Hello everyone! My new 55g tank!

[mr_X]

first let me start by saying, you are not taking SnowManSnow's advice by adding more animals to your tank. 11 days is barely 2 weeks, and you really should wait longer before adding ANYTHING LIVING to the tank. IMO, you should wait atleast another 2 weeks before making any more livestock purchases.

also, you have an anemone, which requires alot of light. running your lights for less time is not a solution to the algae issue. it is inevitable to go through algae blooms in the beginning. some say, for the first year even.
the algae will leave on it's own eventually if you care for your tank properly. now, if you didn't have anything living in the tank at this time, it wouldn't be a bad thing to leave the lights off completely.
what i would do is what cindre said- put both fixtures on the tank and run them both at once, except i would make the coralife all actinic, and the orbit all 10k.

phosphate and calcium tests are extremely important if you are in fact, starting a reef tank. an alkalinity test kit is extremely important for any aquarium, salt or fresh water.

i tried to arrange my rock so that i would have alot of places to put corals, where light would be available for them. also, i didn't want alot of areas in the tank with little or no moving water. that's not good for a tank- for one, you'll get a buildup of fish poop and uneaten food laying there, which will cause you problems pretty quickly.

 

[shavo]

can you please test your tap water right from the tap on all perameters and post???

just curious about what people are saying.

also don't listen to the people about keeping light off now you have animals that need it now!

 

[Boret]

That is a great idea Shavo I will test tap water and post.

I am trying Mr._X .... please be gentle!!

I got the anemone and the xenia with the life rock. Didn't purchased those. I was also told that adding hermit crabs would help with the tank... I added them to help. The damsel was my mistake... I did explain the reasons why... by it is my bad that he is in the tank... I take the blame for that!!

Any advice on any test kits for alkalinity, phosphate and calcium? Any brands, systems that are good buys?

I am trying to get to have a reef tank... this is my first time trying and it does get a bit confusing. I am sure at some point you were building your first marine tank and probably went thru a similar process. I don't know anyone or have anyone that can help me besides you guys or the people online/store whom try to sell me everything they have.

I understand that this hobby takes a fairly large amount of funds out of your pocket, but I am trying to minimize that.

I will go ahead and purchase 3 bulbs as you recommend. 2 for the Orbit and 1 for the Coralife. I believe I saw a post about decent prices on bulbs.

As far as aquascaping... from what you guys can see in the pix... should I remove rocks? Just maybe keep the LR and ditch the dead rock? Should I do that right away Mr._X or wait the full 2 weeks? I think I will take some inspiration from your pictures and try something higher, less cluttered and more water flow efficient... you do make a great point about that in your message.

Thanks for the help.

 

[mr_X]

salifert seem to be the popular choice for test kits.

i don't mean to be aggressive. do i sound it? i'm just trying to help.

if it were me, i'd remove the base rock. and maybe even add more live rock. but that is my personal preference. you need to do what you like.
if you want to remove the base rock, you can do it at any time.

and i know you didn't purchase the anemone, but it is a living creature, and it's a good thing to try to keep him healthy and happy, now that he's yours :wink:

 

[Boret]

TAP WATER TEST

Ammonia between 0.25 and 0.50
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH (lowest in the test) 7.4 might be lower

My Tank's latest tests results:

Ammo 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 8.2
Density 1.023
Temp 79

 

[Boret]

No problem Mr_X, I guess a read it as more aggressive than it was meant!! :lol:

I will definitely do the LR rock recommendation. From what you mention and after taking a better look at my tank I can definitely see "dead" spots in the tank where water flow won't reach and where light is not reaching. I think I will do this... I will take one of my old tanks and use it as a curing station for the base rock I have. I will then rearrange things... I think I have a better idea of what I have to do now.

I could have avoided the live rock with the anemone and the xenia, so now it is my responsibility to keep the anemone healthy.

Interesting thing, when I raised the salinity the anemone shrinked however today is "growing up" again. I am at 1.023 from 1.022. I use the Marineland Labs "Instant Ocean" Hydrometer to measure the density. I have to test several times to get a proper result. I was told that bubbles will have an effect on the reading so I make sure I shake it around a bit and I measure 3 times to make certain I am getting the proper reading.

I downloaded a free software called "Aqualog" and I am keeping track of everything I do in the tank. The software had a sample log for a 40 gal. and there were a couple of interesting things in that log, for example, in the sample they added "Reef Advantage" on the 2 days to get calcium up and on the 8th day they added 2tsp/day of C-Balance.
As you recommended they didn't add livestock till the 17th day (at that point they added 20 hermits and 10 astreas) they also added baking soda!!

I was wondering if there is any resource online that has a detailed day-by-day description of the proper procedure.... it will definitely make things easier.

Regards,

Boret

 

[Ef3s]

My only recommendation....

I thought my salinity was 1.022

Brought in my water sample to LFS as requested before they would sell me fish...

Used a refractometer told me my salinity was 1.026.

Purchased $40 refractometer...!

Take your water to a LFS with refracto make sure your hydro is correct.....!

Matter of fact I had 2 hydros would shake the bubbles out of both of them and both showed reading of 1.022 or 1.023. EVEN waited til water was at correct temp for reading... BOTH WERE WRONG.

I think finding day by day instructions wouldn't work so well as every tank and situation are completely different....It's not one size fits all...

 

[mr_X]

i don't think you need to add anything to the tank. just watch your test readings and wait. don't bother buying all those miracle additives. the tank will level out in the appropriate time. water changes are the only things you should be doing.

i think you should look into some R.O. water from your local pet store, or perhapse some distilled water from a supermarket atleast. i wouldn't feel good about adding ammonia to my tank 8O

a refractometer is a good investment. i think you can get one alittle cheaper if you shop around the net.

 

[cindre2000]

Your parameters are looking pretty good. Don't fret about taking rock out if there is too much, a lot of people put in too much rock- remember you are going to be putting in coral, and they do take up vertical space. Too bad you don't have a sump to put the extra rock in...

Other than that, some snails could help with the algae. As well as some extra flow.

 

[ChrisRD]

Just to add to what others have already said - don't overlook the importance of using pure source water for topoff and water changes. Using tapwater can result in some nasty algae problems among other issues...

 

[Anonymous]

The way I've read this thread the first and only spike happened at day 2...I haven't seen any other params that support a true cycle. Or maybe its my crack problem :lol:

 

[ChrisRD]

When starting a tank with live rock, especially when a skimmer is up-n-running from day 1, IME it's common to never see a trace of NH4, NO2 or NO3. This is just an indication that there was enough bacteria already present in/on the rock to handle whatever wastes were not removed by the skimmer.

This is a good thing and in fact, some live rock importers run huge skimmers on their holding systems so they can cure their rock without any ammonia building up (which keeps more stuff alive).

 

[Boret]

Thanks for all the advice guys, it is greatly appreciated. I hope you are right ChrisRD! :lol:

Today I purchased an Alkalinity Test. I also bought RO water from the LPS and I created a curing tank with the 30 gal tank I wasn't using.

I put 10 gal of the LPS RO water in a plastic bin with salt and a water warmer. I will check tomorrow to make sure that the numbers are ok and I will do a water change in the main tank.

I took all the base rock from the main tank and rearranged the live rock. I believe I did a much better job with the relocation of the rocks. I took Mr._X's tank picture's as inspiration... I wasn't able to recreate those great "towers" he was able to put together, but I definitely improved in water circulation and overall look of the tank (IMHO).

These are today's numbers:
Alkalinity (KH) ppm above 300, which the test says its ideal.
Ammo 0
Nitrate is up 10-20,
Nitrite is still at 0,
pH is at 8.0,
Density 1.023,
temp at 80.9 higher than yesterday (it was in the 100's today in VA).

I still haven't found the charger for the digital camera, but I stumbled across a crappy digital camera that works with AA batteries so I took some pics.

At least it can give you guys an idea of the new "aqua-design". I don't know if you can tell from the pic but I lowered the right jet. The left one is on the same spot. Disregard the date, I guess is the default when u put batteries on the camera. The removal of the base rock has lowered the water level about an inch (im guessing about 3-4 gal). So for the water change I will take out 7 gallons and add the 10 I bought from LPS after they are ready to be added.

I am also posting a pic of the rock curing station. I need to get a jet in there, I know, all I had handy was that filter, at least there is some water movement. I found a place online that sells the 1200 MaxiJet's for $18, so I am getting one, hopefully shipping won't take for ever.

I took more pictures of the tank from the sides so that you can see that there is space around the rocks, but the up close pictures are all blurry so no point posting them. I really need to find the charger!!

BTW in the curing tank I put a couple of shells that I boiled and dried before I placed them there. Which reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask you guys... is it ok to buy empty shells from places like Michael's or any of those craft stores to put in the tank? If so, I am sure I have to get the ones without any type of aroma or anything like that. What is the proper way to get them ready for the tank? Is boiling them enough? I haven't done it yet, but you can get tons of great shells for the hermit's from there for almost no money, definitely cheaper than the LPS.

Livestock update.

Both the Damsel Domino and the Anemone are doing great. The damsel loves the new arrangement of the rocks... or at least he just keeps going thru all of the new passages between rocks.

The anemone likes it better now, either the water conditions have improved, the temperature is more to its liking or just plain decided to live and look pretty in there!

 

[mr_X]

you are doing well, and quite frankly, i'm honored that you would refer to my tank as something to fashion yours after. just make sure those rocks are stable and secure. you don't want them falling down a few months from now and killing some expensive coral or fish :wink:

as for the sea shells from the craft store...i don't see why boiling them wouldn't be enough of a preparation before adding them to the tank.

what are those mj's in the main tank? 1200's?

 

[Boret]

Yes they are MJ's 1200. I got a 600 in the rock curing tank. I got the 1200's from the man that sold me the LR for $15 each. They seem to be moving quite a bit of water around, but the anemone loves it!

Maybe I should 1 1200 in the curing tank and the 600 and 1200 in the main tank. The way I have it now it creates a bit of a dip in the sand in the middle-front of the tank... from looking at the sand I can see the wave effect... which I have no clue how I have accomplished.

I got the new testing equipment. The only thing missing is the refractometer. I can only find one for $40 online and the shipping is horrible (comes from China). Everything else is close to $100 and more. I will take a sample of water to the store and measure salinity there.

These are the results today:
Calcium (CA)= 400 ppm
Carbonate Hardness (KH) = 196 ppm
Phosphate = 0

Anyway, the new test kit comes with an Alkalinity test that shows a different result than the one yesterday. I trust this new test kit better, the one yesterday was a 5-in-1 One strip Quick Dip by Jungle! The new one comes with test tubes and I have to keep adding drops until the color changes from purple to blue... which is pretty cool. The phosphate test is awesome too goes from blue to yellow!! and then back to blue when I rinse it in the sink! I am happy with such simple things!!

Here is yesterdays pic with some notes, as much for my own record as to show you guys the setup.

 

[mr_X]

nice, consise diagram :wink:

i don't think two mj12's is too much for your tank. i would just move them until you don't get the sand gully.

yeah, those dip-strips aren't very accurate.

if you do a search for "refractometer" on ebay, you'll find plenty of cheaper ones, however, you might ask someone more experienced about the brands. i'm sure some are better than others.

 

[Boret]

Found the digital camera charger!!!!
Anemone as of today aug 27th, 2007.

 

[Boret]

Mr_X, even with the better camera I don't seem to get the pictures that you were able to get. What do you do? Macro tons of light? Flash on/off? Far away, zoomed in? Up close on the glass? The Anemone pic was up close, no flash, macro.... that is why the surroundings are blurry.

 

[Boret]

BTW I am using a 3.2 Konica Revio KD-310Z.

How often do you feed anemones?

 

[Ef3s]

TBH, buying a refracto off ebay is a really bad idea...you have no idea if those people dropped it or not.....

Pay the $40 and shipping or pay for one a little more with no shipping from LFS...! Or your hydro could be correct....but those change over time as well....