Here's what I've got so far

[rodinwilmington]

I know the plants are tacky and we'll be taking them out when we put the CUC in (just trying to make the wife happy), I didn't just throw the rocks in there, there are several holes that fish can swim through they're just not observable from the front angle.My plan was to cover the dry rock as much a possible with LR and I'm gonna get a few show pieces to put on top to make it look better. The pics I've been taking have just been with a small fluorescent light I had around the house I've got a Nova t5 comming in on Friday that will really make things look and perform much better. On one of the rocks I've got a little mushroom thing growing, I got really excited bout this when I saw it today. Couple of pics posted showing a few holes in the middle and the mushroom.

 

[mdaniel2882]

you might want to think about some bigger holes. clowns get 3 to 4 inches and most wrasses are atleast 6. remember the fish you get in the LFS are juvi's most of the time and will grow several times there original size.

 

[austinsdad]

Like that big red rock in the middle of the second pic...

Can you remove that one for instance? It'll make a larger swim thru area.

 

[factorboa]

Yes it is good to have large holes for clowns my clowns like playing games in my holes while they r doing there dance

 

[rodinwilmington]

Well my light came in today and man what a difference, the tank looks great. I took you guy's advice and moved the rock around and made some bigger holes, looks pretty good although the water has alot of junk in it from moving the rock, my cheap skimmer is producing alot of microbubbles so I'll be shopping for a new one soon, is saltwater usually pretty clear or is there alot of stuff in there? Thanks. My ammonia has been at 1.0ppm for a couple of days now, I think the LR that I brought home is helping keep it down, what kinda levels usually occur? It's been 1 week now so I hope things are going well.

 

[thincat]

Is your red rock the Lava rock you where talking about? If so, that red is from the Iron in the rock. That is the problem with lava, 1) doesn't have any buffering action, 2) unknown metals in the rock 3) very heavy.
Monitor your water and watch out for high levels of silica and PO3., may cause algae bloom.
Other then that...Nice tank.

 

[rodinwilmington]

Thanks, I'll keep testing the water and if there's a problem I can just remove it.

 

[mdaniel2882]

your water will clear up and be crystal clear

 

[rodinwilmington]

Well my cycle ended over the weekend, ammonia and nitrite down to zero, nitrate was around 20ppm, changed 20 gallons of water, I have about 34 gallons in the tank, and added 2 peppermint shrimp, 4 astrea, 8 cerinth, and 15 nassarius snails, had an algae bloom and I hope to get it under control, hope to add a lawnmower blennie next week. Any advice on hermit crabs? Sounds like the scarlet are the most peaceful.

 

[rodinwilmington]

Oh yeah, since I put the snails in, acclimated by drip for 2 hours, I've noticed that 3 of the astrea snails have moved to the top of the tank at the water level, are they spawning, the third is happily eating the algae on the glass at the bottom.

 

[rodinwilmington]

2 of the 3 at the top are attached to each other.

 

[Lynae]

Freaky snails!!

 

[rodinwilmington]

Actually I just looked and one is hangin on the tank and 2 are attached to him. Must be fun.

 

[rodinwilmington]

Hey I'm not paying for them to get it on w/eachother, I want them to get busy eating algae