Ogre's SW Tank v. 2.0

[OgreMkV]

OK, I've got everything resetup. I've got an AquaC Remora HOB skimmer and three powerheads. Total turnover is about 30x. I also bought a new dual actinic lamp for my light fixture.

I just got back from Houston with 3 boxes from Tampa Bay Saltwater. A box of sand and two boxes of live rock... 2 very large pieces and two smallish ones.

I must say that working in the tank is SOOOO much better with full arm length gloves. My arms started sweating instantly, but it was so much better than getting the glvoes full of tank water and then dumping that on the ground. The missus is happier about it too.

I'll throw some pics up when the tank clears and the sand is settled.

I smelled each rock and nothing was obviously dead or smelled bad.

Updates as they occur.

[Coler]

Great ! Good luck ! Looking forward to the pics.

[Hooked Newbie]

Good deal. I'm looking forward to living vicariously. :)

[IceH2O]

Once you hit bottom there's only one way to go.

May the trip up be as glorifying as the trip down was awful.

[Riiz]

Glad you got back up on the horse. Good luck.

[almo75]

Best of luck this go around! I hear great things about their rock, I wait anxiously for pics.

[OgreMkV]

Got two very large cerith snails... each just over an inch long. Beautiful creatures. One started to climb the tank wall before realizing that there wasn't anything to eat on it yet.

[OgreMkV]

Some pics... very cloudy water. And a big snail.

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[Almondsaz]

Ogre: did you clean the rock before putting it in your tank? http://www.aqualifesupport.com/getArticle.php?ArtID=172

And really glad you didn't just give up, once your tank cycles you will realize how much it was worth all the startup troubles.

[liverock1]

Ogre: did you clean the rock before putting it in your tank? http://www.aqualifesupport.com/getArticle.php?ArtID=172

And really glad you didn't just give up, once your tank cycles you will realize how much it was worth all the startup troubles.

Hiya

Nothing in that article applies to my rock.

This rock is a different critter than what you are used to seeing. This is real live rock, harvested alive, kept alive...and shipped alive to you under water.

This is rock always kept underwater....thus little die off.

Unfortunately there is little of this rock available, thus not much info about it other than here...


http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/testimonials/index.html

where you can see my customers rock

Sea ya
Richard TBS

[jenjen2008]

Glad to see you didn't give up! Good Luck with 2.0, I am looking forward to the updates!

[Almondsaz]

Hiya

Nothing in that article applies to my rock.

This rock is a different critter than what you are used to seeing. This is real live rock, harvested alive, kept alive...and shipped alive to you under water.

This is rock always kept underwater....thus little die off.

Unfortunately there is little of this rock available, thus not much info about it other than here...


http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/testimonials/index.html

where you can see my customers rock

Sea ya
Richard TBS


Richard: I wish that I had known about your rock when I was setting up my 125! All the rock that is in the LFS in my area AZ...has been dry shipped and then put into the curing tanks. Thanks for the link.

[OgreMkV]

Ammonia at .25, slightly up from yesterday (like up .2). I'll have to sniff the rock when I get home from work today.

I've counted 6 of the large ceriths and 4 of the smaller nassarius snails. One of the latter was bright green. Very odd looking.

I can hear popping. I'm hoping a pistol hitched a ride. I have a trap if it's a mantis though.

The water has cleared and my skimmer is working very well. It's pulling a lot of water right now, but it's still getting some tea colored junk in the collection cup. I'll have to add water to the tank this evening, so I'll do a small water change.

Something I read elsewhere scared me, so I tested my RO water for ammonia and it was zero... whew.

[OgreMkV]

Ammonia steady at .25. Everything looks to be doing well for 24 hours.

I'm not much for product placement. I'll give an opinion if someone asks, but I've got two items that have made a huge difference to me from the first attempt and this one.

The first is full arm-length gloves. My hands and arms sweat in them, but I can ruffle the sand at the bottom of the tank without getting wet. Really nice. Coralife makes the pair I use.

The other is a grabber arm. The one I bought is 27 inches long and it has grabber and scissor attachments. It is so easy to right snails, pull out things to check them for being dead. It's fantastic.

So guys, take my advice, these two items and the plastic backed water absorbent mat. About $36, but to me, just as valuable as a $200 light fixture.

[Coler]

Gotta agree about the grabber arm - very handy piece of kit.

[OgreMkV]

I did a 15 gallon WC last night. Ammonia is climbing again. I'll have to do another WC tonight probably. During the WC, I pulled some stuff off that smelled bad. At least one snail died and I haven't seen the others for a while.

[OgreMkV]

Quick pics... ammonia was actually down today... .5ppm. I'll check again in a few hours. NitrItes were up and nitrates were up a touch.

FTS - huge rocks
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purple sponge
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[OgreMkV]

OK, Ammonia is starting to trend down. I checked it about 30 minutes ago and it was .5ppm. No bad smells. My skimmer is producing way less foam and skimmate, but it's much darker... oops need to go check that before hitting the bed.

When the lights go out, the ceriths come out. Another one appeared and I think I'm up to five living ones. Each an inch long or so. I think these are the kind that are supposed to burrow in the sand bed, but it's one of those things that I didn't really believe that they could disappear seamlessly into the sand like that. It was a pretty startling revelation.

Just goes to show, book learning ain't all that. I'm starting to get excited about trying this again. There are plenty of the tiny little 1/4" feather dusters, but there's also a pair of large tube ones. The tubes are about 1/4" in diameter. It's amazing how these things can tell when you're looking at them and retract suddenly.

I've got a pair of yellow masses of wavy thin sheets. Not sure if they are sponges or something else, but they definitely move.

[Almondsaz]

Beautiful rocks, tank is looking good. You might want to consider turining your light fixture around so the cords are on the back.

[OgreMkV]

I will eventually, but it's much easier to pull the fixture off as I frequently need to during startup.

[OgreMkV]

Is this a large polyp coral?
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white snail
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green gongorian? What are these white stalks growing?
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More white stalks
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[msjinkzd]

wow, ogre this is very interesting! Glad it seems to be going well for you and I look forward to watching it progress in the thread.

[OgreMkV]

The cycle looks good. Ammonia is been slightly down every day for the last three. It's now below .25ppm. Nitrites are slightly up (just barely readable with my test kit) and nitrates are just slightly up as well.

I've got no less than 10 fairly large snails that are cruising the tank. The big ceriths bury themselves during the dya and come out about 8PM. That's a fun process to watch. The big green nassarius snails can really haul.

I found a living crab today. Looks like a mithrix. Even with the legs, he's smaller than a dime. Still hearing popping so not sure if I have a mantis or pistol shrimp.

The gunk in the skimmer collection cup is getting darker and smellier. yay.

[OgreMkV]

Ammonia way down... almost zero. We found a huge crab (about the size of a fifty cent piece with it's legs). I think this was the big one that I found earlier, instead of dying, it molted. Beautiful animal.

Anyway, I'll get the rest of the rock and critters probably next Monday or Tuesday... depending on when I have to go back to school.

[OgreMkV]

We've got snail eggs. One of the big ceriths laid two strings of eggs, each about 5 inches long.

Ammonia is zero.