Cigar Sherlock's 20 Gallon Long nano build..

gmoney243 · May 10, 2012

Gha bloom is par for the course happens to all new tanks. Gratz! Lol it'll be over soon if u just keep doing what your doin most likely has nothing to do with your lights exept that they are on and giving them light lol. U can turn your lights off for few days to help get rid of it. Corals will be fine.

Oh and that chaeto will help too. I use to grow a basketball size monthly best bulbs for it are simple cheap spiral cfl lit 18hours on 6 off. Don't get bulb to close can nuke it but strong light is needed I used 23w cfl real watts about 1' above chaeto
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Cigar Sherlock · May 10, 2012

Thanks Mike, I was alittle concerned about the GHA but I'm not going to let it bother me. I'll probably turn the lights off for a few days and let the snails get used to the water etc. Then i'll do the first of many weekly water changes on Sunday.

dwilliams87 · May 10, 2012

Like Mike said, all new tanks go through it. Hermits help the look though until the nutrients are no longer there to support the GHA. I added 20 to my 20 gallon and they ripped through it in a matter of 36 hours, and I had a good bit. It's so discouraging for a new tank, even if it is normal.

Cigar Sherlock · May 17, 2012

Latest update: I finally went out and purchased a Nitrite test kit as it was the only parameter that I did not have covered. I did a 15% water change on Sunday with 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, and 0 to .25 Phosphates. I went 4 days without lights on to limit the GHA growth and that worked for stopping the growth but the GHA that was present is still there. I then added an emerald crab last night and he went to town (see photo). I'm going to add a goby in the next week or so and replace the damsels. I also purchased a Hammer coral that i'll be adding in a week or so when I pick it up. The chaeto has grown over twice it's size since being added to the modified AC70. I'm very happy with the developments of the tank right now.

dwilliams87 · May 17, 2012

I love the emerald crab for it's eagerness to eat, however watch him, because in my experiences they move alot of rock. Especially in a tank that size. I actually had a friend that had a 20 and everyday when he got home from work he had a new rockscape. He would reset it how he wanted, and then 24 hrs. later a brand new rockscape. It was funny in his tank, but he didn't have corals. Corals would have made it a different story

Cigar Sherlock · May 17, 2012

Well noted Daniel, I'm hoping he can't break the superglue gel strength that holds my rocks together. If he can do that, then he deserves to move the rock

dwilliams87 · May 17, 2012

Cigar Sherlock said:
Well noted Daniel, I'm hoping he can't break the superglue gel strength that holds my rocks together. If he can do that, then he deserves to move the rock

Nice, I wasn't that smart, so I'm scared to death to put one in mine. By the way, the tank is looking good.

Cigar Sherlock · May 27, 2012

Here are a few more updated pictures of my first corals. I got both of them from Mitch and they are doing great! I could not capture the fluorescent yellow of each tenticle on the hammer nor the red and orange on the zoas. Parameters today are 1.025 salinity, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates, 0 to 0.25 phosphates. I still have some GHA but it is not spreading. The few spots that have not been eaten by the hermits are growing in length, so I'll probably start attacking them with the tweezers. The chaeto continues to grow in the AC70 and my two house sitting damsels are nice and healthy. I'll be trading them in after my son is born to get the goby/shrimp combo. My wife really wants a black and white clown, even though I explained to her that they get big and mean. Oh well

Cigar Sherlock · Jun 12, 2012

Well the loss of my Yasha goby prompted me to buy the clowns that my wife wanted. So I got a mated pair of black and whites from another member and they are doing great...so great they are beating up my hammer coral with love heh.

angrycubano · Jun 12, 2012

Cigar Sherlock said:
Here are a few more updated pictures of my first corals. I got both of them from Mitch and they are doing great! I could not capture the fluorescent yellow of each tenticle on the hammer nor the red and orange on the zoas. Parameters today are 1.025 salinity, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrates, 0 to 0.25 phosphates. I still have some GHA but it is not spreading. The few spots that have not been eaten by the hermits are growing in length, so I'll probably start attacking them with the tweezers. The chaeto continues to grow in the AC70 and my two house sitting damsels are nice and healthy. I'll be trading them in after my son is born to get the goby/shrimp combo. My wife really wants a black and white clown, even though I explained to her that they get big and mean. Oh well

Makes me happy to know they went to a good new home.

Dowtish · Jun 12, 2012

prompting by the wife....nice

11f150 · Jun 15, 2012

Looking good!

Cigar Sherlock · Aug 1, 2012

UPDATE: Everything is going great with the tank. I'm actually very surprised that all of my parameters are holding steady without a skimmer, just regular weekly 3 gallon WCs. My female B/W clown's mouth has healed back and she is a much happier lady for it. I still only have 3 LPS, 1 softy and 1 set of zoas but I wanted to keep everything stable before loading the tank up with more stuff. Anyways, enough text, here are some pics.

Dowtish · Aug 1, 2012

Wondering where you had been? Good news, cool pics, and it's good to see you taking it slow on stocking.

Cigar Sherlock · Feb 20, 2013

New update! I got lazy, as some do in this hobby and cost myself a couple of heads on both the hammer and frogspawn corals. I let it go for to long without a WC and then the clowns have just been merciless against the LPS. But, after a near catastrophe (blocked filter causing spill), I've completely changed out all water and everything is on the mend. I then went out and got two peppermint shrimp and a bi-color blenny. All are doing well, including the original items, just don't have the growth I wanted because of my lazyness (busy life). Anyhow, here is a new picture of the tank. Purple coraline is abundant but so is some of the cyano that I have to frequently pull out.