Yet Another Nano Journal

[James B]

well im a newbie to all this but im going to do my best here after setting up the tank i went to get the LR today. got there with the parents who instantly fell in love, and i mean couldnt get them away from the tank, with a pair of tomato clowns and a torch coral that they proceeded to tell me i have to buy there and then so twenty minutes later i had them away from the tank on the promise that I would buy them as soon as the tank was habitable . anyway seeing as its a small tank i got small ish lumps of live rock that had all sorts of snails and a huuuuuge bristle worm shot out of one as soon as it was in the tank all seems to be going well i have seen a couple of snails that must have been freebies. I havent done any aquascaping yet as im waiting for the sand to clear but heres some pics anyway.

lights on

lights off

dont know if you guys can see it properly but isthis a pest anemone or some sort of coral

hope you like any hints and tips welcome

 

[JaminRat]

Looking don't worry the dust will settle. Couple of tips from my expierence get Rowaphos in their asap and keep an eye on the phosphate level and if the water doesn't clear try some filter floss in either an internal or external filter whatever you have to hand.

Keep up the good work.

 

[James B]

i have a tetratec external filter doing nothing shal i add rowaphos into that?

 

[maidenfan]

yes you could don't bother with sponges just run the external with the rowaphos you could add some carbon and polyfilter aswell and use it as extra water movement for the tank i also have Lr rubble in one of my baskets in my fluval

 

[James B]

I will start it off tomorrow then not being used for anything else so it might as well be made useful

 

[James B]

tank is chrystal clear now really impressed. off to get rowaphos today and i will test the tank later and let you all know if its bad or not

 

[rhysiboy]

if you really are paranoid about bristlworms then you could always buy a coral banded shrimp or a sixline wrasse (i think they eat bristleworms but not shure)

 

[James B]

if you really are paranoid about bristlworms then you could always buy a coral banded shrimp or a sixline wrasse (i think they eat bristleworms but not shure)

one stung me last night and yeah it hurt but i wouldnt really write home about it lol just ugly critters

 

[JaminRat]

Any joy with the aquascaping?

 

[James B]

done some but i have left spaces for corals etc and a few bits of lr that i may buy as and when but looks better pics will be up in a couple of hours dont worry had a little probelm with aptasia but im hoping a shot of lemon juice has sorted it

 

[JaminRat]

There are loads of suggested methods for removing Aptasia the common being Joes Juice but my local reef shop advised me against it and sold me Elimi-Aiptas from Tropic Marin. He said they had major problems when they first setup and Joes Juice helped but did not clear it but this stuff was a gods send. His words not mine.

Look forward to seeing the pictures

 

[James B]

well the test are in and its all good
nitrite 0 ppm
ammonia 0 ppm
and nitrate about 10 ppm
can this be right i tested ammonia last night and it was about 25 ppm but all seems to be almost ready for fish or does it normally take a week or two for a ammonia spike to develop

 

[maidenfan]

i would leave it for a little longer and keep an eye on things don't be tempted to rush

don't forget you need clean up crew in place before adding fish

 

[James B]

yeah i know was just amaised that its got that good so quick was tempted to order the clean up crew on line tomorrow but that might not be a great idea. what would you reccomend as a good all round cuc this needs to includea a peppermint shrimp or some thing like it to munch on the aiptasia and what i think is a mojano(sp) anemone problem lol

 

[maidenfan]

well i'd have a peppermint for sure kept my aptasia at bay and a mixture of snails astrea cerith naussarus then some hermits maybe a couple of red legs and blue knuckles then perhaps think about sand sifter star fish or brittle stars excellent at keeping substrate clean