10g Nano

[MarkW19]

In my little internal filter there's a small bag of little black balls which I assume is carbon.

How often should I be replacing this? I read every 4 months?

 

[lando]

Carbon should be replaced more frequently then that. Like any chemical media, it can get used up fairly quickly and then begin to leech back into the water what it innitally took out. I would say no more then two weeks max. Better yet, try a product called Chemi-Pure by Boyde Enterprises, Inc. It is superior to GAC, IMO, and has a longer life.

 

[MarkW19]

Doesn't look like it's available in the UK!

I'll get some Seachem matrix carbon and give that a shot.

I'm just about to put my Ocellaris clown, 4 dwarf hermit crabs (2 blue/2 red), and 2 turbo snails into my tank! They've been acclimating for over an hour and a half.

If all is well, I plan to add a strawberry gramma (magenta dottyback) and a blood shrimp in 2 weeks from today. Is this enough time? Or would 3 weeks be better?

Thanks!!

 

[MarkW19]

Guys, would I be able to add the dottyback/shrimp a week on Thursday (that will be 2 weeks from when I put the clown/crabs in)?

 

[lando]

If water parameters are still okay at that point then I see no reason not to add the fish or shrimp.

 

[MarkW19]

Great, thanks

I think I'll do a drip ac. on the shrimp to be on the safe side.

 

[MarkW19]

My Ocellaris tends to spend most of his time in the top 5th of the tank, quite near the surface. He swims about a bit but seems to like it that high up.

Is that normal?!

My pH is also a bit erratic still...on Monday at 10pm I tested it and it was 8.1 (lights on since 3pm on all days).

On Tuesday at 10pm it was 8.3, and tonight (Wednesday) at 10pm it was almost 8.4!

Hope it stabilises soon.

 

[MarkW19]

EDIT: pH tonight at the same time was 8.46!!

What's going on with my pH? Can anyone help?

 

[lando]

FIrst thing to try is getting another Ph test kit by a different company. This will help verify the reading. A series of water changes may help things stabilize as well.

 

[MarkW19]

FIrst thing to try is getting another Ph test kit by a different company. This will help verify the reading. A series of water changes may help things stabilize as well.

It's a fully calibrated digital pH meter I've been using. I've also tested with a seachem chemical kit, and it shows identical results.

I'll try a couple of waterchanges then, and keep my eye on it

 

[MarkW19]

I originally (a month ago) used a bit of live sand/rubble from an established tank to "seed" my aragonite substrate. This was placed on the top of my aragonite, and presumably has done its job by now...can I mix the rubble into the sand now so that it's all mixed in, so that the light coloured/fine aragonite looks much nicer on the top?! Or would you leave it on the surface?

Thanks!

 

[MarkW19]

Anyone?

 

[roka64]

The smaller particles will shift to the bottom, leaving the larger sized grains on the top....

 

[MarkW19]

I'd just prefer to mix the large ones in thats all, because the fine aragonite looks a lot better visually, than the rubble! Will mixing it up interfere with the bacteria, or can I go ahead and do it?

 

[roka64]

You should be good. I see what you are asking. You can scoop some of it up and add the new stuff, then add the seeded stuff to the top.

 

[MarkW19]

There isn't any new stuff Basically, I have a couple of inches of dry aragonite as my substrate, and I put a couple of cups of LR rubble/sand on top from the LFS, to seed it.

Can I now just mix this rubble/sand further down into the aragonite, so that all I can see is the aragonite on top?

 

[roka64]

I would turn off all my water moving equipment and have a batch of PWC to siphon out some of the sediment that will end up all over the tank.

 

[MarkW19]

I was just intending doing it very slowly so as not to stir the sand up. Do you still think there'll be sand etc. all over the tank?

 

[roka64]

If you go slow, I would still have spare PWC in case you stir up some nasties. Since your tank is new, you shouldn't have a lot of gunk in the substrate.

 

[MarkW19]

Here are a few pics of the tank so far guys:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidw49/sets/72157602267042537/

My previously complained about "poorly" coral now looks much much better after yesterday/today! I even had to move it because it opened out so much. In contast, my previously "great-looking" other leather now looks terrible (far left), I'll keep an eye on it.

I love the maze coral though, as it fluoresces under my actinic lighting at night! I've also kept an eye on its sweeper tentacles, and they're way out of reach of everything else.

It's also curious to notice the plate coral has moved a bit during the night!