BioCube 29
 

My first ever tank, started about 11am pst today. A used tank and bits, cleaned as much as I could before Snaz came over and and showed me what all the bits are for!
http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/new1.JPG

Put up the stand, guess what? it was a level.

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/stand1.JPG


Learnt how to make a proper saline mix, and how to read the solution with the refractometer, do I need a chemistry degree to set up a tank!!? Great fun my house is in an uproar,Snaz comes with a 3yr. old, now we have a tank that has 30lbs of live rock (thanks M109R) a heater, pumps etc.,


http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/Murky.JPG

A good start
 

"From beneath the beginnings of murky water will soon come a moment of clarity."

Here's to your first tank Mum and if you need a hand, you know my number. Big hug.
Keith.

Hey TINE WELcome to canreef........

very nice!

is it clear yet?!?

just wait until you have 6 test tubes lined up next to 6 test kits, then it really feels like chemistry class!

Thank you so much for the rocks.

Tank was mostly clear when I got up this morning,( temp 79° sal. 1.024. ) so I believe all is well so far. (no leaks, my biggest fear) About 2pm it was perfectly clear, so what did we do? Started to play around moving the rocks, so here we are back to a murky tank.

Yes I do have the kits, Snaz made be buy everything I need, it has been awhile since I had to do any tests needing a tube! We will soon get into a routine of testing I am sure.

Just looked over and the tank is almost clear again, I can't say that we did a very good job placing the the rocks, I am sure Snaz will have an opinion when he comes over monday evening.

I will post more photos as I go along.

Hey Mum. The filter floss we layed over the eggcrate is too much, as per this link we really only need a small wad of floss at the first half where it overflows. The idea I guess is if the floss gets too gunked up the water will begin to flow over the last half and the level of the display will not get too high and worrisome!

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...&#entry2196117
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...t/100_0232.jpg

Thanks for the tip Snaz.
OK, some of the floss is out. the old stuff needed to be changed any way.

Welcome to Canreef Tine!!

Congrats on your new tank set up! I have the same one in my office. What a nice son you have to help you get started!! I am still at the learning stage as well but it has been a lot of fun for my husband and I. We have had a few mishaps but all part of the learning curve. Good luck to you!!!

Sharon

Thanks for all the congratulations and best wishes, what a great site this is, I have been reading threads for weeks, trying to understand and learn. Kissmywrasse, hope we can exchange ideas as you have the same type of tank, let me know how long yours has been running and what you are keeping.

Christine

I wish my parents would get into reef keeping. They've got a pretty nice 55 gallon that I gave them. Initially it was a planted community tank. Now they want Goldfish :S

So, so sad!

Get them a beta bowl and reclaim your tank!

Christine

Sounds like my parents. My mom keeps one of the nicest fancy Goldfish tanks I have ever seen. I mean this thing is spotless. I have been trying to talk her in to getting one of the all in one nano tanks like a Biocube, RSM or JBJ. I even told her I would set it up at my place and keep it for 6 months untill everything is stable and then move it to their place but so far she he hasn't bitten.

Good luck with your Biocube Tine. I have the exact same tank which has been set up for about a month. I moved everything over from a 20 gallon hexagon tank and so far everything is progressing nicely except for the hair algae outbreak which is pretty normal for a new tank.

When my son came over last night he quite liked our aquascape, but, some of the rock was touching the glass. We tore it all down and tried to duplicate what we had. The tank does not look as good as it did, so we will try again tonight.
Snaz did find some life, there are at least 2 sun dial snails, not good, feather dusters, good, a slug, yet to be identified, and a hermit crab (black legged??) good?.

We did some more chemistry, here is what we discovered. Ammonia 0.1,
Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Ph 8.1. Temp constant 79°. Looking good so far. Snaz says we have to get some ammonia in there to get the tank going. Any ideas?

The tank looks pretty with out any thing added, find my self looking at it through out the day, I know ,I know it will look so much better when things start growing!!

The rock was well cured and it can probably support some fish but I thought a piece of dead shrimp or something first to ensure the system can break down waste. Any thoughts?

So what are planning on putting in your wee box.....of glass?:mrgreen:

[So what are planning on putting in your wee box.....of glass?]

Well, the more I read, the more I want, would need a 500g to house all I would like. I love the pics that others have posted, but they create such envy!

A mixed tank, me thinks, as much as I can get away with, safely!:biggrin:

Can you help with the ammonia question?

Christine

Raw table shrimp should def kick start the process....or you could ghost feed the tank with mysis. Either way just make sure your Ammonia and nitrites are zero and your nitrates are say less than 10 before you add anything....and add slowly.

hitch hiker
 

Our tank is doing very well, a couple of days after the raw shrimp was added, we had a spike in ammonia, now it is returned to zero. We will not be adding the cuc until we get back from holidays at the end of May.
However we have a strange hitch hiker, it finally came out of the hole it was hiding this morning, it appears to be a brown worm (slug) about an inch plus long, 1/4 wide, when it was hiding it would extend branched tentacles.
Can someone give me an idea what it is, please? Tried to get a photo but by the time I got my camera it was gone!

Here is a nice resource for Identifing hitch hikers:
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchodds.html

Scroll down to SYNAPTID SEA CUCUMBER (medussa worms) I think that is what you have.

I looked at the cucumbers, but the one in the tank has finer and branched tentacles.

Like this?
http://www.divegallery.com/sea_cucumber.htm

http://www.divegallery.com/sea_cucumber.jpg

Congrats on your first tank! Welcome to the addiction! Err, hobby! ;)

Try Googling "spaghetti worm" for your critter ID. They come in reddish, brownish, cream, etc.

Thanks for the welcome. I must say it does look like a cross between the cucumbers and the spaghetti worms. I just want to know if it is bad or good, as it will be much easier to catch now while the tank is empty. I'll keep you posted.

Both are good. :razz:

Tanks comming along just fine.
Here is another link to hitchhikers
http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

Hey! When do we get picture's?

+1....we neeeeed updates and pics.....:mrgreen:

Been on Vacation for two weeks, so I left Snaz in charge til I got back today.
Tank looks great, will do tests tomorrow, if everything is still good I will add cc.
BTW Snaz did a good job :wink: Thanks Keith

Here are some pics, so far so good, cuc is in plus 2 fragshttp://snaz.com/marine/tine/gsp.jpg

woops only 1 worked, 2 morehttp://snaz.com/marine/tine/gsp.jpg

ok so it seems I have to do it one at a http://snaz.com/marine/tine/gsp.jpgtime

Let me help :biggrin:

http://snaz.com/marine/tine/ftsjune2009.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/tine/gsp.jpg

http://snaz.com/marine/tine/softy.jpg

Tank is looking great! Almost fishy time!

Any ideas for your first fish?

:)

Wow it looks great!

A couple of clowns I think. What is your opinion? There are so many fish I would love to have, but my tank size, my inexperience and of course my budget get in the way. We have a small heat wave here (BC) I am already hovering over the tank like a broody hen:redface: What a great hobby, lotsa money, lotsa patience and lots a stress, great fun.

August update
 

Here is what is going on at the moment, the tank has been very stable and every thing is growing well. The little Xenia I bought has doubled in size the star polyp and first Zoo are very healthy. We added 2 Clowns once the plants were growing (they are little pigs) we are very cautious with the amount of food we give them so they are always begging, Snaz tells me they are like dogs, always indicating that they are starving. Can fish recognize voices? They appear to recognize my partners voice when she comes home,( Elise likes to feed the fish) Once the tank was coping with the Clowns we added a 6 line Wrasse, what a beauty! They are getting along well and the clowns appear to be pairing up. In July I won a dragons eye Zoo and added a leather that is moving along and will soon need it's own house!. All in al I am pleased with the progress, it looks some what like an established environment. Now for the troubles, we had or have aptasia, Snaz gave me a peppermint shrimp that was too big for his tank and it appears to have eaten the aptasia, how ever I still have red alga, it seemed to arrive during the heat wave, I am trying to manually remove as much as I can. All in all we are happy. Pics to follow.

Glad it is going well, love to see some new picture's :biggrin:

Picture Update
 

Here is Mum's tank as of today. Great job guys!

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/room.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine1.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine2.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine3.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine4.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine5.jpg

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine6.jpg

Great looking tank!

http://www.snaz.com/marine/tine/tine2.jpg

What the heck are these? It almost looks like a tiny sun coral :surprise:.