Tori's First Marine Expedition!! nano style!

[leahski]

well hi there. 18 years over due, i have finally begun my first venture into the land of saltwater aquariums! yay! but after my beloved spiny eel and the rest of my freshwater tank died (my filter cut out mysteriously while i was on vacation and it was in my parent's care), i figured it was time. so i picked me up a size 8 biocube and got to work!
so far my tank contains....
three lovely handselected chunks of liverock
a nice bottom of coarse live sand...stuff.
a cool blueish-green mushroom that hitched a ride on my favorite liverock! (he glows this great neon color when my moon lights are on!)
three hitchhiking starfish (still waiting to see whether these are evil or not...)
and thier offspring - so far eight tiny (about a cm long) blueish starfish that i have tweezered off. if they are the coral eaters, i'm not taking any chances!

well, my tank is now one day old! and going strong! hehe. and i'm officially addicted. curses on the man who sold me these rocks. he will forever recieve my paychecks!

i'll have pictures up once i find my camera cord....

[goldenmean]

All right!
Did you find that camera cord yet!
We love pics.

[boozeman]

very cool !!!

the fun part of setting up is discovering all those neat lil hitchikers !!

[lcstorc]

Welcome to RS!
Can you describe the stars? They are likely to be micro brittle stars which are harmless and help with your cleanup crew. They will likely not make it through the cycle anyway so don't worry about it.
Sounds like you are ready to start cycling. Throw a piece of shrimp from the deli in a piece of old pantyhose and leave it there to rot. This will provide the amonia source you need to get the cycle going. Then test, test, and test some more until you are ready to go.

[Dentoid]

Tori! Welcome to the Sanctuary. Looking forward to the growth and development of your little nano! Have fun!

[BigAl07]

Hello and WELCOME to the REEF. It's a GREAT place to be.

You've been given some great advice. All I want to add right now is you're about to start the challenge of your life.. finding "Patience" like you've never thought of before. It's so difficult to wait and be patient in the stocking of your tank but trust me... it's well worth the wait... you and your tank will benefit from the waiting as will your wallet.

Once again Welcome to the REEF!!

[leahski]

thanks for the welcome! well, i'm still searching for the cord...but i think i can get some pics up tonight.
some people i talked to said that the blue asteria stars are untrustworthy, so i've been keeping my eye out for them, but i'm keeping the cool white ones. OOH! and i have a new little red think comming up...i want to say it's a mushroom as it looks to be the same basic shape as my existing one...but i don't really know. and i have tiny feather duster worms everywhere! this is probably not at all exciting for all of you old timers, but i'm in love!

okay, this is probably a stupid newbie question, but i thought the live rock cycled the tank by itself? do i really need to let something rot in there? sounds pretty gross.

[leahski]

Picture time!

[leahski]

pictures? goodness, this picture upload is harder than i thought!

1 and 2 - whole tank.
3 - my mini shroom (the red one on the right) and one of the evil blue starfish (blue thing on the left)
4 - tanish asteria star hitch hiker.

[leahski]

alright, quick question.
i've been turning my lights off at night and turning them on in the morning, like i was told. but i heard that i should put them on a timer and i was wondering what kind of schedule to set? does it matter more what time it turns on and off or how many hours its on? and what does it harm if they're on too long?

i'm thinking right now i don't have a whole lot to mess with, but i'd like to get it figured out. i'm thinking of getting a cheap damsel soon to help cycling. is that a good idea?

[Dentoid]

Tori, please don't use a live fish for cycling! Get a piece of shrimp from the fresh seafood counter at your local grocery store, put it in a nylon bag (pantyhose) and throw it in the tank. The rotting shrimp will provide all the ammonia your tank needs to get the cycle going.

As for the lights. In the early stages you may want a shorter photoperiod to avoid the growth of hair algae and cyanbacteria. The photoperiod of your tank is at your descretion. I look at it this way. In a 24 hour period there is 8 hours of bright light, 8 hours of darkness and 8 hours of the times inbetween (dusk and dawn). The bright light period could be MH and actinics together. The dusk and dawn period could be actinics only and the darkness period could be LED moonlights. A timer will give you more autonomy.

[DrHank]

Welcome! One day and addicted. That's what I like to hear. Listen to Lynn and Scott. They know what they are doing and we will all be happy to step you through your questions. You've taken on a big task. Nanos are one of the hardest to keep because water volume is so small and can change very quickly. Usually not for the best.

I'm sure we have plenty of nano tank experts that can steer you in the right direction. Again, good luck and welcome.

[leahski]

okay, no live fish. got it.
how long do you leave a rotting piece of seafood in there? till it falls apart? probably not for the whole cycle, right?

thanks for the light advice, scott. very helpful!

[lcstorc]

Leave the shrimp in there for several days until you have a decent amount of amonia in the tank. Then you can remove it. The shrimp is what starts the cycle. Then you watch with your test kits as the cycle continues.

[leahski]

okay, that makes sense.

so, when i bought my rocks the guy at the lfs was talking to me about hitchhikers and told me that i would probably face fireworms, so when i saw some redish worm-shaped things sticking out of holes, i just assumed that they were fireworms. then i did some research and found out that fireworms have white bristles, which mine don't at all. they're dark red with black stripes maybe and they appear somewhat hairy. is it possible that it's a brittle star and not worms at all?
i've heard that some of them are really good for clean-up and some can kill fish. which ones are evil?

i'll try to get a picture, but they stick out maybe half an inch and are really thin, so i don't know if they'll show up.