It’s Alive!

Sorry I have not posted in a few days to all of my (at most 3) readers.  The last post I put on was about our new inhabitants.  On Monday we added 3 banded trochus snails and 4 Mexican Red Tip Hermit crabs.  Well I am sad to say, that 2 of the sails passed away the following day (RIP).  I knew this was going to happen and actually did not mind if it since the bacteria they produce will help the tank cycle.  On Wednesday we got our first diatom bloom! exciting.  Diatom is a brown algae and the reason it is exciting is because it means that your tank is cycling correctly because there is enough nutrients for the algae to grow.  And since we finally got this bloom it means there is now enough food for a Narcissus snail which I have been waiting for.  These guys are really cool.  Then spend 90% of their lives under the sand and the cool part is that they have this little “periscope” they stick up out of the sand to see if there is any food and if there is, they pop up out of the sand to eat.   They are really interesting.  Well, I just brought our first one home to see how he does (eventually want 6 or so to eat all the diatom since its kind of unsightly).  Well, the second he got in the tank sure enough, gone into the sand.  Oh well, hope he comes up eventually so I can watch him move around.  He is white with a very cool looking shell.  The other 1 of the 3 that did not die on Tuesday is doing great! he is pretty fast and zips around the tank all day cleaning the glass and rock.  The red tip hermits are doing good as well, just doing their hermit thing.

I got some money for my birthday (which was yesterday) and used some of it to buy another strip of LEDs which are now installed in the tank.  They make it a little more shimmery and will help the coral glow when we finally get some.  Going to wait about another 2 week so or so to get our first first which will be a Nemo (Ocellated Clown fish)…tank is still cycling but I think after another 2 week it will be good to do.  Have to make sure the water stays in check as they are pretty pricey (about $30 each) and I want a pair of them.

Anyway, will update you soon.  Picture of the diatom bloom attached.  Until next time, just keep swimming!

p.s. you can see what inhabitants we have in our tank at any time by clicking here

 

Our first inhabitants!!

Our first inhabitants just came home with me!! exciting news.  3 Snails and 3 Hermit crabs.  Pictures and species names coming soon!! right now they are acclimating to the new water temperature.  I also got another 7 pounds of live rock and a power head thanks to Lynda for the present to her “three sons”!! Thanks Lynda.

Water Quality Test #2

So the inside air test did not work out so well which tells me that there is too much CO2 in the house.  I left the air pump outside all night to pump fresh air in the tank and it only raised the pH by 0.3 which I guess is better than nothing.  Still need to get it up about 0.6 to get it in the ideal range.  Water Quality Test #2 result here.

Todays Tank Project

Testing outside aeration on tank water pH levels. Up next, inside air.

Crystal Clear :)

The tank is crystal clear today!! just having a slight problem with pH and temp but working that out.  I think the temp will be fine, my biggest concern is swings in the temp.  Going to try to adjust my heater so that it wont get quite as cold tonight when we turn the a/c down to 73…haha. I turned the settings up on it a little so we will see…I just dont want it to turn on when it’s already 80 in there.  It has been running 80 since yesterday afternoon but went back down to about 76 when I got up this morning.  Also went and invested in a refractometer to measure the salinity and specific gravity of the water since that is one of the major things with salt water tanks.  You can test it with a little $10 hydrometer but most people think that they dont work at all.  One person on the forums said that when he finally upgraded to a refractometer he realized his hydrometer was way off and it was causing lots of problems.  It makes since, the hydrometer is just this little plastic thing with an arm that basically measures how buoyant the water is which can change depending on temperature.  The refractometer actually using light to measure how much refraction (light refracts off of salt) comes off a drop of salt water.  Fresh water would refract zero light and salt water refracts about 1.023 light.  Anyway, I am happy I have it now.  It also make it much easier to test water from other sources like the fish store so that you can slowly increase/decrease the water in the bag with your new fish/coral so they dont go into shock.  You only need about 1 drop of water with the refractometer and with the hydrometer you need about 1/4 a cup.

New picture below! until next time, just keep swimming!

Water Quality Test #1

Just did the first water quality test and will be doing one every other day.  Not really sure what it all means yet but just posted on reef2reef.com to get some insight.  I do know that the pH should be 8.1-8.2 and mine is only at 7.5.  Not sure what to do about that yet but I am thinking it will solve itself as we go through the cycle process.  Nitrite is a zero parts per million which is good! should be at 0 at all times.  The really concerning one is Nitrate.  It should be as low as possible and we are all the way at 20 ppm.  I think this will also solve itself but it is concerning just because people on the forums have said that the bioballs are Nitrate factories and I choose to use them thinking “why would the makers of the biocube build them into the tank if they were bad??” oh well, guess we will find out.  If push comes to shove and the Nitrates dont go down on their own I may have to reconsider.  You can view on the test results on our Water Quality page every other day.

Until next time, just keep swimming!

Day 2! :)

Well, the tank looks much clearer today! just went to the store and got a cleaning magnet.  One magnet goes on the outside and one inside.  They both have cleaning pads on them so when you move the outside one the inside ones cleans the inside of the tank.  Looks so much better now that the inside surfaces are clean.  Also bought a bottle of bio fuel.  It is supposed to improve water quality and speed up the cycling progress.  Normally takes about 2 week before we can put any snails or crabs in the tank but hopefully the bio fuel will speed that up to only a week.  With any luck we will be able to get our first inhabitants next Thursday.  Gonna go down to Petsmart and buy a water test kit as well.  First test results coming later today! 🙂 updated picture below.

Until next time, just keep swimming!

Our tank!

Today was finally the day (well actually it was going to be tomorrow but since it was a holiday we got paid a day early :)) We finally got our tank! The tank came into the house yesterday and today we go the live sand, live rock, and water! now its complete.  It looks a little cloudy at the moment as the sand settles back to the bottom.  We are so excited to finally have it in the house.  The pumps are running and we have it on a timed light cycle already.  It was quite the event adding 30 gallons of salt water to it.  We also purchased a power strip complete with digital timers built-in.  Can’t wait until the water is actually clear enough to see through.

Until next time, just keep swimming!

Secondhand = Good for the budget

Hey Guys,

So I was doing some research today on the Biocube we will be purchasing in 11 days.  Lots of folks on the reef forums say that the water pump is not strong enough to maintain a water flow good enough for corals (water movement is essential to coral heath) so I started looking into purchasing a better pump and modifying our Biocube set up.  I looked on Craigslist and found a guy selling a heater and a Maxi Jet 1000 (heavy-duty pump) for $25! wow, the same day I find out I am going to need a better pump someone posts that they have one and they also have a heater?? I was just looking at heaters at the aquarium store and the one I would need was almost $30 alone! I quickly worked out a deal to purchase this stuff and met the guy right down the street at 7-Eleven.  Got the heater and pump for $25…combined value, $60.  Good deal!  Some pics of the new stuff are below.

Until next time, just keep swimming!

p.s. He also threw in a Water Deflector that is worth $10…total value of the package, $70!

You can check out all the updated tank specs on our Aquarium Specs page.

Anniversary or Tailgate?

I just got back from World Wide Corals.  As I told you yesterday they are having their huge 5 year anniversary sale.  Well, you see, I thought it would be a few people hanging out in the store…not the case.  There were TONS of people there just sitting around in the parking lot eating food.  This wouldn’t have been so bad…EXCEPT…there were tons of people putting tickets in the raffle boxes.  Yesterday, there were hardly no tickets in the ones I entered in but I am guessing that after today my chances have been reduced quite drastically.  Oh well, at least I only spent $11 and not like $50 on tickets.  I was planning on staying and listening to one of the experts talk about fish behavior but I just felt unconfortable there, like I didnt belong.  Not really sure why…maybe because everyone else seemed like they belonged…just chit chatting and talking about tanks.  Maybe its because I dont know very much about this stuff yet.  Well, anyway…guess Ill just have to wait for the raffle drawing tomorrow at 6pm.

Until then, just keep swimming!

p.s. only 12 days till we purchase our aquarium!