My journal of my SW tank set-up

[William]

Awesome diary entry!! However am a little concerned as the above writer was that you may be stocking to fast, I am not saltwater expert, however so wait for GL to hopefully clarify one way or the other.

Great pictures

 

[leanne]

I've not got a pic of my clown as the move so quick...

 

[spanair]

Bought some more live rock again!, this time it wasen't fiji, it was tonga live rock, really nice pieces of rock for display use.

Anyways here are some pics on the updates as I go.

overall

right side of tank

left side of tank

Keep watching !!

 

[impur]

I will tell you again, i think you have added things to fast in this tank. Is the rock you are adding cured? If not you will see rises in ammonia and nitrites which will lead to poor conditions for those corals and fish. The corals are fairly hardy that you have, but toadstool might not make it if it happens. You need to add as much of the LR as possible in the beginning. This way when things begin to die off (and they will) and grow again, it all happens at once instead of periodically everytime you add more LR. The way you are doing it, the die off occurs EVERY time you add the LR. So the water goes from high lvls of ammonia and nitrite, cycles, and the levels come down. Then the next week you add more LR and it happens all over again.

Your tank looks good except for the excess algae (which is a result of poor water conditions). I hope all survives.

 

[leanne]

Impur -

I can't see any excess algae... I thought you were supposed to leave it on the back wall of the tank for algae eaters to browse on. My coral beauty loves clearing it all off.

That live rock looks well cured to me - the coraline algae looks pretty mature. As for adding it in stages. That is what I have done too. I added the bulk at first then "prettied" it up more in stages. I have never had a problem with my ammonia levels due to die off - my LFS bags the live rock in water so it is never exposed to the air. If your LFS doesn't do this and you have a problem with ammonia, maybe you should ask them to do it that way.

Spanair -

I think it's looking great. If you are stocking to quickly as people seem to think, as long as you keep up with the water changes and monitoring your A/N/N I don't think you'll have a problem - just don't get lazy!

Take everything I've recommended with a pich of salt as I'm just a begginer but as long as you're careful (as I know you are) I can't see why you would have a problem...

 

[spanair]

impur, all the water levels are fine, except the phosphate which is at 0.8 so not dangerous yet as I was told by a friend at the lfs. All the live rock has been cured!. So far I haven't had a problem with anything in the tank. I had a spike before but it's all gone down again. I should think it's alright!. Thanks for the advice, and i'll let you know if anything does happen, which i'm not saying it wont, but you never know.

Leanne, Yep I know I might of overstocked it a bit to fast with the fishes. But before any fishes were added I put in food to rot so the bacteria could start to populate more, so I would think it should be okay. I hear yuu leanne, water levels seem fine, but if the A/N/N rise any more than it should I will change the water .

Thanks for the advice..

 

[spanair]

Did some water tests to show you guys, I did them before but never really wrote them down.

Salinity is at 1.023
PH 8.3
Ammonia is at 0
Nitritite is at 0.3 <

Looks alright so far. Had a spike a while back when I was putting food flakes in to rot. But all looks well for now.

 

[spanair]

Here is the latest pic, I moved the pulse coral to the left side of the tank near the green button corals though.

Anyways here we go!:

Enjoy

 

[impur]

impur, all the water levels are fine, except the phosphate which is at 0.8 so not dangerous yet as I was told by a friend at the lfs. All the live rock has been cured!.

That makes me feel better. Sounds like you have a pretty good grasp of what you are doing, thats great. Do you have a sump/fuge on that system? Just curious since i just noticed the overflow on the right side. Can you give me some info on your equipment plz. Still looking for ideas on my 125

BTW, the pulse coral is a Xenia. Can't tell which type, the pic is to dark. FWIW

 

[spanair]

lol good good impur, I know you are just trying to help .

At the moment is a stock juwel/rio 240L tank, the filtration system is the stock that came with the tank, lighting was all changed and reflectors added. I dont use a sump, but a hang-on skimmer by aquamedic. So far so good and water levels fine . What temp should I be looking to have the water at? I'm still not 100% yet ).

Anyways I'll try and take a better pic of the xena pulse coral.

EDIT: another pic from before I moved it:

 

[impur]

Temp of 79-81 is best IME

My emerald isn't big enough to go after even a small fish. I had a clown goby for a bit (didn't make it poor lil guy) he was about 1" long and my emerald didn't go after him at all.

 

[spanair]

Ah alright my temp is at 26C*, which is 79-81F Good stuff!

Sorry to hear about the goby .

Thank you for the help so far.

 

[hyrookin]

spanair,
your tank looks great! did that peppermint shrimp take care
of that aiptasia?

 

[spanair]

He took care of about 10 or so, so far theres about 2 left in the tank, the live tock had quite alot in it, but it has dissapeared since the peppermint shrimp was added. I'm sure having 2-3 shrimps will eliminate this problem for good .

Thank you

 

[spanair]

Well heres the update so far,

One of my clowns died, due to bulling probably. I did water tests and all is fine, water temp is fine. All the rest of the fishes are fine. He started to develop some sort of slimey coat on top of the nipped fins and it got worst and worst, it covered all of it's left side. Today he was found lying dead on the gravel . I took it to my lfs who specialise in marine and tropicals and they told me it was most probably due to bulling from the damsels or other fishes. They cound't be 100% sure though. Anyways I bought another one after testing everyuthing was fine. I tested the water on so did the lfs. They doit free for me. Good to have friends there! .

Anyways I also bought more live rock, about 50 pounds and the clown. Next week if all goes well this week i'll buy a coral beauty. I had a look into the morish Idol but is to much for me and it will have a good go at eating my polyp corals . Anyways I dont many fishes, i'm going towards the coral route now, I just love them tooooo much . So i'll also be getting a metal halide soon. Oh I also bought a mithrax crab to take care of my algae bubbles. He's pretty cool

All well for now, apart from the clown .


Thank you for reading my diary