little_fish
Moderator
I've never heard that before, but I can guess It is likely a reflection of the fact they are probably in water that is toxic to them (ie high nitrates)
A complete newbie who needs a way to start!
- Thread starter Laz
- Start date
Laz
Reefing newb
I think so, Little. I really need to invest in an R/O machine for WC's, and this is just for a 12G! Fact is, water costs do add up.
Steve, I thought it would be as simple as taking the wires of the heater/fans off the plug and sticking the wires into the back of it. Seems I was very wrong. I saw a diagram of it, hopefully I get the time to do it up, because it's definitely a good piece of kit from what it sounds like.
Steve, I thought it would be as simple as taking the wires of the heater/fans off the plug and sticking the wires into the back of it. Seems I was very wrong. I saw a diagram of it, hopefully I get the time to do it up, because it's definitely a good piece of kit from what it sounds like.
Laz
Reefing newb
Hey guys, just thought I'd post some pictures. Added my second clown today and all seems well. Got the hang of this drip acclimation thing a lot better this time round. My turbo's that I thought had died are still alive, thankfully. I did a 30% WC as the drip acclimation used up a fair amount which I had to replace, so I think that helped remove some of the nitrates.
My RapidLED bulb replacement also arrived and the tank is back to looking great. I'm really glad I got this far, and by doing it properly. This really was my main goal to see if I could do it. When I joined, I knew absolutely nothing besides some of the mandatory fundamentals of fish keeping, but I think I've done fairly well in terms of learning the SW game.
Overall, I'm pretty sure I have spent over £500, just like my LFS owner told me I would. Didn't think it would be realistic, but patience pays off.
Anyway, here's some pictures. The colors and sharpness looks great on my phone, but for some reason, they decrease significantly in quality when I upload them here.
My next step will be to increase the CUC gradually, but only until my nitrates decrease. Probably add a couple of shrimp after my next water change. Hopefully in 3-4 weeks, I'll add a torch coral and complete my goal until the urge for a bigger tank kicks in. ;)
Throughout all this, I'd like to thank all you guys for all your help. You've been of great help to me and I couldn't have done it so easy without the advice.
Onwards and upwards!
My RapidLED bulb replacement also arrived and the tank is back to looking great. I'm really glad I got this far, and by doing it properly. This really was my main goal to see if I could do it. When I joined, I knew absolutely nothing besides some of the mandatory fundamentals of fish keeping, but I think I've done fairly well in terms of learning the SW game.
Overall, I'm pretty sure I have spent over £500, just like my LFS owner told me I would. Didn't think it would be realistic, but patience pays off.
Anyway, here's some pictures. The colors and sharpness looks great on my phone, but for some reason, they decrease significantly in quality when I upload them here.
My next step will be to increase the CUC gradually, but only until my nitrates decrease. Probably add a couple of shrimp after my next water change. Hopefully in 3-4 weeks, I'll add a torch coral and complete my goal until the urge for a bigger tank kicks in. ;)
Throughout all this, I'd like to thank all you guys for all your help. You've been of great help to me and I couldn't have done it so easy without the advice.
Onwards and upwards!
Barch
Reefing newb
looks good Laz!
little_fish
Moderator
Looks good!
Marinne13
Northern Reefer
your clowns are sooo cute!!
Ted
Living one day at a time
Great looking fish and a great looking tank...
chichimom79
reef junkie
Looks great! If I were you, I'd make my next purchase some more live rock. :)
I don't see any turbo snails. Are you meaning the astraea snails? They seem a lot hardier than the turbos in my experience. I love astraeas.
I don't see any turbo snails. Are you meaning the astraea snails? They seem a lot hardier than the turbos in my experience. I love astraeas.
Laz
Reefing newb
Thanks guys, it looks so much better IRL.
Chichi, I've got 2KG of LR in the sump at the back and just over 3KG at the front, so just about a pound per gallon. No, they're turbo's. Maybe they're different in other places?
I've yet to get any sand sifting snails, but the prices here are outstanding. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll do something about that.
Chichi, I've got 2KG of LR in the sump at the back and just over 3KG at the front, so just about a pound per gallon. No, they're turbo's. Maybe they're different in other places?
I've yet to get any sand sifting snails, but the prices here are outstanding. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll do something about that.
Laz
Reefing newb
Okay, I'm not sure if my crab is supercrab or they just live without water, but what happened was, I noticed I hadn't seen my orange electric hermit crab in a while and thought he was hiding somewhere. It had been over 48 hours and still I hadn't seen him out, so I started to get a bit of a thorough look. I had once seen him on my overflow box where my LR is just sitting on top of the rock, so I thought he may have gone there again, but after inspecting it carefully, I still hadn't seen him.
I noticed some water stains on my tank on the side where the crab usually climbs and I saw some on the table, so I thought he's probably fallen out and died by now, but I find him right in the corner of my carpet just under the table. I thought he was dead but I saw him move and quickly chucked him into the water and now he's completely fine just under the shade of the rocks.
Pretty darn surprised. Thought he would have become a raisin or something. Can they live without water or is he super crab? (please be the second one ;))
I noticed some water stains on my tank on the side where the crab usually climbs and I saw some on the table, so I thought he's probably fallen out and died by now, but I find him right in the corner of my carpet just under the table. I thought he was dead but I saw him move and quickly chucked him into the water and now he's completely fine just under the shade of the rocks.
Pretty darn surprised. Thought he would have become a raisin or something. Can they live without water or is he super crab? (please be the second one ;))
Laz
Reefing newb
DIATOMS. Loads.
Guys, my diatoms have gone wild and taken over everything. I wanted to know, is there a bit of a weird smell to the water when you have diatoms? The water just smells.. old.
I also have this purple looking gloopy stuff on my rock - Cyanobacteria?
Shall I just wait this stuff out? Another thing, I've had some carbon in my sump for around 3-4 weeks and wanted to know if I should take that out or not.
Guys, my diatoms have gone wild and taken over everything. I wanted to know, is there a bit of a weird smell to the water when you have diatoms? The water just smells.. old.
I also have this purple looking gloopy stuff on my rock - Cyanobacteria?
Shall I just wait this stuff out? Another thing, I've had some carbon in my sump for around 3-4 weeks and wanted to know if I should take that out or not.
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chichimom79
reef junkie
What are your water parameters?
Smitty
Reef pro
Crabs can live out of water for a few days, I've found one under my bed once, which was about 25 yards from the fish tank. And you should change your carbon out, I change mine out every week. The new carbon should help with the smell of the tank.
Laz
Reefing newb
Will do the tests tomorrow, Chichi. Had a hectic last 10 days or so.
My tank went a lot worse. The diatoms literally made a blanket over the sand. The Cyano got bad, too. It was real stringy and covered a lot of the rock. I've not been able to do any water changes as I've misplaced my refractometer and have been looking for it ever since. Will try do a thorough look for it tomorrow.
Anyway, I removed all the cyano and diatoms by hand. It was just awful to look at and the family weren't too impressed. Looks a lot better now but I can't help think that this stuff shall grow back very quickly again. I removed the 3-4 week old carbon bag, too.
Any measures I can take?
I was thinking..
Doing a 30% WC (once I find the refractometer)
Adding some fresh carbon
Adding another powerhead
My tank went a lot worse. The diatoms literally made a blanket over the sand. The Cyano got bad, too. It was real stringy and covered a lot of the rock. I've not been able to do any water changes as I've misplaced my refractometer and have been looking for it ever since. Will try do a thorough look for it tomorrow.
Anyway, I removed all the cyano and diatoms by hand. It was just awful to look at and the family weren't too impressed. Looks a lot better now but I can't help think that this stuff shall grow back very quickly again. I removed the 3-4 week old carbon bag, too.
Any measures I can take?
I was thinking..
Doing a 30% WC (once I find the refractometer)
Adding some fresh carbon
Adding another powerhead
AnthonyTheNewbie
Reef enthusiast
Hope things get better, I'm sure someone who knows more then me will be able to chime in with some good advice! Good luck! :)
Laz
Reefing newb
Thanks amigo. Found my refractometer yesterday, which means I can finally do some WC's.
My diatoms seem to be under control since I removed them manually. They were slightly re-appearing with some brown coloration on the sand but I put filter floss just under my overflow box and changed that out every 24 hours for the past 4 days and I'll continue to do so as I think it's helping. The stringy bubbly cyano is coming back, though. Not quite sure why. There is definitely flow as it moves around with decent water movement through it. I think I seriously need to up my CUC. Only have one turbo and hermit crabs...
Will check my params later on, otherwise here's a fair few pictures. I've also got some hairy green algae stuff on the LR.
My diatoms seem to be under control since I removed them manually. They were slightly re-appearing with some brown coloration on the sand but I put filter floss just under my overflow box and changed that out every 24 hours for the past 4 days and I'll continue to do so as I think it's helping. The stringy bubbly cyano is coming back, though. Not quite sure why. There is definitely flow as it moves around with decent water movement through it. I think I seriously need to up my CUC. Only have one turbo and hermit crabs...
Will check my params later on, otherwise here's a fair few pictures. I've also got some hairy green algae stuff on the LR.
ErinCahir
Sausage Wrangler
If it's stringy and bubbly it's probably dinos, not cyano.
chichimom79
reef junkie
Get your water at zero nitrates and phosphates, and definitely add more CUC. Some astraea snails, cerith snails. and nassarius snails would be my suggestion :) Good luck. How are things coming along now?
