My 65 Progress

[Monza28]

Yes there is about a 2 inch deep aragonite sandbed.

[CarmieJo]

OK, let me make sure I understand. You had the sand and some base rock and then you added the cured rock. Before you added the cured rock you had ammonia but no NO2 or NO3. Two days after adding the rock you have no nutrients at all.

Since there was an existing ammonia challenge in the tank I think that this means the LR did its job and converted it. You could add a cocktail shrimp but since you already had ammonia I don't think it is necessary. I would probably add a tiny pinch of food every couple of days as a source of food for the bacteria and keep monitoring your tank. Give it the 3-4 weeks and as long as it remains stable I think you are good to go.

I used fully cured rock and sand from a tank that a guy in the area was tearing down and never saw a cycle. I doesn't always happen this way but it is not terribly uncommon.

[Monza28]

I really appreciate your help Carmie. And yes you understood what happened perfectly.

[CarmieJo]

Great! Keep us posted and don't rush into anything,

[Monza28]

Wanted to post an update and show a picture of the tank with the PC lighting.

My temperature is very stable between 79-80 deg F, is this a good temp or a little too high? I'm sure I can bring it down a lil by having a fan blow across the sump. But I would like to avoid speeding up my evaporation rate if its not necessary. Right now I'm topping off around a gal a day. What do you think?

[Budde]

That tank looks Great! I wish mine looked as clear as that one does.

[CarmieJo]

I agree with Josh, your tank looks crystal clear! Having the temperature stable at 79-80 should be just fine. However, if you keep your home warmer in the summer than in the winter like we do you may battle temperature problems then.

[Monza28]

the room is normally never hotter than 76 77f max even in summer

[CarmieJo]

You will probably be OK. Remember to keep an eye on it when the days start heating up. Here is an article Reefreaders - Beat The Summer Heat that may be helpful.

[Monza28]

Just an Update. My first aquisitions are in the QT, a pair of TR Perculas. I'm feeding them frozen brine shrimp. Is this a suitable diet for these guys? LFS said they are too small still for flake or pellet food. Sorry for the horrible pictures, but these guys are FAST. Better pics coming soon.

[Amphibious]

Another example of the LFS guy not giving accurate info! They are big enough for flake food because flake food is thinner than paper and when eaten it's volume is extremely small. Pellet food comes in several sizes and when soaked becomes soft and they probably can eat that, too. Frozen brine shrimp, on the other hand, has almost no food value and while feed by almost every hobbyist it should be fortified with Selcon or Zoecon before being feed. Get some flake food and some tiny pellet food and let the fish determine whether it's of suitable size. Frozen Mysis is better than frozen brine shrimp although I feed both after soaking to enrich them.

Dick

[Monza28]

Well in all fairness what the LFS told me was that at this size they tend to eat the pellet food then spit it back out. The reason I asked on here about what to feed them is because of what you said Amphibious, ive read frozen brine shrimp does not have much nutritional value. I'm going to look for Selcon or Zoecon, is there a type or brand of pellet or flake food that you recommend?

[CarmieJo]

I feed Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 and 2. My clowns love Hikari info : Hikari Tropical MARINE S pelleted food. I soak everything I feed in garlic and vitamins.

[Monza28]

I wanted to post some new pics for you guys. So far so good. I ended up adding a fan to my sump to keep the temps down. After a week of having it in operation I'm very happy with the results, temp is always between 78.0 and 79.0 degrees F. I'm having to top off about a gallon of RO water a day now as opposed to half that. The stock list is up to 2 electric blue leg hermits, 13-? blue leg hermits, 3 turbo snails, 2 percula clowns, a few mushrooms (freebies that came with the LR), zooanthids, metallic green star polyp, and I added a skunk cleaner shrimp yesterday.



I'll post more pictures including full tank shots later on today. So far I've found 3 blue leg hermit carcasses in the tank, I'm pretty sure they aren't molts. They were very vivid in color and didnt seem hollow. They are either dying or the electric blue legs are predating on them.

[Monza28]

I want to gather opinions on how long to run my lights for. Lighting is coralife PC fixture with 1 96w full spectrum 1 96 watt actinic. So far I've been sticking to the suggestion in Robert Fenner's book of 14 hrs on the actinic and 12 hrs on the full spectrum. Any suggestions? My LFS recommends 13-14hrs of actinic and 8hrs of full spectrum. Tank is 24" tall, I intend to keep soft and LPS corals.

[pvtdonut]

Originally Posted by CarmieJo

I feed Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 and 2. My clowns love Hikari info : Hikari Tropical MARINE S pelleted food. I soak everything I feed in garlic and vitamins.

i have this stuff too for my fish. they go CRAZY over it. not just the clowns...but the tang as well.

[CarmieJo]

I run my PC's on my nano 8 hours a day. My Solaris is on a sun cycle with. In the dead of winter the lights were on for about 11 hours including the sunrise and sunset. At the height