John,s Reef Journal {experience Newbie}

[john.o]

Hi every one
Well the tank has finally completed its cycle ammonia is 0 nitrate is 0, the nitrate was high so have done a 30% water change and the nitrate is now 5ppm and has been stable at that for 5 days now
So I have finally added my CUC I have got the following critters from my L, F, S
6 Red legged Scarlet Hermit Crab
6 Turbo Snail
1 Brittle Star
1 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 UN identified crap {hitch hiker in the L – rock}

{ it’s a little bugger I have been trying to catch him, to take back to the L,F,S }

I have had all the live rock out the tank and looked all over the rock and in the tank for him, but still cant find him, put it all back in again then a couple off nights later here he is lurking around in the rock grazing
{his much better at hide and seek than me and the kids LOL }
I have a picture of a one that is the same my son downloaded it off the net. I will try to upload it so you guys can help me identify him.
{any advise on catching him would be appreciated}

Dont wont to be ripping the rock apart till I catch him

 

[littleme1969]

Yes well I dont have to tell you thats not a goody crab..lol he looks like a teddy bear crab and are known for catching small fish unawares, he will also chow down on anything else inc CUC if he can get his claws on it. You can try the bottle trap, but the best way is just to watch and when you see him head for a bit of rock them remove that bit. Its upto you how you get him out then. they can be quite stuborn

 

[john.o]

Thanks, littleme

I guess I will try the baited bottle trap sounds like a really good idea to me, definitely worth a go any way. You never no it might just save me taking all the rock out again ummmmmmm spotted a bristle worm in there as well last night wonder if the trap will work with that as well. ?

What do you think off my CUC is this enough critters for my jbl 24G nano
I was thinking off getting 2 more fire shrimp or would that be to many
{Have not got any fish in yet}

 

[john.o]

Yahoooooo

Good old bottle trap i used a small jam jar and a prawn as bait.
The shrimp loved the prawn and that had me worried for a bit, it kept going in and out of the jar all day. The crab kept hanging round the area but would not go into the jar. I switched the lights down at 20.30 Hrs to moon {led only} and 1hr later he took the bait going to take him to LFS tomorrow.




so littleme what a really good idea it worked no probs just got to get the bristle worm now LOL

 

[littleme1969]

Thats great news! you did really well he must have been really hungry..lol most people have to go to drastic measures to get the little blighters out
I would leave the bristle worm he wont do any harm to anything, just help with the clean up crew. I only took mine out as they got over a foot long and was getting worried about putting my hands in the tank. Small worms will stay out of sight and wont bother anything

CUC..
That sounds good for that sive tank. Infact all I would add is maybe a few blue leg hermits as the scarlets are really lazy and dont do much on the clean up side, thought they do look nice..lol As for the shrimp I would not get anymore than one more for that size tank. they can be a bit moody and sometimes will scrap if more than one in a small tank. Mine seemed to get on OK but then one died without warning so I'm always wondering if the scarlet had something to do with the skunk cleaners death

But it looks like your tank is going nicely maybe time for some pics..lol

 

[john.o]

thanks again for the advice got one more shrimp, a fire shrimp {really cool }

have a look at the link below added some pics for you to take a look at {will add more pics as time goes on and tank matures

<a href="http/s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk281/j...nt=6f6b3200.pbw" target="_blank">http/s283.photobucket.com/albums/kk281/j...nt=6f6b3200.pbw</a>

[
had a small blip in nitrate levels but i guess thats because i have added 2 clown fish so just a mini cycle

read somewhere that the stock fillter media aint that clever so i think my next thing on my to do list will be to pull it out and replace with L -- ROCK rubble

 

[steelhealr]

I highly recommend converting your middle chamber into a refugium. SH

 

[littleme1969]

Tank looks really good The rock work is very well done too Really like it.

 

[john.o]

Thanks for the advice SH defenatly going to have a look in to that, any thing that helps keep the water quality better is defenatly worth having a go at cheers

glad you like the look of the tank littleme this is my 1st attempt of a reef tank it took me the best part of a day or two messing around with the rock to get it the way i wanted it LOL and i am still not sure if i am 100% happy

any way heres some more pics

hope you guys like the look of my tank any comments much appreciated

 

[nanoreef11]

I like the way you did your aquascaping. Nice caves and overhangs there. I hope that brittle star doesn't get to big for your tank there.

Nice tank though is it just going to be a fowlr of were u gonna do some reef stuff to?

 

[john.o]

FOWLR or small reef
Well I Intended to go FOWLR for the first few months so I could gain as much experience as i could with keeping the water chemistry stable ect and also to let the live rock and filter fully mature.
But after buying a v2 nano skimmer from my LFS I got it home to find the adjustable screw bracket on the bottom had broken off . So I took it back on my next visit to the shop for a replacement but there where none left in stock and it was going to take 3 week to get a replacement. The broken bracket did not affect the operation of the skimmer in any way and my LFS offered me a full refund or keep the skimmer and get 2 frags free and discount on my next buy from the shop so I could not really say no to such a good deal { pics off frags above not sure what they are } and there is also two or 3 small[about 1 inch long] feather dusters on the pieces of rock they came on

So that’s about all I am going to add for the time being, going to let things settle down and bed in sort of speak possibly add 1 or 2 fish next month if I feel the tank is ready but as for corals ect not just yet {just the two I got free from my LFS}
{Going to be asking a lot of coral questions soon LOL }

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Looking good. Really like the aquascaping with the rocks!

What kind of clowns are they? I can't remeber ever seeing clowns where the white band near the tail doesnt go all the way around or ones with clear tipped fins (I have't seen that many though to be honest ).

 

[john.o]

Hello barney
Thanks for the comments on my tank,

The fish are juvenile tank bred percula clowns
As for the markings on the fishes

well here goes not only do the white bands near the tail not go all the way around but they are only on one side of the fish {both fish are the same} the other side is just orange also the bigger fish of the two has dark black out lines around the white but the outer one had none when I first got it, it now has a very light gray outline around the white. So perhaps the colors on the fish get brighter and the stripes grow on the fish as it matures I just don’t know I

 

[john.o]

well been to my LFS today I asked about the percula clowns and it looks as So the colors on the fish do get brighter and the stripes develop on the fish as it matures

Any way I also bought a Banggai cardinal here’s a pic of it

or one more thing hope you guys can help , as I said earlier in this post I got some corals from my lfs a couple of weeks back. The one that looks like a flower (don’t know what it is)is doing really well but there’s always a but the purple one a soft coral a pussey – cladiella I believe is not doing so well. It keeps deflating and not filling back out for a day or so then when it duz fill back out its smaller than when I first got it any ideas to what’s going on any help or comments much appreciated.Or also the tank has been running for 7 weeks and 5 days
Water parameters are
Ammonia 0
Nitrite o
Nitrate 10 (need to get that middle chamber into a refugium soon )
Ph 7.9 (low need to get this up a little )
Temp 26c
Sg 1.023
Calcium 420
Lights on for 2hrs moon 8-9 hrs main lights then 1 hr moon is this ok

 

[Musho3210]

the clowns could be color morphs, some people like the whole color morph thing, others dont. If the band doesnt become full as the clown matures, chances are its a teardrop percula clown.

Good find