Newbie 30 gal. journal...

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joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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I keep updating a post in the newbie forum, so I guess I'll make it a journal.


12-10-05
Day one....45 lbs. of Dr's Foster and Smith's hand pick premium whatever stuff. This is my first draft, and I'm sure things will change over time. I know you can see equipment on the right, but I want to start with function over form until I gain experience. There were some remnants of sponge here and there, and what looks to be coral on the lower right rocks.

Click the pic for a full-res version if you want to see things up close.
 

joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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12-11-05
Mahlhavoc said:
Wont be long and you can add a cleanup crew to keep this looking as it does now! How long has this been set up? And what are current levels water wise? Rest of equipment?
Should a cleanup crew be the first thing to add, or should they be added later? Sand and salt have been in the tank for a few days, it was run with water and nothing else for a few days prior. As for water parameters, SG is 1.022, ammonia is about 2.4 mg/L (plenty to get things started), temp is 80.1 . Haven't tested pH or anything else.

BTW, I haven't been running the skimmer since adding the rock. I figured I want all of that stuff floating around the tank until the cycle is completed. Is this a worthwhile approach?

Equipment is listed in the link in my sig. What you see is what you get, really.

As for the pics, I redid them to more accurately reflect what things look like. I got pretty close. Reality is that the tank displays a slightly greener tint than depicted. Strange.
 

joe schmoe

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12-12-05
Ammonia down to about 1.5 mg/L, nitrites are off the chart...somewhere near 4-4.5 mg/L. Those little buggers are working hard. On a side note, most of the colored algae seems to be gone. I guess I'm getting lots of die-back. The skimmer is pulling some foul smelling yellow liquid out. I guess that's a sign of something. I'll leave it to you folks to tell me what that is :)
 

joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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12-15-15
Ammonia down to about .05 - below the sensitivity of my test kit. Nitrites and Nitrates both off the chart. Added a couple more rocks from the LFS that actually have something living on them - some macro algae, dark purple coralline...a polyp and a worm or two.

I am totally unimpressed with the response from the live rock from Foster and Smith. Very little sign of life. Most, if not all of the coralline algae seems to be dying and sloughing off. Brown algae is starting to grow in spots, and what looks to be turf algae (little purple hairs) was starting to show on one of the rocks. With $75 at an LFS I could have gotten LIVE rock, not dying-and-starting-over rock like I got from Foster and Smith.

The guy at the LFS convinced me to pick up a refugium. That'll be next.
 

joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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Nitrites down to readable levels today - approx 2mg/L. I'll test for Nitrates and do one last check on Ammonia when the Nitrites are down to zero. A good bit of the macro algae detached itself from the rocks, but new growth is already showing. More brown algae showing up on the rocks, and a little on the substrate. Seems like there is green coralline growth going on on the lower left rock and even though much of the thick brownish-red coralline has sloughed off, there appears to be a litlle bit of growth underneath it all.

I've removed the bubble diffuser from the skimmer - it's wasn't diffusing. The AC filter will later be replaced with a refugium. Anyone know a good source for live sand online? I don't believe my LFS has any.

Click pic for full-res view...


A comparison with the first close-up pic shows just how much coralline has died off. All of the pink found in that first pic is gone now.

I'm not happy with the rock arrangement. The wall is nearly vertical...so I'm having a hard time getting light coverage to both the back and lower parts of the wall at the same time. I'm thinking I'll have to get one more 65W PC positioned on the very front of the tank.
 
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Blinky

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The rock sounds pretty live to me, you're cycling quickly and seeing macro which is great. Losing some life during a cycle where numbers go off the chart is pretty unavoidable but a lot of things will come back when conditions allow. You could always supplement with some premium stuff from the LFS, you'll get the most life from uncured rock but have to go through another cycle (doing water changes during that cycle will help preserve the life). You'll probably be surprised by how 'alive' the rock becomes after a few months. My first batch of LR was white and seemed pretty dead, but cycled almost instantly and more and more critters continue to appear even 6 months later.
Your second arrangement is an improvement over the first, it looks like what you got isn't the easiest rock (shape-wise) to work with. If you get a little more from the LFS I'd go for rocks with unusual shapes - it will add visual interest and also allow you to fit some of your rounder rocks into curves so you can avoid the 'pile of potatoes' look.
 

mogurnda

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It may take a few tries to give yourself a rockscape you really like. It gets even more interesting as you try to match the shape, light requirements and flow requirements of a particular coral to a spot in the tank. Very good start, though.
 

joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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Blinky, the woman who can PREDICT THE FUTUUUUUUUUUUUURE. :joke:

I didn't have to wait very long to see life. I saw a strange formation in the tank this morning. It's a trail left by something. While trying to find it's source, I found myself a brittle star. Then saw a short little bristle-worm kinda thing moving from one whole to another. I don't know if it's what you folks call a Bristleworm, but it was a worm, and had bristles so that's what I'll call it. It was the size of a grain of rice, front 2/3rds were beige, last 1/3 blackish.

On to the pics...

Funny trail of debris spanning from the top rock to the bottom one....who made this?


Brittle star...yay.


Coral? I knew about this one, but it looks like it has two neighbors gowing beside it (up and to the left, and down and to the right). It stays closed during the day, opens up to show tentacles at night.


Some sort of little tube worm. Know about that once since the newer LR came in.


Newer red coralline under the slough off...


Green coralline under the slough off of pink coralline..


I don't think my setup is conducive to this type of coral, but it seems that at least some of it is alive. I processed the pic to remove the green tint in the tank (yellowish water + bluish lighting = green tint) and it seems to be purple.


Ordered a refugium, refugium mud substrate stuff, refugium light and a ballast to set up another 65W PC.
 

joe schmoe

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Sep 20, 2000
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Nitrites down to 1.6mg/L. Spotted a couple more tube worms. Increased skimmer time from 12 hrs/day to about 18 hrs/day. There's enough algae in there for a couple snails, perhaps a couple hermit crabs if I can find some interesting ones. Maybe this weekend.
 
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