cheers

 

[ben1987]

Looking good nat...they will get on ya nerves when you get some corals though ... which you will

 

[AK77]

Looking good nat...they will get on ya nerves when you get some corals though ... which you will

If you're not to scared to do it, hold your hand in the water next to the cleaner shrimps. They will swim onto your hand and begin cleaning it. Weird sensation and very cool to watch.

 

[natwood]

Aw wow! I just did it! Haha, it doesn't hurt or anything like I thought it would. They were both on my hand and arm. Lol.
I've noticed one of my cleaner shrimp has a few random black dots on it.. I just looked this up and I think it's something to do with my SG being a bit low. It had dropped down to 1.022 again because I was stupid and added loads of RO forgetting it would lower it. So I'm gradually getting it up again. Hopefully the black spots will go next time it molts.

I've got 2 red-leg hermit crabs in at the moment..but I never see them, and I'd really love to. How many more could my tank have?

 

[ben1987]

add a few more if you want, they do eat snails though and each other if they dont have spare shells! either go to the sea side or buy some off ebay!
They are really lazy as CUC aswel, snails eat more algae. You just need to make sure there is food for them, so if you add more add them some food if there isnt much alage etc.

 

[AK77]

You can pick up some really pretty shells on ebay. I'd get them, drop them into the tank and wait for the hermits to get out of their dingey old shells and try on the new pretty ones. I'd then pinch their old shells so they couldn't move back in lol. Yes... in my tank... I AM GOD!!!!!

 

[natwood]

Lol @ AK! The shells they're in at the moment are pretty good. I feel like at the moment they wouldn't even notice if I put shells in there. They spend all their time hidden on the rocks. I was looking at shells on ebay but not sure what size to go for. I was thinking of maybe the 0.5mm - 0.8mm openings. The girl at my LFS said that the blue leg hermit crabs are more likely to attack snails for their shells so I didn't get any. Is that true?

 

[ben1987]

Thats true ime...especially the blue knuckle ones.

The micro blue ones are more active than reds though and do more cleaning. The red ones still eat snail if they get hungry

 

[AK77]

Lol @ AK! The shells they're in at the moment are pretty good. I feel like at the moment they wouldn't even notice if I put shells in there. They spend all their time hidden on the rocks. I was looking at shells on ebay but not sure what size to go for. I was thinking of maybe the 0.5mm - 0.8mm openings. The girl at my LFS said that the blue leg hermit crabs are more likely to attack snails for their shells so I didn't get any. Is that true?

Like Ben says, it depends on the species. If its the dwarf species like the blue tri-colour (Clibanarius SP) They tend to ignore snails and remain relatively small. If its the blue Knuckle, they sometimes do eat snails and can grow pretty large. The best hermits for your reef tank IMO are any of the Clibanaris SP species of hermits (These include the dwarf blue tri-colour, mexican red tip and various others too) and Paguristes Candenati (scarlet reef)


Click here for pictures

 

[natwood]

I just realised that the 2 aiptasia that I have are on one piece of rock that I can easily remove from the tank. What's the easiest way for me to kill them? I think I'm giving up on taking the natural root. Haha.

Also, the water in my tank constantly has loads of bits floating around in it. When I get my skimmer will they go away?

 

[natwood]

I've just got an orange lip conch! Yay! Wanted to get some other snails from my LFS but they only had turbos in and I was after ceriths. Glad I managed to get my conch though. I'm just acclimatising it at the moment so I'll put pictures up when it gets settled in.