20H Nano tank Just started

[Lenny718]

A raw shrimp would be better but I suppose a cooked one will still feed the bacteria in the tank so you should be good.

 

[Gene0514]

I just ordered a new hood.
Its a 24" 2x36W Power Compact Coralife Aqualight for $45.00 shipped :thrash::thrash::thrash::thrash:
Its a Black Friday deal on Hellolights.com
They have so many good deals right now.
Everyone Jump On Them!!!!!!

 

[Gene0514]

I am getting some diatom growth on my live rock and faintly on my sand.

Is this red coraline?

And what is this? They are pinkish almost slimy patches that were there when I got the rock.

 

[Gene0514]

Here are some better pics of the unknown algaes

And here are a couple of pic of the tank

 

[Gene0514]

I cam back from Saltwatercity a little over an hour ago with 1 more lb of live rock. Thanks Lenny! This rock is uncured so it is covered in coralline.

Here is a FTS after adding the rock

Here is a close-up of the new rock which shows how much coralline is on it

 

[NYreefNoob]

gene just sit back and take it slow, will turn out better and cost you less in the long run, i would have only added 1 piece of raw shrimp from the start, dont keep adding food while it is cycling, it will continue to cycle, usually rule of thumb is it takes around a month to cycle a tank, just dont keep adding stuff to the tank in the mean time

 

[Gene0514]

A little off topic, but could anyone identify this fish? I saw it while snorkeling in St. Thomas. The water is crystal clear there.

The fish

The area where I was snorkeling. There was a huge variety of fish there.

 

[Gene0514]

gene just sit back and take it slow, will turn out better and cost you less in the long run, i would have only added 1 piece of raw shrimp from the start, dont keep adding food while it is cycling, it will continue to cycle, usually rule of thumb is it takes around a month to cycle a tank, just dont keep adding stuff to the tank in the mean time

thanks for the reply

but I'm a little confused here. Some sites say that you don't need to add anything to cycle and that just the die-off will fuel the cycle. Some say to ad shrimp. And some say to add food. Which one do I do? Curently my tank has 0.25 ammonia.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

That would be a Sgt Major Damsel.

 

[h20 freak]

Well what do you have going now?

If I had to do it all over again I would start with a bunch of uncured LR and let the die off be my cycle.

That is a Sgt. Major damsel, I've been all over the Caribbean(including St. Thomas and nearby St. John),their always there when I go in the water, and I see them in alot of snorkeling pics but I rarely see them in stores.Go figure.

 

[Gene0514]

Cool, there were so many fish that people keep in home aquaria. I remember seeing Big Eye Black Bar Soldierfish (thats the only fish I have a definite ID on) and many of those damsels. I didn't know what a bristleworm was so I have a picture of me holding a 4-5 inch bristleworm in my bare hands. After that I felt a slight stinging on one small spot on my hand for a little while and it disappeared soon after. I guess I was lucky lol.

 

[Gene0514]

Well what do you have going now?

If I had to do it all over again I would start with a bunch of uncured LR and let the die off be my cycle.

That is a Sgt. Major damsel, I've been all over the Caribbean(including St. Thomas and nearby St. John),their always there when I go in the water, and I see them in alot of snorkeling pics but I rarely see them in stores.Go figure.

Well right now I am adding a pinch of fish food occasionally and today I added a pound of uncured LR. I originally bought cured live rock because I thought it would cycle faster with cured.

 

[Lenny718]

Stop feeding the tank. The uncured rock and the cocktail shrimp you had is all you need for that size tank. Let the cycle do its thing and just sit back and relax

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Take out the shrimp too. There is enough in there.

 

[Gene0514]

ok, I'll just leave it alone

I took out the shrimp in the morning today and didn't add any fish food for 2 days.

I'm thinking about what the stocking of my tank is gonna be.
I was thinking of having 10 snails and 5 hermits for a CUC.
For fish I was thinking of having either 2 yellow-tail blue damsels or 2 clownfish, a green clown goby, and a firefish. Would that be fine?

 

[Gene0514]

Just checked my ammonia. Its at 0!

 

[Gene0514]

Just checked nitrite. Its at 0!!

 

[Gene0514]

Can someone tell me how many nitrates this is?

I think its between 0 and 5

LR

Diatom algae on LS

 

[Gene0514]

Started a cleaner crew. I got 2 Turbo snails and 1 cerith snail. I also got a scarlet reef hermit crab. Thanks again Lenny!

Little hitch hikers started to appear. I already found a tiny segmented worm and a little white invertabrate.

 

[Gene0514]

The little white invertabrate turned out to be a pod! Its crawling in and out of the holes in the rock.

Edit: There are baby pods all around on my front glass!!!

Edit Again: They're all over the whole tank!!!! (mostly on the glass)