Nice photos, I am starting to love this rock, I have seen heaps of other photos and yours is awsome.

Yes, I hope the best man does win! cheers

Day 11
 

Here we start day 11:

pH 8.2
SG: 1.024-1.025
Temp: 25
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 (the test is so hard to read!)
PO4: 0.1
CA: 400

The spaghetti worm has moved back to the rock he was originally in. I hope that spaghetti worms are suposed to move around, otherwise something is wrong.

This Friday I am going to do another 10 gallon water change and pull up all the hair algae!

I will contact TBS at the end of next week to see about the possibility of delivery of the second half off the package during the week of the 22nd.

What was the reason in two seperate shipments of the rock? I would think having it all at the same time would be benificial so it can all go thru the stages together. I would imagine the price! It sounds great, looks great :) Also, why the temp in Celcius?

Anyhow great thread, I look forward to follow your progress because I am right behind you here in a couple months. I am getting nervuos lol.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Scuba Oz [/i]
[B]What was the reason in two seperate shipments of the rock? I would think having it all at the same time would be benificial so it can all go thru the stages together. I would imagine the price! It sounds great, looks great :) Also, why the temp in Celcius?

Anyhow great thread, I look forward to follow your progress because I am right behind you here in a couple months. I am getting nervuos lol. [/B][/QUOTE]

I bought the "package" from TBS. TBS ships the rock in two seperate shipments. In the first shipment you get 1/2 the rock and all the sand. You then place everything in your tank and do water changes anytime your ammonia gets above 1.0ppm. Once your ammonia stabilizes you call them back and they send the second half of the package which has the other 1/2 of the rock and all the clean up critters.

The reason they ship in two seperate shipments is so you do not kill the cleanup critters with the possible ammonia spike. You are basically waiting for anything that is going to die on tghe rock to die and build up good bacterial colonies to process the critters waste. I never had an ammonia spike, my ammonia never got above 0.25.

The clean up critters that my 40 gallon package comes with are:[list][*]80 blue leg hermits[*]20 turbo snails[*]2 tiger tail cucumbers[*]1 serpent star[*]1 pepermint shrimp[/list]
Go here for more information: [url=http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/package.html]http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/package.html[/URL]

You do not have to order "the package" from them, you can also simply order rocks without all the other stuff. I went for the package because I did TONS of research on TBS when I discovered them, I loved the look of the rocks and the experiences people had starting a tank with their package. So far, I am impressed.

What a difference 96W make!
 

I got the replacement bulb from The Fish Place today and placed it into the Coralife 96W fixture I bought. I already had a Coralife dual 36 inch fisxture over the tank with 1 96W actinic and 1 96W 10K bulb. I thought the tank looked pretty bright!

Once I placed the new 96W fixture in place and turned it on I didnt think it would make a difference but it sure did! Now, when I turn the new 96W fixture off and leave the dual fixture on the tank just seems dim where before I couldnt believe how bright it was!

Lets see some pictures, we love pictures.

LOL.........Yesterdays pictures (page 4 of this thread) were not enough!I will get some more pics up tomorrow or Friday.

Sounds good.. I am using a corallife 2x65W PC's on my 20g... before that I was using (FOWLR) a 18w powerglo bulb... When I switched and turned on those 4 bulbs... my room lit up like nothing... it was amazing.... I have 2 blue actinic and 2 10k whites.. i think? i know there's 4 bulbs lol... the whole lighting aspect of this hobby throws me off...

Sorry DW I should have looked at that link you sent us before, now I know whay they send in two stages. I still dont know why they do but I read the whole website today. I understand the live critters phase but not the live rock phase, who is to say you wont have a bad spike with the second "package" Well I like the site ( thanks heaps ) and I will consider this for myself. A bit pricey for me but it is a " package ", that you have to consider when shopping around like we all do.

Day 12
 

The start of day 12:

pH 8.2
SG: 1.024-1.025
Temp: 25
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0 (the first time the test has shown a definite 0)
Nitrate: 5 (the test is so hard to read!)
PO4: 0.1
CA: 400

I have about 5-6 anemones in the tank, not sure if they are Aiptasia or not, I am sure one is not. I fed them yesterday, it was very cool to see them grab the end of the eye dropper and take krill from it. Right now I am just going to let them be, I can take care of them later if they turn out to be Aiptasia.

I took a huge amount of pictures yesterday, probably the best pictures I have taken to date and I will get them posted sometime tonight or tomorrow!

I just found another porcelain crab! Where is stuff coming from!! I am now 100% convinced that aliens are beaming things into the tank!!

beam me down scotty!!!!!

hehe, they are just living inside tight little holes and make their way out... you wouldnt believe how deep into the rocks they can get... and they will stick in the holes GOOD... i had a nuisance crab in my tank.. had to tear down the rocks... take the rock out... and i messed around with the rock for almost TWO hours trying to get him out.... then all I did was take a long skewer and push it all the way down the tiny hole he was in... and when I lifted the rock, there he was :) ...

my point ? they can hide very well. lol

cant wait for the pics !

dw, you're making me want to buy some TBS rock for my newly set up 50-g refugium!

BTW, regarding your sig, Afternoons in Utopia by Alphaville is still one of my favorite albums!

I have heard, and I also replied as to the bad "critters" Why are they so bad, DW does not sound too concerned of these hitch hikers. Why are they so bad I guess is my main question

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Scuba Oz [/i]
[B]I have heard, and I also replied as to the bad "critters" Why are they so bad, DW does not sound too concerned of these hitch hikers. Why are they so bad I guess is my main question [/B][/QUOTE]

There are some hitch-hikers such as Mantis Shrimp and Gorilla crabs that can kill some of your beneficial creatures such as snails and hermit crabs. So far, I have none of those bad hitch-hikers. You can set traps in order to catch them.

I thought you said you had caught the clicking critter in your tank dw.. and I think you said it was a crab?? or soemthing like that...

Day 12
 

The start of day 12:

pH 8.2
SG: 1.024-1.025
Temp: 25
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5? (the test is so hard to read, though it appears to be going down!)
PO4: 0.1
CA: 450

I have been dosing CA to get the CA up from 350. Instant Ocean salt seems to have a low CA content. I may switch from IO when this bucket is done and use either IO Reef Crystals or Oceanic salt.

I got my camera home last night to find out that the mini-CD will not work in my computer at home! I will get more pics up tonight or tomorrow, I promise!

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by OCDP [/i]
[B]I thought you said you had caught the clicking critter in your tank dw.. and I think you said it was a crab?? or soemthing like that... [/B][/QUOTE]


Everything I have found has turned out to be a non-bad guy. I have found a few porcelain crabs and a decorator crab or two. I am assuming they are making the clicking noises. I have seen neither hide nor hair of a mantis shrimp or gorilla crab.

Hey, awesome then! A bunch of freebies :) Good to hear it's nothing bad. Sounds like your paramaters are fine.. a second shipment would be ideal anytime soon hey?

I have been using IO since I started.. and my CA levels are always sky high... about 460.. and I have never dosed my tank once. Weird?? I think so too. I have heard Oceanic is good stuff though too ! Just a FYI.

Looking forward to the pictures -- any word on the second shipment of rock?

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by elliottsa [/i]
[B]Looking forward to the pictures -- any word on the second shipment of rock? [/B][/QUOTE]

I will not be able to take delivery of the second shipment until the week of the 22nd, our Thanksgiving break. Or, in our politically correct world, Fall Break.

I would have to take a day off work to goto the airport to pickup the second half. I already took a day off for the first delivery and we are only given 5 "personal days" a year before we are docked pay.

Do you pick it up the same day they ship?

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by tygger [/i]
[B]Do you pick it up the same day they ship? [/B][/QUOTE]

Yes, they ship via air freight. The last shipment was only in the air a few hours.

how loud are the clicking noises?