I crossed over 1st sw 29g from day 1.-

[kcress]

Not there yet...

 

[apelaston]

ok i took today's tests and told some ppl in chat. They told me to do a 25% - 5gal water change ASAP. So I did. I will retest and repost later.

I also saw my brittle star(hitchhiker from a a rock) clinging to the glass and in the sand today. He is really active & I think he is growing too surprisingly.

 

[Danyal]

i'd deffinitly do at leat 5g, try doing that every other day since you don't want to kill the fish or life on the rocks.

 

[tundrahombre]

I agree with Danyal. 5g changes every other day/or every 3rd day is what I would do. As for your blue damsels, they are a very hardy fish and I believe they will do fine despite your current water parameters I remember having one when I did not have a clue what I was doing with SW and it survived, and was healthy, through all of my mistakes.

 

[apelaston]

I got rid of my damsels. Found someone with a 125gal reef who took one one day and then came and got the second one today..so I don't have to worry about the fish.

However, i do have a brittle star that hitchhiked as well as 6 hermits in my tank that I would love to survive. I will continue to check my levels and hopefully sometime next week I will make it to the LFS and get another 10lb of sand and another 15 lbs of live rock. I know that I need to get this all asap so that the the process doesn't get another kickstart everytime I add something.

 

[apelaston]

k took my parameters again today and they are as follows:
ph 8.2
trite 0
trates 0
ammonia .25-.50

I have not changed the water since the 5g water change on the 24th I believe...
I have also notice the light brownish cover of diatoms in my tank as well. Not bad--i hope it stays this way

am I about done with the cycle?

 

[apelaston]

anyone?

 

[Danyal]

not done w/ the cycle yet, it's just begining w/ the ammonia spike. if you wait until after your initial cycle then add more rock the following ammonia spike will be quite short because you've already got a bio-filter in place. time for a couple more water changes.

 

[apelaston]

thanks danyal! your a pal! Let me go check my numbers now and see where I am at and then can you let me know what you think?

k here they are--took longer than i anticipated because i reworked my few rocks..looks a lot better now i will show you when my camera charges.

ph 8.2
trate 10
trite 0
ammo. 0-.25 (somewhere in between the colors)

Also saw my brittle star again--he is growing I am not making it up! He is very active as well with my crabs..

 

[apelaston]

Here are the tank shots from today. I should be able to rockscape the tank pretty nicely with the last 15lbs--going to aim for just med size pieces....anyways this is how I arranged it today. No more added, but sure looks a lot nicer until next tuesday when I get the 15lb lr and 10 lb ls

(i just did this so the water is cloudy from the sand being stirred up...sorry)

backside

great rock with several tunnels all the way through it..

and what are these tubes? should i be concerned? I have not seen them open or close since i got the rock..

Thanks! I can't wait to get the rest of my rocks, wait a week or two and then I will be back and have my new lights as well so I can add my first corals and my watchman goby \pistol shrimp and a cleaner shrimp are going to be my first inhabitants (besides the rest of my cleanup)