haze's 20h build

[haze7573]

hey everyone i finally got my tank up and running and wanted to show it off and get some feedback on it and also to have my own tank build thread so i can keep a journal of it to see my progression. I got my live rock yesterday and it was full of all sorts of life and theres some things that i have no clue what they are and was looking for some help IDing some of these things..there is tons of coraline algae on it some seaweed a few crabs that didnt make it a cool snail thats cruising all over the place and a few big red worms. I believe they are Eunicid worms but im not 100%. are they good to have or are they gonna be a problem in the coming months? Ive seen 3 so far and they are about 3-4 inches long. iv also found a bunch of featherdusters, some shroomie type things, bunch of sponges, and a few things that i got no clue what they are.

my parameters are looking normal for a new tank and everythings starting to come together

Kh-179ppm
SG-1.022 29.5ppt (is that too low or just right?)
temp-79*
ammonia-.75ppm
pH-8.3
calcium-340mg/L
phosphates-nonexistant

I had something very weird happen last night after i shut off the lights and im completely clueless and kinda worried.. i snuck up to the tank with a flashlight and there was this stringy slimy white stuff all over the place. i netted a good amount out but it jus came back. i finally just left it alone and today when i woke up there wasnt a single sign of it..can someone let me know what the heck that stuff was??im completely dumbfounded and i cant find any info on it anywhere.

Iv been like glued to the tank since i got the LR and its just soo facinating all the life i keep finding. everytime i check it out i find something new and interesting.

after i post this im gonna work on getting some pics of my setup so i can ID some stuff. Thanks for any info and critisism you guys give me. its greatly appreciated and i can feel myself gettin a full blown addiction with this hobby...

---kevin

 

[haze7573]

heres some pics of it so far--
FTS

that worm thing

my snail

some cool red stuff

weird lookin green stuff

 

[Hawkeye]

looks like your tank may still be cycling...watch the ammonia - if it keeps going up - you *may* want to do a water change. Or just sit it out and wait for the bacteria to catch up and then when they convert everything to nitrite and subsequently nitrate, do a water change then.

Can you get a better pic of the snail? Hard to tell what it is...more than likely it's a nice hitcher - i just can't tell if that is a whelk or not.

Same goes for the worms...those look like earthworms...lol.

 

[haze7573]

its just starting to cycle the water and LS went in like a week ago and the uncured LR went in yesterday so the ammonia is on the climb up. im gonna keep up on the testing and once the nitrates start showin up im gonna start doin WC's. If i start losing alot of coraline ill prolly do one but just gonna let nature take its course.

ill try and find a way to get a clearer pic of the snail but on its underside he has black dots all over and his shell is purpleish and covered in all sorts of growth

haha yea the worms are weird they have legs on both sides like a centipede and its mouth has like 5 feeler thingies and most are now buried but they range from 1"-6"

 

[albie611]

very nice ....is this going to be full reef or fowlr
as for the id's
i would say the worms are bristle worms.. be careful of the hairs on the sides they sting something awful. and the unidentified "cool snail" is most likely a welk .
as for the cycle i would let nature take its course...watch for the spikes and do a water change once the nitrates get to about 10 ppm.
if your going full reef with this tank, i would get your parameters closer to natural sea water levels here is a link to help with those http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=8356.0
and adding a skimmer will remove organics befor they can degrade the water quality.
just my $0.02
this is my 20h

good luck and happy reefing........al

 

[haze7573]

im goin for a reef display nothing too tough just easier stuff for now till i get the hang of it might get a fish or two but not till later. im goin to be adding a 20L sump/fuge later on but for now i have a AC70 fuge mod on there and im lookin for some chaeto to toss in there just havent found any yet. from what iv researched so far it seems asa long as i keep up with my water changes and keep a fuge goin i shouldnt need a skimmer but if i end up needing one ill get it. i have a 48w T5 on there for right now jus so i can check stuff out and if theres any hitchhiking corals on there they can have some light to feed off of till May's group buy to get the sundial T5 4X24w wit the timers.

i still havent figured out what all that white stringy stuff was that was all over the first night but it hasnt happened since so i think im ok

 

[nanoguy]

if they are bristleworms id get them out now...i left 2 in my tank n now they are harder to remove

 

[haze7573]

sorry bout not showing any progression but my comp was down for a few weeks and just got it back and running so i have some updated pics of my tank. my cycle is goin good and my parameters are lookin ok so far.

amm.-0
trite-0
trate-0
pH-8.4
calcium-380ish
KH-125.3ppm 7*dKH
temp-79*
SG-1.026

im still finding new stuff everyday and i had a monsterous algae outbreak so i had to get an army of snails and hermits and they are kicking butt. everything was lookin good and stable so i got a little shroom and a frag of some zoo's after about a month and a half old. its been about 2 weeks since i got them and they are lookin fine. i was a little worried about getting them cuz i wanted to wait till it was ready so i didnt waste money and kill them but everythings lookin alive so i think i made a good move.
Im working on my overflow and sump/refugium now so i can get that running to get some hardware out of the tank.

^anyone know what this is^^

or this^^

or this^^

 

[PhishyReefFreak]

The tank looks good...Where did you get your LR from?

 

[haze7573]

sealifeinc.net i would definatly buy from them again too good stuff

 

[PhishyReefFreak]

Thanks, it looks really nice. ill have to look into it.

 

[jonathan.]

That algae that you're asking about is Halimeda algae.

 

[haze7573]

thanks for the id i was thinking it was that but couldnt find a clear enough ID online to make it 100%.i found out what the red things are too they are some sort of tunicate called "microcosmus exasperatus" i believe. most of the halimeda has died off from the hermits and snails chowing down on it. I just added my first fish on wenesday too. Its a scooter blenny. i tryed gettin some shots of him but its a pain cuz he doesnt stay still for long

 

[jonathan.]

thanks for the id i was thinking it was that but couldnt find a clear enough ID online to make it 100%.i found out what the red things are too they are some sort of tunicate called "microcosmus exasperatus" i believe. most of the halimeda has died off from the hermits and snails chowing down on it. I just added my first fish on wenesday too. Its a scooter blenny. i tryed gettin some shots of him but its a pain cuz he doesnt stay still for long

Try and get your scooter eating mysis or at least live enriched brine sooner rather than later. They feed off copepods and are generally pretty hard to keep unless you have a larger system.

Or hook up a refugium w/ some macro algae for the pods to breed in.

 

[haze7573]

the guy at the shop i got him from fed him right in front of me with some prepared food with mysis in it so hopefully he wont be too much of a problem. im almost finished building my 15g sump/fuge so that'll be goin with chaeto to help keep my pod population up there

 

[haze7573]

got some new pics from a couple days ago and yesterday. i went to ARM on sunday and picked up a black clown and a small frag of frogspawn. Everything seems fine and healthy so far.

amm-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-barely visible but seems like a little bit showing on my test kit
pH-8.2
calcium-300ppm
KH-8*dKH 143.2ppm KH
phosphates-0
temp-79*
SG-1.026

 

[haze7573]

hey its been i while since iv updated anything my computer crashed just thought id show how far my tanks come since i last updated this

 

[haze7573]

 

[Patriot76]

still have the scooter blenny?

 

[haze7573]

regretfully no, had an indirect poisoning of my fish..i had found some live brine shimp for sale at a local pet shop so decided to give my fish a treat and for some reason within 24 hours both of my fish had died..the only thing i could think of was the brine shrimp had something bad on them that transfered to my fish and took them out. i had the scooter and a black clown and both died within a day of eating them..it sucked i was so angry but there was nothing i could do except learn to only feed my livestock with food thats either packaged or grown myself..