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  #26  
Old 01/08/2008, 06:19 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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Today I bought my live rock, I have about 20-30 lbs in the 12 now and I am putting another piece in tonight and on Thursday when I make my next trip to the LFS I will get the supplies I didn't get today ( Including some pieces of LR)
One of the rocks is from my 7month old 75 gallon.

I put in a quart of established sand from my 75 in there too I will probably put a quart in every 3-5 days.

I will post some pictures up when the water clears up.
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  #27  
Old 01/08/2008, 11:38 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I BRING PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New LR, but not in it's current aquascape( which looks awesome by the way)




Right Side View



Left Side View yes that is a heater, temp. there



Top View ( Down to bottom of tank)



The rock cleaner I used on the LR



I GOT MY FIRST FISH!!! ( Dedicated to Fish.Nemo and his 15 gallon)



My white gold ( No the other white gold...jeez druggies)



My Skimmer ( I will clean it up on Thursday when I get my filtration set)



My rock work pump



We also have two incidents to celebrate!

1) I saw my first hitchhiker in the nano: I posted this up on teh Other Invert forum, but maybe reading might know- It looks EXACTLY like an earthworm, moves like one to ( the stretch and compact body thing), pink or grey, and half an inch. ( the camera couldn't get a picture of it. )

2) My first strange thing ! - A flourescent orange/pink specks on my one piece of live rock ( Under LED actinics) Again camera couldn't get a good picture of it.
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  #28  
Old 01/08/2008, 11:52 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I had one more comment.
In the process of filling the tank up with water I did three things.

- 3-4 gallons on my 75's established water

- One Quart of my 75's established sand

- 10 pounds of 75's LR

My 75 is 7 months old.

So cycling should be painless ( hopefully)
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  #29  
Old 01/09/2008, 11:14 AM
mathias999us mathias999us is offline
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Looking good so far. What kind of skimmer is that?

I'd be curious to see if you really skip your cycle.... you got rock from LFS, so it will likely have some die-off from transport I'm guessing.
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Hofstadter's Law -
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
  #30  
Old 01/09/2008, 11:49 AM
Hodge Hodge is offline
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Location: Smithers BC Canada
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I have a hi-fin black ray shrimp goby/Randall's pistol shrimp pair in my RSM and they are awesome. It took two tries to get a pair, the first shrimp vanished 2 mins after putting it in the tank. A month later I got another (bigger this time) and it found the Goby within an hour and they've been happy cave builders ever since.
  #31  
Old 01/09/2008, 04:21 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I am highly considering the Goby/Shrimp Pair.

Well some comments after a day:

I added more Rubble Rock to the tank and it looks great my aquascaping is one of the best I've have seen in an nano I am taking a picture right now.

Mathias- There is die-off I had some algae portions coming off my 75's LR too. I just don't think cycling will take as long, plus the quarts of live sand will help too.

Hodge- Thanks for the goby/shrimp info. I would love to get a pair, but I'm worried about two things:
1- I don't want a high bioload at all in the tank it is more set for corals than fish.
2- I heard it is pretty hard to get them to pair

So I'll have to see. I am some more pictures pretty soon here.
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  #32  
Old 01/09/2008, 04:23 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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Oh, yeah sorry Mathias the skimmer is a Red Sea Prizm. I was between that or the "SeaClown" ( I have no problems with them at all)
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  #33  
Old 01/09/2008, 05:15 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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MORE PICTURES

The new aquascaping under halides( warming up) :



FTS without lighting:



Another halide shot of new aquascaping :



Left Side View:



Right Side View:



FTS with LEDs :



That extra space on the left side of the tank ( where the Mini Jet is) is there so when I'm on my desk which is next to the tank I can view the tank so it can distract me




NOW SOME SHOTS OF THE FILTRATION BEFORE I SET IT UP TOMORROW

Any comments or suggestions would be great.

Actual Shot:



My plans:



The 1st chamber will have half of it full with filter floss on eggcrate, and the intake of the skimmer start the and dump the water in the 2nd chamber

The 2nd chamber will have the skimmer return and will contain Phos-Ban and Denitrate. ( I'll probably only end up using the Phos-Ban all the time, and Denitrate on vacations)

The 3rd chamber will have nothing in it for now, I may create a refuge, but right now it is a emergency( heavy metal or anything)/ Extra space( If I add anything to the system)

The 4th chamber will have the new Maxi Jet as the return, some Purigen, and the heater's home.

Like I said comments on the filtration would be great.


The only good thing about those ceramic rings the system comes with:

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  #34  
Old 01/09/2008, 06:23 PM
thin crust thin crust is offline
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new aquascape looks good. are you going to permanently keep the heater in the display?
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  #35  
Old 01/09/2008, 06:38 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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No its only there until I get the filtration set I'm moving things around and getting ideas. I think I may fill the right side of the tank with rocks too. It looks odd with that side open.
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  #36  
Old 01/09/2008, 08:25 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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CHEAP CORAL !!!!!!

That top most piece of "live rock" has a pink color on teh montipora looking part except for areas where you can see it died. Well there is a coral-stress slime coming off of it!!!! A 1/2 pound piece of "LR" which ended up costing $2 is a Monitpora frag !!!But it is not in good health at all so I guess its a cross your fingers situation.
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  #37  
Old 01/09/2008, 10:47 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I did some tests tonight and here were the results:

AM: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0 ( not even a trace)

pH: 7.5-7.8

What do you guys think did I "skip" the cycle or speed through it.

Remember I used buffered substrate, buffered salt and teh pH is low that is a sign of biological activity.

I think I might have 40 % established water, 2 quarts of established sand, and 20 pounds of establish LR what do you think.
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  #38  
Old 01/09/2008, 11:53 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I added a buffer and the pH is at 8.3, the temp. is 78.5-9 F
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  #39  
Old 01/10/2008, 06:13 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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An update, the Monti-liverock didn't make it the as a ton of slime and brown on the skeleton so I took it out and left it out of water for 5 hours and I am rock preping it again. I am going to do a second water test to make sure yesterday's wasn't a fluke I'll have results with the hour.
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  #40  
Old 01/10/2008, 06:42 PM
ToeJam ToeJam is offline
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Looking good. I like the aquascaping. I am most likely going to add sand soon. My goby wants to dig.
  #41  
Old 01/10/2008, 07:16 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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Test Results are in:

pH: 7.8 - It is strange it was lower than that yesterday and I added a buffer and we were back at 8.3. I sprinkled some buffer in teh test tube to double check and within a second the tube exploded with purple

AM: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Temp 78.9- 79.4 F

Now today I accidentally had the heater in the wrong outlet and when I turned my room lights off the heat went off when I got back the tank was at 71.3 degrees F. Do you think the tank went through a min cycle when the turned the heater back on?

Aside from that here are some other notes to point out:

I found a mini serpent star inside my Monti Live Rock. When I out him back in he didn't move and then all of a sudden he was racing for a crevice.

I am getting some spots of diatoms and some green algae.

I need some opinions on if the tank skipped its cycle or not. Also why the PH is constantly being lowered, even when I add a buffer.

Livestock:

Do you think I could do

- One tailspot blenny

- two red fire fish

- one green clown goby

Invert

-4-6 dwarf blue hermits

- my one little serpent star

-4or 5 nerite snails

-1 sexy shrimp
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  #42  
Old 01/11/2008, 03:23 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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More diatoms are building up and algae is growing so once the diatoms die off I will do a water change, add my CUC, and take some pictures. Does nobody have a reply or anything?
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  #43  
Old 01/11/2008, 04:26 PM
mathias999us mathias999us is offline
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Downright phallic I must say.
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Hofstadter's Law -
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
  #44  
Old 01/11/2008, 04:38 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I know I'm nervous to have a sexy shrimp in there,the phallic levels may rise.
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  #45  
Old 01/11/2008, 04:42 PM
mathias999us mathias999us is offline
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HAHAHA.... I'm ripping this off (not my joke), but this tank is totally ready for a poon tang, if you like those.
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Mathias

Hofstadter's Law -
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
  #46  
Old 01/11/2008, 04:48 PM
black_majik black_majik is offline
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I have filter bags for protection....
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