300 litre with sump

[ying yang]

Tank been running around 3 months now since first added water maybe little over.tested ph occasionally for first 2 months but always 7.8 ph using api so stopped testing then just under week ago i added crushed coral in 2 plastic old filter holders inbetween baffles in sump in high flow area and finally installed skimmer and very next day tested ph and it rose to 8.2 and couple hours ago i noticed quite a few specs of what i think is light green coraline algae ( same colour, consistency as what came on back of obe my hermit crabs the other month when bought them.
So if it is coraline algae im guessing as the ph risen in the laat week the calcium/ alk/magnesium that coraline algae needs to grow/ develop it can take/ use from the water easier at the higher ph so i will have to buy some test kits for calcium/ magnesium/ alk minumum shortly i think.but maybe it isnt coraline and just another kind of algae idk lol

 

[ying yang]

As everything living that i put in tank i decided to buy some more cuc.
Bought 2x pin cushion urchins.
6 nasarus snails.
2 conchs
6 other snails ( cant remember name lol)
2 cleaner shrimp
6 hermits
Did want to spend twice as much as over hour drive away but guy at lfs recommemded not buying so many so got £ 93 worth .he probably discounted £ 38.50 from my maths adding up what should been.
Bought 8 polyp cheap orange zoa ( £ 15 but gave me for £ 10 and throw in another £ 15 zoa 3 polyp also.bought some coral dip and obly thing that briefly fell off was a amphipod so left him on the frag.orange zoa starting to open up already after a hour or so

 

[ying yang]

Cuc and some neon green palys and some random orange zoa but names unimportant for me at momemt,all about how it looks lol

 

[ying yang]

Well about 3.5 months into this saltwater tank now.
Added livestock in this order usually every 2- 3 weeks.
3 red legged scarlets
2 clowns
Gold streaked blennie
Added together silver belly wrasse and tiger pistol shrimp +ywg.
Beefed up cuc after all rocks/sandbed turned red/ brown so take it this diatoms and also seen little tuffs green so added....
2 tuxedo urchins
6 mini hermit crabs ( mixed colours)
2 skunk cleaner shrimps.
6 nassarius snails.
6 trouchus snails.
2 strawberry lipped conchs i think they called.
1 frag of 11 heads orange zoas and lfs give me frag of neon green paly.
So far no deaths of anything ( doing stock check 1-2 times a week lol) and mrs witnessed Trochus snails spawning.
I seen few hermit molts and cleaner shrimp molted last night ( just missed it as was talking in thread about pistols and taking pictures of mine ) noticed 1 still had 1 short tentacle then 20 minutes later looked again and seen molt and all long tentacles so hopefully see another time shedding its molt.think 1 time seen molt of pistol as pretty sure could see 3 antenna and at entrance to tunnel.
So with snails spawning and hermits and shrimps molting im happy that they happy enough to do this ^_^
Cleaner shrimps hanging around the main entrance of a rock i hollowed out with front and rear entrance and placed on other rocks on bottom glass so level ish with sandbed and no agression from pistol - cleaner shrimp or from goby yet and goby occasionally lets cleaners clean him.
Red/ brown diatoms noticably cleaner on rocks and 50% sand bed ( side where pistol is) is white clean sand and other 50% sandbed noticeably cleaner as nas and conchs going over and through it.
Still doing 10% ish water change each week ,finally installed ato about 1 week ago as wont do no good sat in box lol.
Stock skimmer i got with this tank imo doing great ( but never owned a skimmer so nothing to compare it to) but in just over a week its producing dark greenish gunk so taking nasty out water ,watched lots videos on usage/ set up of the aqua one g660 skimmer and how and when to open outlet valves gradually and air intake valve then eventually take off so happy so far and will get more expensive skimmer with good reviews if i feel the need to i guess.
So all in all everything doing ok and 2 frags of zoa/ paly's not died yet .
Was planning on going a new lfs tommorrow and buy defo bi- colour blennie and possibly another wrasse along with 1 more bright/ cheap zoa frag but got dentist so will have to see if can get lift there another day ( dont drive for last few years due to ill health and had to stop working) well still own a mobility scooter but battery wont get me 30 miles there and same back lol so that doesnt count ha ha.

 

[ying yang]

Well my tank all going great,not got around to get to lfs yet to get bi colout blennie and some kind wrasse or both at once,but i defo need some colour from some corals in the tank,was going get some more zoas but think now time to get some gsp and stick it lowish on back overflow and each side of back glass so need buy 3 frags of gsp and let that start growing i think.

 

[ying yang]

Well its 00.54 am and for last hour tuxedo urchin captured a red leg hermit on side of it then on top of it then hermit just hanging on over big drop as on top the rocks so just intervened and used a coral feeder to prize hermit off the urchin but had to let hermit fall to sand bed but happens often with the hermits so should be ok.
But now a mini hermit about 10 cm so urchin probably will get him for decorations.
Poor hermits getting carried around and cannot break free pffft
Ive got quite deep tank and rock structures go up 3/ 4 height of tank like so must be 50cm drop at least ha ha

 

[ying yang]

Now snail come to the party lol
Will wake up tommorrow with 10 snails and 5 hermits stuck on urchins back lol

 

[ying yang]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.htm

Read when time.sorry this for my benefit as want to find something out about my rodi unit good or bad ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Got myself a cleaner wrasse,bi colour blennie,5 more hermits and a 5 inch by 5 inch gsp .
My current gold streaked blennie doesnt like his new friends especially the bi colour and chasing both around for first 2 hours so far but calmed down a bit with cleaner wrasse looks like but bi colour still in hiding.
Gsp frag full of white sponges,can count at least 10 but if they survive idk as lifted them out the water several times as dipping and shaking them,found 2 small star fish in container after dipped them but sadly died.

 

[ying yang]

spionid worm

Well been few days now and gsp after i dipped it and put it in tank,took couple hours to open then next day and yesterday been closed all day but my skimmer did overflow so not sure if connected or if related to this spionid worm i seen at night time irritating it,been told if can find end of tube then glue the ends shut and starve it,

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

 

[ying yang]

Not sure if this the same spionod worm without its palps out or different worm of some kind but finding lots lots weird things on this gsp lol

 

[ying yang]

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

Seen black balls floating around tank so thought must be urchin so weird i know but video the back end of it pooing ( pun intended lol )

 

[ying yang]

Well finally glued some gsp to back glass and overflows last night but this morning 2 have fallen off

 

[ying yang]

Well 3rd time in just over a week that one of my urchins picked up a hermit crab lol
Wasnt sure if crab in shell but picked it off anyway then there sure day is light he comes out lol

 

[ying yang]

Do peppermint shrimps really eat aiptasia?

The 'True Peppermint' is a Lysmata wurdemanni http://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/27306/27306.pdf A is a true peppermint, the rest are imposters. (A) Lysmata wurdemanni (B) Lysmata rathbunae (C) Lysmata ankeri (D) Lysmata boggessi (E) Lysmata pederseni (F) Lysmata bahia

www.reef2reef.com

Peppermints

 

[ying yang]

Woke up this morning and seen what i thought some hitch hiker inside a cave,just seen tentacles all over but turned out to be the molt of cleaner shrimp. Well urchin at it again and grabbed the empty molt and using it as decoration ha ha and one of the frags of gsp attached to back overflow,one of the polyps decided to come out to play earlier ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Went to lfs today for a copperband butterfly fish and they had one in but wouldnt sell me as each day they treat a different system for flukes ( 3 tanks = 1 system) so its a newly set up lfs but good practice to treat systems for ich and not sell when treating.they said also run copper in there fish only tanks.
So bought a coral beauty, a torch which was neon green with yellow tips but under my 2 white t5's and 2 blue t5's its green with greyish tips but still nice.and bought a halloween hermit crab which is beautiful but will need keep eye on it with the conchs and other hermits as read mixed reviews about them,but if see anything bad will sump it with possibility giving back to lfs.
Didnt get picture of hermit as went straight into the rocks

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[ying yang]

Looking good!

Thanks rev.
Only early days but slowly slowly catch the monkey.
Some days i think to myself i want to go out and buy 20 corals and some are the harder to keep but i try refrain and tell myself there is no rush and need to learn how to look after softies/ lps corals first and let tank go through ugly stage and stabilise then like anything in life,learn and get experience then progress but most thing try enjoy best i can ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Got picture of him.he comes out for few hours,picking from the rocks and then retreats in rocks for bit then comes back out so relatively active.
First morning did see an extra hermit shell in sand bed,originally thought horror stories are true the " halloween hermit must killed one my little mini hermits" but could just changed shell so will just keep monitoring