Hey everyone,
So I haven't seen my tank since the 14th, but I went to see it on the 28th. The tank had been running without any filtration - just filled with rock and 2 powerheads creating surface agitation.
I was worried about how the fish would be doing but to my amazement, when I arrived all the fish were swimming around, healthy, and BIGGER! The sergeant major had part of his tail nipped off but it had fully grown back.
The first thing I did was turn the protein skimmer up and get the water cleared up a bit. There also wasn't much algae on the glass which was good. The bit that was on there was now GREEN! It looks much nicer than brown!
One problem - one of my rocks, had this brown slimey stuff on it. It's just on the one rock, and it was pretty bad. I took a baster and blew it all off, but it was just so disgusting. There was a bit of brown stuff elsewhere but very very minimal. I'm not sure why it happens on that rock.
One of the first things I did was top up the water and then test it! The first test showed 10 nitrates, 0 nitrites, max Ph and max hardness/alk. This was using a test strip. I decided to try my Ocean Master test kit on Nitrates, and when I ran the test it actually showed up as 0ppm. I don't know which one is correct, but the water is definitely doing well!
I added a few new additions to the tank as well. I got the following:
1. Skunk cleaner shrimp
2. 2x red leg hermit crab (and about 50 shells!)
3. Starfish (see below)
4. Yellow Tang
5. Two-barred rabbitfish
6. Green Star Polyp
7. Green Mushrooms (with some kind of Zoanthid on it also I think)
DETAILS:
1. The shrimp instantly scurried along the front wall and then into the rock work. He sat beside the rabbitfish for awhile, and then moved to the back and I saw his antennae hanging out.
2. These crabs were much larger than my other crabs (I think the other ones are blue leg) so I figured I'd just pick 2 larger ones up.
3. I was at the LFS and asked him if I would be ok to add any of these. He said if my water params are good, then the star would be fine. I think he called it a brittle star that eats detirtus (I have a lot of this due to user error with automatic feeder) so I figured it would be good to have. It looks like this, but purple:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2126&N=0
4. This guy adjusted very fast and was swimming around and grazing within 2 hours of being in the tank. He looks to be in great shape!
5. I got this guy instead of a mimic tang because I thought he looked really nice and wasn't a 2nd tang that's yellow
. He immediately swam down to a dark corner, fins raised (he's a spinefoot so he does that when stressed) and lied sideways like he was dead. He did this for about 2 hours while the shrimp looked over him but then he disappeared. I tried looking for him but I couldn't find him. A few hours later I saw him swimming around with the yellow tang. His fins were no longer raised and he looked happy. He already found his own little spot in the tank too!
6. I'm hoping to have a new light coming ASAP and it will be about 700w to conver to reef so I figured I'd try and start with some easy corals. I liked this one and it seemed like an easy addition. The thing is - the green things never came out since I put it in my tank. I was only able to watch it for a few hours before I had to go but hopefully it will come out.
7. I was looking at some polyps/leathers/mushrooms at the LFS and pretty much narrowed it down to mushrooms or a cool leather. I figured mushrooms are easier so I should probably try those out first. As a bonus, there are about 6-7 polyps on the same rock! Anyway, after putting this one in the tank, the polyps opened up very quickly to feed and were glowing nicely under the actinic so I think they're doing well. Mushrooms - I don't know how to tell how well they're doing but I guess they'll be fine.
Overall, I realise that I added a bunch at once, but it was a convenient time for me to add and get some good prices. Everything seems to be fine so I'm quite pleased. Now it's just a matter of time until I get my light situation sorted out!
So I haven't seen my tank since the 14th, but I went to see it on the 28th. The tank had been running without any filtration - just filled with rock and 2 powerheads creating surface agitation.
I was worried about how the fish would be doing but to my amazement, when I arrived all the fish were swimming around, healthy, and BIGGER! The sergeant major had part of his tail nipped off but it had fully grown back.
The first thing I did was turn the protein skimmer up and get the water cleared up a bit. There also wasn't much algae on the glass which was good. The bit that was on there was now GREEN! It looks much nicer than brown!
One problem - one of my rocks, had this brown slimey stuff on it. It's just on the one rock, and it was pretty bad. I took a baster and blew it all off, but it was just so disgusting. There was a bit of brown stuff elsewhere but very very minimal. I'm not sure why it happens on that rock.
One of the first things I did was top up the water and then test it! The first test showed 10 nitrates, 0 nitrites, max Ph and max hardness/alk. This was using a test strip. I decided to try my Ocean Master test kit on Nitrates, and when I ran the test it actually showed up as 0ppm. I don't know which one is correct, but the water is definitely doing well!
I added a few new additions to the tank as well. I got the following:
1. Skunk cleaner shrimp
2. 2x red leg hermit crab (and about 50 shells!)
3. Starfish (see below)
4. Yellow Tang
5. Two-barred rabbitfish
6. Green Star Polyp
7. Green Mushrooms (with some kind of Zoanthid on it also I think)
DETAILS:
1. The shrimp instantly scurried along the front wall and then into the rock work. He sat beside the rabbitfish for awhile, and then moved to the back and I saw his antennae hanging out.
2. These crabs were much larger than my other crabs (I think the other ones are blue leg) so I figured I'd just pick 2 larger ones up.
3. I was at the LFS and asked him if I would be ok to add any of these. He said if my water params are good, then the star would be fine. I think he called it a brittle star that eats detirtus (I have a lot of this due to user error with automatic feeder) so I figured it would be good to have. It looks like this, but purple:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2126&N=0
4. This guy adjusted very fast and was swimming around and grazing within 2 hours of being in the tank. He looks to be in great shape!
5. I got this guy instead of a mimic tang because I thought he looked really nice and wasn't a 2nd tang that's yellow
. He immediately swam down to a dark corner, fins raised (he's a spinefoot so he does that when stressed) and lied sideways like he was dead. He did this for about 2 hours while the shrimp looked over him but then he disappeared. I tried looking for him but I couldn't find him. A few hours later I saw him swimming around with the yellow tang. His fins were no longer raised and he looked happy. He already found his own little spot in the tank too!6. I'm hoping to have a new light coming ASAP and it will be about 700w to conver to reef so I figured I'd try and start with some easy corals. I liked this one and it seemed like an easy addition. The thing is - the green things never came out since I put it in my tank. I was only able to watch it for a few hours before I had to go but hopefully it will come out.
7. I was looking at some polyps/leathers/mushrooms at the LFS and pretty much narrowed it down to mushrooms or a cool leather. I figured mushrooms are easier so I should probably try those out first. As a bonus, there are about 6-7 polyps on the same rock! Anyway, after putting this one in the tank, the polyps opened up very quickly to feed and were glowing nicely under the actinic so I think they're doing well. Mushrooms - I don't know how to tell how well they're doing but I guess they'll be fine.
Overall, I realise that I added a bunch at once, but it was a convenient time for me to add and get some good prices. Everything seems to be fine so I'm quite pleased. Now it's just a matter of time until I get my light situation sorted out!
