The Indecisive Journal Of Trod's 5 Footer

[Trod]

Day 20

Phew been busy again.

Got all the LR out and gave it a clean, got some yucky stuff off it, Put it all back in, now before I show you the pictures I must say, its nothing like I was going to have, but I like it, lots of caves and some good shapes going on, please leave me your comments good and bad
Also added around 50lb of sand.

Its still cloudy from adding the sand but you can see what its like

FTS

25% water change done

Tests today

Ammonia a big fat 0
Nitrite and Nitrate still sky high

 

[bagu]

hehe i always end up getting something different lol ^^

nice piccies i am liking the scape! nice caves going on!

 

[Trod]

Couldn't resist a moonllight shot, the way the light shimmers on the surface is amazing I am so pleased with it but the camera just doesn't do it justice

 

[bagu]

lights look stunning!

 

[scott133]

hi trod

tank looks good. now the ammonia is 0 once the water has cleared down the nitrite should be just very slight so whats the stock list going to be just lions or are you going to have tangs,puffers,angels

regards scottt

 

[kj23502]

but the camera just doesn't do it justice

Does that mean we get a video of the shimmer?

Looks good. I like all the nooks n crannies in there. Are you going to try any corals? You have some shelving that I'd love to put some lps on

 

[Anguilla82]

tank is really coming into its own now trod.
starting to make me wish i hadn't sold it!

 

[Ehudd]

cant call it a lions den without a volitan!!!

Nah its up to you, but i think a small one would be awsome, i have kept them, and im always kicking myself im not now.

Well the tank cycled sooner than i expected, which is awsome! fish soon

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thats some nice LR you got there. Scape looks really good, nice and open with lots of flow and places for fish to hide.

 

[Trod]

Thank you everyone
Ehudd, I must admit the curing didn't take as long as I thought it would, but knowing my luck the cycling will take weeks
I am so pleased that I decided to cure the rock myself, thinking back to what it looked and smelled like, 2 weeks ago, to what it looks now is incredible, and I seriously wondered if I would ever get here But I have and I'm so chuffed with myself, I would happily do it again.

LOL Rob, the tank does look amazing with the LR and sand in, I keep trying to picture the lions swimming around and I get a shiver down my back

kj23502, I never thought about a video might try that tonight as far as corals are concerned, I hope to put some mushrooms and ricordea's in there, I might try some other softies too, but I would have to upgrade the lighting for SPS/LPS corals

Scott, I'm planning to get one Pterois Antennata and a Dendrochirus zebra but to be honest, if I see a baby Volitan I just might be tempted
I'm also looking at adding a foxface rabbit fish and may be, a big may be a box fish but I have got to do a lot more research on that before any decision to made, I have also seen some gorgeous juvie emperor angel fish, they could be on the list, no tangs, hadn't considered puffers, but you never know

Water stats later

 

[Trod]

Day 21

Stats

Ammonia, 0
Nitrite, coming down slightly. between 2 and 4
Nitrate, didn't test as nitrite still high

 

[seffieuk]

A baby volitan, how awsome would that be

big sis x

 

[Trod]

Day 22

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

Looking really good

25% water change

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Is it worth doing a water change now the ammonia is down? The nitrate is not going to do much harm in there right now and the nitrite while not brilliant probably wont do a great deal of harm to any critters that have already survived the ammonia cycle.

If it was me now the ammonia is cycled I would just leave it for the nitrite to go and then do a complete water change to get rid of the nitrate.

Something else that would be cool for a FO setup could be a dragon wrasse. They look amazing when they are young (though they do tend to get a bit boring looking once they reach full size).

 

[Trod]

Thanks Barney, some good advice there I think I've just become so used to doing the water changes never really thought about stopping

I will go and research the wrasse too