My first tank ever!

[ManOfSalt]

Thanks!

So my levels have been good all week, water has been pristine, the creatures are active and happy, lost a Nassarius snail D: he's been a bit slow ever since the guys at the LFS threw him in my sump. but other than that, all has been well! So I decided to get a couple of Chromis fish as theyre cheap and hardy. So far they have been awesome. Very lively, very voracious eaters, very happy! I put half a cube of brine shrimp in and they just devoured it. The poor shrimp always tries to get some but he's just not quick enough to get a fair feed so I target feed him a tiny piece of king prawn.

I must also say that the Strombus snail is amazing! All he does is graze! He's mowed up all the algae that was growing on my sand, he climbs up rocks and mows up the hair algae, he eats stuff off the glass, he's just a hero snail. I highly recommend a fighting conch if you dont have one.

Pics!

The new Chromis fishies




Strombus snail on his daily rounds

relocated the helio fungia to sand to test encouragement of further growth

all is well in the tank!

 

[ManOfSalt]

oh ya almost forgot about the new random creature I found! Going to get an ID on this one.

[video=youtube_share;yEjMhJPES4c]http://youtu.be/yEjMhJPES4c[/video]

 

[vlangel]

The tank looks awesome, so clean without being cluttered with equipment and wires. I love it. I have never seen anything like the creature in your last pic, its kind of ominous with those pincher things!

 

[vlangel]

O, I just watched the video, actually its kind of cute now that I know those are antennae instead of pinchers!!!!

 

[ManOfSalt]

Thanks Dawn! I still need to stain that board that covers the wires and find some kind of black velvet fabric that covers the styrofoam. Still much work to be done!

The fish are still zippy and happy and alive! I think i'll name them Zippy and Happy lol. If these do well I'll add a few more of them and have a nice little school of Chromii

 

[ManOfSalt]

Had to relocate the heliofungia again. It's growing and Ali (the boxer shrimp) can't stand it because it's right next to his new stomping ground that he moved to AFTER I moved the coral away from him the first time! He's been throwing jabs at it all day. Just moved it a few inches to the right in front of another swim through. Ali likes it much better he gets to stretch his antennae out a bit more.

The Chromii are slowly getting adjust to their environment. They're starting to hang closer to the bottom of the reef now amongst all the rock work. Yesterday they were mostly hanging out at the surface.

Hope all goes well this week!

 

[vlangel]

Thanks Dawn!

The fish are still zippy and happy and alive! I think i'll name them Zippy and Happy lol. If these do well I'll add a few more of them and have a nice little school of Chromii

I used to have a school of chromis and they are a cheerful little fish. Zippy and Happy sound like great names. Mine were Eenie, Meanie, Miney and Moe. Ali, that is so funny! Does he fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee? Haha!!!

 

[ManOfSalt]

hahaha yes he does! That's exactly how he got his name and whenever you go up to the glass he comes out and maddogs you lol! Eenie Meanie Miney and Moe lol I love that!

 

[vlangel]

It was kind of sad when one of my chromis disappeared...I had to tell people that I used to have Eenie Meanie Miney and Moe but Moe ain't no more!

 

[ManOfSalt]

lol Eenie Meanie Miney and No Moe! hahaha
How many did you have and why don't you have them anymore? Is it because you went down to 32?

 

[vlangel]

lol Eenie Meanie Miney and No Moe! hahaha
How many did you have and why don't you have them anymore? Is it because you went down to 32?

I still had 2 of them until this past Dec. They were probably 4-5 years old but a power outage fried the controller to my chiller. Of course this happened in the middle of the night or I would have caught it sooner. My chiller never kicks on in the winter...anyhow having a nano tank but a big chiller that use to cool a 90g the tank was down to 50 degrees when I caught it. I thought everything was dead, the fish were swirling lifelessly on the sand. Amazingly the pair of anthias, the purple firefish and the tomato clown revived as I very slowly warmed the water. Sadly the 2 chromis and a kupang damsel did not.

 

[ManOfSalt]

Oh nooooo!!!!! That worries me. It looks like I may have to invest in a chiller as well. The Temp originally levelled out around 78 now has crept up to 82-84. Probably a mixture between the regular light cycle and the summer weather. Having the AC on for a couple hours drops it a couple degrees but then makes it freezing cold in the house D: The last chiller i saw for my tank size was $900 -_______- I'm hoping the temp stays where it's at at at least until after the wedding! I can't afford to drop hundreds of bucks on one just yet!

 

[vlangel]

Oh nooooo!!!!! That worries me. It looks like I may have to invest in a chiller as well. The Temp originally levelled out around 78 now has crept up to 82-84. Probably a mixture between the regular light cycle and the summer weather. Having the AC on for a couple hours drops it a couple degrees but then makes it freezing cold in the house D: The last chiller i saw for my tank size was $900 -_______- I'm hoping the temp stays where it's at at at least until after the wedding! I can't afford to drop hundreds of bucks on one just yet!

I think what happened to me with the chiller controller was a fluke, very unusual event. Last summer I noticed the controller was acting up. It would kick the chiller on but only let it run a few minutes. The chiller would only be off a few minutes and then it'd kick on again. When we got through the hot weather, like you I figured I'd replace it the next year- didn't want to dish out the cash just yet,(even the controller was $130). I should have unplugged the controller but it never occurred to me that it could randomly kick the chiller on. Live and learn!

 

[ManOfSalt]

well this is interesting. I get home from work to find that my heliofungia has moved! Not sure if it did it intentionally, My guess would be that it didn't?? It loves light, however it was in a higher flow area and I read that it prefers moderate flow =\ not to mention it moved right under an over hang. Now almost entirely in the shadows. And it was really happy where it was! So my guess would be that when it inflates during the day and deflates at night, perhaps it cant call where it ends up once its fully deflated? Ugh I shouldve taken a picture of where it was before. It was about 2 inches away from the glass. Heres where it moved

and it is NOT happy. Poor thing. Maybe ill move it back...

 

[vlangel]

I thought I read that they can move although that is crazy when you look at them. Are you going to move it back?

 

[ManOfSalt]

yaa I moved it back. It was much happier about it. I need to find a more permanent spot for it. It's taking in too much flow. I don't know if its bad for it but It looks like its uncomfortable. i picture too much air being blown on me or something i dont know maybe thats not how it works. It has expanded quite a bit so I need to probably move a rock or something. oh well we'll see

in other news: Ali molted!

I didn't think it would be like...everything! I mean that just looks like a dead shrimp! His new garb is quite streamlined He's still growing back the tiny grabbers. I added a pinch extra of water conditioner (which contains iodine) to my top up this morning to help him out. I might get some proper supplement today. Along WITH ::drum roll::: 3 more chromis for a nice odd school! (hopefully)

A week has gone by with solid levels and Im ready to add more fish. Personally I don't think the two chromis put a dent in the bio filter. There's a fair amount of water going through the system between the display and the sump so either they don't generate enough ammonia to appear on the radar, or the existing bio filter has adjusted accordingly? I don't know, but I doubt it. I'll put in 3 more and hopefully a nice school will form. I think that would be an awesome sight for a tank. I'm just sticking with Chromis for right now seeing as how they are hardy, and in the event that I don't know my bio filter as well as I think I do, hopefully these fish will survive through a small spike. The fact that they are a schooling fish however is an added bonus. Fingers crossed all goes well, I'm sure itll be fine.

I'll also be adding another piece of coral! I'm all LPS crazy so I'll probably get another one of those. I also need to get to my hardware store to pick up some 25L water jerrys. I found a nice clean source of NSW from a private vendor in town. The cost per 25L is negligible. Going to be definitely cheaper than mixing my own water. Kind of worried about harmful microscopic organisms, but mostly not. The water is clean and clear, that is good enough for me.

 

[vlangel]

With how much life appeared on your LR, my guess is you are fully cycled. As long as you don't throw everything out of whack with a boat load of new fish I think you are going to be fine. Hey, congrats to Ali. Tell me the truth, did you panic and think Ali bit the dust when you saw his skin? I know that's what I thought the first time my shrimp molted. It is wild! LPS are awesome. Frogspawn and hammers are cool. Sometimes it takes awhile to find just the right tank conditions for some coral like your fungia.

 

[ManOfSalt]

Haha! To be honest I was confused for a split second. The whole thing was just there in one piece so at a glance I thought it was just him. I got closer and saw that it was upside down, but on the sand. Then my eye caught Ali just chillin upside down next to it and I was like whoa! You molted! Sarah was completely uninterested because we were supposed to skype the celebrant this morning and missed the session so she was all freaking out and im like look babe! Molt! HAH...a time and a place Micah...a time and a place.

OO hammer coral would be nice..frogspawn would be awesome!!!! I had my eye set on a big frogspawn from the LFS. It would be my centerpiece I reckon. I hope it isn't too much.

 

[ManOfSalt]

So I wasn't able to get more chromis fish because they only had one left D: For some reason I didn't want to get it. I like when they get a new batch of Chromis in to choose from which they always do so I'll wait. Instead I got a Bi-Color Blenny! And he's adorable. Can't wait to get home. I wonder if my boss will let me leave early....

I also got a frogspawn!!!! It was a fairly decent size as the biggest one they had (which was the one I had my eye on) was a bit too rich for my blood. Now to find a spot for it! Pics to come soon.

 

[Daddio]

That rock is amazing! You don't get to see rock like that when you live right in the center of the US? I'd miss work if I could sit and watch all of the critters in your tank. Your tank is beautiful!