The Journal Of A Marine Beginner

[sophos9]

Cheers SKi, do you think the flow is too strong or about right? Personally I think its moderate and turbulent...

 

[sophos9]

Well its been a good week, the Torch Coral is doing great and the Mandarin is eating everything I can throw at it!

There has been a price though, as I was seriously overfeeding...

PH - 7.9
Sg - 1.025
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.025
Nitrate - 50ppm
Phosphates - 0.03
Calcium - 400
Magnesium - 1230
Dkh - 7.60

Well the nitrates are a tad high dont you think? Water change tonight

 

[Musho3210]

got fuge?

 

[shibby]

looks a very nice torch, expensive??

jelous of the leapord as well, i gave up on them wouldnt feed at work

 

[sophos9]

got fuge?

Got a poor mans fuge?

looks a very nice torch, expensive??

jelous of the leapord as well, i gave up on them wouldnt feed at work

Thanks! Hi, not really was only about £30 I thunk...

Ah, and one more thing I realised, "Man who cleans out Venturi on skimmer with RO water, gets many bubbles and gunk out of tank"

 

[shibby]

ouch 30 pounds bargain!!!! ive seen small un's go for 50+ !


is your skimmer loud btw? (im sure its been asked many times of which ive forgotten many times!)

 

[sophos9]

Nope, skimmer is well quiet which is great! Just must remember to clean the venturi every now and then

 

[Musho3210]

i got my 3 head torch for free I sure do love my reef club....

 

[shibby]

cooli hopefully getting my hands on a cheap v2800 or5 a deltec or anything i can really, gonna shop around !


musho such a show off, im not jelous much..... preds are far better then corals anyway though that torch coral sure does look beautiful ...... one for the nano maybe.

 

[Musho3210]

cooli hopefully getting my hands on a cheap v2800 or5 a deltec or anything i can really, gonna shop around !


musho such a show off, im not jelous much..... preds are far better then corals anyway though that torch coral sure does look beautiful ...... one for the nano maybe.

Oh your just jealous that im so, Hot and Steamy that i can get just about anything i want
8)

 

[sophos9]

Right, nitrate problems kicking my a$$ - mainly due to the dead mandarin that is/was somewhere!? Shrimps are still alive, will test some RODI water in a bit to ensure the kit aint defective.

Anyway today was lighting upgrade day - 110w of T5s installed using Interpet power compact Marine Actinic and Daylight Plus, bottom line here is they are rubbish - colour is all wrong so I've ordered some Arcadia tubes. I'm only running them up an hour or so per day and gradually increasing the period as not to shock the corals. The torch coral puffed right up today after they were on!!

I've given the skimmer a total strip down and clean out - looks brand new and is working like a champ!

 

[SkiFletch]

Sounds good. Just a note to you and others. If ever you clean your skimmer, be sure to take the time to monitor it a few times an hour to make sure it doesn't "go nuts" on you and produce excess bubbles. This isn't too big a deal if you have an in-sump skimmer, but for those with HOBs you need to watch out for clean skimmers operating a little "wierd". Over time the gunk does affect their opration, so removing it can too

 

[Puncture.uk]

Been a while since the last update... Today I went shopping for a few bits and ended up getting 3 red legged hermit crabs, 2 peppermint shrimps and a red sea xenia

Bought the shrimps to assist in getting rid of the aiptasia that I have recently noticed, the crabs are good for cleaning (although I just saw one of the new additions have a go at some algae - hope they leave the corals)

I've also started as from today brining up the calcium and magnesium levels in the tank, starting with SG at 1.025 then brining calcium up over the next few days then starting on magnesium

I also want a mandarin, I'm now looking at stocking the Juwel filter with live rock rubble or chaeto to act as a simple mans refuguim

I'm also working on a Auto Top Off build (with the massive help from underwurlde)

Check out this red legged hermit dude, he is the daddy - big bugga

This is a shot of the tank, powerheads have been moved (yet again) to get rid of dead spots....

Will keep ya posted and thanks to everyone who has helped!!

Hi,

I have two red-legged hermits and they have wiped out about 30 turbo snails! - I've actually caught them turning the snails over and just sitting there and picking them out of their shells. Have you noticed any snail fatalities?

Sam

 

[sophos9]

Hi Sam...

I was specifically warned off keeping RLH's with Turbos so I bought some other snails (not sure what they are called but they sit and tunnel under the substrate and only come out when food hits the water)

They are fine, I guess its cus they are hidden under the substrate. What happened to your water parameters when the turbos go nabbed?

 

[sophos9]

Another addition yesterday... Yep, a bubble coral! This coral was drip acclimatised for about 1.5hrs, this photo was taken about 40mins after going into the tank. Will expect over the next few days for the bubbles to enlarge. I did notice last night it was releasing a few strings of brown mucus out of its mouths, the torch coral did exactly the same when I added it!

Any feedback is well received (position, care, etc etc)