reef-fisher Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I think you should be fine adding a couple hermits and snails. For fish, personally, I would stay away from the gramma. I had a bad experience with one of those guys and have read they can be very territorial, especially in a smaller tank. Gobys and clowns are always fun to watch:D Nice progress too! Keep it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 I think you should be fine adding a couple hermits and snails. For fish, personally, I would stay away from the gramma. I had a bad experience with one of those guys and have read they can be very territorial, especially in a smaller tank. Gobys and clowns are always fun to watch:D Nice progress too! Keep it up. Thanks, and thanks for the warning about the gramma. I was trying to find one more fish to add. Of course, three may be enough anyway. Parameters are holding steady, and I do have some green algae forming. What was little, nearly clear threads yesterday morning were clearly little green threads, starting to branch out today. -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 The hermits should help out with the hair algae. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 $935 Which ends up being about 1/2 off my total system hardware cost. But it uses about half the electricity of an equivalent MH, and should last for 10 years before the light degrades (would need to replace the MH bulb every 9-12 months at ~$50 a pop for a quality bulb), so that helps offset some of the cost. Plus it is much more flexible, with the timer controls and ability to adjust the color temp and light intensity. -Darrell rofl you honestly think you'll last 10 years with a 20 gallon....I bet within a year it'll be your kids totally awsome night light and you'll have a 120.....well maybe not that big but you see my point if you like it it is very hard to stay small, I must say though I am impressed.if its been a couple weeks I'd add alittle something like a zoo frag or some of those hermits( they tend to pick at things if theres not enough for them to eat) you want their hardier. plan out the tank as best as you can especially for growth...you'll be happy you did later also heres alink about a newer mh bulb review and timelines if you do go bigger http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/ac/index.php also if you ever make it down this way I'll hook you up with some zoos and xenia.. in that size tank with xenia you'll have to get used to pruning it. do you have prior salt history? hope all is going well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 rofl you honestly think you'll last 10 years with a 20 gallon....I bet within a year it'll be your kids totally awsome night light and you'll have a 120 You may be right! But I think it will be 4 or 5 years before I upgrade. By then, who know what we will have for lights, probably mini-fission suns of our own (to go with the flying cars we are all supposed to have by now). do you have prior salt history? hope all is going well. Some, I had a 5 gallon with dwarf seahorses for a couple of years, and a 20 gallon fish-only about 20 years ago, but never a reef. I've had freshwater tanks virtually my entire life. -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 You may be right! But I think it will be 4 or 5 years before I upgrade. You've talked to Trever, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 You've talked to Trever' date=' right? [/quote'] Yes, but his kids won't be going to college in the next few years :eek:. -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I hear that. My planned upgrade is taking a backseat to forthcoming college tuition... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I hear that. My planned upgrade is taking a backseat to forthcoming college tuition... The world needs ditchdiggers too. Put the $$ into the tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 wow michael wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 wow michael wow. Hey I'm a ditchdigger! I need new co-workers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 Quick update. Went to Soutas on Saturday, and picked up some livestock: 2 hermits 3 nassarius snails 4 trochus snails (2 banded, 2 others) 1 emerald crab 2 zoa colonies Also ended up with two micro-star hitchhikers. The crabs got immediately busy, the nassarius dug into the sand and have not been seen since. The trochus are cruising around and cleaning up as well. One of the zoas is, I believe "nuclear green", the other is some kind of orange. They really glow under the moonlights. All parameters continue to be stable. Rick @ Soutas said I should be testing calcium and hardness. My calcium was a bit low (350 or so), but my dKH was a bit high (15). I dosed some calcium, I assume the hardness will come down on its own? Anyway, a few pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Beautiful stuff, good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 looking good....nice picks there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 At 15, the alk is crazy-high. Are you sure you measured it correctly? It's very difficult to imagine it getting that high without a carbonate dosing error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 At 15' date=' the alk is crazy-high. Are you sure you measured it correctly? It's very difficult to imagine it getting that high without a carbonate dosing error.[/quote'] Yeah I just saw that too. That seems extremely high like Andy said. Test again. Maybe even take some water to a LFS to check with their test kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 Yeah I just saw that too. That seems extremely high like Andy said. Test again. Maybe even take some water to a LFS to check with their test kits. I'll check it again today. The target range is 11-13, right? So I was surprised to see it over, but didn't think it was that out of whack. I did have to use my toes to count the drops, so maybe I mis-counted . -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 8 - 11 IME. Some SPS aficionados crank it to 12, but I think that's overkill in most cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 OK, I re-tested, and my dKH is 12 (or 13, 12 was mostly yellow, but some hint of green, 13 was clearly yellow). I'll either mix up a fresh batch of water to test, or pick up a new test kit. My calcium has also dropped from 360 to 340. I added a small amount of calcium on Sunday, and added twice the amount today, so we will see where that goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 sorry you are having such an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 OK, I mixed up a new batch of water and tested the dKH, I got 9, which seems reasonable. So I think my test kit/method is OK. Tested the tank water again, and got 12/13. The only thing I can think of is that the original fill was using some old IO salt, but I would suspect that in a low dKH problem (not dissolving) over being too high. At this level, should I worry about trying to lower the dKH? The sheet that Soutas gave me suggested the range should be 11-13, which is higher than others here are recommending. If I should lower it, is carbonated water the best way? Other than that, all of the new livestock seems happy. The crabs and snails are busy cleaning up the diatoms and GHA, though I wish they would do it in a more systematic fashion, rather than randomly here and there . pH is staying steady at 8.2, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate continue to be undetectable. If everything remains steady, I may add a fish or two this weekend. -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Your dKH should be fine and come down with time. It might be high because of the new sand and rock. Or maybe you had a point when you had a low pH and it brought the alk out of the rock. It could be the salt you used. I doubt it will stay high on it's own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidalsculpin Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 BTW: What sand did you use? It is attractive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 BTW: What sand did you use? It is attractive. Thanks! It is Nature's Ocean Bio-Activ Live® Aragonite Black Beach Sand. -Darrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrellw Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 A few new pictures. Friday I picked up two new zoas and a GSP from Waves, then on Saturday I got two clowns (forgot to ask if they were percs or ocellaris), a yellow clown goby and a banded coral shrimp, all from Upscales. All parameters remain stable, with dKH still on the high side (13). The clean up crew is making good progress on the hair algae, just a few bits still around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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