My River Reef 94 Phoenix Tank Take 2

[simonas]

Well I now have 2 journals for the same tank lol Thought with this second go I would create a new journal and end the last one

I used my existing River Reef 94 litre tank and on 28th December added the salty water and 13kgs of live rock but passed a couple of kg to a mate so roughly 11kg of rock


I stripped the old set up and cleaned the tank and moved it from my bedroom to my crammed living room as i want to be able to see the set up

Bought the substrate and added a powerhead a Koralia forget which kind

dashed to the fish shop and although I;ll be mixing my own in the future on this occasion I used their ready mix

and then off to Manchester to pick 13.5kg of live rock, actually bought a couple of extra kilos for a mates mantis shrimp tank but not sure whether I'll give him any. i got in late and just threw ths in this way and had some tea and wont mess with this till the weekend to see how I am going to scape it

I find scaping really hard and have done this one and it will stay this way I think. Its functional more than anything as it provides spaces and ledges for my corals and theres space around the rock for me to clean the glass which is a problem I had with my last tank. Cant wait till it has coraline all over it it doesnt half look bare like this

also found a couple of signs of life a mushroom coral and a starfish that doesnt look like the kinds I had in my last set up plus something else which Im not sure whether its aspistasia or not

13th Jan I added a couple of bits

well a little bit of progress has been made in my tank need to buy test kits to be testing and will do that before I add a fish however I have added 4 hermits 3 red legged and one blue legged and a two small xenias and a leather coral

19th Jan I got a 5 head Duncan for a tenner, also found in the tank one crab in the rock thats about 3/4 of an inch quite fuzzy with dark brown and white claws, a smaller version of that crab has been seen once and a tiny crab with very elongated thin claws has also been spotted

2nd Feb i bought as an absolute bargain about 10 salifert test kits for £50

just tested with new salifert kits

ph 8.0
nitrate 5
nitrite 0
ammonia <0.25

are these results good? i have cycle dislexia i dont understand it

 

[lljdma06]

Don't we love the split and merge option?

Nice start, was wondering when you'd start a new one.

L

 

[simonas]

On the 22nd Jan I added my first fish a Lawnmower blenny. I had one of these last time that I loved so he was an easy choice as my first fish. Hes settled in fine and eats fine looking a right character in some of the places he decides to poke his quirky head out of

On Sunday 5th Feb I had another mooch around the shops and got a yellow watchman goby and a cleaner shrimp, I want two shrimp but the shop only had one. I then went to another store and got a small trumpet that was advertised for £15 and for some reason the till lad charged nme a fiver . I love bargains, its started coming out now and looks half decent

theres lots to do I need some colour in there would like some zoas, mushys and probably a pair of clowns

Don't we love the split and merge option?

Nice start, was wondering when you'd start a new one.

L

ha ha been planning it a while I just dont have much time these days for nice relaxing simple stuff

 

[lljdma06]

Awwww, I love watchmans. I've got one with a tiger pistol in my 8g and they are a hoot! The tiger's always making a mess and the watchman guards him with such a stupid look on his face. You should get a gramma, they are awesome fish.

That trumpet is huge! You're getting some really good coraline too. Color is good. If I were there, I'd send you some zoa frags, Miami has some amazing selection. Lots of pop. What's the color temp on the bulbs?

L

 

[MBOU]

Yellow Clown Goby!?

 

[lljdma06]

Yellow Clown Goby!?

Actually was wondering the same thing, but I didn't want to tease Simon. It's perching right on the power head. Not a very watchman thing to do.

L

 

[MBOU]

Glad its not just me then, wanted to check that was the fish being rferred to as a watchman. Its a very emaciated Yellow Clown Goby in desperate need of being wormed. Mate I would honestly catch it out and worm the fish! (in a bucket and flubendazole or discus wormer). With a sunken belly like that its most likely internal parasites not just under feeding >.<

 

[simonas]

Glad its not just me then, wanted to check that was the fish being rferred to as a watchman. Its a very emaciated Yellow Clown Goby in desperate need of being wormed. Mate I would honestly catch it out and worm the fish! (in a bucket and flubendazole or discus wormer). With a sunken belly like that its most likely internal parasites not just under feeding >.<

Theres nowt wrong with it its just the way the pictures taken they have a funny side fin which has given that appearance on the pic its actually very full bellied

 

[MBOU]

Wasnt looking at his belly mate he has got a nice little pot belly where he has pigged out

Might be worth getting another photo but just slightly forward and above his belly is where they usually start getting the 'pinched' look. And to be honest... *very* few shops worm their marine fish, admittedly its not the best idea with most species, but gobies, butterflies and tangs are an exception IMO

Fish that grub about are far more prone to problems, if they have a high parasitic burden, they can eat loads, get fat pot bellies.... and then the parasites steal the nutrients... thats the proble, you'd not be doing anything wrong, just fighting a losing battle.

Definately worth a check..

Tell you what though... he is gorgeous! I love clown gobies!

 

[simonas]

Wasnt looking at his belly mate he has got a nice little pot belly where he has pigged out

Might be worth getting another photo but just slightly forward and above his belly is where they usually start getting the 'pinched' look. And to be honest... *very* few shops worm their marine fish, admittedly its not the best idea with most species, but gobies, butterflies and tangs are an exception IMO

Fish that grub about are far more prone to problems, if they have a high parasitic burden, they can eat loads, get fat pot bellies.... and then the parasites steal the nutrients... thats the proble, you'd not be doing anything wrong, just fighting a losing battle.

Definately worth a check..

Tell you what though... he is gorgeous! I love clown gobies!

its just the strange fin and the way its shown on the photo, I chose him out the three they had as he looked the best and after taking about 20 pics to get that one I aint getting another lol

Been naughty today and found a new shop called the Nook that was hidden away as the name suggests and got some cheapish corals, yellow polyps, twin headed hammer frag, a small torch coral and a lovely fungia which looks amazing now its all out and flowing in the flow
pics to follow

 

[lljdma06]

Simon, weren't you supposed to go slow? Just asking...

 

[ALW]

I would put a hammer on the bottom piece of rock, the one on its own.

 

[simonas]

Simon, weren't you supposed to go slow? Just asking...

yeah with the fish

 

[lljdma06]

Simon, weren't you supposed to go slow? Just asking...

yeah with the fish

But you got like two already, right? Wow, and I thought I stocked fast.

 

[simonas]

the goby dont count its tiny