1 week old and having fun already

[m000240]

Well let me introduce myself. My name is Alex. I have been lurking here for quite some time. I just recently (a week ago) set up a 24g NC. I picked up some LR and LS today and was wondering about some of the critters I noticed after putting the rock in. I have some pictures below, please advise. Thanks.

Alex

 

[m000240]

Here are some critters I had questions about

 

[idog]

Nice looking setup!

Ive got the NC24 too. Nice looking rock, but you may wish to have a terraced effect rather than a tower. When you start getting coral frags on big chunks of LR you will know what I mean. You will change a your rock around a alot before you find a config that works for you. There is no right way of course.

The crab may or may not be peaceful, but usually err on the side of caution and don't include it. It may cause a lot of damage when it grows up.
That looks like hair algae and you will get MUCH more before you are done cycling.
You will be finding much weirder stuff on your rocks in the next few weeks...


Cheers,
:welcome

 

[Jennie]

:welcome to Nanotank

The first picture that you posted looks like crabs that you might want to be carefull with. If you can find a way to QT them then I would

The second picture that you asked about looks like possibly macro as to what kind its hard to say right now. Is it stiff? What color is it?

In between the bulges in the rock that looks like aspasia. Can you get a better picture of it? Not sure if it is my computer, but all the pictures are showing up dark.

The last looks like a cucumber but again I can't tell what kind. Careful with this one because some are known to expell toxins when they die, which can be the downfall of your tank!

Hope this helps

again

:welcome

 

[m000240]

Thanks for the welcome. Today I am going to see if I can get some larger pieces of rock so that I don't have a bunch little rocks stacked up.

So I think want to try and get that cucumber out, but now it has crawled into a rock, while it come out on its own? or is there something I can do to persuade it?

Also should I leave the lights off while cycling? I have been running them 12 hours a day, just because I can't resist looking at it.

Again, thanks for the welcome and the help.

 

[idog]

I would definitely leave the lights off while cycling, and just use them when tinkering in the tank. I had mine on at first, and then cyano hit me like a brown carpet basically overnight. Nitrates were too high to add clean up crew so I had to tough it out.

Frag your smaller chunks of LR for the compartments in the back, and always keep some around for mushrooms and polyps from LFS's. It is a fraction of the price to buy unattached corals and attach them to your own LR (ie. my LFS sells loose shrooms for $5.00 apiece regardless of size)

Be careful with the Cucumber, depending on the type they contain venom that can be extruded if stressed or dieing that can seriously foul your tank. They are notorius for needing perfect water conditions so it may not survive the Ammonia/Nitrate spikes of your cycle.

 

[m000240]

Thanks, I'll leave the lights off. I have a bunch of chunks of LR in the back middle chamber. In the first chamber I have two pieces of sponge with the charcoal in the middle. The last chamber just has the pump. I'm thinking I may just take the rock with the cucumber out and get some other stuff. I live in hawaii, and there no fish stores with LR or LS or corals, or anything of that sort, the closest we have is a pretty good store with local fish. They catch them in the local waters and some of them look like the trauma may have been a little too much.

So what water parameters do I have to meet before I can add a cleanup crew? Also, any recommendations?

 

[idog]

ammonia and nitrite should be 0.
Nitrate less than 20 and falling... towards the end of the cycle.

I recommend 5-6 nassarius snails for the sandbed, then some algae grazers for your glass and rocks ie ceriths, trochus etc..., half dozen blue hermits that's a good start.

Can you gather your own specimens from the ocean where you are? I know Hawaii is strictly regulated for livestock imports due to potential forcaptive stocks escaping and competing with native species. Probably why there are no fish stores to buy from. CAreful if you order online from the mainland as you won't be able to import most species legally.

Kind of ironic isn't it?

 

[m000240]

Yeah, it cost 5 dollars for the permit, but then you can catch up to 5 fish a day, as long as they aren't for commercial sale, that permit cost $50. Thats how I got my rock and my sand. The rock and the sand was easy to get, the fish will be a little bit more difficult to get, but the snails and hermit crabs, I think I'll have to order those. I have a good breath hold, but even so I think it would take me all day just to track down one hermit crab.

 

[EDGRAY]

Here are some critters I had questions about

:welcome my friend and since no body mentioned in this pic you have some Hairy algea and bubble algea ill recoment to take that Piece of LR out and scrub it and scrub it until all that bubble & hairy algea is gone... or can be a nightmare if you dont take care of it .....(bubble is the worst)

P.S: Jennie mentioned about the pictures looking dark i was noticing that using WINDOWS all the pictures look like 20% darker and with MAC the look ok or more bright kinda odd but just wanted to mention that ....

 

[EDGRAY]

About cleaning crew i recommend:

6-8 Nassarius snails
4-6 Blue leg hermits or scarlet hermits
3-6 Nerite & Cerith Snails....

 

[m000240]

Thanks Ed, I'll take it out today! When I post pictuers again I'll see if I can brighten them up.

 

[idog]

One thing to watch, if you are using native sand, that's volcanic in nature It won't have the buffering capacity that oolic aragonite will so watch your PH and alk levels closely. You may have a tough time keeping calcium levels up... so I'm told.

Someone back me up here...

 

[m000240]

Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. I checked the salinity (35ppm) of the sw that I used to transport the sand and rock back with, and adjusted my water accordingly. Afterward I check the pH, the sw was 8.3, and mine was between 7.7 and 8.0. I don't know how to raise my pH, or what band I should really keep it between.

 

[idog]

8.0 is on the low side. 8.2-8.3 is perfect.

Low PH is toxic to marine life and low Alk will mean that trace elements will precipitate out of solution (especially calcium). Just oxygenating water can lower PH dangerously. You can buy buffers like Kents's, or some people use Baking soda and washing soda to raise PH. This is going to be a constant issue with the volcanic sand...

Not a pro here so I don't have any long term solutions (no pun intended) for you. With Oolic sugar sand and reef crystals, you should have all the buffering you need, so I've never had a problem here.

Sorry...

 

[skipm]

Actually oxygenating (aerating) the water raises the pH due to excess co2 being released which causes the pH to drop.

 

[m000240]

I don't have a problem taking the sand out, I'd rather do it right from the beginning than deal with constant problems. So where does one get the Oolic Sugar and/or reef crystals? Is that what you recommend for substrate?

 

[m000240]

Also, any recommendations on a reliable test kit? I have one from my LFS and I don't place too much confidence in it. Thanks.

 

[skipm]

Take a sample of the sand you have and allow it to dry out, then pour a small amount of white vinegar on the sand. If the vinegar fizzes then you have aragonite sand, if it doesn't do anything then you need to find aragonite sand. Most LFS should either carry or be able to get aragonite sand for you, CaribSea is one of the big distributors in the aquarium trade.
Most test kits for hobbiests are not super accurate but not that bad either. The most accurate hobbiest grade kits are those made by Salifert. LaMotte kits are also very accurate but usually cost more.
If you have no other option both the test kits and the sand are available from on-line vendors. Since we are not talking about any kind of live good I wouldn't think shipping it in would be a problem.

 

[m000240]

Ok, so I dried my sand out and it fizzes when placed in white vinegar. So what then could be the source of my pH problem?