55G reef and fish tank Journey

[paranoid006]

Hello guys!

I have been a member of this board for a couple of months, but havent shown my tank before.

2 weeks ago I set my first tank, for the same period of time it has been cycling. In it I want to keep LPS, SPS and fishes.

Characteristics:

DT: 37.8" x 16.9" x 19.7"
sump: 24" x 14" x 16"
LR: 66 lbs
Bed: less than 1" of live aragonite
Skimmer: DYI (havent finished it yet)
lightning: 4 T5HO 39W(2 actinics 460 nm, 2-20,000k)
2-Koralias #3 powerheads.
2-1 1/2" outflows (on the sides)
1-1" inflow (at the center)

I have only checked Nitrites once per week and they are <0.3 ppm. I havent got the test for Nitrates.

I will be bothering you will lots of questions, I hope you can help me.

 

[paranoid006]

Some pictures of the DT

 

[paranoid006]

Sump (ignore the skimmer, it doesnt work)

Here is where I am going to set the algae scrubber

 

[paranoid006]

Ok. first questions:

My LR came with a lot of small shrimps, there are like 30 of them in the tank, they are not bigger than 8 mm.

Is it ok to keep them? or are they baby mantis shrimp and I should remove them?

 

[paranoid006]

Please help me ID this organism (it is in the middle of the picture, on the glass behind the rocks), there are like 4 or 5 of them and they only come out at nights.

what are those things? should I keep them?

 

[GreatWhiteShark]

Very nice setup!! Not sure about the hitchhiker ID. Hard to tell from those pics. Anyway, good luck, I look forward to monitoring your progress.

 

[kospaintball]

from the pic i would say amphipod? or a very small juvi bristle worm

 

[kospaintball]

and in the back on the glass it looks like a limpet snail

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Limpets*

does it look like this?

 

[WVUReefer]

it's an amphipod..You'll have tons..make great fish snacks..I really like your aquascape..I can honestly say I have not seen that done before..congrats to you for uniqueness..But when the glass on the sides of the tank start to cloud with algae how do you clean it with the rock against it?..

 

[1Reefer]

Looks good! +1 amphipod for sure and that scape is very nice I like

 

[r2d2]

Very nice, clean and well done setup.
Those are pods, very good for fish, be sure to keep them.

Greetings

 

[paranoid006]

Very nice setup!! Not sure about the hitchhiker ID. Hard to tell from those pics. Anyway, good luck, I look forward to monitoring your progress.

Thanks GWShark I have been reading your progress too, I have learnt very good things with your experiences.

 

[paranoid006]

Thanks for the comments guys,
I googled it, looked a picture and now I am sure they are amphipods, it seems that today I learned something new.

 

[paranoid006]

and in the back on the glass it looks like a limpet snail

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Limpets*

does it look like this?

Their behavior description @ reefcleaners.org matches with what I have seen from them, they are always on the rocks and during nights they are on the glasses. I will try to take a better picture later this week to see if we can ID them.

 

[paranoid006]

it's an amphipod..You'll have tons..make great fish snacks..I really like your aquascape..I can honestly say I have not seen that done before..congrats to you for uniqueness..But when the glass on the sides of the tank start to cloud with algae how do you clean it with the rock against it?..

Thanks, the aquascape was done in this way to cover the piping that is inside the tank (I have to put it inside because I dont have space behind the tank, the tank is only 17" of width)

That's a good question, before setting my tank I read that we should keep some space to clean the glass on the sides of the tank...when I covered the piping I wasnt able to keep that space. Eventually I will modify the aquascapping to clean the glasses but I will try to keep the piping covered.

 

[paranoid006]

-Deleted- double post

 

[paranoid006]

and in the back on the glass it looks like a limpet snail

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Limpets*

does it look like this?

Tonight I was able to take a better shot of it. It is in the middle of the picture on the rocks. I am not sure it looks like a limpet snail.

 

[Eric]

Not sure on the ID but that is a beautiful setup and I like the rock work always nice to see something different.

 

[bennyd]

That is a Fuzzy Chiton.

 

[paranoid006]

That is a Fuzzy Chiton.

Thanks!
is it reef safe? I googled it and it seems so.