Here is the plan.

[tampa_nick]

How big will he get? Any special care? Read to watch spines for droopiness and loss as a warning for water quality.

 

[MacDracor]

Here is liveaquaria's page. Saltwater Aquarium Inverts for Marine Reef Aquariums: Longspine Urchin, Black
Other than that, all I know is that you'll have a shortage of coralline algae now. Lol. Urchins tend to strip the rocks bare.

 

[tampa_nick]

I do not know what this is. Its a bad pic but its that tubular brown thing with what bristles on the end. Last time I saw it was a week ago and it was attached to the same rock but left about 2 inches. It is about 3" long

Snail hitchhiker. ID?

MacDracor its more purple than black. pics do not do justice. Is this just a color variation?

 

[MacDracor]

First pic, no idea. Really strange. It's hard to tell because its blurry. Angled pics through saltwater tanks do that. Second pic - stomatella varia. Very common algae eater.
And yeah, they range a bit. But always very dark.

 

[tampa_nick]

Got something new in the tank now. They are slightly bigger than the clear flea looking pod things and they are white and they move like worms. Guessing its just some type of worm. The urchin is doing well he is really cool and surprisingly my coralline has taken off since adding him. I have baited him to the sides of the tank with nori and he mostly hangs out on the glass. Oh I also saw a small dark red bug, guessing some other type of pod.

 

[MacDracor]

Red bug, you say? There is a type of copepod commonly called "Red Bugs" that can be detrimental to the health of certain acropora corals. I'd suggest googling for an ID and more info. But, if you have no acros, it's unlikely to be an issue.

 

[tampa_nick]

It looked much bigger than what they are describing there.

Tank parameters were perfect today so I added 4 Cerith Snails, couple empty hermit crab shells so they will hopefully leave the snails alone. I bought another piece of live rock covered in purple corraline algae and it had another stomatella snail on it. Yay, good surprise for me. Been a good day for me.

I am so amazed at how well the tank is doing with no filter on it. Everything reads 0 across the board anytime I test it.

Also, my corraline the purple and green doubles in coverage every day. I have more now than before I added the Urchin.

 

[tampa_nick]

ph is 7.8 how can i raise this naturally?

 

[obscurereef]

Well doing frequent water changes would keep the pH usually the same. Baking soda buffers the pH, but I don't know the ratio for that.

 

[tampa_nick]

I will get on the water changes. I have been slacking and have yet to do one

 

[obscurereef]

That's probably the issue then. Slacking never goes without consequences! Well..almost never .

 

[Ingy]

Add a pH buffer to raise pH.

Baking soda can be used to raise it from 7.8 to about 8.0 but that's it. Most baking soda contains a desiccant to keep it from clumping which can lend to diatoms.

pH buffers don't use desiccants so that's not a problem and use magnesium and other compounds to raise pH beyond 8 to about 8.3-8.4.

 

[Schism]

Depressed ph is usually related to excess build up of CO2. Opening a window for a bit can counteract this.

This can be demonstrated by testing the ph of a cup of tank water and then placing outside. After an hour test the water again and you will see a significant jump on most situations. For example 7.9-8.2

 

[tampa_nick]

I am going to have to move this thing in a couple weeks. Any suggestions?

 

[MacDracor]

Moving tanks is never fun. Here's what I did. I had an empty tank of equal size sitting around (long story) so I moved that to my new place and set it near where I wanted my tank. Then I transferred about half the water along with the rocks, fish, corals, and inverts in five gallon buckets. Rocks embedded in the sand were left in place. I put all that in the temporary tank and drained the original down to the sand level, then covered everything with Saran Wrap. I then brought the tank and stand, placed them into their final location, and began to transfer the tank water plus newly mixed water. Leaving the Saran Wrap in place allows pouring in water without disturbing the sand. When at least half full, I started replacing rocks and whatnot.
I recommend having an extra heater, as my water dropped almost 12 degrees in the hours this process took. This is not a fun process. It is a lot of hard work. Have as many buckets as possible and extra sets of hands capable of carrying them.

 

[tampa_nick]

Did not think about moving tank and stand all together thanks! I will have to pull all my rock though otherwise I will never get the pistol shrimp and goby out. Good thing he digs under it all and keeps it all stirred up.

 

[MacDracor]

I actually couldn't find my pistol when I moved mine. Remember, taking rocks out of the sand will make a mess.

 

[tampa_nick]

Today I added a couple turbo snails, 6 blue leg hermits(pistol keeps popping the ones that go near his burrow), and a small frag of zoas. Will post a pic as soon as they finish opening. Upon placing the frag I found a flat worm maybe. It was rectangular and clear with a white dot in the center. It moved around very strangely and then swam off the glass and got sucked into the powerhead. Hehe

 

[tampa_nick]

 

[tampa_nick]

All this talk about moving and I had to add another coral. lol. Couldnt help it I got one and I saw this and needed it. I would have died if I did not get it. LOL

Tank as it is now