Sf05's Slow And Steady

[Mr Miagi]

Cheers guys. I test it first thing in the morning and have never done it when the lights have been on for a while. I test it out later and see what i get

Yeah, test it before lights out and you will get a different result. One thats hopefully higher.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Very Nice Dan

So has the 'Must get a bigger tank bug' hit yet

I know when I started I upgraded twice in about 16 months much to the despair of SWMBO & my Wallet

Mate you've read my mind. Even though my choice is so limited with such a small tank there are still so many nanosize fish i'd love to own such as:
Midas Blenny
Catalina Goby
Neon Goby
Royal Gramma
Much more

I'm already toying with the idea of saving up to go to a 30g ( Still nano though ) but i've got so many projects i want to get started that i need to decide which is most important. One day i'll own a tank big enough to house a tang but not yet (when that day comes i'll have a couple of merlin 600 Ro units to east the water waiting game )

im not great on saltwater fish but i was thinking why dont you get another clown fish so you will have a nice pair

It's something that has crossed my mind but i'm setting the barrier at 3 fish only. So i want to get a good variety of colours and personality. If ever did do the 30g idea i'd add another clown for sure

Cheers guys. I test it first thing in the morning and have never done it when the lights have been on for a while. I test it out later and see what i get

Yeah, test it before lights out and you will get a different result. One thats hopefully higher.

Got a higher result Still lower than needed but hopefully it's to do with my immature tank. 7.8 was my result

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Hey Everyone

Just thought i'd keep you up-to-date with how the tank is doing and one more picture of the firefish and a crappy picture of one of my 20-odd feather dusters

I think i have some king of macroalgae on one of my rocks, there was some on there when i bought the rock but it has grown a fair bit since then. I'll add some pics tommorow as my camera memory was full after my firefish pic.
Also I ordered some Joe's juice off ebay last friday so hopefully it should be here tommorow latest! Will be glad to see the back of those Mo-Fo's.
We've been busy decorating downstairs this week so moving the tank is getting nearer so i've decided not to add to the livestock before the move. (Now, just need to make sure i stay clear of the LFS )
Last thing i can remember is that my shrimps molted about 2days ago which seems like good news to me

Heres the latest of the firefish. He's red + Purple have come out more on his bottom fins

He's doing great

One shot in before the pic so just the two here. They are popping out of the ground, Literally

 

[Aquascaper]

Even though my choice is so limited with such a small tank there are still so many nanosize fish i'd love to own such as:
Midas Blenny
Catalina Goby
Neon Goby
Royal Gramma

I would scratch the Catalina Goby off your list as they prefer colder tank temps of around 76f and usually die in warmer water and seem to be particularly intolerant to temperature fluctuations. Due the the problems with temp stability and in Nanos it's a big risk with having to try and keep the tank that cool and stable. They are gorgeous but i've heard nothing but stories of failures with these beautiful fish

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Cheers for that Aquascaper, I'll move him off the list.
Midas Blenny seems to be the favourite ATM but i'm keeping my eyes open

Dan

 

[Aquascaper]

The Midas is a cool fish with lots of character and one of the few gobies that is free-swimming.

 

[steelhealr]

Your photo of the purple firefish just goes to show you how beautiful they are and for the life of me, I can't understand how anyone could pay almost $200 for a Helfrichi's type. WTG...things are lookin' good. SH

 

[Neal]

How much did all of that cost you? (Excluding fish).

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

O o I've found most of my reciepts so these are pretty much the dead-on prices including the delivery although i've probably forgot some other things...
18g Tank - £21.50
100W Heater - £17.99
Powerhead - £21.50
Lights £169.99
Digital thermometre - £9.99
Cheap Thermometre - £0.99
Refractometer - £39.99
Master Kit £34.99
8kg Salt - £19.99
2X RO Drum - £9.98
Mixed Powerhead - Free
Mixer heater - Free
Ro Unit (Fittings also) £100
10kg (22lbs) LR - £108
20lbs Live arog sand - £21.99
Cleaner Crew - £51.50
Fish Food - £10
Misc - £30

Total- £668.40

Thanks Dan

Fish N shrimp adds another £49 to it which comes at £717.40 so less than i thought unless i forgot something big

I woke up this morning and found that my shrimp appeared to have molted again but then i found another body.... I think he must have died during the molt.
He seemed fine the last few days and i don't understand how he died.
I took some results just incase and everything came out normal, I've done my 15% waterchange as well and everything seems fine.
The clean-up crew are fighting back the algae and things are starting to look good. The tank looks crystal clear apart from surface scum that i just can't get rid of (Nothing to bad but i prefer it clear)

 

[Aquascaper]

Sorry to her about the shrimp

The surface scum can only be removed by surface agitation or surface skimming, as its a Nano I guess the only thing you could do is aim a powerhead towards the surface to try and break it up. Surface scum is a real pain and can hamper gaseous exchange into/from the water so it's best to try and remove it.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Cheers Aquascaper

I have added a Hydor 450ltpr (think i said intpert earlier) with the outlet pointed upwards. It kept blowing the water out of the tank and covering the lights with salt creep .

I'll mess around with it tommorow to try and turn the flow down so i can get it just right

Dan

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

I think i've found the killer of my shrimp. A small mantis shrimp which is living in a burrow underneath a piece of liverock.

Freaking out a bit now he came out and then dashed back in (Musta found me as ugly as i found him )
How can i get this guy outa my tank?

Dan (Nervous Dan)

 

[crazyelece]

use a 20 oz pop bottle. Cut the top off, flip it around , and stick it back into the end. So it looks like a funnel or like you pushed the top into the bottle. Then put a piece of shrimp or other frozen food in and leave it in the tank over night. You should be able to catch him in their and just pull the trap out in the morning.

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Hey everyone

Just thought i'd do a quick update with some latest pics

Forgive the quality of the pics and the water stain yet again....

If this one comes out right you can see my firefish yawning

Latest FTS

Right View

Left View

This one was meant to be a close-up of my hermit oh well at least you can see some of my 40+ feather dusters

The tank is running smoothly atm. Cant wait to move it downstairs so i can start adding corals

I'm still puzzled about this mantis/bristleworm creature in my tank as i cant ID him.

I had a good face-to-face with him yesterday and i can see that he has two antennas which are striped across dark brown and light brown. Then he has another small pair underneath those. Then he has these to big fang looking like things. His body looks like armour plates with the middle one light brown and all other darkish. He has a pair of legs on each armoured plate. Kinda freaky the way he moves

Can't find a match anywhere

Ooooo heres the best shot i have of my firefish, might have posted it already cant remem

If you're on here and the sizes are bad please bare with me so i can change them
Cheers
Dan

 

[akilles-13]

I love the rock formation, looks awesome. Those feather dusters are just popping up all over, what type are they?