Tank Photo Chronology

[CW]

Hi All

I'm new to this, but I thought I'd take a picture every few weeks of how my aquarium develops, should of started earlier as I would have found it helpful to me to see what it all should look like but here it is... Just less than month old with the live rock in and the cycle just completed - first fish going in tomorrow - a couple of true clownfish. A question for all you pro's out there - do I put the clean up crew in at the same time, or part of the crew, or wait for a while? I am consious that there is brown algae growing on the rocks and sand Anyway, any feedback on this or the tank would be very much appreciated along with advice, I've read up as much as I can but I guess you can never know too much.

ps my Ph is a little low at around 7.8, do I buffer it or is there a more natural solution, I intend to do a partial water change before putting the fish in anyway.

Chris

 

[TimSchmidt]

Have the surface of the water "rolling" to promote gas exchange to help with PH. Also maybe just opening the lid for a bit can help with the PH. Great idea on the chronology!

P.S. :welcome to Nanotank!

 

[CW]

About a month on and now got two percula clowns, an electric blue hermit crab, two small scarlet legged hermit crabs, two turbo snails, and recently teo deep red fire shrimps.  Some photos of the inhabitants below.

 

[CW]

Also I regularly test the water and weekly do a small water change 10-15%. The amonia and nitrite is constantly zero, the ph s now 8.3 -8.4 thanks to the rolling effect as described above, but the nitrate is very high. Any suggestions for lowering this so that I can safely add corals. Also I am a little worried about temperature when I change the water as I am adding enough to drop the temperature of the tank by 2 to 3 degrees C. Is this ok or will it stress the fish or even shock them? Any ideas if this is a problem?

 

[CW]

Oh and lastly whats the best way to clean the glass with minimum upset to the fish? there is a let of algae growing on it now. the snails will eat it but they dont leave it clean enough.

 

[TimSchmidt]

I use a heater in my change water to match the temperatures as closely as possible. A variation in tank water is normally ok if the change is slow. Quick changes can stress things out. The nitrates are more than likely coming from the fish. If this is a 12 gallon I wouldn't add anything else in the way of fish. My clowns were pigs and would create quite the mess. For the glass I have seen stainless steel razor blades used effectively. This is a temporary thing as the algae will come back. I think going slowly from here will help the tank mature and let your biological filter adapt to the new bio load. Keep up on water changes and don't over feed, clowns will "beg" for food.

 

[davenia7]

For just the basic algae removal, I use my old Wachovia (walk all over ya) Check card cut in half. If it's the hard stuff (ie. corraline on the front glass) then I break out the razor blade. With the razor blade, make sure to avoid your silicone or it could be UGLY.
For the nitrates, maybe you need more frequent WC's. What's ur current schedule?

 

[CW]

currently I change the water about once a week, and feed a pinch of flake in the morning and half a cube of frozen brine shrimp (cut small) in the evening. Do these sound about right? The shimp seem to finish off any left overs if there is any.

 

[davenia7]

that's a lot of food. Mine get either a pinch of flake or a small squeese of cyclopeeze 3 days on, Wednesdays, no food, 3 days on.

 

[TimSchmidt]

That does sound a bit much. I fed about that much to my 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. FYI brine is more like popcorn than food to critters (very little nutrition). Mysis shrimp are MUCH higher in protein. My 12 gallon gets food every other day (one fish, blue spot jawfish). I feed a single mysis at a time until he is full.

 

[CW]

the amount of food is what the shop said to do so I'll try less. The water seems fine in terms of zero amonia and nitrite, but does have a higher level of nitrate, perhaps this is the cause?

Thanks for the credit card tip, works a treat on the glass.

Also considering getting a pair of banggai cardinals, does anyone have any experience of these?

 

[TimSchmidt]

None here.