Lil' Leela's 55 FOWLER (*first try at SW)

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marsh

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
883
Location
CA coast
Tank: 55 Gallon curved edge Acrylic (nicknamed: sexy beast)
Yes, I spelled FOWLR wrong, but my name is spelled "Lila", wanted it to sound phonetically smooth ;)
Skimmer: Eshopps PSK-75H
70lbs rock, mixed but 25lbs Tonga branch
20lbs sand
2 100w heaters
2 koralia 750 powerheads
Lights: 2x 36" T12 fluorescent bulbs
T5HO 4 bulb 48" waiting if I need to upgrade, however they are too noisy to keep without any corals

Stock:
Sailfin Molly (used for fish-in cycle)
Marguerita snails 3
Turbo snail 1
other snails 3
Serpent star
4 blue-green Chromis
Lawnmower Blenny

:cool:
My name is Lila, 28/F/CA, I have contracted MTS, the first sign of infection was in July 2012 when I started a Betta tank, upgraded in a month and soon found craigslist calling my name late at night. Before Thanksgiving I found this 55 gallon, acrylic tank with custom stand and all the trimmings for $125, and just a few miles away! I thought, this can be my community tank for freshwater fish so my betta can have his 29 gallon to himself... I picked the tank up November 30th, 2012

Well, the tank was used and ready to be reused as a FOWLR tank.. :) Destiny! I started the research into SW and found my supplies and by December I was cycling my new addition with tender anticipation.

:thanks: jjamontan; (y) TommyP :hide: Mr.X :flowers: Kristy3693:DDanielFishy:wave:ktomminello and everyone else who has offered me great advice while getting started and encouragement along the way! I was intimidated but I never doubted your friendly guidance and it has served me well!

My tank is now a full month old after cycling, and I did my first rescape just tonight during a water change. My issues are currently a bit of green slime algae where the sunlight hits the tank. Otherwise my algae is starting to get less noticeable and my diatom bloom is barely showing save the back glass. One rock has a good bit of reddish grey sludge but my algae Blenny just took to munching on it after the rescape so he may handle that like a good Blenny should.

Photos: excuse the bubbles my skimmer has gas! Next post will chronicle the start-up phase up until today.

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:whistle: my start-up thread: 9 pages of my n00b basic questions and lots of great advice for others starting up

Pics of my tank during early transitions: a bit bare and very low and wide in my opinion. I forgot to install my background, but hey I got a great view of the nice white wall behind my tank
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These are my dear inhabitants, some hitch hikers and dubious sightings of mystery animals that may or may not even exist outside my imagination:

First: Sailfin Molly
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Found! never seen again, possible brittle star?
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Next additions: snails! I forgot or can't spell all their names, so help me name these if you can! (very polyamorous when they arrived):
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Added a Serpent Star the same day as the snails:
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Found a big snail in some rocks I have soaking, threw him in:
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Bought a sandsifting snail, lawnmower blenny and four blue green chromis (most recent additions):
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if anyone can identify the sludge in the very last photo< the pic of my blenny and a blur of blue chromis above

that particular rock is covered in it! yuck.

Also- is the green hairy algae in the photo of my serpent star... green hair algae? Is that the actual name? not sure if it will spread, so far only on a few small pieces of rubble.

What methods does one use against these various types of ugly algae? I have reduced my photo period and just decided I am feeding twice what I should be. The serpent star did grab a bloodworm and pull it to his mouth today, I squealed with joy! He is always poking out slightly from his favorite hidey rock. I am just glad he got a meal!
 
1- more redish greenish sludge

2- my salt mix brand. Same as the lfs and therefor my stock. I am kinda wondering why I have never heard of anybody who uses this?

3- I just bought a black pashmina at a drugstore ad tacked it up to hide the skimmer and wires! Voila!

4- my very first tank for Marshall, my Betta I brought home last July and the precursor to my MTS
 

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I appreciate the nod. The new dark background adds to the mystique, no?

20% WC
Took all my parameter tests:
Amm: 0.0
NO2: 0.0
NO3: 5.0
PH : 8.0
Phosphate: 0.0ppm
Carb. Hardness: 161.1
Calcium: 400
Spec. Gravity 1.024
 
Salarias fasciatus (lawnmower blenny)

Chromis viridis (blue-green chromis)

Ophiolepsis superb(serpent star)

Poecilia latipinna (sailfin molly)




 
My lfs sold me an oyster!! Or mussel or something funny! He was cheap too under $7 and came with a bunch of neat macro algae!! Help me name these suckers, I'm super happy! He even said "don't tell anyone I sold you the macro algae" like it was marked NFS to his staff. Woohoo!

Pics:
 

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Added a few pieces to the rock pile, so the outline ha shifted. My goal was to make the skimmer intake less prominent
 

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New addition, my first cleaner shrimp
 

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Great choice!! Love my skunk cleaner! They're so cool !

Thanks Beengirl, he seemed like the best choice and so pretty too. Since acclimating him he totally went into hiding under the rocks and I am waiting to get a glimpse..

Here are my two other Valentine's additions!! A cleaner wrasse and a giant Fan worm, Yay! happy me.
The wrasse tries consistently to groom my 3 remaining Chromis who are like seriously annoyed with his boundary issues. I feed him and the fan worm this Popsicle stuff. Wrasse likes it! So did chromis
 

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Those cleaner wrasse are very cool!! :) Skunk cleaners are usually out most of the time, but do hide for a couple of days before and after a molt because they're vulnerable. And they usually molt soon after moving to a new tank, so give him a few days and he should be out. And if you see "him" laying on the bottom of the tank or stuck sideways on a rock, just make sure it's not a molt before freaking out. :) If you put your hand near him and be still, he'll clean your cuticles for you!! :)
 
Crap update: I've been having an awful hard time getting any skimmate to collect in my hob eshopps skimmer and had adjusted it all week. I drained an refilled 10 gallons and turned my power strip back on before bed... I saw the water level in the neck of the skimmer and adjusted down slightly.

Must have been way off! At least 20 gallons drained! I need to move the whole tank to another room and deep clean the dang carpet.

Aaaarrrrgggg.

On the bright side, I can finally put the background on my tank with glue. Black or dark to mid blue fade?
 
That stinks! :( If you can, I would just paint it. The backgrounds that are taped on eventually get water between the paper and glass and when it dries, then the salt shows and it can get unsightly after a while. Just spray paint it or roller paint it with whatever color you like. It's quick and easy. :)
 
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