How am I doing?(pics)

tsoperator · 07-11-2006, 07:13 PM

Alright, I need some tips on refining some of my newly acquired knowledge. Please let me know if something needs tweaking. The tank is a 12g, chaeto in the first chamber, chemipure in the second(changed every 2 weeks), and I replaced the stock pump with a maxi-jet 1200 and split it.
Livestock is as follows:
1 true perc
1 bi-color blenny
xenis
1 branch frogspawn
GSP
some zoos
5 astreas
4 margaritas
4 nassarius(2 of them are tiny)
1 emerald crab
1 small scarlet hermit

My reasoning for the increased flow was a cyano break out in the back/right corner of the tank. The clown and the blenny have been in there a couple of days, before that was just a purple pseudo. Water changes-20%, once a week(This week was 50%).
Here we go:
1. I'm having cooling issues-house is air conditioned, is opening the top and using a fan my only option(other than a chiller)?

2. Nitrates have been high lately, do I need to do larger water changes? Too many snails, therefore too much snail poo? BTW, do snails contribute to bio-load?

3. Is it normal for my sand to look like the picture attached?

4. What does everyone think about going topless?

OK, now I'm ready for all of your expert knowledge to rain down on me, therefore making me an expert too!

tsoperator · 07-11-2006, 07:15 PM

Forgot the pics.

Loverotties · 07-11-2006, 10:02 PM

Looking good!

dobejazz · 07-11-2006, 10:49 PM

How high is high on the nitrates?
for cooling the open top and a fan are about all you can do how hot does the tank get ?
Do you siphon the sand during waterchanges?

Jflip2002 · 07-11-2006, 10:56 PM

As for topless, I love seeing topless wom... oh um, the tank. =\ I h ave to have my tank go topless, and have my lights perched up til I can find some JBJ leg stands. otherwise my tank gets up to 85 degrees.

Thats how my sand looks before I do water changes.

tsoperator · 07-12-2006, 11:14 AM

Thanks Loverotties!

As for the nitrates, I was knocking on the door of 20. I did a 50% water change and it brought it down to 10. I'm going to wait a couple does and do another change.
Water is about 84 degrees with the feeding top open. With a fan I can bring it down to 80.

I do siphon the sand and when I'm done I have a bucket full of brown water, but the larger pieces seem to weigh the same as the sand. I'll suck some sand into the siphon and then pinch off the tupbe and the large pieces seem to fall back into the sand. By the way, that was my sand the day after a water change...I'm fairly frustrated with this sand deal.

jenajet · 07-12-2006, 12:21 PM

Tank looks great. I get the same build up in the glass. Sometimes I take a credit card move the sand and scrape it away but thats about it.

tsoperator · 07-12-2006, 03:40 PM

Thanks Jena. Ya, it's funny how my visa works better than the scraper I paid way too much for.

Casey · 07-12-2006, 03:42 PM

Nice.

Sophie's mom · 07-12-2006, 05:05 PM

Looking good.

I can't tell if that is a JBJ nano cube or not but...

I had the same temp problem on my 12g JBJ nano. After installing refuge lights my temp would get up to 84.9 if I let it. I installed http://nanotuners.nanocustoms.com/na...4148fb5c0db71b
and the temp is getting up to 78.5 MAX, that's after a full day of lights with the hood and feeder door closed. I did upgrade the kit to higher speed fans though (they are kinda loud, but they do an awesome job).

tsoperator · 07-12-2006, 05:35 PM

Thanks for the compliments everyone.
Thanks Kristy, I am definitely making that upgrade! What bulbs did you get? Does the Ballast have 2 switches?

piberoptikz · 07-12-2006, 07:07 PM

Cozy Tank!

Sophie's mom · 07-13-2006, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsoperator

Thanks for the compliments everyone.
Thanks Kristy, I am definitely making that upgrade! What bulbs did you get? Does the Ballast have 2 switches?

I have 2 50/50s, 1 full daytime, and 1 full atinic. I wanna change to 2 full daytime, 1 50/50 and one atinic but just havent =P The kit comes with 2 ballast and each one is controled by a different switch.