New Nano Reef Start-up

[mj32]

Right then - found some "Joes Juice" on ebay so when that arrives we will be at war
Also caught a glimpse of something else today - very pale / offwhite colour - very fast moving... could have been a worm retracting into the rockwork...looked bigger than that with something like eyestalks on it tho.... will be keeping a closer eye on that

Thought I would do a water test and keep the results up here - if anyone wants to comment on them - and then I know where to find them


Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

So.. somethings died then on me rock

 

[SkiFletch]

Somethin always dies on your rock... Dun worry about it Just let those bacteria do their thing

 

[mj32]

Rocks that move! I hear you say - someones had too much J.D. and coke last nite

Well, this has happened 2 nights in a row. A small piece of twig shaped tonga rock (2" long approx.) has 'moved' across the substrate around 2-3" and stopped covering a hole in the live rock at substrate level - almost like something is deliberatley dragging over to cover an opening

Last night i moved the powerhead and pointed it in a different direction to make sure the current was not moving it - but it ended up in exactly the same place

Anyone have a theory or explanation to this...please...i'm not going mad..honest


Ammonia 0.35
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

 

[Xebadir]

Though i am not a marine expert, nor do I claim to be so: i have a feeling a certain Crab might be to blame.

 

[SkiFletch]

Somethin's livin in that hole

 

[bunjiweb]

Yep deffinately sounds like a crab or shrimp is making its hole. Leave it for a week and then check the hole with a shot-glass or small net at the ready.

Ben

 

[mj32]

Cheers Guys!

Will try the old red torch trick one night and see if i can work out what is in there B)

 

[mj32]

Saw one large'ish red'ish coloured bristleworm dragging along some pieces of shell last nite - maybe thats the culprit...seems like a large bit of rock for a small worm to move though

amonia 0.0
nitrite 0.0
nitrate 0.0
ph 8.2
s.g. 1.023

Showing some brownish tint to the sand now as well - 1st signs of algae growth?

 

[maidenfan]

sounds like first signs of diatoms

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, diatoms for you

 

[mj32]

Ok - we added some clean-up crew as algae was now all over several rocks and the sand. LFS recommended:

1 x urchin - for hair algae
2 x turbo snails for general algae
1 x blue hermit for genral cleaning

just tested a while later - we get a trace of ammonia showing up (somewhere under the 0.25). Is this due to an additional bio-load of the above beasties or should I be looking at an unstable tank (i.e. too early for the cleaners) or something else? All the cleaning crew are alive and.. well..cleaning!

20 litre water change done to try and bring it down again

Actually just thought it was yesterday we started the war with some of the aptasia's - maybe the die off there has cause some ammonia ?

Any advice or comments appreciated

cheers

Mike

 

[SkiFletch]

could be the dieoff or it could be the inaccuracy of the testkit. Every system will have SOME ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate present, but the idea is to keep it undetectable... If it creeps up to a true 0.25ppm then I'd worry, but until then, just monitor and wait

 

[mj32]

Water tests today still show a very slight ammonia reading maybe (unless my eyes are wrong)
but nitrite and nitrate show zero. Been slowly creeping up the s.g. while doing RO water changes from 1.023 to now 1.024.


ammonia - 0.1 maybe
nitrite 0.0
nitrate 0.0
ph 8.2
s.g. 1.024

Also, at what point is it worth doing over tests i.e. calcium etc? The red sea kit came with the calcium and success buffer additives (which i have not used) - just wondering if and when they would be usefull



Picy of the Urchin and some ?mushrooms? which came on the live rock.

Is there anything that can be / needs to be done to help keep these mushrooms going? Would be nice to keep them if we can.

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks great. If you're doing frequent water changes with a low coral load you wont really need to worry about calc or alk. Ideally you want your calc at 400-500ppm and your alk around 9-11 dKH. Yours are probably right there since your tanks so new. Also, tough to tell from the pic, but those look more like sacrophytons than mushrooms to me. Keep up the good work

 

[mj32]

We nicked maidenfans idea of lining the hood with reflective foil to make a DIY / Cheapo refelctor around the 2x20w tubes - hopefully this will be better than the standard white painted finish.

Water tests seem to be holding steady weird ammonia reading still, but zero nitrite and nitrates showing - and the cleanup crew are all alive and well.

ammonia - 0.1 ish still
nitrite 0.0
nitrate 0.0
ph 8.2

Also had a change around on the lighting! Got a 55w t5 starter unit and a 36w daylight blue 50/50 tube for it.
Original plan was to keep both the original tubes and add this in - turns out theres not quite enough space under the plastic splash shield

So I took out one of the original 20w tubes and replaced it with the T5 unit. One hell off a difference in the light being produced now 8) This gives us 1x20w daylight tube and 1x36w 50/50 daylight/actinic t5 and 2 high bright led blue strips (for night use - though they are on all day long).

Hopefully this will help any future corals along.

Trouble is now i am thinking "should have got that twin t5 starter and dithced both hood tubes - and will the 21" 55w tubes fit in the hood instead of the 16" 36w t5's" B)