First Fish!

We got our first first today!! 2 Green Chromis.  These fish are very hardy and are a great starter fish…however, they are one of the FASTEST fish so if you put them in your tank you are basically stuck with them because you will never ever catch them again.  They are doing great! just fed them and they ate it all up 🙂 plus the zombie snail came up out of the sand for once and ate the leftovers, so cool.  Now they are just zooming around the tank having fun swimming against the current of the power head.  They are really pretty looking, cant wait for the LEDs to kick on at 8pm to see how the glow under the moonlight.  Pics below.  Also added in 9 more sails over the last 2 days so we are up to 10.  I need about 10 more in this sized tank so adding them in slowly but surely.  Anyway, until next time, just keep swimming!

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.

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!

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!

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.

Fingers crossed!

World Wide Corals is having their 5 year anniversary celebration this weekend.  I just went up there and purchase 11 raffle tickets at $1 each.  They are having 7 different raffles which drastically improves our chances of winning.  I placed 6 tickets in the raffle for a $200 marine animal gift card which would be great! will be a great start to add some fish and corals after we get the new tank set up.  I placed the other 5 tickets in the Clown Fish raffle for a pair of Clown Fish which would be great as well since I was planning on adding an anemone to the tank first.  I think we all know that clown fish love sea anemones 🙂

Keep your fingers crossed! and of course I will let you know if we win.  The drawing will be Sunday night at 6pm.

Also for their anniversary celebration they are having 3 people who are rather known for their scientific work and books on marine aquariums.  I am going to try to make it to all 3 of these over the next two days.  Should be rather beneficial to the Reef Aquarium virgins like us.

Will let you know what I learn.  Until then, just keep swimming!