jph's first reef tank (90g)

[ScruffyRubicon]

Looking Good!

[jph]

well, one day later, and it looks like everything is happy.

the blue mushrooms turned into somekind of purple brown mushrooms. but they almost doubled in size.

i'm prtetty sure now that the branch with the other mushrooms has two different kinds on it, the two on top don't look like the one on the bottom.

mr. LMB is out and swimming since the last 30 minutes, so he didn't go and die behind the rocks.

the emerald crab is frollicking around on the rocks, looking for tasty treats. i think that i spotted three rocks that have started to grow what looks like bubble algae (still too small to be sure though). hope the crab finds them, and likes it.

the two peppermint shrimp are still MIA.


one of the two "white" mushrooms disappeared overnight. the other one fell through the rubble (with a litte help from me) let's wait and see what happens to that one.








J.

[jph]

did my first waterchange today.
and i only messed it up a little bit.

it turned outthat i took out more water than i had mixed up to replace it with. the water level in my sump's return section is about 4" now.

so we're mixing water again to top it off tomorrow.

in total, i think we're lookng at about a 20 gallon water change.

i also tested the water for nitrates. and it turned up undetectable.
so, here i will make the rookie mistake of assuming that my ammonia and nitrites are 0 also

i seem to have misplaced my salifert CA and ALk test kit... that was money well spent.

mr. LMB has found himself a new spot to hang out today.
i dumped a bunch of LR rubble in the tank yesterday, and that's his new home; for now.

every now and then one of the peppermint shrimp will show itself dangling upside down from a piece of LR near the bottom.


J.

[JY13131]

I love those mushrooms!

[jph]

Originally Posted by jph

i also tested the water for nitrates. and it turned up undetectable. so, here i will make the rookie mistake of assuming that my ammonia and nitrites are 0 also

i seem to have misplaced my salifert CA and ALk test kit... that was money well spent.

did some more tests tonight.
since i can't find the salifert test kits i'm using my Hagen Nutrafin for CA and KH

SG : 1.025 (refractometer)
Mg : 1230 ppm (Salifert)
Ca : 380 ppm (Hagen)
KH : 130 mg/L = 2.6 meg/L = 7.28 dKH (Hagen)

doe these values seem "normal or within range" for using only instant ocean salt mix, no additives.


J.

[jph]

checked my tank this morning (before lights on) and i noticed a bunch of nassarius snails going nuts on "something translucent"
after rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, it looked like a shrimp shaped object.

lets hope this is just a molt, and the shrimp didn't die.


J.

[crvz]

Likely just a molt. And your tank parameters look great. Some folks will tell you that your calcium and alkalinity are on the low side, but there is little benefit to keeping them at higher levels (which would increase the amount of abiotic calcification, which is not good on the pumps/powerheads).

[jph]

more life in the tank today!

the pictures were taken with just the blue and actinic lights on, so my camera had some issues focussing and getting everything right. i'll snap some more pics once everything is happy with all the lights on.

one diamond goby. sorry, no picture yet, he's hiding under the rocks, but he's stirring up quite a bit of dust already.

two small percula clowns.
they've been hanging out together, exploring their new home. one is slightly larger than the other, so i guess they won't have too many problems trying to figure out who's going to wear the pants





an ORA pink bird's nest
i gave it a temporary home, once i'm sure that it's doing good, i'll glue it to some rock. the "frag" was bigger than i expected, about 2.5"



and a red and green open brain. small size, around 2" diameter uninflated.




J.

[leveldrummer]

wow, that brain is very nice! good addition, everything is looking great.

[jph]

RIP. lawnmower blenny.

saw him swimming around yesterday, took him out, dead as a dodo (missing his head.) five minutes ago

i'm starting to wonder why the LFS was having a "special" sale on this guy.


J.

[jph]

tried to feed te clowns some brine shrimp (frozen) but they only seem to like the broken ones, the whole ones get spit back out. i need to go and get some smaller food for them.

in the meantime, they are hunting for pods on the glass


J.

[jph]

some better shots of the corals.
the brain is inflating nicely.







J.

[jph]

well, i promised myself to finish the second CLS this weekend. but someone decided to wake up sick this morning. turned my whole day upside down... and my stomach too.


J.

[jph]

one capfull of salifert flatworm exit has been added to the tank.

i spotted two or three flatworms last week, and i want to take care of that before they are all over the tank.

the "big one" started to race around at a speed unheard of for a flatworm just minutes after the treatment. i lost track of the two small ones. they definately don't seem to like this stuff

corals, fish and inverts seem not to care.

i dropped in a bit of mysis to distract them


J.

[jph]

cerith snails seem not to like flatworm exit either.
they are all knocked out.

almost 24h later, they are all motionless in the spot that they fell down.

at least one didn't make it, as one of my scarlet hermits is running around with a new home, and my emerald crad was walking around munching on a piece of snail.

on the bright side... i fed my mushrooms tonight
they seemed to appreciate that.







J.