Orca Tl450 Nano Reef Log

[daveo_irl]

Dave advertise the kits, you never know, someone might want them

Seffie x

Might just try that Seffie!
Just tested with Salifert kits.....

Nitrate: 25 (previously 5 with Red Sea!!!)
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0.03

The only one I am having trouble with is pH. I am getting a dark brown colour, but does that put it at 8.2 (between 8.0 (light green) & 8.3 (dark green)) on the chart, or 8.4 (between 8.3 (dark green) & 8.6 (blue))??

 

[Buddyboy67]

strange colour mate..would be tempted to rinse test vial and then re test...usually gives readings from light green to blue, as you say....

Forgot to say..great pics !! Stu's stock arriving as healthy as ever i see...can't wait to see a pic of the blue zoas when fully settled

 

[wackystarfish]

Hey! Good work in the tank and an interesting journal! I am looking into possibly getting an Orca 550, how has your experience been with this tank?
Thanks
Finlay

 

[daveo_irl]

Hey! Good work in the tank and an interesting journal! I am looking into possibly getting an Orca 550, how has your experience been with this tank?
Thanks
Finlay

Cheers!
Mine is the 450, so smaller than the 550, but I find it a great little tank. The 450 does need some mods to get the most out of it though, not sure if the 550 is the same though.

Thanks Buddyboy, I will try and retest tomorrow evening. The other Salifert kits are great though, very easy to read.

 

[TigerIssey]

My Salifert test kits arrived today! so I can dump my Red Sea ones. I now have Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, pH & Phosphate Salifert kits. Hopefully they will be easier to read than the Red Sea ones.

I will be getting a Calcium test kit in the near future. Are there any others I will need, or that might be useful?

You may want to get Alkalinity and Magnesium to go with the Calcium. Are you going for hard corals, as this is more important for those. I would get Alk anyway though.

 

[daveo_irl]

My Salifert test kits arrived today! so I can dump my Red Sea ones. I now have Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, pH & Phosphate Salifert kits. Hopefully they will be easier to read than the Red Sea ones.

I will be getting a Calcium test kit in the near future. Are there any others I will need, or that might be useful?

You may want to get Alkalinity and Magnesium to go with the Calcium. Are you going for hard corals, as this is more important for those. I would get Alk anyway though.

Thanks Tina, I have a Red Sea Alk test, which seems decent enough. However I will be eventually migrating all the tests over to Salifert, so I will probably get all the above 3 in one order. I haven't really though about any hard corals as yet, but it is definitely something I will be considering once I check them out and see if any are suitable for my setup (any suggestions?).

 

[TigerIssey]

The odd Euphyllia is always good, very easy to care for too and looks stunning. A firm favourite of a fair few of us.

Have a look at the coral of the week for Euphyllia 14th August. Some stunning specimens.

Duncans are also a favourite of mine.

 

[daveo_irl]

The odd Euphyllia is always good, very easy to care for too and looks stunning. A firm favourite of a fair few of us.

Have a look at the coral of the week for Euphyllia 14th August. Some stunning specimens.

Duncans are also a favourite of mine.

I would be worried about any stinging tentacles being able to reach most of my corals in such a small tank. Do you think that would be an issue?

(I agree, Duncans are really cool....and I love the name!)

 

[daveo_irl]

I eventually want to add a shrimp to my setup and was thinking yesterday about the various possiblities:

a. Skunk Cleaner Shrimp: I have more or less ruled this out, after reading how they can annoy corals, steal food etc

b. Blood Shrimp: Seriously considering one of these, they are good looking shrimp and less active than the cleaner shrimp.

c. Sexy Shrimp: I think these are great, is there any reason for or against me getting two of these?

Thanks!
Dave

 

[Morri]

I eventually want to add a shrimp to my setup and was thinking yesterday about the various possiblities:

a. Skunk Cleaner Shrimp: I have more or less ruled this out, after reading how they can annoy corals, steal food etc

b. Blood Shrimp: Seriously considering one of these, they are good looking shrimp and less active than the cleaner shrimp.

c. Sexy Shrimp: I think these are great, is there any reason for or against me getting two of these?

Thanks!
Dave

I have a cleaner shrimp in mine its a nice addtion always out and about but it does tend to steal food from my corals I would be inclined to go for a pair a blood shrimps next time.

I have 2 sexy shrimps in my tank and they are characters i dont have any issues with these apart from I did not see mine for a week or so but now they are always shaking there thang on one of my LPS.

 

[daveo_irl]

I have a cleaner shrimp in mine its a nice addtion always out and about but it does tend to steal food from my corals I would be inclined to go for a pair a blood shrimps next time.

I have 2 sexy shrimps in my tank and they are characters i dont have any issues with these apart from I did not see mine for a week or so but now they are always shaking there thang on one of my LPS.

haha.....sexy shrimp shaking their thang!

Could I have a blood shrimp + sexy shrimp in my tank or would there be problems with them. Plus, if I only go for sexy shrimp, how many could I have in my tank?

Thanks for the answers and feedback!

 

[Morri]

I have a cleaner shrimp in mine its a nice addtion always out and about but it does tend to steal food from my corals I would be inclined to go for a pair a blood shrimps next time.

I have 2 sexy shrimps in my tank and they are characters i dont have any issues with these apart from I did not see mine for a week or so but now they are always shaking there thang on one of my LPS.

haha.....sexy shrimp shaking their thang!

Could I have a blood shrimp + sexy shrimp in my tank or would there be problems with them. Plus, if I only go for sexy shrimp, how many could I have in my tank?

Thanks for the answers and feedback!

Sexy shrimps are small I think they are recomended in groups of 3 or 4 with no issues I did just relise you had the 450 (Face Palm) 1 blood shrimp + 3 or 4 sexy shrimps should be fine

Have a look at pom pom crabs as well they are very sweet and with 2 nems are very cool JennyB has them in her edge

I am adding 3 Pom Poms + sexy shrimp to my little cube + peppermints if needed

 

[daveo_irl]

Gave my rics a treat of brine shrimp this evening

 

[Buddyboy67]

They'll love it..try them on chunkier food like mysis or small krill as well

 

[daveo_irl]

Noticed a couple of things last night when I went down with the torch.
One is a possible glass anemone of some sort, it was difficult to see - but it looks like it could be an aiptasia. I will try and get a pic tonight, although it could be difficult.

The other creature is amongst one of the Zoa colonies I bought recently. It is very odd looking, about a 1cm stalk like structure with lots of filaments/tentacles at the top. It retracts fully when disturbed. Not sure if it some sort of worm, or something else. Again, will try and get a photo later.

I also noticed on the same colony of Zoas what looks like mucus on some of them, could this be a result of the stress due to shipping etc. (I have them in the tank 6 days now)