My Tanks Progress (more pics added) 2/22/11

First topic message reminder :

So i decided to try sw for myself. First let me say i have never done any water tests on my two fw tanks or have i ever done tests in general. So with that in mind this is a whole new ball game for me. To start i purchased a 30 gallon long tank( its about 3 feet wide) I added sand on Dec 13th( about 45 lbs argonite?) and i purchased a whisper ex70 power filter. I have a koralia nano and 1( one on each side of the tank for water movement. The tank has been up and running like that since the 13th. On saturday the 18th i purchased 31 lbs of live rock. It was put in the tank that night. I know everyone says 2 lbs per gallon but the tank would be stuffed if i put 60 lbs of rock in it. It looks good with what is in it. ( I will post pics soon) So tonight leads me to water test number one of a million im sure. Here were my results, I went with the API saltwater master test kit. the scale was a color range so the numbers arent exact. I got my wife to help me determine about what they were.

PH 8.0-8.2
ammonia 0-0.25 ppm
nitrite 0.5 ppm
nitrate 7.0 ppm

I know they need to come down a little but let me know what you think. ALso i picked up some stuff off craigslist the other day. Let me know what i can use these for.

-Kent marine starter kit(comes with essential elements, pro-ammonia detox, and pro buffer dkh)
-Kent super buffer dkh
-kent garlic xtreme
-kordon rid fungus(herbal formula)
I got all of these for 10 bucks. figured i could use them. ALmost all of it is brand new.

So far this sw adventure has been fun. It is different looking at a tank for two weeks with nothing in it really except water. I have been keeping a total so far and with all my purchases i am still under 300 dollars. Thats for everything. And i have a heater on the tank too. Any suggestions please feel free. As i said i will get pics up soon.

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New Pics 12-30-2010..



New pics 1/4/2011




New pics 1/11/11






New Pics 2/22/11 - Making Progress...

You have awesome camera skillz. What you talking about. Hey CIndy how much longer til i can start adding other cool stuff. My hermits have been tearing that brown stuff up

08can-am wrote:

You have awesome camera skillz. What you talking about. Hey CIndy how much longer til i can start adding other cool stuff. My hermits have been tearing that brown stuff up

what are your params? how is the Damsel doing? what are you wanting to add next?
are you still adding stability as directed after the 1st week of daily dosing?

I am still using the stability. I took the damsel back since the tank was doin it's thing. I'd like to just add some clowns. Everything is 0 but nitrates are up a little 5-10 ppm. Gonna do a partial wc this eve

well you know me:) I won't say yeah go run and buy a pair a clowns $$ because your system is new. but if you do continue to use the reduced directions on the stability and also add the correct amount after your water changes for awhile then when you start seeing your params at a steady 0 on the trites,trates and amm you can back off for a week test again if you are still 0 then start using the stability only after you do water changes by this time the good bacteria should be built up enough. try not to add to many fish too fast because each fish you add also adds to the bio load on your system.

Ok i will read the stability bottle today to see after i do water change to see what dosage to continue with. Thanks for everything Cwhip!

youre welcome 08can-ham

-AM

i dont get it....................

alkomist wrote:

i dont get it....................

it's 08can-am ... not like canned ham LOL

page 39 i believe on put a face to name thread is a picture of my bike. It is a 2008 Can-AM spyder. Hence the name 08can-am. Its my little tricycle rocket!

08can-am wrote:

-AM

oops I guess I should wear my glasses more

lol its all good.

08can-am wrote:

lol its all good.

yeah pg 39 and now I have a face to put to you!:) nice can-am!

Uh oh you know what i look like now. Lol yep thats the summer toy. I act to crazy to have two wheels so three is more safer. Its a fun little bike. 0-60 a tad under 4 seconds. But anyways back to the thread. I just did a roughly 6 gallon wc. Im wondering do i bother testing the water now or wait til tomorrow. since cindy is not on for me to ask her i will just wait til tomorrow. I will update paramaters then.

I think can-ham works when I had a saltwater I always waited at least 12 hours to check but that was back in the 70's

alright. im waiting til tomorrow any ways. its past my bed time. I will do it tomorrow.

Alright well there are fish as you can see. They seem to be adjusting very well. Today is the first day i can really say the diatoms are taking over my rock that was white. It looks cool. The hermits are going to town on the stuff. I picked these two clowns up off a local reefer who was shutting his tank down due to being deployed to iraq soon. We will see how they do.

Looking good. What kind of clowns are they?

occies?

Yep looks like an ocellaris and a misbarred clown. They look nice. They must have been well cared for. I see some coralline algae on your rock too!

The larger is a true perc and the other is a mis barred. That is what i was told and from my research seems true. I think i saw something moving on one of my rocks. So i stared at it. and there was something moving slowly. I think its one of those copepod things cindy was talking about. Are they ok? And also the guy i got the clowns from pulled a small zoa from his sand. It had randomly sprouted. I put it in and its moved. Can they move on their own too or what. It has four little buttons and three are opened, Pretty cool stuff goin on over here

yes pods are good lol
zoas do move somtimes i think in search of better light....plz correct me if im wrong
sw tanks are awsome becuz the whole tank literally is alive! youll notice somthing new in your tank everyday!!!!!
tak pics of the zoa!

alkomist wrote:

yes pods are good lol
zoas do move somtimes i think in search of better light....plz correct me if im wrong
sw tanks are awsome becuz the whole tank literally is alive! youll notice somthing new in your tank everyday!!!!!
tak pics of the zoa!

are being paid to be the fishbox jester? are you the comic relief for this forum?
you crack me up!
youre wrong... zoanthids don't migrate around the tank they do multiply
but they dont cruz around looking for suitable lighting..
see what you did I just chocked on my ham sandwich.....
remind me to read your posts after lunch:)

.......ok thanks for clearing that up. im still very new to aww this sw stuff
they dont move yours prolly just got moved or kicked around by your cuc? i know that happens often. frags pushed off rocks by crabs and snails


my posts get no love:( lol

On occasion I find random detached zoo polyps on my sand. I glue them to frag plugs and give them away.

awsome!