Orange Sharks 94 Litre Marine Attempt!

[orange shark]

I thought that spending the money would be the worst bit but i'm quite enjoying spending the money and looking what ive still got to buy

Update : Getting water tommorow, and ive found someone selling live rock close to me so i can view it before i buy...at £7 ($14ish) per KG Im happy with that, probably going to get around 16kg

 

[psycho-killer]

any updates

 

[orange shark]

^^that was my last one yesterday, i cant find the camera charger either so i cant take any pics yet!

 

[orange shark]

the water is in and everything is switched on except the skimmer because i dont think its needed yet, but when do i need to switch it on?

Live rock is getting picked up tommorow and is fully cured, been in a tank for around 5 years i believe and it has some purple coral on it (his description not mine ) :

edit: Apologies this diary must be getting boring with no pics but i still cant find the camera charger!

 

[BigC]

I didn't have a skimmer in the early days. People say I didn't need one for a small 90ltr Nano. I would say thats bull. as you want to see the amount of gunk that little device of mine pulls from the water.
When the tank is first setup admittadly you dont need to skim but as time progresses and the bioload increases with new tank additions then I would say skimming is an essential part of marine tank maintenance no matter what the size of tank.
Regards
BigC

 

[john.o]

Like wise I did not use my skimmer when I first set up the tank but once the first fish went in on went the skimmer. I now only use my skimmer on a night time from 22.00 to about 06.00 in the morning I put it on a timer because every now and then it gets really noise and well but yer I have the same skimmer as bigC and I can confirm it really dose pull some s**t out, so I would say start skimming when your 1st fish goes in and start adding to the bioload and as your bioload increases you will really see how much stuff these things can pull out

 

[orange shark]

Well i bought the live rock yesterday, scaped it and it looks really good

It came straight out of the guys tank and it was a shorter journey home than i expected so it was out of water for around 10 minutes

My test kit came today so i did my first test and it came out at:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 7.8

PH is obviously a bit low but i'm going to test it tommorow to see if its raised anymore.

Also ive got something i need identifying, no pics still cant find camera charger...but it looks like a thin white wire with a red brush type thing poking out, its the only thing ive seen so far as ive not had time to look, im sat next to the tank with the midnight lights on hoping to see some movement

Also is it ok to leave the lights on 9-9 or should it be less/more?

Thanks, orange shark

 

[ox5477]

sounds like a feather duster to me

For lighting, the corals will appreciate as much light as possible, but just like any other creature, a rest period is needed to regulate internal workings... I believe most reefers keep lights on for about 10 hours, but I dont think 12 will hurt anything, maybe do an hour sunrise (a single tube) then 10 hrs of full blast light, and then and hour of sunset (single tube)... having a photo period for the corla sis really the best thing so you dont just blast them in the morning and all of a sudden its dark at night... they need time to adjust.

Ox

 

[orange shark]

Did another test today came out at:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 7.8
SG: 1.023

so my tank is cycled but ive got a problem with my PH, how do i raise it is the only way a buffer?

orange shark

 

[SkiFletch]

Maybe, maybe not... Could be dissolved CO2. Increase surface agitation for a day and see what happens

 

[BigC]

We need the pics
BigC

 

[orange shark]

im going on a huge camera charger hunt tonight then!

Also ive forgotton to add the sand so im going to do that tonight, does that affect the PH?

orange shark

 

[BigC]

Shouldn't do.
BigC

 

[orange shark]

I have found the camera charger Pics up in about 20 mins, i completely forgot about the sand ill try to do it tommorow!

 

[orange shark]

here are the pics i took:

I'm quite annoyed because i cant zoom in on something that i think is an aptasia (sp) and my feather duster because my camera wont zoom and my dad chucked away the instructions i'll mess around with it tommorow

enjoy...i hope

edit: I only just realised the koralias blasting at that 1 rock so ive moved it higher for more surface agitation