| 2/28/01 | 3/3/01 | 3/7/01 |
| 3/29/01 | ||
I have been lax in starting the NRP (Nano Reef Project), but I have some excellent news! (Which I will hold on until all the formalities are covered.) First off, I started this project about two months ago, when I decided that seahorses are not my thing. (Though the possibility of keeping Ocean Rider seahorses in a 10 gallon nano reef are appealing...) I have purchased all of my equipment, which includes a wonderful All Glass Aquarium 5.5 gallon tank, a small (but soon to be upgraded) Visi-Therm submersible heater, a brand spanking new TetraTec DW airpump (which is excellent!), a small Lee's counter current protien skimmer, and a custom built lighting system. The lighting system deserves to be mention alone-since it is quite a system!
Purchased from AH Supply the lighting system is both powerful and compact! I purchased the 20" black wooden enclosure along with two Deluxe 13 watt 2bulb kits. I am using 2 6400K bulbs and 2 blue bulbs. Total wattage for the system is 52 watts-which provides enough lights for giant clams! I have a night configuration and a daylight configuration for the lamps...during the day, all 52 watts are pumped out. At night though, only one blue light remains on. It's very pleasing to see the tank turn completely blue, and it makes a nice night light!
I recieved my live rock on Thursday, two days ago from Jeff's Exotic Fish. These guys were very nice and took the time to answer all of my questions before I made the purchase. (Not to mention they are one of the few places online that offer excellent quality live rock in such small quantities!) I ordered 7 pounds of live rock (3 pounds of Vanauata, 4 pounds Ultra Premium Fiji) and 10 pounds of live Fiji sand. They rock and sand arrived here nicely packaged in a styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. The rock was separated depending upon type and each selection was wrapped in several bags. When I opened the rock, the smell was fresh and I could not locate any dying pieces on it. Each rock is covered with coralline algae in purple, pink, and orange. (mainly purple though) I quickly added the sand into the tank and then proceeded to place my live rock in position. When you place the rock into the tank, make sure you move the piece in all sorts of directions, otherwise air bubbles will get caught in the rock and kill off the bacteria that you paid so much money for. Try to create a layout that enables quick cleaning and good water flow. As soon as I finished placing the rock, I added in my powerhead and the protien skimmer. I have left both on now for the entire duration of the "curing" process. I am hoping that the rock will cure quickly and without too much die-off. My readings remain the same overall, pH 8-8.1, ammonia 2, nitrites .5, nitrates 3. I have added pH buffer and calcium supplements to the water. I have also done two water changes, one on the first night, one yesterday afternoon. This only brings the ammonia down about .5 points temporarily. It seems that the live rock doesn't want to filter just yet.
The skimmer is pulling out all sorts of gunk, most of it pretty nasty. I found that cleaning it everyday will allow it to be much more efficient. I am searching the internet for different ways to cure live rock...one that interested me the most was the theory where you could just place the live rock into the tank and start adding in corals the next day. This method is used by GARF, but they have their special live sand beds which make this possible. (I was hoping my sand bed could do the same thing!)
On a side note, I have found a coral on my live rock...I believe it to be a brain coral colony. The pieces have grown slightly since I have added them into the tank. I have no pictures as of yet-it took the tank a day to clear completely of the sand suspension, but I will add pictures soon. There is also a weird looking yellow blob with fingers on the underside of a rock. Not quite sure what it is, but I'm going to keep an eye on it.
Last night I was finally able to get to the petstore. They had recieved a new shipment of live rock that Friday. I was hoping I could get there before all the good pieces were taken. The store helper pulled aside several pieces of rock for me to choose from. I picked two pieces, which averaged around 3 pounds (or so they say...felt like around 5 pounds). I also proceeded to do something completely stupid. Before I get into that, let me explain my slight dilemma.
Originally I was planning on getting the rock about two weeks earlier. I sent in my money with my order and proceeded to wait. I continued to wait about two weeks before Jeff's Exotic Fish recieved my order. They immediately shipped my rock on the date that I suggested. (As a sidenote, I strongly recommend Jeff's Exotic Fish! They have excellent rock, wonderful service, and they really do care about their products!) Turns out I only have a week to cycle the tank before I have to leave for spring break. How in the world could I cycle the tank before I leave, so that I could have either the skimmer running 24/7 or the lights on timers? (My tank is so small I have no room to place a light and a skimmer at once...generally I skim at night...) I proceeded to skim my water immediately 24/7 for about two days. I then proceeded to light my tank, first a 1/2 hour, then 4, and now 12 hours a day. I kept a close watch on my water, testing it twice a day, as well as keeping an eye on my live rock. My worries were only starting, my ammonia has not spiked nor has there been any sort of increase. I saw a slow climb of nitrites when I turned the lights on, but nothing more. I needed to speed up the cycling process.
After fighting with common sense, I decided to seed the tank with some algae eating critters (to keep the algae under control over break). I also needed to find someway to absorb the ammonia. Turns out, when I purchased my live rock, I also got 5 hermit crabs, 2 turbo snails, a whole bunch of macro algae (two varities-grape and feather), and some quick cycle bacteria. As soon as I arrived home, I quickly started the process of adding in live rock, as well as acclimating the critters I just purchased. I also placed in some of the bacteria culture while cleaning up the live rock for the tank. An hour and a half later I dumped the critters into the tank and proceeded to skim the tank overnight.
This afternoon, after running the lights all day, I tested the water hoping against hope that the ammonia would drop. Believe it or not, the ammonia dropped! Notice, I did 20%-50% waterchanges and the ammonia dropped from 3 to 2 only to rise quickly back up to 3. The ammonia before I placed the animals in the tank was 1. I tested the water and it is now at .25 and seems to be steady. I am seeing nirite peaks and an increase in nirates. Hopefully the algae and the bacteria culture is already busy at work eliminating the toxic chemicals in my tank.
On another side note, I found several different animals crawling around my tank today. First, I recieved a nice 1" tall seafan on my live rock from the petstore-I am hoping now that my water is climbing down, it will survive. I also noticed small fanworms popping up here and there, even on the turbo snails! They are tiny, about 2mm capture devices and a clear white. My copepods seem to be thriving, I have two identifiable species, one that jerks around the tank, another that hops around. The tank is teeming with them.
The only bad part so far is the turbos lack of activity. They seem to be in shock from the move and from the acclimation. They are extremly sluggish. I am unsure if they are nocturnal, which would explain their lack of movement, or if they are still adjusting. In either case, I hope these guys survive, they are so pretty!
I haven't written in such a long time and so much has happened. After returning from spring break, my tank was covered in algae. Of course, this was to be expected from the 12+ hours of daylight each day while the tank was cycling. I quickly found out that one of my turbo snails had died, which no doubt contributed to the already high nitrate levels. Upon doing a water test (with lots of algae in the test tubes), the results were stunning. It seems as if the macro algae and the live rock had cycled the tank quickly. Across the board, I had 0 ammonia, nirites, and nirates. To this day it is still stable and the water is wonderfully clear! I added in 4 more turbo snails and immediately stopped lighting the tank. In a week, the results were appreciable, most of the algae on the sides of the tank are now gone. The live rock, which was smothered in micro algae, has now been returned to its former glory. The macro algae also had a large growth spurt over the break.
This week was exciting since I decided to start stocking my tank with the actual critters I wanted. After visiting many different places, I decided on purchasing from Pet Warehouse not on their stock prices, but on their easy shipping calcuation. I can order up to $150 worth of livestock and the shipping and handling is $30. I quickly placed my order for 3 peppermint shrimps, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 coral banded shrimp, 5 blue legged hermit crabs, 1 false percula clownfish, 1 bulleseye mushroom colony, and 1 yellow polyp colony. My order arrived Tuesday right on time. Upon opening the box though, I discovered a foul smell. Turns out the clownfish had died in the shipment. The rest of the animals appeared to be alright though, so I quickly began the acclimation process. Towards the end of the acclimation the coral banded shrimp died unfortunately since he was an excellent speciman. I placed the rest of my order into the tank with a sad heart. The cleaner shrimp and the peppermint shrimps immediately starting crawling around everything in the tank. The hermits also quickly spread out in the tank. The mushroom corals, while not exactly what I was looking for (I wanted a more intense blue, but instead got a purple green coloration) were none-the-less rather beautiful. I placed them in the only spot that would fit the oddly shaped piece of rock that they were attached on. The yellow polyps I placed in the front of the tank so that I could view them easily. I left the lights turned off for the most part (roughly 4 hours). At 8 I decided enough was enough and I switched on the blubs. To my surprise, the yellow polyps immediately began extending their polyps. That first night only a few of the polyps extended. Two days later, every single one of them is extended and the effect is incredible. I cannot recommend these yellow polyps enough! I sit for hours just staring at them in amazement. Their coloration, the way they sway with the current, and their flower-like appearence all add to their appeal, not to mention they are easy to care for! The mushroom corals appear to be settling in rather nicely. When unpacking the mushrooms, I found a loner that fell off of the main colony. I decided to place it elsewhere in the tank. Within 24 hours it had attached itself to the piece of live rock I had placed it on. I hope that he will start another mushroom colony.
The tank is doing extremly well thus far and all of the animals have been eating happily. I have not yet witnessed viewing a coral capture it's prey or eating in general, but I am assuming so. I have been slowly adding the lights back on in the tank to avoid bleaching the corals. Today they had recieved about 4 hours of light, tomorrow I will provide them with about 6 or 8 hours of light. They seem to be doing rather well though, so hopefully I will be able to place the tank back on 14 hour time to promote more algae growth, since the turbos have eaten most of the algae. I am hoping in the next week I will be able to place in another cleaner shrimp, a couple more peppermint shrimps, a new coral banded shrimp, a new clownfish, and a new polyp coral, or perhaps an anthelia or xenia colony. Once you view a coral in your own tank, you realized that they are truly spectacular and the thought of preserving them in the wild becomes very important. While my two coral colonies were captured from the wild, the rest of my corals will be purchased from aquacultured sources. (Luckily the LFS here supplies aquacultured corals for sale)