Tori's First Marine Expedition!! nano style!

[lcstorc]

With a system that small it could be just about anything. You are going to need to stay on top of it with very regular water changes.

[leahski]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

With a system that small it could be just about anything. You are going to need to stay on top of it with very regular water changes.

i have been doing regular water changes. usually every 7 days, once it stretched to 10...but that's not exactly irregular. i think i'm going to be doing a 25-50% WC every 5 days until the nitrates are down, and keep vaccuming the substrate.
btw, just to make sure (again!), i'm not taking out all of my good bacterias by vaccuming the substrate, am i? it's only about a 2" sandbed, so there's nothing anaerobic to disturb...

[djbacon]

nice tank :-)

[jsindorf]

Ok...
when your submersible light comes in, set up the fuge and see what that does

unless someone with some actual experience in this line of questioning has some other idea based on something that has worked for them in the past!

[leahski]

so, an update at long last!
nitrates are still hanging around 15-20ppm. but i picked up some chaeto and my submerssible light came in so the fuge should be up and running tomorrow which should help.

i also just got some new frags! first corals!!!
I have:
1 small rock of star polyps
1 palythoa polyp that is kind of brown with a cool green center
1 small and 1 medium rock of brown zoas with pinkish/green centers (about 10 polyps total)
1 small rock with about 5 polyps of cute pink zoas
1 rock with about ten small zoos (only three have opened of those so far...and they are greenish/pinkish)
and about 6 yellow polyps.
right now they are sitting on my substrate waiting to be glued into the perfect place. now, all of these are photosynthetic, right? but they do have mouths...do i need to be dosing/feeding anything?

i'll get some updated pics up tomorrow!

[leahski]

okay, it's picture time. (although i still haven't mastered the art of nano picture taking...they're almost always blurry...)

My yellow polyps (on the substrate)

My star polyps and one rock of brownish zoos (on the substrate)

a fairly large rock for just three polyps...


yellow polyps sitting on the rock (not glued yet, i'm seeing if they like it there)

a larger view of the rock that now has yellow polyps and my star polyps (i couldn't wait for them to open!

This is where my pink zoos and the more plentiful brown zoo (w/aptasia) now live. pink is directly in front of the coral skeleton, brown are on the edge.

close up of brown rock (not open yet)

my large brown paly with my little brown zoos


new FTS

[blue_eyes53813]

Tank Looks great Tori, As far as the nitrates it is hard to tell, Seems like you are doing all that you should be. I wouldnt Vaccuum the substrate to much though, and yes you can vaccuum out alot of the good bacteria. I would only vaccuum the top 1/4 inch once a month.

[jsindorf]

very nice start
looking great
the yellow polyps are beautiful

[leahski]

aren't they great? they're my favorite. 2nd place goes to the star polyps and 3rd to my adorable pinkies!

it won't belong before it starts looking more like a reef!

[jadefox]

Just checking in, as it's been a while. Looks good!

[leahski]

yeah, it has. stay posted, i'm supergluing more frags tonight and getting pics up of my new fuge.

[Frankie]

Looking good Tori. I like the neatness of the wiring job.

[jsindorf]

yeah... the power panel rocks

[leahski]

Originally Posted by Frankie

Looking good Tori. I like the neatness of the wiring job.

Me too!! trust me, if it was my doing they would all be tied up with twity ties if that! my dad did the power panel!

well, for an update, i got the rest of the frags glued down. it took some a couple trys, but i think i started getting the hang of it on the last one! the yellow polyps, palythoa, and brown zoas have moved. otherwise, everything else is the same.
i'll get new pics up tomorrow probably.

the plan right now is to wait two weeks (hopefully get nitrates to 0) and then add the pulsing xenia stalk that's waiting for me.

oh, and i'm slowly forming a stocking list. right now i'm thinking:
Fish:
an orange firefish
either a catalina or blue neon goby. or yellow watchman goby. (this will be added after 6months or so, once the tank is more mature.)

Inverts:
CUC
3 sexy shrimp? (i saw some today at the LFS and they're ADORABLE!!!)
feather dusters

corals:
shrooms
ricordia florida, yuma
more zoas
pulsing xenia
toadstool leather
Kenya tree?
i'm considering a favia sp.
also considering a fungia sp.

of course this will probably change again...but if you see any problems/concerns with my proposed list, let me know!

[leahski]

oh, silly me, i forgot to add that i sucessfully used joe's juice for the first time! i admit i was a little intimidated by it at first!
The stuff is amazing! i think i pretty much did everything wrong and it still worked perfectly. i forgot to turn off the pumps, sprayed a bit into the water column before getting down to the aptasia, scared it back into its hole, and still managed to get a good cover of juice on the thing. when the juice leaked into the water my yellow polyps got the blunt of it and closed immediately. i was afraid for them, but they're looking better than ever!

joes juice rocks!! bye bye aptasia!