Danno's Nanos And Pico Journal

[Danno]

Its been so long since I was active in a fish forum so I decided to come back after all these years. But anyways--

Since I was really missing fish and all I decided to create a ten gallon tank in my dorm room (SUNY Cobleskill). Luckily I have a good roommate that I can trust. He also has a tank too; Black Moors.

So far my tank setup is:
-10 Gallon All-Glass Aquarium
-Stock hood w/ 50:50 Fluorescent Bulb
-Thermometer (checks out at the correct temp)
-Hydrometer (checks out at the correct salinity)
-100 watt heater -gets quite cold sometimes
-Fluval 204 canister filter - set at max flow
-10 pounds CaribSea Arag-Alive Reef Sand

I set up the tank yesterday and got it running so it can cycle. I added the live sand this morning so it had around 16 hours to settle before the sand went it. I wanted to kill as little as possible but I wanted to let the sand help cycle the tank.

It is still settling.

Here are 3 pictures.

4/02/07

Im planning on getting around four pounds of live rock this month. One pound each week. Im a college student alright?!? Haha.
Im not sure what I want to stock it with yet. I got a local fish finally so picking up stuff if a breeze. Good stuff there too. Nice looking live rock.
I cant wait till my tax refund comes next month.

I guess I will use this space as a journal on whats happening with my tank.

 

[Danno]

Tested the water just now:

| 4/02/07 |
80 Degrees (F)
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrite - 0.00ppm
Nitrate - 0.00ppm
pH Level - 8.2
Specific Gravity - 1.021

Looks like it is cycling away~
Now it's a waiting time till it is done.

 

[atmmachine816]

Sounds good and looks nice Really belongs in the nano section though are you going to convert your canister filter into a refugium?. Can that piece of wood support the tank?

 

[Danno]

I never thought of making the canister filter into a refugium. The wood stand a X braces underneith and a back supporting brace on it.
Ill try to get the topic moved to nano I guess.

 

[Danno]

Got some updates today:

| 4/03/07 |
79 Degrees (F)
Ammonia - 0.10ppm
Nitrite - 0.00ppm
Nitrate - 0.00ppm
pH Level - 8.2
Specific Gravity - 1.021

Got around six pounds of live rock today for 33 dollars (US). They got a order in quicker then they though. Sounded good to me. It is Fiji Rock. It has some nice bright purples and greens on it. I think I got some of the nicer pieces out of the bunch. My pictures that I took don't really show it off that well due to my novice tank camera skills.
One of the pieces of rock has some REALLY weird orientation to it. You can see it on the third picture. It looks like a snail shell fused into the rock.

This is the odd one

Since this is my first maine tank this is becomming heavily addictive.

 

[Danno]

I just saw something today! It was crazy. (this is my first marine tank so I might be over reacting buuuut) I saw a little pincer move today. It looks like a crab pincer. But there is one thing that confused me. The pincer is about 3 millimeters big and the body is inside the tiny pensil sized hole. How can the body come out of such a small hole? Is the crab stuck inside of my rock??

 

[Danno]

| 4/04/07 |
79 Degrees (F)
Ammonia - 0.50ppm
Nitrite - 0.00ppm
pH Level - 8.4
Specific Gravity - 1.022

| 4/05/07 |
79 Degrees (F)
Ammonia - 0.50ppm
Nitrite - 0.10ppm
pH Level - 8.0
Specific Gravity - 1.021


Im up to 6 1/2 pounds of live rock. My newest piece is quite interesting. There are small custations on it about one to two millimeters big. I must have viewed at least 4 or 5 on the rock all at once. They run out of a hole and hide for a long time and then run back out. They have tiny little whiskers about 1/3 a millimeter. There body top is brown and the bottom is clearish. There body's end somewhat curls up like a dog tucking its tail between its leg. They are really neat to watch. Hopefully they aren't pests. I saw some long thin string things on one of the rocks to that float out and wave in the currect. It doesn't look like algae because there are only two strings comming out. The pincer in the rock still reacts to light. Still don't have any clue what it is. Im going to check my water again this upcomming Monday (April 9th). Hopefully that will give the tank to cycle completely. That would give it 8 days to complete.

Here are some more pictures.

This one shows my new rock on the left.

This picture shows small white circles that I found out might be "Serpulid Worms" They come and go as nutrition changes. I might be wrong since im a novice at salt water tanks but thats what I found.

This picture is really blurry where I wanted it. It kinda shows what these crustations look like. These guys is normally on the small rock though.

 

[afmo]

Welcome to the Dark Side

Everything looks great! The fun is only beginning...what are your stocking plans?

 

[Danno]

Well im going to use a Damsel for cycle the tank. After that im going to thing about Blennies, Gobys, or Clownfish. I't not firmiliar with blennies and gobies though. I herd some need deep sand bed. I really like firefish and the purple firefish. But those are dartfish right? Im looking through one of my book right now as I am posting ot research more and more. I also came across a Blue Green Reef Chromis. It's listed as a easy fish thats friendly and is an omnivore and gets up to 3 inches but the common length in fish stores are arounf 3/4" to 1". If possible I would match:

Blue Green Chromis and Ocellaris Clownfish
Blue Green Chromis and a Firefish (purple or not)
Ocellaris Clownfish and a Firefish (purple or not)

I just saw in a Court Yard Jester. They seem nice too.

Any suggestions?

 

[Danno]

Well I got back to school just now and my rocks are all ichy brown.

Will phosban clear all of that up? From what I read it will.

 

[atmmachine816]

Brown usually means diatoms which mean they will go away soon, common new tank sign. most people use rowaphos for phosphate remover, phosban I don't know.

 

[callell]

Well im going to use a Damsel for cycle the tank.

Why would you want/need to use livestock to cyle your tank

Very cruel

 

[Danno]

Well im going to use a Damsel for cycle the tank.

Why would you want/need to use livestock to cyle your tank

Very cruel

Its been cycling for 8 days now fish free. then 7 days with fish. Before I add a 20 dollar fish im going to check if a 5 dollar fish is ok with the water.

Cruel? Nah. Its not like im trying to kill something.

 

[callell]

Well im going to use a Damsel for cycle the tank.

Why would you want/need to use livestock to cyle your tank

Very cruel

Its been cycling for 8 days now fish free. then 7 days with fish. Before I add a 20 dollar fish im going to check if a 5 dollar fish is ok with the water.

Cruel? Nah. Its not like im trying to kill something.

Your last Ammonia readings shown that it was at Ammonia - 0.50ppm

Ammonia & livestock = Death

Does a $5.00 Fish suffer less than a $20.00 one

Your Live rock would have cycled your tank without the need of a fish

 

[Lynden]

Considering damselfish can survive a cycle just fine (it was often recommeneded to do so "back in the day"), there is actually not a lot of suffering present. I certainly do not advocate cycling with fish, but it's not like the world is going to end if one aquarist does do it.