Reef log/Diary

[Catpicklesdog]

I love reef logs, thanks for sharing. So how's your toe doing??


Thanks for asking 5xevy - Ready to lose the whole nail any day now!!!


The LR looks great and I'm glad you're enjoying your MHs- they'e quite an addition. Bet you didn't miss the diatom algae, huh?

I certainly didn't:eek3:

Haha- be prepared to run out of salt a lot more quickly than you're used to! I try to buy at least 3 buckets at a time since I used to get "stuck."

Since that post I've managed to get through another 16kg of salt and have now ordered a 25kg bucket of the stuff. Now it's up and running I won't need as much and I'm also still doing water changes on my current tank.

I have to ask...what are "bacon butties?"

I can't believe you've managed to get through life without a bacon butty!!

Edit- I just found this...
http://www.answers.com/topic/bacon-butty
At least you gave your LFS guy and neighbor a healthy meal while they were lugging around all that heavy equipment!

I had an apple!!!:grinyes:

 

[Catpicklesdog]

sheesh.......just reading it is making me want to get out the frying pan and get some made...proper food.....

Niko

I make a healthy bacon butty - I grill instead of fry:grinyes:

 

[Reefscape]

no no no.....full fat....sauce....

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Well it looks like the tank is going through a small cycle. I put the last of the rock in last Friday and all my levels tested fine. On Wednesday when I tested again there had been a slight increase:

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0.25
Ites 0.25
Ates 5

Yesterday everything was the same apart from Ates which increased to 10. Today however things are decreasing:

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Ites 0.1
Ates 10
Calcium 500

SG all along has been 1.025.

It's probably been a small cycle because I used all cured rock (apart from the last batch), transferred some of the sand from my current tank, have been swapping water from one tank to another and also moved some of my filters from my current tank to the new one.

It also seems that the few corals that were on some of my rock are not only coping well with the cycle but are rapidly growing!!

So hopefully everything should be OK by next week and I can move everything across.

I've also now installed the fans and moonlights. Here's a piccie to keep you going (apologies for the blurriness)

 

[Reefscape]

I dont see anything to worry about at all with the water params as its only going to be very temp and quick mini cycle..

Moonlights look fab Ali....really coming along great

Niko

 

[Catpicklesdog]

The only thing that worries me at the moment is the fact that I can "smell" it!! Especially when I first walk into the lounge in the morning when the doors have been closed all night. I've put my babies through so much with problems with Ates, Phosphates and ammonia spikes in the past I really want them to have a pleasant change over (although saying that - the shock will probably kill them!!)

 

[5xevy]

Ohhhh, nice. I like the lights a lot. What's the red thing lit up in the lower right-hand corner?

 

[Catpicklesdog]

It's the read out for the temperature probe. One of my many bargains from Ebay and seems to work really well. It also has a second socket so you can have something else plugged on a timer. I have a smaller powerhead at the back of the tank low down that comes on for an hour and off for an hour.

 

[clown-lover]

Wow its looking great... But now I'm mad.. I want a bigger tank :grinyes:

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Well for the last 2 days test results have all been normal. There were a few crabs and snails in there and I've ordered another 55 snails to be delivered on Tuesday. I've transferred a few more from current tank as well. Today I decided to put the corals in. A few more piccies to keep you going!!

Full tank shot


Some corals








Tim is coming over on friday to help me transfer the rest of the corals and my fish!!!