A 55G link in the Golden Chain

[Dentoid]

Is that all we get?

[goldenmean]

Is that all we get?

LOL
Sorry I was having a rather busy evening.
Lamb was on the grill and spelt cooking(it cooks like risotto) on the stove top all while performing tests on the 55g and doing a water change on the nano. Hardly a calgon take me away day - just a busy eve.

Anyway I am happy that the ammonia is down to zero and I hope it stays there. With N02 and NO3 so high should I do a water change?
Or would it be best to let the bacteria do its job?

Cool Discovery of the Day.
One of my LR has a set of tentacles coming out of it - again just when light are out. Brittle Star but rather large. I can see a good 2 inches of tentacles reaching out of his hole in the rock. I have tons of brittle stars in the nano but they are all really small.

I got a good look at my first Gorilla crab this morning too. He was out of his burrow eating algae off of his rock. Really cute and smaller than a dime. I have made a trap but haven't placed it yet.

There Scott is that better?

[goldenmean]

This Mornings test:
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite .75
Nitrate 50

Nitrite has dropped some which is good.
Should I do a water change this eve or let the trites and trates cycle down on their own?
Anyone?

[Dentoid]

Ahhhhh! Much better! I'm surprised that your nitrates are that high, so soon. Are you putting any kind of food in there? I would do a WC just because of that!

[goldenmean]

Nope.
No food at all.
I did get a Donkey Dung cucumber as a HH in my LS in Part 1.
He has been on a rock for several days now abd This evening I checked him out and he was as hard as a rock si He did not survive the cycle. I removed his body. I would have thought that would have given me a higher ammonia levels. My highest ammonia level (ignoring the .8 that the bad IO test always gave me) was .5

tonights test
Ammonia Elos - 0 - maybe just above 0 but not quite .05
FasTest - 0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 75

Have I said that I hate the color chart tests that are just shades of the same color?
I do!

[Dentoid]

Yeah, the color charts are kind of subjective. For me they are more of an indicator of what range you are in rather than an exact number.

I got a Donkey Dung cucumber with my first shipment too and it was in the LS. I never saw it again after I dumped it in the tank that fateful, first day.

[goldenmean]

Thanks again Scott.
I did ~ 20% WC this eve and I will see how the trites and trates are tomorrow. I can do aother WC if necessary.
May I say that WC are a lot easier and quicker on the nano.

AS for the high NO2/NO3 there are 3 sponges in my system but In less than a week I didn't think they would become Trate factories -especially since I have introduced no food

My Mag 9.5 came with a big sponge on the intake which I had left on.
I removed it this evening.

My Lifereef overflow also has a sponge where the water enters the drain.
I cleaned it well last night. All that was really there was reminents from the sand storm. If I remove it the overflow is much louder and gurgling so I do not want to have to get rid of this one.

The Tunze skimmer also has a blue sponge on the water outlet (you can see it in the pic of the sump in post #1 along with the MAG 9.5 sponge). This sponge is to remove microbubles from the water as it leaves the skimmer. I could probably remove this sponge too as the outlet pipe is about 8 nches strait up and i do have the bubble trap in the sump.

I also have a filter sock in the sump but I do not plan on using that all the time and I had actually removed it from the system after a few days running and the water had cleared up from adding the substrate.

[goldenmean]

Well not having the big sponge on the mag9.5 was giving me micro bubbles in the display and they would collect on the front of the tank.
The sponge is back on the return pump.

The morning after the 20% WC (Saturday):
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 10

This morning (Sunday):
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 10

I set up the auto top off unit this afternoon,
cleaned the overflow sponge, and did another 10%WC for the fun of it!

Since I am not going to get part 2 of my TBS rock and cuc for about 3 more weeks - after I get back from a little trip to Toronto I decided I need to get a few hermits and snails. I did take 3 of my largest hermits with the biggest attitudes from the nano and acclimated them into the 55. The rock did come with some red and some green hair algae. These hermits have become pigs!! Two of them cut a good path thru the red hair algae patch in just a couple of hours and now they are all working on the green.

I just skewered my first two Gorilla crabs.
They are soooo cute.
Not good for a reef.
Make that three crabs. This one was on the sand about 30 minutes after lights out and I just picked him up with chop sticks (aka the hands of god)

[goldenmean]

I owe a couple Cool Discoveries of the Day:

I think this may be some type of sponge but I dont really know.
I love its use of the goldenmean in its shape


This little guy was swimming around the other day.
Looks like some type of shrimp
1/4 inch in size. mysis?

[goldenmean]

It has been 10 day since the TBS rock was added
Here are a few pics:

The book above the tank is."Little Nemo in SlumberLand" which was a
Sunday Comic Strip from 1905-1910 by Windsor McCay.
IMO the most amazing comic strip ever!


The 3 hermits that I moved from the nano have really done a number on the hair algae that came on this rock. They are not done yet but they are working hard.

Todays test results
After 10% WC yesterday:
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

I have a good sized gorilla crab living in the rock on the far left.
He is the one that has done the extensive excavation underneath it and I have caught a glimps of him in some of the holes in the rock. He has quite the cavernous system in that rock.
I have tried 3 times to spear him but no luck yet. I need a second spear. I can block off his escape from a hole above where I see him. I tried it once and blocked his escape and forced him out onto the rock but i did not have the second spear so when I removed the spear I had, he escaped back into his rock. Next time!

[bluespotjawfish]

Happy crab hunting!

[hma]

.... after a successful hunt ...





Good luck !

[Dentoid]

You're moving along nicely with this tank! Good luck getting the Gorillas!

Heinz, those German crabs are as ugly as their American counter parts!

[hma]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

You're moving along nicely with this tank! Good luck getting the Gorillas!

Heinz, those German crabs are as ugly as their American counter parts!

Yepp .... but this is a BAD and ugly GERMAN crab ..lol

[goldenmean]

HAAA HA!

I got another another crab last night!
I don't know if he was the same one I tried stabbing 3 times yesterday or not but he was on the outside of that same rock. I use a 12" wooden kitchen skewer to spear them. I have made a trap out of a plastic water bottle but it is so much more fun to spear them

Hienz - that is one mean looking BIG crab.
The crabs I have been dealing wioth are more like the little one in the glass underneath the monster