Upgrading my tank by 1200%

[jason.kennedy.98478]

So salinity is where it needs to be for the goodies arriving tomorrow, lots a pics ro follow

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

So the rock and sand is in the tank, pics to follow

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Ok so gonna do this in waves. Wave 1 rocks, the ones with interesting stuff on them anyway

 

[JBKReef]

wow. Live is an understatement. Very mature rock but are you going to do any kind of quarantine process for the rock or just drop it in and hope no nasty hitchhikers?

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

wow. Live is an understatement. Very mature rock but are you going to do any kind of quarantine process for the rock or just drop it in and hope no nasty hitchhikers?

All into the tank. Only saw 3 gorilla crabs and they ended up in the middle of the street. If there's any more I did get a pistol shrimp and in my experience they are avid gorilla crab hunters

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

The critters

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Tank all cloudy

And this morning after clearing

Bad angle but the sun was making it hard to get a good shot. Not gonna worry about aquascaping until I get part 2 of the package. Skimmer is currently off, will turn it on when I get home and do my first ammonia test

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Chocolate pudding any one?

Also first ammonia test

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

So cycling is on going, ammonia levels haven't changed yet in either direction but all the critters are out and moving.

The worms

And uni, which is what this guy will become if he causes too much trouble

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

So ammonia levels are starting to drop and my skimmer finished breaking in last night. Was beginning to think choosing my skimmer based on the fact it looked like a rocket ship was a bad idea

 

[mch1984]

So ammonia levels are starting to drop and my skimmer finished breaking in last night. Was beginning to think choosing my skimmer based on the fact it looked like a rocket ship was a bad idea

Ha, I hate that feeling. You think you made the right choice and then you start to doubt yourself. Glad it worked out.

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Cycle is almost done, the test is about as light green as you can get with out it being yellow

Also the first bit of skimate pulled from the tank. It smells awful. I spilled some on my hands and even some super girly unicorn power puff hand soap didn't get the smell of.

 

[Mark Gray]

Wow an amazing amount of stuff you got on your live rock, I remember getting rock from the south pacific that had ton's of stuff like that Good luck

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Cycle is complete now ro have TBS send part 2 of the package, when I get back from vacation in 2 weeks

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

So before I go on vacation I leave you with a pic of a snail laying eggs in my nano

Now to finish the 120 when I get back ;Brb

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Came home from vacation to discover a mantis shrimp

Pics not very good but it's in there

 

[Adele]

Came home from vacation to discover a mantis shrimp

Pics not very good but it's in there

Wow. Live rock is like a roller coaster, so fun and scary all at the same time.

 

[Mark Gray]

Came home from vacation to discover a mantis shrimp

Pics not very good but it's in there

Hope you can catch him, I remember like 25 or 30 years ago getting rock from the south pacific, we always back then did a fresh water dip for at least 20 minutes I did this stuff for 30 minutes. Set up the rock got the tank cycled and added fish it had been running over a year, and I had a medium size blue tang disappear. Well later on lost a clown fish then we finally saw him. A mantis shrimp was the culprit. Had to take most of the rock out to catch him but today there are some pretty good shrimp traps Good Luck

 

[Zeal]

Literally the definition of live rock. Arent you worried about all the critters?