Bifferwine
I am a girl
That is a nice looking brain! It looks HUGE! Everything looks great.
saltwater aquarium build
- Thread starter troybuckle
- Start date
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Thanks! I like it a lot. I’m not thrilled about that small crab that has dug a hole in the middle of it. I think I am going to take him out tomorrow with a pair of tweezers. Not sure what’s next, I was thinking about picking up another piece of rock, but they also have a two spot signal goby at my LFS and that was one that was on my list of fish I want!
troybuckle
Reefing newb
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Small update. Finally got a pic of my peppermint shrimp, he is doing a good job eating the aiptasias I had. I also added another 3lbs of rock, 3 scarlet leg hermits and two turbo snails. Oh and I got two small frags of green star polyps from a guy on the classifieds.
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BigH55
I'm that guy
Your tank looks great, nice build thread.
coolhandgoose
Reef enthusiast
Looking good. Glad you got a pic of your peppermint cuz that's probably the last time you'll ever see it. I've only seen mine a couple times, he mostly hangs out upside down beneath one of my base rocks.
Looks like you have some GHA. The turbos should make short work of that.
I like the rock work, once you get more fish it'll be cool to watch with all the caves.
Looks like you have some GHA. The turbos should make short work of that.
I like the rock work, once you get more fish it'll be cool to watch with all the caves.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Thanks! It took a long time to get to this point, but things are starting to come together.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Thanks! Not sure what’s next. I will be away for a few days for Christmas so I think I might have to start on my ATO soon.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Did a water test today everything is good, but my ammonia is at .25ppm I think its cause I added some rock, coral and hermits last weekend.
I was worried about my skimmer not pulling much, but this past week or two it’s really starting to pull a lot of gross shit out of the water. However, my sand is starting to get very dirty and not showing any signs of clearing up. I only have 4 – turbos, 6- hermits, 10 Nass snails and 1 emerald crap who I haven’t seen in a few weeks. I have been trying to get more snails but the LFS hasn’t had any come in lately. What else can I get to help clean the sand efficently?
I was worried about my skimmer not pulling much, but this past week or two it’s really starting to pull a lot of gross shit out of the water. However, my sand is starting to get very dirty and not showing any signs of clearing up. I only have 4 – turbos, 6- hermits, 10 Nass snails and 1 emerald crap who I haven’t seen in a few weeks. I have been trying to get more snails but the LFS hasn’t had any come in lately. What else can I get to help clean the sand efficently?
coolhandgoose
Reef enthusiast
Your sand will probably look pretty crappy in the beginning anyway especially if you get diatom blooms which isn't unusual in the first month. Try looking into getting a serpeant star or brittle star. Also make sure there is enough flow getting towards the bottom of the tank to keep things from building up, but don't point a powerhead too low that it blows sand everywhere.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Few more updates, things are going well for the most part. I have a few more snails and I also picked up a lawn mower blenny, blood shrimp and a hammer coral. I noticed that I have some small brown flatworms on think on the glass in the morning and I order some flatworm exit online and it should be here now. I can’t seem to get rid of the patch of hair algae I have and the blenny hasn’t touched it at all. Also the sand keeps getting dirtier ahh.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Is that patch of algae on its own little rock? If so, take out the whole rock and boil it or toss it out. It looks like it's a problem unique to the rock it's on.
Otherwise, everything looks great. The hammer is really nice!
Otherwise, everything looks great. The hammer is really nice!
troybuckle
Reefing newb
So I was going to go ahead and use Flatworm exit tomorrow, so I got a calcium test kit to see what my calcium level was before I used the flatworm exit to see if it dropped any. And I found the my calcium is only 300.
I haven’t done a water change in three weeks, could this be why my Calcium is low? Everything else is fine except my sg is down to 1.022.
I have a water change ready to go, but now I don’t know if I should change the water - then do another calcium test, mix another water change then use the flatworm exit. Or just go ahead and run the flatworm exit with one water change? The get Calcium ready to go?
I haven’t done a water change in three weeks, could this be why my Calcium is low? Everything else is fine except my sg is down to 1.022.
I have a water change ready to go, but now I don’t know if I should change the water - then do another calcium test, mix another water change then use the flatworm exit. Or just go ahead and run the flatworm exit with one water change? The get Calcium ready to go?
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Do you have SPS corals? Calcium at 300 isn't low enough to hurt anything if you have LPS and softies. I would use the Flatworm Exit now, then gradually raise your calcium.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
Ok sounds like a plan the only new corals I have is a cabbage leather. I will go ahead and use the flatworm exit today.
troybuckle
Reefing newb
So got some new stuff going on with my tank. The Flatworms are all gone. I got a new cabbage leather coral and another which hitched hiked in on it not sure what it is though.
Also I have a new pump, float switch, auto feeder and power head. As you can see from the pic below with my cell phone for reference its small lol. I am going to set up an auto top off and feeding time, I will be gone from my house for 10 days during Christmas, and for 5 of those days in a row I don’t have anyone to check on things. I also picked up another power head to help with flow on the sand to try and clean it up a bit. Will let you know how the auto top off works out.
Also I have a new pump, float switch, auto feeder and power head. As you can see from the pic below with my cell phone for reference its small lol. I am going to set up an auto top off and feeding time, I will be gone from my house for 10 days during Christmas, and for 5 of those days in a row I don’t have anyone to check on things. I also picked up another power head to help with flow on the sand to try and clean it up a bit. Will let you know how the auto top off works out.
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BryanS
Reefing newb
I have a couple of questions for you if you dont mind.
Im planning on starting my 55 gallon tank soon, and I am planning on going with a 10 gallon sump/fuge and I really like your design. So my first question is:
How do you like it?
Have you had any problems with it?
How is your return pump working? is it queit?
Im planning on starting my 55 gallon tank soon, and I am planning on going with a 10 gallon sump/fuge and I really like your design. So my first question is:
How do you like it?
Have you had any problems with it?
How is your return pump working? is it queit?
troybuckle
Reefing newb
The sump works fine, I have a pile of things in there now, it’s a little small, but is working great. If you follow my design, make the baffles 8” instead of 9” like I have did to give yourself a little less water in the tank and a little more if the pump fails. I tested this and although it does not overflow the water level is a bit too close for my liking. The pump works awesome and it’s quiet I hardly noticed it.
BryanS
Reefing newb
great thanks for a quick response
