Cymen's 20G tall

[rygh]

That is great on the tube -- I'll try that. I think the AquaLifter will work based on reading a ton of threads of people putting it in their basement and having it pump up to their tank. But I get it's border-line. I'll try it and find out. I think the water coming down the other side will lessen the load (but physics was a while ago).

Interesting. Perhaps it has been really improved.
I used one years ago, and it was only good to about 3 feet.
(Probably still have it if anyone wants it)

 

[Cymen]

Interesting. Perhaps it has been really improved.
I used one years ago, and it was only good to about 3 feet.
(Probably still have it if anyone wants it)

Ah! That is useful information. And my brain was off earlier -- I meant reading a ton of threads about dosing pumps where every once in a while the AquaLifter came up. I'll test it out.

 

[Vhuang168]

I think an Aqualifter only has 30" of head lift.

 

[Cymen]

I think an Aqualifter only has 30" of head lift.

I think that is about right. I tried it today and failed to pump up 36-46". It almost worked at around 36" but very slow and doubt it would last long (due to how long the duty cycle would be).

I rethought my plan and realized a 10 gallon tote from Home Depot is $8 and can be low to the floor (so no worry over siphon) and can go right into the sump via the AquaLifter. So that is what I'm going to do -- keep it simple!

 

[Cymen]

I came back to everything humming exactly as I left it. The 10g top-off reservoir was only about 1/2 empty. I moved the power head that was fairly close to the surface down 3-4 more inches. So that or maybe not having the usual open windows kept evaporation down more than I was seeing while measuring it.

I'm really happy nothing malfunctioned.

 

[Cymen]

Next I'll test the water, likely do a water change and get one or two small fish to do the tank transfer method before putting them in.

 

[Cymen]

I cleaned the tank sides and I noticed a bunch of small white spiraling things on the glass. I saw them on the hermits too. It looks like they are Spirorbis maybe? Also there is some Coralline algae growing here and there in small tiny patches. The four blue-legged hermit crabs have shells fairly encrusted with it so perhaps as they bump around on the rocks it's helping to spread it. I thought I lost a hermit but it was just hiding in some of the new rock that has lots of tunnels.

 

[Vhuang168]

Look up vermitid snsils


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[Cymen]

Look up vermitid snsils

I might have the id wrong but they look more like this:

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/small-white-spiral-specks-stuck-on-sides-of-marine-tank-607876.html

Little tiny white specs on the sides of the tank mostly (maybe on rock too just can't see them). They are hard but I can crack/break them off with my finger nail without a lot of effort. They are so small I don't see as much detail as the image in that link has.

 

[Enderturtle]

Either some kind of feather duster or vermetid snails.

Not a problem. Just unsightly. Scrape them off if you don't like them.

 

[Cymen]

I'm excited to see life! I noticed extremely small organisms on the glass and realized the "dust" I thought was on the surface when turning on the light was a large population of them. I guess pods of some sort! Really cool to see.

I tested the water today and:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 8-15-ish?

Doing a water change today of 5 gallons.

 

[Cymen]

Also only minor surface algae on parts of glass that were uncleaned. So diatoms or whatever it was is gone. Everything looks clean. Seeing more purple Coralline algae. It's mostly growing on my DIY rock that I was planning on taking out. But I might leave in the piece with the most. Some needs to come out though as the tank is a bit over full of rock/unstable on one end.

 

[Flagg37]

Congratulations. Sounds like things are going great.

 

[Cymen]

I picked up a pair of Clownfish last Saturday. The larger one (maybe female if really a pair?) is plump and feisty. The smaller one looks like might be a tiny bit stunted or at least is a little skinnier than I'd like. The store recommend Mysis shrimp to fatten them up. They are eating the Spectrum pellets well but the Mysis isn't super hot yet. I tried feeding both at once and that helps. I'm feeding 1/4 of a cube every other day.

I debated doing the tank transfer method but I was concerned I'd make things worse and with a baby in an apartment there isn't a lot of space. I don't plan on getting any more fish so I crossed my fingers and went for it. Any tips on getting them to start chugging down the Mysis would be great .

The lights are on a 1-6pm cycle at the moment. There is one spec of Coralline algae on top of the new rock which seems like a good sign. The 5 hermits are still doing well. I forgot to ask for more shells though so I have to remember that next time I go to a shop.

Next thing I'm pondering is which coral to go for and when. I was thinking about 3 weeks if the fish do well. My SG is at 1.024 and I am slowly going up to 1.026 by just having the top off water at 1.026.

 

[Flagg37]

My clowns eat anything I put in the tank. Flakes, pellets, mysis, formula one and two, and they love prawn eggs. I've never had a problem with them eating.

 

[Cymen]

Water test today:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10-20 (hard to tell)

I'm slowly raising my salinity back up to 1.026 -- it went down while the tank was fallow to about 1.024. I'm using 1.026 top off water to do that which apparently takes around 9 days.

The Clownfish are both happy. I mixed a little garlic in a 1/4 cube of Mysis and a 1/4 of brine shrimp and fed it with a dropper instead of chucking in the 1/4 cube. That went much better and they ate the majority -- I stopped feeding when they stopped going for it. They are still chomping down the spectrum pellets. My plan is to feed frozen every other day and spectrum otherwise (although going to look for a good flake food too).

I have a small leak on one of the bulkheads. I replaced the bulkhead so it must be the part that 90 degree elbow that screws into the bulk head. Any reason not to use some teflon tape on that? It's a really slow drip so mostly a spot of salt creep but annoying all the same.

I'm seeing more more spots of Coralline algae pop up. All the hermits seem happy. I bumped the light schedule up to 10am-6pm.

What would you recommend for the first coral? I'm going to wait until I hit 1.026 and am stable at that for a week. So about 2.5-3 weeks out.

 

[Vhuang168]

I would start with some zoas. Find some that you like and buy a small frag. You don't have a lot of room so be judicious in picking what you put in the tank.


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[Cymen]

Zoas sound good.

Everything is going well. It's really fun to watch the Clownfish interact -- I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to get one fish the first time around. They are both eating well. The full-sized Mysis seem to be a bit big for their preference (particularly the smaller fish) however I'm working on feeding them that first while they are super hungry. With the longer light cycle and the increased nutrients, the tank is going through another mild algae bloom. The hermits are busy on it and I'll start lowering the amount of food I'm feeding if things don't get better. SG is up to 1.026 and I'll do a battery of tests tomorrow along with a water change.

 

[Flagg37]

That's all good to hear.

 

[ifarmer]

i think having a mix station near your boiler or hot furnace is not good. the salt evaporation can harm those copper pipes.