Our tank so far (pics)

[steve68]

Crystal if u have any tipe of filter pads u can put them somewhere in ur sump to clean ur water the only downside is u will have to rinse every 2 to 3 days but it will clear all that junk & help out the water i use these aquaclear sponges they are preaty big to polish my water then i just rinse them & store them

[CrystalAZ]

Sounds good... here are some pics now. I rearranged the aquascaping just a little and added another big rock I got at an LFS. The carbon is clearing the water and the smell considerably.

My ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all high.

These shots are with the MH and VHO on.

Full tank:



From left side:



From right side:



Right half of aquascaping:



Left half of aquascaping:



For those that are interested, I'll keep you posted.

Crystal

[steve68]

Crystal very very nice it looks good
it's kind of late u cant sleep neither huh
i can picture everything in there allready how about u.
light look good i bet it looks really bright in there.

[steve68]

1 more thing did u use that rock glue u bought?
its cool how u got the rocks like that .

[CrystalAZ]

I did use the glue. I am not overly impressed with it. One of the rocks I glued just snapped off when I was checking its strength. It doesn't seem to actually STICK to the rocks.

I only used it on 3 rocks. The rest of them, although they look like they may fall, are actually planted in there pretty solidly.

I can see things in there already too. I'm excited! Last night, I took my flashlight and peered into the tank and saw a little tiny shrimp looking thing crawling around on the sandbed! Woo HOO!

Crystal

[stagefright13]

Wow congrats looks great! I have the same ballast, it is however a dual 175 dunno what yours is. It gets pretty warm just running 1 halide. And also even being NEXT to the tank it is starting to see white salt spots. But has been working great. Just watch water temp. I use 4 small computer fans and have NO problem. Once again looks great !!

[CrystalAZ]

Thanks!

Mine is a dual 250.

It does get hot. When I get to a point where I have to run it for hours at a time, we'll keep a close eye on surrounding items and the water temp down there.

Crystal

[Dont Fear The Reefer]

Crystal, watch for the stability of the rock structure foundation. You may have already done it, but it is safest to place the rock directly on the bottom glass, instead of on top of sand. Many of your fish and creatures will burrow under the rock and sand and could cause a rock slide. I have a Convict Goby that moves large quantities of sand overnight. BTW- love your setup, looking great!
Dan

[vietoriouz]

Nice rockscape! I hate looking at other tank's rockscape, it always makes me redo my rockscape. I think I have a problem. muahaha

[CrystalAZ]

It's not on the bottom glass, but I did scrunch it down in the sand as much as I could when putting it in. I'm sure it will settle some. I don't plan on getting any digging fish so hopefully it will be ok.

Thanks for the compliment on my 'scaping. I am happy with the way it looks. There are a ton of places to put corals so it will be exciting to watch it come along.

My nitrates and nitrites are off the charts, and ammonia is going down. I know it isn't necessary to test every day, but I like watching what it is doing.

Lastly, a question: If a coral on the rocks is completely bleached out, how likely is it that it will revive?

Thanks,

Crystal

[steve68]

Crystal here is a picture of the foam insert this is what i do believe it or not that foam use to be white
i had a plate coral that was bleached out & it dint make it
so i would say chances are not that good JME

[bmcq]

Tank is looking good!!!! Don't worry about checking the params daily ...... for the first year this will be a good habit!!!! Now would be a good time to start a log of params ..... this way you can start to see trends before they happen. I kept 1 for the first year and it was a great help!!!!!! Have you tried putting a piece of shrimp in the tank to help to accelerate the cycle? This may help to keep from losing more life in the tank!!!! If you have plans to add additional rock (maybe just a few pieces with lots of life) once the cycle is finished is a good time. I used a lot of base rock originally, cycled tank, and then added some select pieces. Those select pieces today have spread a lot of life to my "base" rock. I would also suggest a detrivore kit for both the main tank and the sump once the tank cycles. That is the best time as there are no predators (fish mainly) to reduce the original numbers. You are well on your way and I hope you get as much enjoyment from your tank as I get from mine!!!!

[CrystalAZ]

We've got pods!!!!

Today, our ammonia was very near zero - almost undetectable (nitrites and nitrates are still off the charts).

Tonight, I took my little flashlight as always and looked around the tank. Much to my delight, I could see little white "fleas" hopping around on the back wall of the tank! WOOHOO!!!

Multiply, little pods! Multiply!!!!

On another note, since the pods are just now coming out, are the chances pretty good that I have other hitchhikers like starfish, crabs, or whatever, that have been hiding in the live rock waiting out the ammonia as well?

I am so excited.

Crystal

[jackson6745]

Great looking tank. I really love the stand and canopy. Is it DIY?

[absolut]

The stand is maple. I had it custom built as all our other furniture is light maple. I got a really good deal on it through a friend of a friend.

[jackson6745]

DUH
thanks

[StinkyNappy]

pics of the inside of the hood (lighting) would be gr8!!

[tiger134]

Great, good thing dun stop keep it coming !!

[nicodeemus]

Hey CrystalAZ, great looking tank!! Don't fear the Reefer has a good point. It is a good idea to have your LR on the glass. Make sure you do your research on the fish you put in cuz lots like to move the sand around in tanks. We had a Bicolor Blenny that didn't dig at all, but after we got rid of him, my wife wanted another Blenny. We got a Midas Blenny and he's dug himself out a full out cavern under one of my bigger pieces of Figi. Luckily it was a bigger piece cuz half of the rock isn't even touching the glass. It would be a shame to have a rock slide crack your tank

[CrystalAZ]

We are well into the BROWN algae/diatom stage. Everything is covered with brown including the powerheads and spray bars. YECCCCHH!

The ammonia is barely detectable now and the nitrites and nitrates are going down dramatically every day.

I watch my tank every night, and always see different types of pods, but last night was especially exciting because as I walked in front of the tank, a little feather duster sucked back into his tube! I was practically jumping up and down!!!

Well, today, I was walking around the tank checking things out and see that there are FOUR of them in there! WOOHOO! They are so cute. I was concerned about them having food, so I took the tiniest bit of flake food and crushed it into a fine powder and threw it in. I figured that small of an amount couldn't hurt anything.

Saturday we are going to head down to Aquatouch and pick up just a few hermits and snails. I want to make sure all is well before putting a ton of cleanup critters in there.

AND if all goes well... maybe a FISH next week! WooHOOOOO!

Params yesterday:
Temp 82.1 (varies between 80 and 82.9... hopefully that's ok)
SG: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .5
Nitrate 5
pH: 8.14 (varies between 7.89 and 8.18)

Crystal

[CrystalAZ]

I tried getting some pics of the lighting and they really don't come out very well:

Inside the canopy:


The bulbs:


And a picture of my little feather duster!


My lights are a CoolTouch canopy with dual 250 MH (XM 10K) and dual 110 VHO (1 actinic and 1 daylight).

Crystal

[steve68]

looking good.
clean up crew can survive in there now just acclimate them good
i got my clean up crew from http://www.reefermadness.us it was the best deal i found but also coulnt wait & bought stuff local + when i bought LR from a local reefer it had some of the snails with the soft shells now they are everywhere im still working on my sump hopefully it will be done this weekend .
may the force be with u

[n1k16]

if ur tank is still cycling id reccomend turnin ur skimmer off and letting the live rock adapt and start to take over the filtration process...IMO that works the best, maybe u have done that im not really sure....good luck, looks great....

[CrystalAZ]

Well, we broke down and got some critters for the tank.

On Friday, I got a small cleanup crew (see below). I have to tell you, those turbo snails do an amazing job! My rocks were just covered in ugly brown algae, and in 2 days, they (along with my hermits and other snails) have made some amazing progress.

See?



Then today, we went ahead and got 2 ocellaris clownfish. They are eating pods like crazy and seem to be getting used to their new home.

Now we'll just wait a few weeks before getting anything else.

The clowns are VERY cute. I didn't want to harass them with the camera on their first day, so I'll post a pic or two in the next few days.

Crystal

[steve68]

cool Crystal im sure ur fish are going to love there new home
i got 100 nasarius snails today & 100 astrea snails & my hermits came out & started to eat the snails those little bugers
i got the snails from www.reeftopia.com i think i will order more from there they have good prices .
i think it was like 2 weeks ago that i told u i was going to switch everything over well i still have not done it yet i did how ever finish my sump soon i hope soon