My Nano Reef Set-up/diary (upgraded 45g) Step-by-step

[1entra]

My first 10kg of live rock along with 2kg live rock rubble should be here in the morning, I'm well excited, can't wait! Finally I should have some life in my tank!

 

[littleme1969]

Its always one of the best bits waiting to see what your rock looks like and more important whos in it lol

 

[1entra]

Live Rock Arrives​

Got my first 10kg live rock today along with my 2kg live rock rubble for my refugium. Waited all morning but it didn't arrive till approx 13.00. Ordered it from Live Rock UK.

It arrived damp in a big polystyrene box inside a cardboard box. Rock itself was placed in a big plastic bag to keep any water from leaking!

I immediately set about preparing the rock before placing it into my tank. I did this by first swirling/shaking each of the four large pieces of live rock I had received in a bucket of pre-prepared salt water from my tank (I had drained approx 1/3 of the tank water to avoid any overspill when the rock was placed in there!). After this I inspected each piece visually and scraped any loose/dieing matter off using an old toothbrush along with a pair of tweezers! I then re-shook each piece of rock in the bucket of salt water to get rid of any further loose/deing matter before placing it in my tank!

All of the rocks had some tiny specks/bits of purple on them (corraline), but not much so look kind of plain and 2 of the peices were covered in green shoots, I think its macroalgae or another plant of some sort???!

I placed all the rocks flat on the floor for the time being, this way it should be easier to siphon off any decaying matter off the floor of the tank. Will aquascape once my tank is about cycled!

The rocks caused the tank to go all cloudy so I have turned on all my pumps so hopefully they will help settle/clear the water!

Whilst cleaning the live rock, I found 3 bristleworms which I pulled out using the pair of tweezers. 1 seemed dead whilst the other 2 were slightly moving so I added them to the tank after placing the rock in there! At least I know I've got some life in the tank now hey!!!

Also I added the 2kg live rock rubble (got no colour what so ever!) to the filter compartment of my refugium along with placing my 5lb of miracle/mineral mud into the main refugium compartment. That again caused all the water to become cloudy so waiting for everything to settle down now before I can have a good look at how everything appears! I also added the chemical media (SeaGel) to my new hang-on filter compartment!

Here are some pics including 1 of one of the bristleworms that was alive!

PS. I hope a lot more life emerges from my Live Rock

 

[1entra]

Got home from work a while ago and after turning my room light on, I peered into my tank and saw a couple of bristleworms, so I sat on my bed watching them when all of a sudden from behind one of the large peices of live rock I saw a crab of some sort slowly emerge.

It was approx 1" wide and 3/4" tall, a dark colour posibbly navy o dark green, couldn't really tell due to insufficient lighting! It seemed to perch up against the piece of live rock for several minutes whilst I steadily observed it before slowly disapearing again behind the live rock! Had no chance of getting my camera to get a picture as was far to fascinated sat there watching it like a little kid! I don't suppose anybody would be able to identify it from the given decription If I see it again I will try to get a pic!

Only had live rock for half a day and already seeing signs of life! I hope it continues to please!

Oh and the water is starting to look a lot clearer now

 

[Musho3210]

was it hairy?

 

[littleme1969]

PMSL.. I hope your asking about the crab Mush
You got your rock from the same place as me and mine was full off the strangest kinda stuff. Some still not yet identified. So you should have lots of interesting stuff haning out in there. I'm still getting new stuff apearing after 6 weeks from adding my last lot..lol
Just curious as to why you havent added your sand? You may aswell stick it all in and allow it to cycle together or you may end up with a longer cycle if you leave it until the rock has done its thing.

 

[1entra]

Just curious as to why you havent added your sand? You may aswell stick it all in and allow it to cycle together or you may end up with a longer cycle if you leave it until the rock has done its thing.

Well I plan on getting about another 5-10kg live rock still within the next week or so. Once its all in the tank then I should get approx 20lb Caribsea Arag-Alive live sand. It shouldn't take the tank much longer to cycle, maybe a week or 2 more, but I'm trying to take my time with it all so not to worried about rushing!

 

[1entra]

I'VE CAUGHT THE HITCHHIKER CRAB!!!!​

Just as I was looking through my tank now I noticed the same crab perched underneath the same pice of live rock it was under early this morning. It just lay there motionless. Not being able to resist, I slowly lifted the piece of live rock off the floor of the tank and quickly netted the crab. It didn't even move or try to escape. Instead it jus lay there all its legs and pincers curled up into like a ball!!!

I instantly assumed it was dead, but thought I'd get am camera and get a picture of it anyhow for ID purposes! I'd left the net perched on the inside of tank so the crab wasn't out of water. And when I came back I noticed the crabs little legs moving just slightly and also noticed it white/cream antennaes (think thats how you spell it!!!) popping out slightly. So I'm guessing I caught the little guy offguard sleeping or something?!

Wel anyways the crab is just over 1" wide but under 1/2" tall. Its a murky brown/rusty sort of colour and it a VERY slow mover! I keep thinking its dead. The eyes seem to be a murky red/brown colour! I wouldn't say its hairy as such but all its legs seem to have bristles/hair on them. The main body looks quite leathery and is bumpy giving me the image of a brain! looking! The underneath of it is slightly lighter in colour with some white/cream patches. The most obvious thing however is the fact its pincers are white tipped!

Its still in the net beside me in the tank. It seems to have opened its legs out now so looks more like how you would expect a crap to do so! Its on the move walking sideways in the net now. But everytime I move the net it suddenly retracts itself back into a ball!

Anyways from the above as detailed as I could possibly make it description, can anybody help me ID this crab. I need to know if its reef safe? As dont want it going mental at any coral/lifestock I get in the future? Iv took some pictures but they arnt fantastic!

Somebody please help. In the meatime I think I might just place the little fella in my refugium so at least I know where to find him and have less chance of goin AWOL on me!

 

[Musho3210]

just as a suggestion, dont get arag-alive, bunch of dead organisms in a bag with water and sand.

 

[littleme1969]

He looks like your typical common crab, which is bad for reefs. they can get quite big and will have a go at anything cught off gaurd if they are hungry. Having said that I love crabs and they are really interesting to watch. he will do just fine in your fuge just throw him in the odd bit of food from time to time and a bit of rock to hang onto. Otherwise its the bin for him.
As for sand, I used the stuff musho mentioned above and my tank cycled with live rock in 5 days but the other option is cheaper.

 

[Musho3210]

well its not dangerous to use, but its probably not live.....

 

[1entra]

Thanx for your comments both Littleme and Musho, they are appreciated as I at least know some1 is still reading my thread

Ive added the crab to my refugium where its perched itself behind a small rock and semi-dug its way into the miracle mud! If I didn't know any better, I'd think its died on me...AGAIN!! Least I know where the little bugger is now though!

Anyways went to my marine LFS today (its approx 15mile away so not too local!) and seen 2pieces of live rock that were covered in life (corraline, sponges etc etc), couldn't stop myself so end up buying both pieces eighing just over 5kg! This hobby is so addictive and even though my wallet doesn't appreciate it! And Littleme your right once you get a bit of live rock in a 25G tank, there really isn't much room left for sand on the bottom!

The Problems Begin! ​

Due not not having been able to work my refractometer properly... due to never having seen let alone used one before and mine coming with a cr*p set of instructions, I always assumed since adding my Reef salt that my SG was too high, so I've non-stop syphoning out water and topping up with RO water (and with not having a RO unit, its been non-stop going to the LFS and buying more this itself has cost a bit along with taking up alot of time!) with no avail and the SG level still being over 1.035!

Well anyways when I was at the marine LFS I asked the the guy there if he would have a look at a sample of my water to see what the SG was and also see if I was using my refractometer correctly. He did so and told me not only was I not using my reftaomter right but my SG level was well under 1.005!!! Ive near nuff got rid of all the salt in there!!! So been adding more Reef Salt to the tank since Ive got back!!!

Also I left my lighting on for approx 3hours erlier on today and just noticed my temperature has shot up to approx 28 degrees from 24! I dont think the lighting could have caused this as they've been off for about 5hours now and the temperatures still not dropped!!! So I think Iv knocked 1 of my heaters settings up somehow whilst either adding the live rock or syphoning it at some stage!!!

No wonder that poor hitchhiker crap wern't moving move and has dug himself into the mineral mud, poor chap probably thinks he's being cooked alive in near enough freshwater!!!!

 

[littleme1969]

Oh Dear..lol
This is why we have a good month or so period before we add anything alive to the tank, so we can weed out all the little hitches and get used to the equipment. Its a huge learning curve so dont give yourself too much of a hard time about it:

 

[1entra]

The funs of keeping a Reef Tank hey... managed to stablise my temperature along with SG... for the time being! Decided I am going to keep my aquarium temperature at 26/27 degrees C due to recommendations from a nother thread so that ain't too bad!

Also went out and bought a bit more live rock. Here is a few tank pictures before I added the new rock. Will upload a few more recent tank shots a bit later.

 

[1entra]

Live Rock- Online vs LFS​

Just a quick update regarding the Live Rock I purchased online...

So far I'm abit disapointed with it as I was originally after live rock full of life and critters. As you should know by reading the above thread, I received 4 large pieces of rock that had hardly any coralline algae on them, instead it looked like base rock with the odd dot of purple on it! 2 of the pieces seem to have a macroalgae of some sort growing on them (which I'm not too keen on!) The morning after introducing the live rock into my tank I noticed a few dead bristleworms floating/lieing around my tank! The only real life I have seen so far is the small crab which I have been told is supposed to turn into a pest as it gets older/bigger so I have put the little chap in my refugium for the time being till I decide what to do with it!

The rock hardly seemed to take any space in my 25G tank so I visited a couple of marine shops that stock Live rock in my area (the closest of which is approx 15mile away!) and hand picked some amazing coloured pieces of live rock covered in purple and full of life! As I was there in person I got to inspect each piece thoroughly and pick the ones I wanted! All in all I bought approx another 12kg live rock!

So using the one I bought online as the base rock, I have stacked the top with all the proper "LIVE" rock most of which is covered in life including loads of Mushrooms, featherdusters, a couple of small clams/oysters and even a few small starfish! So far so good... B)

I am not trying to put Live Rock UK down at all as I'm sure others may get much better pieces of rock and are delighted with the life and critters they receive but these are my opinions from my own experience so personally I would recommend hand picking/buying your live rock from your LFS (if possible) as although it may cost a little bit extra in comparison to online, at least you get see exactly what you are buying and don't have to rely on somebody else choosing the main bilogical filteration of your marine tank for you!!!

Hope this at least helps others when it comes to purchasing their live rock!

PS. My live rock rubble is absolutely CR*P!! I have not seen a singe dot of purple or any other form of life on it!!! Looks just like ordinary ocean rock that has been broken down to smaller chunks. I think I would have been alot better off getting a large piece of live rock from my LFS and just breaking it into smaller pieces using a hammer to put into my filter compartment in my refugium!!!