New Nano Reef Start-up

[maidenfan]

hi
reading this thread with intrest as your tank is almost the same as mine except mine is the AR 620T and my lighting is different to yours it as the compact style of lighting fitted to increase the effect of the lights ive fitted a sheet of the chrome looking gift wrapping you can get behind the tubes it has improved my lighting might work for you.

check out some of the threads with my name on got pics on there of tank etc

i reckon your hydrometer might be stuck or no good

did you put your heater on ?? water temp got be about 24

re check you put right amount of salt in the tank

and good luck

 

[mj32]

Thanks for the info and I will check out your tank for some inspiration

Well, wife tell's me I am a complete tw*t

Turns out the scales I was using were set to lb's not K's - so of course we were about 50% down on the salt content So now for just over a day we have been getting a steady reading of

s.g. 1.021
temp 24deg

1 step further eh B)

 

[maidenfan]

just done pic of lighting hood sorry its not to clear but you get the idea i hope

 

[mj32]

Added some live rock today as temp / s.g. is remaining steady

24deg
1.021 s.g.
ph 8.2

Hope this isnt too soon! TBH am totaly amazed at the amount of stuff actualy on 7kg of live rock!

So far we have seen (excuse me if this is incorrect)

2 x little green'ish crabs as in the picture
1 x red'ish ?starfish? as in the picture
1 x small coral also in the picture - little hive of activity down in that 2" square of tank

If anyone can identify them further that would be great!

Also there are 2 anenames - around 1.5 -> 2cm across and a whole load of ?fan worms? - which the camera cant focus on atm. I think i'll be quite happy just watching this lot for some time

 

[smithrc]

what sg is your store running at?

1.021 sounds low - even for a store (some run at 1.023 to keep parisites at bay)

 

[mj32]

what sg is your store running at?

1.021 sounds low - even for a store (some run at 1.023 to keep parisites at bay)

Hmm - when they demo'd the hydrometer use im sure the target they said to aim for was 1.021 -> 1.022

The red sea salt i am using gives its recommended levels as 1.021 at 24deg C 75deg F

I will double check with them tommorrow though - thanks for the heads-up on that - thats the reason im doing this thread, so
people can pick up on my mistakes and put me right before it's too late

 

[maidenfan]

you need get your sg up to about 1.023 mate

keep looking at the rock switch lights out and get a torch you'll be amazed kept me good for days

 

[mj32]

you need get your sg up to about 1.023 mate

keep looking at the rock switch lights out and get a torch you'll be amazed kept me good for days

Duly noted - will work on "getting it up" later.

 

[maidenfan]

we all work at it mate but do we actually ever succeed

 

[mj32]

Well have gradualy increase the s.g. up now to 1.023 (hovering around that mark on the hydrometer) - did a little increase last night and a little this afternoon.

Have added more live rock to make it look kinda how i wanted and then fixed some larger pieces down with aqua putty stuff to make sure they dont fall B) Maybe needs a little more tonga rock on the left to tie back together more me thinks

Anyone know what this is? and if it's safe to keep - seem to have three of 'em in there

 

[bunjiweb]

The thing in the last pic looks like a "majano" a pest anemone that will sting other corals and is probably worth removing.

Crabs are perfectly normal hitchikers, as are britlestars. Both are *usually* harmless although occasionally you get crabs which grow big and eat fish so make sure you ID it carefully before you add any fish or corals.

As for sG, 1.021 is FAR too low for a reef tank, I run my three @ 1.025/1.026.

Ben

 

[mj32]

Cheers for the info Ben!

the s.g. is at 1.023 atm. Will leave it all to settle and cycle now for 2 weeks. Hopefully the rock wont have much die off as it was all cured rock thats been used in display tanks for some time at our LFS.

Before the clean-up crew go in I will gradualy match the s.g. and tanks other stats to match those of the shop as closley as possible - for now it's just water tests and waiting those 2 weeks out.

 

[maidenfan]

looks really good mj the rock looks really cool B)

 

[smithrc]

The thing in the last pic looks like a "majano" a pest anemone that will sting other corals and is probably worth removing.

Crabs are perfectly normal hitchikers, as are britlestars. Both are *usually* harmless although occasionally you get crabs which grow big and eat fish so make sure you ID it carefully before you add any fish or corals.

As for sG, 1.021 is FAR too low for a reef tank, I run my three @ 1.025/1.026.

Ben

mine is at 1.025 too

as fo the torch and late nights... I'm still at it now... and I've had mine running 19 days so far ~(with live rock in it) and I've got all sorts of stuff - its great... (dont know what most of it is though )

At the moment I'm haveing a bit of a worry as some of my 'little' copepods have got a bit bigger than i would expect... there are loads now at 2-3mm.. that are looking scarely like mini mantis shrimps...

 

[SkiFletch]

Dont be scared of those "big copepods" They're technically amphipods and perfectly safe for your aquarium. Good food for pod-eaters later on too