1 Week of Cycle first SW tank AP24

[malakaikingston]

Hey,

I'm new here, you guys need a beginners forum. It's intimidating seeing some of the siiick tanks on here.

I have been running planted FW all my life I had to give up my setups cause I moved and I was heartbroken. When the DRFS catalog would come I would get all mopey. My fiancee got me this AP24 for cristmas and then for my Bday paid for the salt/LR/sand/water cause I recently lost my job (I will remove your spyware, fix your computer for frags) So after a bit of planning I set it up last week. I got all my stuff from AW and I may just be hyper humble but they were not rude, they seemed busy but did answer my questions. I tend to ask lots of questions.

So here it is, a week later and I have seen some pods, a few dusters and some coral buildup. Saw a crazy worm/eel lookin thing last night looked nothing like a bristle/fire it looked like an earthworm. My coraline seems to be keeping color and honestly I don't know what I should be lookign for other than clean readings and an imminent algea bloom.

So here are some pics, positive and/or negative feedback is encouraged.

[maus42]

Looks like a nice start. The worm you saw sounds to me like a peanut worm- nothing to worry about.. I've got a couple huge ones in my tank.

Oh, and one more thing. It doesn't look like you have very much flow going on in that tank. You might want to consider adding a powerhead or two.

[malakaikingston]

cool thanks for the info :)

Yea thats one of the mods I was thinking of doing I saw that some people replaced the stok pump, that may be in my tanks future if I find $$

[maus42]

cool thanks for the info :)

Yea thats one of the mods I was thinking of doing I saw that some people replaced the stok pump, that may be in my tanks future if I find $$

How big is the tank, it looks like a 24g to me but hard to tell. If that's the case I wouldnt replace the pump but add a second... something like a maxijet 1200 w/ a bioflo for more random current.

[malakaikingston]

cool, yea it's a 24 I will look into adding another pump.

[Bert]

Looks like you're on the right track to me. Your rock looks like it's pretty close to the glass. That could make it difficult to clean in the future.

[phishphood]

yeah, might look into a magfloat (magnetic glass cleaner) for the future. Other than that, looks great. Hit me up and I should have a few kenya tree frags for you when your tank is ready.

[malakaikingston]

Yea on that right hand side I have a bit less than half an inch clearance, if had it all to do over again I would give it more room. Thats the only tight spot though so I guess I will have to get a bit dirty.

thanks for letting me know I am on the right track. :)

[cbm1101]

nice aquascaping...keep us updated with pics.

[the_anti_honda]

Yea thats looking pretty good for just being set up. I will follow along yours as I do mine, maybe we can see each others progress. I did mod the pump in the back and add a skimmer im also upgrading to 150watt halide instead of the 70watter it came with. I will let you know how that goes.

[malakaikingston]

Yea thats looking pretty good for just being set up. I will follow along yours as I do mine, maybe we can see each others progress. I did mod the pump in the back and add a skimmer im also upgrading to 150watt halide instead of the 70watter it came with. I will let you know how that goes.

Have you posted details of your setup, I would like to hear about the pump/skimmer you chose and how you are going about the 150W conversion.

Thanks for the compliment :)

heheh yea found it http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12271

killer man good reading...

[malakaikingston]

Hit me up and I should have a few kenya tree frags for you when your tank is ready.

I will def be hitting you up :D

More pics to come...

[dhuynh]

It's late; maybe I'm sleepy, but the rock arrangment looks like a castle. kewl..

[jbvdhp]

looks niceeeeeeeeeeeee

[WanaLeime]

I like the aquascaping! It does look like a castle =)!

So what kinda of corals do you plan on adding? LPS, SPS?

You're definitly on the right track! MORE PICs =)

[malakaikingston]

So what kinda of corals do you plan on adding? LPS, SPS?


I'm planning on starting off with some Blasto, Xenia, Xoos maybe OpenBrain.

I want to start off with a combination that should allow me to get used to their treatment and flow requirements that are still considered easier to keep.

I'll def be posting more pics as soon as something crazy happens :)

[malakaikingston]

Salinity is 1.023
Temp is 76
Topping off daily

Lights on 12/12 with 1 hour of dusk in between moonlight and mh

Mostly just seeing lots of green some good some bad, the coral thingie is still building up but nothing else too exiting. Going to add a mini 606 for my main pump and a MJ-1200 to get some motion. The sand under the LR is getting dug out at night haven't seen the nutter worm in a while. Whatever is turning over the sand is sneaky I see nothing and went to bed at 6am.

[malakaikingston]

more pics of wet salty rocks

[malakaikingston]

adding

Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)
Tongan Fighting Conch (Strombus gibberulus)
10 Nassarius
Varius Crabs

Levels are O/O 78 1.023

I have identified most of the macro growing as Caulerpa and have found bits of Valonia bubbles here and there.

pics when I get done acclimating

[malakaikingston]

Well, Far as I can tell the acclimation went well. I hope I don't loose anyone.

The fighting conch and some of the crabs didn't start moving till I turned the light back on, now they along with the snails are making quick work of scaling the aquascape. They really scale all over everything quickly.

My cleaner shrimp seems to be a bit shy, hiding behind one of the back shelf slabs just sitting chilling.

[colindoug3]

In my experience shrimp may hide. It may warm up over time. Sometimes it is with the new addition of livestock they come out more.
My coral banded shrimp was a wuss. I added 2 skunk cleaners and he is out and about more. Chasing them away, scavenging, defending his turf etc.
He also came out more when I moved and had to redo my rock structure.

[malakaikingston]

In my experience shrimp may hide. It may warm up over time.


Well he didn't warm up over time, in fact he was dead when I got up this morning. Sucks

[malakaikingston]

My water is a little low on selinity I think when I acclimated them, I shouldn't have top'd off with fresh water. I removed too much salt added too much fresh... boom dead shrimp...

Owell live and learn...

[tiznanya]

u sure he didnt just molt and is hiding somewhere?

[malakaikingston]

I wish he had just molted, nah he was 100% dead I took him back to AW and they gave me partial credit.

I added a Mj-1200 to the tank helps flow a good bit.

[malakaikingston]

Cleaner shrimp take 2, Got another cleaner shrimp hopefully this one will survive,
added a bunch of Astra snails and I am still amused how an aquatic snail can survive without the ability to right themselves. Hilarious... They are making quick work of cleaning the glass.

I am doing a bit more planning about what I can have in the tank,

Thinking

pistol shrimp / watchman goby
lawnmower blennie
Few Ocellaris Clownfish

Just taking my time with adding fish want to do this slow and steady.

Still researching what coral and such would be a good idea.

Any thoughts?

[malakaikingston]

He's eating! woohoo!

[malakaikingston]

Everyone acclimated well, the shrimp is eating and very active. Snails are all doing their muching about. Both the shrimp and the conch are kinda shy the conch seems to like to hide under my big branch and just moves around the base vacum'n everything near him. A very lazy tank inhabitant but my favorite to watch. The shrimp likes to camp out on the weir grate and catch things as they go by. Had a word with willy and he gave me some confirmation on my choices of corals I think I will be adding corals within a week or so and fish a few weeks after. Algea scraping is a weekly process and I think the mj1200 was a good addition, well worth killing some spyware for.

Some more pics of my salty wet rocks and the creatures that call them home.

Reefkeeping is so much like gardening. Patience...