My 1st SW tank. Seahorses are in!NEW PICS!

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STARFYRE

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Messages
256
Ok, I have about 19 topics going out there, so I decided to start a tank log and stick with this one. I'll play catch up of what happened over the last 2 weeks.
I set up a tank that I plan to have seahorses and soft corals in. Here's the stats...
20 gal high
penguin biowheel filter
Seaclone 100 skimmer
Visatherm stealth 150w heater
2 inch SB
23 lbs of LR
lighting is Dual satellite 2x65w 1 dual daylight, 1 dual actinic, 1 lunar light

I set up the tank Dec. 20th. I initially filled the tank with dechlorinated tap water. Against my better judgement, my impatient self added 2 turbo snails and a nassarius snail about a week ago. I thought they would help eat up the die off on my LR. My ammonia was at 8.0 and I panicked and did a pwc. I found out that would prolong my cycle so no more pwc s until the tank is fully cycled. I did my pwc by adding OSMO prep to DI water and then adding my salt. This is also what I'm using to do my top offs. (only adding salt if SG is low)
I sentenced my poor turbo snails to an early demise (moment of silence for the turbos). I haven't seen the nassarius in 2 days. I'm worried he is rotting away in my SB. I tested the water today. My ammonia is at 0!!!!! Hooray! The Nitrites are at 2, and I don't plan on testing NitrAtes until the NitrItes are at 0.
I did some redecorating because I found something on the LR that looks like a coral. It was on the back of a piece of LR facing the rear of the tank. So I turned it around, so it could get some light if it is in fact a coral. I tried to get some shots of it, but they didn't come out that great. It's pink and looks like a ribbon with ridges you would see on a birthday present.
That's the update for now. As soon as I figure out how to post pics in this thread, I'll have some up. WISH ME LUCK!!!!! and if anyone has any idea what that pink ribbon looking thing is, feel free to give your input!
 
Looks great. Wish you the best. I`m hoping to have mine ready if I ever get the funds.
 
Here's the most recent pick after I did a little redecorating....
img_754376_0_bf69c06527be38e50de47d116c4bb8a4.jpg
 
I have 23 lbs of LR in there now. I want to get at least another piece of Tonga branch. I don't like the way it looks, so I plan on redecorating (again). Once I redecorate, I'll decide if I'm going to put more in there. I need to set up the QT. When I do that, I'll probably throw a couple pieces in there. If I do, that will make room for more LR in my showtank.
I checked my levels.
pH is at 7.8
Ammonia at 0 Hooray!
NitrItes at 2.0
I'm not going to bother checking NitrAtes till the NitrItes hit 0.

I still haven't found out what species of seahorse I'll be getting. All I know is I'm going with CB or TB. The ones my LFS gets on a regular basis go from yellow to black. I have done a little research as far as the corals. This is what I plan on sticking in there....Some zoas, a yellow fiji leather, and blue mushroom.
The mushroom I found that I like is Discosoma coerulea (they are the marine invert of the month in the Jan issue of TFH).
As for the zoas, I like the super colored, yellow, and button polyps.
Any thoughts on that?
My invert list is as follows...
Some turbos
Some nassarius snails
Some cerith snails
1 small reef cowrie
1 skunk cleaner shrimp (to start) maybe more later
1 peppermint shrimp
2-3 sexy shrimp
1 electric flame scallop
1 colored feather duster
1 marbled sea star
I have questions on my invert list. How many turbos? How many nassarius'? Do the sexies need supplemental feeding? I know all about the scallop not living long, but they're cool and I want one. (I already have phytomax to feed it). What does the marbled sea star eat? and how do I feed it?
As soon as the tank cycles, I plan on adding all of the inverts except the sea star (I want to do a little more homework on that).
After I add the inverts, I'm going to wait a little and check all my parameters. Once everything is stable, what do I add next? The ponies or the corals?
*NOTE* I edited my wish list after doing a little more reading. The same questions still apply.
 
1 bumblebee snail will possibly eat the other snails. For the hermits, make sure they have plenty of larger shells to move into, they may eat some of your snails too. The shrimp should not need extra feeding. I can't really help you on the rest...
 
Here's todays update.....
I tested all the basic levels.
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0 :D
NitrItes 1.0
NitrAtes 20
My nitrites went down 1 point. Hooray! I'm on my way. I also redecorated again. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks and plan on adding a little more LR, def a couple more pieces of Tonga Branch. I'll have updated pics up soon. I need help with the questions I posted earlier about my invert wish list. Please leave me some feedback. Thanx!
 
I just tested my levels.
pH at 7.8
Ammonia at 0
NitrItes at .5
NitrAtes at 20
My NitrItes are going down!! I'm getting excited! The cycle seems to be moving along great!
I got some suggestions about what to do about my skimmer shooting bubbles all over the tank. I got a piece of aquarium safe sponge and stuck it over the spout of the skimmer. It seems to be working. I still have bubbles, but there's not as many and they are only on the surface, not going throught the whole tank. This cuts down my water flow in the tank, so I decided to stick in the PH. I get it out and find out it's not submersible. And I don't think I can adjust it to shoot downward either. So I'm returning it. I heard someone talking about a submersible mini jet PH in another forum. Can anyone make a suggestion??
 
Thanx for your suggestions (insert sarcasm). I did some research and I'm going with the maxi jet for the PH. It's submersible, and I can adjust the flow. I tested the parameters....
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
NitrItes somewhere between .25 and .5
NitrAtes 40
I added more Tonga branch last night. I like the way it looks. I'm not sure if I'll be adding anymore LR. Although I do have my eye on this nice piece of Tonga motu at the LFS. It's coated with this real pretty lime colored coraline algae. I might go pick that up today. The tonga branch I got last night has been sitting in thier tank for awhile, so I'm pretty sure it's cured and won't affect my cycle. I'm still looking into my invert list. I would really appreciate some feedback. I don't know much about the small reef cowrie. All it said was that it eats algae and doesn't get as big as the other reef cowrie. Any1 know anything about it?
 
HOORAY!!!! My tank is officially cycled! :D
I just did a 20% kind of pwc. I had to put some new water in before I could take more out because I didn't want my submersible equipment to hit air. (I had a bad experience with that years ago). Hopefully it brought down my NitrAte levels. I took a water sample before I started the pwc, so I could see if there's any difference in color in the NitrAtes (as my test kit is hard to read). I'm gonna wait till the water settles and pull a new water sample out, then test both samples at the same time.
If I get no good results, (as I had to add water in the middle of the pwc), I'll just do another 10% pwc.
I am on my way to the LFS now. I plan on sticking in....
1 Trochus snail
1 Astaea snail
1 more nassarius
2 cerith snails
1 peppermint shrimp (I found out that groovy anemone thing in there is aptasia)
Wish me luck! and I'll keep my updates posted.
 
OK...I got an update. Here's the levels...
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
NitrItes 0
NitrAtes 20-40ppm (hard to read)
Calcium 340
KH 12
Phosphates 0
I did my pwc and headed to the LFS. They didn't have the cerith snails, trochus snails, or peppermint shrimp. So this is what I got...
2 Astraea snails
2 more nassarius snails (3 total in the tank)
1 unidentified anemone shrimp (I'll have pics soon).
I did something bad :oops: . I was looking in their coral tanks and saw this beautiful polyp. I was checking for future reference of course. I was matching the labeled prices with all the corals. There was two different prices for polyps;$35 and $50. So I pointed to the most colorful and healthiest looking one and asked the guy, "How much?". He said, "That one's 20." What! 8O Do you really think I was capable of leaving the store without it? Absolutely NOT!!!!
They closed up while transporting. After about 10 minutes in the tank, they started to open up. After about 2 hours went by, all of them were fully opened. I'm assuming that's a good sign. I noticed a black and white striped shell wedged in between polyps. It didn't seem to have anything in it. I figured I would move it once my little guys were settled in. When I checked the tank about an hour ago, the shell was gone! Nowhere in sight. So I picked up a mystery guest.
I also found something very exciting. Itty bitty baby snails!! This may not be a big deal to someone who has had SW tanks for some time, but this is my very first SW tank, and I am soooo excited!
So, that's the update. I'll be getting a refractometer and a PH soon. I'm also going to keep looking for a peppermint shrimp (I have 2 small growths of Aptasia). I'm gonna do another pwc to see if I can lower those nitrates.
I need help making a decision on PHs. I'm going with the maxijet submersibles. I'm contemplating putting either one 160gph, or two 106gph on opposite ends of the tank. Feedback on that???
 
My batteries in my camera are dead. I did get it to work tonight to get a couple shots. I need to invest in a better camera. Mine is one of the first digital cameras ever made. It wieghs about 7 lbs. and doesn't focus up close too well. I don't know how to get the pics from the camera into the computer either. My fiance knows how to do all that. I'll get him to do it. Check back tomorrow.
Here's today's update.....
I haven't tested the levels since yesterday. I've been running errands all day and I had to work. But I did get some additions. I got my peppermint shrimp! YAY! I also got two cerith snails. Double YAY!
I found that black and white striped shell. It was further into my polyp colony. I plucked it out this morning before I ran all my errands. It's a snail. It's body is black and it has a wierd looking tail thing that kinda looks like a rattlesnake tail. Anyone have any ideas???
I put it on the SB so he wouldn't upset my polyps. When I got home tonite, he was back in the polyps again.?? If anyone has any clue as to what this is, please let me know! I don't know if he's harming my polyps, or if he's some kinda polyp "buddy snail"? If he is bad news, I want to exit him to the left ASAP.
 
Yep! That's exactly what it is. I was searching Aptasia and found a hitchikers guide (not to the galaxy) and he was in there. I don't particulary like flushing live things down the toilet, but it was him or my polyps. Along with the sundial went my emerald pleco :( I found him in the corner of my 55. I'm very upset.
I got the maxijet 400 today and stuck it in the tank. I have it blowing over the top of my polyps. I know they need medium water flow, so is that a good choice for placement? The nozzle is about 4-5 inches from the side of the colony. I'm going to pick up another one on tuesday. The right side of my tank looks like it's starting to get some type of algae on the SB and there's no flow over there since I put the foam on my skimmer.

So, I'm not sure if I have a "true peppermint shrimp". He's not going after the thing I think is Aptasia. I'm not sure if I have Aptasia? It doesn't have a stalk like most of the pictures I've seen. But it does have that flower look to it (kinda like a polyp), and it's basically clear in color. It's tips are a whitish tint sometimes (they seem to change color). It's very tiny (about a quarter inch). There's 1 more that I can see and that one's even smaller. My camera won't pick it up, so I can't get a shot of it.
Also, my "peppermint shrimp" is agitating my polyps. He's picking frantically around them and stepping all over them. They close up when he touches them. Should I be concerned? Is this normal? When my anemone shrimp, (that moves very slow and gentle), steps on my polyps, they don't even flinch. He actually just hangs out on them and they don't seem bothered one bit; like he's not even there.
My "peppermint" shrimp is pregnant. It has a bunch of little yellow balls in it's abdomen. Can anyone refer me to some links that can help me figure out if I have a true peppermint shrimp and/or aptasia? I've only seen one link with the peppermint and its look-alike. It's def not a camel, so nix that possibility.
 
Peppermint shrimp don't always take to the aipstasia...unfortanetly. You may want to look into getting some Joes Juice and nuking them yourself.

Your clear things may be Hydroids... Check out the link and see what you think. If it is Hydroids, get rid of them asap by smothering then with a kalk paste.

It's normal for peppermint shrimp to pick at things a little bit, it's part of their nature to do so. But, keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't eating the corals. They very very rarely do, but the very occasional peppermint shrimp has been known to eat soft coral.

Here, the peppermint shrimp is the first in the bottom row. If it's red and sorta opaque...it's the peppermint shrimp.

http://melevsreef.com/id/shrimp.html

Hydroids

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/picture_pages/faq_hydroids.html
 
The peppermint shrimp looks like that. I have to find that hitchiker link again, and take a closer look, cuz it's cousin looks almost identical. It says the main difference is that on the imposter, the red lines are darker.
In the pic of the hydroids, I wasn't sure if it was the pink things, or the clear things. Either way, it doesn't look like either of those. Mine looks like a flat, clear button polyp with no lines in it, and longer tentacles (no tube for a base). It looks like it has a tiny hole in the middle like a polyp/zoa. I counted six long and two short tentacles on it when it was fully opened. I checked on it last night, and it looked like it shrank? And I couldn't find the smaller one. Not sure if it's gone, cuz they move. I wish I could get a pic. I'm going to have to invest in a better camera.
Any feedback on my PH placement?
 
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