Sf05's Slow And Steady

[Fatty]

Hi Sf05,

I saw a really cool pink/red scooter blenny at MG marines in dudley, very colourful!

Could you pm me where I can get some pods??

Thanks

Fatty

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

PM Sent!

Anyway took my PH test again today and it came out with 7.6.... I guess theres no way that can do
So reef crystals and live arog between them can only buffer my PH up 0.6?

I guess i'm going to have to buffer my Sw as well now
Any reccomendations?
Thanks
Dan

 

[steelhealr]

You don't need to buffer a new tank. All immature setups have pH problems (well, almost). pH becomes critical when you start adding corals and calcium balance becomes a factor. SH

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Thanks for that SH

Well everyone LR went in just
Got some interesting shapes. Color is mainly purple and white, I'm not sure about the aqua-scaping at the moment

Don't know if i like it or not If i don't then when i move everything downstairs i'll change it around. Will post pics tonight when things have cleared up a little.
How long do you think it will take for the tank to cycle? The rock was fully cured and was out of water in a moist bag for about 20mins? I'd guess 1-2weeks?

My light schedule for the first few days will be:

8pm Actnics On
9pm Daylight On
11pm Daylights Off
12am Actnics Off

I'll probably order some moonlights tommorow and then hopefully in 1-2weeks time i can get the CC in

Won't be getting a mandarin or scooter blenny as i can see the displacement now
Maybe a small goby of some sort? Any recs?

Dan

 

[trekbear]

Definitely NOT ANY DRAGONETS (Mandarins, Scotter Blenny). The water or tank size is not the factor it's the Live Rock Quanitity and quality and the amount of copepods they can produce for the dragonets taht are important. You can sometimes buy manarins or scooters that eat frozen or prepared foods, but don't buy one thinking you can 'train' it to eat prepared foods, way too difficult a task and usually fails to the death of the poor fish.

Now for good Nano fish, there are many gobies that are always a good fish. Ocellaris Clowns, True Percula Clowns, Firefish, cardinal fish to start with.

There are others out there too but for starters go with Hardy, easy to keep fish and as the tank matures and if you have the space add a different species if you want to.

Most people in reef keeping have a few fish just for movement, the real attraction is the coral you maintain.

HTH,
TB

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Hey

Pics At last

I might change the aquascaping tommorow i'm not to sure if i like it. Found no hitchhikers yet except what look like baby feather dusters. I'll take some tests tommorow to see how it goes Tried one with actnics only but the picture come out purple

Thanks
Dan

 

[Clownfish11790]

Sweet pics...You can still get some more live rock...I think you should because then you can get more coral.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Definitely NOT ANY DRAGONETS (Mandarins, Scotter Blenny). The water or tank size is not the factor it's the Live Rock Quanitity and quality and the amount of copepods they can produce for the dragonets taht are important. You can sometimes buy manarins or scooters that eat frozen or prepared foods, but don't buy one thinking you can 'train' it to eat prepared foods, way too difficult a task and usually fails to the death of the poor fish.

Now for good Nano fish, there are many gobies that are always a good fish. Ocellaris Clowns, True Percula Clowns, Firefish, cardinal fish to start with.

There are others out there too but for starters go with Hardy, easy to keep fish and as the tank matures and if you have the space add a different species if you want to.

Most people in reef keeping have a few fish just for movement, the real attraction is the coral you maintain.

HTH,
TB

Hey Trekbear
Missed your post earlier )
Diffently won't be getting any dragonets now, maybe when i'm older and have a 100+ tank

Diffentlt getting a clown and a purple firefish and the last fish will be a small goby. I'm hoping i can find one with lots of colour and personality that crawls around like a mandarin Any suggestions?

Thanks clownfish, i'm going to re-aquascape now and hopefully things will look a little better I have 1.1lbs per gallon in there at the moment so maybe i will bump it up a little more. Perhaps when i've redone the rock they might look more laid out so i wil have more room for coral

Thanks
Dan

Edit: Todays water params are:
PH - 7.9 (getting there )
Ammonia - 0.1
Nitrite - 0.1
Nitrate - 5

I've just done some re-aquascaping, Kind of like a U shape. I like it more theres just one piece of rock that looks out of place and can't really go anywhere else
Got alot more gaps and tunnels now and i can see where about my corals will sit
Pics tonight
Dan

 

[trekbear]

Dan,

I like several different gobies, The Yasha haze is nice and you can pair it off with a pistol shrimp, the sleeper gobies are pretty cool as well as any Hi-Fin gobies like the yasha haze.... There are serveral different Blennies that make cool tank mates too. Bi-colour blenny is purpleish black 1/2 and the other 1/2 is yellow or cream.. Better feeding makes the colors come out richer... Also, you can get a nice little guy called the clown goby, they come in yellow, green black and a pale blue color. Sometimes called coral gobies too. They only get to about 1 1/2 inches so they are relatively small and I love mine, he's got a great personality and stays out all day long doesn't hide like the firefish.

HTH,
TB

 

[Clownfish11790]

I also have a clown goby. He is yellow and his name is killer. (My dad dropped that bag and almost killed him so I named him Killer....I know its kinda wierd.) Anyway the yellow clown goby looks very pretty because he stands out from the aquarium kind of like a Yellow tang does, except smaller. I notice that you have to feed them everyday of they will become really skinny. _CF

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Heres some pics of the new aquascape. There are alot more tunnels now and i prefer it
Took some with actnics on but they look bad

Thanks Trekbear and Clownfish for your replies. I really like the look of the yasha haze and the red high finned banded goby. The picture of the yellow clown gobie doesn't do it any justice i bet, so i'll have a look at the ones at the LFS before i make my mind up

Thanks
Dan

 

[steelhealr]

Dan..the aquascaping looks good. I like how you have a peak on one side and a nice cave on the other. How much rock in there again? Good job. SH

 

[trekbear]

Dan,

I REALLY like the 2nd layout of your aquascaping. It looks like you took your time and came up with a great scape.

I agree 100% with SH the Peak on one end and the caves on the other make a big difference, the 1st scape you had was (well, like a pile of rocks This shows some real talent.... keep it up...

And I must say, Those lights of yours are very bright looking even with a digital camera which I find dims it somewhat... Great for you and your corals. Now all you have to do is wait, and wait and wait some more for the cycle to complete....

l8r,
TB

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Thanks guys

I'm alot more happy with this layout, just that one pieces in the middle doesn't really have anywhere to go. There's quite a big tunnel on the right side as well. The angle i took the picture at doesn't really show it but oh well.

Thanks for your honesty Trekbear, looking back on the old layout. It really does look bad
Yea i'm very happy with the lights they are nice and bright. I haven't had any complaints about them from the neighbours yet

I have 8.4 kg in there ATM. I decided to measure the actual volume of the water rather than the tank measurement which gve me 60x34x30 or slightly over 16gallons. The live rock gives me just over 1lb per gallon and i may bump it up when i get more money
Think i might include a couple of blue legs hermints in the cleaner crew just worried about my snails....
Thanks for your replies
Dan

 

[steelhealr]

Scarlets are reportedly better if they have them available. Don't forget to leave room/depth for coral frags in the future. Small corals come on pieces of LR. Lookin' good Dan....you've done really well planning this out and I think you are going to be really pleased when your tank is finally going with corals. SH