2.5 update

[mihkaail]

Hi all,

Below are some pics from my 2.5. sorry about the glare and lack of resolution cos i'm using a camera phone.

This is my tank before anything was put in it: just LR (2+kg) (abt 5lbs)

And this is it yesterday.
Bottom, left hind: Bubble coral (plerogyra)
Bottom left, fore: Red Shrooms (Actinodiscus sp)
Slightly left of middle: Duncanopsamia sp
Slightly right of middle: Blastomussa sp (at bottom of hole in LR)
Bottom right: .Brown Zoos, Green/Brown shroom (actinodiscus sp), star polyps (caluveria sp)
Right: Caulerpa sp
Top Right: Pulsing Xenia

Below is mt Duncanopsammia, currently only 4 polyps though. I thoroughly recommend this hardy coral to anyone who loves elegance coral but cant find one to fit a pico.

And finally, this is the bubble. He's actually been accidentally broken during transport so i got him for $19.

Well, thats all, more pics to come soon. Any comments on aquascaping or anything actually?

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Looks great. Keep an eye on that bubble. They tend to have some pretty long sweeper tentacles and will zap nearby corals. They grow pretty quickly too. Be sure to offer it some meaty seafood once a week.

 

[incysor]

Very nice. It looks like it's coming along well.

B

 

[cowman345]

Looking good so far... what do you have for lights?

-dave-

 

[mihkaail]

Hi all; Thanks for all your comments. Could do with more though, especially criticisms, i'm sure there are many.

Sugar Magnolia, thanks for your concern, i was afraid of that too butam monitering him carefully, especially at night and early morn. his feeding/stinging tentacles are pretty short (about an inch) and there isn much he can touch really.

Thanks incysor, but i think all of you dont see the problems i'm having now. i'm getting cyano brown slime algae everywhere! My gravel and sides are covered in it. I remove it from my front glass but it's starting to come back. will get an algae scrubber tomorrow. Is it something to do with my filtration system? I'm running an aquaclear200 with carbon and chemi-pure.

My cleanup crew is a tiny deep water snail (dunno species name), a sea cuke (the black and pink one, Holothuria edulis) he sifts my gravel, but havent had him long and i hope he does something about my cyano on the sand. Also have a teribbly ugly almost-inch-long abalone who makes fast work of any cyano on the LR. However, he seems to keep mowing over the same patch and doesnt want to touch the glass. Sigh. I'd get another one or two but he came on the LR and doubt i can find another. Also have another few misc. shelled thingys that came outa the rock.

Btw, i've got lotsa pods (the grey woodlicy ones) and quite a few white dot like creatures in the water column. Move around by 'jumping'. Maybe some kinda plankton? Sad they dont eat algae though. Looking for a sand sifting star to add to get rid of the tonnrs of detritus down there.

Cowman, i'm running 2 11w PCs (14000k) but hope to change one to actintic or 50/50 when they come in.

More comments please?

 

[cowman345]

Hmm... well, everyone has cyano at some point or other... how's the flow in the tank? Often times increasing circulation will get rid of cyano, even in bigger outbreaks of the stuff. What's your water quality like? Nitrates? Phosphate?

-dave-

 

[djconn]

Another cause for concern - just off the top of my head, was that all the livestock was added quite quickly (or all at once). This rapidly increased your bioload/waste in the system.

What are your nitrate readings?

 

[mihkaail]

Thanks djconn and cowman.

Cowman, i'd increase the flow but if i do, the duncanopsammia flesh looks like it's gonna rip off. Have just increased it (gradually) to medium flow (on the AC200). To think, i was considering an AC 300.

Dj, you're probably right. the LR had lotsa 'stuff' on/in it. And, i'm sure, in my childish lack of patience, i sped it up too much. Regretting it now. What else can i do to get rid of it?

Will a sandsifting Biocellaris Goby (Signigobius biocellatus) help clean up my sand bed a little?

Cheers

 

[cich1]

I doubt the cyano is a flow problem, i have an AC200 on a 5.5g and it has plenty of flow, i tend to go with DJs opinion, its a new tank with alot of excess nutrients fueling the outbreak, get nitrates and phoshates under control and it should burn itself out meantime just keep removing as much as you can manually, i used a plastic fork to rake my sand and a toothbrush to brush it off the rock, frequent water changes will help too provided your using ro/di or distilled water

 

[incysor]

How long did the tank sit with just sand and live rock before adding the corals and clean up crew? This isn't clear from the first post. Even in a tank this small there's going to be a cycle. I think you've just added critters in too quickly. DO NOT put a sandsifting star in the tank. That tank isn't big enough to support one.

You've got to give the tank time to grow large enough bacteria cultures to handle the breakdown of waste from new critters. Even in a large established tank, dumping a ton of livestock into it you're gonna have problems because there simply isn't enough bacteria to handle the new higher levels of ammonia in the system.

B

 

[skipm]

What kind of tank is it? It looks pretty interesting (the tank itself) but I am not sure what kind/brand it is. Thank you in advance, Skip

 

[mihkaail]

Yup, everyones right, i was impatient and stocked the tank too fast. Sigh. Maybe it is the tap water. Went to the supermarket and they dont sell distilled H2O and thus i've been doing my water changes with the LFS saltwater. Except yesterday when i mixed up 2l of my own water. I just think that it's a bit stupid to waste time and mix it if it costs 0.50 a l from the LFS.

Incysor, i was thinking of getting the sand sifter star (assuming one's ever available), using it a while, then selling it back to the LFS at half-price; or alternatively, supplemental feeding after the sand bed is 'clean' with shrimp pieces.

Skip, the tank is a "Aqua-World-by Pet-Pac, Australia" but i know it's a AGA with rounded front corners and a 'flat back'. Great tank, almost had to do a 1.8gal if i couldnt find something likt this.

People who have read this thread, thank you for the advice, and can you guys leave some opinion on my other thread about what fish to get in my 2.5. Thanks.