Kelz88
Got Reef?
Ikr! Stupid power should be free :D Getting in the way of more zoas. Although w/o power there would be no corals ^^
My First Tank (60L)
- Thread starter TBrewerton
- Start date
Ikr! Stupid power should be free :D Getting in the way of more zoas. Although w/o power there would be no corals ^^
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
likewise, without a car I can't work for the money to buy lights haha grrr
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Still haven't heard anything back from the store since I said I would go ahead with the lights :( But I guess its your weekend in the states now... Grrr lol
On another note, I did a big clean in my tank last night, I got a sheet of filter padding awhile back from the lfs - I cut little squares off it for cleaning the inside glass - works a treat. Did that last night but decided to move all my rocks to clean behind them etc, and then to clean near the sand i moved some so I wouldn't get any in the filter pad and scratch the glass.
After doing all this I had stirred up so much crap - it looked horrible - was a bit scared to run any tests haha - Just tested now about 24hours later
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 10
Im happy with that! (I did do a small water change at the same time though which prob helped.
I couldn't believe though how much and how quickly crap has built up in the rocks and sand - I was thinking does anyone actually have cleaning cycles for cleaning rock etc as well?
I thought I might get a bigger tub for mixing my water in and then once a fortnight/month or so I could use that tub to put my rocks in and blast with the powerhead to get rid of any crap buildup and while the rocks are in their I could vacuum the top layer of sand and do a water change.
(this would be on top of my other cleaning rituals.)
Would this be a good idea or am i just creating more work for myself than needed and added stress to the fish?
On another note, I did a big clean in my tank last night, I got a sheet of filter padding awhile back from the lfs - I cut little squares off it for cleaning the inside glass - works a treat. Did that last night but decided to move all my rocks to clean behind them etc, and then to clean near the sand i moved some so I wouldn't get any in the filter pad and scratch the glass.
After doing all this I had stirred up so much crap - it looked horrible - was a bit scared to run any tests haha - Just tested now about 24hours later
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 10
Im happy with that! (I did do a small water change at the same time though which prob helped.
I couldn't believe though how much and how quickly crap has built up in the rocks and sand - I was thinking does anyone actually have cleaning cycles for cleaning rock etc as well?
I thought I might get a bigger tub for mixing my water in and then once a fortnight/month or so I could use that tub to put my rocks in and blast with the powerhead to get rid of any crap buildup and while the rocks are in their I could vacuum the top layer of sand and do a water change.
(this would be on top of my other cleaning rituals.)
Would this be a good idea or am i just creating more work for myself than needed and added stress to the fish?
I don't think you will have to do that once a month. Maybe once every 6 months or once a year that might be beneficial, but there are problems associated with doing that.
You can use a turkey baster to blow off the rocks while they are in your tank....You can even hook up a filter with carbon or something once a month and blow it off and let the filter remove most of that stuff but this isn't needed.
Most of that stuff is just fine to be in your tank, though. Think about where all of that goes in the ocean. There is no mechanical or chemical filter in the ocean, everything is broken down by the biological filter, and that is usually the end goal in our systems as well. Because of our limited water volume and certain other things, we DO have to run some mechanical or chemical filtration sometimes (i.e protein skimmer) but you don't need to compulsively clean the rocks off.
I usually blow mine off with my Coralife 21" feeder about once a week. It gets the tank kind of cloudy for a few minutes and then it settles back down. The point of this isn't to remove it from my system, it's to stir it up and move it around so that all my little detrius and scrap eating critters can more readily get to it...and they do a good job!
As time progresses I will likely need to do some sort of mechanical filtration when I do it every once in awhile. A simple biowheel filter or my old canister filter will do the trick for a couple of hours at a time, but until then I probably won't do anything about it.
Another thing to remember is that if your rocks are glued or if you have coral, removing the rocks can really be a pain in the ass. :-)
You can use a turkey baster to blow off the rocks while they are in your tank....You can even hook up a filter with carbon or something once a month and blow it off and let the filter remove most of that stuff but this isn't needed.
Most of that stuff is just fine to be in your tank, though. Think about where all of that goes in the ocean. There is no mechanical or chemical filter in the ocean, everything is broken down by the biological filter, and that is usually the end goal in our systems as well. Because of our limited water volume and certain other things, we DO have to run some mechanical or chemical filtration sometimes (i.e protein skimmer) but you don't need to compulsively clean the rocks off.
I usually blow mine off with my Coralife 21" feeder about once a week. It gets the tank kind of cloudy for a few minutes and then it settles back down. The point of this isn't to remove it from my system, it's to stir it up and move it around so that all my little detrius and scrap eating critters can more readily get to it...and they do a good job!
As time progresses I will likely need to do some sort of mechanical filtration when I do it every once in awhile. A simple biowheel filter or my old canister filter will do the trick for a couple of hours at a time, but until then I probably won't do anything about it.
Another thing to remember is that if your rocks are glued or if you have coral, removing the rocks can really be a pain in the ass. :-)
little_fish
Moderator
+1cvcdrk
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Cheers mate, very helpful stuff!
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
No updates for awhile sorry. Just did a water change and also while i was at it had a play around with my rocks, I figure before my lights come I need to make sure im happy with thier position cause it will get harder to move around once i start introducing corals.
Love the new look, its amazing - will post pics once the tank clears up again.
Also tested all my levels too
Ammonia 0
Nitrate ~10
Ph ~8
Phosphate (which use to be a little elevated) is now 0
Salt 1.025
I put the phosphate level drop down to limiting my use of flake food - If i use any i only put in a small bit that i no they will completely eat.
Lights has been a drama. The company I was trying to buy from in the states was all keen until I said to go ahead with the purchase.... Now I cant get hold of them at all.
So Ive found another company in NZ I told them the price that the guys in the states were going to do it for and he is going to match it but excluding GST so 15% more.
I can live with that - paid for them yesterday so he hopefully ordered them in today - they still have to come from the states tho so prob 2-3 weeks away yet.
The place I ordered from is going to get a set for their own tank too haha
Anyways thats pretty much all to report as of now - I'l get that picture up soon ( I love the look!)
Love the new look, its amazing - will post pics once the tank clears up again.
Also tested all my levels too
Ammonia 0
Nitrate ~10
Ph ~8
Phosphate (which use to be a little elevated) is now 0
Salt 1.025
I put the phosphate level drop down to limiting my use of flake food - If i use any i only put in a small bit that i no they will completely eat.
Lights has been a drama. The company I was trying to buy from in the states was all keen until I said to go ahead with the purchase.... Now I cant get hold of them at all.
So Ive found another company in NZ I told them the price that the guys in the states were going to do it for and he is going to match it but excluding GST so 15% more.
I can live with that - paid for them yesterday so he hopefully ordered them in today - they still have to come from the states tho so prob 2-3 weeks away yet.
The place I ordered from is going to get a set for their own tank too haha
Anyways thats pretty much all to report as of now - I'l get that picture up soon ( I love the look!)
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Still a little murky but here it is
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Ok so a quick question, you cant see it in the above picture but theres quite a bit of algae thats broken out on the rocks, some of it is red/brown and very long (im guessing hair algae) and the rest is very pale almost white and short but kinda has a similar look to the red. It almost looks like the red stuff but shorter and is covered in white powder (could be from moving stuff around it may have just picked up all the fine sand dust)
All my parameters are perfect as far as i can tell..
Ammonia 0
Nitrate less than 10
Ph ~8
Phosphate 0
Salt 1.025
I have my lights on from 10am - 7pm each day.
My gut says its just another phase of the tank "setteling" since it is still only around 1 month old. Last time I did a water change I tried syphoning some of it off the rock but all it did was stir up the tank and piss off the clowns. It didn't want to budge.
Is there any advice anyone has? Or should I just carry on my regular maintenance and wait it out?
All my parameters are perfect as far as i can tell..
Ammonia 0
Nitrate less than 10
Ph ~8
Phosphate 0
Salt 1.025
I have my lights on from 10am - 7pm each day.
My gut says its just another phase of the tank "setteling" since it is still only around 1 month old. Last time I did a water change I tried syphoning some of it off the rock but all it did was stir up the tank and piss off the clowns. It didn't want to budge.
Is there any advice anyone has? Or should I just carry on my regular maintenance and wait it out?
Last edited:
little_fish
Moderator
I would suggest making a whole new thread on this, i would help you here but i am having a mini melt down at the moment and dont have the mental capacity to do so. And i am going to be gone for a few days so I cant return to this in the near future.
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
My LED's arrived today!! Wow that took ages... Got them all fitted into the tank - took a bit of DIY'ing to get it to fit nicely, but its almost perfect! The colour is amazing and having the dual dimmers for white and blue is nice.
Couldn't help myself and ended up at the pet store and came home with my first two corals, a small rock with some Zoa's and some type of mushroom I think they said the other was. They are both now in the tank and starting to open up - Il post pictures of the lights and corals once they are settled :-)
Love it!
Couldn't help myself and ended up at the pet store and came home with my first two corals, a small rock with some Zoa's and some type of mushroom I think they said the other was. They are both now in the tank and starting to open up - Il post pictures of the lights and corals once they are settled :-)
Love it!
little_fish
Moderator
Exciting!
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Pictures as promised
This is the light fixture once I had modified the canopy for it to fit in where the T5 originally was. I just had to cut down the screw fixtures slightly to make the fixture fit a bit more snug up in the canopy. Also I needed to bend the Steel brackets that came with the LED's a little to fit within the curve.
Here is a FTS of it with the T5
And this is with the LED's
This is my Zoa's under the blue light only
And under white only
And here is a shot of the mushroom.
I cant remember exactly what the mushroom looked like at the LFS but I am pretty sure it was much bigger, this photo was with it positioned at the bottom of the tank to the left of the flat rock in the arch way. In the FTS you can see I have placed it higher now up on the rock work to the right of the arch. Any suggestions would be welcomed as to what it would like best. The zoa's on the other hand seem to be loving it.
This is the light fixture once I had modified the canopy for it to fit in where the T5 originally was. I just had to cut down the screw fixtures slightly to make the fixture fit a bit more snug up in the canopy. Also I needed to bend the Steel brackets that came with the LED's a little to fit within the curve.
Here is a FTS of it with the T5
And this is with the LED's
This is my Zoa's under the blue light only
And under white only
And here is a shot of the mushroom.
I cant remember exactly what the mushroom looked like at the LFS but I am pretty sure it was much bigger, this photo was with it positioned at the bottom of the tank to the left of the flat rock in the arch way. In the FTS you can see I have placed it higher now up on the rock work to the right of the arch. Any suggestions would be welcomed as to what it would like best. The zoa's on the other hand seem to be loving it.
Cathic
Fish Wrangler
That looks like a Ricordea Mushroom, easy to care for and they grow reasonably fast (in my experience). When they first get to a tank they may shrivel a bit, they willl expand when they feel comfortable.. Give it a few days to adjust if its still shriveled a bit, move it somewhere with a little less flow, if it starts to expand its probably fine in that location.
little_fish
Moderator
+1 Cathic
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Moved the Mushy up to the top of the rock work cause he wasnt liking it there.
Cathic
Fish Wrangler
Give him a few days and see what happens, Mine personally loves a higher light spot in the tank. But I have some growing at the bottom as well.
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
So its been 1 month with the new corals - A bit has happened in that time.
I added a sandsifter goby - he ended up being a pain in the arse - attacking the clowns and my hermit went into hiding so I had to catch it (what a mission) and the lfs let me return him. I exchanged it for another couple frags of Zoa's.
So now I have 3 lots of Zoas and the Ricordea. Over the last 2 days the Ric started looking a bit strange and its mouth got very very large and filled with white strings... I was a little worried and then this afternoon i got home from work and i now have 2 Rics...
So within one month of having it, its split. Was a nice surprise.
I have managed to get my Nitrates to the point I cant get any reading of any which is great. But still having a issue with Phosphates. This week I have been trialing turning off the powerhead when I go to feed, just so I can see the clowns eat everything put in. This works much better but every time i turn it off they freak out and hide at the bottom of the tank... I think they are slowly getting use to it though.
I also added a clay flower pot to the tank as I had read that clowns quite often like to host them, and sure enough within about 2-3 days of adding it to the tank the female is hosting it. The male doesn't seem interested in it - he still hosts my powerhead grrrr! lol
Anyway just a quick update to let ya all know how everythings going - still love the LEDs to - such a good investment.
I added a sandsifter goby - he ended up being a pain in the arse - attacking the clowns and my hermit went into hiding so I had to catch it (what a mission) and the lfs let me return him. I exchanged it for another couple frags of Zoa's.
So now I have 3 lots of Zoas and the Ricordea. Over the last 2 days the Ric started looking a bit strange and its mouth got very very large and filled with white strings... I was a little worried and then this afternoon i got home from work and i now have 2 Rics...
So within one month of having it, its split. Was a nice surprise.
I have managed to get my Nitrates to the point I cant get any reading of any which is great. But still having a issue with Phosphates. This week I have been trialing turning off the powerhead when I go to feed, just so I can see the clowns eat everything put in. This works much better but every time i turn it off they freak out and hide at the bottom of the tank... I think they are slowly getting use to it though.
I also added a clay flower pot to the tank as I had read that clowns quite often like to host them, and sure enough within about 2-3 days of adding it to the tank the female is hosting it. The male doesn't seem interested in it - he still hosts my powerhead grrrr! lol
Anyway just a quick update to let ya all know how everythings going - still love the LEDs to - such a good investment.
TBrewerton
Reefing newb
Heres a picture of my female in the flower pot, the male doesn't seem interested - he hosts the powerhead directly above it but she has taken to it heavily and spends most of her time in there now - so cute!
