New to the hobby, 10g. Finally Coral!!!!
 

A little preamble to my build. Saw my brother in laws tank and instantly fell in love with it. Since im very busy with 2 hockey playing kids decided to start small with a 10g build and make sure I can handle the time requirements. Huge thanks to Paddyob, brother in law, who either supplied me with or brought me everything needed to start up. A few pics will follow.

Coralife 96 watt quad tube light.
Aquaclear 30 filter
Approx 15lbs Jakarta live rock
Bio-Sea Marine mix salt
Aragonite aragamax select sand
Seachem prime conditioner.


http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/SDC13326.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/SDC13325.jpg

Any comments or suggestions would be great. Again huge thanks to Patrick without who i never would have started.

:)
 

I am just glad after 3 years you finally got your feet wet! Ha ha!

Can't wait to see the progression!

Clean up crew.
 

Up till about 2am last night doing research so im thinking after my tank cycles a clean up crew is the next step. Looking at Bumble Bee and Margarita snails. Blue leg hermit crabs and either cleaner or peppermint shrimp. Any suggestions or comments greatly appreciated. Not sure what the local shop has but JL seems to be reasonable. Any locals from Regina with suggestions?

Do not add bumble bee snails. I have heard they eat certain corals.

Astrea and Mexican turbos.

Welcome to Canreef. Looks like a great start so far

Bumble bee's aren't reef safe.

Thanks for the tip. I'll stay away from the Bumble Bees.

those are big snails for a ten gallon. why not some ceriths and a couple nassarius snails and hope to get stomatella snails hitchiking on LR.

Snails
 

nassarious For sand definitely. Astrea Are fine as well. i actually meant mexican trochus (Spelling?). the mexicans are my favorite. great color on shell and face. fast movers too. would never be without them. turbo may get big but one or two small ones are ok.

Welcome aboard, hopefully you'll do better than padybob.:n00b:

Day 3 pics. Lots of color.
 

Seems to bee alot more color on my rock today. Heres the pics.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/SDC13330.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/SDC13329.jpg

you can use a turkey baster to blow away some of that brown algae or a soft brush since you have no coral, that algae is to be expected during your cycling period it will go away in time or simply kill your lights will kill it off as well.

consider buying a little nano powerhead like a koralia nano to help with flow near the bottom of your tank and that will also help in your little algae bloom:):)

cheers on the new tank but watch out because pats gonna envy that badboy :):)

Thanks for the tips reefwars. Will look for a powerhead in the am.

if patrick is heading down anytime soon or your coming up i have one you can have if you dont get one:) i dont need it anymore i shut down my small tank today:)

Just let the cyano cycle for now. Sometimes its better to let it be in the beginning of a cycle and when you do a water change blow it off then. But yes... canning the lights for a couple days might also help. Can also try running a short light cycle for the first bit... 6 hrs or so. Nothing much in there requiring light right now.


Yea yea Denny. Envy. Ha ha! I can reap the benefit of family in this one ha ha!

Anything I need to be doing or testing in the next little while.

Patrick wasnt kidding about the kindness of people in this hobby. Thanks for the offer.

You don't really need to test too much in the first two weeks. Most likely going to have some sort of cycle going.

I would "personally" wait two weeks and then test Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrites.

You can always do it now if you want to though. For one it would be good practice and also gives you a starting point to compare your future tests to. Might be nice for you to see if they either rise or drop as the cycle goes.

If it goes up next time you test you know the cycle is still going... if the results get better than obviously it indicates you are closer to being completed the cycle.

What the hell! Test the water! Now I want to see since I am too far to come look!

Track the parameters! Ha ha! :fish:

First round of tests.
 

Did my first set of tests tonight. Heres hoping I did em right.
NO2 - 0.1
NO3 - 0 Did this one twice just to be sure, no color at all.
NH3 - 0.1
SG - 1.025

Should I be doing any other tests at this point. Not even a week in.

Any thoughts comments appreciated.

Was you rock already cured?

This is exactly how me and a roomie started a year ago, 15g, then a 33, then a 50 cube, and now a 75rr! Pretty sure this hobby is worse then crack!

Hopefully you don't have the same issue but if you do feel the need to upgrade definitely go 75g minimum.

Good luck! As i see it you pretty much started a 10g hdtv! :lol:

Ha ha HDTV! Nice!

Yes his rock was cured. 10-11 pounds came from Dez (TOTM) and 5 pounds came from Red Coral here in Edmonton. It went into my holding tank down stairs before making the trip from Edmonton to Regina.

I delivered it in a 5 gallon pail topped with tank water...so it never left the water for more than 3 minutes. I tried to minimize die off for obvious reasons.

Pat, did you see my test #s. Everything look OK to you?

You should probably limit yourself to a cleanup crew for few weeks if you dont want to run the risk of losing anything pricey.

But if your an eager beaver gsp or mushrooms to get your "fix" for a bit, lol.

Welcome to canreef. Lot's of good people here but I wouldn't listen to paddyob though.:lol: I'm kidding Pat's a good guy. He told me you started a thread on your new tank and it looks like your off to a great start.

Itching to get something in there but I will be patient. Another week or 2 wont kill me.

Aiptasia
 

Treated my 3 aiptasias today with AiptasiaX. Ill update as soon as something happens.

looking good.... i like the 'scape......

Aiptasia X
 

Thanks I appreciate that. The aiptasia seems to be gone so far. Heres hopin it stays that way.

Did you water test again lately? If they come back good, you should be able to add your CUC.

I have been looking into ways to get a CUC to you. Those hermits are just waaaay to expensive in Regina to even consider.

Ill test again fri night and if all is well ill probably grab 2/3 hermits and snails for a small cuc. Should only cost 30 bucks or so:redface:

Just get 2 of each... I will be down soon and I will bring you more.

As for hermits... get only blue leg hermits... small as possible. As they get bigger they attack snails.

If they try tell you zebras are ok... I would personally avoid them. I find them more aggressive as hermits go and tend to sit on corals regularly.

Avoid bumblebee and sundial snails as coral eaters.

Try find Mexican Trochus (AKA - Red Banded Trochus Snail). Turbos will tend to knock stuff over as they grow. These Trochus are fast and do a great job. Mine even mated in my tank!

here is what they look like

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...564&pcatid=564



http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/pro...oducts_id=5808

Finally some action in the tank.
 

Went and picked up 3 blue legged hermits and 2 turbo snails(all they had) yesterday and added them to the tank. Its nice to see some movement in there and my daughter loves em.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...m/SDC13338.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...m/SDC13336.jpg

Pics arent great but they are in there.

How are they?

Tank looks nice and clean still.

Its been over 24hrs and all are well. The bigger snail seems to love cleaning rock and the smaller one is taking on the glass. The crabs are all over the place but like one little cave in particular. Halle has named them all and spends alot of time watching. The shop in town just got some new clowns $40 or 50 each and you dont want to know what I paid for my cuc.

Updated Pics finally.
 

So no fish yet but I have 5 Blu Leg Hermits 3 Astrea Snails and 2 Turbo Snails.

Full Tank Pic
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...60/Mar1724.jpg

Astrea Snails
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...60/Mar1723.jpg

Red Growth on Sand Bed
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...60/Mar1722.jpg

Looking at getting a sand sifting starfish to clean up the sand and shopping for my first fish. Selection in the city is limited and I eventually want to add a clown. Any ideas on a good fish to start?

Your tank is nice and clean ready for something to be added!

Agreed Jason.

Needs a back ground too to hide the wall. Aptasia-X does not seem the best tank decoration ha ha!

Coming Neil. Bayside in Saskatoon. Hit them up and take fishy home. Seem pretty helpful in there the one time I passed through there last November.

NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
NH3 - 0.1
SG - 1.025

Everything looks good. On the downside my filter crapped out last night. Got a new AquaClear 30 today, 45 +tx at the LFS. Hoping to build a stand once it turns nice enough outside to work in the garage. Then the aptasia x wont be my tank background any longer.

Finally
 

I realize its just a Chromis but its my first fish so i am pumped. 24hrs in and its eating well and getting less shy by the minute. Also added a starfish to move my sand around and get rid of the algae down there.

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/Chromis2.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y...0/Chromis1.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y.../Starfish1.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/y.../Starfish2.jpg

Cant wait to start adding coral another fish or 2, any tips or suggestions appreciated.

Good job Neil.

Coming alone.