Same Tank New Rock Formation

[maidenfan]

hi all

iv'e decided to ditch my origanal update thread and start afresh if you like so here goes



tank, aqua one 620T, 110litres with dispacement

external filter, fluval 204 with 1 basket full of LR,1 basket with carbon bag, 1 basket with half polyfilter and rowaphos media.

water movement, 3 powerheads combined 2300l/h and external filter 680l/h

heater, fluval 200w

lights,2 T5 compacts, blue moonlight for night time

23llbs of LR

1 inch of arag live sand approx

clean up crew, 5 astraea snail, 2 cerith snails, 5 equal handed hermits, 2 red legged hermits, 2 blue knuckle hermits, 1 sand sifting star fish, 1 peppermint shrimp

fish, 2 common clownfish, 1 purple fire fish

misc, 2 tubeworms

latest readings
temp 25
SG 1.026
ph 8.0
am 0.00
nitrite 0.00
nitrate 5-10 between water changes

weekly water changes 10% using RO water

 

[maidenfan]

the tank has been up and running for about 8months and i'm beginning to think about corals after a problem with a piece of LR nearly fell off decided to alter my aquascape bit late in the day i know but think looks better and will allow for better placement of corals at a later day
see what you think

 

[CAC]

Likeing the big piece of rock over on the left... Would be a great place for a big mushroom colony

Looks like theres lots of hiding places too, so good that i cant see either of your clowns

Mikey

 

[maidenfan]

thats 2 pieces mate and they are there honest

 

[CAC]

The hiding places bit was a complement, its good
Nice clowns too.

I really like that tank, keep it up.

Mikey

 

[maidenfan]

sorry mate miss read your original post was on way out no offence taken anyway thought you meant you wanted to see the clown fish

 

[SkiFletch]

Tank looks great and its mroe than ready for corals. Any idea what you want to keep?

Tank looks great and its more than ready for corals. Any idea what you want to keep?

 

[maidenfan]

well i've been having a good look round and because i don't want to overstretch myself knowledge wise been looking at the easier to look after corals anyway my wanted list is as follows

some type of pulse coral [xenia]
leather corals
green star polyp [briareum sp]
button polyps [protopalythoa spp]
sea mats [zoanthus spp]
mushroom anemones[discosoma sp A,B and rhodactis indosinensis]

 

[Gankutsuou]

If you look at the rock formation long enough, it appears to be a giant hermit crab

I like it! And lovely clowns! I'm thinking of doing something like that. but a 20 long with 1 or 2 clowns and a fire dart fish.

 

[ExoticStripes]

If you look at the rock formation long enough, it appears to be a giant hermit crab

It does a bit but still looks really good, keep it up

 

[SkiFletch]

well i've been having a good look round and because i don't want to overstretch myself knowledge wise been looking at the easier to look after corals anyway my wanted list is as follows

some type of pulse coral [xenia]
leather corals
green star polyp [briareum sp]
button polyps [protopalythoa spp]
sea mats [zoanthus spp]
mushroom anemones[discosoma sp A,B and rhodactis indosinensis]

You've targeted some real "piece of cake" corals in my oppinion. Sould be some great first timer specemins

 

[maidenfan]

well been looking round aquatic stores all day trying to get a feel of what you get for your money coral wise seems anything between £20-£30 is the norm for the specimens i'm looking at, i've also been looking on ebay and seen some nice corals for a bit less just wondered if anyone has any experiance of buying off ebay? if anyone could also give me an idea what i should be getting for my money ie size of frag etc etc it would be a great help. cheers

 

[SkiFletch]

Although I'm not from your side of the pond, I will say that 20-30 quid sounds about right for a small to medium sized common softie or lps. Your SPS and more rare corals will cost 50-100 quid easily for decent sized colonies. Ebay prices are often cheaper, but make sure you watch out for shipping costs, they get necessarily high for shipping livestock. I've never had the need to buy livestock off ebay before since I have such a good LFS.

HTH

 

[maidenfan]

bit of an update
been to lfs today with water sample to cross check my readings on my api kit against their seachem kit just to make sure everything is ok and here are my readings
temp 25
phosphate 0.00
ph 7.9[sample taken in morning]
amm 0.00
nitrite 0.00
nitrate between 2.00-5.00
sg 1.026

ive never had my nitrate below 5.0 so a bit of a milestone for me

 

[maidenfan]

bad news guys i lost my firefish just disapeared over night
thats 2 fish iv'e lost now which burrow in the sand at night under the rock
all my stats are fine the fish looked healthy full of colour feeding well was even coming up to the surface to try and get flake out of my fingers with the clown fish
only thing i can think of is either the hairy crab is doing it or the hermits
can't understand it really because he went under the same rock every night and i watched to see if he was being bothered by anything never saw anything go near him had him for 2 months

time to catch a crab i think

on the good side was my birthday yesterday now got the money for my corals