Blue's BC 14

[blue2fyre]

I love this tank!

Yes the aptasia are multiplying but the rest of the tank is awesome. Parameters are still holding at 0,0, 5 and I find something new living in this tank everyday! Yesterday I saw some sort of bug, spaghetti worms and some new sponges. Today I saw a bristle worm and what looks like a red feather duster though it's shaped differently than the others. We'll see how it grows.

 

[greech]

Glad to hear things are going well and your' enjoying the tank. I still find new things in my tank now and then. Just be careful not to feed those little guys too much and stay on your water changes so that nasty cyano doesn't keep popping up.

If you have been feeding with any regularity and your numbers have held as they are, it sounds like your rock was fully cured when you got it and you could add a couple snails and crabs (if you want them) to pick at the rocks and cleanup any excess food you have been adding.

 

[blue2fyre]

Yeah I've been adding some food for the stuff in there and my parameters have been great. I even accidently fed a bit too much and all that happened is my nitrate went up a little.

Yesterday most of my stuff came in the mail. I now have a Koralia Nano 240 and a media rack for chamber 2. I added some pillow stuffing but I still have some "stuff" blowing around in the tank. For the powerhead I'm still working on placement for the best flow. I think I have it in a good place now.

I move some of my rock around and I like the scape more. Today I'm heading to the LFS to pick up a couple hermits and snails, maybe some cheato if they have it.

I'm also mixing up some new saltwater for a water change tomorrow.

 

[blue2fyre]

A few new pictures

Old Scape



New scape



Mushrooms






Zoaz



Xenia(I think)



I added 3 small blue leg hermits today. They are hilarious and add a bit of life to the tank. I would like to pike up a scarlet reef hermit, would it get along with my blue legs?

I almost picked up some new corals but figured I would wait until I changed over my lights. Everything looks crappy under the stock lights, I hate them.

I'm going to order some snails from reef cleaners soon to top off my clean up crew. For now it's more waiting to make sure everything stays stable.

 

[Ace25]

Yes, you can put a scarlet in with blue legged, just don't over do it, 1 scarlet to every 10 blue legged hermits is my rule.

 

[blue2fyre]

I was planning on just adding 1

Thanks for the info!

 

[blue2fyre]

First water change today. Did not go smoothly as hoped but everything is fine. I moved the xenia so I can actually see it pulse!

I also made the mistake of stopped by the LFS on the way home. Picked up a peppermint shrimp. She's awesome. I mean of course it's unlikely she will eat my pests but a neat addition anyway. Someday my aptasia-X will get here and I can zap those suckers.

I'm going to wait a week before adding more clean up crew. A week after that I should be able to get y LEDs and start getting some more corals.
Then the stocking plan is :

Porcelain crab
Tuxedo urchin
Clown pair

Then done!

 

[Ace25]

Urchins are a big pain in the butt, especially in smaller tanks. Even the tuxedo will pick up corals on its back and carry them around (softies like zoas/mushrooms/xenia). I would really not recommend urchins unless you have a large tank and lost of hair algae for them to eat. At least your "impulse buy" was good, most of the time those end up badly.. worst case you got a cool shrimp to look at.. best case it will eat aiptasia.

 

[blue2fyre]

Getting stuff this weekend to set up LEDs in the tank. Depending on when stuff gets here I should have the light upgrade done later this week.

 

[greech]

Congrats, look forward to seeing it.

Is this a DIY fixture?