Tank build - newbie again... need thoughts

[Idaho-Tank]

Day 5

SG = about 1.025 +/-
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = .25
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

No raise in Nitrates yet - ammonia did go up slightly... I can smell the shrimp when I stick my head inside the stand - not a good smell. lol

 

[pat8you]

Yeah that shrimp can get pretty funky and make the tank not smell so great for a couple of days. I would continue to watch that ammonia and see what it does. The shrimp does add a pretty significant load to the tank so it could be that even if your rock is cycled it caused a small spike because it was more ammonia faster then your rock could handle right now. If it goes back down to zero in a day or two then you should be home free. If it continues to rise then you may see a small cycle but it should go pretty quickly. Either way you should be ready to rock and roll coming up soon. Thank looks great and the live rock pieces you picked up are really nice.

 

[mdaniel2882]

Day 5

No raise in Nitrates yet - ammonia did go up slightly... I can smell the shrimp when I stick my head inside the stand - not a good smell. lol

Sorry if I missed it but was your rock already cycled. If so you may not see much more amonia. if the shrimp starts to look "fuzzy" take it out. That is bacteria and not the kind that you want.

 

[mdaniel2882]

You will see the pepermints more if there are atleast 3 in your tank. I had one that I thought was gone so I added 3 and what do you know out he comes. he was about 3 times the size of the new ones.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Sorry if I missed it but was your rock already cycled. If so you may not see much more amonia. if the shrimp starts to look "fuzzy" take it out. That is bacteria and not the kind that you want.

Thanks for the comment.

Yes the rock was from an established reef tank. I kept it submerged in at temp saltwater to hopefully limit any die off. It appears that the 150lbs of live rock has done its job well and the tank is cycled.

I took the shrimp out this morning... It was getting really smelly and I think starting to grow the kind of bacteria I don't want... I could see what I thought was part of the shrimp through the sock - but it was just getting "fuzzy" as mdaniel mentioned.

 

[Jimbo7]

Got some levels from today?

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Got some levels from today?

Nope, just removed the shrimp.... I usually test in the evening around the same time. So I will post them up this evening.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Day 6

SG = about 1.025 +/-
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = .25
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0


It appears the Ammonia maxed out at .25 Not sure why I still don't see any Nitrates.

Also wondering what kind of temp swings people are getting.... My tank ranges between 78-80. Fortunately where we live even without A/C I have never needed a chiller.

 

[pat8you]

Those are pretty normal temperature swings for a tank.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Day 7 Everything looking good. Adding a Yellow watchman & Pistol Shrimp

SG = about 1.025 +/-
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Skimmer working good - seems to be broke in. Pulling out skimmate from somwhere.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Day 8 Water tests still looking good

SG = about 1.025 +/-
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

My wife was in Boise over the weekend and stopped off at the LFS. She brought home 2 Peppermint Shrimp, a Tiger Pistol Shrimp and a Yellow Watchman Goby. I was a little surprised by the size or should I say lack of when I saw my new inhabitants... Im left wondering how fast these guys grow! Sets the bar for the fish size for my tank.

I used a 5 gallon bucket and drip acclimated these guys for 1.5 hours before putting them into the tank.

I have never owned a pistol shrimp before during the acclimation he was actually chasing the Peppermint shrimp around snapping his claw. I was amazed at how loud this TINY little thing could be. He spent about half of the acclimation time sitting beside the Yellow Watchman. I am really hoping they hit it off and work together like so many Gobies and pistol shrimp do.

After the acclimation, I put the peppermint shrimp in - they quickly hid. Then the Goby and pistol shrimp. The pistol was lightning quick and hid. The Goby never hid at all... just crawled along the bottom and actually ate a copepod that happened to cross his path. I figured it was a good sign that he ate seconds after being in the tank.

Here is my acclimation bucket. These guys are huge aren't they... Hope the tank can handle the bio load. lol. (Yes there are actually 3 shrimp in there.)

A zoom in on the inch long Yellow Watchman. These guys are so fun to watch.

 

[Jimbo7]

haha. careful with that next time. If the pistol was hungry enough, he would eat those pepps in a heartbeat. That clicking is actually him shooting water out of his claw like a bullet, and it hits things and stuns/kills them long enough for the shrimp to finish the job.

There are some cool videos on youtube that do a better job explaining.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

That pistol is so tiny... about 3/4" long. I hope he grows large enough to be seen in this tank. Its funny to have this 100 gallon tank and the only thing that can be seen right now is the little 1 inch YW Goby. So far the Goby and Pistol are staying separated.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Day 16

Got home today after being gone for 6 days. I lost about 5 gallons of water to evaporation which is about what I expected. Everything looked fine other than a small amount of micro algae that was growing on some of the sand and glass. I had the lights running for 6 hrs per day while I was away.

I immediately saw the YW Goby and eventually found one of the peppermint shrimp so I assume everything is alive and well. My wife is convinced that the Goby grew... lol. Still have not seen the tiny pistol shrimp since putting him in the tank.


My water tests looked great

SG = about 1.025 +/- (still waiting for my refractometer)
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

After the tests I siphoned off some of the algae from the sand and did a 20% water change. My clean up crew from John at Reefcleaners.org will be sent out tomorrow - so help is on the way. He is sending me the following:

60 Dwarf Ceriths
19 Nassarius
26 Florida Ceriths
18 Nerites

This "crew" is only rated for a 60 gallon tank but sure sounds like a lot to me. I was also thinking about finding a few hermits locally which I have never had in a tank before but have heard they might kill snails?

Fortunately the algae bloom was a minor one and is no where to be found except on some of the substrate and glass. The macro algae I have in my sump is doing really well and growing. Won't be long before I will be thinning some out.

Good news is that I had around 10-15 aptasia in my display tank when I left.... I now have 2!!!! And they are the larger sized aptasia. So the peppermints appear to be doing their job! I will be buying a 3rd peppermint to put in my sump as I have a few aptasia on some of my rock in the fuge as well. I just hope I can keep it from going through the bubble trap and into my return chamber.

I did notice however that it appears I have something else spreading in my tank that may not be good.... Need help identifying this guy. It appears to be out more when lights are off and when the lights come on it shrinks. When I touched it, it would retract but slowly - not nearly as fast as the aptasia. It almost looks like a mushroom when the lights are on but when the lights are off it looks more like an anemone with white balls or tips on the end of each tentacle. So any ideas?

Here are some photos of what Im talking about - this is not the same one but looks the same - its just that one was out of the light and easier to photograph. So here it is when contracted:

And here is a similar one that is shaded from the lights and not contracted.

Other question... I will be heading to Boise this coming weekend and might be adding another fish or two or coarls if my water tests keep looking good. Wondering what tests I should think about adding to my pH, Ammonia, Nitrate & Nitrite tests. Calcium? Additionally, what supplements or anything else should I be considering if any?

Lastly a couple more photos from the tank...
Mr. YW Goby and some Zooanthids that was on a piece of my live rock.

 

[Jimbo7]

Looking great man! Might want to consider an ATO if you are gone often, 5 gallons is quite a bit of water loss.
I would get a calcium and alk test as well. Once you get into the reef side of things, they are going to get important. For right now I don't think you are going to need any type of supplements. Your standard water changes will keep your levels in check. Once you get to a pretty high stock of corals, then supplements will be more necessary.

 

[SnowZz]

my largest hermit, i call him the king because he bullies the other hermits and takes food from them, anyways killed my only 2 snails i had and used both there shells then ditched them a week later. Either then that there very docile and excellent cleaners i recommend quite a few for your tank

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Received my CUC from John Maloney at reefcleaners.org today. I purchased a crew rated for 60 gallons to start.

I didn't try to count them but I was supposed to receive this:

60 Dwarf Ceriths
22 Nassarius
30 Florida Ceriths
22 Nerites

Im sure I received this many or more of each.

Two blue legged hermits snuck their way into the shipment too... lol. One of the Larger snails has an Oyster growing on his back and on the back of the oyster is a barnacle.

This is by far the most snails I have ever had in my tank. This is a CUC rated for only 60 gallons! The snails all appear to all be alive and well and were packaged great. I received the package 2 days after it was sent - shipped via priority mail which was free.

In addition to the CUC I also bought a third type of macro algae - some Gracilaria. I also bought 2 red mangrove seeds. I've never grown macro algae or mangroves in my sump before so I am actually enjoying this part too. For the Mangroves I followed directions and also added them to my Refugium.

My CUC pile right after being added to the tank.

Current photo of my sump... The Caulerpa and Chaeto are growing great - wont be long before I will need to start trimming. I have live rock in both the refugium and filter chambers - I have Caulerpa in both but Chaeto and Gracilaria in only the refugium.

Here you can see the two Red Mangrove seeds and how I put them into a piece of foam so they float half in half out of the water.

Anyway, I would recommend talking to John at reefcleaners.org to anyone looking for snails, hermits, macro algae etc...

 

[Aquarium1]

Awesome! That's a lot of snails lol

 

[Jimbo7]

haha, might want to spread them out manually.
That is a ton of snails though, hopefully they start tearin it up!