Setting Up The 29g. Totally Psyched I Have Saltwater In My Living Room

[kj23502]

Not much is going on. I'm just watching the temperature today. It's 89F outside and we haven't turned on the A/C in the house. It's about 78F in the house. It was only supposed to get to 84ish, not up to 90.

Tank is only at 79.2 right now. It hasn't been above 78 something since I've started. I've shut the lights off and put a fan up so it is blowing across the tank. It should be fine, but I just thought I'd take precaution since it's not going to cool down outside for a few hours yet. In the future, I think we'll just keep the A/C at 75ish or so and see how it goes.

I need to build some kind of platform or something to raise my lights off the tank. It WILL overheat when I get both light bars laying across it. They will almost cover the entire top of the tank.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, I'm waiting on the heatwave here in buffalo this weekend. Mercifully lake erie will moderate it for us a little bit since it's still colder than sin this time of year.

As for heating, yeah using the AC at about 75 seems to work well for many, it's really about keeping the humidity in the house down so that you can take advantage of evaporative cooling from fans. Raising the lights will certainly help as well. Remember KJ, even if it creeps up into the 80-83 range in the summer that's not that big a deal so long as it stays slightly elevated. Above 83 and you start risking LPS and deep water SPS. Softies and shallow water SPS (and clams ironically) could care less about high heat.

 

[kj23502]

Thanks, Ski. The tank never hit 80F. I think it would've gone a decent amount higher if I wouldn't have intervened and who knows hows warm it'd have gotten. By the way, we set a record of 91 degrees. The old record was set in 1939.

Anyways, I was just being cautious with the tank. I had read that it's better that the tank not fluctuate by more than 2 degrees during the day. Seems logical since the sea doesn't vary that much as a whole.

It seems the gobies have divorced They're rooming on the opposite sides of the tank now. Found out when I was feeding them tonight. Still no sign of the shrimp...I think. There are some trails in the diatoms on the sand, but that could just be the snails. I took some pics. They aren't that good, but I'll post the better ones tomorrow.

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow that's hot for this time of year. We're on our way. 34F when I woke up. Projected to make it to 78 by midday You'd think we lived in the desert with that kind of temp swing

 

[kj23502]

Here's a few pics

The snails are making some really cool algae patterns on the glass.

I don't know how well they'll show up for ya, but they are making some different tracks across the glass also. A squigly wave.

Snail

This goby stays on the right side:

This one on the left. He/she was really hard to take a pic of. You can barely see the head poking out of the rock.

 

[kj23502]

Well I'll be heading off to the lfs to get some water for my first water change. Wish me luck...lol. I think I'll just mix it in my big blue 7g water jug. I can drop a ph in the hole and center the heater. It should be fine : )


Both gobies ate Formula 1 pellets last night

That'll make feeding a bit easier. I won't have to scrape/chip frozen food junks and defrost them all the time now. I'll probably do every other day.


I created my book wishlist on Barnes and Noble website.

Aquarium Sharks and Rays **Don't think I'll buy this one. I'll borrow it from the library. Will be awhile before I get a shark.
by Scott W. Michael


Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes (Reef Fishes Series Book 3)
by Scott W. Michael

The 101 Best Marine Invertebrates
by Scott W. Michael

Aquarium Corals
by Eric H. Borneman

Marine Fishes
by Scott W. Michael

The 101 Best Saltwater Fishes
by Scott W. Michael
Paperback

 

[VictorMeldrew]

What are your plans for the back glass, clean or no clean? I found that my snails made my uncleaned back look inconsistant and made it look unkept, i keep my back clean now, it shows the hard work you put into your tank far better non reef keepers seem to notice the back glass alot and seem to judge your commitment to the hobby on that, keep it clean is my advice mate.

 

[kj23502]

I'll keep it clean Don't worry about that. The back of the tank is almost spotless really. All those picks are of the front glass. We're being entertained by the snails...still That's why I haven't scrubed that part yet. The snails crawl on there and we watch'em go by w/their little hose like "snouts" rasping the glass. I find it very entertaining...probably b/c I don't see much of my fish. I'm trying to decided when to get my next fish. Maybe at the end of May. I'll look at getting my secret clowns. They'll cost around $200ish w/shipping so I should run it by my hubby. That's a lot of dough to us.

 

[seffieuk]

Great choice of books - Scott Michael is a fantastic read and of course you can't beat THE BOOK for corals

Seffie x

 

[kj23502]

I went shopping!! Our lrc had a meeting/tour/buy/swap yesterday. I came away with a lighting setup They are still PC's but 4-65 watt PC's. The reflectors and ballast, I guess you could say. So now we're going to develope a hanging canopy to hang them over my tank. I think I might go w/2 actinic bulbs and 2 10k for the bulbs. Then at the end of the month I'm getting my clowns and their torch coral that they host in

I hope we can quickly get this lighting done so I can get them at the end of May. If I can't get them running, I don't think I'll get them quite yet. Don't want to get the torch only to have it die b/c of my low lighting that I currently have. It all cost me $25 and we have wood still in the basement. Only thing i'll need are the bulbs, hooks, and chains.

 

[kj23502]

 

[kj23502]

new CUC!! 6 Nassarius Snails

Video of them burying!!

 

[kj23502]

Current stocking is:

8 astraea snails
6 Nassarius snails
1 red banded pistol shrimp
2 yasha gobies

 

[kj23502]

This one came out of the sand later and in the first few pics it still had sand on it. It was crawling on the rock to.

 

[kj23502]

YAY!! Wanted to note that I saw shrimp again just a little bit ago. I tried to get him on camera, but he didn't come out again. He did 3x before I grabbed it though.

I took some videos. I'll have to look at them to see if they're any good. My camera has died so I'm recharging the batteries.