Dreamer/Nightmare 135 gal. Tank Diary(3.12.07 update)

[Devilishturtles]

The livesand does have an expiration date, and I have used it and loved the results. Contrary to what people say about the stuff being junk, it does provide a LOT of microfauna in the sand. But since your tank is already cycled and established, I would personally just add dry aragonite sand. I just recently bought a 30lb bag of aragonite sand and like Roka said, it seems no matter how much you rinse it, it will still cloud. The livesand shouldn't cycle your tank since it is established...but I'm not 100 sure on that either.

I cleaned my sand the same way roka mentioned too, about swishing, dumping, swishing, dumping, and repeating.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

The livesand does have an expiration date, and I have used it and loved the results. Contrary to what people say about the stuff being junk, it does provide a LOT of microfauna in the sand. But since your tank is already cycled and established, I would personally just add dry aragonite sand. I just recently bought a 30lb bag of aragonite sand and like Roka said, it seems no matter how much you rinse it, it will still cloud. The livesand shouldn't cycle your tank since it is established...but I'm not 100 sure on that either.

I cleaned my sand the same way roka mentioned too, about swishing, dumping, swishing, dumping, and repeating.

Thank you. On that note, I'll steer clear of live sand.


It's almost play sand season, isn't it?



When you rinse rock, what kind of water do you use? Tap, RODI'd water, other?

 

[roka64]

Are you talking base rock or cured LR? If base, I would use RO/DI or distilled or even old SW from your PWC. You probably could get away with tap, just let the rock sit in open air for a few days. I am on well water, so I just use my tap. Dang, I had another idea, but while I was typing I forgot....

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Durr. I meant rinsing SAND, not rock. Oops.


Though while we're on the subject, when getting new base rock to add to an established tank, I've heard to hose it down with a hose, then let it sit in water for a few days. Is this correct?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Meh, you don't really need to, IMHO. If you aren't sure if it might have nasties on it you can let it sit in a tub of saltwater for a few days before you add it to your tank. If it's just regular dry base rock, I'd give it a quick rinse and add it.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Fish store today.

Two new feather dusters (one stressed quite a bit once getting him in our tank, and dropped his head. Meh. Seems to be doing fine otherwise, but he was the prettier of the two we got).

I was hoping they'd have clown fish in stock, but no such luck. I DID, however, purchase a VERY pretty Yellow Fin Fairy Wrasse who has been on the receiving end of the gramma's evil eye. The wrasse has been hiding most of the afternoon/evening.




We got another dozen nassarius (zombie) snails.


Didn't see any sand in the store today. Which is fine, we'll start searching through Home Depot now that play sand season nears.



Once Mike is done working on computer stuff, we'll order an RO/DI water purifier so we can rid ourselves of the cyanobacteria problem we've been having. Hopefully, the ROWAphos in the filter will help slow the growth 'til we get the unit.

Didn't see any base rock that caught my eye, either. I'll probably wind up purchasing some from Marco's site or ebay.

And we're REALLY going to start budgeting out to upgrade our lighting. I want pretty rock. Rawr.






...also, I'm pretty certain that the Sally Lightfoot crab will be going with us next time we go to the LFS to live with them. It just recently started harrassing our cleaner shrimp, and I've heard horror stories of SLF crabs eating fish.

 

[Ziggy953]

I rinse all my new base rock off in old SW. I usually keep a 5g bucket of old SW just for that purpose. I'm always buying rubble and pieces of base when I go to the LFS. The sand I rinse off in RO/DI water first and then usually let it sit in a bucket of SW for a few days before using it.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Thanks, Ziggy!





The wrasse is in hiding. I think I saw him all of three minutes yesterday after putting him in the tank.
Thought he might come out of hiding for food, but no such luck. I know he hasn't been eaten, considering how hungry the nassarius snails were this morning.


Lost the feather duster. Found him and his tube lying on the sand. Though the LFS doesn't offer the 24 hour guarantee on inverts, I'll take him back anyway.





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I packed up the featherduster and took him back to the fish store before work. The guy there said no problem, it will be replaced. He tested our water, and it was fine.

He was nice enough to say that I could come pick it up after work. I work 'til 7:30, the fish store closes at 7.


And not only did he wait for me, he gave me two feather dusters. He said that he had a hard time getting one off the tank, and wanted to make sure I had a better chance of having one survive the trip home and dive into a new tank. So, YAY.



The wrasse I got yesterday that had been hiding so much is out and about. This fish is flipping GORGEOUS, and always has this perpetually worried/guilty look in its face.





Feesh peeeks and veeeeedeo:


http://dreamertheresa.com/feesh/

Here, you meet Pierre the shrimp, Jermaine the gramma, and the yet unnamed flame angelfish.



The wrasse is hiding from the camera. So it goes.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Link above updated with two brief clips of the wrasse! ...and a reflection of our dog



The wrasse is VERY shy, so it's hard to get pics/video of him/her.

 

[roka64]

Lookin good! I like the salt dissolving. Do you premix your SW in a separate container?

 

[DreamerTheresa]

We do now. That clip was when we first put water/salt in the tank - nothing else was in the tank then.

 

[roka64]

Cool, that's what I figured.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

GOOD NEWS!


I just ordered an RO/DI unit from thefilterguys.


YAY! That should take care of the flippin' cyanobacteria problem.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Well, CRAP.


The wrasse died in the two hours Mike and I were gone for dinner today. We came home, and the poor thing was hermitcrab/sallylightfootcrab/nassariussnail dinner.


Water's fine, the other fish are fine. :: SIGH ::


I guess we should wait 'til we have more experience 'til we get a harder-to-keep fish.

 

[Ziggy953]

Very cool vids!! Thanks for sharing them!