New D&d Journal

[cottonj21]

Cheers
everything so far seems to be going good theres some beatle thing running about that ive not managed to take a pic of yet, sure i can see 2 small crabs but they look dead to me and last night there was some small orange slug type thing wondering about

think the maxijet should be here tomorrow so i will do my first water change then im going to get my clean up crew at the weekend.

Cheato seems to be going ok but can someone tell me if i should be cleaning it or should i just leave it ?

Ive replaced my stocks with some quieter ones and put them on a adaptor with voltage control.
took the stock ones out and decided to stick my new ones on the top instead of inside. Also ive got one blowing in and one blowing out.

Now i can run them slow or off completely when the lights are on.

Also had the idea of haveing one bigger fan with vents running to the 2 holes where the existing fans are.

will keep my eye on the temps.

Oh and the camera I use is a Sony cybershot DCS-T20, ive got an underwater case for it to so i might try some in tank pics/vids

 

[Nalaundi]

Lookin good! love the aquascape

 

[cottonj21]

Thanks
just did my first water change
params are
nitrate: 0
nitite: 0
ammonia: 0
ph: 8.4

is there any more tests i should be doing apart from salt levels, I'm not planning any corals for a while.

going for my clean up crew tomorrow dont know if i should get them all at once.
cheers

 

[Nalaundi]

those are the main tests. since you are not doing corals yet. I split my clean up crew into two sets some snails and some hermits then later more... it that was needed i dont know. but im guessing slower is better.....

 

[cottonj21]

Thanks,
I was thinking along the same lines.will get a few snails and crabs tomorrow.
cheers

 

[cottonj21]

blasted the nucks and cranies with a turker baster last night and found a dead crab and a black and white worm in the rocks this morning.

off to get me clean up crew now and a hydro flow, still waiting for my maxijet1200

cheers

 

[cottonj21]

No more pics yet as i bought the clean up crew they are never out
as recommended by the LFS:
3 turbos
2 cleaning
2 dancers (aka camel)
1 blood shrimp

only problem is ive found out the dancers arnt reef safe, the LFS recon they are but everything else i read says there not.
need to exchange them for something else otherwise there history im sorry to say

 

[SkiFletch]

FYI, the black and white worm thing is the leg/arm of a dwarf brittlestarfish

 

[cottonj21]

cheers i thought that at first but its a worm
found it here
http/www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=154922

 

[john.o]

The tanks looking really good nice aquascape and it looks like you have got some really nice pieces of rock there cottonj21 have you got any pics of the CUC or added any more critters or fish? and how’s the fans doing {temp noise ect}

 

[cottonj21]

Hi sorry i've had family visting so havent been on the computer

fans seem to be doing there job, i run them at 12v through the day and turn them down to half speed when i get in, temps dont seem to change much, however there definatley needed as I forgot to put them on for a few hours and the lid got really hot.

Sg levels havent really changed much at all, went from 1.023 to 1.024 in over a week so i put some ro water in today. But i would think water changes every week lessons the need for this.

Still waiting for my maxijet 1200 and i dont want to get any fish till thats in, as once thats in i shouldn't have to do any more fiddling with the tank

refugium seems to be doing ok although will probably be better with the maxijet as it wll be pulling more water through it.

didnt have the camera this morning but i saw 2 different starfish, one i think is an Asteriniid star and the other had a small body but long pale white legs.
also theres a few small crabs that come out and night and plenty of Stomatellas crawling about

got one last piece of rock as I couldn't stop thinking that it looked to low, very colourfull and has a clam on the side, feather dusters, a Vermetid on the top that looks like a volcano and a piece of coral attached

the tank its self is crawling with tiny white things it, looks infested !

CUC at the moment consists of
3 turbo snails
2 cleaning sgrimp
1 blood shrimp - never comes out
did consist of 2 dancing shrimp which i have taken back since reading bad things about them nibbling coral

any way here are the pictures i have

CUC getting ready to enter my tank

refugeium - some seems a bit white, not sure if i should be concerned ?

new rock

side view - look at the centre, then up and right a bit and theres a clam (i think)

Lettuce slug hitch hiker

hard to see small feather duster that just started growing in the sand

Feather dusters on the rock, the centre one gets bigger every day

infestation shots

one of the shrimp will crawl about on my hand and the other wont

FTS

 

[john.o]

I am pleased to hear the fans are working ok I was thinking of doing some thing along the same lines my self. i have never really noticed it before, but yer the stock fans are quite annoying And I have also defiantly got to agree with the weekly water changes a specially in a nano tank maintaining good water quality through small regular water changes IMO is the best way to go as the reduced water volume makes it harder to maintain good water quality and things can go down hill really fast and small weekly water changes will help combat that problem.
What you got planed for the maxi jet 1200 ?

 

[BigC]

Comming along well there, I would tend to want to get rid of the white macro in the sump, It will IMHO pollute the main tank and give rise to algal issues. I would (If it were me) ditch it and get some cheato and leave the sump light on 24/7.
I had both those Macros at one stage and they began to turn white after a certain length of time.
Regards
BigC

 

[cottonj21]

Maxijet is just going to replace the stock pump and the stock will be used to mix my salt water.

The LFS told me that stuff was cheato and ive had the light on 24/7 since i got it. Thought it didnt look like the pics i saw on the internet, theres a guy selling it on ebay so i will get it from him. Im getting really pi**ed off with my LFS.

Also thinking about getting another water pump and pointing it behind the rocks.

I've been using one black sponge in the first chamber, thinking about scrapping that and filling it with floss and chemi-pure.

do you think im ready for my first fish ?, looking to get a small pair of clowns. Eventually i will convert my juwel vision 180 into a marine tank so they will be ok when they get bigger.

nitrate nitrite and amonia are at 0

cheers

 

[BigC]

There is a mixture of at least 3 different macro algae in there.
Cheato.
http/www.sccat.net/publish/_assets/47a1f79b-19251.jpg

Once your Ammonia, Nitrite hit zero big waterchange and test for Nitrate once thats below 10 then cleanup crew, after that its up to you weither you want to go fish first or coral first. I personally went the fish first route. 2 clowns.
Regards
BigC